Lessons Learned for Real Estate
from an Art Gallery Owner - Me
Some know, although not everyone, that my wife and I owned an art gallery, Mark Gallery, for 3 years in the Huron Village area of Cambridge across the Charles River from Boston from 2002 – 2004.
I learned some valuable lessons in this role that have, to this day, continued to influence me in my real estate business, but certainly served me well when starting out.
My wife and I have always had a passion for art – viewing it in galleries and museums for years, as well as collecting it as our budget allowed. Funny, but the passion for collecting and the budget were not always in sync, and often the budget lost out, but that’s how passion can be.
After my Corporate HR role ended at a Boston-based Internet marketing company due to the dot com melt-down and Chapter 11, we decided it was a golden opportunity to do what we had been dreaming about…opening an art gallery. And my wife had a great job and there was plenty of money in the bank…all key for starting out in a business that might not pay well early on.
Have a Mentor
Having a mentor in the art gallery business was huge for us. While we were familiar with the art business from frequenting galleries for many years, and talking to gallery owners, there were many things we did not know and needed to learn, on top of deciding how we wanted to run OUR gallery – our philosophy, our business practices, our niche, and so on.
And of course there were the practical realities of creating and managing a website, online and print marketing, leasing space, arranging for a credit card system, banking, among other key items. My wife knew James Bacchi at ArtHaus in San Francisco and he was a savior in so many ways, and always available to talk, answer our questions, and give us ideas. Plus he has a wonderful gallery in the SOMA area of San Francisco!
Tell Everyone You are in the Business
Letting others know we now were gallery owners was essential to growing the business early on – friends, family, neighborhoods, former work colleagues, everyone we could think of learned about this new venture. The same works for starting out in real estate. The financials may be different but the need is the same.
Network, Network, Network
In addition to getting the word out about our new gallery to our sphere, we spent countless hours networking with other gallery owners, artist friends, and others in the business including writers who covered art happenings in the area in major publications. This was helpful in building a network of potential artists, who told other artists, but also learning from other gallery owners about their businesses, and what worked and what did not.
Specialize (Have a Niche)
We knew early on, based on our own passions and likes, that we wanted to focus on certain kinds of art that appealed to us (primarily original paintings in different media, photography, and sculpture), and what we felt was saleable.
We knew we had to focus on what we personally liked and could be passionate about, but also on art that would sell. After all, we were in business to make money and we had to pay the artists their percentages, too!
This also meant being selective about clients, and having to say no to many artists who approached us about being represented in our gallery. If it didn’t fit with our philosophy we had to say no. And there were a few artists who simply made demands that were not going to mesh with how we operated our business…as in real estate.
Track Your Financials and Keep Good Records
Oh, my, this was important, and I really had no clue about how to do this when starting out other than a spreadsheet. The art gallery business for many is not one with a huge ROI, so every penny mattered – some things were hard to control, like utility costs, but others were not, and tracking everything we spent, and saying no to spending when we could not envision a return or simply did not have the budget for it, was essential.
We also had to carefully track our income since we had a percentage we had to pay each artist by agreement, money they depended on. And of course for tax purposes we had to be very careful about having the necessary records for filing.
Pay Close Attention to Your Prospects and Clients
Our business, of course, depended on people walking in the door to explore what we had to offer and finding something they liked and wanted to buy. There were walk-ins, people who saw our website or read about our gallery in the monthly publication we advertised in, and others who received a postcard about a show, or heard about us from a friend or artist.
You never knew who might step in and it was essential to be attentive, but not salesy, and to learn how you could best help them by listening.
Some people were clearly there to just enjoy, and that was fine, but there were always surprises; I remember one couple waking in who seemed to simply be out for a stroll, but they ended up buying, over a 2-hour period, 7 paintings in excess of $12,000!
First impressions are not always what they seem!
We had regular clients, too, who bought new works on an going basis, and it was essential to stay in touch with them whenever possible, especially when we had new offerings we felt they might like.
We also had to work hard to stay in touch with our primary and most successful artists, the occasional artists we featured, and those we hoped to show but could not work into the immediate schedule.
Make a Great First Impression
This was a key learning from the beginning. We knew we wanted anyone walking in to enjoy doing so – to like what they saw in the gallery, to feel comfortable just walking around and enjoying beautiful art, to get answers to questions, to get help from us when they really had little idea about buying art. We also knew, especially early on, that word of mouth was key to growing our gallery’s business and we did not want that word of mouth to be negative because of a bad experience!
Great customer service was, of course, essential at all times, in person or on the phone, whether someone spent money or not, just as it is in real estate.
We absolutely loved the art business, despite how difficult it was, with long hours, periods where money was a real issues, and lots of ups and downs. Would we do it again under the right circumstances? You bet.
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