I think the important line to take from your comment is >So please don't feel sheepish or guilty about charging .............. what >your local market will bear ......
In the UK if you were to ask the equivalent of your wage you would NEVER work, the rate over here is £50ph for the 1st hour & then £40 thereafter & most of us work 2 hour gigs min (but in other areas this is still too high & is more like £30ph & I believe in Holland & Belgium the rates are even lower at about 30€ ph), however if you are doing the supermarket/marketing gigs then it is usually only £120/130 maybe as much as £150 for 10-4. I think the only time we could charge £100ph or thereabouts is if we get work in the commercials/advertising business. One of the members of FPHQ wrote in & said she would be lucky to get $20ph in her neigbourhood. (please take note of the different currencies I am using here, £=GBPounds/sterling approx exchange rate 1 US dollars = 0.65 British pounds sterling, & €=Euros exchange rate 1 US dollars = 0.74 Euros) I wholeheartedly agree with you that you should work out what you should be able to earn, but to decide that your working year is only March to Oct seems strange, what about home birthdays, christmas/ thanksgiving parties & the like, over here the malls book painters each of the sats/w/es running up to christmas?? Indoor events?? I know Joan has heat issues hence not really working the summer, but Joan do you not work indoors then too?? But it also boils down to whether or not you are busy at the rate you charge? Can your market cope with your rates & keep you busy at the rate you want to be?? If not then you HAVE to drop your prices as you can't keep raising them to keep you at the annual wage you want....... There is a fine line between charging the right amount & charging too much.......not being afraid to raise your prices to a reasonable level is hard, but doing 5 decent gigs instead of 7-10 hard gigs is a better life....as long as you can get the 5 gigs at your new price....if you can't then you have to try another price that will give you what you want. It is also your responsibility to ensure that you advertise & work hard at getting gigs, & not wait for them to come to you. I have friends over from Belgium last week & they kept commenting on the number of MacDonalds there were......but despite not having one in their own town or nearby the children still knew MacD's & they ate there each lunchtime!!!! MacD's have a very successful worldwide advertising champaign.......& we each need the equivalent!!:-)) We need to find new markets & go & get them, & if ness diversify into balloons & henna - we are in a world recession & most businesses are having to think again - even MacD's had to give in to the need to produce salads & use less salt to keep their market share & I am sure they are constantly looking to see what they have to do to stay there. No-one can be a dinosaur:-) we have to evolve with our market. Paula -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Face Painting and Body Art Association." This is a PG-13 forum dedicated to the discussion of Face Painting and Body Art. This group is provided for the benefit of all and as such is not moderated. Our goal is to promote open and unrestricted communication between people interested in face painting and body art. We hope that you will be courteous to others and try to stay on topic. You are free to offer products or services related to face painting as well. Please address concerns with the original poster before contacting the management. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/fpba-assn To unsubscribe, reply using "remove me" as the subject.
