Summer thoughts - Business restructuring

It’s been a slow summer and I’ve been researching gaming conventions. The landscape of this job has changed drastically since I started doing it. The gatekeeping of large conglomerates and even some news sites have created a very competitive market. Covid killed off a lot of business as many people understandably taught themselves to paint or re-found the passion.

I think going to shows at this point might be my best way to get more business. I enjoy this job so much but I can’t logically keep working the way I am. At the moment I'm working out how to get around the "not being a driver" issue. 

I’ve been looking at studio space and hope to expand in that way soon (the last time the business was quite successful was when I had my own studio space and dedicated work hours). Somewhere to stretch out and be more creative and dart between projects would be awesome. 

I’ve always tried to be the fastest and easiest to cooperate with but I think adding work times and dropping costs (cheaper quotes, longer work times) means I can meet people in the middle, and hopefully get more work. I've been undercharging for the lest ten or so orders and recent events have really made me question my self worth as a creative. I know I'm a talented painter and I've had lots of good feedback about my busines accumen (even though I talk to my clients like old friends, sometimes not so proffessional) so I know there's a workable business but I need to find the happy middle for people and mostly for myself!  Nothing is harder to complete than a job you've charged too little for. This is something I've done for years. I'm happy to offer savings but I don't really understand economics very well, so inflation is a bit confusing to me. 

The general plan is to attend some shows, update the site a bit more, change the general pricing format (maybe re-introduce the levels of painting) and sign up to some news services so I can run promotions again. Sadly these days unless your FFG or GW you won’t get your promotions on lots of places (r.i.p the socialist era of TGN) so I hope to find some more reliable services to use. 

In other news I have been painting more of the fantasy figure set I got from Dungeons and Lasers and continuing to grow as a painter as I try little techniques out. I have been having a lot of fun, these are really unique models.
More updates soon!