Search for opportunities
The market for woodwork renovation services substantially differs from one country to another, even from one locality to another. It depends on many factors: the availability of historic objects, their state, the attitudes of the majority of the population which may favour and respect the surrounding cultural heritage or disregard its value, and also the provision of services, in other ways, the competition you will be facing from other artisans in the area. In your search for opportunities you have to take into account all these factors to define a baseline for your operations. It is possible that you will discover a profitable niche with a prospect of promising orders for a small craft venture.
You should search for work opportunities in the particular field of your expertise. You may identify objects or sites where some intervention is needed but the actual work to be done is far beyond your capabilities in terms of the required resources and skills. However, deeper explorations can bring your attention to objects less visible, left aside or just ‘preserved’ against decay but in a way which diminishes their historic and aesthetic value. Their current state may be due to lack of proper care, damage or worn resulting from long use, or from inappropriate intervention in the past. Try to make a portfolio of such objects with photographs and descriptive analysis of their context and condition. You may be surprised with the results if you give the task sufficient time and dedication.
While building our ARTISAN Venture in Wadowice we have explored all historic buildings in the centre of our small town with particular focus on front wooden doors. This was in line with our experience building stage (cf. the preceding lesson) in which we tested our abilities on an authentic door, going through all the steps of the renovation process. The search resulted in encouraging results as we managed to identify and document a number of doors of historic value in our environment which still have the potential to regain their original splendour if treated properly. And the level of needed intervention is certainly not beyond our artisan capabilities.
While searching for such opportunities you have to find a way to approach the owners of the identified objects and present your offer. The fact that there is a number of decaying historic properties in your area does not necessarily mean that there is a need for your services. As we mentioned above there can be many reasons for their present condition. It is thus worth checking the situation through direct contact with those in charge of the properties. You may find out that some owners have never considered a proper renovation of old wooden parts of their buildings, considering rather their replacement with new ones. They may be surprised by such a possibility, especially if you manage to present examples of your previous work as well as some other exemplary cases of renovation. A portfolio of such examples can help a lot – see the following pictures and imagine how they can help you be convincing in your argumentation. A skilful presentation in the form of a leaflet or brochure is an essential marketing tool.
We should add one important comment to the above argumentation. Business opportunities are always contextual and dynamic, which means that they arise in a particular situation and are subject to change. Hence an entrepeneur is someone who is much more focused on the particular than the general. He/she must have a sense of the specific context in which he/she operates and be able to grasp new, emerging needs and trends in the market. Having seen an interesting development in one place you cannot easily extrapolate it to another. For example a particular style of renovation may be deeply rooted in the historic context and tradition, hence continuity should be maintained. In some other localities continuous cultural development has been cut by various factors (e.g. devastation of cultural heritage, commercialisation of historic places) and certain attitudes and styles forgotten or abandoned as a result. It is exactly here where an artisan with entrepreneurial mind can discover new opportunities for quality renovation work, not necessarily seen by others. At first it is always an intuitive grasp of new venues for intervention, which needs to be followed by a careful analysis how they can be explored.
Initial search for opportunities can be done through various forms of survey, direct, online or telephone, but it is likely that the most meaningful feedback will be derived from face-to-face meetings with prospective customers on location, with a possibility to discuss the objects in focus. You will need to find answers at least to the following questions to see if there are really opportunities out there for your artisanal services.
Who are my prospective customers?
How can I reach them with my offer?
Which specific services do they need or want?
What factors will influence their decisions?
What prices should I set for my services?
Who are my competitors and what are their strengths and weaknesses?
