Thinking about business stuff

[valarltd]

Had an unpleasant revelation: You can't sell stuff to broke people.

Which is where both my writing and crafting are falling down. I'm trying to sell at conventions, and events where everyone is in about the same financial straits as I am, if not worse ones.

THIS is why I had a meltdown at the thought of becoming an SCA lifestyler, with nothing but a day job and the SCA.
This is why I am resistant to getting involved with some nice people who like me a great deal.
Because I don't need more financially straitened, dysfunctional people around me.

I'm tired of everyone I know having no money, ever.
I need a better class of friends.

Saying it again for the people in the back:

You can't sell stuff to broke people.



And of course this is political too: ours is a consumer economy where we can't afford to consume.

Comments

[sidewinder.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to sell at conventions, and events where everyone is in about the same financial straits as I am, if not worse ones.

This is, sadly, exactly what I discovered as well and why I am no longer doing any conventions, or even local craft fairs. I've watched over the last 17 years in the crafting business how I used to be able to sell high-end pieces for $100-200 without question when I first started, the days when people were literally throwing money at me the first hour a convention like MediaWest would open and I couldn't even count until the end of the day...and the last few years every $1-5 sale of a small item became a struggle. I simply could not afford to waste my time, materials and energy that way.

I've seen the online writers market decline, to the extent that in one year I went from earning almost $5,000 from article writing to barely cracking $500 with more effort (and better skills) but no market left.

So I'm working parttime in an office instead, and getting back to creating crafts, art and writing just as a hobby without trying to earn from them at this point. Because the market just isn't there for me, and I need to pay the bills.