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buildacreativecareerbloke-blog · 8 years ago

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COSTING YOUR WORK (Part 3)

Now that you know what your fixed cost for your new creative business are likely to be and how much money you need to cover your living costs you need to ask yourself one very fundamental question – how much are you worth?

How much am I worth?

It’s a difficult one to calculate when you are starting out. You can easily get caught between wanting income and not (what you consider to be) overpricing your work so that it does not sell and earning enough money. There are a variety of ways to determine how much your work should cost and these can help when deciding how much you want to get paid. One thing you must never forget though is ‘never underestimate how much someone is prepared to pay for something they want, or how much money they actually have to buy something’.

So, let’s look at a variety of ways you can begin to work out how much you want to get paid. Answer these two questions below for yourself and write down the answer and put a date by it. Keep that paper/doc on the computer it’ll be great to look back at in 10 years time.

1. Where do you think your skills an abilities sit in relation to others?

2. How much do you believe the work you intend to make can sell for?

How can you start figuring these out?

If you do not already know successful makers go out and find some. Go to galleries, local craft/art shows, online and actual shops that sell hand-made items, arts fairs etc. and see what other creatives working in your medium are selling their work for. Have a chat with them and see what they are prepared to tell you about their work and living conditions. Also remember some may not be doing as well as you will, and some may always be doing better (so don’t get depressed by what you discover). Comparison can be a killer, but it’s a god way to benchmark ideas, but don’t get personally attached to what you fid out.

When I started I had no idea how much I wanted to earn, only what I needed to earn. I quickly discovered that there are ways to can put your prices up and, they were.

1. Be professional even when you don’t feel like it

2. Act as if you are already successful (but don’t be arrogant)

3. Be interested in all your potential clients

4. Don’t do work for free – quotes yes but complex design proposals and ‘models’ should be charged for. If the potential client is serious they’ll pay upfront, especially if you tell them that if they go head you’ll deduct that upfront cost from the final bill

5. Look at how your competitors communicate with their potential customers. Ape the good ones and look at ways to improve on what they do.

6. Always reply to enquiries quickly (with 48 hours).

After being in business full-time for 5 years I decided to see where my prices sat alongside my competitors. I sent a design out to every local stained glass studio and one in every county around the UK. I sent the design, with specific requirements that matched how I would make the window, from a friends’ email address and asked for a price. Some did not reply, some said I was too far away for them to be able to quote, but some did reply. Now I know how much it would cost me to make the design I sent, all the fixed and material costs and how much I wanted to earn. When the quotes came back I was the most expense and some were quoting only a third of my sales price. I was shocked and had to decide what to do. Did I want to remain the most expensive and possibly lose out to those studios that chose to make a lower profit, or did I want to do something a lot more daring?

I decided to be daring and I increase my prices by 30%. Doing this lifted me away from the competition and made my work appear exclusive if any comparison on price were done – I have not looked back.

So, go out and do this then you’ll be ready to add this to the spreadsheet where we’ll work out how to cost your sale items. If you’re not sure how to do any of this send me an email at [email protected].

#howmuchamiworth #howtofigureitout #buildacreativecareer #costmywork howmuchtocharge whatshouldichargeformywork figureoutasellingprice howmuchtosellfor amiexpensive ismystufftooexpensive ami

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buildacreativecareerbloke-blog · 8 years ago

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COSTING YOUR LIFE & WORK

How much do you think you are worth? How much money do you want to get paid? So, what are your overheads, both personal and commercial?

One thing that many creatives find hard to do is get paid their worth. There are two main reasons why this happens. One, their work is not recognised as worth what they believe it should be or two, they do not ask enough for their work. Both reasons can cause a creative person to fail or feel undervalued.

We can address point two more effectively than point one, so let’s see how to do it. You have to look at this dispassionately and do some detailed analysis to begin with.

To start, do you know how much money do you need each month to survive, never mind thrive? What does your rent/mortgage cost? How much do you spend on utilities such as gas, electricity, and Council tax? What other monthly costs do you incur just by standing still – insurance, healthcare? Do you own a car, what does that cost just to have it standing on the road – tax, insurance, and parking? Then you do need to eat and if you don’t have a washing machine the launderette. You need to know exactly what it costs you each month to live, including all of the above that apply to you including replacing clothing and entertainment (Netflix and/or the pub) because it can’t just be about living to work. Until you know these figures you can’t begin to understand how much you should be charging for your creative work.

So, let’s begin by listing the following for one typical month:

1. List what each of the following costs you (if it applies) and, if you share the costs with others, then just your portion of them:

Rent/mortgage, Council Tax, Household insurance, TV licence, Service Charge (if you live in a flat), Water, Electricity, Gas, Broadband, Home entertainment (such as Netflix), Phone, Car tax, Car insurance, Parking, Car maintenance, Life insurance, Cleaning (launderette/dry cleaners/home), Memberships, Minimum Credit Card payments, Loan re-payments.

2. Estimate the following, and be generous with your estimating:

Food/drink for home, Eating out, Drinking out, Partying, Clothes, Household goods (toilet paper/washing-up liquid etc.), Travel (fuel for the car or train/bus), Any other costs you regularly incur.

Once you’ve added all that up, take that total and divide it by 21 (that’s the average number of work days in a month), you do not want to be working all day, every day. You’ll then get an idea of how much money it costs you to live and how much you’ll need to earn each work day, just to cover your living costs.

In the next blog we’ll look at what to do with this information and how to work out your self-employed working costs, and then the variables. If you are happy using Excel or any other spreadsheet package put this information into that. You can then easily update it when things change and you’ll get immediate updates on your living costs, which can feed into your work costs.

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buildacreativecareerbloke-blog · 8 years ago

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FINDING NEW OPPORTUNITIES

Back in 2003 I was beginning my career as a stained glass artist and trying many different avenues to gain sales. I has fairly convinced that I did not want to make 'stuff' and have to wait for it to sell, I wanted commissions as they were guaranteed to bring in money. All very well you may say, but how do you get people to buy from you if you can’t show what you can make?

So, I had to start making things to create a catalogue of work. To do this I began with 3D items such as lamps and shades, but they were not really what I wanted to make at tat time, so I branched out into circular panels that sat within a steel frame - like a sculpture. In the end I made two, one was a blue bird that sat in a steel bower and the other was Art Deco inspired and is the one you see above.

I actually made this panel while showing at Southampton Balloon and Crafts Festival in 2003, and by actually making the panel at the show I drew a lot of attention and that provided me with my first (and one of my largest ever) commissions.

This panel was subsequently shown in the Brighton Artists’ Open Houses twice and never sold, but did inspire two further commissions for circular panels on stands. So, this has stood in the studio(s) ever since and gathered dust.

Earlier this year I came across a ‘Call’ for sculptures for a garden exhibition and initially ignored it, but then as I stood up after reading the email and I saw ‘Deco Fish’ and thought why no? Entrance to the exhibition selection procedure was free, the event was to last throughout the summer and into the autumn, and I could possibly sell this now and get more money than I had initially wanted for it, definitely exposure to a new client base and possible other work – all for free.

So what did I learn?

1. When you are starting out make ‘stuff’, it will lead to making more

2. Always keep and look after anything you make that does not sell immediately

3. Look for opportunities to place those ‘stuck’ items whenever you can

4. Over time you may be able to get money than you bargained for

For more info email me at [email protected]

#howtomakemoneyfromcraft howiakemoney howtomakecraftpay creativecareer buildacreativecareer howImadeitpay makemoney buildyourcareeras

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buildacreativecareerbloke-blog · 8 years ago

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OK, so here’s day one of my new Blog. So what are you looking at in the photo above? Well, its the kind of work I have to do, but do not get satisfaction from at all, its laborious, mucky and time consuming, but it has to be done.

So I’m going to tell you how I ensure I get these kinds of jobs done and done well.

Each creative job has parts that are enjoyable and parts that are not. Whether you are filing metal edges so that they sit together perfectly ready for soldering, sanding MDF between each layer of paint, or perhaps you’re waiting for the slip to dry so that you get the piece out of the mould, these parts of the whole job are important (as you know), but can be very boring, and we can be tempted to rush them.

We all have to spend time doing the boring parts of jobs, but those may well be one of the most important parts of the whole job.

So, what can you see in the photo here? It is four leaded glass panels covered in what we call ‘whiting’ (French chalk); what you can’t see is the lead cement setting underneath it. Scrubbing lead cement onto stained glass and leaded windows and then scrubbing it off again with the whiting is a laborious, mucky and dusty work, but without doing this the windows would be neither solid nor watertight, so it has to be done. It also has to be done well, because if you do it sloppily, fit the windows and then your client finds them leaking, you’ll have to remove them and do it again. Not only will this be a pain, it will also cost you ‘face’ with the client and money in time spent without income.

So the lessons to learn from this is do the parts of the job you dislike as well and passionately as the ones you love and the outcome will be the very best it can be.

Here are my tips:

1. Leave this kind of job until the end of the day – that way if it takes up space (while you can do nothing further to it), it won’t block space for other work and cause frustration.

2. Put some music on while you’re doing it - something with rhythm - you’ll find that you get into that rhythm, which can help with the work and make you less aware of the drudgery.

3. Don’t rush it. That way you’ll be able to observe what you’re doing and catch any shortcomings as you go along.

4. Check it when you think you’re finished. That way if you have missed anything you can get it sorted there and then and not have to spend more time later on

5. Doing it well the first time also means that everyone is delighted with the result. Your client with the job and you with having spent the shortest time possible on the parts of the job you like the least. That also means for you it’ll be as cost effective as

#buildacreativecareer makeitpay stainedglass leadedlights maker designermaker makeacreativecareerpay makemoney howtomakemoney artca

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buildacreativecareerbloke-blog · 8 years ago

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THE SIMPLE LIFE

Sometimes you will get asked to make something that does not necessarily inspire you. Should you do it or should you not? Personally I always do it and this is why.

Firstly, you never know where an open door can lead. Your new client who has asked for the dullest thing ever that you might make may well have further commissions in the pipeline that could well be either lucrative and or artistically exciting.

Secondly, this client may well have friends who would get to see what you have made and commission you to do the same (yes boring but it brings the money in) or different for them, and, so it can snowball.

Thirdly, if you really, really don’t want to make this thing, and can afford to go without the invoice, then put the price up. That way if the client comes back and still wants the item you can console yourself with getting paid over the odds for something – but make sure no ones else knows that that is the case.

So, when I got asked to look at a 12th century cottage that needed 54 new leaded light windows (just plain clear glass and lead cames) I went and looked, especially as I had been recommended to the client my a museum where I teach. This lead to the most lucrative job I had that year and a really great working relationship with the client. It also lead to them recommending me to a friend of theirs who also wanted very similar work done and again paid handsomely for that job. Thirdly the original client has come back and asked for what you see at the top of this post. No, its not the most exciting of jobs, but as a ‘nosey parker’ I get to go back to the house I had last seen as an empty shell and see it finished, reconnect with the client and get paid to do so.

So, say yes to the dull job because:

1. You’ll be generating income

2. It might lead to more work for the same client

3. It might lead to new clients

4. You might get paid more then you bargained for

#dulljob #dothejob #lucrativework #getthemoney #buildacreativecareer #buildalucrativecareer #justdoit #howtomakeyourworkpay

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