The value of any creative business is in design, not production. To the extent possible, pricing should be focused on the design work your creative business does rather than production. In a perfect world, you would make most of your money from being commissioned to design the art and very little, if any, from the cost of its actual production (i.e., the client would pay what it costs you to produce the art).
However, getting “commissioned” to create your art just may not be possible and marking up your costs of production is the only way you can go. The focus then has to be on maximizing the time between completion of design and the actual production of the art.
Too often, the art a creative business has been hired for is not actually designed until a few weeks (ok, maybe a month) before the installation date. In the worst case, design is done on the fly at the time of installation. Apart from not being able to do your best, but only the best you can do, working this way also makes it virtually impossible to make money. Two reasons. The first is that you have likely priced your art well beforehand and are trying to “back” into the right budget. The second is that you are completely subject to spot market prices. Example, you need 1,000 candles for your event. Order six weeks in advance and they are $1 per candle. Order a week before and they are $4 per candle (you pay the premium for the vendor to carry the inventory to service your needs). What happens if you only charged $3 per candle? You just lost $1,000 instead of making $2,000. In markets where prices fluctuate dramatically, like with perishables (i.e., food and flowers), the effect is even more pronounced. By completing your design much earlier in the process, you give your production team (even if it is the same person) a much better chance to prepare, budget well, order in the true wholesale market and earn a proper return.
Even more important though is an idea that EVERY creative business should embrace. The lifeblood of your business is still design. So if you are sending a proposal before you show a sample of the art you will create for your client — stop. First of all, it is disingenuous — how can you say what something will cost before you have created it? Second, it makes it all about the money and what things cost instead of the art you will be creating for them.
When you reach a certain stature, you can ask to be hired before you create the sample, but, for those who are just starting, show them what you can do for that budget and THEN send your proposal. Not only does it give you the chance to upsell your work, but makes the proposal you do send a much fairer representation of the value both you and your client will be receiving.
{ 3 comments }
Great post Sean. The question I’m left with is how do you show potential clients what you can do before you have a proposal or contract without giving away too much. There’s a risk of giving away too much and having that design taken elsewhere, no? Or is that just a fact of life and we just have to accept that it will happen?
That is the art of it — conveying enough without giving it all away. But if they go, they go. You have the creation and it can become part of your portfolio. And, yes, you should photograph your creation.
Well said! To clarify, so are you recommending a “tabletop showing” as an example for a designer, versus a sketch?