by Danielle Campbell-Angah
n a personal level, we plan for hardships with nest eggs, insurance and detailed emergency contact lists. But what do you do when you have a business and have to rearrange your life due to a crisis or an illness? Many crafts entrepreneurs work alone and face challenges with carrying on when they won’t be working or can’t work, temporarily or indefinitely.
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Illustration by Dave Fontaine |
Joie LaFrentz, owner of Charbano Memory Boxes, recently faced a challenging personal crisis that affected her ability to work. LaFrentz, who makes vintage-inspired memory boxes in her Lexington, Mass., studio, traveled from her summer home in Dorchester, Iowa, to Milwaukee, Wis., for the weekend with her husband and their two dogs to visit friends. The trip followed an order from a New York retailer for four memory boxes to be made by Mother’s Day, which LaFrentz estimated would take 10 days to fill.
While away, two dogs attacked the couple and their pets. LaFrentz’s husband was bitten and both dogs were injured. One was hurt so badly that she almost died and had to stay three nights at the animal hospital. To deal with the incident, the couple stayed in Iowa for four extra days — during which time LaFrentz couldn’t work in a substantial way toward completing the order because she didn’t have all her materials.
LaFrentz was able to complete one memory box she had with her, after buying supplies to paint it. But when the couple returned to Massachusetts, she had just two days to complete the remaining boxes. “I worked around the clock while giving both dogs medicine and taking care of them,” the artist recalls.
When the memory boxes were done, LaFrentz mailed them overnight to the retailer to meet her deadline. “My profit on the boxes was pretty much wiped out considering the cost of the shipping, but I was more concerned with getting them to her on time,” she says.
“You have to roll with the punches and just do your best to meet your deadlines,” LaFrentz says about emergencies that come up so suddenly. However, there are strategies that can be employed to keep a small business going when you’re unable to work at your normal pace — or at all.
One strategy that craftspeople rely on is turning to friends, family and other connections for help. LaFrentz and her husband grew up in Iowa and she has a makeshift studio at the Dorchester summer home. “If I’m ever in a real jam, I have my dad help me with some of the painting, and my mom helps with the decorating,” she says.
Gil Harrison, a potter in Cottage Grove, Ore., received assistance from the Oregon Potters Association after having to undergo heart surgery and then prostate surgery a year later. If a member faces a crisis, it’s not uncommon to see a campaign started to solicit donations from the group’s 400 members. Harrison says he received a “sizeable chunk of money” from the organization.
Similarly, a few of his friends asked 100 other friends and colleagues outside of his potter’s circle to pitch in with monetary donations. These friends asked for donations each month over a four-month period. “It really worked,” says Harrison who had insurance but needed to replace his pottery income to pay bills. “It saved my life financially.”
The Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) also can lend assistance to artists in need. Harrison received a long-term loan from this organization as well. The loan came with a surprisingly quick turnaround — within a month after his request.
Zak Zaikine, who creates ceramic works for Zaikine Productions, in Sebastopol, Calif., received relief from the galleries where his creations are sold.
He contracted an infection that ultimately led to the amputation of his leg after a three-month hospital stay. “Everything stopped last October,” Zaikine says of his craft business. Initially, his daughter, Anastasia, and friend Karin O’Keefe helped him pay his bills. He also received a no-cost loan from CERF and anonymous donations. But gallery owners carrying his work were the biggest help, offering creative breaks to Zaikine.
“My galleries … were so touched by what had happened that they began to take a lesser percentage rather than the normal 40–50 percent,” he says. A representative of the M. Gabriel gallery in Sonoma, Calif., returned 100 percent on his sales and ran radio commercials telling the buying public about her plan. The owner of the Bodega Landmark Studio, in Bodega, Calif., still buys work outright from Zaikine so that he can be paid immediately. “I don’t have to wait for a consignment payment,” he says.
If you have an exclusive arrangement with a gallery to sell your work, consider trying to renegotiate the terms of your contract to carry you through tough times. Galleries may consider an arrangement in your favor because they know you’re providing them with your best work.
Besides utilizing friends and family, hiring a helper is another option. Pat McVay, of McVay Sculpture in Whidbey Island, Wash., was injured while working on one of his wood sculptures. Using money he received from CERF, he paid someone to help finish projects he’d almost completed before his accident. Although he was out of work for four months, he “got leverage to complete projects and make money that way.” Pursuing this option was “a huge help and a big mental boost” for McVay that ultimately got him back to work earlier than he had planned.
Potter Pat McCaffrey, of Swampware Pottery in Winterville, Ga., used personal cash reserves and assistance from CERF to pay one person to help her out while she battled breast cancer last year and early this year. McCaffrey, who normally worked 12-hour days, continued to work during her illness, but cut her hours in half. To keep money coming in, her hired employee painted projects that were almost finished.
McCaffrey also made an arrangement with another craftsperson to set up and take down her booth at craft shows when she was too weak from cancer treatments to do it herself. She and the crafts-person coordinated shows so they could travel together, and McCaffrey paid half of all the person’s travel-related expenses including gas and hotel charges.
Thanks to the help of these people, McCaffrey only missed two shows — one immediately following surgery for the cancer, and another in the South around the time of Hurricane Katrina, because private lodging options were scarce. “I’d be bankrupt if I didn’t have someone to help me at shows,” she says.
Danielle Campbell-Angah is a free-lance writer living in Ridley Park, Pa., who makes jewelry in her spare time. She can be reached at dcangah@yahoo.com.