The Price Isn't Right...yet

Introducing Evie my latest apron inspired from a 1920's pattern made from some of my "expensive" fabric

So, this is clearly going to be the way of things… start off the day with a "collecting of thoughts" and post it on blogspot. Two main jobs on the horizon today.  Sorting out my pricing strategy and putting together a business plan.  My goodness just writing that down has got me all hot and bothered and I've had to take my jumper off!

Last week I started rootling around the Etsy website looking for information and ended up perusing what they call their Shopkeepers Manual, I think that's what it was called (haha idiot! its called the "Seller Handbook") but it seems to be basically a collection of informational blogs.  Two in particular caught my attention the one about getting the price of your product right called "How to Price like a Pro" by Abby Feuer and the other one about the importance of a business plan "How to Write a Creative Business Plan in Under An Hour" by Caroline Cummings.  

Of course I haven't done any of this stuff yet, just been letting it rattle around in the back of my head for the last few days but, to be honest, the pricing thing has been an issue right from the beginning.  The way I came to my price in the first place was to see how much everyone else was charging and then charge just a little bit more knowing full well that that wouldn't get me anywhere near my costs I suppose the idea being that I needed to get them out there and that I could worry about price later.  Well, they haven't exactly flown off the shelves and after having read the blog about pricing I realised that by not pricing my aprons properly I wasn't really taking them or me very seriously. 

I have also come to realise that there's not much motivation to be had from making something that won't make you any money.  So, given that the aprons haven't sold at the cheap price (albeit that I haven't been knocking myself out to promote them either) I might as well charge what I want since they're not selling anyway.  Aha now there's a freudian slip if ever I saw one "charge what I want" that could mean anything but of course what I want is to be paid for my labour (at least) and my creativity(at best) so, what I want is not exactly the Earth.  

Of course there are a few unknowns in the mix too.  "How to price like a pro"  suggested paying myself a minimum wage that's going to take some looking into and I'm guessing that employing myself here in France is not going to be the cheapest option but, of course the idea behind that is that the business has to be sustainable even if you're only doing it for a day or two a week.  Thank goodness for the internet is all I can say.  The other imponderable - now I'm guessing that that's not even a word in English but the spell checker hasn't twitched so I'll go with it - is my raw materials.  I can't even remember where I got a lot of my fabrics let alone how much they cost.  The best I can do is "that one was expensive".  Of course any fabrics bought in the future will be systematically labelled and there will be book keeping to keep track but, to start with…I really will just have to pluck a figure out of the air.  I could also function on a sort of budget: that I don't get to spend more than a certain amount on fabric for an apron for example - naaaaa that's not going to work what about the gloriously sequinned peacock apron that just sprung into my head?

Here's the thing, all this serious stuff has meant that I've really had to force myself to work today, I really, really didn't want to sit down to do the sensible stuff.  And then I realised its not the fact that its the sensible stuff its that I'm taking this seriously and therefore finally, after all this time committing to my own little business.  Its funny really, I never really had myself pegged as a commitophobe, but then running my own business has been a dream since childhood and, for some reason I've always shied away from it.  Actually, more to the point, I've refused at the last hurdle.  

There have been a few endeavours in the past and I've always found reasons to move on to something else, but the blog about creating a business plan "How to Get Serious About your Etsy Shop" really put me on the spot - talking about fear of failure or success. 

I was just thinking about how I'm a bit of a harsh critic of aprons and am thinking that that's all part of the trying to back out of it type stunt and then musing about the fact that I have decided to stand my ground on this particular venture and wondering "why this one?".  I find the answer to that one is easy, "because I know its right" ; its right for me, its right for now and its doable.  But here's the funny thing, of all the things that I have ever made and sold or talked about selling people close to me are the least impressed by the aprons, they just don't seem to get them.  I'm thinking most particularly about my little sister, Nicky, who, strangely was the recipient of my very first "glamour apron" 7 years ago on her hen night.  Nicky died last Christmas, she was ill for a long time before hand, and was someone who had a real zest for life.  She was always very encouraging about my creative endeavours and always telling me how I should sell this or that item but never really got the aprons.  So its a bit ironic that I have decided to push through all this angst and dithering and do this thing precisely because I want to make my life count for her.  Still that just makes it all the more real.  I'm the one who has to believe in my product, oh yes, me and my eventual customers.  

And that's what Etsy had to say about writing out a business plan, even if its just on a sheet of A4 and only takes an hour (haha here's hoping) its a commitment and makes the whole thing real.  Whoop, whoop I'm going to grit my teeth and come out of this with a proper business and I'm not going to knock my lovely aprons ever again!