Business Burns

Repost: May 17, 2008

 

seele mit herz, LLC has only been in existance for 2.5 year officially under government. However, I had been doing this since I was about 12 selling my clothes and other crafts to friends at school and in the arts community.
In the seele mit herz designs portion of my business I still have a lot to learn if I want this business to grow professionally and under government....
I sometimes find myself getting burned and each client bring me to other things I need to do to protect myself. For example, I was referred to a sistah who was in need of an evening gown.
Her first offense was being slow about the project as a whole and finally getting with me just a few weeks before she needed the gown. I still decided to do the gown. (my first offense). Her second offense was being flaky about showing up for fittings. Although she bought the fabric and materials on her own and showed up to the fabric store to get consultant (she was late making it to the store as well...should we count that as her third offense?), I still put in my hard work and efforts and hours into making a beautiful gown for her.
Time is money people....
So she comes for her fitting only to tell me that she no longer needs the gown but she intends on paying me anyway...
I never heard from her again.
Now I am stuck with a gown...not an easy sale and I lost money in all the hard work I put into her gown.
I am in the process of implementing work contracts for my clients. A percentage of the deposit is non-refundable. I cannot come out of my pocket for your materials, people. I must protect myself. If you do not come back to get your garments after a certain amount of time, they would become my property to sell and no, you do not get your deposit back.
I aim for cusotmer satisfaction and so far all my clients love my work and I strive to please but please don't take my kindness and willingness to please for granted and don't use me. I am a human being. My time is precious and I am working day and night to do this.
I feel the need to write a series of these things after dealing with that one sistah and hearing from another sistah that she was not prepared to pay my fees for a custom made gown that she too needed in short notice...
Sometimes, I feel like customers just don't understand....
Even if I was not working another full time job...try to understand what we have to go through and all the things that go into making a garment just for you...the least you can do is not complain about prices and COME GET YOUR GARMENTS!
I'm done...I don't need to keep going over this...