Is it just me or is it quiet out there?

[ComeOnYouReds!]

I'm a one man band so rely a lot on website enquiries, phone calls and repeat business from regulars, but I'm seeing a downturn in these enquiries in recent weeks.
I hope it is just a lull before the Xmas period but it is obviously concerning. I know we all start to panic at various times of the year... Jan/Feb/March, summer holidays, when it rains, when it's sunny, when there's an R in the month, etc, but please be honest, are you seeing any trend which appears to confirm my concern?
It's easy to say "go out and look for more business" but that can be very disheartening as we know. It can be a bit of a consolation if it is a general trend and that it's not just you, but that is no excuse.

[Jamesnkr]

I think that people - in London anyway - are spending money in a way they haven't for a bit. New cars, new flats and art.

[Graysalchemy]

Looking for new business can be disheartening but a necessary evil at times. It is better looking now than twiddling your thumbs for months and leaving it too late.

[IFGL]

If it's the last week your concerned about, it does usually dip a bit the week before bonfire night.

[Abacus]

Unfortunately we had the quietest October for 4 years.

Which usually means a mad rush is November.

[misterdiy]

We have had a very quiet month on the internet side but other business is just OK. We often use the internet side as a barometer and if its accurate then its rain.

[Steve N]

We have just had a record month on the Internet , plus good one for custom framing in the shop, even ones for Christmas presents

[Roboframer]

We're pretty consistent, touch wood, but my "out there" is different to yours and anyone elses' - it's not 'framing' that is being compared and however things are going for me it cannot possibly relate to someone working from their shed.


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[Jamesnkr]

We're pretty consistent, touch wood, but my "out there" is different to yours and anyone elses' - it's not 'framing' that is being compared and however things are going for me it cannot possibly relate to someone working from their shed.

Unless framing has suddenly gone out of fashion and nobody has things framed any longer, then framing is like any other discretionary purchase. Bunches of flowers, antiques, you name them.

[Roboframer]

Tsk Tsk, quoting a complete post directly after it

Yes, but totally different business types are being compared - I'm extremely busy, why that is, is not much use to someone that operates totally differently to me.

[IFGL]

Tsk Tsk, quoting a complete post directly after it

Yes, but totally different business types are being compared - I'm extremely busy, why that is, is not much use to someone that operates totally differently to me.

Watch you talking bout Willis?

[Not your average framer]

I spoken to a lot of other businesses in different areas and it is clear that it makes a lot of difference if you are in the right locations within the country. The south east and the home counties are doing very well right now. Unfortunately, my own location is not a busy place right now.

I'm not massively far from various towns which are not doing too badly, but the people in these towns don't have much reason to come to my town. My trouble is that my town is no longer a destination town, where as these other towns are. My town is not very trendy and as shops close down and others take over these shops, nobody is wanting to offer anything that going to motivate people outside the town to want to shop here.

It is also clear that from speaking to some businesses who have both retail and internet sales, that the internet sales have been hit quite badly. The suggestion is that after the country voted for brexit, that some people think that it's a good time to reduce their credit card balances. This may, or may not be true, but you would be hard pushed to prove this either way.

Also at the same time, the Bank of England has halved interest rates twice, now down to 0.125%. If you are one of those trying to live off the interest on your money in the bank, I would suggest that this is not exactly very helpful. So take your pick as to what is going on right now!

Everyone around here working in building, or construction is worked off their feet and making a bomb, but the main industries around here are farming and tourism. Farming is not doing very well right now, but there are suggestions that brexit might be good for tourism. Frankly, I think that the jury is still out on that one. Again it would be hard to prove this, but it is said the rural economy is not doing particularly well, compared to the urban economy.

I'm hoping to diversify into a little more that just picture framing after the end of the year. I don't see this as the magic bullet which is going to improve things very much, but even a small improvement would be better that nothing.

Generally, my own experiences are: it is difficult to get decent deposits, customers are slow to collect their work, customers who are pushing you to do something quickly for them, often take much longer to collect and pay for their work and mirrors hardly sell at all these days. There are some things that would help me in the future, if I could afford to spend some money on them right now, but I'm not in a hurry to spend the money at this time.

[Graysalchemy]

Quote Not Your Average Framer :- "My trouble is that my town is no longer a destination town, where as these other towns are. My town is not very trendy and as shops close down and others take over these shops, nobody is wanting to offer anything that going to motivate people outside the town to want to shop here."

Aad here lies your problem (and your salvation). You have to make it a destination town you have to invest in your business to keep it better that the competition (other towns). If you don't then a town dies and sometimes it then needs a lot of investment which you may not have to reinvigorate the town. If the town doesn't look the part then people won't invest in shops. Its a downward spiral that happened when I had retail. I bailed out in the end, best decision I ever made.

[Jamesnkr]

best decision I ever made...

... was to stop relying on passing trade.

[Roboframer]

If it ceases to be reliable, change to something that is.

[GeoSpectrum]

As the old saying goes. "If you want the same results....keep doing the same things."

Im backing two horses,bespoke and online and it seems, so far, that when one is busy the other is quiet as I'm focusing on slightly different markets with each. It becomes a problem only if I have an unexpected rush with one one when I'm already busy with the other, like back in the Spring. I struggled to keep up and things still get a bit pushed now.

I live in a small village and work from home So people have to want to come to see me, no passing trade here. Lots of passing trade on the internet so you have to offer what your prospective customers want to get them to bite. You have to play to your strengths and minimise the effect of weeknesses.

BUT all of my business comes from online enquiries, via the website or people locally finding my site and calling me. You need to work hard at the online thing but it works, and if you can't do it yourself then pay someone else to do it.

[Not your average framer]

I'm adding an extra string, or two to my bow in the new year and creating cabinets, boxes and anything else that customers are asking me to do. I also used to repair small antique furniture items, so maybe I can get some work doing that as well. I'm turning the back room of the shop into a woodworking area, so have somewhere to do this.

Not sure how much difference this will make, but i've got most of the necessary equipment to do this already, so it,s got to be worth a go.

[Roboframer]

How will you tell the world about these new services, or is it a case of waiting until you're asked?

[Not your average framer]

This is only how it is starting to look to me, but maybe things are getting a bit better. It's hard to tell, but I've been getting better business levels during the last week to ten days and getting my cashflow straightened out. I wouldn't say that it's great, but my finances are back on an even keel at the moment, but I've had a rough time getting there. Turnover is still down by more than I would like, but not so much as it was. It would be nice to be able to say that this is just a short term blip, but I'm planning for the worst and hoping for something better than the worst.

I've got quite a bit of stock and can get by with only ordering things that are running out and not using any credit accounts until I feel happier about business level returning to a more predictable situation. I need to order some more glass next week, wedges, picture cord, tape and that will do for a while, but I am thinking a lot about what's in store for the new year and planning for a rough start to the year. I was planning on getting a small angle grinder and a rotary wire brush and making some sample moulding chevrons a.s.a.p., but I sort out my immediate materials orders first. Grinder, rotary wire brush and samples will probably be later this month, I hope!

I felt safe enough to spend this morning putting together another one of my new moulding racks, to fill it and to get another part of my shop, (which is really to small these days), looking much more neat and tidy.

[Not your average framer]

How will you tell the world about these new services, or is it a case of waiting until you're asked?

Well until recently, that was not an issue. I was worked off my feet and had trouble keeping up with the orders. Now I need to get my website up and running. I've no illusions about what to expect from a website, it will bring in some extra business, but I'm not expecting floods of framing orders. Mid Devon is not very densely populated and not everybody takes as much notice of the internet around here as in some other locations.

One of the local cafe's has just been sold and has just re-opened as a vegetarian cafe with I'm told a large Budda in the window. It was struggling before and now the new owners are not offering any of the local favourites, such as a full English breakfast, or a bacon butty. Somehow, I can't see them creating much foot fall for the rest of the town to benefit from.

We used to have three banks, but now only two. The Post Office has closed and has been replaced with a counter at the back of the Spar shop. The town hall is now becoming a Whiskey distillery. That's an odd one, in so far as nobody knows what to expect in terms of whether it will be good for the town, or not. However, once they've got it all up and running, the whiskey has to mature in oak casks for three years before they can sell it, so nothing much will be happening until 2020.

All in all, I will be happy just to keep going for the next year, which is about as far ahead as my brain can cope with!