In other words, the economics of these shows work only if your time is worth
something close to the minimum wage, or less.
I have to confess when reading Brian's postings, I was wondering about all the
money he was sinking into this venture. Even if he values his time at zero, it
seems difficult to see him breaking even, based on what he described.
Cheers,
Nathan
Nathan Wajsman
Alicante, Spain
http://www.frozenlight.eu
http://www.greatpix.eu
PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws
Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/
YNWA
On Feb 3, 2014, at 11:07 PM, Ken Norton wrote:
>> What I don't see in any of this discussion is talk of time. Ken seems to
>> have his materials cost calculated, but what about time? How much time
>> is spent creating the prints, to say nothing of getting the shot, or
>> spending a gorgeous weekend sitting at a fair selling (or not) your
>> work. In addition to materials cost you want to factor in your time. (To
>> say nothing of equipment space in your house, ect.)
>
> I did include direct cost of production along with my 4X factor, which
> locks in a profit margin and covers the ancillaries of running a
> business. But that figures in the cost of doing business with a
> tangible item. The photography side (capture, edit) is all intangible
> and ALL overhead.
>
>
>> I occasionally wander the isles of many of these fairs or markets and it
>> strikes me that the vast majority of these folks are loosing money if
>> their time is worth anything. How many $50.00 prints do you need to sell
>> on a given Saturday to cover not only the materials cost but the travel,
>> cost of the fair and the 8 hours you spend sitting there? I wonder if
>> most people doing this have any idea.
>
> A typical fair will cost you $200 for the space rent, give or take.
> Round trip travel (average across multiple fairs) is 150 miles or
> about $80 in mileage costs. Food/Drink another $20. So, your hard
> costs are $300 just to show up. Booth equipment wear-and-tear and
> display upgrade/replacement is another $50 per show. Product damage
> and "shrinkage" is at least another $50 per show. So, you're at $400
> without even considering time. Now, consider that your profit margin
> on the stuff sold is somewhere between 50% and 75% (at best), you need
> to do a little algebra.
>
> If the profit margin is 50% and you need to cover $400 for the show
> costs, that means you need to gross $800 for the show JUST to break
> even. $800 minus cost-of-goods $400 = $400, which is the cost of the
> show.
>
> Let's say you actually want to make a little money for your time.
> You'll have 20 hours wrapped up for the show (travel+show) and you
> value your time at $10 per hour. That means you need to make another
> $200 in net income. That's another $400 in sales. So, you need $1200
> in gross sales with a 50% profit margin on your inventory JUST to
> break even. Of course, the tax man wants his piece of the action, so
> you'll want to earn at least twice that amount, so you are up to $1600
> in gross sales with a 50% profit margin on your inventory. This isn't
> just for one wildly successful show, but the average for EVERY show
> for the season.
>
> The people who actually make money doing this, over time, will have
> very low inventory costs by doing more of their own. I don't think it
> is possible for a photographer to ever make a profit if he/she
> outsources the printing. Simply impossible. If you look at the people
> making real income at these shows, you'll see that they are
> craftspeople making stuff out of nothing. How much does a blob of
> glass cost for glass blowing? How much does a spool of wire cost for
> making wire sculptures? How much does a watercolor cost? Why is it
> that some people do paintings on busted up tiles, bricks and hunks of
> barn wood instead of canvas on a stretcher frame? You MUST
> cost-contain the production of your product and if your product is too
> expensive to produce then you must choose a lesser expensive solution
> in order to get your profit margins high enough. It's like an Italian
> restaurant. You'll never make a profit if you buy your sauce already
> made.
>
> The above breakdown only covers the tangibles of product sales, not
> the intangibles of actually being a photographer with the costs
> involved in the creative/capture side of the business.
>
> --
> Ken Norton
> ken@xxxxxxxxxxx
> http://www.zone-10.com
> --
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