Howdy folks,
Now that the fuss is over for another year (I hope you all had a great time!), I feel that we are due a little recap of how MiC faired in 2017, and a brief look on what I have planned for the future of the business.
Commissions Completed in 2017: 48!
That's almost one commission per week. Not bad - thanks for the support guys!
Number of Miniatures Painted: Erm...
I did start trying to count them for this update, but honestly when we factor in 6mm and 10mm, the number soars into the thousands!
Photos taken: 3425!
I tend to take more snaps than I actually use, so if we say 1/3rd of those get sent to the client, then that's 1142!
Updates posted on the Facebook Page: 225!
That's almost one update every 2 days. If we exclude days-off painting, then that's fairly solid communication I think!
Overall 2017 has been a great year. MiC has been my only source of income, and I consider still being housed at the end of this year, a great success!
Into 2018.....
This last year has highlighted a couple of issues that need addressing. These are...
Photo Quality
I suck at taken photos, so it is about time I tried to address this. Thanks to a great tip (cheers Rob!), I will be looking to get a 'light box' in the very near future.
Lighting
At the end of 2017 we hit a bit of a back-log (which is still to be cleared). This was due to a great increase in smaller scale orders than I was used to receiving, and not taking in to account the reduced quality daylight hours. To address this I have picked out a third lamp which will be arriving soon.
Once those are dealt with, the next topic on the 2018 agenda is...
A Revamp of the Pricing Structure and the Trade For Painting Credit
First the pricing...
The main changes will see a couple of tiers dropped from the 'Standards'.
For those who have been with me for years, we will be reverting back to the old 3-Tier system. Offering 5 options seemed great, but in reality it was tricky to differentiate and most people just went with A/C/E.
Also in with these changes will be....
*A better 'top end quality' that will really deliver some great looking minis, and
DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND - a top tier 6mm will be added!!
Revamp for the Trade-In should follow soon after that. I know a lot of you enjoy this feature so the revamp will aim to offer a better, clearer method for trading in old models, especially in differing scales (ie trading in 15mm for 28mm painting credit).
Also coming soon...
MiC's new online shop!
(probably two shops....)
The first will be with 'Etsy'. This site focuses purely on hand-crafted items, so the idea here will be to offer painted miniatures. I have several thousand photos now of my work over the years. These will be used as 'store-front' for people to order the miniatures as shown, with more added as I finish commissions. What this means is that if you ever view my updates and think 'Hey, those models look lovely', you can order miniatures painted almost identically straight from the store.
The second store will probably be with the dreaded Ebay....
The idea here is to sell all those items I take in for trade, and for new items I will be stocking.
If you are reading this and you saw my stall at the excellent 'Battleground' show (or have visited the hashed 'for sale' pages here), you will see I have a wide variety of random stuff. Ebay will be the outlet for all these goodies.
As for what I will be stocking....
Well, I have plans to become an Independent stockist for two lines. These aren't 100% confirmed yet, so I wont say anything else yet. Lets just wait and see what 2018 brings!
In summary,
Thanks again folks for your support over this last year (and longer for some of you!). I feel honoured and blessed that I can pursue my dream of creating art, and I could not do this without you all.
I hope you will continue to stick with me into 2018!
thanks
Chris
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