“Why is Your Stuff So Expensive?” Answering This Recurring Question

Perhaps the question we hate the most and answer continually is, Why is your stuff so expensive?As you read what follows, replace the word stuff with whatever your medium is.

There’s a piece of me in all of my stuff. Long before my stuff exists, I spend considerable time just thinking about what my stuff will ultimately look like, and how it will function, and what it’s purpose will be.  I invest a great deal of time in the planning process – the overall design, the construction, the materials, and the finished piece.

Once I know what I’m making exactly, I have to find the precisely perfect materials/components for my stuff.  I don’t have the luxury of calling the warehouse and telling them to send up whatever they have.  I shop until I find just the perfect things to make the stuff I’ve envisioned.  My materials and supply costs can be on the high side, but with my stuff, corner-cutting is not an option.

And then I assemble my stuff.  It’s not built in mass quantities in a sweat-shop factory in a third world country.  Sometimes, I’ll make two or three or several of the same piece.  Other times, I know from the start that this one will be the only one I do…  a true one-of-a-kind.

Regardless, my stuff is always unique.  No two pieces are ever identical, because each one is laboriously assembled by my hands, and I embrace the variances, one to the next.  And I test my stuff at every step – is it sturdy?  Will this perform the way I want it to?  Will it last?  If the answer is anything less than an emphatic “yes” at any point, I start over again.

Once my stuff is completed, I take great pride in how each piece is labeled, packaged and displayed.  Whether it will be seen through photographs in my shop online, or in person at an art event, I want perfect strangers to see my stuff and know immediately that a lot of care and time went into it, that each piece has been loved from the time it was simply an idea.

My stuff is priced the way it is because it’s worth every penny of that price.  The price includes not only the physical materials in the piece, but the time and care that went into it’s creation.  If you really look at my stuff, you will realize that each and every piece is as individual and unique as you are, and you will quickly agree that my stuff isn’t expensive at all.

Tags: cost, hand crafted, Handmade, online business, price your work, pricing

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