Work/Cost Question

[CarolLHB]

Hi-

While I'm not so new to PSE, I'm very new to digital scrapbooking. I've been a 3-D scrapbooker for a while. I am in the process of creating an 8X8 album with ten pages and a small cover insert photo for a friend's recent wedding all on PSE3. This is strictly a gift, and I've spent many (very happy) hours working on these images. My question is about creating these for folks who want to pay me to do it. Do any of you do this as a job, or have any of you charged for this kind of work? If so, any thoughts on pricing for something like this? I love the idea of doing these as gifts, and will continue to do so for close friends, but I'm also curious about doing it as a sideline. Thanks!

[NMarti]

Carol
First and foremost make yourself a business card.
Why - because I have done this type of thing for several friends in several different crafts. We (my husband and I) do stained glass and because I'm not a shop they expect a big discount since we are not professionals - even though our work rivals them. I have done some portrait photography and same thing. I have done various crafts (needlework, tole painting, woodworking etc) and they all expect something for nothing because you are not a business. It's really hard to price this type of work. A stained glass business told me one time to take the cost of materials and double or triple it but it's hard to figure ink costs and such. I would check out some on-line sites and see what they charge and undercut them by 10, 20 or 30 percent depending on the complexity of the book you are doing.

[Carbone]

I think it depends on whether you want this to remain a hobby or becoming something to have more money coming your way. If it's as a hobby, then keep the receipts for all the stuff you buy and perhaps add a certain percentage for your time.

If you want this to become profitable, then you'll have to think of the hours you spend, how much an hour you want to make, how fast can you build these to make a decent living, etc.

I do a lot of stuff for friends, family and sometimes stranger. I sometimes charge the cost of the goods (ink, paper, envelopes, etc.), but nothing for my time as this has to keep being a hobby. However, I will gladly accept an exchange of services or goods (i.e. if I do this for you, will you do this for me?) There are some things I'm not good at (up until a few weeks ago, cooking was one of them!), so doing work for getting something I couldn't do was a super deal for me!

For the time being, that is. Perhaps one day I'll start earning a living out of all this!

Ray

[kayser]

Because I was curious, I did some research and found some websites that offer custom scrapbooking services. I hadn't really thought about how much this would cost if you asked someone else to do it, but I think I would have undervalued it, based on what these people are charging.

Here are some examples (and I even included a site in Canada for our Northern friends):

http://www.dsmemories.biz/
http://www.treasurechestscrapbooks.com/
http://www.jennifersalbums.com/
http://www.pagecreations.ca/

[NMarti]

Kay
Wow - that's quite an eye opener. I didn't actually look for any but it seems there could be money to be made Carol. If someone is willing to pay those prices it would definitely be a good side job. I would have underestimated the cost as well. Except for the last link - I was way low in my own guesses as to what it would be worth.

[CarolLHB]

Kay, thanks for the links-very interesting. I really never thought about this seriously-I've done a few 3-D albums for friends-lots of work, and much more expensive than digital.

Hmmm, something to think about.

Thanks, all!

[Pauline]

It's true, as a crafter your work is undervalued. It seems you have to have the overhead of a store to be looked at as professional. We also tend to undervalue our services ourselves. I guess what you have to keep in mind is that what you are doing for someone is CUSTOM. They can't go to the dollar store and pick up a beautifully done scrap book page of their family. Dollar stores killed a lot of the decorative painting industry because people would pick up cheap stuff that wasn't really painted but prints glued to wood (amazingly a lot of people can't tell the difference).

I was at an "All about Pets Show" in Toronto last year. There was a booth for pet memorials. One of their selling items was a photograph of the deceased pet GLUED to a hunk of routered wood!! The price was around $30!! I was shocked and a bit disgusted!! They would use whatever picture the family supplied (because of course now the pet is dead so they can't take a photo of it). The one they had on display was horrible. 99% of the time people take picture of their pets while standing up and looking down at them. I had just finished painting a friend's cat's head on her urn for her and charged her $25. It had to be designed and painted. (again using her horrible photo for my design).

I guess the big trick here is to get the market. If I wanted to paint people's dead animals I would probably make some pretty good money, but it wasn't something I wanted to do.

Just make sure you don't sell yourself too cheap or you will end up with more work than you want and be 'known' and being cheap, which is not really a good thing. If your work is good, then that is what people should be paying for.

[NMarti]

Pauline - you are so right. The other thing is - don't let your hobby become a burden. It can take the joy out of doing it. When my husband lost his job our stained glass hobby suddenly became a necessity for income and it took the joy out of doing it. It was hard to work 8 hours and come home and work 4 more in the basement every evening foiling and soldering what he had cut and ground all day (between looking for a job). I just burnt out on doing it then. We are slowly getting back into it because our new addition needs some windows but this time will keep it in check. If someone wants something - they will pay our price or go buy the imported stuff that's poorly made. Their choice. Your training and skill should definitely be taken into consideration when setting your prices and then stick to it because you're worth it!

[Wendy]

Hi Nancy ...

I do agree with you about not letting your hobby become a burden ..

Its all too easy to take on too much and then all the pleasure vanishes and it just becomes working to deadlines ...


Wendy

[Kelli]

I started a business about a year ago doing scrapbooking for other people. I do also have a full time job at a school , so I devote most of the summer to scrapbooking. I haven't had the time to devote to my website that I thought I would , (but most of my business has been word of mouth anyway.) When I started I also looked at some of the other websites out there, and got lots of valuable advice from the Yahoo group called scrapping for others. So far I have done only traditional paper scrapping for clients, but am hooked on digital for my own personal stuff. I'm using a combination of the two for an Ireland album I'm currently working on for myself. For me, it's been mostly for fun and a small amount of profit.....haha Kelli
Kelli's Keepsakes (www.kelliskeepsakes.com)