When I was on vacation in Australia in November, we visited Sydney’s Chinatown. There was a guy there cutting silhouette portraits, and I had mine done. In the past and still occasionally I’ve cut portraits at gigs, it’s a great little skill to have, but to be totally honest, I have no idea how to sell it.
OK, back to the guy in Sydney, unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of his sign, but it was $2 Australian dollars for a portrait, or just about $1.10 US.
He cut it quick, and his display looked nice and he did it really quick.
The silhouette doesn’t really look like me, but it was fun to get it done and totally worth about a dollar!
I’ve always said you can learn a lot from simply watching people who do what do, no matter their skill level or what you view as their skill level. Here’s what I learned from him:
1: He had a great display that clearly said what he did, how much it cost and how long it would take.
2: He cut on a vinyl with and adhesive back and stuck it to the card at the end.
The adhesive backed vinyl is very smart, it eliminates the need for glue, which then eliminates the need for a table. It also saves times. If I ever try to sell the silhouette portraits again, I’ll probably experiment with using something with an adhesive back.
-Louie