Digital Ventures - Patreon and E-Commerce

 Here we are in January (well, February now...it was January when I wrote this.)– a whole new year, filled with potential, possiblity, and yes, still haunted by the pandemic. While I'm not happy about the pandemic, and the multitude of challenges it presents to everyone, I am grateful for having gotten the last ten months (and probably the next ten to twelve) to be here, at home. The time at home has allowed me to really begin to dig my toes into the dirt here, and start to delve into work I really want to do. It has helped me to have enough space and quiet in my brain to be able to form both a picture, and a plan. 

A booth I shared with Darrell at the International Medieval Congress in Kalamazoo a few years back.  Not something I'll be able to do again for quite a long time....Photo by Darrell Markewitz.

 

If I truly want to start to shift the balance of my working life from 85% theatre/15% Elfworks (that's at a rough guess – I haven't done any math on that.) then I also have to begin to shift my income possibilities. That has always been clear to me. How to make it happen is the mystery. It still is, but having had some time to consider, I'm exploring possibilities. I don't expect it will happen quickly, if it ever does, but I'm slowly coming around – and finding that I have the time – to give it a genuine effort. With time, I'd like to shift it to at least 50/50, maybe even further with theatre taking up only say 25% as an eventual goal. The truth is that as much as I love the theatre, the split life is beginning to wear me out...it takes a lot of energy to live in 2 places – especially when you don't really have a home base in the one it feels like you spend more than half your time in.

So, how does one go about making that shift – especially in the midst of a global pandemic? The answer in part, of course, is to expand your digital footprint and hope it successfully generates some income. This, of course, is not as easy as it sounds. Nor are there any guarantees – the internet is a huge open marketplace, and it means competing with the whole world. It also takes a dedicated amount of time and effort just to get it going, never mind maintaining it, monitoring it, adjusting it... Then of course there is simple fact that almost everyone else is trying to do the same thing, as a way to supplement, generate or replace their income. To put a topping on this particular cake – I'm not good at it. I know the bare minimums of what I need to know to do any given thing digitally. And computers often don't like me, as I'm sure I've mentioned.

The digital world can be a big, scary place. The ground shifts underfoot constantly. The learning curves come fast and often. It is wide open to all kinds of people, and the potential for all kinds of unknowns – both good and bad. While it is easy to get lost, there is really no place to hide...and while I'm fine with having a public face, I treasure my privacy.

I've resisted wading into the digital pool too deeply for any number of reasons, but it is time. I've had an Etsy site for a while, but that, too, is a very busy playground.  (Etsy Shop Link) So, I've been building. I'm writing more for this blog, and actually remembering to post what I write with greater regularity. I'm trying to use facebook more (Facebook Page Link)– actually post on a more regular basis. I've started an Instagram account (Instagram Link) – which as a side bonus will force me to do more photographic documentation than I normally do. Not to mention I will actually have to take a critical look at and process those photos, and file them in some sort of orderly fashion. That has to be a good thing, right?

As I do that I will work to beef up my Etsy site and get some new product on there. I am not planning to duplicate the product on the Etsy site onto the  e-commerce site - different pieces will stock each site. 

So that is a beginning. Thanks to a program being offered by the Ontario government just now, I'm also working on an e-commerce site all my own. (For information on the Digital Main Street/ShopHere program, go here: https://programs.digitalmainstreet.ca/)  I'm hoping that the new site will be live by mid-February.

Along with that I've decided to create a Patreon page. Now, Patreon is something that was brought to my attention years ago, by several people. I looked at it when I was made aware of it. I thought it was a great idea – for other people. I could see how it could work really well for creators of digital content, “visual artists” (painters etc.), writers, all sorts of people. I couldn't see how I could possibly fit there. That, and I didn't think there was any reason why people should want to become a patron for me. Not that I think what I do doesn't have value, more that I had trouble with the idea of making that pan out in some sort of physical (monetary) form other than buying a product.

In the years since, it has sat in the back of my mind, being turned over on occasion, re-examined and then ultimately re-buried.

I was searching for something on the web about 8 months ago, and I followed a sideline to the site of an author/editor that I admire. https://www.terriwindling.com/

There, on the side of Terri Windling's page, was a little statement about her Patreon page and her reasoning for it – I clicked on the link to allow me to read what she had written. Suddenly, it began to come into some kind of focus that I could fit - somehow. It would just take some thought. You can read the writing that inspired me here:

https://www.terriwindling.com/blog/2017/11/patreon-launch.html

Reading what she had written brought a lump to my throat. Terri Windling shy about a Patreon page? It all struck a chord, and somehow, gave me the push I needed to see if I could make it work. Thinking about it now, it seems rather backwards. I'm not putting myself in the same league as this person I admire, not by a long shot, but whatever the reason, reading that explanation opened a pathway for me. Over the last number of months I've toyed with the idea, formulating and rejecting things I thought might be feasible for the venue. How could I do this and actually offer content that I thought was worth contributions from persons unknown? If I chose to use product, how could I structure it to be sure that I would cover shipping costs, not having any clue what they might be? How would I make the numbers work to be sure that I wasn't adding more work to my plate, but ending up with an unequal monetary exchange? How could I do all this and still make it affordable, and not feel like I was asking people to give me something for nothing? Was there a way for me to not set myself up for failure – make it enticing but not promise the moon and fail to deliver?

It wasn't until November or December that I came up with a plan that I could be comfortable with. As I worked, I found myself getting excited. I had started from a standpoint of “how on earth can I create enough regularly scheduled content to make this work?” I realized that this could be a huge opportunity for me.

While I have been getting better about posting on this blog, it has taken me time to get more convinced that I have something to say. I've always loved writing, and in the last while I've gotten back to doing more of it. I had never stopped, but the frequency had fallen off, and it all became more and more private – and I became more tentative about it. As I've begun to write more, a lot more, I've remembered how much I love it.

Another thing I won't be able to do anytime soon is my theatre work.  My dear departed friend Georges Molnar pictured as "The Bear".  Photographer unknown.

 

I realized that Patreon could be a place for all the writing that doesn't fit here, and more. It could be my motivation to really dig into the research that I want to do but there seems to be no reason for. All those alleys that I travel from idea to product, all the threads that wend off into their own rabbit hole worlds could be collected and developed and have a home.

The more I thought about it, and the more I started to really work on the writing I was doing for my “About” page for Patreon, the more excited I got. Whether or not it ever helps me to make a living, it is a place to explore all the avenues I've neglected. As much as I enjoy pursuing knowledge for its own sake, there is a limit to how much I can motivate myself to gather it all together from cryptic notes on slips of paper into cohesive presentations when I don't have a venue for them.

When I restarted this blog, I chose to take it down a different pathway, and yes, I can put some of that here – and I will, as I continue to write more. What Patreon has given me is a vision – not one of monetary gain so much as a home for my voice that is both public and private. This blog will be here for me to keep voicing my thoughts as they pertain to the evolution of Elfworks in both an inner and outer nature. If anyone wants more, there will be other places for them to go that are still Elfworks Studios, and if anyone chooses to help Elfworks Studios evolve with a financial contribution, Patreon gives them a place to do that.Patreon Link

Websites and Personalities

A few days ago I received an email from someone else running a small business. In all likelihood it was generated by an algorithm rather than the person, but regardless...

They run a website design company and wanted to offer me a discount on doing my website. Giving it the benefit of the doubt I answered.

“Best of luck with your business and I hope you do well. I'm afraid I have my own gurus and cannot afford to have an outsider do my site (which is in the process of being re-vamped). I'm afraid all the artists I know are in the same boat, but I will keep it in mind if I hear of anyone. Thanks for reaching out. “

It got me to thinking...While I think there are lots of great people out there who do web design, and there are lots of businesses that benefit from their services...and let's face it, who, in running a small business has the time and expertise to design and maintain their own site?

And yet,

There are so many of us who do. Why is that?

Well, for myself it is at least in part a very definite sense of identity. I have gone through friends who became web designers and who offered me a great deal, and I worked with them for short periods. But in the end they were somehow unable how to communicate who I was.

Some of the designs were likely very good commercially. They were slick. But they were not me. I know lots of people who have gone into web design and done great things for others. I love the sites they have created for them, but I don't think they could come up with something that is for me.

Why is it that my website has been a pared down showcase that does very little to attract people to my business, or give them much information for so many years? Because it has suited me, and the business. Not smart, but true. My business has been part-time most of the time, and I have not been able to decide about certain facets of it – Where exactly do I want it to go? What exactly do I want to highlight....

For a very long time I thought I had to settle down and just focus on making one or two kinds of things. I have since realized that that is not me, and it is highly unlikely that I will be doing that.

There are aspects of my business that are not on the website at all, or only mentioned in passing. I certainly don't put any of my wig work or facial hair into the showcase. It is not appropriate for what I am trying to promote, and it is a part of what I do but not what I want to push. I have other avenues to get that work, and I get enough of it in an average year to keep me happy. I love it, but I don't want to do just that.

So keeping control of my website and its (lack of) progress is important to me. I have friends (gurus) who help me immensely – and in fact do most (currently pretty much all) of the technical work (Thank you Travis!) I am working on changing that and learning what it is I really need to know to do that work myself. But it is just another hat to wear that keeps me from making stuff, so I have been reluctant. And that is a huge reason why people hire out. And a great reason to do it if you can.

For many of us it is a raw cost factor. Many of the people I know who run a small business are emphasis on the word small. Generally it is a one person show, and the profit margins are nearly non-existent as it is. Investing in someone else's time and expertise is just not financially feasible.

Some people would love to turn over their sites and free up their time, but they just can't afford it. And if the site has been up and running a long time and offers a lot of information, the cost skyrockets pretty quickly.

Now, it is true that a lot of this has been made much simpler and cheaper – all the DIY website companies that offer templates and widgets and interfaces have made a lot of this a moot point. But when you are running a small business and you essentially are your brand it comes down to choices. Maybe the choices I'm making are technically wrong. This is probably a spot where my choices are asinine and are holding me back. There is certainly a cost not only in time, but in exposure, in reach, in promotability. Regardless, they are my choices.

I am in the process of going through and reviewing choices, and learning new skills, and doing the work to find a balance for my business and my site. I have just given the okay to my guru to mess with my blog, experimentally, to see if he can give it a further reach. I find the process terrifying, but I know that I need to step out of my comfort zone if I want this to work, and want to be able to create enough of a following to allow me to work.

I was talking about all this to a friend recently, about all the time I'm spending learning to photograph my work so that it presents reasonably well, getting Etsy up and running, writing for the site etc. He asked me whether I thought it was worth the time I was spending – the time I was missing in making things – to do all of this rather than hiring out. I'm still not sure the balance is the right one, but for now it is the option I consider the most feasible.