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| Tyler in our bakery |
The Age of the Artisan is upon us, and wherever one looks there are many would-be entrepreneurs thinking of making a go of it, or already in the thick of things and wondering what on earth they have got themselves into.
So for what it's worth:
Lesson No 1: Don't do it. Get an office job instead
Having your own artisan business is insanely hard and not for the faint-hearted. The hours are rubbish, the rewards are minimal, the competition is fierce and customers don't really care that much. No matter how many sales projections you forecast they will be wrong and your costs will be double. You will live in penury and be constantly humoured (as you are doing something you "love") the risks are all yours and it can all get quite scary. It is a bit like becoming a heroin addict: You will think to yourself "this won't happen to me" but it will, so better start putting on those Big Girl Panties right now if you do decide to go ahead, despite the warnings on the package.
Lesson No 2: If you do go ahead, get as much credit as you can, whilst you can
Nobody will be interested, especially the banks, when you go knocking on their doors for an overdraft or loan when you need it. The best advice I was given many years ago in London by a fledgling property developer was to get as many lines as credit as you possibly could before you start: 5 credit cards, 4 bank accounts, accounts with the chemist/department stores and negotiate everything down to an absolute minimum. When times become tough - and they will be - you can use your own credit facilities to cash flow yourself out of the tricky times.
Lesson No 3: It will be a crash landing, despite your best intentions
One is always ridiculously proud of one's first efforts: You arrive at the market usually having worked through the night and everyone is enthusiastic. You sell everything and you feel like Mark Shuttleworth. "Everyone loves us! We can do this! There's a market out there!".
Yes, there probably is along with the 50,000 other people doing exactly the same as you. Plus the honeymoon period is short. Soon customers will want to know your full list of ingredients ("does it contain peanuts otherwise my son can die") whether you do it in blue and could you please do something different all together as they don't like flour/eggs/cheese/red/pink.
Whether it's artisan or commercial, customer expectations are exactly the same. Artisan products have to look like they could be sold in Woolworth's and the labeling rules are the same for everyone.
Lesson No 4: Making a profit is important
There seem to be two types of artisan pricing models: Rather enthusiastic largely as a result of the producers over-estimation of their own products worth and Soft reflecting a lack of self-confidence and a fear that it wont sell. You need to try and be somewhere in the middle. You'll soon see what sells and what dosn't. Work out all the cost of sales and then go for a realistic best price. Pricing is more an art than a science, but you still need to make a reasonable profit at the end of the day, otherwise what's the point?
Lesson No 5: Facebook does have its limitations, don't kid yourself.
If I had to follow everyone's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram page I wouldn't be working. Being on Facebook is not work, despite what you indignantly tell your husband. Social media although easy and accessible has become over-crowded and you will need to think up other ways to market yourself. You need to pay Facebook these days anyway if you want to get the hits.
I still think that Richard Branson is a guru in this department as he 'lives his brand' (he is the brand) and he never misses an opportunity to market himself. Another person to watch is India Hicks as she fast becomes a brand. She's particularly good at keeping it real and using her self-depreciating sense of humour to take the tacky hard-sell sting out of the tail. Years of noblesse oblige training have helped, no doubt.
All those marketing cliches - sticky', 'viral' 'tipping point' do mean something but nothing beats a chunky Rolodex of contacts, networks and relationships. Word of mouth is still a powerful means of growing a market, but it needs to be nurtured and carefully formalised to make sure that it stays. Nothing is more fickle than the next best thing, which also comes to all of us as we mature as businesses.
The biggest lesson I've learnt though is that I've not done this alone. My husband and I have been a team from day one and we simply wouldn't have survived had it not been for each other and the support we've been able to give each other. "A problem shared is a problem halved" has very much worked in our case plus there has also been someone to celebrate the good times with!
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