A lesson from the province.

Yesterday we went to the province to talk to some sculptors and to buy some things for the Gallery.

Every time I do this trip I wonder what will I learn this time?

I see Artists, sculptors working sometimes in very poor conditions and others who are prospering and doing well and I wonder why this is so?

All are good carvers and all seem to have a market share, yet some prosper but others struggle and we see it in all forms of the Arts.

I met one very well known sculptor, an older man, whose work is beautiful and he has done very well in the Art business and yet just down the road, another sculptor struggles to survive, similar age, similar talent, one prospers one struggles?

I had to come to the assumption, which many will not like me saying but the one who was prospering acted like he was in the Art business and was not prepared to give his work away or be in a hurry to sell it and was not prepared to discount.

The other acted like he was very desperate and was prepared to sell at any price to get the sale.

Please, I am not criticising him, if you are struggling you have to do what you have to do, I get that, but it is still an interesting observation.

I am sure all his working life this has been what he has done and his prices have never risen very much, where as the other sculptors prices were many times more than what the first sculptor was asking.

Similar talent, similar age, why such a difference in prosperity?

I could only come to one conclusion, when you start out on this Artistic journey, give good value for your work, but never discount and if you do discount make it very small amounts and only for large multiple sales.

One sculptor valued his work and was not prepared to sell down but decided to maintain his prices while the other started with high prices but was prepared to go as low as was needed just to get the sale.

A sale that looses money is not a sale.

Trying to sell for inflated prices, will most times not result in a sale but discounting.

Give value to the customer and when he returns you will be able to keep your prices creeping up.

When you are starting off as these two Artists did there prices were the same, one was not prepared to go low as he felt they were already low and he was giving great value for the money.

The other Sculptor just wanted the sale so bad he would drop his prices at the first hint that the buyer would walk away.

Today, one still gives good value but he gets very high prices, he started low and built his business on quality and value for money.

The other started off very quick to discount and in most cases give his work away and has never moved far from his beginning.

Artists this is a business and you must conduct it as a business if you want to sell and become a prosperous Artist.

Learn to sell.

Learn about how to run a business.

Set goals and build value into your product and value into your self.

Be positive about yourself and your work, don't discount yourself or your work.

It is always about the value perceived.

The sculptor who was quick to discount, we perceived less value in his work.

The sculptor who stayed firm in his price, we perceived more value.

Human nature is a curious thing.