Making Wallets To Sell

[Cyberthrasher]

Since I want to get baselines, should I do standard tooling art work to it for time purposes?

I would if you don't have a good baseline on how long it takes you to tool various things. Keep two separate time logs. 1 for the tooling and 1 for everything else. Just do a design of "standard" complexity to see how long it really takes you. Once you get it in your head how long it takes you to do various things, you'll be able to give good quotes (or say "sorry, outside of my league").

[aguilerag]

Groovy.

I have a Stupid phone (iphone 4) and I found three different time trackers I will try to use to see which I like. One is called OfficeTime. It keeps track of time & expense and the other is called Time tracker pro and the other is HoursTracker.

[billymac814]

You'll get a feel for it once you've done it more. A lot of people will want to know how much its going to cost them before they agree to it so it may take you a while to determine how long something is going to take you ahead of time. It also varies if you have to come up with the artwork or if they provide you the artwork.

Lacing is a pretty generic term too so its hard to just say "laced" and have a set price. If you do a simple whip stitch you can do it very quickly but there are far more intricate lacings that'll eat up far more time and lace. Then there's the quality of lace.

You definitely may not make as much per hour on the first few, that's par for the course and can be chalked up to learning experiences. Once you get a system down you'll have a better feel for how long it takes and what to charge. You need to be charging enough to make it worth it for you.

[billymac814]

I have hours tracker on my iphone. It works well, I used to use it a lot when I worked a real job. It works great and would work equally well for keeping track of your time spent. You can have multiple jobs going at once too.

[Cyberthrasher]

I used to use it a lot when I worked a real job.

Don't sell yourself short on that one. You're making money and have a focus on business. I'd say what you're doing qualifies as a real job.

[Cyberthrasher]

You'll get a feel for it once you've done it more. A lot of people will want to know how much its going to cost them before they agree to it so it may take you a while to determine how long something is going to take you ahead of time.

That's where getting the baselines comes in handy. I always give people an estimate and make it clear that it could be more or less. I usually come out within an hour either direction - usually more like 30 minutes because I've really focused on how long it takes me to do different types of tooling and design complexities. But, right now I'm getting ready to start studying a lot more of Paul Burnett's victorian stuff, so any baseline I have for my tooling right now will be 100% void when doing that because I'm essentially starting over.

[aguilerag]

Billy, I would consider what you do a real job. You have a business and a shop. That to me is a real job and actually a lot harder than working for someone. I was a partner in a business out here that is still going strong but I got bought out when I went back overseas for the Military. Owning and running a business is in itself a real job, making all the things you do is a job in itself.

[billymac814]

Its definitely a real job, I work way longer hours than I ever did before. Its way different though and doesn't feel like I'm working. I certainly do this for money but I did it because I love doing it first.

The saying "Find something you love doing and you'll never have to work a day in your life" is 100% true. I honestly never figured I'd be so lucky to find out.

[aguilerag]

That is great that at such a young age you took that plunge. We always said "Those who risk, win! Those who don't, complain"! I looked at your site and you do some very nice work. I may send some of my friends your way until I learn how to make holsters lol!!!

[billymac814]

It was a plunge and I really had no idea if it would work or not and I really had no back up money if it didn't so I had to be making money right from the start. Just to be clear, I don't mean right from the start of doing leatherwork, just the start of going at it full time and opening the shop and store.

My friend said "well what happens if it doesn't work?" I said well then ill be in debt a fair amount and that will suck but its better than working a job I don't really like for the next 30-40 years regretting not trying to do it.