Growing my business

This business is my sole source of income. Crazy, yes... but is it? I have typically done my best thinking, innovating and creating under stressssss... and this is stress! Lol! So my 1st move was creating something a little different to make and offer to the patch community, a community that I had been part of in the background for several years prior. Not a sure thing by any means, but I had faith in the product (hand made metal ranger eyes) and I wanted to give it a shot! 

next I identified that the potential for embroidered patches was high, desirable and had a decent margin to boot! Great, what could I offer that was uniquely mine... what could I do, offer, that was better, as good, at least ok, but for sure collectable... I spent several designs learning what I liked about embroidery, what worked and what I thought would make my designs stand out. I settles on high detail, multiple interesting colours, and layered details! Seems like a winning combination to me! But there needs to be more than just that!

my first series has done well over time, not a fast sell out by any means, but has sold pretty well over the course of my companies existence! Admittedly, to date there are still several in stock of each of the designs in that series... I learned from this, good designs alone don’t sell patches fast and or sell them out... but at least they still sell! I created several more designs all with these key elements and tried each one out in turn! They had varying degrees of success, some of which are still in stock at the time I’m writing this. with each one I learned something new, tried something new, tested new waters, and pushed myself further and further!

next I searched high and low for inspiration... you see I needed something new and more specifically “mine” to present to this amazing patch community. It isn’t enough to just create awesome designs these days, you need to say something or at least tell an old story in a new way. I learned in art school, or at least I remember this as an art school tidbit, that ”there are no new ideas”... let that sink in a bit! If we approach patches from an artistic direction, and I do... you will see that pretty much every patch idea presented as new and unique, is however awesome, not new... they are all re-boots, retelling of old stories, or the application of an old concept onto other material... 

we create patches with many different directions from many different perspectives, this much is true, but seldom do we actually make anything profoundly original or new, in fact I would say never... this is not to say that they are not worthy or awesome, just that there are no truly new ideas out there. Concept and applications of the old ideas aside, this is where we can innovate! 

back on topic, I can’t stay in the same place for long, I need to change and grow as an artist, I need my work to do the same and I need to also grow my business if I want to pay the bills and maybe one day be able to save some money for the future! :) squad goals, I know! 

que the latest direction my business is expanding into: jewelry! I already use most of the tools I need in my handmade patches so the startup costs are pretty low, and I’ve identified some designs that I think this community might actually like and embrace just like the patches! So here we go! I will slowly be dropping more cuff links, stacked copper rings and a few new as of yet unpublished offerings along the way! I hope you like these items like you do the patches, and or pass them along if you know anyone else who might like them too!

This is an area that I can really grow with, both in technique and in design. This is good for me, it will keep me growing as an artist and help inform my patch work too! Thanks for holding on for this crazy ride! Let me know if I can make something specific for you! I’m happy to look into custom work whenever I feel confident i can create something worthy of your request!

Thanks again!

Jesse Goodrice