The nerve of some people!

[reginanewsum]

I got a phone call today from a client that I did a birthday party for three weeks ago!  She went on to tell me that I was such a great hit at her son's 1st birthday! I painted almost every adult there! Whew!  Any ways she said that her brother was having a party on May 15th and HE WANTED ME!  Hmmm he wants me! Oh my!  Came down Gina and go on! Ok! Whew! Any ways, she says can I give him your number! I said "OH YEAH"  we chat and say goodbye!  Phone rings 5 minutes later! The brother, and he tell me about the party, and that HE WANTS ME! HAHAHAHA Then we talk price!  He wants me to paint from 6pm to 12 midnight, 6 hours! I tell him my price is $75 for the first hour and $60 for each hour after that! He goes silent for a few minutes, I say HELLO! He then says "I REALLY WANT YOU" can you give me a better deal? I say just a minute, figure it up at 6 hours at my rate and come up with $375.00, but I am feeling generous today, so I tell him I will give him a deal for a $50.00 straigh per hour for 6 hours. a total of $300, I say that will save you $75 dollars,  SILENCE AGAIN! I say Hello! Hello! Voice says well ok, then "is that the best price? I say huh yeah!  Best I can do! Well I want you, so I guess I will have to pay for you?  Made me feel so dirty! HAHAHAHAHA  He paid today and I booked his party! I will be so tired that day! I have a gig on that morning from 10am to 4 pm, 6 hours at that one! But I got my going rate for those 6 hours!  Good thing they are only 10 miles apart from each other, I can leave the morning gig about 4:30, catch a bit to eat and get my wind and go on!

[jubob]

It really is so very cheeky isn't it Gina, I bet he wouldn't dream of haggling with his car mechanic or plumber  : Hope you don't tire yourself hun. Take care.

[Alison]

We can figure that some people are just not gracious.
Probably finds fault with waiters/food/etc and doesn't tip at restaurants either.

[MsMollie]

well, sounds like you got it going on Gina!....You go girl!....

[reginanewsum]

I am trying really really hard to get known and to show what I can do!  It is tuff to get started over again in a new business, I did wood for over 30 years, and air brushing. so that has helped me so much in knowing how to promote myself and where to fine gigs.  but I am so pleased with my progress so far in face painting, above and beyond where I thought I would be at this time!  It's funny now, even if I go into a local store such as walmarts, alote of times, I will hear some little voice say "mommy it's the face painter" and I stop and say hello! But the comical thing about it is I can remember the little one! I'll say yes I remember you! You was a beautiful butterfly that day! And the child will just grin ear to ear! And then I say "did you get one of my cards to the mom? Well I just happen to have one right here for you" HAHAHAHAHAHA

[sparklingfaces]

Wow. I've never seen anyone book a birthday party for 6 hours... Will there be THAT many people there? Did you advise him how many you could.do per hour?

[MsMollie]

Looks like you are having "NO" trouble at all to me....you make good money and are always busy and to have them request you? Wow, that's totally awesome I have also been getting repeat customers...Sunday, i painted several that I remember from before....they remembered me too...made me feel so good...however, i'm not quite up to speed yet, but i'm getting there..... ;)Way to go girl!

[reginanewsum]

No I don't think it is the tipical birthday party, like I did for the guys sister!  I think it's a combo of a couple adult birthday's, so there will be several family's coming together, also he told me they were celebrating his anniversary, and his mom and dads anniversery!  So I believe it will be just one big family and friend party!   They are even having a band, think he told me it was his brothers band!  The longest birthdy party that I have done is three hours.  And it felt like 10 hours! Was really slow!  Couldn't get many people motivated to get painted!

[twinkletattoos]

Some people have no shame.
We own a bouncy castle business (www.da-bounce.com) and people always try to haggle us on our prices. It is very frustrating. My husband gets so mad because it is a lot of grunt work for him and we already have extremely affordable pricing for our area.

[Sherry]

I'm never comfortable in these situations.  I don't have experience in haggling and am never sure if I'm making the right decision.

[MsMollie]

Well I don't have experience in haggling either. My husband is convinced that I do everything for free!....duh, no i don't.....i'm just getting started and my skill level isn't that great yet....i'm getting much better and faster...when i go back and look at my pics for each event, i can see where my problem areas are...and i correct it... I'm still playing catch up with you guys..you are all so good!...I'll get there one of these days! 

[reginanewsum]

I have gigs where when I come home and my hubby asked "how did it go? And I say "I painted like crap!  I couldn't get a thin line, or I was not happy with the design,  then other times, I am so excited because the painting went great, every design was super!  So we all have good and bad days!  But I always come home and view the pics, and study what went wrong, or I get amazed on the look of it!  But you generally can cover up a boo boo on a girl!  Add more glitter!  Thekids don't pick up on it, they just love the colors I believe!  We are our hardest clients!  Here was a pic from my class after 7 hours of painting, this little guy was on cloud 9!  He had neever been painted before, and I was dead tired but we made a smile! Oh yeah and I was painted as a tiger!  The class voted for that design and I had to paint it in front of them, one guy asked me "do you need for me to hold the mirror?  I said naw!  I can chat hold the mirror and paint!  They laughed!

[MsMollie]

very nice Regina...i bet that only took you a few minutes...i realize more and more that once i get it going, the designs i can remember how to do them...it gets easier and easier...and i am getting faster...i just need to keep on keepin' on and i know i can do some quality work some day....thanks for the posts..i love your work!

[reginanewsum]

Thanks MsMollie, yup this only takess me just a few minutes to do the monster mask.  But this was after class. The last thing I did at class was to fullfill the request of painting myself!  My students were asking me about me always painting myself, and then they wanted me to show them! They voted on a tiger!  Hmm my fav thing to do! So I did a real fast tiger and then we jammed with the IHOP customers for four hours!  We had two brothers that came to get painted. So I did one and one of my students painted along with me on the other brother.  She had not done any monster type masks, so we decided to do a real simple fast design.  I would paint and she would follow on her client, she had lots of fun doing that and felt confident to now do a mask ot one of her own gigs!  So it helped out!  I didn't really put much detail on it, just enough to say monster mask!