Why Designers Fail In Business:
Some Key Reasons
Over and over again, I have seen one jewelry designer after another fail as a business. The reasons may seem predictable, and they repeat themselves over and over again, as well.
1. Has not defined a clear set of goals from the start
2. Going for roofs before setting foundations
3. A reluctance to learn how to conduct yourself as a business
4. Gets bored or lonely
5. A fear of marketing your own things
6. Tries to do too many projects at the same time
7. Trying to please all audiences
8. Doesn’t do homework on the competition
9. Trying to do everything by yourself
10. A fear that someone will steal your designs
11. Failure to plan for balances in the use of your time
12. Hasn’t planned for the ups and downs of cash flow at different times of the year
13. Cannot describe your competitive advantage(s)
14. Failure to understand marketing and merchandising requirements
15. Not photographing all your pieces, or, making notes about their construction
16. Lacks understanding about how to leverage your work
17. Doesn’t have plans and procedures for generating follow-up sales and re-orders
18. Failure to innovate
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FIRST RULE OF HOLES
When you are in one,
stop digging!
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1. Has not defined a clear set of goals from the start
OK, you’ve made a decision that you want to make some money through your craft. Before you start buying a lot of inventory and equipment and tools and furniture and other supplies, sit down and reflect. Write down 3 or 4 achievable goals about what you want to have accomplished within 1 year. Write down another 3 or 4 to achieve within 3–5 years.
For each goal, list what specific tangible and intangible things you need to have or need to happen, in order to achieve that goal within your timeframe.
At the end of each year, you should be able to ask a friend: Did I achieve my goal or not? And the goals should be clear enough that your friend can immediately weigh the evidence and let you know their thoughts.
2. Going for roofs before setting foundations
At the point you are getting started, I know you are very excited about all the prospects. Your brain is racing in many different directions all at once. As a creative person, you are probably generating an inordinate amount of things you want to do.
Rein yourself in.
You need to be very deliberate here. Get control over all that excitement and all those ideas.
Create the foundations for your business. These are made up of the different systems of activity which have to be in place so that everything will work smoothly, and continue to work smoothly, down the road.
Systems include things like:
· Administrative
· Financial Management
· Product Design and Development
· Inventory
· Marketing, Promotion and Selling
· Evaluation and feedback
For each system, you specify required policies, procedures, and materials.
You set up some pretesting and reality-testing of each system and its policies and procedures.
Yes, this is a lot of work up front, but it will all pay off in your success.
3. A reluctance to learn how to conduct yourself as a business.
Many jewelry designers get so excited after selling their first piece, that they think they don’t have to get too involved with business principles. …
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