THS R SRS BZNZ

[teenybuffalo]

I had my Power Brunch with Mrs. Partridge yesterday.  It was a lot of fun.  She has such a businesslike approach that I began to take myself seriously at once.

We discussed sales and pricing, speaking in terms of the crafts I've been doing with polymer clay.  I've made a hand mirror for my mother and various small human and animal sculptures for

Comments

[justawench]

Maybe I'm too capitalist, but I don't know why your business needs a benevolent philosphy. I don't see anything wrong with saying "to make me some money."

I think you should include your time as part of your break-even cost, myself. Your time is an opportunity cost, because you could be spending it doing something else, like one of those $10/hr sales jobs you mentioned. However, that may not work for the price range you need to sell your items, I don't know.

elegant_musings recommended this book on her journal. You might look into selling online like on etsy.com, too.

[teenybuffalo]

Then I'll feel that I'm absolved from the need to have a philosophy at all. I'll admit it didn't do much for me in the first place, but Mrs. P. was so enthusiastic that I felt I had to buy all her ideas wholesale.

Opportunity cost. Yeah... I know what you mean, I could be spending my time doing something else. I guess, for all this forward planning, I'm really not going to know what price people will buy at till I've actually tried to sell some stuff.

Thanks for the book rec. I'm doing all the reading that I can on this front, so I'll check it out.

[purplegryphon]

/Definitely/ include your time in the break-even cost. Otherwise, you've lost that time and all the effort you put in. There's money cost and then there's time cost. If you want a real bottom line, you might put your time in at $10 for the bottom line, or $8. Then you'll have a more effective pricing scale.

And really, take what advice seems good to you and leave that which doesn't. Otherwise you'll be overwhelmed by bits of "YOU SHOULD DO THIS!" that you don't need. :D

[teenybuffalo]

Yeah, okay, that makes sense--if I paid someone else to do this work for me, I'd certainly be paying them by the hour. I can say "Okay, my bottom line includes counting my work at $8/hour. I'll value my time at $12/hour and that way I've made $16 on a piece that took me four hours."

[teenybuffalo]

What kind of silver work did you do? Rings, necklaces, bracelets? I seem to recall you've lived in the Southwest. Fabulous area for silverwork--I got a book on the history of metalworking for Christmas, and there's pages just about Navajo and other Amerindian silver crafts.

I'll be posting about all the business advice I get, as often as new ideas arrive. It may not all be good advice but it's all advice I'm gonna try.

[teenybuffalo]

Sounds like fun--the mask sounds cool, kinda like what I want to do. Now I want to read that book!

[teenybuffalo]

So far I've done the devices of Earendil and Idril. His is square, dark blue with twelve stars of different sizes. Hers is round, blue and dark green with a pattern like snowdrops. I'm going to be branching out over the next few weeks. If I get good enough, I'll be able to take commissions for other Tolkien art. I've got the big old book "JRRT: Artist and Illustrator" which has a lot of his drawings and sketches.

Not so off-topic. I've got a lot of photos of the necklaces and bracelets I've made, and I should put together a website for them. Hopefully, I'll have enough polymer clay art in a month or so to have my friend the photographer do another shoot just of statues and accessories. Of course I know nothing about website design, but I understand that the thing is absurdly simple these days...

[asakiyume]

Elwing and Earendil are two of my favorites!

Your discussion point no. 4 was fascinating. I'd never thought of it in quite that way. I'd always just thought of it as your costs, including your labor costs, plus some small amount for profit. (Problem was, my labor costs...) But this angle--how much would you feel comfortable receiving--is interesting and thought provoking.

She sounds like a great person to think things through with.

[teenybuffalo]

I gotta try doing Elwing next! I didn't know you were into the Silmarillion.

Yeah, this discussion was valuable to me also because I hate asking for money. Hate hate hate it. It comes from years of having to go to my parents for money. They're always very kind about giving it to me, but I always feel angry with myself for needing it. But being able to quantify exactly how much my time and work is worth, helps me feel justified in charging the public the right amount.

[asakiyume]

When I first went off to college, I took the Silmarillion with me and tried to get a discussion group going about it. Remember when you were talking about trying to start things that didn't work out AT ALL? I immediately thought of my Silmarillion experience.

Yeah, I loved the Silmarillion, though, interestingly, I didn't reread it, so now my recollections are hazy--fortunately the tall one read and loved it and so talks about it from time to time, which makes it come back alive for me.