Small Artists Studio above a shop - Rent/Payment Help

[russy01]

Good Morning all,

Looking for some ideas on how to approach this...

My younger sister (19), is very good with a pencil and has started business doing private commissions and portraits. She is based from my parents home and is starting to sell work into Local shops and does a lot of work via Social Media etc... Its early days and its not quite generating a full living wage (she supports it with another job), however with her name being passed about and several exhibitions lined up we are hoping she can go full time later this year.

She has been approached from a Shop owner (who knows of her through family), who owns a nice "Ye Old Sweet Shop" in a decent street in a local town, the street is very crafty and very suited to her product. The Shop owner has a spare room above the shop, easily accessed by a stairway in the shop (think a 12' square room). He suggested that she uses this space to promote her services and makes it into a little studio/gallery.... he would also allow her to advertise her presence in one of his windows and with an external sign etc...

This chap isn't particularly business minded and simply believes that this will add more interest to his shop, increase footfall and help my sister. However with a prelim chat with my sister (again, no business experience) he suggested taking a cut of every piece of work she does...

Now how do you go about this?

- Agree a very low % cut of any work she does? With a fixed review period, so the rate can potentially be adjusted if she starts doing well? This seems fairly simple and what he wants, but I dont like it for various obvious reasons. However my sister has no cash and likes it, as she can pay as and when she does well...

- Agree a small rent figure and simply pay that. He gets pocket money and potentially benefits his business with her traffic/interest. This to me is the most sensible way, but my sister does not like the idea of committing to a monthly cost when she is ploughing all of her earning back into the business at the moment...


Any suggestions on how to approach?

Thanks.

Edited by russy01 on Monday 16th January 13:36

[andy-xr]

russy01 said:

Now how do you go about this?

my sister has no cash and likes it, as she can pay as and when she does well...

There's yer answer to be honest. I'd tell the guy to stick it and not bother with rent or comms, but I'm not your sister

[MitchT]

Typically, if using her own studio/gallery she'd pay rent and keep all the income. If putting her work in galleries or shops they'd take a cut from the sale of each painting.

To me the scenario suggested doesn't seem to add any value. She's already getting exposure by having her work in shops and having a studio to work out of will simply add travel costs (and parking charges if she drives) to her list of expenses. In her position I'd work from home and continue putting my work in shops and also try to get my work in into galleries and make sure I have a good website with business cards available in all the places where my work is displayed, directing people to said website. Sounds like she's got social media nailed already, which is a good thing.

Also, if she's really good, it's worth sending a portfolio to Washington Green who supply all the art to the Castle Galleries chain.

[russy01]

MitchT said:

Typically, if using her own studio/gallery she'd pay rent and keep all the income. If putting her work in galleries or shops they'd take a cut from the sale of each painting.

To me the scenario suggested doesn't seem to add any value. She's already getting exposure by having her work in shops and having a studio to work out of will simply add travel costs (and parking charges if she drives) to her list of expenses. In her position I'd work from home and continue putting my work in shops and also try to get my work in into galleries and make sure I have a good website with business cards available in all the places where my work is displayed, directing people to said website. Sounds like she's got social media nailed already, which is a good thing.

Also, if she's really good, it's worth sending a portfolio to Washington Green who supply all the art to the Castle Galleries chain.

This is partly my thoughts - although these are all comments made assuming working at home is a viable option. Whilst she currently works at home, its not particularly productive... She gets distracted, hasn't got a huge amount of space (i.e cant leave anything out) and I think she generally lacks the motivation to work from home... There is a part of me that thinks having to travel to a place of work, will enable her to zone in and work properly in that environment.

But overall I probably agree and do think her time could be spent in better ways than kitting out a small room above a sweet shop...

[MitchT]

I suppose I'm seeing it from my perspective. I'm very disciplined and self motivated so working from home isn't an issue for me. I can quite see how having work premises would cement the sense of something being "official", from a psychological perspective. Maybe going ahead with it and agreeing a cut from each piece sold, to avoid the fixed cost of rent, would be the way to go until a good income has been achieved.

[russy01]

MitchT said:

I suppose I'm seeing it from my perspective. I'm very disciplined and self motivated so working from home isn't an issue for me. I can quite see how having work premises would cement the sense of something being "official", from a psychological perspective. Maybe going ahead with it and agreeing a cut from each piece sold, to avoid the fixed cost of rent, would be the way to go until a good income has been achieved.

Yes, I think you either do or you dont. I have friends who work at home like troopers, they have a designated room and it works very well. Others literally get out of bed at 11am and "work" on the Sofa in their PJ's! My experience of the latter puts me against it and I dont often let my staff work from home unless necessary..

[Simpo Two]

The commission option would remove any risk of low or zero sales resulting in a loss. This is 'passing trade' - people love to look at 'art', pop in to keep dry when it rains etc, but getting them to buy something is another matter. Rent is a fixed overhead; she coud lose badly. With commission she can only win. If he's not 'busness minded' then I'd offer 10% of all sales. In fact subject to what the market will stand, she could add that to her prices to cover it. Nothing to lose by trying!