 |
| Coupville, WA by GJ Gillespie |
July 12, 2015
Transforming a hobby into a second career is a well-worn retirement path.
After teaching communication 30 years at a small college on the eastside of Seattle, collage artist GJ Gillespie dreamed of an arts related encore career.
Producing more than 400 paintings, displayed on web pages, earned him awards and art shows near his home and even Vancouver, Canada. (See Art of GJ Gillespie )
At a business alumni dinner honoring MBA graduates, Gillespie sat with the speaker, a former student, John Quick of Seattle Research Labs, who sells physical products on Amazon.
Quick introduced Gillespie to a mastermind community that teaches entrepreneurs how to sell on Amazon.
Gillespie enrolled in an eight-week online marketing class taught by successful business owners who explained steps of starting an online business. He learned how to create his own brand, source products from suppliers, then let Amazon handle all shipping.
He researched possible art products, including frames, acrylic paint and colored pencils. Finally he selected artist sketchbooks as a promising market niche. For example, one brand of sketchbook ranks 47 in Amazon’s art category out of 50,000 products.
In June 2015 he launched Leda Art Supply, naming the new business after the Greek myth about the mother of Helen of Troy – the most beautiful woman in the world.
After researching stationary suppliers in the US, the UK, Canada, India and China, Gillespie chose a top manufacturer in Shanghai to produce his ideal sketchbook.
He felt that a sketchbooks business is good choice since he and his wife have filled hundreds of art journals on their travels over the years. He knew what he liked about sketchbooks and sought to design the best possible product.
One of biggest weaknesses with art pads now on the market is cheap paper that easily tears or bleeds ink or paint.
To avoid that problem he designed a sketchbook with double the weight of paper –from the most common 40 pounds to a superior 80 pounds.
He increased the normal size from 5 x 7 inches to 7 x 10 inches, giving the artist more surface area to create. He made the cover with leather-like material that is flexible yet strong enough to provide support while sketching in the field.
No comments:
Post a Comment