Ali J Art & Illustration

Organizations, Associations and Portfolio Sites

It is great to live a creative life.  The reality is though being creative doesn't necessarily lead to a steady income.  With the struggling finances of the world today, at some stage it is destined to start hurting.  For me, having a small business is tough.  I have clients, I get steady sales but I want to grow and expand.  In order to do that I need a financial injection, but of course banks won't go anywhere near me.  In fact I've been given advice from three different sources that I would need to earn above $200,000 a year through the business before I would even be able to get a credit card due to the world economic strain.  Crazy huh?

So I've been making a bit more of an effort to get exposure for my work in different angles, hoping that will give me some extra passion to create and bring me out of my current personal depression.  I need to stay busy to help myself pass the time, so what can be better then putting myself out there?

What I've been doing these past few months is joining every professional body that I've come across that relates to what I do.  My thoughts were that these different organizations offer me opportunites to grow and get me out of my box.  Whether through advice, networking, learning/courses, exposing me to potential clients or just allowing me to have discounts for purchases.  They all have some sort of benefit (and yes there is a cost to most, but well worth it)

The list is as follows -

Artsource - a Western Australian organization focused on supporting and promoting artists.  The biggest in Western Australia.  I've got a MAX membership which gives me liability insurance (for markets/exhibitions), a portfolio, free access to all courses/talks etc and much more.  It is definitely worth every cent.  My portfolio has brought in potential clients and job offers, but so far nothing really suitable specifically to what I do.  (Things like 3D animation & other technical things I don't know about)

National Association for the Visual Arts - I've only recently joined but they have great books to purchase (discounted for members) and good advice.

Australian Graphic Design Association - This is such a friendly group, I've even been assigned a 'design' mentor to help me slip into the networking scene and had a very friendly phone call from him last week.  This is also a recent joining but so far I've had opportunities to go to networking sessions, movie nights and I'm going to a fabric screenprinting workshop coming up.  Now if I only had the courage to actually attend a networking session......

Joondalup Business Association - I joined a few weeks ago and they send out regular e-mails/information about businesses in my area.  They send out discounts, plus other relevant things.  I don't quite fit the 'standard' business model so a lot of the information isn't relevant to me in particular but by joining I've now got the ability to apply for the Small Business Awards in my local area.  I thought I might apply and see how I go - afterall it is all about growing.

Joondalup Community Arts Association - a great body setup to promote artists around my local area.  It gives opportunities to get exposure for your work, get into exhibitions, get extra press, meet other members etc.  They have an art gallery in joondalup blend(er) setup for artists for this organization.  Unfortunately I've had to turn down the exhibition invitations so far because I have no work that I can put on show!

Art On The Move - This place operates out of Osborne Park and was primarily formed to curate & ship travelling art exhibitions around Western Australia, and Australia.  As an artist you can apply to them with an exhibition idea, and if accepted your artwork travels for 3-5 years all over the place (with no cost to you!).  Such a great opportunity!  Personally though I've just been doing a number of courses there covering everything from curating an exhibition, to packaging & shipping artworks safely.  I want to do the exhibition lighting courses too sometime in the future.

ABAF/ Australian Business Arts Foundation - I'm not a member, but I'm on their mailing list.  They offer heaps of free courses across the year for artists covering everything from websites to exhibitions to promoting your work.  I think I've done all their courses now...!!

Small Business Solutions - This is an organization setup by the government to help small businesses grow.  I've been accepted into the program and basically I'll be partnered with a mentor to help define the issues I have with my business and where I can go from here.  I even won a mini 'grant' from my local council to cover some of the initial costs.

Arts Law - an organization setup to help artists & legal issues.  I've used them many times for advice & information.  A lawyer can cost up to $350 for an hour..... arts law is only $99 for a years membership.  =)

There are a number of others that I'm a member of .... but I'm afraid I've lost track of who else I've signed up with.  =)  I should really write out a list.  The ones I remember the most are those who send out regular e-mails/information to me.

There are also other sites/professional bodies you can sign up with, and being an artist/illustrator I've been looking at expanding my portfolio sites.

Yesterday I signed up for ArtsConnect and had the pleasure of chatting to Teresa who organized to put up my profile.  Within moments of having my portfolio up I've even been featured on the front page!



Here is the artsConnect portfolio that I have up at the moment.  (They even have a twitter page!!  How is that for connecting? http://www.twitter.com/artsconnect) -



I'm also in process of signing up to illustrators Australia, just waiting on their reply to an e-mail I sent them regarding payment methods which is taking longer then I expected.  I've been told by a number of people that it is a great place to join.

Any other suggestions?  I'm seeking anything business/art/graphic design/illustration based.

Join my facebook 'fan' page

I had some friends ask me a while ago to create an ' Ali J fan' page on facebook, so they could keep up to date with my work because they don't know how to keep up to date with the blog.

You can see the page & join as a fan right here.  Personally I would love to see some more photos uploaded to the 'fan photo' section!!  I love to see my work transformed into other peoples lives, it is very rewarding.

Marketing Your Products

As soon as you start to sell your products, you enter the world of business.  Even if you have just sold one item, you are making a business transaction.  The world of business involves words such as clients, customers, competitors, research, target markets, locations and so much more.  It all sounds very scary at first, but when broken down to simple subjects you will realise that it isn't complicated at all.  As you learn more about it, you can apply that information to your own business and learn how to make it work for you.

You will only get from your business what you put into it.

I work from home.  I have easy access to the television, food in the fridge, maybe I can go outside and play ball with my dog for a few hours, or maybe I can sleep in.  What benefit will those things have to my business?  None - so why distract yourself with them?  Set yourself a time to work, and work every single minute beyond the best of your ability.  You can get a lot done in one hour of hard work then five hours of fluffing about.

I am passionate about the work I create and I put everything into my business which in turn pays off with exposure, amazing opportunities, experience and knowledge.  The more knowledge that I have about a subject, the more confidence I have.  In addition to that my clients can see my passion and have confidence in my abilities to complete the work as specified in the brief and receive the submission within time.  Every client wants to know you can do the work well and work within deadlines.

Submitting work within a deadline is crucial.  Deadlines are more important then the work involved in creating the product.

If you are presenting a proposal to a firm but arrive four hours late - how does that benefit those potential clients?  What reflection will that have on your business or your character?  Deadlines are in place for a reason.  Whatever you do, don't miss the deadline or you can wave those potential clients goodbye.

In order to make a business work you need to market what you are offering.

You have a product or a service and you wish to offer it to potential clients.  Does anyone know that you offer those products or services?  How are you going to let them know?  At the end of the day you need clients to purchase products in order for your business to grow.  Marketing is the only thing that will increase your sales volume.  It doesn't matter how great your idea is.  You may have invented the next best thing to paper-clips, but if no-one knows about your product, how can they purchase it or use it?

Marketing is an attitude

In order to market your products you need to present what you are offering in the best potential light.

1. Attract the customer
2. Display the product
3. Convert it into a sale
4. Turn that sale into a repeat sale so that customer becomes a client.

Clients are a very important part of a business.  Those clients will potentially bring you repeat sales and if you are lucky enough free marketing of the best kind.  That free marketing is known as word of mouth.  In an ideal world a business will have 20% of their sales from new customers as a result of their marketing, 30% of their sales from regular clients which leaves 50% of their sales as a result from word of mouth.  The percentages vary according to the type of business, but at the end of the day the vast majority of sales will be from clients or the result of word of mouth.  How often do you recommend products to your friends?  Great places to dine, a new food item you've eaten - or how about a drink?  We do it all the time and this is known as 'word of mouth'.

Anyone call sell a product

Anyone can take a $300 product and reduce it to $1, then sell it by the truckload.  Your challenge with marketing isn't to get a sale.  It is to generate repeat customers, also known as 'clients'.  You want to meet the needs of your customers higher then your competitors.

In regards to marketing there are many things you need to consider -

• How can you attract a potential client?
• How much do you want to spend on marketing your product?
• How much is that customer worth to you?  Do you want a regular sale of $20 or $200? 
• Who are they?  - age, gender, income.
• Where are they? - in a house, the army, overseas, in a remote village, the moon?  If you don't know where they are you can't market to them.
• How do they think & behave? - can you sell via the internet to them if they don't trust the system? Can you sell via a mail order catalogue, or are they more likely to purchase seeing the product in person?
• How does your customer make a decision?  - Do they need to see the product on display in a representational room?  Will they consider the price factor?  Is it about the designer label, or the name?
• How involved with the customer be in the purchasing process?  - The higher the price = the more involved they will be.  Do you need to consider contracts and negotiations?  Is that customer going to need to approve work in stages?  Do you need to present draft plans and sketches for approval?  Just think about the work involved in building a house.  Are you offering a product with a high selling price point?  The higher the price = the higher the risk to the customer = the more involved they will be in the process.  They will expect certain reassurances from you that they will receive their product on time and in the best possible format.
• What business are you in?  - At the end of the day it isn't about selling, it is about what you are offering. So, what are you offering?
• Who are your direct competitors?  - These businesses are those who offer the same product and service as you.  e.g. You sell a sandpit, and someone else sells a sandpit, both intended for children to play in.
• Who are your indirect competitors?  - These business are those who fulfil the customers needs in the same way as what you are offering.  e.g. You sell sandpits for children to play in.  Your indirect competitors would sell products that your children could play in too such as swimming pools and children's play sets.
• What do your competitors provide that you don't?  Are they relevant to your business? - Is a half price promotion in winter relevant if you sell bathers?  Is offering 100 pencils colours going to work for you if all the pencil types are the same?
• What is your brand?  What expectation are you creating for your product?  What is the perceived value of your product?
• What is your objective?  Are you trying to maximise your profit by offering a lower volume for a higher price?

Finally here are some more points to think about and discuss.

Always under promise and over deliver.

Price is the only decision that will affect your product.

Aim for the target market that will give you the best result from your advertising.

Define yourself against your competitors.