Monday, February 14, 2011

My child beat me in sales this weekend

I was at a HeartFest, an art show this weekend. I was not impressed being in the Mall for the art show, but it is the only event we have in Iowa during winter, so showing and selling artwork during February winter is a nice opportunity for artists.

At the same time, my 9 year old entrepreneur was setting up a shop. Right in front of the fireplace in the living room, he arranged a counter desk, a price list and opened something like a snack shack. His previous business was to give massages to mom and dad for $1 per minute which was very cute, but after we started complaining that the back hurts more after his treatments, he decided that business needs to fold and opened a snack shack.

In this new business you can have a variety pack of snacks in the zip-lock bag for 4.99 and water bottles for 1.99. Extra snacks are available at .99 a piece. Eddie would wake up, open his store at 8 AM and sit there all day waiting for his best customers: mom, dad and brother. We have also informed aunt and other family to come visit his snack shack to support his local business.

The first sale of the day was of course mom before going to the art show. I blew $10 on a snack pack, couple of bottles of water and 1 extra snack. After I left to the show, Eddie was getting new sales. We will not discuss the issue who paid for his inventory, but I should just say that a diligent work over the weekend earned Eddie $80.

At the same time I was trying to beat my booth fee at the art show. Sales were slow and people were very price sensitive. I felt the only way they would get something if I offered it to them for free. Luckily there were supporters showing up, mostly my friends picking up something for $20, $30, and some prior contacts who liked my body of work.

I was able to sell enough art to cover all the expenses of this show and the expenses of making art, but the profit was only around $50 for two days of entertaining people in the booth at the Mall. These last couple of years are so tough on artists that we consider it successful when we cover the expenses.

So, in the end, Eddie made better profit with his snack shack with only 3 good customers than I did as an artist for 18 hours working on the art show. Perhaps I should start a new business, a snack shack partnership with my young entrepreneur would be wonderful!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

HI MONIKA ;)

IT IS A LOT OF FUN TO READ YOUR BLOG!
THANKS 4 TAKING THE TIME TO WRITE THESE INTERESTING AND FUNNY BLOG POSTS. MAYBE ONE DAY YOU COULD MAKE A BOOK OUT OF IT?!
WERE YOU EVER THINKING COMBINING MAYBE YOUR GALLERY WITH A COZY ART CAFE, WHERE YOU COULD HAVE BOOKS ABOUT ART, SOME ART JOURNALS, WHERE ARTISTS COULD MEET THEIR CLIENTS AS WELL AS THEIR MODELS?
PEOPLE COULD COME, SEEING THE ART WITHOUT HAVING THE FEELING THEY HAVE TO BUY SOMETHING. YOU COULD HAVE A MONTHLY EVENT, WHERE THE ARTISTS TALK ABOUT THEIR ART, OR YOU COULD OFFER WORKSHOPS DURING THE WEEK - IN TIMES OF LOW TRAFFIC!
I ADMIRE YOUR COURAGE AND WISH YOU ALL THE BEST OF LUCK AND BUSINESS WITH YOUR ART AND YOUR GALLERY!

LOVE AND HUGS
KRIS
www.mr-uxn.com

M Agic said...

Hi Kris

Great idea! I am happy you are enjoying my posts.. :)
Who knows maybe it can happen...

Best Wishes!

M Agic