Cost of living crisis and small art sales

Well, here in the UK, finances are very tight for most people as we go through the current cost of living crisis. As an artist who rents a unit for my studio / shop I am very aware how art in the form of a card,print, gift is very much an,optional extra.

So what are my priorities? As a business,even if really hobby sized, I have bills to pay – rent and some subscriptions for online storage space. This month I haven’t put in any printing orders for replacement stock – I had done this sufficiently in October and November. So the good news is the rent is accounted for and the subscriptions.I am cutting back costs on some online accounts as my focus is always the bricks and mortar shop rather than online sales which I have never really developed.

I am open for 7 consecutive days in the run up to Christmas rather than my normal 4 weekly shop days. The weather is not encouraging people to be out except yesterday when it was sunny all day.

We also have a range of National strikes going on as well.

I suspect that the winter months of January to March are going to be very quiet indeed and linked to that this year we are taking a winter break. When I was a teacher I had 12 weeks of non teaching time each year (school holidays). For six years now I have taken a maximum of two weeks off across the year so 2023 starts with a winter break. The rent payments are covered and the shop will be shut. Social media will see a lot less of me for about 6 weeks and we will get to do some travelling, exploring, relaxing and taking lots of photographs and very likely drawing lots of sketches to inspire future work.

How are other small businesses doing?

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