Should newbie include work hours in jewelry price?

[Keia]

Lol, Peter you should go into politics - I find myself nodding away in agreement with everything you're saying on this subject.

[ps_bond]

Politics? Pah. I'd rather do something useful...

All of what I've harped on about doesn't diminish the fact that it can be difficult - and downright disheartening at times. I don't regard myself as good at sales, but get me started talking about a piece and the enthusiasm seems infectious. I've even done that for other jewellers at the recent exhibition where it's been a piece I've discussed with them and picked up their enthusiasm.

[medusa]

Price your time according to your abilities.

I think this needs to be the jeweller's motto whether pro or amateur.

Because at the moment I can only snatch the odd afternoon in my workshop, the ideal order for me is one of the easy to make (well they are now after so much practice!) collars which also give me a fair profit even with one off hallmarking. In two years time though, I aim to make it more commercial and produce more ready made and fewer made to order items and work on a proper part-time (as in half the working week) basis. I'm hoping that this will mean that profit increases as my ability grows. At the moment my self-promotion is scaled right back because of study, so most orders are via the fluke of being on the first page of the relevant google search.

I swear, if I had the capital, I could probably get a proper full time business out of it!

[SilverBouillon]

Politics? Pah. I'd rather do something useful...

Religion? I believe you

[ShinyLauren]

I think this needs to be the jeweller's motto whether pro or amateur.

Because at the moment I can only snatch the odd afternoon in my workshop, the ideal order for me is one of the easy to make (well they are now after so much practice!) collars which also give me a fair profit even with one off hallmarking. In two years time though, I aim to make it more commercial and produce more ready made and fewer made to order items and work on a proper part-time (as in half the working week) basis. I'm hoping that this will mean that profit increases as my ability grows. At the moment my self-promotion is scaled right back because of study, so most orders are via the fluke of being on the first page of the relevant google search.

I swear, if I had the capital, I could probably get a proper full time business out of it!

I feel EXACTLY like this. I can only be in my workshop (spare room!) Fridays to Sundays, as I work for a law firm Mondays to Thursdays. This leaves me with exactly zero time off and I can only just keep up with the orders that I have. I'm also not doing any kind of promotion or advertising and just get random orders through the website.

But how will I ever know if I can do it as a full time business, as I need to keep my regular job to pay my (alarmingly expensive London) rent? And until I quit my job I won't have the time to make enough things to advertise/sell through third party websites so won't know if I can make enough money. Arrrgghhhhh!!!!

Sorry for the whinge. Just feel very stuck at the moment, doing a job I hate and makes me want to cry on a daily basis in the folorn hope that one day I can find a way to make enough money from the jewellery to at least just work proper part time somewhere nice. Like a cake shop. A cake shop would be lovely...

[caroleallen]

Someone with your talent should be able to make a success of it Lauren but I know how difficult it is to make a living out of jewellery making. It wasn't until I gave up my part time job that things really started to take off for me. That was about 6 years ago and things are a lot harder now.

[Wallace]

It feels like one is between a rock and a hard place - for me, I although I don't get paid a wage, how many self representing artists do? I consider the need to look at the on-costs, wear and tear on the tools, clothing, environment, utitilty bills, new tools, time, web work, networking, research and creativity for a piece, assay costs, postage, petrol (gas)... oh the list could be endless.

I have, after several years, found that customers are coming back for more things, and Etsy has been a good opportunity for me as I do have a day job. (Yeah, it helps offset my tool and stone purchasing habit - must go to rehab, but think that may cost more than the tools and stones!) lol

[solitarysmagick]

I feel EXACTLY like this. I can only be in my workshop (spare room!) Fridays to Sundays, as I work for a law firm Mondays to Thursdays. This leaves me with exactly zero time off and I can only just keep up with the orders that I have. I'm also not doing any kind of promotion or advertising and just get random orders through the website.

But how will I ever know if I can do it as a full time business, as I need to keep my regular job to pay my (alarmingly expensive London) rent? And until I quit my job I won't have the time to make enough things to advertise/sell through third party websites so won't know if I can make enough money. Arrrgghhhhh!!!!

Sorry for the whinge. Just feel very stuck at the moment, doing a job I hate and makes me want to cry on a daily basis in the folorn hope that one day I can find a way to make enough money from the jewellery to at least just work proper part time somewhere nice. Like a cake shop. A cake shop would be lovely...

Know the feeling I work full time at the moment so can only do jewellery in the evenings and Sundays (we have my finances son on Saturdays). I have just taken a mini-plunge and asked to go part time so that I can spend more time on my jewellery and eventually the goal is to make it a full time business. It's a scary thought though when you know you now 'HAVE' to make and sell things to get by as opposed to just doing it as a hobby.

[medusa]

I feel EXACTLY like this. I can only be in my workshop (spare room!) Fridays to Sundays, as I work for a law firm Mondays to Thursdays. This leaves me with exactly zero time off and I can only just keep up with the orders that I have. I'm also not doing any kind of promotion or advertising and just get random orders through the website.

But how will I ever know if I can do it as a full time business, as I need to keep my regular job to pay my (alarmingly expensive London) rent? And until I quit my job I won't have the time to make enough things to advertise/sell through third party websites so won't know if I can make enough money. Arrrgghhhhh!!!!

Sorry for the whinge. Just feel very stuck at the moment, doing a job I hate and makes me want to cry on a daily basis in the folorn hope that one day I can find a way to make enough money from the jewellery to at least just work proper part time somewhere nice. Like a cake shop. A cake shop would be lovely...

I'm actually shocked to find you don't do this on a more full time basis, like Carole I would have thought that your work would sell well. But again as Carole says, times are hard. I'm only able to think of pushing it more in 2015 because I know when I finish my PhD there will be very little work for me, I hope to get a part time academic post, but if I don't then it's either signing on (shudder) or going self employed. The thought of once again hitting the drudge of unemployment, especially down here fills me with horror. I've been there, done that and nearly lost my sanity because of it. I'm also lucky that I don't have a huge mortgage or major overheads and having lived in what is considered 'official poverty' for the last 15 years, I'm not too fussed about the kind of stuff most people consider to be part of regular life such as socialising in pubs (I think I went to the pub last time about a year ago) cinema visits (the last film I went to see was the new 2nd harry potter film with the kids!) or eating out.

The point of this whinge is that for me, going at it more seriously is less risky than for many as I have very little to lose. I feel pretty confident that I could really push what I'm doing, especially if I can get my skills improved.

[snow_imp]

I'll add my tuppence worth - not sure how useful it will be but there you go.

I have two rates for my labour charge. If I'm making something I've made a number of times before and is going to be relatively quick to make, I use my "standard" rate of pay. If I am playing around and trying something new, I use my "learning" rate which is half my "standard" rate - that way if it takes twice as many hours to be "right" then the cost isn't too bad. There have been a few things I've made where I've made so many changes that even on the "learning" rate I've felt that the resulting price is much too high - then I've taken a hit on the "hours" used to make it to produce what I consider a reasonable price.

So far no arguments on prices when selling face to face. Never sold anything online so far - had a couple of queries to which I've responded and then heard nothing. I have an Etsy shop set up now and my own site is linked to it but that is a very recent situation.

When I'm feeling confident I'll ask people to have a look at my Etsy shop and give feedback.