[TheForge] Re: How fareth the pro smith?

[RIES NIEMI]

The economy seems to be a lot more complicated than it used to be, which I
think, overall, is a good thing.
I am constantly in contact with different aspects of the metalworking
industry around the country, and I always ask how business is.
There doesnt seem to be any one answer- lots of people are busy as can be,
others are going broke.
I just got a sales followup call from harry haack who is the north american
sales rep for Glaser, a german company that sell industrial blacksmithing
equipment- big ticket tools. He has been calling blacksmiths all over the
country, and he told me quite a few of the people he talked to are booked
for the next year, and others are dying on the vine.
I think the career arc of a craftsman, someone who devotes their entire life
to becoming as good as they can get at a skill, is not so tied to the
economy in general. People still want Sam Maloof chairs or Albert Paley
tables, even though they cost more every year and there is a two year
waiting list.
On the other hand, if what you are selling is a twisted plant hook,
indistiguishable from those made by 200 other smiths around the country, its
likely you are going to be having a harder time when the economy slips.
Geography certainly plays a part in it as well. The better known
bladesmiths, art blacksmiths, or high end ornamental guys are already
geographically diversified. The guy just starting out is reliant on his
immediate neighborhood.
This all plays back to our earlier discussion about marketing yourself.
If you allow yourself to be a replaceable, faceless worker who makes a
commodity, then you are the first to suffer when things slow down.
If you spend the time, effort and money to be as good as you can be, and to
be an artist at what you do (not an artist- but an artist at what you do.
You can be an artist, too, but the competition is even stiffer in that
field.) Then people want your work because YOU made it, and since there is
only one of you, you have a pretty good chance of weathering the storm.
Of course, this is a lifelong journey.
I mean, face it, the number of help wanted ads in the classifieds for
blacksmiths is pretty small. If you want to make a living as a blacksmith,
you have to pretty much write your own job description, then figure out a
way to hire yourself. Nobody said it was gonna be easy, but consider the
alternatives.