Q&A: Bread + Butter Line
Lesson 11 from: Art School Rehab: Finding Success Without Selling OutMegan Auman
Q&A: Bread + Butter Line
Lesson 11 from: Art School Rehab: Finding Success Without Selling OutMegan Auman
Lesson Info
11. Q&A: Bread + Butter Line
Lessons
Class Introduction
02:48 2Reprogram The Art School Mentality
05:35 3Roadblock 1: Art School Makes You Feel Guily about Making Money
09:22 4Exercise: Get Comfortable Charging More
18:41 5Q&A: Pricing
13:42 6Student Examples: Pricing
23:33 7Roadblock 2: Art School Gives You the Luxury of Working Slowly
12:34 8Exercise: Develop a Process for Getting Past Decision Paralysis
15:08Exercise: Develop Your Bread + Butter Product Line
07:47 10Student Examples: Brainstorm Ideas for Bread + Butter Line
08:35 11Q&A: Bread + Butter Line
05:27 12Roadblock #3: Art School Teaches That You Shouldn't React to the Marketplace
11:39 13Student Examples: Identify Opportunities Based on Marketplace Reactions
08:31 14Q&A: Identifying Market Opportunities
07:56 15Roadblock 4: Art School Teaches Your Criticism Not Confidence
05:34 16Exercise: The Anti-Critique
02:46 17Student Examples: The Anti-Critique
08:35 18Roadblock 5: Art School Teaches Your How to Talk To Your Peers Not Your Customers
06:19 19Exercise: The Customer Focused Anti-Critique
05:16 20Student Examples: The Customer Focused Anti-Critique
17:47 21Student Examples: Customer Focused Product Description
22:34 22Q&A: Customer Focused Product Description
05:40 23Roadblock 6: Art School Does Not Teach You How to Run a Business
17:09 24Exercise: Identify What You Need to Learn to Succeed at Business
04:05 25Student Examples: Business Road Map
28:15 26Reshaping Your Post Art School Goals
12:04Lesson Info
Q&A: Bread + Butter Line
So this is a really great question. Kristin wants to know. Is there a pricing range? We should aim to have a few products in under 100 is our bread and butter line. Also an introductory line for our customers. So these are great questions. So first of all, the pricing range is going to vary a lot, based on the price that you're charging for other work. So in angels case, if you're charging $3000 for a piece of furniture, I'm not going to tell you that you need a bread and butter line that sells for like, 50 bucks, right? You maybe want something that sells in the $500 range in addition to the $3000 piece. So it really is very relative to that. And so you don't have to feel like you need to be, say, under $100. I think that there's this that feels like this pressure, right? We want to keep it under. The one I gotta tell you under the one is a lot of work, right? Everything that's less expensive, it means more product, more packing up. Even if you're selling in person every exchange is g...
iving you left money, right? So it does not have to be that low. The other question and I think this is a great one, is the bread and butter line, also an introductory line for our customers. And the answer is sometimes. So I have this very simple necklace that's literally this chain I'm and it's just the chain. It's all steel was like one silver link, and I actually call it my gateway necklace because it's like the gateway drug into my line. And so for years I was like, OK, everyone's buying that plenty of people behind my work that have never bought bread and butter pieces. I have people who have bought these necklaces the big statement necklaces about having bought anything else for me. So for some people, it's going to be an introduction. But more often what it actually is is it just opens you up to a different, slightly different audience. So it might be an audience who is never going to spend $300 on a clutch. But they might spend you know something on something else, or they're never gonna spend $3000. We're gonna work on what you're something. They might not spend $ in a piece of pain and furniture, but they might spend $500 on a painted lamp or something that requires less time. I have no idea. That's your brother butter line. I just made it up off the top of my head. So thinking about really giving you just a different price point without necessarily thinking of it. As someone has to go through the path of 1 to 1 to one, it's really easy to think that's how it works. Like they buy the cheap thing, and by the next thing they buy the next thing. But that is not true. It does not always happen, so don't feel like it has to introduce people. However, it should still look like it was made by the same person. It should not look like it was made by, like, crazy person over there and then, like, here's this thing. So if you make jewelry and you make bigger pieces, your bread and butter line is not going to be handbags, so that is something to keep in mind. All right, let's take a look at the next question Okay, well, there we go. OK, so I'm developing a bread and butter line after taking one of your other courses. It's almost an entirely new direction for my previous work. Is that a bad idea? Well, sort of, as I was just saying so one of the things to just keep in mind is it feels too desperate. Your audience is going to be confused. They're going to wonder where it came from. If it's really a true evolution in your line, there are ways to handle that. You can bring your audience along, but if you're trying to sell it as kind of the bread and butter line in comparison to other work under the same brand umbrella, it's going to be tricky. What I would actually say is, you're probably going to need to let your previous work go in order to make the new work work. It's hard to say without looking at them for sure. This is one where I don't want to give you anything too definitive because I don't want to make big life decisions for you when I can't see your work. But usually with something like this, you probably have to let go of some stuff to make it make sense for your audience, right? Let's take a look at the next question. So do you set the same pricing formulas for bread and butter lines, or is there a higher or lower markup? So the formula is the same that I'm materials plus labour plus overhead plus profit equals wholesale price that same times to mark up to retail, but you're probably going to have more profit, so I don't like to use profit as a percentage. But if your regular pieces are maybe somewhere around like a 10% profit margin, your bread and butter might be closer to or 40% profit margin. So that's where you get more of that profit in there. Make sense. All right, let's take a look at our next question. Um, when original paintings ever be a bread and butter line, if priced lower, such as a small a prima daily painting price differently than paintings that take weeks on because I know your work, Kirsten, I would say this is a yes eso. I have seen a lot of people have good success by doing smaller daily paintings. I've seen people selling them on Instagram and that becomes their bread and butter line. And then they it supports some of the bigger work. So I would say in this case, absolutely that could work.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Usha
This class was so good - it's not just for people who went to art school, but anyone who has (or wants to have) a creative-based business. Megan's lessons break down the overwhelmingness of roadblocks and gives you tangible tools to get past them, shift your mindset, and shows you how to focus. There were so many elements to this class that were helpful, but overall I think if you feel like you're stuck, you overanalyze every decision, and feel like you want to move forward but don't know how, this class is for you. Thanks Megan, for helping me work on a plan to move me past my hurdles.
Kiki B
What a great class! Megan has helped me to really understand what my business goals are and how to achieve them, and has given me heaps of confidence to boot. This is going to be a great year for my creative business!
Kim S. Joy
I have owned this class for awhile and just decided to start it.... well I should have watched/taken this class years ago! I did not go to art school but follow that mindset. This was amazing. So much to learn and unlearn. The pricing and raising your prices what just what I needed. Thank you Megan for another wonderful class.