Sunday, April 15, 2007

I had to just smile!!


Recently, I was talking with a lady who wanted me to do some custom layouts for her. She asked what I charged and I told her the pricing starts at $49.95 for a two page layout and goes up according to how much detail is on the page. Her mouth fell open and she said, "OMG, they are not worth that!" I just smiled and told her that I was sorry she felt that way and that I have 6 regular customers and 2 more occassional customers who pay me that without blinking an eye, plus regular ebay customers. I further went on to explain that all these ladies feel about the same way, I provide a service that either they don't have time to do or they don't feel they are artsy fartsy / crafty enough to make the pages like mine. I then went on to explain what all goes into a typical page that I do such as the one in this photo. I used 3 pieces of patterned paper, 9 sheets of cardstock, 7 different colors/textures (look at all the little cut outs) plus scraps of black for the bear eyes, 5 colors of handmade paper, thread to stitch the paper, electricity to run the sewing machine, needles that go dull, a paper cutter, scissors that have to be replaced periodically, Hermafix, Scrappy Glue, paint and brushes, chalk, black fine point pen, big brads, Prima flowers, Stickles glitter, enamel charms, safety pins, 3 colors of grosgrain ribbon, and Quickutz...one alphabet and 5 dies, oh, and the tools to make the tear bears, stylus and a water pen plus the pattern and did I mention my time! I added up what she would have to spend at the scrapbook store just to purchase the supplies needed to make this layout, not including the Quickutz and it came to $45.66 ! She was shocked and continued to disagree that some of the items can be reused for more than one layout and I agreed but once again, if you want this layout, that is how much it will cost for the supplies to buy from your local scrapbook store. Yes, you will have Prima flowers, brads, scraps of cardstock, adhesive, glitter, charms, safety pins, thread and your black pen left over but how much of these supplies will you really use on another layout, or will it just sit in your scrap supply collection? I make money on the layouts because I can and do reuse the leftover supplies but for those ladies who don't want to stockpile supplies, I am here for you! LOL!

Needless to say, I won't be making any custom layouts for her! LOL!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Believe me, that lady will find you again..
M&M