Tracy is currently finishing her third year Brand Management
Degree and before she left the company to start her full time studies at VEGA I
told Tracy that one day when she became rich and successful she owes me a
holiday on an exotic beach. Tracy of course said she would and I do believe
that if the time came she would have done so, but it dawned on me whilst
thinking about my business plan that Tracy could possibly help me with this so
I gave her a call. In the notes I had made on my weekend to Fouriesburg I had
written down that I needed to access sources and services possible for free or
for as little cost as possible. I had no way of funding this dream of mine, but
still I still have no doubt that I can pull this off be networking and using
connections as I go along. Tracy had done business plans as part of her studies,
but more important, she knew a lot about brand management and she would be
willing to help me I knew this for sure. So I called Tracy, she listened to my
idea and said she would come around at the end of the week to come meet me at
my mom’s house and get the full details.
As promised Tracy came around and listened very
attentively to my grand idea and had a look at my actual creations I have made
thus far and she was very excited. Tracy spent three hours with me and she left
my house saying she would start working on my business plan as soon as she can.
I had made notes on research I wanted to do, but it had dawned on me the past
few days that it takes a good couple of hours to complete one of my creations
to my satisfaction, in between I still had to try and establish business to
keep myself going in Johannesburg and I realised that I might not have enough
time to do the actual research I wanted to do, but when Tracy left she had told
me that this information would form part of my business plan and she would do
it for me, bless her sexy heart ;)
I had Google’ d around a bit to try and find some unique
shops that would maybe be interested in buying some of my creations and had
made contact with Des, the owner of the Hadeda shop in Parkwood. Des had asked
me to come see her on the following Monday, which I did. The Hadeda shop must
be one of the coolest shops in Jozi, a Mexican shop selling all candy skull
items and much more. Des loved my creations, but unfortunately this is not what
they were looking for to purchase. Des had told me to go straight to The Local
Grill which is an upmarket restaurant situated in Parktown North to speak to
the owners and see if I could possibly leave one skull for them to hang in the
restaurant, like other artist and then see if some of their clients would maybe
be interested in purchasing the skull. The owners Poppie and Steve were very
friendly, and they had agreed to hang not just one of my skull creations, but
also the jaw bone I had painted. I would leave it there for two weeks and then
go back to speak to them to see if there was any interests from their clients
regarding my skull creations.
After leaving The Local Grill I head off to Greenside to
see an old friend of mine, Mark from Emerald Rain Tattoo’s. Over lunch I tell
mark about my ideas and how far I have come making connections and establishing
more business, and Mark gives me two skulls that usually hang in his Tattoo
shop to paint as well. From their I head off to Rustic Roots in Ferndale to
another friend and shop owner Allie to ask him if I could possibly leave one of
my skulls there for a week to see if anyone is showing any interest to purchase
it. After catching up with Allie I head off to The Home Brew Shop in Emmarentia
to visit the owner my friend Alex, until now Alex has been my biggest supporter
not only because he loves my art, but he lives by the rule that one should not
have a job, but you should do what you enjoy, he was very happy for me making
the decision of opening Shongololo Studio. He has called me almost every day to
find out how I am and how things are going with my new business and always
encourages me to keep on believing in myself. As always he was very happy to
hear of my progress. I absolutely love the home Brew Shop, it is much more than
just a brewing shop it is a home to many friends that often come around to
visit Alex to have a home brewed beer, maybe come around for a game of darts or
just sit around for a few minutes to hang out with like-minded people in the
awesome lounge. The rest of the week was I decide to spend as much time as
possible and create more animal sugar skulls.
Mark from Emerald Rain Tattoo
Alex Burrow master of the Home Brew Shop
No comments:
Post a Comment