Profile: The Ranch Design Group
I first saw Leah Sheely’s handbuilt ceramic work on Etsy, and was delighted to see and touch the pieces in person at Renegade last month. As The Ranch Design Group, she and her fiancee Darren make custom tile and concrete for the home, and Leah also creates cups and containers that have a distinct Scandinavian vintage flavor. Leah kindly reveals more about how their business got started.
The Start
Not too long ago, my fiance Darren and I both lost our well-paying jobs in corporate product design. High-level design positions like ours were rare in a good economy, so you can imagine what’s it’s like now. I must admit, at that point, we were both a tad resentful for all the commitment, passion and subsequent hard work and long hours we’d both happily poured into it all under the guise of building careers and investing in our futures. I think every one who’s ever had a great job they really loved has an idea of what their last day looks like…I’m an optimist so mine began with my creative genius being recognized on a larger level, I achieve true happiness in the work place, and a few promotions later my employers are financing a creative business venture in my name that is too big to fail. I mean, what else are are you willing to work that hard for? And it’s been known to happen. Fortunately, Darren received a nice severance package and together with the money we got from cashing out retirement accounts we started our own business and called it The Ranch Design Group.
So it’s really not a group since it’s just me and Darren, but our vision for The Ranch was to create an industrial arts and design studio that encompasses all of our current creative skills and services. We thought we’d have a few employees by now but it’s still just Darren and I doing the work of a larger group of people. That sounds like a nightmare and some days it is but it’s also like a artisan version of the industrial design firm IDEO in San Francisco which is like a dream. I wanted the opportunity to create my line of ceramic tile and housewares and Darren [to do] his concrete and metal working. We do a lot of graphic and product design work for big companies which keeps the lights on and the slower growth ventures like beautiful but expensive hand made ceramic tile are allowed to exist without being value engineered. We get the occasional client for whom we can bring all of these together and that’s when it’s worth all the hard work; that’s when we’re at our best.
Challenges
Our biggest challenge has been not fitting the mold. When people can’t just check a box that describes you, you make it really hard for them to go to work for you. We’ve run into trouble here with everything from craft shows, search engines to buying insurance. Yelp has us as interior designers, Google has us as concrete contractors. I’d say the best way we beat it is to stick to our story and just keep doing what we do. Never assume anyone gets it without some sort of preface on your part. (Oh but it’s so great when someone just does…)
Another big hurdle has been our location: Concord, California. Margins are small with handmade products, so wholesale and craft shows aren’t the easiest way to make a buck. Logically, we’d love to do more retail business locally but it’s been tough getting people out to our shop. When people think housewares in Concord they’re not picturing the next big thing, they’re thinking Bed Bath and Beyond. We have an amazing studio space with a beautiful retail showroom attached and we’ve not made a single sale from a walk-in. I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining as we have plenty of local customers who spend their money on us, but most do so without ever setting foot in our showroom. So in 2012, we plan to be more proactive in reaching out to the locales where our aesthetic is better understood like New York and Los Angeles. We’ll be narrowing our focus and creating a tight group of wares that we can profitably wholesale to these areas.
Good Advice
One thing I love to tell girls is if you’re thinking about choosing ceramics, choose a patient man, because it’s not the kind of craft that lets you clock in and clock out. Even though Darren and I work together, he is always waiting around for me to finish a piece that has to get finished that night or it won’t be workable the next day. It is very stressful to have someone waiting on you all the time.
Along the lines of real business advice, I’m probably not in the greatest position to advise others, but I would definitely tell someone starting a venture in the arts to calculate their cost of goods regularly. I feel like people probably did tell me, but I most likely pooh-poohed them and didn’t really do it, not really and truly. It requires complete honesty with oneself since there’s always the opportunity to leave out expenses here and there to allow yourself to carry on making your art blissfully when can’t really afford to. When you’ve done that, the sooner you find the right pricing for your work the better. I am still struggling with mine. People will encourage you to lower your prices -”get your work out there”, they’ll say. Most of the time this is a bad idea. It doesn’t matter what you’re selling, ceramics or vinyl windows, you have to make a profit or it’s Craigslist time. Know your cost of goods backwards and forwards, so when the time comes you can stand by your work and pricing.
Thank you, Leah! Small business owners, if you’d like to be featured in this spot, contact me.
Thanks for stopping by. I work with creative small business owners and entrepreneurs to take them to the next level. How can I help you?
It looks fantastic! -Apologies to your readers for that gigantic run-on sentence at the beginning.
Thank you so much for the opportunity to share our story. ~Leah
love this story as I can relate. the love sweat and tears you put into your business will reward you more than a high paying corporate job anyways. besides you get to create things you believe in. be flexible but don’t bend. people who have money will pay for “crafted” goods as they know it’s unique and not mass produced – keep your margins so you can keep doing what you love.
Margins, margins, if they’re not worthwhile they will kill your business. Don’t listen to people who tell you to lower your price ( to the detriment of your margins) just to get out there! That only works when you have excess production or have to keep employees around. It’s satisfying to be creative but if there’s no reward it kills your motivation. You may or may not need those cheaper items but they need to be worthwhile somehow. Besides, people pay $400 for ‘luxury’ jeans made in China. You’re just asking for the true value of your work. But that’s a problem with the human race – they want to be lied to. Still, there’s always a little room for value. Best wishes. ( Making tiles for 15 yrs.)
Ah yes, value…. the mother of all rabbit holes in the business or ceramics. And don’t get me started on luxury denim made in China. I’ve been working on a piece for my own blog on the subject of value for almost a year now and I am no closer to a conclusion now then when I started. Thanks so much for your comment and I really love your tile work BTW! ~L