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#11
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I would actually strongly suggest NOT selling "as cheaply as you can live
with". As Dennis points out, it's about perceived value, not cost. If you're TOO cheap, people will shun your work as being of poor quality...even if every piece is a masterwork. An electrician charging $10 an hour will get less customers than an electrician charging the going rate. So price similar work (especially in your area) and go from there. Yes, give good value to your customers, but NO don't cheat yourself and devalue your work. Bryan "just my two cents" Paschke |
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#12
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I'll go further. Unless you can really include everything "you can live
with" probably with the advice of a financial advisor, you will end up losing a lot taking this route. I ran my business out of my home for several years and found that with careful and legal choices, I could lower my reported income quite low, so I got to pay lower income and social security taxes while including utilities and repairs on the building in my costs. That would have been fine, if I had been making enough money to have significant savings put in the bank or elsewhere and if I had allocated money for training (probably deductable, in hindsight), neither of which I did, so after a stretch of self-employment, I had coasted to the bottom of heap in terms of up-to-date skills and had no money out there, even in SS, to retire on. If you can't price to make the money you really need, it will hurt in the long run as well as the short. I also will note that I had no health insurance during that time. -- Mike Firth Hot Glass Bits Furnace Working Website http://users.ticnet.com/mikefirth/hotbit47.htm Latest notes "Bryan" wrote in message ... I would actually strongly suggest NOT selling "as cheaply as you can live with". As Dennis points out, it's about perceived value, not cost. If you're TOO cheap, people will shun your work as being of poor quality...even if every piece is a masterwork. An electrician charging $10 an hour will get less customers than an electrician charging the going rate. So price similar work (especially in your area) and go from there. Yes, give good value to your customers, but NO don't cheat yourself and devalue your work. Bryan "just my two cents" Paschke |
#13
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Mike Firth wrote: I'll go further. Unless you can really include everything "you can live with" probably with the advice of a financial advisor, you will end up losing a lot taking this route. I ran my business out of my home for several years and found that with careful and legal choices, I could lower my reported income quite low, so I got to pay lower income and social security taxes while including utilities and repairs on the building in my costs. That would have been fine, if I had been making enough money to have significant savings put in the bank or elsewhere and if I had allocated money for training (probably deductable, in hindsight), neither of which I did, so after a stretch of self-employment, I had coasted to the bottom of heap in terms of up-to-date skills and had no money out there, even in SS, to retire on. If you can't price to make the money you really need, it will hurt in the long run as well as the short. I also will note that I had no health insurance during that time. I'm in agreement on this. It's one thing if you're starting out as a beginner and selling beginner's work, but if you're experienced and offering a professional product, you should price accordingly, especially if you're fully self-employed. Being self-employed is very expensive, and lacks a lot of the safety net that is built into outside employment. You have to be your own safety net to keep the first small bump in the road from putting you out of business. A consideration is that if you are pricing below market value, you will build a clientele of people who are looking to pay below market value. When your prices increase, odds are high that you will lose that clientele. It's a lot better to start with clients who are looking to pay what you're worth, and increase your prices as your skills improve, to keep up with your market value. Build the client base you want from the start; those customers will stay with you, and you will gain more of the kind of clients you want through their word-of-mouth. Your business will get a lot farther based on the word-of-mouth being "he's good" than it will on "he's cheap". -- -Kalera http://www.beadwife.com |
#14
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"Kalera Stratton" ha scritto nel messaggio ... Mike Firth wrote: I'll go further. Unless you can really include everything "you can live with" probably with the advice of a financial advisor, you will end up losing a lot taking this route. I ran my business out of my home for several years and found that with careful and legal choices, I could lower my reported income quite low, so I got to pay lower income and social security taxes while including utilities and repairs on the building in my costs. That would have been fine, if I had been making enough money to have significant savings put in the bank or elsewhere and if I had allocated money for training (probably deductable, in hindsight), neither of which I did, so after a stretch of self-employment, I had coasted to the bottom of heap in terms of up-to-date skills and had no money out there, even in SS, to retire on. If you can't price to make the money you really need, it will hurt in the long run as well as the short. I also will note that I had no health insurance during that time. I'm in agreement on this. It's one thing if you're starting out as a beginner and selling beginner's work, but if you're experienced and offering a professional product, you should price accordingly, especially if you're fully self-employed. Being self-employed is very expensive, and lacks a lot of the safety net that is built into outside employment. You have to be your own safety net to keep the first small bump in the road from putting you out of business. A consideration is that if you are pricing below market value, you will build a clientele of people who are looking to pay below market value. When your prices increase, odds are high that you will lose that clientele. It's a lot better to start with clients who are looking to pay what you're worth, and increase your prices as your skills improve, to keep up with your market value. Build the client base you want from the start; those customers will stay with you, and you will gain more of the kind of clients you want through their word-of-mouth. Your business will get a lot farther based on the word-of-mouth being "he's good" than it will on "he's cheap". -- -Kalera I started as glass collector, than I opened a glass gallery and sometimes I make some lampworks, so I was in the 3 different position: consumer, buyer/reseller, sometime producer. I think that it is always a mistake to sell too cheap. It is a wrong start. Try to find the market-price range that you consider correct for the quality and the level of your works. Consider also the number of pieces that you want to sell (higher the number lower the price). Than in that price range fix you pricing on the middle; if your marketing activity will be good and you will have a positive feedback from the market push the prices a little bit higher (a 5%), if not keep them stable or apply a discount for quantity, advanced payments, etc. As buyer/reseller I really don't like to work with craftmen who change or discount their prices too much; right and stable pricing allows a long term cooperation with galleries, shops, customers. P.S. Sorry for my english, but this is not my mother language Alex _________________ www.artofvenice.com Murano glass gallery. Contemporary and classic venetian glass. |
#15
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AL69 wrote: I started as glass collector, than I opened a glass gallery and sometimes I make some lampworks, so I was in the 3 different position: consumer, buyer/reseller, sometime producer. I think that it is always a mistake to sell too cheap. It is a wrong start. Try to find the market-price range that you consider correct for the quality and the level of your works. Consider also the number of pieces that you want to sell (higher the number lower the price). Than in that price range fix you pricing on the middle; if your marketing activity will be good and you will have a positive feedback from the market push the prices a little bit higher (a 5%), if not keep them stable or apply a discount for quantity, advanced payments, etc. As buyer/reseller I really don't like to work with craftmen who change or discount their prices too much; right and stable pricing allows a long term cooperation with galleries, shops, customers. P.S. Sorry for my english, but this is not my mother language Alex _________________ www.artofvenice.com Murano glass gallery. Contemporary and classic venetian glass. Well-said, Alex. I have known a few craftspeople who ended up out of business by selling too cheaply, though fortunately most of them learned from their first mistake and were able to make a go of it a second time, after going back to a regular job for a while and getting on their feet again. Other mistakes I've seen people make is not putting enough into advertising/promoting their studio, and not hiring help when the workload warrants it. I also know one person who hires the help but doesn't pay enough to get committed, skilled, long-term employees; he thinks he's saving money but it's costing him in lost productivity and high turnover. He can afford good assistants but won't hire them; ironic, really. -- -Kalera http://www.beadwife.com |
#16
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"Kalera Stratton" ha scritto nel messaggio
... AL69 wrote: (...). I think that it is always a mistake to sell too cheap. It is a wrong start. Try to find the market-price range that you consider correct for the quality and the level of your works. Consider also the number of pieces that you want to sell (higher the number lower the price). Than in that price range fix you pricing on the middle; if your marketing activity will be good and you will have a positive feedback from the market push the prices a little bit higher (a 5%), if not keep them stable or apply a discount for quantity, advanced payments, etc. As buyer/reseller I really don't like to work with craftmen who change or discount their prices too much; right and stable pricing allows a long term cooperation with galleries, shops, customers.(...) (...)I have known a few craftspeople who ended up out of business by selling too cheaply, though fortunately most of them learned from their first mistake and were able to make a go of it a second time, after going back to a regular job for a while and getting on their feet again. (...) -Kalera And this kind of businness policy push pricing pressure also to the other producers. Obviously the lower ws prices will be lower prices also for the retail sales and as in chain or a domino the art glass maket will be damaged. It happens in Venice town (in Murano is different, but the story of the factory tours is too long for this post ) where with too many shops of cheap (ugly) glass, often imported, sold for few US$, it is very harder to sell glass of gallery quality (and gallery prices) Alex www.artofvenice.com Murano glass gallery. Contemporary and classic venetian glass. |
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