To clarify my words

I just wanted to clarify a few things about my last post, as I feel that I didn't express myself well enough. (Sometimes the words just flow out in a certain way, and that's the way they stay and I don't  get to highly edit my posts. I guess I don't always remember that people are out there reading; so I'm just having a little babble to myself, and I sort of know what I'm talking about!!).

Anyway, I want to say that I'm really really really and truely sorry if I have offended any hobbyist crafter with my comments, about not wanting to be beside them at a market stall or on Etsy. This is wrong - What I should have said was :: It's so amazing that there are so many different sorts of crafters / designers / artists out there. And the reason that craft markets and Etsy work so well is that everyone out there isn't a full-time crafting business. {In fact, when you look around most of us aren't full time anyway - we have full children as well as sometimes part time jobs and other commitments.}

What I meant was that being a hobbyist crafter, as opposed to a full-time business crafter, doesn't mean that you shouldn't or don't have to cost out your products properly. When I see listings on Etsy or Made It and something is under-priced at only $5 or $10, I feel sad and upset and, yes, I'm going to say angered for a few reasons. The main reason is that I see that the hobby crafter isn't valuing their time or design skills. Even if you have made something that you perceive as simple and that everyone else out there is making, you have to remember that you have put your own voice into the picture. And that voice is worth something. And even if you used fabric from your stash, how did you buy that fabric in the first place - perhaps you did buy it 10 years ago and have no idea how much you paid for it; but once you use it you're going to have to buy some more aren't you. And fabric seems to increase in cost every year (in Australia anyway), and second hand shops are trendy now-days, so you may not be able to replace that piece of fabric as cheaply or easily. So while it only cost you $2 for that piece of fabric, it's actually going to cost you $10, or $5 or $15 for another piece.

And then you have to think about the time it took you to make your item. Yes - a lot of you may sit with your children, or while having cups of tea with your friends, or do snippets here and there so you couldn't possibly work out the cost and "you would have been doing nothing if you hadn't been doing that". Does this mean that your time spent making the item you want to sell is worth nothing - because you did it around the rest of your life? Or does it mean you are a multi-tasker who could be earning a little bit of money while playing with your children or chatting with your friends (or on lunch break at your part-time job). 

It is something that women do often, some women more than others, and something that we need to continue to fight to change. But we often undervalue ourselves, our time, our skills, our ideas.  Saying that you were only doing it around other things, so you don't need to worry about it. And anyway, you love sewing so why should you get paid for it. This is undervaluing yourself.

I totally understand that a lot of people start at home, making and then realise they could sell it, and they don't really know how to cost things out - their time or materials. You can make a rough gestimate - I mean, I think we all have a fairly good idea of how much a meter of fabric costs (you know things about your addictions, don't you!), and you know if it took you 15 mins compared to 2 hours. 

And then, there's the hidden costs - that we forget to factor in. Things like the tag you might sew into your item, and the swing tag or business card you'll print up (paper + ink costs, or pay someone else to print), and then things like the listing fees. Yes, Etsy + Made It don't cost much for a listing - but they still cost something about $0.50 or so (at least), and then Paypal fees. (If you list 5 things a week, with listing fees of $0.50c, then that's about $130 a year.) And then the time it takes you to actually upload an item, and then wrapping, packaging and taking it to the post office.

And other little things, like electricity. The Australian Government allows you to factor in $0.26c an hour for the cost of electricity in your daily usage of earning. This is your sewing machine, your computer (for uploading, etc), your lamp for toiling over your hand sewing, your radio. So, you spent maybe 5 - 10 hours this week on doing things that you are now selling online. This is $2.6 a week = $135 a year. Not much, you say? Well - I think if you could be factoring that into your costs, and earning yourself an extra $135 a year. Add that to the online listing fees - $260 or so; that's not something I'd scoff at for a nice little bonus.

And then there's the market thing. I read a while ago, on a USA blog (can't remember where now), that she won't go back to another craft market if she hasn't made more than 10x her stall fees. This sounds like a lot, and sounds scary to think about. And it's not something that we all would aim for - some people may be happy to earn enough money to head back out into the market and buy some lovely things from the other crafters. And, really, that sounds pretty good to me! {In reality,  it's not always so easy to earn 10x the stall fee at just a general monthly craft market - in Brisbane, anyway. The bigger designer markets are a different story.}

But, when you think about what it means - 10x your stall fees. A lot of markets around Brisbane cost about $85 for a stall. So that's $850 for the day. You sold $850 worth of things - Yah! That's really exciting. But this isn't profit - this is your takings. How much did it cost you to make these items, perhaps $450 (if you had costed things out and then doubled your costs to get to sell price). Take this off your takings (=$400). This has to cover things like, well for starters your stall fee. So take $85 off your takings (= $315), then think about your petrol to the market, and the fact that you had to sneak out of the house at 5am or drop the kids off at your in-laws (which the kids do love, but you're away from them for a day, missing out on family life - which is sometimes nice!), and whatever props you had to buy for your market set-up, and paper / plastic bags for people to take their goodies home in.  Let's say maybe $30 - which may actually be more on your first market, and then not have to rebuy for your next ones. (So, take that off = $285). And also all the pretty little business cards or postcards you gave away to all those customers who liked your things, but didn't want to buy then and there (or, just as likely, took it out of guilt, or because it's a pretty postcard that they like, but they're never going to buy from you, or because they're a kid running around and collecting them). Did you give away 100 business cards - oh, they only cost $20 (take that away = $265). And, there's other costs which sort of got forgotten along the way - that happens when it's just for fun, and you're not keeping receipts or factoring in all costs. So, $265 sounds really decent doesn't it. You just earnt that one day at the market. BUT - did you factor in your time when you costed your items? No, okay - umm... so that $265 for one market day now has to get divided up between all the little bits of time that you spent making your items. And sometimes you take custom orders, so you now have to go home and make those things because someone's paid you for it. And, remember, if you are actually charging just the material costs for your product, without taking into consideration any other factors, and you didn't double your costs (because "why would you charge someone for more than it cost you to buy your materials"). You made your $850 by selling lots and lots of cheaper items - but did you make any money to take home, or did you only make enough to pay back costs?

If you only took 4x your market stall fee, then your final profit would be a whole lot less. {$400 - $200 (product costings - which doesn't include your time, because you didn't factor that in at the start) - $85 (stall fee) - $30 (paper bags, etc) -$20 (business cards) = $65. That's how much you just earnt by sitting at that hot, cold, wet, windy, long, tiring, force-your smile market day}.

So - this whole ramble is best summed up by saying that if you are a hobbyist, you can still factor your costs so you can earn some money - for your time, your materials, and to contribute to your family income.

I feel upset when I see something online or at a market stall that is beautifully designed, well made, unique fabric, buttons, etc and is well photographed or stall lay-out is lovingly planned. And then you are only asking a small amount for your actual item. And then, I go into some high-end boutique and see a similar sort of item, but of course with a designer name, and they are charging 5x what you were asking at your market stall. 

So, I do love sitting next to hobbyists (and yes, that's you Hol, because I'd love to share another craft show experience with you) at market stalls, but only if you are valuing your time and design skills, and asking others to do the same. 

Rant over. Thank you if you made it to the end. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this matter.

*photos included because a post this long really needs some brightening up!