Comments on: Is the Digi-Scrap Community in Need of Guidance?

By: PChip

PChip — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 20:34:20 +0000

Absolutely great input here folks. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

So this issue doesn’t drop out of site, I’m continuing it in our networking community forums. If you want to stay in the loop and continue discussing this pop on over to the forum string at:

http://dsd-pro.biz/forums/index.php?showtopic=245&hl=

By: David

David — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 12:58:20 +0000

Seems a sensible step forward.

Any industry with sufficiently low barriers to entry will get flooded quickly with low-cost / free offerings.

With un-registered digi-scrap businesses started essentially for free, we either have to struggle against the tide, or raise the barriers in a meaningful way.

One such barrier could be a guild as such. Maybe there should be a peer reviewed standard of product. A dispute resolution service. These barriers are also low cost in $ terms.

Anything that raises the cost of business, just make us less competitive.

But the barriers have to mean something to the customers. An arbitrary “club” badge is not neessarily going to make a difference if not perceived by them as a good standard worth paying for.

By: Cassel

Cassel — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 16:05:23 +0000

Being new to “selling” digistuff, i think it would be a wonderful idea to have some kind of grouping of the designers. Something that can be a valuable and worthy to the designers and the customers too. And also such a grouping could be identified, just like those members of TWInc. Such a grouping could have several advantages:
- give a visual clue to customer that the site or designer is following at least a set of rules
- give the customer a place to go if they notice something not right
- help the newcomers to the business to start with some background
- help the newcomers learn from the experienced designers how to avoid some mistakes
- help set some standards in the industry, as much as can be done.

I likely would not have much input to help in such grouping, but i would certainly be willing to become a member, even if only to learn and participate.

By: PChip

PChip — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 05:12:37 +0000

Okay - what you ladies are talking about is easy to implement within the structure we already have going at DSD-Pro. Very easy. If I can round up the support from folks, we can make that happen.

However, I don’t want to be perceived as running over what kscwgirl already has started from the initial discussions from DST. I’ve signed up for her new group. Haven’t been approved as yet though.

As soon as that approval goes through and I see what discussions are going on, I’ll look more closely at pursuing this.

Thanks VERY MUCH for your input it is helpful!

By: Jennifer White/ScrapKittyDesign

Jennifer White/ScrapKittyDesign — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 04:04:59 +0000

I have been one of those professional crafters, and always made sure to belong to my local Crafters Guild wherever I lived. The guilds serve several purposes - education and business advice, knowledge pool, standards setter, conduit to connect artists with funding sources and work opportunities. I’ve maintained for a long time, every time this topic comes up, that we need a trade guild. You would have to meet a set of criteria to join - have a portfolio of work reviewed, have been selling in a consignment environment for a specified amount of time, make a commitment to contributing by educating others, helping raise funds, advertising, helping with admin work. Once accepted into the guild, you would be qualified to display the guild logo or seal on all your products. This would let the customer know that you’ve met certain criteria, and that the purchase is backed by the guild. Guild members would have to agree to allow the guild’s dispute resolution committee to arbitrate any disputes, and customers could feel like they have a place to report dissatisfaction if they don’t get a satisfactory response from the designer. Kind of like getting a ’seal of approval’ for your work. The guild could also perform valuable services for the digi-scrap community by holding new-designer classes and workshops, including such topics as tax responsibilities, marketing, or organizing your time. This would be a perfect entity to oversee the STOUI also. I would gladly work to help get something like this going. I think it’s much like what Kayla described above - almost every industry has such organizations, and we should embrace the idea as our industry matures. Not to say there is not a place for ‘hobbyist’ designers, but that it might be time to separate the professionals (those serious about improving their craft and running a business) from the talented amateurs.
Just my two cents!

By: PChip

PChip — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 17:24:48 +0000

Kayla - that’s an excellent idea! The “organization with members agreeing to abide by certain terms” thing I mean. I think that would help customers see who’s committed and providing the top-level products/services. We would just need to educate the customers on where to look, etc.

I also agree with you completely about educating designers on good business practices! I think that’s a big issue in any industry.

Thank you for your input. I appreciate your opinions on this.

By: Kayla

Kayla — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 01:14:04 +0000

When I was a mortgage loan officer we created a county lender’s association. The lenders who were members of the group agreed to abide by a code of ethics and standards. We had a board of ten people (from various companies) and also committees made up of a mix of people working in the industry. We all worked together to make our industry more reputable - I think something similar to this could be very good for the digital community.

Member companies paid dues to the organization and they agreed to be bound by the term of ethics. Some lenders did not participate - it was voluntary - but it gave customer a good idea of the companies committed to being open and honest - the companies who participated were given a seal to display in their places of business.

I think it would be a good thing - it also would be a good thing to help educate newer designers on what is acceptable and good business practice…I think a lot of the quality issues out there are simply due the designers lack of experience and a little bit of mentoring would go a long way in those situations…