22nd March 2021 and it feels like the business is at a point where its now or never.
The website was always the key building block and it was made possible with the help of my friend and former team mate Dave Witts. It took a couple of evening sessions over the phone but with Dave’s help we got a nice simple but very professional website up and running. I’m still limping along but am able to do most of the housekeeping updates myself and Dave is at the end of the phone if I need help with complicated stuff.
Printing was another equally tough challenge, do you do it yourself or do you order the prints from somewhere? If your going to order them where are you going to get them from? I made a few phone calls and couldn’t get anything local. I watched a lot of You Tube videos and whilst you might want to consider printing yourself in the long run, in the short term its not really a wise move. Then I remembered a friend I had met through my work in Bath was responsible for sales at a printers in Bath. Not just any printers either. Minuteman Press are a superb company with top of the range machines capable of much more challenging work than I was looking at.
Needless to say Dave Dixon (yes another Dave) came up trumps. Twelve test prints of some of my recent favourites were ordered and delivered within no time. A3 prints on good quality paper arrived and they looked great.
Details of these prints were uploaded on to the website and are available. They are one off individual prints and I have to say they all look great when framed and hung.
One of these prints has been purchased and dispatched successfully using Royal Mail first class service. It was received in perfect condition and I’ve been told a positive review will be made soon.
Today I have taken delivery of 11 sets of 25 Greeting cards with a choice of 5 images at A6 (approx 6″ x 4″) and 6 images at A5 squared. I am delighted with the quality and have currently priced them individually on my website, with Dave’s help I hope to arrange to discount mulitiple purchases. I just need to work out the website technicalities.
I’m hoping these cards will become a big seller and enable me to expand my range, but its early days.
Please sign up to my newsletter on the Contact us page as my journey begins
Ian