Okay Passion Designers, I see you out there, shrinking back & becoming clammy every time someone asks you what the price of something is. It seems that we all feel like we are each the worst at selling our stuff. Can’t we just do it for free and have a magical life where everything works out? Yep, I hear you! Pricing, negotiating, getting rejected, getting ghosted after giving prices…it’s all pretty yuck.
I’m super empathetic for every artist trying to price; through the years, I’ve become defensive about prices and irritated when people don’t see something’s worth/the work that was put into it as I notice how often creatives are taken advantage of. Sure, there is a time and place for doing cheap work at the beginning, but if you constantly get bombarded with family and friends who want a favor or “quick sketch” it’s time to show the world your actual worth.
There are so many variables involved when selling creative items, yet there’s definitely a strong foundation that’s most important and that’s where we’ll start. Your mindset around money is where soooo much of being an entrepreneur starts. Do you have money blocks? After I learned this one, I started loving listening to people talk about buying things because I would inevitably hear money blocks come up. What are money blocks? Saying things like: “Money doesn’t grow on trees,” “I could never afford that,” “I don’t need nice things,” “People with lots of money are the worst.” Think about it, what are some money blocks you, or the people you are constantly around, say every day? Can you see why these might be holding you back?
Once I stopped myself from using those “easy” cop-out phrases, I realized how much negativity they were carrying. All this time I’d been holding myself back by telling myself all of these money lies, which are most likely things you and I have grown up hearing – we just choose to believe it. So now, with all the extra time we have after eliminating money blocks, we can fill that time with positive wealth affirmations. Oddly enough, these might be harder to say out loud than your old money blocks. Because It might just be easier for you to say “I can’t make a million dollars” than “I can easily make 1 million dollars.” I’m not sure what it is about telling ourselves really great things, but it’s tough. Fight through it, believe in yourself, and say some wealth affirmations boldly (they don’t make you a greedy, bad person!). “I will make $______ this year.” “I am worthy of receiving payment for my creative work.” “People are happy to pay me large sums of money.” ” The more money I make, the more good I can do.”
Amazing! Now that we have our mindset on track…onto the nitty-gritty. What the heck do you charge?!
I’ll be honest, my pricing has changed a lot, and I try to be as consistent as possible. I found it really hard at the beginning when most of my clients were in Ohio, but the resort town I was living in Wyoming, things were priced way higher and the cost of living was also higher. So to begin with, you have to know your clients. Who are the people that are currently asking for or buying your work. You’ll have to keep in mind the range they’re willing to pay – maybe you can be a bit higher but you must provide excellent service or something that makes it really worth it for them!
Once you know the type of clients who are buying your work, work out a consistent plan for prices. Begin with your material costs. I often find this hard to do because I work from bulk but you can have a rough idea. Say your material costs are $50 for a 10’x12′ canvas, paints, & brushes. Now calculate the hours it will take. Say your sketch takes 3 hours and your painting will take 5, packaging 1 = 10 hrs. You already know you’re charging $50 for supplies so now you’re left with your hourly rate to tack on top. What is your time worth? If you’ve had a job in the past, you’ll want to make at least that much an hour (I’m guessing). I’ve often gone off my graphic design freelance hourly prices. So say you are starting out and you decide $20 is your starting rate. So now you have $20 x 10 hrs = $200 + $50 supplies = $250 painting + taxes/shipping if you choose.
After you figure out how long a typical 10 x 12″ painting takes you, you can average out how much to price your work at based on size, and increase at intervals. This is always eye-opening for me because I occasionally go back into the “What if they think I’m trying to take their money” mindset, but let’s be honest, you most likely have REAL and UNIQUE talent that is one of a kind and your work is worth payment – good payment!
Obviously, as you improve and become more in demand, you’ll want to raise your prices and continue to strengthen your money mindset!
Also, this is just a good beginning strategy. If you are a full-time entrepreneur, you will need to calculate your yearly desired salary (based on expenses/overhead/cash flow) and work backward from there to figure out how much you NEED to make weekly or daily. This can also be a factor when pricing.
Pricing your art doesn’t have to be hard. Sit alone, take the emotion out of it, realize you have worked just as hard as the next person and price yourself accordingly. No one needs to hand you a certificate that says “you can charge $50 an hour now,” you can just do it!
And as always, have the best day ever!!!
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