According to a government pamphlet, the average annual income for fine artists is ,800 per year," wrote Barbara Hails in her prizewinning entry. "While my children were young, I worked as an artist at home producing and selling original paster paintings. After expenses, I'm afraid the government income figures were frighteningly close--until I ought my first computer."
With technology Hails has turned a notoriously low-paying profession into a lucrative business. She had the determination to stick with something she loved--even with the odds stacked against her. Her gumption earned Loan money quick salem winston her the respect of HOME-OFFICE COMPUTING contest judges. As one judge put it: "Barbara could have gone on struggling, bemoaning the fate of the starving artist. But she was inventive and intelligent. She turned the work she loves into a thriving company by creating a business strategy that gives her product a presence in the marketplace."
To make her business succeed took hard work. Four years ago, Hails became an "art publisher" and started selling limited-edition prints--hand-signed and numbered--of her paintings to galleries. Her business took off once she realized the importance of selling herself and her company, Dimensional Aesthetics, and incorporated technology into all aspects of her business.
Now, she's reaping the rewards of her business acumen. Last year, Hails sold ,000 worth of her own art, and Dimensional Aesthetics' revenues are growing 35 percent per year. "Positioning myself as an art publisher was a fantastic business move," admits Hails. "The publishing enterprise suddenly made my artwork affordable and available to a vast range of customers worldwide." She sells her prints to galleries for between and apiece, and her original pastel paintings are commanding prices that range from ,200 to ,000. Prints of light-filled scenes such as gardens, cities, and bridges are available through galeries nationwide and appear in numerous public and private collections, including the Montgomery County Contemporary Art Collections, the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission Collection, Readers' Digest Corporation, USA Today, and the corporate collection of Metropolitan Federal Savings and Loan.
"As an art-publishing company, we compete successfully with the biggest national firms in the print business," says Hails. "Our customers have no idea that our 'offices' and 'warehouses' do not occupy a city block. Our secret is technology. With the might of the electronic office behind us, we confidently challenge the giants."
HER HOME OFFICE
Dimensional Aesthetics occupies the ground floor of Hails's house in Maryland farm country, north of Washington, D.C. She produces, stores, and distributes her art from her home, which she shares with her husband and two teenagers.
"The home office cannot be beat for convenience," says Hails. "There is no commute, clothing is comfortable, and I can take a break to pop a load of wash in the machine before going back to cash receipts. There is no commercial location expense, and I take a nice tax deduction for the area used for the business. I personally find working so exciting that I value every minute I can spend learning and growing. I'm not looking for a division between business and personal life--I love it integrated."
PRESENTATION IS ALL
Functioning as its own ad agency, the company creates all its own printed materials--magazine ads, direct-mail pieces, catalogs, brochures--using a Compaq 286 computer. Dimensional Aesthetics also does it typesetting in-house, outputting WordPerfect 5.0 files to a Hewlett-Packard laser printer or sending Loan money quick salem winston the files by modem to a typesetting house in nearby Alexandria, Virginia. Dimensional Aesthetics then lays out the printed materials, creates camera-ready mechanicals, and has them commercially printed.
The ads are slick, polished, and enticing. Hails has every reason to be proud of them: "We studies the techniques of the superb old-time ad pros and have developed dramatically successful ad campaigns."
Hails places the ads in wholesale supplier magazines for the gallery and framing trades. By placing them herself, she earns the standard 15 percent discount. She doesn't print a reader service number because she wants customers to use her toll-free number. When potential customers call, she extend them a special offer. Her AT&T 800-number "is a negligible expense, considering the sales volume it encourages," she says.
SEE HOW SHE SELLS
Hails keeps in close contact with gallery owners because she counts on their repeat orders for business. She supplies wholesalers with a catalog of visuals depicting her entire line of prints. There's no minimum order, and she guarantees same-day service. She also supplies galleries with counter cards of her artwork that they can place near the checkout register. These, too, are prepared on her computer.
Although technology has clearly helped Hails's business, she doesn't spend all of her time at the canvas or at the computer. "Awareness of market trends is critical to our success," she says. "We scour the trade publications, especially in peripheral industries like the home-furnishings market. We watch what works for other publishers. We carefully track our own sales for clues, but, most important, we spend a lot of time listening to our customers.
"Six times a Loan money quick salem winston year, we travel to major cities for trade shows where we sell directly to art gallery owners and framers. It keeps us in touch with changes in the market. The customer feedback is invaluable." At the trade shows, Hails is sure to leave every customer with something visual. She hands out a sheet advertising a Show Special, displaying an assortment of samples, and, of course, providing prospects with an order form.
What are Hails's growth plans? She hopes to address two new markets. "In the short term, for 1991 we are producing an additional product line to sell to art distributors in volume," she says. "In the long term, we are examining the possibilities Loan money quick salem winston of selling framed art by mail directly to the public."
Dimensional Aesthetics has produced its first test of retail direct mail this season to a local community of 707 households. The test plants include signs place around the town about the offer, a free framed print for the mayor (which he accepted), and a bulk mailing to community P.O. box holders.
Whether or not Dimensional Aesthetics can succeed in the retail market remains to be seen. What we do know is that more and more gallery owners will be hearing from Hails and her company. LOAN MONEY QUICK SALEM WINSTON "With the limitless power of the electronic office behind us," she promises, "we are just beginning!"
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