Full time Reborn artist vs. Part time

Why you say you could never do it full time? Just curious

I know :two_hearts: if she wasnā€™t so cute I might get mad :smile:ā€¦
I love my little Sophia SO much :revolving_hearts: sheā€™s SO smart and has the funniest personality!!!
Stained pjā€™s and all :wink:

Just wanted to clarify I donā€™t call her Miss Mess :smile: only in conversation with others sometimesā€¦

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I am in pain on a daily basis due to the fact that i have a very physical job and i feel my reborning skills are not up to par to be able to paint an incredibly detailed babyā€¦ And besides i dont want painting babies to feel like a jobā€¦ Im happy with just painting as a hobby, as a way to relax and keep my mind off of the stresses of life :smiley:

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Hahaā€¦ of course that is knownā€¦ she is very adorable

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Thank you :blush:

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Very few can do it full time. the ROI is very low, barely over break even unless you are established and top tier artist. I broke down costs on a $500 doll. I ended up making $1.87 an hour. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:That is not a typo. So itā€™s a hobby for 95% of us Iā€™d venture to guess. I figured in everything from itemized qtips and toothpicks to shipping peanuts, diaper, clothing etc. and I worked on her for two solid weeks, 80 hours roughly. What killed me were eBay fees, PayPal fees and I offered free US shipping.

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Yes it is possible to make it a full time job. But please know it is then a JOB. I started in 2007. Up until 2014 I was also a truck driver, doll show owner, and a few other jobs lol. I retired from all of it except Reborning in 2014 to concentrate on my business. Thankfully Reborning is truly my passion and I love every day but I work harder now then I ever did working for someone else. I am also one of the fortunate few that I dont have other responsibilities meaning. My husband is still driving a truck so I only take off from Reborning (painting lol ) when he is home. I use the time that he is home to do all of the admin, marketing, website, invoicing, ordering etc so that he can help me. I dont have kids just three fur babies. I have been blessed that I also started teaching classes in 2014 as well. That simply means I am even busier than before as it can take 6 months to get a class ready to do. I also am fortunate that when I started back in 2007 I found a niche I only do custom babies. I rarely have a premade reborn for sale. Butā€¦ Customs is not for the faint of heart. There is so much more to a custom order than just making a great baby. All of that being said. I work 16 hours a day and have about 8 days a month where I still work but not at painting. I wouldnt change it at all and I am truly blessed that I am able to pay my bills doing this. But I do sweat it out each month because all it takes is one or two customers that have an emergency and cant pay and it throws off my bills.

My suggestion. Build your clientele up first. Get your name known first. Offer many varieties of skin tones. Have amazing Customer Service because no matter how good your baby is if that stinks you will loose sales. And be willing to put in the time and efforts. Doesnt matter if you are sick, or family is sick, your dog died none of that matters when you have someone elses money. And that can suck. I have had to work through all of that . Missed occassions (my neighbors son got married and I was supposed to go but a client could only come that weekend for a class) So I guess what I am saying go into it with your eyes wide open.

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Iā€™m now doing it fulltime and doing pretty good!

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I do my reborning part time and most of mine is at Christmas time. It really helps to supplement the Christmas shopping. I do them throughout the year for birthdays, Valentines Day and Easter also. I used to sell on EBay and I can get higher prices there but people locally know that I make dolls and contact me for special occasions.

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Back to what I was saying lol Georgia posted about the Atlanta Doll Show. I was so excited invited a bunch of people only to check my calendar and realize I have to teach a class that weekend. Business before Pleasure lol.

Babies generally take me about amonth or 6 weeks, but I paint only one at a time during days, then root at night, moving on to the next paint job. So I can usually work on two at a time this way.
I stopped using ebay mostly because of the amount of fraud and scamming that was becoming more frequent in our industry online. I still dislike ebay, but know its a good sellers avenue.

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Well I actually never factored in the time to reborn because I always enjoy the processā€¦ 1.87 an hour yikesā€¦Lol I always thought about ROI for what I spent. But you have a pointā€¦lol

What kind of classes you teach? Reborn?

I sell reborn and clay fairies and clay babies.

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Yes I teach both Caucasian and Ethnic reborning classes

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Oh itā€™s a labor of love. I enjoy it very much too. It would be a decent spare change maker for someone who isnā€™t responsible for all of the household bills. Say someone who lives with parents or a home maker whose spouse can cover the bills. I live modestly but bills still come from every direction (vet, property taxes, always something unexpected on top of the regular bills). I make spare change with dolls but have to maintain my full time job for sure. Even when I break even or have to spend, i just enjoy the art. So at the end of the day for me, itā€™s a hobby that slightly pays. Everyone handles it differently of course. If you wanted to make it FT and were very very determined, anything could be done. :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

I heard someone on Shark Tank say, "An entrepreneur is the only person willing to work 80 hours a week to avoid working 40."
Something like that. Anyway itā€™s definitely me too.

I run an art, toy & supply small business on Ebay & Etsy. It was supposed to supplement the doll making, but has now taken over. My family is moving to Oregon to let the business grow, hire a small staff, and allow me to get back to the art.

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I think that was Mark Cuban who said that. I remember that episodeā€¦ but itā€™s so true, the difference is the passion you have. The 80 hours can feel like two if youā€™re enjoying what you do

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ā€œAn entrepreneur is the only person willing to work 80 hours a week to avoid working 40.ā€ Lol Never heard this before but it is true!! I left a nice job years ago to do my own thing and it was the best thing ever. The job was high salary, corporate type of good, but I didnā€™t like it. My creative ideas were quickly extinguished by the higher ups, getting anything done was a process with all of the red tape involved. I found myself bored and frustrated most of the time.

Everything changed with my first business (retail, not art related). I felt like a butterfly fresh out of a cocoon and happily worked 80 or more hours a week. Not so much now that I have 3 kids, but still, when itā€™s time to work again, it wonā€™t be for someone else.

What the future holds, who knowsā€¦ Hope I get good at sculpting and can make nice silicone dolls. Wouldnā€™t mind opening up a small factory of some sort hereā€¦ one to make vinyl doll kits would be nice. :slight_smile:

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I agree wholeheartedly. Iā€™ve been doing this since 2008 and if I had to rely on it as a ā€˜livingā€™ā€¦well, letā€™s just say I wouldnā€™t be living. I donā€™t have a lot of extra time these days for working on my dolls but I just canā€™t seem to give it up.