Helper Info please!!

Ok, its that time. I have booked a gig I may not be able to handle alone. I have a young teen willing to help, but I feel like I should pay her. Whats right in this case? Min wage, a set amount agreed upon beforehand?
I searched posts and found nothing about paying helpers, only having one. My DH refuses to help ...long story.... and I really need someone for this event. Its my first really big event- with a sponsor!! Im taching her to sponge bases on, then I do all the linework. its my veggie faces so it wont be difficult and I know she can handle it.
I dont have insurance yet, so that isnt an issue....but I know Ill have to add her when I get it. Which is fine, shes a great worker, she is also my babysitter.

So, if I need a helper at the event, do I add a cost to the client? Or factor it into my costs all the time? whats fair? do I get her a basic kit for gigs or double use mine? (in center of us painting) lots of questions and couldnt find answers! thanks for commenting

she is currently one of my practice heads. =0) this mask didnt turn out to well, but she liked it.

At this point I would pay her an agreed amount prior to the gig. Payment for being a volunteer/ helper and not as an employee. I would only put her on the books once insurance has come through. I would feel nervous hiring anybody and not have PLI to cover them, in addition to what they call workcover insurance here in Aus (worker protection cover if they have an accident).

For future events, it would be simple negotiation with the client about whether the job in your estimation would require more than 1 face painter. You would negotiate prices with the client from there.

In terms of paying her...is there a specific wage award in your area that relates to entertainers? You could use that as a guide of what to pay her per hour. Or you could ring your local industrial relations body and ask what to do in this instance if there is no specific award to follow.


I would get her a basic kit of her own, with the simple preference that my kit is my kit. Also if she has her own kit, you can then contract her to go to gigs on her own and you can take a booking fee or something.

Hope that helps

See, I would just have her work out of my kit since she would just be putting down bases she would need access to all the colors- where you as the line work goddess would be primarily Black/white (ok, sometimes another color but you know what I'm saying) I just wouldn't want to buy a whole other kit (and I certainly wouldn't buy one to hand over to her!) Just be sure tp train her to respect your paints and use them properly- it's actually really cool that you get to mold her the way you want her> !

I would charge extra of the client to have her be there- Just say: in order to paint this volume of faces in this time frame I will need to employ an assistant painter. She comes at an additional $___ an hour.

You should pay her well, but she should not be nearly as much as you. Let me give an example: My rate is $75 an hour. I charge $50 more an hour for my daughter to come along as an extra (glitter tattoo) artist. The client likes that deal- discount on the second artist. I only pay my daughter $30 an hour though because all she has to do is show up and work. Now, you might not want to keep a whole $20 back (I do because it goes back into supplies- she uses more glitter) But heck, $30 an hour is more than a nurse! Way more than babysitting or fast food- and if you keep it easy for her- all she has to do is show up, paint, and get paid, - that's all a teenager really wants.

Can you just use her as line control, so you can crank...have her fill an empty chair next to the one you are painting from, with the next child who already has decided what they want, has their hair secured back & clean face, so you can just move your line as fast s possible. I have found working with someone inexperienced often slows my speed as they ask about this that & the other en route along the way...

And after I said all that... Anniel has a great point. I DO paint faster by myself than if I'm working with someone inexperienced. Unless you have a lot of opportunity to work with this girl before the gig, you might be better off with her as a line manager.

If you CAN get a system and groove going with her, it has the potential to really move it along. I know a crew that does this method- one person sponges, the other lines- and they swear they paint almost twice as many faces as before. I think the trick is really both being comfortable with the designs and knowing how the other person works.

ooo fantastic advice!! I have something to work with now and several options I can think about. Which one will work best for me, by painting and having her as line only. Shes such a great worker....we will see. Thank you sooooo much for sharing and talking.

I just did an event like this... I charged extra $40 per hour on top of my reg rate.

My helper was my line manager of sorts... I only offered 4 designs each for boy and girl, she organized the line by design... So if 4 girls wanted the rainbow design, she'd pull them out,then i could do 4 rainbow swipes and so on... It cut my design time down to about 1-2 minutes per face...

Wow, these are al great tips. I can vouch for the prior training sessions necessary before a gig. Last year, my volunteer 'helpers" used my paint to speed my long long line up and in the end folks were still waiting in long long lines and massive amounts of my paint was consumed because they were not familiar with the paint properties or light sponging. I lost alot of $$ paint that way! It is great you are training her.
Originally, my volunteers were to be line managers and help keep people in order and pick out a design...simple right? Well not so for some teens....they took just as long to help someone choose a design! ARGH>>>> They just didnt have the experience and the crowd sort of intimidated them. I am not sure how to handle this this year... TO just offer afew designs at a set price or offer everything and let them wait.
Anyway, I think the line manager training that helps sor tthe kids by design is brilliant. Now I could double my speed with that idea! may be the fewer choices is better.....I will have volunteers again but dont want them using my paint ever again!