Thoughts about requests

[emskubie]

I posted on the Chatter board a few weeks ago. I donated a custom designed 20-page Shutterfly album to my son's preschool program in our church. It got a fair amount of attention and bids.

Today, a teacher came up to me at pick-up and asked if I could leave some business cards because she had had multiple requests since Saturday for my contact information.

I'm feeling very mixed about this. I don't know if it is financially worth my time. Should I give people my number? I never even considered that people would really pay me to do this-- thoughts? opinions?

[mcardall]

It CAN be worth your time if you price it correctly. Figure out your costs for the album, costs for kits & supplies & your time. I would guess that a 20 page custom album would run $150 to $200.

[emskubie]

Goodness! Do people really pay those prices? I'm shocked-- that ends up being close to 10$ a page.

[Scrap Diva Designs]

Goodness! Do people really pay those prices? I'm shocked-- that ends up being close to 10$ a page.

Yes, people will pay that and usually more. As a business, most charge quite a bit more than $10/page. If you think about it, you could easily use up at LEAST $10/page if you were paper scrapping. Don't sell yourself short. Remember, they are purchasing your knowledge, talent and creativity.

[Just Plain Kristi]

The real question here is how you feel about it. Do you love to scrap and feel you have the time to devote to a business? Are you feeling like you barely have enough time to do your own scrapping? When I went from paper scrapper to rubber stamp consultant my own scrapping really took a back seat...it was one of the warnings I had ignored. Many designers now spend so much time designing they're not actually scrapping for themselves anymore. I find that to be sad.

I'm not trying to discourage you, just give you another way to look at the idea of going into business. Your time is valuable to you and to your family and there is value in the family scrapping you're doing now. Don't forget to figure that into the math! On the other hand, if you're good at balancing family/hobbies/work in your life you can certainly make some money doing something you love without your own scrapping suffering for it. Only you know if this is something you can handle in your life right now.

I love scrapping and find myself in the adult children/pre-grandma limbo with a lot fewer pics to scrap and lots more time on my hands. (ok, when puppy wakes up from her nap I'm taking her in the backyard for a photo shoot...I have WAY too much time on my hands...lol!)

[disciple]

Scrap for hire is a HUGE market that is virtually untapped. There are many people and businesses that would gladly pay to have professionals create memory masterpieces for them.

Going into business for yourself has many benefits and there are of course inherent problems as well. There are different business models in scrapbooking. You can create digital kits, you can scrap for hire, or you can be a consultant for scrapbooking companies. Each has advantages and disadvantages.

If you love to create scrapbook pages then I would definitely consider the scrap 4 hire route. You can set your own hours, take only the jobs you want, work part-time and if you want you could eventually create a very profitable full-time business that you can operate from virtually anywhere.

[Carinspixels]

Well 'design costum pages for people if they ask me to with S4H friendly goodies offcourse, and the best paid is 10 euro for a page, so I dont get paid that much at all. But that's okay it's a hobby.....

[mcardall]

I look at this as my pages are my hobby, but the pages for my clients are a job. It sure feels like a job some days! I would much rather work on my own pages with all my brand new NSD kits! But I have four client pages waiting for me... I did buy some cute stuff for those albums, though! lol!

Seriously, don't sell yourself short. Your time is very valuable.