Plan B
So it’s been a whole year since all this craziness started?! Many businesses have struggled and had to try to adapt to the situation. I remember putting this Plan B image on Instagram towards the beginning of the lock down in March 2020. For the first few weeks it felt like my world was falling apart, my business I had worked so hard to build over the previous 12 years just seemed to stop. At the beginning of 2020 we had just moved into a larger studio, had completed a couple of commissions for big clients and we had lots of interesting projects lined up. Business was well and truly the best it had ever been and I was very hopeful for the future. However the pandemic hit and everything just stopped. All my projects and commissions were called off, workshops I had booked cancelled, events I sold my work at postponed, shops I sold my work in closed and for the first 2 weeks I sold absolutely nothing online. But after the initial shock, I picked myself up and tried to think my way round this. All avenues of income had been completely cut except online sales. So I figured if this is what we have for the foreseeable future then I had better make the most of it!
Marketing 101?!
I worked from home in the initial few months. I missed my new studio but it was lovely to hang out at home more. Our little boy couldn’t go to nursery so this was sometimes the view from my make shift studio in the front room! I decided that my online presence and my shop was in desperate need of a revamp. I was a complete beginner at marketing and social media and had just been pretty much winging it up to this point. I decided to take some online courses and learn as much as I could. SEO, social media content, email marketing, blogging and video creation, all things I knew very little of and had perhaps shied away from in the past. I guess I was always too busy actually making the work to stop and really think about how to market it? I spent time re-photographing my work, improving my web shop, adding alternative text to images, learning about Instagram. I loved learning something new and I know I must have only scratched the surface of marketing but after the initial 2 week drought, sales picked up and eventually we starting receiving sales each day.
Lockdown gift card example
One of the things I added to my shop was the ability to send a gift card with orders. This meant that customers could send gifts direct to their loved ones. I’d write these myself so reading the lovely messages people sent to each other often touched my heart or brought a smile to my face.
Stop Motion Animation
I found that I really enjoyed the creative side of marketing. After the initial more technical side of sorting out my web shop and SEO, I turned my attention to making some more creative content. Stop motion animation was always something I was interested in. I was fascinated by Morph and Wallace and Gromit when I was younger and I’m very pleased that I’m raising another little Aardman Animations fan. I found I had the time to be able to experiment and create some cool little videos.
Zoom Zoom Zoom!
It was whilst I attended some online business courses I met lots of other lovely creative folks. Some had established businesses and some were brand new. Several of them had actually started a business out of necessity as they lost their jobs due to the pandemic or had just graduated and found little work opportunities. This certainly made me think back to when I started my business which was under very different circumstances however was for pretty similar reasons.
I was the class of 2008, graduating right at the start of the recession where jobs seemed few and far between. I got one interview for a design role and after a couple of weeks of not hearing back I received a letter from them. It basically said that they wouldn't be able to employ anyone anymore but if they did it would have been me. Which was a little comfort to me but it showed me that getting a job would be unlikely. So I thought I may as well start my own business and see what happens. I figured I didn't have much to loose!
So I know it's a completely different situation but I can certainly relate to those new entrepreneurs. For me the lack of work opportunities turned out fantastic. If I was given a design job when I graduated I doubt I would have been brave enough to start my own business and still be doing this now 12 years on. It’s far easier to chase your dreams when you have nothing to loose. So if things seems bleak now, there are opportunities if you are willing to or are forced to take the risk.
The window to our front room/my lockdown studio
Helpful Organisations
Starting a business can be quite daunting and scary, I know I didn’t have a clue where to even start. However there is loads of guidance and support out there if you need it. Here are a list of organisations which either helped me start and develop my creative business over the years or have helped other creative businesses I know: