small businesses – Stephanie Richey Art

A number of years ago I was struggling with selling my art or the lack of selling (well, I still do). But I was really pondering on why it was so hard to sell art online in particular. I usually do ok when I’m standing there at a booth selling my art, but I can’t be everywhere all the time. I was thinking and praying about this over the course of several weeks, maybe it was months.

Big fair with lots of booths and people in the aisles.

Then one night I had a dream where I was at a huge fair, huge! I knew I had a booth there, and I knew where it was, but I wasn’t close. As I walked through the aisles of booths, there were so many! I finally got to my booth, and it was situated behind a larger booth with a small obscure door.

I woke from my dream with the word obscurity on my mind and the thought that I needed to somehow bring my art out of obscurity. I also had the thought that the internet, while being a very useful tool, is a vast tool, with so many businesses competing for customers, kind of like the vastness of the fair in my dream.

I wasn’t quite sure what to do with that information, but at least I now had an idea of what the problem was. How do I then get from the little hidden booth with a small little door to having an actual presence anywhere online? So I decided to start learning. I have been on a quest since that time to learn about marketing and advertising. Recently I have been taking a more in depth course on how Etsy works, how key words and SEO work on that platform, and how to research products. It’s been interesting information and it gets me excited about new ways to share my art.

Even after these several years of research, I haven’t sold much art online, but I do have more of a presence, with a much more varied audience, on some of my social media accounts. I have done some advertising that has brought more followers as well as subscribers to this website and my social media accounts. I am still learning quite a bit about Etsy, we’ll see how that affects sales there.

I have also been learning a lot about print-on-demand products and I have enjoyed creating some fun products that you can see on my Etsy shop here . Whether any of these products will take off or not, I don’t know. But I am learning a lot, and look forward to seeing what happens with new knowledge gained.

Today was the beginning of my summer season. I love getting out and meeting new people from all over the world. The beginning of the season is always a bit slow, as a lot of the people who frequent Farmer’s Markets are looking for just that, Farmers. But it’s a little bit early for most vegetables here, so a lot of the vendors are things other than Farmers. But there was still a great variety in options – Art (of course, but not just mine, several stands of beautiful art), lots of goodies, like cookies and tamales, breads, jams and jellies, lots of nonedible items like soaps, jewelry, woodcrafts, as well as the precursor to vegetables, plants for the garden. It was a great day, and a good start to the Farmer’s Market season, and turned out not as slow as I had suspected that it might be.

My favorite part of the Willow Farmer’s Market however is the local people. I love talking to all the people that I don’t really get to see any other place, but who have always made it a point to come and talk to me, they have become friends. I also love talking to all my friends who I do see other places, but who stop by and visit anyway, it makes the day go faster, especially during the slow times of day during the market. I also quite enjoy the kids. Over the years through helping at the local Elementary school, as well as through teaching piano, and friends of my children, I know a lot of the local kids and teens, and they are super outgoing and come and talk to me. They love to share what they are doing, what their plans are for the summer, or if they’re older, plans for the future. They ask about my kids if they know them, and they are just fun to be around. The Willow Farmer’s Market feels like home, feels like family. I have been to other markets, and maybe it’s because it’s not my town, but it feels different, and the bigger the market, the less hometown feel there is.

The other vendors are fun to get to know as well. I have one neighbor that is always the same, Tamales, and they are delicious, and it always smells good in our area! They are awesome neighbors and I’m glad that I can be next door to them every week. The other neighbor will vary somewhat, but it’s always fun to get to know the various people, learn about where they are from, and learn about their products. By the end of the season, it feels like there is a comradery there. Maybe that’s the entrepreneurial spirit in each one of us, maybe it just feels like that to me, I don’t know, but I like it, and I am grateful for all the vendors who show up to sell. It makes the market successful when there are more vendors, and lots of variety, because people don’t want to feel like they’ve wasted their time showing up if there’s not much to see.

The last thing I will mention that I love about summer markets is the small business aspect of things. Everyone there is a small business, and the people who show up to the markets are the ones who not only say they support local small businesses, but who actually get out and do it! Small businesses build better economies but more importantly, they build better communities. And those people who own small businesses usually pour the money they earn back into their local economies by buying from other small businesses as well, they know what it’s like and they support each other. I am not against large corporation, and I am in favor of capitalism for the most part, but if you’re looking for unique, high-quality products, you should check out your local small businesses. They are more concerned with customer service and customer satisfaction, in most cases, than are large corporations who sell to millions of people, so the unsatisfied individual is less of a concern for them. Farmer’s Markets, and any kind of summer market is a great place to go spend a little time. If you haven’t been to one, you really need to go!