FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
This lady takes the words right out of my mouth. Posted by Gretchen Fleener http://paintertainment.blogspot.com Wednesday, March 5, 2014 "Running a business costs money, yes. And time...oh, the time. But, I love what I do! I am super excited every time I book an event. And I often have to hold myself back from purchasing too many awesome supplies to make your parties all that more AWESOME until I make the money to pay for it. The fact that I love what I do so much is probably one reason you don't know just how much work, time and money goes into this business...because I don't complain about that stuff. It's all worth it!! That being said, it does cost actual money to be a face painter, and the purpose of course of a business is to cover those costs and still make money when all is said and done. So, we do our best to weigh our costs and figure on a price that helps us to recoup our costs, and still have some profit left over to pay our own bills as well. So, please read this through that lens, as my hopes is that this blog post will help people understand what they are really getting when they hire a face painter. Proving our value is a constant battle for face painters. As professional face painters, we invest a lot...I mean a LOT of time and money into our tools and skills. It takes a lot of hard work and money to make money in this business and professional face painters probably deserve a little more credit than some people give them. Some people have a hard time paying for face painting because it washes off, and doesn't last forever. True, it washes off, but the fact that it doesn't last is not true. You are paying for an experience. You are paying for your kids' childhood memories of birthday parties or events, which they will have their whole life. Not to mention the fantastic photos you'll take. The clients whose baby bumps I paint get this concept really well! They do it for the experience, and the photos for their baby books. People don't complain that concert tickets are a rip off because they can't take the band members' guitars home with them, right? They pay for the experience! Please know that we as face painters are not just trying to take advantage of your desire to give your son or daughter a happy childhood by arbitrarily monetizing the experience. We actually do have real, physical costs involved with our job....we aren't just artistic people who show up with paint, work for an hour, and make a hundred bucks or whatever the going rate is. First, let's break down just the time alone, because this is something you likely didn't realize... Behind the Scenes...1 Hour to You = 3.5 for Me. For the sake of easy math in my illustration, let's say I charge $100 "per hour" for a one-hour birthday party. It is also important to note that I actually spend 3-3.5 hours on that one-hour party. Here's how I figure that. You initially contact me, and for an event that is actually booked, I spend at least 15 minutes initially between email and phone contact, writing up the contracts, collecting deposits, etc. (If I'm hiring another artist to go in my place, it doubles this time, although you don't pay extra for that. But for the purposes of our estimate here, we'll estimate conservatively with an event I'm doing myself that's near my home.) So once it's booked, I'll then spend up to 30 minutes preparing for your event. This includes tailoring my design selection to fit your party theme and assembling the design board (more time if I'm adding custom designs), selecting the supplies I need for your particular event and packing them up (this varies among events), loading up the car with all of my gear, and plugging in your address into GPS. Many artists even paint their own faces in preparation for your event, and clowns especially spend a lot more time preparing! So, now I haven't left home yet but am up to a conservative estimate of 45 minutes... My $100 per hour price includes travel up to 60 minutes one-way. Assuming you're within an hour's drive, I arrive at your doorstep having already put in 1 hour and 30 minutes towards making your event special! I arrive 15 minutes early to each event so I have time to get in, set up, and get ready to paint by the start time. (Although I won't count it in this estimate, I often arrive more than 15 minutes early just to be safe, and wait in the car for a bit so I don't surprise the host/hostess too soon!) Ready to start! So, now we're at 1.5 hours before I touch a brush to a child's cheek. Then, paint for one hour...the part you see and the kids remember fondly, hopefully for many years to come. :-) Are you still keeping track? That's 2.5 hours so far to 1 hour of painting... Painting at an outdoor event Once I reach our agreed upon end time, it's another 15 minutes to pack up my gear, say my goodbyes, collect payment, get back to the car, and load up my gear again...2.75 hours. The 30 minute drive home brings us up to a conservative estimated grand total of 3 hours and 15 minutes. This of course doesn't account for traffic, the party running late, extra guests arriving towards the end, etc. As you can see, once you take that $100 per hour for a party, and factor in the time spent, it comes to about $30 per hour if you are basing it purely on hourly wages. That's before taxes. And I also take 10% off the top first. I explain all of this only so that you will see that even though we may charge you $100 for "one hour of painting," we are actually working for you for over 3 hours. This is why many artists have at least a 2 hour minimum for their parties...to make all of that necessary time before and after painting worth their while. After all, this job does often require us to spend weekends, evenings, and even holidays away from our own families too. $30 per hour doesn't come close to covering all of the costs listed in this post, let alone give us a profit, unless we do a TON of one hour parties! So, I hope this helps you see that while our "hourly" quote for you may seem outlandish, it really is quite modest with all things considered."
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
Another thing that many professional face painters do is they attend workshops and jams. Many artists will drive for hours to neighboring states and pay hundreds of dollars to attend weekend workshops where other professionals teach.
- What advice would you give a customer looking to hire a provider in your area of work?
Be sure to book your time accordingly to avoid leaving anyone out. PLEASE do not ask us to disappoint any guests due to lack of time booked. Sometimes we have an event booked right after yours and we may not be able to stay past stop time contracted here