Micro-Business Support
If you want to make money, and maybe even a livelihood from your art or craft, then you need to think of it as a business. Thinking of yourself as a business might seem a bit alien to a lot of Portland's artists and crafts people, and ultimately, it isn't for everyone. Still, it needn't be the barrier that it might seem to be. There are a lot of resources to make it easier, and numerous advantages, some not so obvious. Below, a few links to information about micro-business.
Small Business Tends - a website with lots of good ideas. It's not all relevant for arts and crafts workers, but there's plenty that is. Find it here.
Microbusiness Perspectives - a website that is more relevant, but with a bit of a bias. Put out by Vistaprint (more on them elsewhere), it caters to businesses that center on graphic images. Find a good link here.
Kickstarter - Portland has embraced the Kickstarter model. Artists post a project they want to do, along with a breakdown of the money they'll need to get is done. People in the community who are excited by the idea can pledge funds to the project, and if there is enough support, those funds will be released to the project, otherwise the money goes back to the sponsors. Meanwhile, at each pledge level, sponsors get a reward, ranging from a sticker, to a print, to full involvelment in the project and it's outputs. Learn more at kickstarter.com. To see an actual proposed project (as of April 2011), check out Portland's own Independent Publishing Resource Center's (IPRC) Media Action Project.
