When it comes to pricing and selling your work, what's worth your time?
I know, you're thinking you read that title wrong. Shouldn't I be talking about what your time is worth?
Before I say anything about pricing, I want you to take a look at WHAT you make and HOW LONG it takes you to make it and what it REALLY costs you to make it.
And I want you to decide if this is the highest, best use of your time.
Let's use cards as an example. Please keep in mind this is a WORST CASE scenerio, so I can illustrate my point.
Many people make their own cards, using all kinds of techniques. They get to a point where they think they could sell them for a few dollars. The materials cost only a few cents or maybe a dollar at most. If they can sell them for $4 or $5, that's a good profit, right?
The problem begins with how long it takes to MAKE a card. Half an hour? An hour? So how many can you make in a day? Ten? (This assumes you have hours and hours of uninterrupted time, of course.) So you can net...$50 a day?
That may seem like a lot of money when you're first starting out. It was to ME, anyway. There was a time when even $25 I could completely call my own felt pretty good.
Where it gets trickier is when you consider how hard you have to work for that $50, and what profit you're REALLY making.
How much did the paper really cost? The scissors you're using? Glue? Glitter? Rubber stamps? Ink pads? How about the envelope? How about the storage unit you bought to keep your supplies in? Did you include the envelopes you bought that were the wrong size? What about the ten paper craft books you bought for inspiration? The cost of the class you took to learn that great new embossing technique?
How about the time you spent buying all that stuff? How much time did you spend trying to make decisions about paper, glue, supplies, ink color? How long did it take you to find a good envelope supplier? How much did you spend on shipping charges? Even if you bought locally, there is gas for your car, parking meters, the time you spent shopping, the money you spent on extras you didn't really need for your cards but "might be fun to have on hand". (My attic is full of stuff like that!)
If you decide to sell them at a local craft fair, how much was the fee for a space? Did you also rent a table? Or buy your own table? And a table cover? Did you buy bags? A receipt book or a cash box? Did you buy something to eat while you were at the show? If it was a fund-raising event, did you donate something for their auction (for "free" publicity?)
Maybe that card actually cost you a few dollars to make.
Maybe it actually cost more to make than you're selling it for. (Don't laugh—it happens more often than you think!)
Maybe you were thinking about selling your cards to a store. They're expecting to pay no more than half of what your RETAIL price is. So they see a card you sell for $5 and they need to buy it for $2 or $2.50 to make a profit.
Now you're REALLY in the hole.
Maybe cards are not worth your time. Maybe you can't even afford to SELL them!
I'm not being completely fair. Some, if not most of these costs, will be amortized over a period of time. As you sell more cards, your profit margin gets stronger as the costs are spread out over more product.
I know many, many people find these costs worthwhile in return for being able to do something they love. I know some people are happy for ANY money coming in that offsets their hobby's expenses.
And I know we all have to start somewhere. I did!
So what's the solution? Can you really charge $10 or even more for a handmade card??
Well...I know SOME people do! But most people can't. Usually, you find built-in" price resistance"—that is, most of your potential customers will not want to pay much more than $5 or so for a card, or $14-$18 for a handmade mug, etc. (I'm not saying it CAN'T be done, just that it isn't usual.)
The other problem is, it can just as much time and energy to sell a $5 item as it does a $25 item. If you've ever shopped for a card, you know how long it can take to find "the perfect card." Your customers will do the same. They will examine all of your designs. Then there are the questions about how it was made, where you get your ideas, how much the recipient will love it, etc. There is wrapping and/or bagging the item, writing up the sale, making change. If you are doing a small craft show and it is open seven hours and maybe it's really only busy three or four hours, and it takes you 5 to 15 minutes to complete a sale, it's possible you can only complete several dozen sales in that time.
And little idea light bulbs should be going off in your head right now.
Because sometimes there are simple things you can do to make your product more "cost efficient".
If you sell your cards in sets of four or six, you can "force" people to spend $20 to $25 a pop. Or simply offer a price incentive. $6 a card, five for $25. See how you still get your $5 per card, but now you're selling more at one whap?
You can make your cards into a gift item—a box of handmade cards. Add a ribbon and a simple handmade gift tag or story card, and you've nailed it. A story card is a hang tag or enclosure card that tells about you or the work. People LOVE them because a) it makes your work more special and b) it tells the story for them, for the gift recipient.
Let's say you've been doing the card thing awhile, and you have some designs that have become that lovely phrase—"proven sellers." Or you've found a great niche market—say a line of "break-up" cards for women. ("So you finally dumped him!") Or cards for dog lovers.
You COULD continue to make every single card by hand.
OR you could have them printed by the hundreds, or even thousands—and bring your production time and costs down to a few cents per card.
Now you can provide cards in large enough quantities for people, even companies, to use as their annual holiday card. Maybe you can now design cards on commission, and only make the prototypes.
Let's say you make your cards by carving your own rubber stamps. Instead of making cards with these stamps, what if you used really nice paper, found a source for bulk mats and simple frames, and sold them as matted or framed prints? And sold them for $40-$80? Or more??
What if you created these prints in series—say, sets of three? Or four? Or let people mix and match, with a modest price break--$50 dollars each, or a set of three for $140? Now they can buy three great gifts at one pop. OR they can have a nice set of prints for that bare spot above the fireplace...
If you really only like making a very few cards, you can still max your income from them. What if you taught your techniques? Held "card parties" for a fee and provided people with everything they need to create their own cards? What if you created card projects, and sold them to craft book and magazine publishers? Wrote your own book? What if you created card KITS and sold those?
I know a local artist, a painter, who created her paintings in series. She would hold an exhibit and sell them. But she also used images of the paintings printed in bulk as greeting cards and inexpensive prints—matted, and matted and framed. She wholesaled these to all kinds of stores across New England. In essence, each painting was "sold" many, many times over.
And on the other end of the spectrum, I remember a guy at a little craft show that made wooden rubber-band guns. It was a cute idea, and you couldn't beat the price. ($2!!) But they were junky looking, made with unfinished wood and rough edges, piled in a heap on a folding table. I was doing the show, too, and I don't think he sold more than a dozen, if that.
Now, what if he had painted them in bright kid colors (orange, hot pink, lime green?) and added a little bag of "ammunition" (25 cents' worth of colored rubber bands). What if he'd added a little tag suggesting games, or a tri-fold card with a "bull's eye" that could be folded and taped for a target? A card with a story about how he'd made these for his kids and now his grandkids, and how much fun YOUR kids (even that 42-year-old kid you're married to) will have? What if he'd had a sign saying, "Perfect party game for kids!" ...? What if the whole kit-and-caboodle had been packaged in a clear plastic bag with a cheerful ribbon, or a clear plastic box ready for gift-wrapping? What if I were hosting a "Bad Movie Night" for half a dozen friends, and thought these would be the perfect goofy toy for us to express our opinion of the dialogue in "Killer Clowns from Outer Space"?
He probably could have sold them for $8, $10, $12 or more. And people would have bought one for every kid (and kid-at-heart) on their Christmas list.
I find it easier to figure out the UP-scaling of products than the opposite--you make something that sells for HUNDREDS of dollars and now you'd like to figure out how sell related items for LESS. (sigh.) Of course, guess how I started out?
So start thinking how you can UPSCALE your product. Make work that's really worth your while to sell.
