Paying for face painting leads

Hi all!

I've got a quick question for you and I'd love to hear your feedback. Let's say, in theory, face painter X had more business than they could handle. Would you, face painter Y, be willing to pay for a business lead from face painter X?

What I mean is, if you actually booked a gig because of that lead, what would it be worth to you?

Thanks for the feedback!

I pass along the info for leads with no expectations for anything except a successful booking. It is good karma to share leads. I pass them along all the time, and I receive them from other artists in the area.

xoxo

I wouldn't pay. And like my learned colleague above, I pass on any work I can't take without any strings.

I'm a big fan of passing on leads to others–and receiving leads. That works great to a point. But what do you do when it's overwhelming?

In other words, if the face painters you know are all too busy–and there are still more leads, then what?

Obviously growing the business is a good plan (adding new face painters), but it takes time. In the mean time advertising dollars are gathering leads that can't be kept up with.

Tough situation...

I make more friends!
I have never had more leads than face painters. However, there are a lot of kooky people waiting until the last minute to book a face painter.
I do not pay to advertise.
I have used Kijiji, and Craigslist in the past.
FaceBook has never gotten me a job.
My website works really well at getting me work.

xoxo

looks like you can save some money on advertising, then

My guess would be that possibly you are undercharging for the market?

Oh, wait!
I am having a "moment"!
The Great Shannon Fennell called ME "learned".
(instead of used up, hackneyed, old!)
I think that maybe Shannon is getting used to me stalking her!
Or, maybe Shannon is getting bored and I have to step up my game.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

xoxox

that was a fun "commercial"

anniel wrote:My guess would be that possibly you are undercharging for the market?

Funny you should mention that, I think I might be. I've been charging $75/hr. However, most of the other face painters in the area are a bit higher. I'm thinking of raising it to $85. I just want it to be win win and I want lower income folks to be able to afford me (they're the most fun!).

Interestingly, right now the majority of my bookings come from people that would probably be considered low income. Birthday's are just a super important priority.

You decide what market you want. If there is too much work, you just turn away what you can't take - they learn to book well ahead then.

Nice that there is so much to choose from for you.

If it were me, and it bothered me to turn away so much work (which it wouldn't, but hypothetically speaking) I would up my price as obviously there is a demand.

Great points Shannon, thanks for sharing. It just PAINS me to turn people away! I'm trying so hard to get a couple employees hired, there is just a lot of work to do in that process.

The good news is I've had a couple interested girls reach out and express their interest in working for me. Keeping my fingers crossed that it works out!

I recently raised my Saturday rate only for this same reason. 

It’s great when you can refer back and forth but if you are the only one making the effort to market yourself and you’re giving your gigs away without anything in return - that gets old quick. Sounds like it may be time for you to recruit some art-college students that could use some extra income and start pimpin’ em out 

eviedejesus wrote:I recently raised my Saturday rate only for this same reason. 

It’s great when you can refer back and forth but if you are the only one making the effort to market yourself and you’re giving your gigs away without anything in return - that gets old quick. Sounds like it may be time for you to recruit some art-college students that could use some extra income and start pimpin’ em out 

Lol! That's a great place to look! And you make some really great points too. =)

Also Loopsy, I dunno if you're trying to make them actual employees or just sub-contract them. Making them employees is a long process but sub-contracting is relatively easy because they're responsible for their own taxes, etc. If they haven't established themselves as a face painter then you're basically acting as a booking agent. I say do it this way and charge them a percent.

Kal wrote:Also Loopsy, I dunno if you're trying to make them actual employees or just sub-contract them. Making them employees is a long process but sub-contracting is relatively easy because they're responsible for their own taxes, etc. If they haven't established themselves as a face painter then you're basically acting as a booking agent. I say do it this way and charge them a percent.

Gosh, I keep going back and forth on this issue. Based on the research I've done, I don't know if I can get away with subcontracting. I'll be asking that they wear the Giggle Loopsy costume, and I think this sways the pendulum more towards them being employees. I'd like to keep the brand tightly focused.

You're right though, hiring employees seems like quite a lengthy process (with lots of paperwork).

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landscape paintings

I think the key is how much you want them to 'represent' you! I am purely situational. Most of the time I simply pass on the info to the client of another painter, or I pass on the client info TO another painter. OR if it's a client I want to keep for the future, but am already booked this time, I will occasionally have a painter go out under my name, (they have my cards, and I know they can paint well and are great with people) and then when the client pays me, I pay them as sub-contractors. Because I am paid by the client, I have a cut at that point and I retain the client. That is SUPER rare tho. Maybe 3 times a year.

I'm thinking of subcontracting also. I assume we'd have subcontractors sign a contract?

That seems to be the thing... just passing on a lead to another painter without expectation, but there could be a 'condition', like having to pass out their business cards and not yours at a bigger than norm event. I say that's fair.