Worth.

What is your value? How does anyone know what their worth is?

I have been getting a lot of comments lately about my products being under-priced.  Musing on this, in my head at least, I have narrowed it down to two reasons. 1, I wanted to keep my work accessible to as many people as possible and 2, I don’t value myself much so it’s logical to undervalue the work that I make.  Expanding on point 1, my customer base, I need to realise that not everyone is my customer, and on the second point, that is just a bit sad.

Initial sketch for Christmas Cards 2020

2020 and Covid has made me really appreciate my work and what I want to do with my life, what is my career and how do I want to make a living.    Behind any small business there’s someone (normally one person) who makes the product, researches the materials, experiments with techniques, orders resources and stationery to make, wrap and post the product as well as doing all of the administration, marketing, packing and delivering of the goods.  That person needs to be able to make a living, I want to make a good living, I am not afraid of hard work and I love what I do, but this year has really made me question whether its sustainable.  At my current level of working giving myself less than minimum wage it is simply not. I am tired of the way I am working and I need to make a better plan.

Starting to finalise design of houses for the card

There are artists and makers out there that make the most wonderful things that are out of my price range.  Chances are they always will be.  As a customer we see a price and don’t perhaps realise all of what goes into that price.  You’re making your own judgement on what value is.  I find this hard as a customer and as a maker, and just generally as a person.  I need to realise that while I can admire these pieces out of price range, covert them, save them on a board, like and interact with the maker but then move on.  I am not that person’s customer. I need and want to spend my money elsewhere.  For me, it would be a luxury that I can’t justify and that’s ok.  I mean it really is ok, people have different priorities and goals in life.

2020 on reflection, (I know its not January, indulge me) has been about getting to a point where I can see what is wrong and what I need to change in 2021.  In the New Year I have enlisted the help of my brother Mike, one of the many accountants my family seems to produce, to make me a spreadsheet where I can add in all of my costs.  From this I will be able to generate a RRP which in turn will help me understand whole sale pricing structures and more importantly help with giving myself a wage.  I am far too quick to give a discount, knock something off for a friend, forgetting about all of those hours, un paid I have spent putting into a piece of work.  Someone needs to do that thinking, developing, experimenting, prototyping, refining and delivering it can be and feel endless.  I could even build in a discount into the pricing spreadsheet so I know that both the customer is getting a small thank you for their support and I am still looking after myself.  

'Final' first idea

I recently put up a post on my Instagram, it was part of Joanne Hawker's meet the maker week in November, it was the Pivot prompt, and it didn't mean that friends scene; writing that post was a hard thing to do.  I try to think that you get signs as you go along in life, and this was a big flashing sign that told me to look at what I needed to change, make a plan and work at it.  I was feeling good about moving forward with my little business and my work.    

Pivot post on Instagram 

It shouldn't be a negative thing having something wrapped in self-worth or value or questioning it.  I asked myself the question of how much is my time worth? Is it less or more than someone else’? Does it change from when I am working in the classroom to when I am working from home? 

In response to the pivot post, I got a couple of responses that seemed to have missed the point and perhaps not read the whole thing, suggesting ways I could change my work to improve it and to encourage them to buy it.  Those were tough to read.  It felt like I wasn’t the only one who didn’t value what I was doing.  I feel like I have to apologise sometimes for what I write and think, mostly to a couple of friends who I bombard with questions about the meaning of life, when I know they have better things to do, I shouldn't feel like I have to apologise.  Would a man apologise? If a man had written this blog post would he over think it? Or would people have sent him those messages after writing a post on Instagram? Would he have been nervous about putting it out there? I am guessing we all know the answer to this, and you can go down that rather unpleasant rabbit hole in your own time! …. All I can do is be honest.  (I was going to put in an apology to men here, but those men that get what I am saying will get it, and the others well I am not interested)

scanned in, decided too plain-so back to the drawing board

Chewing over this and these messages for a couple of days -I may have mentioned I am an over thinker- a dear friend of mine sent me a lovely message, ‘its people who love your work, but importantly aren’t artists and are looking at it as ‘nice stuff in my home’ and not output of ‘my creative soul’

I suppose that’s what it all boils down to, my creative soul.  Making and selling your own work is a process, in both the artistic journey sense and in the soul baring.  Value both monetary and self is a recurring theme in most artist's (across all disciplines) work.  It doesn’t help when we have a government who currently undervalue the creative sector (along with others-I can only talk from my perspective) or culturally being raised to think that being an artist isn’t a ‘real’ job, there is even the term a ‘struggling artist’.  Artists have always struggled with themselves and their work, but why should we struggle with our finances and our worth?

played around with black backgrounds, added in fairy lights-before going back onto the computer to work out scale and printing runs

My brain definitely goes to that place of self-doubt and self-worth, fairly regularly and while I think I will continue to wrestle with this for a long time coming I shouldn't have to not value my time and worth, I deserve to make a living doing something I love.  

Final Christmas card (total hours approx. 21)

 I think a lot of this blog for me, and its Emma speaking here, and I dont want to put words into Jess' mouth, it's about putting my thoughts out there, on paper so to speak, to make sense of them.  Also to try and give you an insight into how being an artist and running a small business is actually like.  Its not all about taking time off whenever you want, or wearing PJs to work, there is a whole load of other stuff that comes with it, and that has to be valued by everyone, but especially yourself.  

Yak: Emma.