Etsy, cheap art and the issue of change

The issue of cheap art, Etsy and change let's talk by Bill

The cul­ture of cheap took hold a long time ago and we are now see­ing the extreme results. Ellen Rup­pel Shell’s excel­lent book “Cheap: The High Cost of Dis­count Cul­ture” really cov­ers the issue. Also Dan Ariely’s book “Pre­dictably Irra­tional” pro­vides new insights through research he and oth­ers con­ducted at MIT and elsewhere.

The cul­ture of cheap took hold a long time ago and we are now see­ing the extreme results. Ellen Rup­pel Shell’s excel­lent book “Cheap: The High Cost of Dis­count Cul­ture” really cov­ers the issue. Also Dan Ariely’s book “Pre­dictably Irra­tional” pro­vides new insights through research he and oth­ers con­ducted at MIT and elsewhere.

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self investment is important for small business

Getting Started on the right foot: part III

Marketing Monday by Bill

If you cut cor­ners on tools, you’ll end up more often than not, increas­ing your pro­duc­tion time, decreas­ing your mar­gin, and ulti­mately your prof­its. A com­mon out­come is not pay­ing your­self and that doesn’t help anybody.

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going gocco part 2

Going Gocco Part II: the first print run

Lorrei Whittington by Lorrie Whittington

Well, I finally made time to do a print run of the Celtic Heart I designed ear­lier in the week.

I drew it free hand using the car­bon pen sup­plied with the machine. How­ever, next time I am going to pre­pare the design dig­i­tally and print with a laser printer. The design incor­po­rated strong clean lines and I tried to keep it as unfussy as pos­si­ble, going for a bold and dynamic design.

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Thumbnail image for Lorrie talks about the importance of sharing wisdom

Lorrie talks about the importance of sharing wisdom

Featured Artist by Bill

Each of the artists fea­tured here has made efforts to develop emerg­ing artists through what­ever ways work best, whether through teach­ing, lend­ing a hand with a new­comer on Etsy or other on line venues or just mak­ing friends with some­body new to the scene. One of the impor­tant traits of a leader is their secu­rity in the unique­ness of their work and their knowl­edge that while tech­nique may be copied style and vision can­not be.

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Part 2 of getting started on the right foot

Getting Started on the Right Foot: Part II

Marketing Monday by Bill

A record keep­ing sys­tem that gives you a way to judge your progress, keep track of who bought what, when, man­age your inven­tory, and learn at a glance where you stand finan­cially, is crit­i­cal. We’re not talk­ing about a com­plex account­ing sys­tem, just some­thing that will help you make deci­sions when you need to.

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Lorrie printing gocco

Lorrie Goes Gocco: Part I

Lorrei Whittington by Lorrie Whittington

Late last year I bought a Gocco printer. I had wanted one for ages and when the rather tal­ented Mel from Inkmeup bought one and blogged about it, I decided to get one. I bought a sec­ond hand PG10 from the lovely Liz at Dream­ing Spi­rals. How­ever, as with most things in my life, it took a while to get around to actu­ally design­ing some art and printing.

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featured artist lorrie whittington on breaking new ground

Lorrie talks about breaking new ground

Featured Artist by Bill

Yes, I have a lovely group of fol­low­ers and buy­ers who have found my work via Etsy, Face­book, Twit­ter, my Blog and my web­site. Most of them keep up with my work either through Face­book or my Blog, and some have sub­scribed to my shop (Art4Sale) newsletter.

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marketing monday starting on the right foot

How to get started on the right foot, Part 1

Marketing Monday by Bill

Before you do any­thing fur­ther this year take a few min­utes or more and think about why you are doing what you are doing and what you want your busi­ness to be.
Did you acci­dently “fall” into your art busi­ness after a job loss? If so be hon­est with your­self by ask­ing whether this is what you want to be doing or if it is just some­thing to “fill the gaps” until you find a “real” job.

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Guest writer Lorrie Whittington

Art is for all…or rather, all can draw, or rather…all SHOULD draw.

Lorrei Whittington by Lorrie Whittington

I have lost count of the peo­ple who have said to me, when hav­ing told them I am an artist, or that I had stud­ied art at Uni­ver­sity, how much they loved art at and paint­ing at school. How much they loved draw­ing or paint­ing as children.

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