brainstorming about ways to increase the average income of leatherworkers

[Admin]

If you are running a successful leatherworking business, what advice do you have for people who are struggling? We have been brainstorming about ways to increase the average income of leatherworkers, and your observations and experiences can help others. If you are not earning the income you would like to have, what issues are holding you back? If you don't depend on leatherwork for a living, what obstacles do you face trying to break even? What would assist leatherworkers in general to earn a better price for their products?

Johanna

[leathernut]

Johanna

,i just started doing seat not even less than yr ago.the way i got my buniess is ebay losing money on seats here and there.got a few customers i did seats for locally.couldnt afford to get a website going so advetisied on craigslist free.got some buniess this way to.i made a bunch of cheap buniess cards and within a 3 town radius i passed them out everywhere bars,dunkin donuts,carwashes,gas pumps,bars ,chopper shops.even dropped them off at one of the local hells angel hangouts lol..got one seat displayed at a tandy store and just as of yesterday im doing some seats for local harley davidson shop.which im really pumped about.so more less its been word of mouth for me.i need to network more.this a part time job for me.since i do work more than 65 hrs week at my real job a week,hopefully some day i could go full time.dont know if this helps the topic,but its my 2 cents on what i have done to promote the leather buniess..

thanks

Dan

[abn]

I'm not running a leather business, but I'd like to share my two cents anyway if folks here will indulge me.

I personally think that until leather reaches the level of a fully accepted craft medium (like clay, glass, metal, fiber and wood), then the work is going to be generally considered "gear" and not "art," and the former just isn't going to pay as well as the latter. I believe leatherworkers should join their state craft guilds (even if they're the only leatherworker belonging to the guild), and they should also produce at least a few decorative and expressive pieces a year (for example, murals or masks) to engage folks who are interested in art (and not necessarily just horse gear, holsters and motorcycles).

I'd love to see leatherworkers be able to easily command prices in the thousands just like the major ceramics and glass artists do, but we've got to work on being considered "artists."

Alex

[The Major]

You bring up an excellent point Alex. I find it interesting that one of the oldest art media, still has issues being recognized in the mainstream.

[CitizenKate]

Hmmm... this poll won't let me place my vote without voting in all three categories. Am I overlooking something?

Kate

[Johanna]

Sigh...I don't know, but you are the last person I'm gonna do tech research for. LOL

I'll check it out tonight.

Johanna

[Beaverslayer]

Myself, I wear one of my vest's that has my company name & logo tooled on the back like a bikers colors. It attracks a lot of attention and I get an extremely large ammount of my work just from wearing the vest. People are always asking where I got my vest at, and I tell them from this guy and hand them a business card....you would be surprised to know that probably 70% of my business comes from people I met at 7/11 getting coffee.

I will also walk up to a biker or a person on a Harley and tell them I know of a guy that does custom leather for bikes, and hand them a card. In most cases I don't tell them it's me that does the work because then you get drawn into a long pricing debate in the parking lot of Home Depot or something, and it is very conterproductive. Once they come to see me, they say "Hey you're the guy" and I explain the reason behind my madness.

With the bike seats, I have made to demo seats that I have posted here on the forum. With those, one is at one Harley shop, the other is a another. For every seat I sell through the shops I pay a commission to the salesman that sold it. I've instructed them to send their client to me with one of their business cards, that way I know who and where the referal came from.

Also the Internet web site I have is starting to pay off a bit, and it is very cheap actually. I'm with Go Daddy.com and it's only about $45US per year for the website. The domain name cost me $10US per year as well. I use Google Ads to help pay for the cost of the website, which works out good.

But if you really want to advertise....wear or carry something that you have made, or make something that just POPS and wear or carry it wherever you go, you will be amazed at how many people will ask "Where did you get that from" and just hand them a card....

Good Luck

Ken

Edited June 29, 2007 by Beaverslayer

[CitizenKate]

:biggrin:

Sigh...I don't know, but you are the last person I'm gonna do tech research for. LOL

I'll check it out tonight.

Johanna

[Billy P]

Hi everybody, I just wanted to agree with ya'll, that when you tell a lot/most people about leather art, they look at you like you're from another planet. At least around here where I live it's like that. Usually the last weekend in March or the first weekend in April the next town over from me has Spring Fest. As a part of the festival the have craft vendors come in and set up to sale. A big to do is the Fine Arts Show. I entered a piece last year that I had done for my wife for our anniversary, got a 3rd place ribbon. I thought that was pretty good considering I had never entered my work in any kind of contest/show before. This year I took the time to do 2 pieces to enter in the show. One a 11x14 carving of the Harley Davidson shield with a eagle head silhotte (sp). The other was a Deco Plate with a Bald Eagle on an American Flag, all in full color. We, my wife and I went by and picked up my MOM and our grand niece and we all went up to see all the pictures and stuff going on. We got to looking around in the room and couldn't find the Plate, saw the lady over the arts commision and was told that leather is not fine art, but is fine craft, so the covered case for the crafts/free standing stuff was given over to photography, but that they did hang the Harley pic. up because it was different. My wife and I have been together almost 29 years and she knows the time I put in some of these things, so she got pretty mad and said some really ugly words, not just loud but REALLY LOUD. I had the lady go up to her office where she had my plate stuck in a paper bag, get it to me and got Diane out of there before she really got on their tails, LOL, She sure made the old man proud. The worst insult to Leathercraft was that she said if I painted the pictures on art board, instead of carving them, then painting them she would like to put my work in the Gallery for a showing. I don't paint and I can hardly draw a straight line with a ruler, but I can do a decent work with leather, go figure that one out. Like was said until people come to thing of what we as leatherworkers do as art, we're never going to get decent money for our work. Here in really, really small town South Carolina, the best bet to make any money locally is to get into doing motorcycle seats. In the bigger towns within 40 to 50 miles of me, there are probably 12 to 15 shops doing some sort of custom work to motorcycles. Everthing from engine/transmissions to complete custom builds. The surprising thing is they are all busy and cain't keep up with everything. My buddy does upholstry work already and after this weekend/early next week when I get my stuff moved, he and I are going to do a couple of things to display in some of the closer places to us. It might work and it might not, but it's for sure we won't know if we don't try. I'll go ahead and say in advance that I'll sure apppreciate any and all help from the members of the forum. I already know that we have some people who are really great doing motorcycle seats, so guys and girls you know who you are and if you can help and will please do. One last thing, my health has gotten pretty bad in the last couple of years so I may not be able to be as productive as I once was. So when and if the time comes that I cain't keep up I'll let everybody know and anyone interested, I'll put people in touch with ya'll and if you want the job you can have it and welcome to it. Enough from and fart for tonight, must be my meds and a couple shots of APPLE FLAVORED VODKA/with pinapple juice. I know sounds bad, but it taste good to me. Thanks and with Kindest Regards Billy P P.S. I'm going to try and attach a couple of things, one is the Harley Shield for the Show and another is something I did a long time back. Look and give me any and all feedback good or bad, I can take it all, plus I probably need it all. I've sent one of these out on other replys, but now you'll know where and why they are there. Billy P

[Johanna]

Kate, it was easier to change to poll than to bend the poll rules.

I answered the questions as i would have when we had the shop. We wore and carried our leather, and passed out a card to anyone interested. Word would spread, and people would come looking for "that leather guy", or we'd go to another bike run, rendezvous, pow wow, stables or even bars, on lazy days, and hustle work. There was no internet, and we could never afford the Yellow Pages. We loved the leather shows, but you don't sell leather to leatherland, of course.

When I met Jon I didn't even know leather could be carved or stamped, couldn't have told it apart from vinyl, and didn't much care. I was 28. If that is our "average consumer", we have a lot of work to do to educate the public about the endless possibilities of leatherwork, or else they will buy the poorly made mass produced garbage, and never know the difference. (shudder)

Johanna

[Peter Ellis]

If you are running a successful leatherworking business, what advice do you have for people who are struggling? We have been brainstorming about ways to increase the average income of leatherworkers, and your observations and experiences can help others. If you are not earning the income you would like to have, what issues are holding you back? If you don't depend on leatherwork for a living, what obstacles do you face trying to break even? What would assist leatherworkers in general to earn a better price for their products?

Johanna

I'm not close to "running a successful leatherworking business" and am in the general category of hoping to break even before too terribly much longer.

I know that in my case there are very specific things that I need to do to improve my opportunities.

I need a website, I need to take PayPal and credit cards.

I need to design a distinctive logo and maker's mark and put that logo out in front of people and that mark in all of my work.

I need to invest in certain equipment to allow uniform quality of production (in my specific instance I really need to have dies made for certain of my pieces so I can consistently cut the same complex shapes and save lots of time while improving consistency)

I need to evaluate my market and my product line and adjust appropriately at both ends. There are markets I'm not in that I need to access with my current product line. There are products I am not yet producing that I need to get out in markets I'm already in.

All of those things really sound like work and really, I do the leather more for enjoyment than for money. To me it's a hobby/addiction that needs to pay for itself, at least partially.

So that means that the fun parts - working out a pattern, tooling the designs, forming the pieces - turning that flat piece of cowhide into something else entirely - all of that stuff, well, it tends to push the work type activities off to one side. I've a full time job, so the time for everything related to the leather business is limited.

For me to make the Business successful, I have to sacrifice time that I would rather spend making things to the needs of being a Business.

I'm also very new as a "business", registered for only a couple of months now. It takes about 2 years for a new business to develop recognition, reputation, and start getting a real sense of whether or not there is a market for what they are doing. So I know that my doing about a grand in one month of part time work with no advertising and no established reputation really isn't all that bad. Not anywhere close to good enough to quit the day job, but

For me, it's the Business side of things where I need to pay attention and focus on doing what must be done. The Leathercrafting side of things needs attention and focus and is a constant learning process - but it's the *fun* part that I'm doing whether I'm getting paid or not.

I think for many people looking at trying to make any kind of hobby into a business, they share that problem. Focus on Business, because that's the hard part and the part filled with pitfalls. The craft is the easy part.

Peter

[abn]

You may not be at your goal yet, Peter, but it sounds like you have a good start *plus* a detailed action plan for getting where you need to be. Kudos to you for thinking that out, and thanks for sharing it with the rest of us. Lots of wisdom in your words there.

Regards, -Alex