That's Outrageous!

[tboyce]

I just got a call from someone who is a paid speaker for business conventions and the like. It seems as if he is in a society of paid speakers and one of them is retiring. He wanted to commission me to do a tooled leather binder for the retiring speaker.

I don't do this for the money but purely for a hobby so I told him that I would do it for the cost of materials. Since I don't have a double shoulder handy, I told him it would require me purchasing one and the cost would run him about 100 dollars.

He informed me that was acceptable but that the last person he had gone to had quoted him 350 dollars and he thought that was outrageous.

I asked him how much he got for one of his speeches and he said that he cleared a minimum of 500 dollars for an hour speech but that reflected years of training and preparation.

Then I told him that the person he wanted to hire had also spent years training and honing his skills, buying very expensive tools and that the tooling and stitch on the project he wanted represented anywhere from 15 to 20 hours of his time.

After deducting the 100 dollars for materials, that left a profit of about 250 dollars which means that he thinks it outrageous that a skilled craftsman should get $12.50/hour

[papaw]

You should have told him if $350.00 was that outrageous. The Binder was $100.00 your speech/lesson was $500.00 Total $600.00

[tboyce]

ha!

[Northmount]

Too many "professional speakers" have a very inflated opinion of themselves. They should realize that others need a paying wage as well. Many of them are delivering the same canned speech at every appearance for a year before they come up with a new one. Seems a lot of people go for the entertainment with their funny stories.

I could say more, but ...

Tom

[JLSleather]

This is not new. Even among leather people. Happens when you start buying a NAME instead of buying a PRODUCT.

[zuludog]

A woman goes into a jeweler's to have a ring valued, He says it's worth £45, and she is most put out

But surely it's worth more than that! Have another look, it's only taken you about 20 seconds

No madam; it's taken me 38 years

[NVLeatherWorx]

@papaw: Love it! Would you include any "speech writing" time in there as well?

@zuludog: Isn't it funny how nobody on the other side of the counter gets the fact that we professionals (regardless of our trade) KNOW our product and the materials that make them up? Everyone must believe that these nice little things that they wear and carry just fall from the sky and that we don't know squat. I like that nice little joke.

[Tugadude]

You say you got a call from someone. You didn't refer to him as a friend or relative. You are obviously a generous man, offering your time for $0 dollars. Unfortunately most folks don't appreciate the gesture and next time they need something they expect something for nothing again.