Expat Teacher Draws Up Personalized Woodworks

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

In this story, a teacher from New Zealand moves to Japan and creates custom wood art based on personalized memories. How do you get started in a business like this? How do you grow it? What do you need to learn along the way? What has she learned?

And by the way, this artwork is beautiful. It is sanded and stained on surfboards, oars, large circles, and it all comes together to tell a story. It's a wonderful gift item and personalized based on this experience of keeping the past alive, telling a story of a generation or an ancestor. So we'll also look at how this artist struggled a bit in pricing, which is normally, especially with some kind of unique art where there's not really an obvious comparison piece, but of course that doesn't mean it's impossible. So let's look at the story.

expat teacher draws up personalized wood works. Got the story, some details, a little bit of analysis, all in a short action-packed episode, less than 10 minutes. Thanks for tuning in today. That story's coming right up. [Music]

The way we share stories from generation to generation tends to go a bit like a long-term game of telephone.

You played that game when you were a kid, right? Over the years, stories get lost in translation. We miss details. We tend to focus more on the positive than the negative. We may even be telling an entirely incorrect version of the story and don't even know it.

Madeleine Rose from New Zealand recognized this could be a significant problem for families who wanted to preserve the integrity of their history. So she drew herself a new side hustle, Madeleine Rose Art. And here's how it all went down. In 2018, Madeleine turned down an invitation to become a student at ILAM, a fine art school in New Zealand, very prestigious. And instead, she pursued a degree in career in health and physical education.

That led to a move to Japan, where she now works as a teacher in an international school. Now, Madeleine had loved making art, and she thought of that as her career for a while. And then when she switched to education, she didn't want to give up on her dreams, just because she now had a full-time job. So as a gift for her mom, she designed a one-of-a-kind piece, hand-stained with a personalized design. Then she made another for her father, and then once again for her partner.

Their reactions were better than she could have imagined. Looking for ways to generate additional income, Madeleine made a website. She purchased more wood and art supplies and started to create pieces that she knew could impact families celebrating milestones, such as the birth of a new child, an anniversary, a graduation, or a notable birthday. Now, what is this artwork exactly? Well, it's nature-inspired, made from wood, and uses items such as ores, wooden circles, and surfboards.

Madeleine sands the wood down to its raw finish, then hand-stains it. Most of her designs reflect the beauty found in the natural world, with images of vines, trees, and mountains making regular appearances. The journey hasn't been traditional or easy. Madeleine started during a global pandemic while living in a different country where she doesn't speak the language, and working at a new job without her usual support network. Pricing, in particular, continues to be a bit of a struggle because each piece is unique and tells an entirely different story.

So determining just how much to charge a customer is a common challenge. Rather than lumbering around aimlessly, you know, with all that wood, trying to figure out the perfect price, Madeleine made artwork for a donation, at least at first, to see what people would be willing to pay. And once she had a baseline number in mind, she could adjust her costs and materials accordingly. I'll say a bit more about this in the wrap-up. Over the past year, she's made and sold 16 unique art pieces for her clients.

These are large pieces, all for a good profit, and with no money spent on advertising. All her sales are coming from word-of-mouth. So what's next for Madeleine Rose Art? Well, she wants to carve out additional hours to scale her business into what she calls full-time play because the word job doesn't seem right. With an impressive portfolio, an improved process, and learning how to ship from Japan, she's off to a great start.

[Music]

All right, let's talk about pricing. First of all, it's hard to communicate the beauty of these handcrafted wooden works of art. I definitely encourage you to check them out. Our website, I believe, is madeleineroseart.com. Madeleine is with an L-A-I-N-E at the end.

Of course, we're gonna link it up in the show notes page to make it easy for people to find it. She's also got a great Instagram. Now, on the pricing, I'm glad that she's selling them for a good price of 700 to $1,200, it looks like the range is currently. I think it could actually be more at some point. But I think that the donation model is not how you figure out pricing for something like this because that just tends to confuse people.

People aren't sure what to donate. You need to tell them what your art is worth or at least the price that you want to get. And in some ways, what you choose to price at determines your market. Like people who buy $100 art are gonna be different than those who buy $1,000 art and $5,000 and so on from there. Which is also different from buying a $5 bracelet or something on Etsy.

Like it's all so different. I do think the current range is good. And if anything, as I said, some items could cost more. But hopefully Madeleine will add those items as she builds her fan base. And let's assume, sells many more in the months and years to come.

So very cool project. Listeners, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better. Today's show notes are at sidehustleschool.com/1807. If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can leave that there as well. Thank you for joining me today.

I hope you're doing okay and taking care of yourself during this holiday season. All right, much more is coming up. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]

From the Onward Project.