the magazine dedicated to greeting card publishing and entrepreneurship
Gypsy Chic
magazine Issue 18 - 2017
IWITH SPY MY
Ladder Club Takeaways 2017
LITTLE EYE
Oppor
tunity
Not
BRALDNINDG BUI
BOOK NOOK
...
ith w s w e i v r e t n I ! ! INSIDE! n May Hall Katie Phythian a
nd Shanno
CONTENTS 3
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
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INTERVIEW WITH... KATIE PHYTHIAN DESIGN
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BOOK NOOK
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MULTIPLE STREAMS OF INCOME
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STAFFORDSHIRE DOGS
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10 INTERVIEW WITH... SHANNON MAY HALL 14 ZERO F*CKS GIVEN
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16 LADDER CLUB TAKEAWAYS 2017 18 I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE 20 OPPORTUNITY NOT 21 NOVEMBER TOOLS OF THE TRADE 22 BRAND BUILDING
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LfrEomTthT E R e Editor
P
inch punch, 1st of the month. Welcome to Issue 18 of my little e-zine which aims to shine a window on the world of greeting card publishing, art, design and business. Getting a publication out each month is getting harder and harder at the moment due to work commitments but I hope to get back on track soon. My article White Papers Part II will have to wait for a later issue but in place of it, I’ve taken a light hearted look at rejection in sales which I hope you’ll find useful. October was a busy, fruitful month. I picked up some new stockists, designed three new card ranges, and am extending these day by day. I’ve cold-emailed potential buyers with news of my new creations and sold door to door. Email responses, as you will know, are a mixed bag – one buyer, on opening my email, wanted to meet with me the very same day (my product being so relevant, and perfect for their own particular needs), and others’ simply never respond at all. But keep going we must….that early Avon training I got aged 15 has stood me in good stead. A “no” doesn’t always mean no. Katie Phythian Design, and Shannon May Hall are this issue’s contributors and I hope you will get lots of inspiration from their art and interviews. Thank you both for participating. So relax, take a rest, and enjoy the read.
Lorraine www.lorrainestylianou.com
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Interview with .....
Katie Phythian Design
1. I ADORE THE MAIN IMAGE ON YOUR WEBSITE OF PAPER LEAVES AT A TRADEFAIR. DID YOU MAKE THESE YOURSELF? lll Yes I did make these. It took a month of evenings to create these from templates I made myself. From memory there where 200 leaves in total. I used beautiful G.F.Smith Colourplan paper too which I feel makes them extra special. We had so many people at Spring Fair ask if they were for sale! 2. YOUR CARD DESIGNS ARE WHIMSICAL,LIGHT AND BRIGHT - WONDERFULLY DELICATE ILLUSTRATIONS THAT SHOW GREAT CARE AND THOUGHT IN DESIGN TERMS. TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR DESIGN BACKGROUND AND HOW YOUR STYLE HAS DEVELOPED. ELABORATE A LITTLE ON YOUR CURRENT SET UPIN TERMS OF PROCESSES AS WELL, IF YOU WILL. lll Thank you that’s lovely of you to say. Yes, I do take great care in the illustrations, I think because I am so passionate about illustration I am naturally drawn to this... often to the detriment of my admin duties! I think it pays off as people do love our cards. Mr.Llama has been particularly popular
across all seasons. I paint first, shapes and objects, which then get scanned in to the computer. These then form the base of the illustration which is then finished with some digital illustration. You’ll notice I love layers upon layers in my work, which really does different things to the colours, this I love. I have always known I loved designing & designing cards in particular since I was very young, probably around age 7, when I set up a greeting card company selling cards to my family & friends! I knew later on that I had to carve a career in the design field. After working twelve years for other card publishers I felt it was now the time to start my own journey. It has been a complete whirlwind from day one and continues to be the best leap of faith I ever made. Katie Phythian Design is a brand that is uplifting & happy. It’s not afraid of a big splash of colour. If I could move the studio to the Mediterranean & sip on gin and tonic while I paint I most certainly would! Our motto is ‘good vibes only’! It is a true love of illustrating & painting in all it’s forms. We want each recipient to feel like they are receiving a beautiful piece of artwork when they open one of our cards. F
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At the moment my partner Mike & I work from our studio which is in our home in the little village of Marston, Cheshire. Mike heads up sales, production & marketing, while I design and take care of some of the marketing. We started the company in January this year, taking on Spring fair in February which everyone said we were mad to do! it was the best thing we ever did. I always say just go for it, the parachute will open! We have nine incredible sales agents across the U.K for whom without them KPD would not be as strong as it is. The main collection of cards we have are all hand-finished with small gems which we out source to a company of incredibly hard-working homeworkers. Our orders then get packed up by them as well and sent to our lovely customers. It works well and enables me to focus purely on design most of the time.
in our Father’s Day collection which has proved really popular. I think we need more don’t you think!? 4. WHAT TRADESHOWS, IF ANY, WILL YOU BE ATTENDING IN 2017/18 - EITHER AS AN EXHIBITOR OR VISITOR. l l l We are still working out which shows to attend next year, last year we did Spring Fair & PG Live so it could be a repeat. Both are very different from each other so it does work to exhibit at both.
3. I SEE YOU ARE AN AVID CYCLIST - IS THERE A BIKE RANGE IN THE PIPELINE (OR OTHER INSIDER SECRETS YOU CAN SHARE )? lll Ha! yes, I am an avid cyclist. We have cycled all over Europe. This year we cycled from Dusseldorf to Paris in aid of Wood Street Mission, a charity close to our hearts. I have created one bike card
5. DO YOU DO ALL THE HAND EMBELLISHING YOURSELF OR DO YOU HAVE HELP? l l l I think the above answers this. 6. WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE KP DESIGNS BY 2020 AND WHAT MARKETING STRATEGIES ARE YOU ADOPTING TO GET THERE? l l l I can see beautiful quirky ceramics, bright fabrics & fun giftwrap collections, but who knows we are so busy right now we haven’t had time to think further than next year! KATIE PHYTHIAN DESIGN
Website: https://katiephythiandesign.wordpress.com Email: sales@katiephythiandesign.com Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/katiephythiandesign/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/katie_phythian Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katiephythiandesign
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THE BOOK NOOK SMARTYPANTS BRANDING:
THE ULTIMATE GUIDE FOR WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS TO GETTING RECOGNIZED, BEING REMEMBERED, AND MAKING MORE MONEY IN BUSINESS
BY DANIELLE M. MILLER l Despite
its title, this e-book is relevant for everyone in business. An inexpensive read at only £2.32 on Kindle, Danielle M. Miller helps you to get to the heart of branding, helping you discover the words and feelings that describe your business and how to express yourself in your marketing so as to appear multi-dimensional, and authentic. It’s a subject I love reading more about and for a small sum, you can follow Miller’s tips to start your own journey of self discovery and create a believable brand around what you do.
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E L P I T L MS TU REAMS
O F I N CO M E !
NEVER THROWING A STAMP AWAY, I’VE COLLECTED BAGS OF THEM OVER THE YEARS. NOW THAT I’M DECLUTTERING MADLY I’M SELLING THEM IN BUNDLES ONLINE. SO DIG OUT THAT OLD STAMP COLLECTION YOU’VE BEEN SITTING ON ALL THOSE YEARS – IT COULD PAY FOR THAT NEW GREETING CARD RANGE YOU NEED PRINTED.
PS – Not a bad idea to get chummy with some admissions officers either. They receive them by the sack load.
THE ART... OF LETTING GO
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t’s autumn now, and time to spend more evenings by the hearth. I’ve been gathering my winter fuel all summer (literally), collecting discarded planks of wood and broken branches and storing them in a nice big shed ready for those colder evenings. I’ve got two Staffordshire dogs on my mantelpiece (so very Victorian!) that I enjoy painting but my art collection has grown so big, I’ve had to say adieu.
Releasing these, and many others into the great wide world is therapeutic…..but not before I’ve vectorised the images. Regular art sales should help oil the wheels - paying for cellobags, envelopes, printer toner and postage costs. It’s taken me a long time to get used to selling originals – but after I tripped on a huge plastic container of them this summer (whilst moving house) and damaging my arm something had to give. Ironically, I’ve had to use my art sales to fund the chiropractor. I’m planning to paint lots of new work (by the fire) over the coming months….. so watch this space.
Interview with .....
Shannon May Hall
Artist & Graphic Designer
I always like shining a light on creatives in my neck of the woods and when I discovered Shannon May’s work I emailed her an invite to feature here. 1. TELL US HOW YOU GOT TO WHERE YOU ARE AS AN ILLUSTRATOR AND ARE YOU ABLE TO MAKE A LIVING DOING WHAT YOU LOVE? lll Art was something that I always wanted to pursue; the problem was, there were other things that I was good at that people considered more ‘stable’ jobs! I quickly found Programming and IT support were not for me and combined my artistic skills with my digital ones, so a lot of what I do is digital painting. For a few years art and design were my living, but due to the often up and down nature of freelance work, my illustrations have become a part time thing which is a shame. Hopefully the market will get an upsurge again soon!
3. WHAT STEPS WERE INVOLVED TO TURN YOUR CAT DESIGNS INTO A DIGITAL PRODUCT….. AND WHAT OTHER PRODUCT IDEAS HAVE YOU IN MIND? WILL GREETING CARDS FEATURE IN THOSE PLANS? l l l The cat designs for ‘Catadora: Colouring book designs for the feline inclined’ were digitally vectored, which means they could be blown up to gigantic sizes with no quality loss if I really wanted to. They are then put into PDF files, which people can then print out from their home computer so they can colour them in. I find this model works well, as it means people can pick and choose their favourite designs and use their own paper rather than have to buy an entire colouring book which could also have thinner paper. Its as if you read my mind on the other products! Greetings cards are definitely something I have planned for the future, and cushions/ printed fabrics are also something I have been looking into the costs of production for. F
2. YOUR STYLE, IN MY OPINION, IS PERFECT FOR ANIMATION AND SCI-FI ZINES. WHERE DOES YOUR INSPIRATION COME FROM AND HOW DO YOU MARKET YOURSELF? lll As I grew up I consumed a lot of comics, animated tv series and sci-fi films, which highly influenced the art style that I grew to use. Though I like to experiment with different styles, I usually end up going back to a more cartoony regularity, I guess my hands can’t help it. Most of my marketing is social media based; I also used to livestream drawing my art online which met with some success, but watch out if anyone reading is thinking about this, its highly engaging for your audience, but takes alot of time and preparation to do properly.
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4. IS COSTING CLIENT PROJECTS TRICKY FOR YOU OR DO YOU HAVE A CLEAR RATIONALE FOR PRICING YOUR WORK? lll I have a formula I stick to now, but when I started out I was all over the place! I think its just something you learn with time. The harder part is convincing clients you are worth that price, which is all down to marketing. 5. IS TEACHING ILLUSTRATION SOMETHING YOU DO AND WHAT ONLINE PLATFORMS DO YOU /WOULD YOU CONSIDER TO SHARE YOUR EXPERTISE. lll Teaching illustration is something I’ve dabbled in in the form of youtube based video tutorials and livestreaming draw-along sessions; I also go into schools to do drawing sessions, to let children know that illustration is a viable career path and you shouldn’t let people sway you from it if you’re determined to make it work (as I did early in my career!) Something I’m currently considering is setting up a Patreon with access to on demand art tutorials, but its still a pipe dream at this juncture.
6. DO YOU EXHIBIT YOUR ORIGINAL SKETCHES/PRINTS ANYWHERE? l l l I exhibit at Sci-fi and Comic-con style shows but do not currently have my work in a gallery; watch this space though. 7. WHAT GOALS, IF ANY, HAVE YOUR SET YOURSELF BY 2020? l l l I want to build up a larger repertoire of colouring books, and hopefully illustrate some fun projects (Things like board games/children’s books and game concept art). SHANNON MAY HALL
Website: shannonmayart.com Email: shannon@shannonmayart.com Facebook: facebook.com/shannonmayart Twitter: @shannonmayart Instagram: shannonmayart
ZERO F*CKS
GIVEN
- DEALING WITH REJECTION IN SALES -
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hen I worked on the Strand I used to have a brief chat with Dave, the Big Issue seller most Mondays and bought him a coffee from Greggs. His friendly Pit Bull had that “seen it all before” look in his eyes as he curled up on a dusty old blanket. Dave was different. He’d tell me what seminar he was off to that week on behalf of NatWest. The bank had hired him to come in and speak to their sales weary staff about rejection. Sales people of all sorts go through exactly the same feelings – that “thrown down” feeling you get when nobody returns your calls or answers your emails. The Norwegian word “nedslått” describes it best – the feeling a piece of mud might have when it hits the floor. TedEx talks on Youtube are an excellent source of inspiration when you’ve had repeated rejection. At my last count there were over 15 motivational videos on this subject alone by speakers including Brene Brown, Jia Jiang, and my favourite Barbara Corcoran (her book Shark Tales sits proudly on my “Property Shelf”). After much study, Barbara realised the only difference between people who were hugely successful and those who were not is that they took less time feeling sorry for themselves – they hadn’t a failure bone in their bodies.
Reinterpreted into Sarah Knight-speak, that means they gave less personal f*cks. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=GwRzjFQa_Og Sarah’s talk is one of the funnier talks on TedEx entitled The Life changing magic of not giving a f*ck. Whilst it doesn’t focus on rejection per se, it looks at the time wasting activities we all do that we know we shouldn’t. Applying her idea of not letting something take up our time can be applied to the way we deal with rejection. Why let anyone who has rejected your product take up any of your personal headspace – rather dust yourself off, focus on getting your cards into their competitors, and winning business with a better retailer. Also try and see if your designs can be improved. The “rejector” is not the only fish in the sea – there are plenty more outlets to try. Listening to Laurie Petron’s talk you’ll realise that rejection is necessary for success – it is the key ingredient to making you a better creator. If we view rejections like stepping stones to bigger and better things we’re on the right track. If you are failing it shows you are succeeding at trying and we should be setting rejection goals – a way of getting stronger and better, and an opportunity to refine our product. Selling our
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designs is very personal. We are asking strangers to like them as much as we do. The trick is to find those buyers who will anoint your designs as worthy and not to dwell on those stores who haven’t “approved” us. When rejected it is easy to bad mouth the rejectors rather than value any constructive comment they may make. Laurie suggests that by shifting our power dynamic away from self-blame that annihilates the rejectors we need to aim to be better than we’ve ever been before. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=JwDW8NG7vBg Insightsquared.com cites a list of ways to cope with rejection: 1. Don’t take it personally 2. Expect it 3. Be professional 4. Ask why 5. Send a last-minute proposal 6. Talk with your teammates 7. Treat it as a necessary step 8. Be persistent 9. Stick to your routine 10. Focus on the positives 11. Never give up So, to boost morale after sales rejection spend some time going through some motivational Youtube videos and then re-boot with renewed vigour.
Good Luck x
LADDER CLUB Takeaways 2017
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t’s now over a month since this year’s Ladder Club and I thought it would be good to share some of my top takeaways. I don’t get to attend every year (having been across the water for the past two!) so (unusually) looked forward to my 5.30am start. To keep costs down I declined an overnight stay so had to catch the first morning bus and train to Southend. I even found a shortcut to the venue which got me there with plenty of time to spare. Would you believe it - they’d even put the bunting out for me.
Since I’ve attended a few Ladder Club events since my first in 2012, I knew there’d be yummy food and plenty of tea and coffee. My waist measurement had certainly gone up a notch by the end of the day! - just look at that cake. After informative and personable talks by the Art File, Scribbler, Wendy Jones-Blackett and others, I came home with a notebook full of illegible writing which I’ll try and make sense of here. Encouraged by the Art File to give our businesses a strategic overhaul, I came home with a mind to concentrate, as they do, on bespoke projects that keep my stockists’ offering fresh and topical. I do this by bringing a specific location to life through its architecture, icons and symbols. To maintain a lead in what I do I need to be a) prolific b) innovative. For me, as a self-annointed sales rep, the relationship I have with the buyers I meet are really important as I need to be able to offer as much value as possible – being able to tweak designs to suit a particular venue, and to discuss the different design possibilities within a theme/card range. I realise I need to do a new SWOT analysis so I can iron out weaknesses in my small business. I
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also need to do what successful card publishers are doing by targeting sectors I may not have previously included (e.g. food and fashion retailers) whilst also keeping an eye on the Export market. Knowing that the High Street is in decline, it is advisable to focus on those areas where business is increasing. Once one’s SWOT analysis has been dealt with, it is worth paying ones goals up to 2020 more than a passing glance – focussing (as best one can) on sales, profit, investment and innovation. Rather than generalising in terms of market sector it is worth breaking each sector down into specific segments and to list them in terms of country, retailer, or venue. Then diarise how much time to spend on these segments and to be crystal clear on your offer to them. This will require a good knowledge of one’s marketing strategy – how you reach the people you want as stockists e.g tradefairs, email campaigns, sample drops. Giving yourself a clear deadline in terms of getting brochures completed isn’t a bad idea either.
potential for growth is to be encouraged. When you are clear about your own SWOTS, take a look at your competitors (sounds like a bad form of acne!) The advice is to choose a path less trodden, rather than to follow them like sheep. In addition to considering your marketing plan, the team you will use to implement it, and the operations required, it is a good idea to draw up some financial projections. In my case, the data I have is a bit flimsy but no matter how questionable it may be, it can help clarify what is and isn’t working. The top tips I took away is i) the need to keep reviewing every aspect of the business and ii) to take the road less travelled (which thankfully is something I’ve been doing for some month’s now). The seminar really gave me encouragement to continue, and realise the scale, reach and untapped potential of the industry as a whole.
SWOTS, KPI’S AND PROJECTIONS So should small start-ups worry their heads about KPI’s? Personally, I haven’t spent a vast amount of time on this when I really only hawk a few card ranges, but as you grow it is worth compiling the data on sales, breaking it down into the number of orders per customer, the value of each order, stockists, and the card range itself - know one’s best and least successful design within each collection. Identifying one’s target customer early on and setting up appointments as soon as a particular range is complete helps to give you direction. In broader terms, keeping an eye on the industry as a whole – its trends and
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Y M H T I W Y P S I ! E Y E E L T LIT
GOT TEENAGERS?
IF NOT BORROW SOME. I’ve had such fun this month getting my kids’ feedback on their secret shopper experiences. As part of their school homework they had to interview shop owners, buyers, and retail staff about their jobs, the products they sell, what is and isn’t working. They were promptly dispatched on a number of very specific undercover operations. They came back with pages of notes on what the venues were looking for, what isn’t working, as well as interesting behind the scenes chit chat – pure gold to the nimble creative who can rattle off a range in record speed to cater for that need. Cost – zero, and I didn’t even need to don a long mac and black glasses.
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OPPORTUNITY (KNOCKS)
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T O N
hen you get a message in your
As you check out the website it soon becomes clear
on your artwork, and asking you to
and the curator’s motives are financial. Just to have
Instagram feed complimenting you
that the opportunity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be
submit a high resolution image of
one of your images considered by a “jury” requires a
it to a magazine dedicated to showcasing artistic
payment of $20 or $30 for 4 images.
talent, it’s not always easy to work out whether it’s genuine or not.
Whilst the organisation may not be doing anything
I did in fact send the image they requested off for
review but then received this message:
Hi Lorraine,
I have some good news for you about the art you submitted a few days ago: our jury reviewed your work and you have officially been preselected for our magazine opportunity (based on your Instagram submission).
nefarious, it never sits well with me when a company asks for money for a submission.
It’s interesting that the first “jury” were able to
consider my image for preselection free of charge but to get it before a second “jury” required
wonga. If my advice is anything to go by, delete this straight away.
SOUNDS LIKE A LOAD OF OLD
This means you entered the next and final selection-round of our competition, to be featured in the printed version of our Q4 edition of xxxxxx MAGAZINE (October 2017). Can you send me more samples of your work using the form in the link below as soon as possible? xxxxxxxxxxxxx Regards, Curator xxxxxxxx Magazine
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BULL!
NOVEMBER
TOOLS OF THE TRADE n
This month, I’ve bought a lot of fine liners and overhead marker pens from
Amazon, Poundland and Wilko. Only the cheap fine liners do what I need them to do. Spending money on specialist pens is a waste of money for the purpose of colouring in. Bic Velleda – an Amazon add-on costing £3.63 (which I discovered by chance don’t bleed into colours already on the page) let you colour straight over the top of anything
Wilko’s handwriting pens (4 for
you’ve drawn without smudging. I
£1) are hardwearing, but for quick
just wish they’d do a yellow colour
colour sketching nothing beats
which you need to represent lighting
Poundland’s fine liners (8 for £1).
inside buildings. For now, I just have
My Staedtler Triplus Fineliner order
to make do with their orange colour,
(£3.99) is still to arrive so I can test
or a cheap felt tip.
these soon and report back.
B
D N A R
B
g n i d l i u
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A great way to raise brand awareness and boost business is to wrap one or two samples in plain paper and send to stockists who may not have ordered for a while. “Garnish” with a label from your card range. (A good new product, me thinks). I get family members to drop these off locally and have bagged myself some very welcome repeat orders in the process.
CREATE THAT “WOW” FACTOR
! Y S U B T GE 3
A window on the world of a greeting card publisher
Gypsy Chic magazine