{"id":2376,"date":"2008-11-07T09:31:59","date_gmt":"2008-11-07T17:31:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/drewbrophy.com\/site\/?p=2376"},"modified":"2008-11-07T09:31:59","modified_gmt":"2008-11-07T17:31:59","slug":"5-pricing-policies-that-artists-cant-survive-without","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drewbrophy.com\/5-pricing-policies-that-artists-cant-survive-without\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Pricing Policies that Artists can\u2019t Survive Without"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"This<\/a>

This Book will Guide you Right!<\/p><\/div>\n

What pricing policies do you have in place for your art business?\u00a0\u00a0The way you answer the following question will determine if you treat your business like a business or if it’s just a hobby:\u00a0\u00a0When someone asks you “how much will it cost for me to commission you to\u00a0___________ (you fill in the blank), do you say:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. 1.)\u00a0 Ummmm, I’m not sure, let me see, ummm, how about $xx.xx?<\/li>\n
  2. 2. ) Here’s my price sheet<\/li>\n
  3. 3.) Let me find out more about the project, and then I’ll crunch some numbers and get you a quote.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    <\/p>\n

    If you answered #1, there are two things to consider:<\/p>\n

    1.) You aren’t that different from\u00a0most\u00a0freelance artists, who still haven’t figured out how best to price their work, and;<\/p>\n

    2.)\u00a0 You’ll shortchange yourself everytime.\u00a0 In other words, you’ll undercharge and either break even or lose money on a deal.\u00a0 Also, you’ll lose the confidence of your customer, when they see you don’t have it figured out yet.<\/p>\n

    Years ago Drew and I struggled greatly to create a winning business.\u00a0 We were having a tough time, and so we met with our\u00a0accountant for guidance.\u00a0 He\u00a0looked at our profit\/loss reports for\u00a0the year and\u00a0said, “You know, the IRS doesn’t tolerate\u00a0writing off a hobby.”\u00a0\u00a0 I\u00a0said, angrily, “this isn’t a hobby, it’s our business!”\u00a0 That’s when my accountant said the following quotable phrase:\u00a0 “When you’re making a profit, you have a business.\u00a0 If you aren’t making a profit, you have a hobby<\/strong>.”\u00a0 OUCH!\u00a0 And then we got real serious about our pricing policies.<\/p>\n

    Five (5) Pricing Policies that an Arist’s Business cannot survive without:<\/span><\/p>\n

    1.)\u00a0 HAVE A PRICE SHEET:\u00a0 Make a price sheet for your services, post it in your studio, e-mail it to potential clients.\u00a0 This does two things:\u00a0 1 – It tells your client that you are a professional, you’ve done this before, and it provides them with a level of confidence in your work; and 2 – It helps keep people from wanting to negotiate.\u00a0 When there’s a price sheet, it lends credibility to what you’re charging.\u00a0<\/p>\n

    Don’t worry about coming up with the perfect price sheet – ours are constantly changing as we discover new challenges, things to consider, and as material costs go up.\u00a0 Just start somewhere, and perfect it over time.<\/p>\n

    2.)\u00a0 ALWAYS GET A DEPOSIT:\u00a0 Never<\/span> start work on a project without a deposit.\u00a0 A DEPOSIT SAYS THE CLIENT IS COMMITTED.\u00a0 We typically don’t even have Drew talk to a client until I’ve received a deposit – I don’t want him to waste his time\u00a0unless they’ve committed.\u00a0 We require 1\/2 down, but the norm in art is 1\/3 down and the balance upon completion.\u00a0\u00a0 Without the committment, we don’t want to invest time into it.\u00a0 If someone does not want to pay a deposit, they aren’t committed, and therefore, they probably won’t ever pay you.\u00a0 The deposit weeds out the serious buyers from the not-so-serious buyers!<\/p>\n

    3.)\u00a0 CHARGE APPROPRIATELY:\u00a0 KILL FEES, EXTRA SKETCH FEES, ETC.\u00a0 When we give a proposal, we indicate that the price includes up to 2 sets of changes to the sketch.\u00a0 That way, if a customer is extra picky and requires many sketches, we’ll charge more for the extra time involved.\u00a0 Also, the “KILL FEE” is for those projects in\u00a0which the customer changes his mind after you’ve already put time in.\u00a0 In our case, since we get 50% down at the start, we’ve never had anyone “kill” a project.\u00a0 They are quite committed when they pay that much up front.<\/p>\n

    4.)\u00a0 TAKE CARE OF YOUR CUSTOMERS:\u00a0 Offer Discounts for RETURN Customers!\u00a0 We offer 10% off most paintings and projects for customers who come back again and again.\u00a0 Often we’ll do something extra special for them, like include a free framed print or something nice for their kids or their wife.<\/p>\n

    5.)\u00a0 ACCEPT VARIOUS FORMS OF PAYMENT:\u00a0 Make sure you are set up to accept MC\/Visa and even Paypal.\u00a0 This makes it easier for your customer to give you the deposit that you require.\u00a0 It’s faster, too, than waiting for a check to arrive and then clear the bank.\u00a0 Be sure to work the MC\/Visa processing fees into your pricing (typically 3 – 4%).\u00a0 I’ll often give a customer a 3% discount if they pay by check or cash.<\/p>\n

    Now I hear your questions:\u00a0 HOW do I come up with a price sheet?\u00a0 HOW do I write up a proposal?\u00a0 What can I expect the customer to pay?\u00a0 What are other artists charging?<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a>The BIBLE for pricing guidelines for artists, graphic artists, photographers, is THE GRAPHIC ARTISTS GUILD HANDBOOK:\u00a0 PRICING AND ETHICAL\u00a0GUIDELINES.\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0If you don’t have this book, I’m not sure how you’ve lived without it.\u00a0 I refer to it constantly.\u00a0 GET IT!\u00a0<\/p>\n

    I also recommend that artists keep in touch with other artists, exchange pricing information, help each other get pricing up to\u00a0a higher level.\u00a0 Don’t keep information to yourself – share it! When you help other artists, you make the art industry better for everyone.<\/p>\n

    I want to see you make a profit!\u00a0 If you have any questions on this post, or if there’s anything you want to see covered in this column,\u00a0please e-mail below.<\/p>\n

    Maria “Spunk” Brophy (Follow me on Twitter<\/a>!)<\/p>\n

    Was this post helpul to you?\u00a0 Then SHARE IT with others!\u00a0 Click below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What pricing policies do you have in place for your art business?\u00a0\u00a0The way you answer the following question will determine if you treat your business like a business or if it’s just a hobby:\u00a0\u00a0When someone asks you “how much will it cost for me to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[637,884,885,1378],"class_list":["post-2376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drews-tips","tag-money-for-artists","tag-price-sheet-for-artists","tag-pricing-guidelines-for-artists","tag-what-to-charge-for-art"],"yoast_head":"\n5 Pricing Policies that Artists can\u2019t Survive Without - Drew Brophy - Surf Lifestyle Art<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/drewbrophy.com\/5-pricing-policies-that-artists-cant-survive-without\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Maria Brophy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/drewbrophy.com\/5-pricing-policies-that-artists-cant-survive-without\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/drewbrophy.com\/5-pricing-policies-that-artists-cant-survive-without\/\",\"name\":\"5 Pricing Policies that Artists can\u2019t Survive Without - 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