The Framers Forum

ormand

what i ment most sectors of industry dont have any kind of regulation, ie law or anything controlling who can do it.

framing is one that doesnt, well as far as i am aware

same with my other examples

when it comes down to it, what we do, isnt really that important, no one is gonna die generally if we mess it up

stcstc wrote:
when it comes down to it, what we do, isnt really that important, no one is gonna die generally if we mess it up

I don't think anyone here is concerned with life and death issues in their daily lives as a framer.

As far as framing is concerned, it is my opinion that it is important for us to have an excellent knowledge and skill to be able to do the best we can for our customers.

If anyone in the industry regards the industry as being trivial and they don't care about what they do, or how they do it, then perhaps they might be in the wrong industry. I don't understand why anyone would want to indicate that the industry they are in is trivial and unimportant.

i never said it was trivial

I said it wasnt that important

ie, its a luxury item, its not like i said life or death. its non essential

that doesnt mean to say i dont care about what i do. it does however mean i have a practical view of what i do.

This is certainly a hot topic ! Please forgive the long post, but I had to finish off that bottle of Jameson !!

Over the past 25 years in various businesses,I have come across a few very interesting examples of direct competition – on one occasion, I identified a business opportunity but did'nt realise that so too did more than a few people in the same area, at the same time – we all opened our businesses within 2 month period and were all closed within 2 years – all losing a packet of money ! On another occasion in another town , in another business,we were busy preparing our high street located shop getting it ready for opening – while observing that preparation work was also going on in a shop unit directly accross the road from us – yes they too were opening an identical business – we opened within 2 days of each other.We could see directly into each others shops and observed many customers make that trip across the street in both directions . We both operated sucessfully for 5 years there, but Im sure not as good as it could have been, had we been alone. Then another twist is where on 2 occasions, I had employees leave and set up their identical business in direct competition. However in those cases only after some time did they realise the difference between cash coming in over the counter and what might be left for them when all bills were paid.

So to the framing business – as in many businesses there's a big difference between turnover and net Profit – I suspect that many low overhead cost home based type framers often suceed in realising a higher net profit than many high overhead cost high street type framers – so which is more sucessful ? I once had an accountant who used to say “ Turnover is Vanity but Profit is Sanity”
Its easy to measure / know of what gross margin you achieve daily / weekly or on each sale – but the real NET Profit can only be known sometime afterwards , often only after the annual accounts are finalised. The more we know and understand of Net Profit right now the better decisions we can make in our business. We need to know how much it costs us to go to work each day ---- for the high street operator this can be very significant while for the home operator it might be very little.

Picture framing has a relatively low cost entry barrier, so while there are certainly many framers going out of business in the current climate there's also many new entrants. The home based operator may only have the initial outlay cost and then sonn gain Net Profit from only a small throughput of work while the High Street entrant will have a higher initial outlay followed by additional very high ongoing costs , thus needing significant work throughput so may not see any Net profit for some time. Most likely , such a new entrant will need to continue to pump more money in over the initial period to get the business off the ground – working harder, longer – for nothing - thats the head wrecker !! Then they get it off the ground, continue to work hard and start getting some Net Profit – but then realise that they're working for peanuts ! But all this time the home based framer is getting better peanuts for less work !!!! Many such framers have developed niche markets doing quality work and have thus created very sucessful businesses.

I believe its only at the next level that the high street framing business model (with all associated costs) makes sense – where the business can grow to sustain additional employee framers, creating leverage and spreading out that high fixed cost over a higher throughput of work.

A danger area can be getting caught in the middle – being a high street framer with assocaited fixed costs with not enough work throughput and not maximising the full retail opportunities of prized locations etc etc to realise a decent Net Profit. So I suppose, like any other business that commits to a certain high cost structure, it will have to be managed as a serious business.
I would worry much less about my competition (other framers – either high street or home based) than I would about the competition within. Remember that when one points a finger at someone else , you're pointing three fingers at yourself !! First we must ask ourselves are we running our business effectively and efficiently and are we marketing and promoting our USP's (unique selling points ) Is everyone pushing forward ? Are we the limiting factor in our business ?
There will always be both models of picture framing businesses out there.......neither will triumph over the other..........ultimately its the market that decides who survises and prospers in each....but remember the one about the breakfast....................Both the hen and the pig contribute to the typical breakfast fry up.........The hen is involved by contributing an egg..... thats fine.......However the Pig is comitted by providing the bacon !!

that is a brilliant paper - a worthy thesis!

Wise words,“ Turnover is Vanity but Profit is Sanity”

cannot do the quote quote but tim said

Once I'd decided to make a going concern of things, I spent a long time researching the next level of equipment, and got myself an Ultimat Gold, a Morso, and a Casesse underpinner. None of those improved the quality of my work, but boy, did they improve my productivity.

having had my cassese for a week i certainly concur i can now spend more time on after hours (groan groan i hear) and out in the garden finding bugs!!

I think that competition is definitely a good thing. The more framers there are out there (doing a good job) the better it is for the profile of the industry.

My advice would be to worry very little about the competition, and concentrate on your own business. Do what you do, in the best way that you can, and the customers that are looking for that type of service will come to you - those that want something different will go to your competitors. So think about your strengths, and make sure that your advertising and marketing are attracting the right sort of customer.

Let me illustrate with another (much more) competitive industry. I'm in town and I want a coffee. My personal taste

Starbucks - too heavily roasted
Costa - ok if I'm thirsty and its closest
Independent - cheap, but coffee is carp
Nero - my first choice

I bet your choice would be different. The important thing that Costa, Nero and Starbucks must not do is to suddenly change their coffee, and confuse/upset their regular customers.

So, as a framer, and a business person, it is important to know, and understand where you fit in with your market-place, make sure the image you project matches your business, and get on with the job of looking after your customers rather than worrying about the competition.

beats me how any of em make money - i got a pot going in the kitchen all the time! a few of them will be feeling the pinch very shortly.

tongue in cheek - but maybe not!

Roboframer wrote:

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Now that is hilarious!!! Sick but hilarious!!!

Just seen Roboframer's photos, brilliant ! Where does he get them ??

hilarious

Adam

I guess you could say unless a “Business” can have a value in itself and could be sold over and above the stock and equipment all you have is in the long run is a job.

In other words if all you can get out of what you do with your framing operation is some sort of wage all you have created is a job, it only becomes a “Proper” true business if the operation in it’s own right has a value.

If I've mentioned my viewpoint on this earlier, then apologies for repeating myself.

I don't think of myself as 'having a job', although to anyone outside looking in it probably seems that way. I'd LIKE for this creation I'm nurturing to have an intrinsic value of its own some way down the line, but for now I think of my framing as providing me with a 'retirement' income in the same way a pension might had I chosen to 'work' until I was 65 or 70. By that I mean I think of myself as having 'retired' already, and now instead of grinding away on the corporate treadmill, I'm doing something I love for myself, and hey, great if it turns in a bob or two along the way.

That having been said, I do run my 'hobby' as a 'proper business', as I know only too well how uncontrolled costs and lack of attention to detail can leave you with less than nothing unless you're careful.

OK - enough of the doom and gloom - I've had a good day today. Finished a frame for a new customer who loved the work, and gave me another four jobs on the back of it. As Mr Punch would say, "That's the way to do it!"

Tim

Bagpuss wrote:Just seen Roboframer's photos, brilliant ! Where does he get them ??

I wondered if anyone had actually been killed by a picture frame so I Googled 'Killed by picture frame' and this was the first link that came up

There's some fun stuff there - and here's the flickr set.