Originally Posted by
Kilroy1988
@
thinktubes More or less. Not what I was expecting, but I stepped into it, that's for sure.
@
noglider I definitely consider my pricing, but not from the vantage point of making a living. I've often had to rely on my crafting as a sole source of income since I have two college degrees and have been a full-time student much more of my adult life than a full-time employee. But no, I have never declared my craft a full-time gig in the typical sense of the phrase.
If it helps to put things into perspective, when I was busy with crafting I definitely had more people ask for quotes and not actually pay up to see a project happen than the number of projects that became a reality. My prices are clearly too high for most potential clients despite hardly making minimum wage based on my estimates - this is the primary reason why I really never seriously considered doing such work full time.
Those who I have worked with and who have paid my prices favorably compare my work to some of the best in the profession of making medieval reproductions, honestly, but it's a very small market and I have not been involved in it for long. Reputation means a lot, as we know in the cycling community as well. I'm 30 years old and have only been making things that some consider to be "high quality" for a few years now.
-Gregory
I hesitate to step into this (but I will anyway :-). I've been self employed for 95% of my adult life, as has my father. What you learn in a hurry, is that pricing doesn't have much to do with "you", but has a lot more to do with your customers. Some percentage of people will ***** about anything more than free. Another, larger percentage will pay the prevailing rate, and be reasonably happy. Lastly, another small, but significant percentage will pay almost anything, and will be thrilled if you deliver top quality work, and are honest with them. They often have similar friends, and will pass your name along. Pro tip: Bend over backwards for the 3rd group, work for the 2nd group if things are slow, and chase away or throw things at the 1st group if they stop by or call. ;-)
2nd Pro tip: Don't work cheap, or for free. If you give someone a break initially they don't see it as generosity, they just see it as the normal rate. Then, when they come back and you charge them a more realistic amount, they feel cheated, or you give in and permanently work cheap for them and their friends. Nice for them, sucks for you. (This appears to be the root of this whole thread -- the previous owner gave you a very good rate on building and polishing a campy wheelset, then when his employee quoted you a higher, but still reasonable rate on this latest work, you felt like you were being taken advantage of. If the owner had charged you the $300-$500 that other shops might have in the first place, then the 2nd job would have seemed appropriate, and we would have missed 4 pages of economic theory. ;-)
Lastly, if your you're not getting jobs you bid at what you consider low rates, odds are, your customers are either in camp
#1 , or they assume that you're not very good, because you're so cheap. Next time, try doubling or tripling your rate. It might take a few more bids, but as long as your work is good, you'll feel better about putting more time into a quality job, and they will feel that while it was expensive, it was worth it. Good work leads to more good work, and pretty soon you've got a name as someone who does good, if expensive work. The alternative is being bitter about being forced to churn out hasty work for tightwads. No one wins at that.