[TheForge] Re: File Making, sniffing up wrought iron

[Andrew Vida]

Jerry Frost wrote:
> I was more than a little interested in trying Pure Iron but they 
> wouldn't send me a few lbs. to try. I forget the exact amount but it was 
> in the 50 lbs. range as I recall. Shipping to AK made that a deal killer 
> for a trial. I offered to pay whatever it cost for S&H but they wouldn't.

	Well, I cannot really blame them, especially at 50#.  Startups usually 
cannot absorb costs like that.  I'm in the middle of this at the moment 
with our company.  Without a goodly amount of working capital things 
remain very tight.  Chicken/egg/fish/cutBait...
> 
> Sent me an Art and Metal "T" shirt though.

	I still have two of those.
> 
> I think a good part of this has to do with most modern blacksmiths being 
> artists rather than iron workers. I've only met a few artists of any 
> kind able to manage business well.

	This is precisely so.  I remember having this conversation in 2000 with 
(I  think) Peter Happny at the airport.  He mentioned that there was a 
guy somewhere in CA I think, who made very mediocre work but was a 
crackerjack marketer.  He was making money hand over fist while some of 
the finest smiths on the planet barely make it.  Marketing is the big 
key, but also knowing how cost and price work is pretty important and it 
is amazing to see how few smiths know anything about any of this.

	When I was at the shop in Mesa my partner was one of those nervous 
nellies - he'd NEVER price work properly.  One day an expected customer 
showed while he was out.  I priced the work on the spot (it was an easy 
one to cost out) and the guy left me with a check for the full amount. 
Terry got back, asked if the guy came and I said "yes".  He asked  me 
where he went and I told him what I did.  He blanched - I thought he'd 
burst an artery on the spot.  After letting him go on awhile I stuck the 
check under his snoot and all he could say was "how'd you do that?"  He 
never learned the lesson and continued under-pricing our work.

	Anyhow, the point is that smiths are generally void of any significant 
business sense/knowledge.  What has really surprised me is how few seem 
to make any effort to remedy this situation despite the importance of 
knowing how to run a business when one is trying to.