Key Idea: Automate Your Art
Increase profits with automation. At Madison Park, hand painted art finds its way inside a computer and some artists create this hand made look using computer design tools.
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Key Question:
A: You should do what you love but think hard about how you will make a profit. This is just one of the millions of businesses started at a kitchen table with nearly no money. With four children at home and no business experience, Judi got the idea to replicate her work in the greeting card format. She discovered that she could paint, but, did not see herself painting and selling individual pieces. Early on she thought of turning her love into a business.
Q: What is the difference in an artist making a living selling individual pieces and starting a business?
A: Think of the famous artists and you don't think of them as business people, you think of them as creative eccentrics. In fact, the struggling artist is more a part of our collective conscience than is the wealthy artist. An artist selling his or her work is much like a professional practice. The professional gets paid for specific services rendered. This is the case with physicians, dentists, attorneys and anyone who charges for services by the hour.
The biggest problem with a professional practice is that it is difficult --not impossible-- to leverage time. The surgeon only gets paid when she is standing over a patient. A business owner, on the other hand, can generate profits without being present personally. Judi never tells us if she considered a career as a painter; however, she did say that her father was an entrepreneur. Even though her father expected her brothers -- not Judy -- to go into the family business, she learned much around the dinner table. She was influenced and inspired by her father to be in business; and for her, that meant manufacturing a product. The company manufactured outerwear; it became so valuable, London Fog bought the company. Where a business is not dependent upon the specific delivery of service by a particular individual, a practice is.
Think about it
Are you making as much profits as others who do what you do? What parts of your processes could be automated?
Clip from: Madison Park GreetingSeattle, Washington: In this episode of the show you meet Judi Jacobsen and her family at Madison Park Greetings. She started this business in 1977 with just $200. Judi bought a vacant building, moved in, and by bringing the building back to life, the entire neighborhood improved.
This company produces greeting cards and sells them to consumers through over 5,000 gift shops. Also, they create private collections for retailers including Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, and, they distribute the graphic products of other artists including Larkspur and Sara Schneidman.
We first met Judi in 1995 in Washington DC when she was being recognized as the Small Business Person of the Year from the State of Washington.
Good to her word, Judi put a succession plan in place. In 1995, son Brian and long-time employee, Glen Biely, took over the leadership of the business. The good news is that the young men are growing a much bigger company and are having plenty of fun.
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Madison Park Greetings
Judi Jacobsen, Founder
1407 Eleventh Avenue
Seattle, WA 98122
2063245711
Visit our web site: http://www.madpark.com/
Office: 2063245711
Business Classification:
Publishing
Year Founded: 1976
Automate Your Art
HATTIE: Well, how did you meet your first partner?
JUDI: Well, I--in those days, in the early '70s, churches and schools had these little art fairs, and I sat next to her at one of the art fairs. And another thing that I did, every Christmas I had a Christmas house. I'd heard about it somewhere in the Midwest, and we had lived in Chicago, and I had always kept a list of the customers who had gotten my paintings. And so I met several artists in this group of art-show people, I call them, and I invited them to come to my house, too. And we had sent out invitations, and we just had a little fair at my house at Christmastime. Well, it became so popular, especially--my partner made these little baker's dough figurines and--but she just worked night and day making these little--well, like, 250 a day. And I said, `There's gotta be an easier way to make a living,' and she said, `What?' And I said--I remember at the kitchen table, sitting there, and I said, `Greeting cards.'
So we pooled our $200--I had $200, she had $200. Mind you, this was...
HATTIE: So you started with $400.
JUDI: Yeah. This was in 1977, though, so--and we were able to print eight everyday cards and eight Christmas cards. And advice I'd always give someone trying to do something like this is first, test your market. And we were able to be in these fairs, again, and see that we did have something that would sell. We have some sad stories of people that come with a basement full of cards they've printed, and they've never tested to see if that's really what people wanted. So our business really took off quite quickly.
HATTIE: So what's the difference between you and the artists that are still going to those little craft shows selling their art for a few hundred dollars a year?
JUDI: I think it really helped growing up in a family business--I mean, you know, seeing my father start a business, and it was just always there that I had...
HATTIE: So it was almost like you knew the possibilities.
JUDI: Yeah, I knew the possibilities. First of all, we decided to take some action. Rather than going to the art shows, we pooled our money, we had kind of a game plan where we'd do this, we would print the cards and then we'd see if they'd sell. And when we found out they'd sell, we just reinvested in more cards.
HATTIE: This artwork is not at all like something that you started the business...
Unidentified Woman #1: No.
Unidentified Woman #2: Yeah.
JUDI: No, no, we tried to have, you know, a variety that people will f--you know, fit different needs.
HATTIE: Right, right. OK, here it says `espresso.' It's a fitting card for Seattle. `I'd like to espresso my thanks!'
JUDI: `My thanks.'
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