Discounts are Never Worth the Trouble

 

My pal Donna posted this and when I saw it, I just knew I had to write about this in my Lessons Blog here for you.

This has actually been quite the hardest lesson for me to learn. I want to be NICE, I want to HELP so I try to “do someone a favor” and discount the item I am selling or making for them. The problem with this, I have noticed something….

It bites me in the ass!

The most recent experience is an item I was making for someone who gave me a possible contact to another connection. I thought how nice that was and she said to me it was a joint gift and so I thought, “Hey why don’t I give her a discount for giving me that connection”

Funny thing is, the connection never bought anything. IT did not end up a sale. It did not end up with another referral that ended up with a sale. So why the hell did I give HER a discount. Maybe that sounds harsh, but the reality is that I marked MY item down for NO REASON whatsoever. I did so “Out of the niceness and kindness of my heart”

I wish I hadn’t.

It never fails to me that the people I try to give a discount to or help out, end up being the worst pain in the asses to me.

A $100 item I discounted for this person at $60 has already cost me. I even sent a sketch beforehand to approve (which I do for all my clients) and she did not understand I found out, though she approved it, but now of course doesn’t like it and wants to change it. So now I need to reinvent the item. Which is now costing me more money than the agreed price.

The other problem I run into with discounts is the argument I get afterwords. It’s like they forget I am trying to help them out. I could not believe someone I THOUGHT (being the key word here) was a friend decided to argue with me when I reduced the price of the item for her. She said “Well, if you can discount it that much why don’t you just sell it for that much in the first place?” 

First I was stunned that she did not see the niceness of my soul. Then I wanted to go smack myself like I had a V8.I thought” I too have thought this about things on sale”

When I tried to explain I was doing her a favor she battled with me. Then asked for MORE off the price!! I said no, she didn’t end up buying and I put the price BACK to where it was and left it there. After much argument on this issue and others we sadly ended up not being friends. True colors seems to show when money is involved.

The other thing we do is give a discount after they even AGREED to pay that price! WHY?!?!?!? Stop selling yourself short!!

The thing I do too often is toss in a fascinator. I need to stop doing that. If they didn’t ask for one, stop throwing away $10. If I added that up I gave over $2,000 away in fascinators last year alone! Money out the door.

Then I saw this post and nearly fell over again. Hell to the yes…..

 

Do not lower your OWN self value by lowering your price tag. Too many times as Work at Homers, Entrepreneurs, Self Made Business guys and gals we , without realizing it sometimes even, are lowering our own value by lowering our price tags. OR sadly, not even charging the right amount in the first place.

• Charge the value of the fabric or item itself
• Add any elements or extras you did
• Remember to input the TIME it took you to make…THIS  IS YOUR VALUE
• Now charge that cost and LEAVE IT THERE
• STOP DISCOUNTING. STOP LOWERING YOUR VALUE
• VALUE YOURSELF MORE

Why is our time any less important? It is not and we need to stop forgetting this and start adding our value in.

“But if I did that the price would be too high and I can’t sell the item for that cost!!”

Then, you are trying to reach the wrong market for that item (try other areas, groups, venues, etc), or you might need to learn to do it different or  faster (Take lessons on Craftsy, or You Tube, or local school or college) , or change what item you are making (stop trying to sell shirts no one is buying and make a different type of shirt or start making skirts, or make them with your own fabric that YOU create, or whatever, just Be Different).

If you don’t want to change, then you need to stick to your guns.

YOU ARE WORTH IT!!

“So, that means I should NEVER discount anything?”

No that is not what I am saying.

Just like clothes in your closet if you still have that item over a year, you need to get rid of it.

• Donating it to a worthy cause, get a receipt for the value of the item, and take it off on your taxes the following year. (I do this a lot and it has worked well for me)
• Or, that could mean having a flash sale and lowering all the prices for those items online or at a vendor show. (Also once a year, I do this and sometimes I make more money this way.)
• Offer a cash discount only at shows. It makes it easier than having to figure up taxes. If they pay with cash, there is not interest charged on my square and I don’t have to pay the tax.

Can I gift items?

Sure. Gift away. But realize those gifts may not come with the response you desire. Those people you gift are NOT obligated nor SHOULD feel obligated to reciprocate.You can ask if they will, but gift with the intent of a gift. Not an expectation.

What about Bartering?

I love to barter. However, have a bartering agreement. I send items to models all the time. But the model knows they are to take pictures with those items and send the pics to me. The item they are gifted in a bartering agreement is payment for the pictures. Be clear. Write it out. Have it signed. Or don’t send it. Sadly, you will learn a few lessons there the hard way as I did. Some people want free shit. Some are willing to help you out by helping them. Make sure people have YOUR best interest at heart as well as their own. Then when you find THOSE people…HANG ON TIGHT. They are GEMS! GEMS I TELL YOU!

Bottom line————–>>> Value You. When you value YOU, you will stop the discounts.

Until Next time

Xoxo Trisha Trixie

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June 17, 2014 by TrishaTrixie™ Categories: Fashion FabulousTags: Bartering, Cash Discount, Classes, Clearance Rack, College, Crafting, Craftsy, Creating, Discount, Donating, entrepreneur, Favors, Flash Sale, Gifting, Hand Made, Learning, Lessons, Love & Respect, Price Tag, Realizations, SChool, Self Love, Self Made, Self Value, sewing, Stop Being Nice, Stop Marking Items Down, Time, Valuable, Value, Value Yourself More, Work From Home, Worth, You Are Worth It, YouTube

You Don’t Need a Fashion Degree to be a Fashion Designer

For years, and I do means years I keep myself from living a dream I wanted for years. Why, would someone like me who had their own business, who went for every other goal in life, keep her from a dream she has always wanted?

Miscommunicated ideas, thoughts and perception based on the views and ideas of others. Mostly that I needed to have a Fashion Degree to do what I love. Instead I let thoughts like these get in my way.

• I didn’t really know a lot of sewing skills, tips and tricks
• I never went to Fashion School, I went to Design School. (Design school is all encompassing, like a Liberal Arts Degree)
• I am an artist at heart, but because I did not go to Fashion School thee are just things I do not know like fabric, design and other artistic elements I might need to incorporate in my designs
• I only modeled when I was younger so I wasn’t sure if I would be able to go back into both worlds and the knowledge to merge them together
• I could not be a fashion designer because I lacked these and many other things

What did I learn out of listening to other people?

Do not let other people determine your future!!

Late last year I decided to get back into the modeling business (I used to model years and moons ago) but this time I wanted to do it in my own style=Vintage. So if I was going to go back into vintage, retro etc with my modeling why not go back to vintage with the rest of the fashion world I wanted to delve into?

I started modeling at the end of 2012 getting new prints done and getting a new portfolio put together for a more retro look. I met with photographers and started getting to know hair designers and makeup artists in my area. I died my hair back to a White Platinum Blonde and went for broke.

In January of 2013 I dove back into my Fashion Website I had since 2009 and started moving forward.  I had an intern helping me write a blog on a regular basis and I was making creations from RePurposed items. I thought at that time keeping with older items that I remade into something else was the direction I needed to go.

Hidden underneath all that however was the desire I had to create an apron line that looked unique, fabulous, retro, but not like your normal apron. Though because I did not know how to sew very well and was more of a designer I kept holding myself back because of all those excuses I mentioned earlier as well as more negative thoughts and doubts that would enter my mind.

Then I found two amazing someones. One was a gal I already knew , Stephanie St. Claire from Blissbombed.com , that I had done sessions and business with before but for someone reason I had felt with her current courses that I didn’t need them, that I was exempt from them all. Her current course was called 7 Miracles a Month and though I heard about it 2 months before I joined, I had thought in my mind that I didn’t need it because I had done her courses before and I was fine on my own. HA! Then I saw she was having a sale and in that moment I was struggling with my business and felt moved to join the course and group. Boy am I glad I did. Reaching out and not only seeing those miracles but learning that I did not have to wait for them to come to me but I could manifest them and create them myself meant more than anything to me that four years of schooling could have taught me.

The other woman I happened upon was Susan Baroncini-Moe   who wrote Business in Blue Jeans and has a group for those who have read her book or coached with her.  She was giving away a thirty minute free session to have a bit of coaching with her and I was so happy to be able to have that with her. I felt like in that 30 minutes of time I gained an amazing amount of knowledge and ideas and business coaching about the direction my business should be, again, as I said before, than any amount of college learning I could have done!! I did take a few other coaching sessions with her and we have had a follow up phone calls as well. The guidance and instruction and ideas and thoughts she gave me was phenomenal and made such a vast difference in my company and made a HUGE impact on my life AND my business! I not only highly recommend her book, but if you get a chance to take her Group Coaching to do so because I guarantee that if you listen, it will change your life!!

My business has grown, improved, changed and my orders are constant and ongoing. I have a business presence in my town and am started to get known more and more, I am happy doing what I love and I am active, busy and doing trade shows, events and anything I can to keep leaping and going after that dream.

Moral of the story here and my lesson I learned is not to let anything stop you. School or no school, money or no money. If you have a dream. Go for it!

November 4, 2013 by TrishaTrixie™ Categories: Fashion FabulousTags: Baroncini-Moe, Blissbombed, Blissbomed, Business in Blue Jeans, College, Designer, Fashion, Fashion School, Liberal Arts Degree, Miracles, SChool, St. Claire, Stephanie, Susan