We were lucky to catch up with Garrett Wedan recently and have shared our conversation below.
Garrett, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
Depending on how you want to look at it, it’s either multiple risks or the same risk over and over, but it’s trying new growth opportunities. The first time I took it was signing up for Grand Forks Comic Con, it was the most I had spent for an event, bigger then anything I had done by far. Going from a 6′ table to a 10’x10′ booth and trying to figure out how I would make that look good, would I have enough product to survive the weekend, and would people even like it. Then the following year it was signing up for CoreCon in Fargo, I had only sold once in Fargo before and it went horribly, I lost money on that show and didn’t enjoy how it went. CoreCon was an established event I knew very little about. How would they accept an outsider? I got a bigger space after what I had learned at Grand Forks Comic Con so it was again the most I was spending for a booth, and I now had the added cost of staying in a hotel. I’m a couple years removed from those risks but doing it again in new scarier ways. I just did Grand Forks Artfest which is an outdoor event that they expect 20,000 people at and the most expensive booth fee. My two previous attempts at outdoor events did not go well and I had swore off doing them and the biggest event I had done before was like 1,500 people. Now this fall I have my biggest risk of all, I’m doing Twin Cities Con in Minneapolis. The booth fee is almost quadrupole what I usually pay for cons, room cost is triple what I’ve paid, I’ll be 5hrs from home with a lot less in person support then I normally have. But at the end of the day I need to take a deep breath and realize I can do it. I just signed up for my 4th Grand Forks Comic Con and can’t wait for it, CoreCon this year was so much fun and loved getting to see the people I do at the Fargo cons. Artfest, while scary, went well. I had a blast and the weather didn’t wipe us out. I’m looking forward to it next year already! So I know in theory Twin Cities Con will go ok, but my nerves won’t relax until it’s done, but that relief afterwards will let me know I’m ready for the next thing.
Garrett, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Hi everyone I’m Garrett. I’m a huge nerd, that’s like the tldr spark note version. I like to consider myself a jack of all trades master of none type of person, but I will admit I’m pretty good with some pliers and making chainmaille. Like most people, I had seen chainmaille in movies and TV in things like Lord of The Rings, Robinhood, Forged in Fire, but it wasn’t until I was at a Sci-Fi con from another vendor that my view of chainmaille completely changed. It was colorful jewelry, dice bags, bow ties, all sorts of fun cool things and in that instant I was hooked. I don’t remember if we had even left the con yet or if it was as soon as I got home from the con I had ordered a couple books, some pliers, and rings off of Amazon. I wanted to figure it out! Now here I am 6 years later, doing tons of events, making custom pieces and never knowing what’s around the corner next. I mostly make jewelry and accessories, from earrings, bracelets, hair barrettes, to name a few. But I’ve been getting into bigger cosplay and ren fair pieces with tails, shoulder pauldrens and fun scalemaille pieces. My favorite thing is making custom pieces, whether its a specific color combination, taking someone’s pride identities and making a cohesive piece, making a custom cosplay piece and then seeing their face light up is the best feeling as a creator.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Hold while I pull the soap box out so I can project this out far. Stop buying mass produced arts/crafts and AI art and support small creatives. So one of the things that is a common conversation topic amongst my creative circles is shows that cater to MLMs, multi level marketing for those not familiar, and how poorly we tend to do at those shows. When you have an event that you have people hand creating, hand painting, putting daily effort into making things to get passed over, have someone turn up their nose, or scoff at that work to turn around and buy something that was mass produced in a factory in a country they can’t locate on a map or pronounce for double or triple the cost is defeating. More often then not you are going to get a better product, a more unique piece, and maybe a better price buying something from a small creative then from mass produced goods. Like sure that necklace or earring set from Paparazzi might be cute, thats what the other 100,000+ people that have bought it probably said too. You know what that company/vendor isn’t going to give you the opportunity to do what I can? Oh you don’t have your ears pierced I can turn it into clip-ons, you have metal allergies here are my two allergy friendly options, that necklace isn’t long enough here let me add a couple inches on for you right then and there. For my paint and digital artist friends oh you don’t see the character you like or the colors you like, they have the same response I can draw that for you, I can make this in those colors. I love supporting my fellow creatives, probably my favorite time that I have done this is with my friend Raising Wolves Art she had an awesome Asoka Tano print, bought it then went hey can you do this with Hera Syndulla as well, the answer was obviously yes and I now have an awesome tandem of prints, and she liked it so much she now sells it as prints and stickers making even more off my one time piece of support.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
I’m going to make a jump to the left on this question. It’s not books, videos, essays, or another obtainable resource that has had an impact on my entrepreneurial way of thinking, though I’m sure it is probably out there in some medium somewhere, it’s my work history. I understand as creatives 9-5 desk jobs, corporate type environments, big business can be a stifling way to make ends meet and afford to live and make your art, but depending on where you work it can also be a wealth of knowledge. My last employer was what is referred to as a VAR or value added reseller. It was an IT company so we sold computers, printers, servers, phones all the day to day things business need, the value added was that we would configure it and set it up for you. A bakery, auto shop, or small insurance office doesn’t have the knowledge to do that but we could do that for them. I was on the service side, setting up the hardware for people, but I also listened to the sales side. One of the things that has always stuck with me the most that I’ve had to keep in mind as I’ve grown my business is cost versus asset. In the IT world most businesses think of IT as a cost center. You buy the computer, you buy the copier, you buy the server, but you don’t think about how that device is actually helping you do business and serve your customers until it crashes then it’s the most valuable thing in the business because it stops you. For me, it was instead of buying the $8 pliers and my hands hurting and replacing them every now and then, it’s buying the $20-$30 pliers that are comfy and I’ve been using for two years with no issues. It’s going from the small square card reader and having to leave my cell phone at the table to buying an iPad and the nice square stand that just sits at the table while I go get food or go shop my fellow vendors while my wife watches the table. It’s upgrading the $5 peg board displays from Target dollar spot to buying a big (but manageable) spinning peg board display for $50+ because now I can do a smaller 1 table event and go from fitting 25% of my product to now I have 45% of my product out and can sell more. We all start small and you have to make those little purchases to start with, but don’t fear making some of those big purchases because you gain so much more then it costs you and its now an asset to how you’re doing business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thenerdoftherings.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenerdoftherings/
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- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-nerd-of-the-rings
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