Tuesday 5 November 2013

#NaBloPoMo November 5th: #CraftBlogClub The Big Pricing Debate


So, for those of you who are new to Life is Peachy, each week I run #CraftBlogClub on Twitter; a twitter chat hour for craft bloggers and lovers of craft to talk about all things, well, craft and blogging!

This week, we stepped slightly out of our #CraftBlogClub comfort zone and, for the first time, started to discuss the difficult subject of pricing your crafty work and, more importantly valuing your time!

I think tonight's #CraftBlogClub crew will agree this was definitely a more difficult topic to discuss - not least a difficult thing to work out, when taking the leap from hobby crafter to professional crafts purveyor!  As usual though, we had some amazing advice and tips and I've pulled together just a few for you here!

1. Do Not Underestimate Your Skill As A Crafter: The first issue we came across during our Twitter chat, was the issue we all have in believing in ourselves, our talents and our ability to produce something really special for a potential customer.  I can completely empathise with this sentiment BUT, if you do decide to make the leap from hobbyist to professional, you have to believe in what you are creating and your skills, before you learn to charge fairly and accordingly for your crafting and your time.

2. Work Out A Daily Rate: Are you charging per hour?  Are you charging for a few hours work?  Whether you're providing workshops like Gift Frippery's wrapping wonders or selling by the product; it is advisable to work out what your ideal daily rate would be and then use this as a pointer for working out your charges.  This will give you a great idea of what you can charge per hour for workshop services etc, whilst an hourly rate will help you to decide what to charge for individual products.  This is, undoubtedly, one of the hardest things to do, but the lovely Anthea who sells her lovely products on Folksy, under the name Forest Flower , reiterated the importance of working out a daily rate for yourself and STICKING TO IT!
3. Do Not Allow Your Work To Be Undervalued: Your work is representative of hours of hard work, sourcing materials and fabrics and painstakingly creating something individual and special for your customers.  The handmade arena can be so hard, with craft merchants battling against the cheap and cheerful wonders of the High Street.  It may be difficult at times, but you must never allow your work to be undervalued by potential customers who don't want to pay for something unique.  It seems a fairly obvious point, but this can be one of the hardest hurdles to overcome in the crafting world. 
I experienced this quite a bit in my previous life in the professional baking industry and it can be really tough to convey how much time, effort, blood, sweat and tears goes into each handmade item.  But stay strong, do not work below your asking price and be sure to regularly review your prices versus your costs.
4. If In Doubt, Aim High: Verity, furniture upcycler and glue-queen over at Rascal and Roses put forward an ingenious idea her husband suggested.  If you struggle to decide on a price, why not aim high and charge more than you planned - the price is not ridiculous if you can find a customer who is willing to purchase it.  A strong, if slightly risky idea, which raises the point of finding the right market for your product and the amount it really is worth!

As ever - thank you for sharing your thoughts tonight, I think we have managed to discuss a tricky subject and if you have any more topics you would like to suggest, please drop me an email or a tweet over at @LivePeachy - I would love to hear from you!

In Other News...

We have had a couple of call outs for crafty types who might be able to knit or crochet some display items for newborn babies.  Are you interested?  Could you put something together?  Please let me know and I'll forward your details for more information!

Claire from G is for Gingers is also on the look out for people who craft parts for doll houses - why not check out her blog and let her know if you can help?

And finally...last week I launched our latest #CraftBlogClub challenge!  A Secret Santa that will run over November and December - all the details are at bottom of last week's post and there is still time to get involved!  If you would like to take part, please email me at missemmaberry@gmail.com with your name and postal address - I have had lots of entries already and I am planning to get everyone's Secret Santas sent out to them by the end of this coming weekend!  So you have until then to enter, if you have not yet emailed!

Thanks again for this week's chat - it was lovely to tackle something a little meatier and I hope you all enjoyed taking part - as ever I love hearing your feedback!

Stay Crafty!

E x


 

2 comments:

Gude @HodgePodgeCraft said...

Some great advice here - especially 'aim high'!

Icy Sedgwick said...

I found this week's chat particularly helpful - I'm even considering raising my prices!