Big Fish..........Little Fish

Big Fish…..Little Fish

 So “Why did I do it?” I hear you ask. Well after years of building up the courage to work solely for myself I bit the bullet and did It at the start of this year. “What do I need?’ Yes capital. It was the means to the end I guess to try and get me where I felt I needed to go. As yet hasn’t nothing delivered. I am told not to fear as the reward from attending these shows can take as long as 6 months. I am awaiting with a little hope. Maybe a couple of small independent Galleries may well get in touch yet.

I have gone out and tried to get funding, being told I am not a big fish and neither a small fish. Seems I am an intermediate fish. I guess more of a trout, than a minnow or a swordfish. What I mean by this is, there is lots of help out there for start-up and very small businesses. Support there for the big buck high flyers but seems to be a hole in the net for businesses such as mine. And I swim through it. I guess it was my attempt to sew the hole

With no capital and out of pocket, not deterred I battle on. Driven even more by all of your lovely messages of support. I really feel quite humbled, the response has been huge. I thank you all for this. Today I have followed up contact with a few Galleries from the show,, Staying positive.

My big buck is the dreaded ‘Sale or Return’. For any of you unfamiliar of this term it’s basically supplying outlets with your work without them buying it. Hope it sells, they take their commission and you hopefully get paid. A cash flow nightmare for small businesses. Be great if I could ask my suppliers if I can have my materials now and pay in 6 weeks’ time when I get paid from what I make. There seems to be more and more galleries going down this line of ‘Trading’. My experience of this is very damaging a, perhaps due to my own naivety.

A few years back I gave a gallery a ‘lot’ of work on “Sale or Return”. They sold it! Yay! …..sadly, then went into liquidation and I got….not a penny. Thousands of pounds of work gone and nothing! Hence to say I find it hard to trust.
Minimum order? Yes this is how I’m trying to operate. It’s just £80 so I’m not a high risk to galleries. They can take a little nibble of my work before committing to a big bite…………Let’s see if they do.

The quote above I hope makes you think, my mum sent me this on my way home from the fair. Made me smile again