general advice needed please

I found this on another group - you may wish to adopt/edit as a start:

My hourly rates: $45 per hour. $65 per hour if you want to watch. $95 per hour if you want to help. $125 per hour if you tried to fix it and failed.

And that's pretty good advice. :) The three things you have to think about:

1. Ask yourself, and answer Very Honestly: Are my skills really up to this level? (I'm betting they probably are, but only you can answer that question for yourself.)
2. Am I willing to give up my hobby? Once sewing becomes work, it tends to stay that way. Trust me, you won't have a lot of spare time you will want to spend in the sewing room.
3. What is a fair price (to myself and my clients) for my work?

I have always based my charges on a per hour rate. Going rate around here is anywhere from $20 - $60 per hour depending on the type of work and the skill set involved. Pricing is tricky. You have to find a level that meets all of your needs (covers overhead which yes you do have if you are working at home.) You also have to find a level that gives you a profit. And you have price so that you have just the right amount of work. That's the easiest part to figure out. If you have too much work, your prices are too low. If you don't have any work at all, your prices are too high. If you get swamped, raise your prices. Yes, some business will fall off, but what you still have will earn you more profit per project. Make sense?

Email me off list if you have other questions. I'm happy to help in anyway I can.

Sharon

The biggest problem I see is people undercharging. They don't take into account that they are covering 100% of their own "payroll" expenses - should be paying income tax, full social security since there's no employer to split it with, worker's comp, unemployment, health insurance

-- plus rent and utilities and the ever-necessary janitorial services.

If you sell yourself short, you will eventually feel used and undervalued. Your time, expertise, and production is valuable.

Customers will try to tell you that you have no expenses since you work at home, and you wouldn't be making anything at all if it weren't for them bringing you their sewing. Don't listen to them.

Thank you all for the info! I know from prior sewing ventures (sewing for collectors) that sewing may never again be a "hobby" for me. Having been a work at home mom for most of my married life (33 yrs.) I have long ago learned to face the fact that many will always think that I do not "work". I am nervous about a couple of things, first that my sewing work will not be good enough and secondly (my biggest fear) is that I will ruin a piece that I am machine embroidering. Having sewn in miniature for so long I developed a few methods that I will have to unlearn if I am sewing for real people. I am including a link to some older pictures of my work, I would love to get our feedback. Thanks again!

Mary,

The work illustrated on your site is lovely! I have no doubt that your sewing is more than 'good enough'...it takes a lot of skill to create those doll outfits, and your crazy quilt bag is beautiful.

Doreen in Alabama

good enough . . .

Erin

Ok. Once you have made that switching of gears, you're fine. ;) Gorgeous work BTW. Very fun! There's a lot of us here that never quite got over our love of playing with dolls. ;) Just remember...when you have a fitting on a doll she won't gripe if you poke her with a pin on accident...live people tend to get fussy about that sort of thing tho. LOL

Honey! Don't even get me started. My hackles are up just reading that. I've been a stay home mom for more than 11 years now. Even in the years when I didn't own my own custom sewing and alterations business, it's WORK. This article takes some of the sting out of that...nice to know some folks "get it." lol

Have you done full sized work before? Your skills are there. Your work is lovely. So don't worry about that so much.

So be careful. Yeah I know, "Duh, Sharon, thanks." lol There are very few things in the sewing room that are not fixable. Remember this phrase "that was a design choice that came to me part way through the creation process." You and me and most everyone in this group knows that means "I screwed this up really bad, but I was able to salvage it by making changes here, here and right there." Clients don't know that though, and this sounds very Designer to them. lol Yes, you will make a mistake every now and again. Yes you may have to redo things sometimes. Not a big deal. You price your wages so that you can cover a major screw up every now and again. You price your labor charges so that you are earning more than the raw materials cost. That way if you have to start over, you at least won't be in the hole at the end of the project. You won't make any profit on that one piece, but you won't be in the red.

Oh and MOST IMPORTANT: You write up a contract for each and every customer outlining your terms. You don't work till the whole scope of the project is written down and signed off on. This is Especially Important if you are doing formals and bridal garments. Women (and their mothers) who are shopping for formals and/or wedding attire tend to go a little crazy somewhere during the process. You need to have everything spelled out and written down in a contract to protect yourself. Include an "out clause" in your contract; that needs to spell out what they will owe you if they cancel and what you will owe them if you cancel partway through. (trust me, there are times when you need to fire a client.)

Sharon

Yeah that's true. There's also business insurance that needs to cover: the client's property temporarily stored on the business' grounds; possible injury to clients (if they fall on the front steps or something,); business equipment; etc. Homeowner's insurance will not cover those things most of the time if you are operating a business out of your home. Always good to have a discussion with 3 people when starting a business: an accountant, an insurance agent and a lawyer. I know sounds like a bad joke, but it isn't. ;)

Not only don't listen to them, don't work for them. The nicest part of working in a business you own is deciding what work you will and won't take. And y'know what?? You don't even have to justify or excuse it. You can just say "No." Feels really good to do that too.

Sharon

Thank you Erin, I could do the crazy quilt bags all day every day! For some reason, I would rather work small than full size. Right now a

I have said for year that this is the main reason I sew for dolls. If they really tick me off I can toss them in a drawer and walk away. :)

Haven't sewn full scale since my daughter was little which is what/ 1/2 scale?

One time I embroirdered a tee shirt completely upside down. I ended up cutting a rectangle around the design, rotating it and re attaching it with a lace boarder. Looked pretty good in the end,...thankfully!

Mary