After 2 years and a full worldwide pandemic, this blog post is well over due.
This is a continuation of our 3 part series “Transitioning from Brick and Mortar to Online and Events”…so I guess you could say this is “Part 4”…lol.. If you haven’t already read the first 3 posts we encourage you to do so to make it easier to follow this post.
When we last left you in January of 2020 with part 3 we had taken a “temporary” location in one of the other local malls in the Cincinnati area “Liberty Center” mall. We had signed up for the Christmas season of 2019 simply because as explained in part 3 of this series we were simply losing so much money from not having a Brick and Mortar location that we decided to work through the 2019 Christmas season in this new mall until we found a permanent location outside of a mall. Basically the short story is that our business model does not work without an actual retail location….lesson learned.
The 2019 Christmas season in the new mall did not go as well as we would have liked even though we loved the location, but we decided to do a year lease for 2020 anyway with a 30 day notice out clause (which means we can leave any time as long as we give them a 30 day notice) until we figured out what to do about a “permanent location” outside of a mall which is what we decided we needed.
You are probably asking yourself….”I thought this whole series was about NOT having a permanent location and just doing online and events?.”…and you would be correct.
However…basically it comes down to a COMPLETE FAILURE….lol…as we said above, we learned that our business model of being an “art studio” and not just a t-shirt shop did not work well without an actual brick and mortar location. “Transitioning from a brick and Mortar to online and events” only…failed miserably.
While we had it all set and figured out and the 2019 season was fantastic without a “Brick and Mortar” store and 2020 was going to be event better…something happened which completely opened our eyes and taught us a great lesson. “Don’t put your eggs all in one basket”…lol…
So what happened?…a world wide pandemic!…lol… something NOBODY could have seen coming.
When I wrote part 3 of this series it was in January of 2020 from the comforts of our new(yet temporary) mall location. Little did any of us know what was about to hit all of us. By March of 2020 the pandemic was in full swing and stores and businesses world wide were closing….and so did we.
We decided to use our 30 day clause and leave the mall. We figured it was just a month until all our Spring events like after proms and college events were going to kick in and just 2 months until the water park re-opened for the 2020 season and all the festivals would be starting.
Little did we know that none of this was going to happen. So basically we lost EVERYTHING!…ALL events ended, the waterpark did not re-open, all festivals were cancelled and online dropped until the end of April and then only trickled in slowly. We even had to give up doing our Halloween Makeup in 2020 because of COVID restrictions….something we have never done since 1992.
So we had put all of our eggs in the “events and online” basket and it collapsed…lesson learned.
However there was still a demand for airbrush during this time, all be it very slight. . We were still getting calls from people wanting things, but in the middle of the pandemic it was very difficult to figure out what to do about getting these items to people. Just like the problem we had to solve in the first place of not having an actual brick and mortar location which we described in part 3 of this series “Location, Location, Location” except now we had the added problem of “do we meet people in public who may themselves have COVID”?….how do we handle getting items from people and getting them back to people during a pandemic where you are supposed to be limiting social interaction?
As the pandemic continued we wound up meeting people in the parking lot of a local office building that had a “Co-working” office in it. They just were not allowing people into the office.
For those that may not know what “Co-working “ is, You are basically renting an “office space” that is shared by many different types of businesses. So for example there could be a lawyer, accountant, graphic designer, sales person….etc… all in the same “office space”. You share a common area, as well as all the amenities mentioned below. Some of the businesses have actual offices and some just use the Co-working areas that are basically little rooms, or booths or cubicles. It is the perfect environment for someone who wants a professional place to meet clients and customers without the huge rental expense of a full blown office space, and needless to say much more professional then meeting someone in a parking lot like a drug dealer…lol
So this is how we decided to proceed. In September of 2020 a new Co-Working business (Co-Hatch) opened in a local strip mall (Deerfield Town center) and we rented from them. $59.00 a month got us a beautiful office location, receptionist, access to a theater, podcast room, conference rooms, copier, printer, media room and a perfect Co-woking area to meet our customers in a safe indoor environment.
This was a much better, more professional place then a parking lot or the entrance to our old mall location. It worked out very well, we made a connections with other businesses, we worked well with CoHatch and helped with some of their events and over all it is a great way for an artist who works from home to have a professional atmosphere to meet with potential clients and yet not pay a lot in rent.
All we did was set up appointment times to meet with customers for them to drop off their items or for them to pick up their finished item. Once they placed the order they received an email like this(see picture) to which they must confirm. This email helped with those customers who just waste your time. Also, everything(just like in our brick and mortar) was pre-pay. They could pay over the phone or place the order online.
If the order is something that is on their own item then they had the option to pay by card when we met them at the office space to pick up their item or they could pre-pay online before dropping off(which we encouraged) Either way, everything was paid for BEFORE we did any work just like at our brick and mortar store.
To pay for an order online for something that is custom or something that is on their own item we simply send them an email like this….
_____________________________________________
“You can place the order by the following instructions.
Click on this link
https://www.anythingairbrushed.com/custom-artwork-prices
1.) scroll down to “click here to pay for custom artwork”
2.) click the “$45custom artwork” then choose “add to cart”
3.) in the pop up window that appears when you “add to cart” explain the order or put “see email"
4.) proceed to checkout
5.) in shipping section choose “studio pickup” if you are local or your shipping method if you are not local.
6.) finish checkout”
________________________________________________
This email is sent after the price has already been determined and discussed either over the phone or via email. It was very simple and people felt very comfortable paying online much more than over the phone.
We kept this CoHatch location all they way through to September of 2021 when we finally found a location in a small strip center right off the business district of Sharonville Ohio. The emails and pay online worked out so well that we continued it into the new location. So now we have a lot less walk-ins that do nothing but waste your time and then wind up not buying anything. Now when they call for pricing we tell them to email us what they want and we will reply right back with a price and time frame. We send the above email for them to pay and now all they have to do is walk in and pickup their finished order. There is very little “walk in” ordering except by those who are true walk-ins(basically someone who did not call before coming). An added bonus about doing it all via email is that the email replaces the order form that we would be filling out in front of them if they were in the studio ,so there is no chance of misspelling, or “I said i wanted blue not red” or miscommunication of any kind…etc…what they type in the email is exactly what they get. It’s all on them now not on us. If they make the mistake in the email then they have to own it and it is no longer our responsibility.
So what were some of the things we did to keep going during the pandemic?
First, as many of you self employed people know, in the beginning of the pandemic we were all screwed when it came to unemployment. Our artists are for the most part all part-time and most of them are college students who have other part-time jobs and Co-Op jobs through the colleges. So when it all went to hell they were able to collect un-employment. Since we did not have an actual brick and mortar location, during 2019-2020(except for the waterpark in the summer of 2019) but we still paid our artists as they were employees we didn’t qualify for any PPP loans. Explaining this would have been a nightmare of phone calls, paperwork and online work that I was just not going to do. We all know what a nightmare it all turned out to be when applying for the PPP loans. So in the long run I did not qualify for any kind of assistance. Yet another reason why not having a permanent location hurt us. Had I had a brick and mortar studio I would have then qualified for PPP loans…for my artists….but still not for me….so really it was a mute situation as far as income for me. I would have been able to pay the artists and rent and utilities but the work was still not there and I would still not be gaining any income or unemployment for myself. I just was not comfortable with all this apparently “free money” . Now, after 2 years things are a little different for us self employed people, but it is still a case by case basis and “hybrid” businesses like us will still find it difficult to get any help.
So instead of loans, in the Spring of 2020 I took a temporary job at the Humana Pharmacy warehouse in the shipping department because things were so uncertain as to when things would open up and get back to normal. It was much easier taking this job than jumping through all the hoops of the government paperwork which at the time seemed very involved and possibly not secure in the “payback” terms. So instead of “hoping” to qualify and instead of going through savings it was a much better fit taking a temporary job. Which quite frankly was a little refreshing. Believe it or not I have NEVER had a full-time job….ever!. Sure, I worked part-time through high school and college in the restaurant business, but once I graduated college I’ve been a working artist ever since. Freelancing all the way up to when I opened Anything Airbrushed plus in 1991. So having a job with no managerial responsibilities was rather nice. Just show up, do my job and go home…lol
Then once events started happening again by the beginning of 2021 we started working again and I immediately started looking for a permanent location. Our waterpark location did not open but we did pick up some new festivals and online began to grow.
Which bring us to the new location.
The location is not the absolute best but it is very close to what we are searching for as a '‘permanent out of a mall location”. It has everything we need for now. We have plenty of retail space, work space and class room space.
During the pandemic we also started teaching our airbrush workshops at the Cincinnati Art Academy(once things started opening back up and classes at the academy resumed). Since we did not have a location any longer to teach from, this was yet another new opportunity that helped us introduce airbrush to a different demographic. We will continue to offer the classes there but will also be teaching them in the new studio. We are also expanding the workshops to include new works shops which we will be announcing in 2022.
As many of you. Masks became a big money maker. School masks especially. We of course also took advantage of the time to purge our studio equipment, inventory and displays to be ready for the new location. We also learned new things about social media and online sales.
The one thing that we unfortunately did not have the opportunity to do was throw a big 30 year anniversary party. 2021 marked 30 years of being in business and we were looking forward to having a big celebration. So we will just have to make up for it in 2022.
So as 2022 starts, we are right back to where we started in 2019….we have a brick and mortar studio(just not in a mall) and will keep it as well as continue to expand our events and online and hopefully our waterpark location. We will NOT be “keeping all our eggs in one basket”…lol. However the difference is that we are no longer in the mall, we are no longer bound by mall hours and rules and are free to come and go as projects and events dictate. This after all was what we were hoping for to begin with. It is sad that it took a worldwide pandemic to make us realize what we truly wanted and needed in order for our business to continue to prosper. We are well on our way to getting it.
While we would love if malls could be the way they were in the 90’s-and early 2000’s, it seems as if it will probably not happen…at least not in the near future. If it does, we will once again “expand’ back into the malls.
So there you have it. A closure to our adventure in closing a successful retail studio only to re-open because of demand….and a world wide pandemic…lol
If you haven’t already read the first 3 posts in this series be sure to do so.
Transitioning from a Brick and Mortar store
Solving problems of an Online Airbrush Studio.
As always, thanks for reading and please feel free to comment below.