It’s been a while since we talked about the Temux Mayan Artisans co-op. The women are still crocheting away, making their traditional morrales to sell to whoever wants a beautiful, tough, handmade bag. Slowly but surely, the women are starting to get used to the idea that they can actually get some serious income for their families this way. I checked the books, and the core group of about 8 or 9 women have already earned a little over Q3,500. This is not a handout; it’s them working, doing something they’re good at and like to do.
Today we had another meeting. It’s been a while; we don’t have a regular schedule yet, and it’s more of a “call out the ladies, we need to talk tomorrow” sort of arrangement. They brought their projects, and we gawked at how NICE some of them are this time. I wanted to steal two of the bags right away, especially this one with the UofO colors. We talked about quality control (which they understand and are really serious about) as well as pricing. Until now, each woman haggled the price she wanted for the bag, with the warning that if the price was too high, it probably wouldn’t sell. But today, they decided on a pricing scheme based on size. For example, a “large” bag, about 18×18, would earn Q175, regardless of who made it. This will streamline bookkeeping, as well as reduce confusion amongst purchasers and squabbling amongst the artists.
While Emily and the women discussed their pricing scheme, I put some numbers into the spreadsheet on my Mac. A quick analysis of the cost per square inch revealed that those who make smaller bags are at a huge advantage. I then made a new pricing schedule, based on the median cost-per-square-inch and redistributing the prices fairly by the amount of work in a bag. I mentioned this to Emily (in English), and she reminded me that if I tried to explain that to the women at this stage, the meeting would degrade into total chaos. I guess we will wait and see if anyone picks up on this flaw in the rules, making a truckload of small bags that we will never be able to sell. Being a gamer geek is such a burden sometimes.
This week’s meeting was far more organized than the last one, by the way. When my aunties came to visit last month, one of the main ladies of the co-op realized the potential for selling some wares, and she “called out the troops”. By the time it was done, the aunties had purchased a sizeable pile of morrales. Here we see them in the hotel a few days later, dividing the spoils. We hope to increase sales through our internet store and direct sales to resellers, but we still sell a lot of bags through word-of-mouth to friends, relatives, and other Peace Corps Volunteers. Perhaps to our blog readers, as well? If you’re interested, visit the estore or email me. I hear there is a special deal for blog readers on custom bags.
A fantastic opportunity came knocking while we were on vacation, too. Troy and Valerie Mellema from WordsYouWant contacted us to offer their services. They are a web marketing firm, and want to help us with the TemuxMayanArtisans.com website. They specialize in SEO (Search Engine Optimization), blogs, article marketing, and press releases… and they want to help us pro bono! Wow, that’s nuts. Now that things have settled down a bit here, Emily is going to start working with them.
As for the women, we originally hoped that they could learn basic bookkeeping and business management skills, but that is now looking pretty ambitious. We’ve shifted our focus to getting them to work together as a team, believe in the value of the work, and understand the implications of their design decisions. I guess this will leave some work for the next volunteer, and they can hit the ground running when they take over for us in the fall of 2010.
So, make with the clicking and visit the store. And, sorry, the cool morral at the top of the post isn’t for sale. I couldn’t resist… it’s walking around town with ME this week, honey.