I was recently at a show where Vickie Lee was also exhibiting. During some down time we had a chance to chat business and I got to learn from a real pro. I’ve focused my interview questions on some of the things that we talked about and I want to thank Vickie for her giving heart and her passion for telling it like it is in order to help others excel in their own bead/art businesses!
How long have you been in the glass business? How long in the bead business?
I began lampworking 36 years ago, in January 1972, after seeing the demonstrations at the Disneyland crystal arcade.
Originally a hobby, I found myself selling my work within a year, after a rep found me and put me in the wholesale gift shows. The orders were overwhelming and I found myself leaving wholesale after a few years to try retail where I was able to work during the year preparing for my seasonal sales events. My first Christmas booth in 1979 sold $20,000 in product during the holidays. The following 2 years I doubled my locations and had found my niche!
My personal life abruptly changed and I returned to wholesale. It took a while, but I soon found a great niche in that venue as well. I eventually moved my wholesale business to the MGM Hotel in Las Vegas, working under contract as their resident lampworker. After 3 years in Las Vegas I opened my own Galleria back home in California, but quickly returned to wholesale sculptures, until I found beads.
Out of curiosity, I wandered into the BABE show in the Bay Area and the first beads I saw were Leah Fairbanks. I was in total awe and at that moment decided to give this new art form a try. In January 2003 I bought my first sample pack of soft glass and mandrels and began to teach myself about this art. I owe all of the wonderful bead people online for their openness and generosity in helping me to achieve this coveted goal.
What advice would you give to beadmakers getting into the business of selling beads, regarding pricing their work?
Usually when someone asks about pricing, I ask them if they could sell their beads for half of what they are currently priced.
My first bead sales were wholesale, so right away I had to price them where I was making money at a wholesale level. When I crossed over to retail, I doubled them to match the stores that carried them. It was scary at first, charging “that much” as a new beadmaker, but then I realized that if people were buying them at the stores, they were priced accordingly. And, I wanted to keep my prices the same as the stores, so that I never undercut my wholesale accounts. That’s a big, no no in any business.
Another thing that can throw off a pricing decision is the time it takes to make a bead. We all know the “per hour rule of thumb” but sometimes miss the fact that the years of experience and your design should contribute to your pricing decision. Sometimes an experienced or fast lampworker tries to follow the per hour rule because “it didn’t take that long to make”. I always say it took me 36 years “to make” because that’s what it took for me to get to this point. So pricing adjustments should always come into play based on your unique design and how long it took you to develop your style, let alone that particular design, and experience will teach us if we are on the right track.
What are your thoughts on wholesaling vs. selling retail?
When I began both my lampworking career in sculptured glass, and my bead career, my first sales were wholesale. I then ventured into retail with my sculptures and now at retail bead shows with my beads and jewelry. Both avenues have their advantages and disadvantages, so it becomes a matter of what type of working environment suits how you like to work.
What I love about wholesale is that you spend most of your time doing what you love, melting glass and working in the studio. Before I got into beads, I had a wholesale glass clown and Christmas ornament line that I sold nationwide through reps. This was before computers and so I would fill my reps orders from my order sheets by my workbench. It wasn’t exciting, but it was easy, consistent and I made good money that I could count on. I was usually booked 6-8 weeks in advance and carried a Net 30 on most of my accounts, so I always had a good steady income. That was important for me at a time when I needed to be home to raise a child and support us both.
The disadvantage of wholesale is that your creativity suffers a bit, unless you set aside extra time for that as well. You have to be consistent with your wholesale items, and be able to duplicate them exactly as shown every time, even when being handmade. But….when you receive a $3,000 order that you know will be paid within 30 days of receipt, it doesn’t seem as boring as you might imagine.
The advantage of retail shows is that you get a lot of in person feedback about your work and you get to meet some very nice people in the process. You get to make many different types of beads and jewelry and can experiment with your designs. It’s a bit more risky since you have a lot of upfront expenses with no guarantee that you will make the amount of money you may need.
How do you promote your work?
Right now, I get most of my work from my shows, a few select wholesale accounts, and the customers on my website that have already seen my work at the shows. I was selling with eBay for a while and it was good, but I’m not happy with the way things have been lately and I’m working on bringing customers to my website from the shows I attend. I’m also working on designing some wholesale lines that will take me in another direction as well as with the beads.
What advice would you give to someone just getting into selling their work?
Be consistent with your business policies and your work. Set specific terms for your work and as much as possible stick to those terms. Put them in writing so that your customers, both retail and wholesale know that you have a policy and then they will be less likely to ask for changes. I was at a show and was overheard telling a customer “no” who was asking for a “discount” because she didn’t qualify as either a retail storefront or a designer. I was VERY polite to her, but remained firm showing her my written terms, explaining that I had to be fair to the customers that do qualify and need that advantage to resell and make a profit on their end. A few minutes later a woman walked up to my table and said…”thank you!” When I looked at her rather confused, she said that she owned a bead store, and was pleased to hear that we as artisans, don’t undercut our wholesale accounts.
What is one thing you would have done differently if you knew now what you didn’t know then?
This was the toughest question for me. I really don’t have any regrets on what I’ve done with my glass career. But if I look back at the biggest mistakes I’ve made, it was when I went with a company that was starting “something new” and I decided to get in on the ground floor. I now realize that no matter how hard I was willing to work, a good part of my success was at the mercy of others and if they got their end of the business up and running.
When I did my seasonal boutiques in the malls in the early 80′s I had my first store, and would expand into the new malls that were being built. My sales were exactly half in the new malls, but with the same amount of effort. I was trying to get in on the ground floor but it wasn’t a wise choice. When I went to the MGM, they were just starting out with this new venture at the theme park. I was promised the moon with a contract to back it up, but the promises were never fulfilled because their end of the arrangement didn’t succeed.
When I opened my Galleria, it was in a brand new mall. I wasn’t able to support myself and carry the expenses of the business while waiting for the mall to live up to their end and attract enough customers to keep it going properly. I used to tell the mall management each month….”I can’t sell to ghosts”. My store was very nice, and I attracted an exclusive clientele from another established mall, but the volume of people wasn’t enough to sustain many of the merchants in the mall at that time.
You can find Vickie’s current work and show schedule at vickielee.com.
Thanks Vickie, for taking the time to share your experiences! I know that your pricing hints have helped me tremendously in my own bead business!
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