My Manager Tati contacted professionals in the field of both crown and accessory making and mermaiding. She asked a few insightful questions to help us along with growing Ocean Grotto.
Interview with Crowcouture crownmaker
0. Crowcouture
⁃ Tati: Hello 👋!! My name is Tatiana, I’m helping my good friend Sophie also known as mermaid_lilikios, with her shop Ocean Grotto. I was wondering if I can ask you a few question. This is for us to gain more experience for her shop. 1) How much do you spend when buying materials for crowns and tops? 2) How do you balance crown making with a separate job, if you have one? 3) How do you advertise yourself and your business for you tops and crowns?
Thank you so much for your time to read and respond, we truly appreciate it. Have a great day 🧜♀️💙!
0. Answer: Hey my sweet darling! So the how much I spend definitely varies quite a bit for materials. The one thing I always always always say when determining price points is to give yourself ‘raises’ as you progress. I started off charging $10 an hour for labor then as I learned a new skill i gave myself a raise. So when I’m calculating price I’ll charge more hourly for an intense clay sculpt then a simple ombré paint. I also order everything I can online, most of my supplies are purchased through Etsy since I like to support other shops ☺️ I buy everything in bulk so it’s hard to say now how much each top costs to make 😆 my guess would be each top costs 50+ in supplies. there’s a great app called Etsy calculator if you’re an Etsy seller that lays out all your costs and profits. (I also need to do a coat analysis again and adjusts prices. I’m just behind lol!)
Crow Couture is definitely my full time venture and when things get slammed I’m looking at 80+ hour weeks on the regular. It’s a sacrifice but it’s soooo worth It! When starting out my number one piece of advice is to give 3 hours a day to your shop. Something manageable 💖 then as you grow you’ll be able to make the switch to full time designing. But when you are doing both give yourself lots of patience because juggling it is hard, but manageable
For growth. My biggest piece of advice is CONNECT with your audience as opposed to worrying about reach. Ignore vanity metrics such as likes and follows. Get to know however many followers you do have well and focus on establishing relationships. I fully rely on good SEO for my overall visibility and I treat my social media more like an art portfolio and just have fun with It! I’ve noticed since doing that I’ve had more organic growth ☺️
And if you need any videos I have a treasure trove of YouTube tutorials that have helped me so so much!
Interview with Mermaid Kelly @officialmermaidkelly
0. Tati: Hello 👋!! My name is Tatiana, I’m help my good friend Sophie also known as mermaid_lilikios, with her shop Ocean Grotto. I was wondering if I can ask you a few question. This is for us to gain more experience for her shop. 1) What do you charge when you go to an event or party? What do you charge per hour? 2) Do you charge differently for dry land or in the water? 3) How and what do you spend on costumes and materials? 4) What do you look for when look for crown and top, when wanting one? 5) How do you advertise yourself to get gigs for modeling? Lastly 6) Is there any advise that you would like to provide?
Thank you so much for your time to read and respond to us, we truly appreciate it. Have a great day 🧜♀️💙!
0. Answer: For pricings it always depends on what you’re doing, how much time and effort you put in, what kind of event etc etc. i start at $150 per hour for “sitting looking pretty” and go up from there. Modeling you would need to approach as a model which i don’t have experience in. I spend a couple thousand on my tails, a couple hundred in crowns, a couple hundred in tops, and a couple hundred in my performance appearance, props, books, shows, etc. advertising through social media is a good way to start I’d recommend YouTubing “how to brand yourself” or “how to advertise as a small business” putting an ad in the paper and business cards also help.
