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Monday 17 September 2012

What is success for you?

Have you ever stopped to think about where you want to end up? You've started up a little business, worked really hard at it, seen it growing from strength to strength... But do you know where you're trying to get to? What does success look like for you? Will you ever stop trying to grow your business?

Maybe that's a bit of a controversial thing to say?! Most businesses seem to want to grow and grow and grow - and they won't stop until they've taken over the world. Bigger tends to be seen as better. But in the handmade marketplace, is there a point at which bigger isn't better?

Once you get over a certain number of orders per week, it won't be possible for you to fulfill them all yourself. By necessity, you would need to employ others to help with the business, or you would need to modify your products so that they can be produced faster. But does employing others change the personal identity of your brand? If your brand is you and one of your selling points is the personal contact that customers have with the maker, then this will radically change if you need the help of others to fulfill orders. If you decide to stick with your one man band, what will this mean for the production of your products? Often card makers have to stop making each card by hand, and turn to a print and then hand embellish production line. But is this where you want to go with your business?

At this point you might be thinking, yes, that's what I want. For me to be successful means growing the business beyond what I am capable of on my own. That's great. There seems to be plenty of advice out there on the net about how to achieve this and motivating success stories to keep you going. If this is what you want, don't settle for less.

But I know that success for me is much smaller than this. I didn't set out to take over the world. I wanted to make a little bit of money to add to our family income. I didn't really think about how much, just some more than what we had would be nice. And I knew that I wanted to be able to manage the business on about 20 hours a week. Any more than this and it would start interfering with family life, which I wanted to remain the priority.

Now, I've still got plenty of room to grow within these parameters. At the moment, my 20 hours a week seem to be filled too much with advertising and not enough with fulfilling orders. So I want to continue to grow until I have a steady stream of buyers and need to go to the post office every day rather than every week. But I know that I don't want to grow so much that I have more parcels than I can carry to take to the post office every day!

Can I encourage you to think about your goals and any parameters you want to set for your business. Maybe success is actually getting a few customers - people who actually want to spend their hard earned cash buying your work! Maybe success looks like a busy online shop, with increasing page views. Perhaps you want to get your items stocked in a few shops. Perhaps it needs to be 'certain' shops before you're satisfied (dreaming of Harrods?!). Once you've set some goals that you'd like to achieve, take a step back and think about what your job would look like if you achieved them. Would you have enough orders to make the income you desire? Or would you have too many orders that you'd be stressed out trying to complete?

Allow your dreams to flourish, but prune them occasionally too.

12 comments:

  1. Fantastic post! This is a subject I think about often and your post has made me think even more! At the moment, my goal is to have more regular online sales than I do currently! My dream is of carrying armfuls of parcels to the post office every day! Perhaps sub-consciously I am a little afraid of achieving that sort of success though - just now it is a delight to have any sale, no matter how infrequent; would I take sales for granted if I was more successful and then they would lose some of their magic??

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    1. Thanks Debbie. I agree that it would be very sad if sales became so frequent that they weren't exciting any more.

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  2. Lovely post Laura. Does being featured in the Craftjuice Newsletter count as success for you? I hope so, cos you are. I blogged it in case any one missed it http://foundinkeswick.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/bingo

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    1. I think being in the Craftjuice Newsletter is definitely success! Thanks for blogging about it too :-)

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  3. For me its slightly different as my goal is to have enough regular students, to cover all my costs and make a small profit, which will allow me to paint what I like, of whatever I like and tough if people don't like it. So I suppose its about balancing out time, so my teaching doesn't take over so much I don't get time to paint, but enough to make it worthwhile. Going tot he post office doesn't really figure!

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    1. That sounds like a great picture of success. Balance is definitely something that comes into it.

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  4. Excellent post. Very thought provoking. My goals are smaller. I just want to continue making and enjoying what I do. If I get a sale or two that is a very nice bonus! However, I am only human so if I achieved a few sales a week that would be great! I keep hoping!?! Edwina

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    1. Edwina I'm sure a few sales a week is possible. Your items are so lovely and well-made. Keep at it!

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  5. Awesome post! Does make you think and I do agree success is being happy at what you do. But you do lose the enjoyment when it gets out of hand and you need to employ staff to do it for you as it is less personal. I am getting a little taste of success at the moment but want it to carry only to the point that I still am able to produce personalised gifts for customers. I would not want others to create the designs for me, when as an artist I am having the time of my life!

    Audra

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    1. It's great to know I'm not the only one who doesn't want to get too successful!

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  6. Great post and as has already been said very thought provoking.
    Success would be regular sales each week, well a few each month would be nice at the minute.
    I wouldn`t want to employ others to make my designs, couldn`t anyway as the patterns are all in my head. I love the making and trying new crafts too.
    So yes success for me would be regular sales.
    Thank you your post really made me think.

    Linda

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  7. Success for me too is regular sales - which were happening till November of last year when Folksy began making mega changes that they hadn't bothered to think through. So now I'm concentrating on my website and other selling platforms, as I can't afford to sit back and wait for Folksy to get their act together. I don't want to be rich - I just want a reasonable income that will keep me above the poverty line.

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Thanks for your comments, I always love reading them.

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