1) I have the cost for my jewelry item. You say that I have to add my "time $" into the cost. How much should I add? By the hour? By the piece? What? I don't want to undervalue my piece of jewelry.
Buy the book “How to Sell What You Make” by Paul Gerhards and
Homemade Money by Barbara Brabec and all your questions will be
answered.
To address question number one: one way some people do it is
hourly, so time how long it takes you to do a task, okay 15 minutes,
this much an hour…
or you can price each task as though you were a bench jeweler doing
a job envelope. So you write up your info. on each piece of
jewelry, this much for metal, x for soldering the earring post on,
etc.
I heard a speech by a potter once, and he said he paid himself
$10.00 an hour for everything, including mowing the grass.
Another way to determine your hourly fee is:
How much do you want/need a year to live? Take that number, divide
by how many hours you can produce (subtract sleep and time at shows)
then determine what hourly rate do you need to achieve that annual
income.
Sounds crazy, when you’re just starting out, but it’s a good
exercise.
Elaine Luther
Chicago area, Illinois, USA
Certified PMC Instructor
@E_Luther