events
autumn events
A few events coming soon that will be showcasing some great talent:
100% Design, 23-26 September 2010 at Earls Court, London
Contemporary interior design, architectural and interior materials, emerging talent showcase
Trade registration free before 17 September 2010.
…….
Vienna Design Week, 1-10 October 2010
Product, industrial and furniture design. Talks from Stefan Sagmeister and Konstantin Grcic, and a focus on less-established talent.
……
Design Event North East 2010, 22-31 October 2010
Contemporary design across graphics, furniture, product, fashion and architecture.
A programme of thirty exhibitions across the north east, including a three day market at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead and a street exhibition in Newcastle called the Modern Art of Conversation and Maxims for Modern Life at Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland.
Cockpit Arts: The Pricing Decision 2: Price and the Market
Ahead of this week’s Cockpit Arts Finance workshop with MyCake on Wedensday, 11th August 2010: Financial Planning for Growth we have some more Top Tips by Ellen O’Hara, Head of Business Development at Cockpit Arts.
There’s no doubt that getting your pricing right is a crucial part of your marketing and business strategy as a designer-maker.
As part of the Pricing Decision series I am looking at three key areas: Cost, Market and Value, as well as how different pricing strategies fit with the overall goals, for your practice and business.
My last post looked at the relationship between price and cost with cost-plus pricing. This week I will explain how the market affects the pricing decision.
Price and The Market
Market based pricing methods depend on having an accurate picture of what’s going on in your marketplace. For example: Are you selling to craft collectors? The mainstream gift market? Or high end fashion? And what are the current trends in these market sub-sections?
In the larger, mainstream markets, prices will tend to be dervied from two key factors:
- What competitors are charging
- What customers are willing to pay
Who are your compeitiors and what are they charging?
If you don’t feel there are any direct competitors out there, try and pick out a few other makers or brands that:
- Are making similar work
- Are aiming at a similar customer base
- Who are at a similar stage in their career and have a similar profile
How do your prices compare? Are you competitive, or potentially over or under pricing yourself?
What are customers willing to pay?
- Research other companies’ prices online, in stores and in galleries. Pick a broad range of products so that you can compare the going rate for different types of products in your field. For instance as a designer-maker jeweller, you could look at a combination of mass produced high-street designer jewellery and high end fashion jewellery, as well as other makers.
- Look at the overall price range that other companies offer (minimum and maximum), how different work is priced differently, whether discounts are offered etc.
Use all of this information together to inform your own pricing decisions.
The Advantages
The advantages of following a market-based approach are that it tends to keep you price competitive in the eyes of your customers, so it’s important to consider who you’d like to be compared with and sit alongside in terms of price.
The Disadvantages
The disadvantages of this method are that the market price may not provide you with the profit margin that you want (and need!). You may actually have a very different business model to the people you are comparing yourself with, who may be able to produce and sell work at very different costs.
New and Unique Work
Your work may be so new and unique that there is no solid market-based price to compare with. So you have be the price setter yourself. If this is the case, it’s likely that your operating at the niche end of your market, where the percieved value of your work bears more influence on price than what others might be producing and charging. We’ll explore this in more detail next week with The Pricing Decision # 3: Price and Perceived value.
Let us know how you get on by leaving a comment on your experiences in making your own pricing decisions.
See more top-tips on finance from Ellen and other industry experts.
Or check our resources section for a worksheet on Calculating Your Costs and Budgeting.
And if your doing some financial planning this summer, come along to our workshop: Financial Planning for Growth on 11 August.
Cockpit Arts Top Tips: The Pricing Decision Series
Ahead of Cockpit Arts Finance workshop with MyCake on 11th August 2010: Financial Planning for Growth we’re featuring Top Tips by Ellen O’Hara, Head of Business Development at Cockpit Arts.
The question that I’m asked more than any other in my role at Cockpit is ‘how should I price my work?!’
There’s no doubt that getting your pricing right is a crucial part of your marketing and business strategy. So what is there to consider when making the pricing decision?
In the workshop The Price is Right, which is part of our rolling programme of Making It Workshops, we look at three key areas: Cost, Market and Value, as well as how different pricing strategies fit with the overall goals for your practice and business.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting a series of top tips, looking at pricing from these four different perspectives:
The Pricing Decision # 1: Price and Cost
Your first consideration when setting prices will usually involve looking at what costs are involved when producing your work. The ‘Cost-plus’ approach to pricing involves setting price by starting with the cost of creating a product, and then adding a mark-up. The mark-up provides you with your profit margin and so the cost-plus approach almost guarantees that you will not sell at a loss.
Mark-ups can be based on industry standards, individual expert opinions, or widely accepted rules of thumb. I usually advise makers to try and double their cost price to arrive at their wholesale price. In other words, add a mark up of 100% or x 2. And then add a mark up of around 2.5 on the wholesale price to arrive at the retail price. This is equal to multiplying your cost price by 5 to arrive at your retail price, or adding a mark up of 400%. This should ensure that there’s enough profit to cover some of the other costs associated with running your business.
The disadvantage of this approach is that if costs increase, the price of the product must also increase. The price of each product is therefore dependent on how many costs it creates.
The key to using this approach effectively is to be as accurate as possible about actual costs. So what should you include?
- Firstly there are the costs that directly relate to the production of the work such as materials, the cost of outworkers and packaging. These costs will tend to vary as the volume of work you produce and sell changes and can be refered to as variable direct costs.
- Then there is the cost of your time (if you produce the work yourself) which will be based on your hourly rate.
- Finally you also need to think about making a contribution to the day to day running costs of your business, or overheads (also refered to as fixed costs). This will include things like studio rent, day to day administration costs, PAYE staff costs and marketing. Some makers build this into their hourly rate.
A cost-plus figure generally provides a basis for the lowest price acceptable, but should not be the only consideration. It takes into account the cost and profit side of buying and selling, but it neglects demand for your work and what is going on in your market.
Another way of using costs to determined price is ‘target pricing’ where are a target price is made, and then costs are adjusted so that that price can be achieved. However, this is often very difficult to achieve for designer-makers who produce in small batches because costs are less flexible.
Next we’ll be looking at Price and Market in The Pricing Decision # 2.
For guidance on calculating your costs, try our Calculaing Your Costs and Budgeting worksheet which can be found in the Resources section of the blog. Or see the other posts on the blog that advise on finance from me and other industry experts. Let us know how you get on!
And if you’d like to attend our next Finance workshop: Financial Planning for Growth see details and book here.
Financial planning for growth workshop
MyCake is giving advice at Cockpit Arts’ financial planning for growth workshop on Wednesday 11th August 2010. We invite you to come and explore how to use your own financial information to make more informed decisions about your business.
You’ll look at the pros and cons of different record- keeping systems and which approach is best suited to you and your business. Through practical group exercises, you’ll cover budgeting, financial planning and how to improve your cash flow on a day-to-day basis.
You will also look at improving profitability and using designer-maker case studies, you’ll be taken through a profit and loss forecast and show you how to interpret your own figures to make better decisions about your business.
What you’ll get:
- Guidance on setting up a record system that works for you
- Improved financial literacy and confidence in financial planning
- A clearer understanding of your own business model and how to develop this to improve cash flow and profitability
Wednesday, 11th August 2010 from 10:00am to 12:00 noon.
The cost is £10 and open to studio and non-studio members. Book here
Exploiting Digital Tools Workshop for Creative Industries
Digital tools play a key role in driving innovation in today’s creative industries. But what new tools are on the horizon and how will creative businesses harness them to drive exciting new business opportunities? What will creative professionals – from architects to fashion designers to games developers and others – be using to create and produce content in the future? How can digital tools cut production costs and improve efficiencies? What can the different creative sectors learn from each other?
Creative Industries Knowledge Transfer Network are holding a free workshop and networking event on Wednesday 21st July 2010 at IPA, London.
To book free tickets for Exploiting Digital Tools, contact events@citin.org
How to Motivate Creative People (Including Yourself) workshop
Mark McGuinnness is hosting his popular How to Motivate Creative People (Including Yourself) workshop at Cockpit Arts Holborn on evening of Wednesday 14 July 2010.
He will be giving advice to designer-makers and creatives on how to motivate yourself to overcome obstacles and create amazing work – and a sustainable career.
Topics covered include:
- Why motivation is crucial to creative success
- The four fundamental types of motivation
- What Iggy Pop can teach you about work
- Why focusing on rewards can harm creative performance
- How to write 47 novels before breakfast
- Why some people seem so weird — and how to deal with them
- The positive side of peer pressure
The numbers are limited to 25 places, so book early.
There is an special offer price if you purchase the Time Management for Creative People workshop at the same time.
Roadmap to an enjoyable and lucrative small business
We’re excited to bring you a special offer to Lateral Action’s Entrepreneur Roadmap Course “How to have a great life and a great business”.
It’s the path taken by unlikely candidates – a poet, a cartoonist, and a writer – on the way to business success.
Based on their experience of having built a multi-million dollar business online with no payroll and practically no overheads, this course is for Creative freelancers and anyone who wants to escape the grind of an office job or hourly freelance rates.
If you want the freedom of running your own very small, very profitable business, then take a look here.
MyCake readers will get 20% discount if you’re quick and sign up as one of the first 300 attendees.
In addition if you book by Friday 11th June at 11pm BST, you will get three bonus modules worth over £280 ($413).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Lateral Action Entrepreneur Roadmap “How to have a great life and a great business”
Hi, Brian Clark here. I’ll try to keep this as brief as possible while still giving you everything you need to make an informed decision.
The key to starting an enjoyable and lucrative small business is to focus on the creative elements that drive revenue. All the other aspects you might think of as “business” are secondary, and better handled by others.
You want what’s now known as a “global microbrand” – a tiny, low overhead, and exceptionally flexible business that can sell all over the world. Even if you start with a purely local business model, building a global audience helps you greatly expand your revenue streams down the road.
Of course, there’s a bit more to it than that.
So we’ve designed an intensive online course that drives home the true fundamentals of a smart small business, and how to efficiently deal with the boring business things that arise once you get rolling. It’s not a magic bullet, but it will save you years of floundering around.
Let’s take a closer look here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MyCake readers will get 20% discount if you sign up as one of the first 300 attendees.
Registration is open until 6pm BST on Monday 14th June 2010.
The special price is around £270 ($395 to be exact) instead of £338 ($495). There is an option to make two payments of $210 over two months instead of the special single payment price.
In addition if you book by 11pm BST on Friday 11th June, you will get three bonus modules worth over £280 ($413).
Still not sure? Take a look around the blog for more articles from Lateral Action giving insights into the content for this course.
Illustration by Hugh MacLeod
Learn how to run your own very small, very profitable business
Want to create a smart business using the internet to scale your creativity, reach and profits?
We’re excited to bring you a preview of Lateral Action’s Entrepreneur Course “How to have a great life and a great business”.
It will cover analysing trends and the market; building an authoritative web presence; translating audience attention into sales; scaling the business through smart systems, partnering, deal-making and intellectual property; and keeping yourself sane, healthy, effective and happy along the journey!
Based on the experience of entrepreneurs who have built a multi-million dollar business online with no payroll and practically no overheads, this course is Creative freelancers and anyone who wants to escape the grind of an office job or hourly freelance rates. People who want the freedom of running their own very small, very profitable business.
MyCake readers can sign up for more details, free downloads and a copy of Brian Clark’s own entrepreneurial story here.
The Lateral Action Entrepreneur Course Preview
“How to have a great life and a great business”
An in-depth e-learning program that gives you a roadmap to building a small creative enterprise that delivers outsize results.
Delivered by writer/entrepreneur Brian Clark, illustrator/entrepreneur, Tony D. Clark and poet/entrepreneur Mark McGuinness, it shows you how to use your creative talent, the internet and cutting-edge entrepreneurial principles to create not only a great business but a great life.
This isn’t an academic course – it delivers solid practical advice based on the teachers’ own experience of creating several million-dollar online businesses. (Check out Copyblogger.com, DIYThemes.com, Teachingsells.com, Thirdtribemarketing.com and Scribeseo.com, as well as Lateralaction.com)
All topics are in audio format, with 3 audio lessons for each of the modules, geared perfectly to the new iPhone/iPod approach to learning. Of course the audios will be playable on any digital mp3 player, and directly on your computer as well.
You’ll also get full searchable PDF transcripts for each topic, plus valuable worksheets that make what you’ve learned immediately actionable. None of this stuff is esoteric theory — if you take action, these strategies work.
To help you decide whether this course is for you, we’re offering you some very valuable resources, for free:
- A recorded conversation (with edited transcript) between poet/entrepreneur Mark McGuinness and bestselling novelist and historian Steven Pressfield, about the true art of entrepreneurship.
- A recorded conversation (with edited transcript) between writer/entrepreneur Brian Clark (hey, that’s me!) and 37signals founder Jason Fried, about building businesses that produce not just remarkable profits, but remarkable lives.
- A 31-page PDF report from me called The Lateral Action Guide to Starting a Smart Business.
When you sign-up for your free downloads, you’ll also be the first to know when course enrolment starts, very shortly. Visit this page to collect your interviews and report: Smart Business.
Time management for creative people workshop
Mark McGuinnness is hosting his popular Time Management for Creative People workshop at Cockpit Arts Holborn on evening of 7th July 2010.
He will be giving advice to designer-makers and creatives on how to:
The numbers are limited to 25 places, so book early.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As a taster to the workshop, you can read Mark’s top tips to stop email killing your creativity over at Cockpit Arts Making It blog.
crafts on show
If you’re visiting London this month, there are some free craft exhibitions worth seeing:
Handmade at Fortnum & Mason until 11 June
Liberty Arts and Crafts until 15 June
Cockpit Arts open studios, Holborn 11-13 June and Deptford 18-20 June
~~~~~~
Plus for trade buyers Pulse takes place on 6,7,8 June at Earl’s Court
Search
Subscribe
