Should You Ever Teach Your Wine and Paint Classes for Free?

Teaching your wine and paint classes classes for a fundraising event can feel like you're being asked to give away your work for free.

Depending on how you set it up, you CAN give away your time for free, or you can use the experience as an opportunity to grow your business.

Just to clarify, a "Fundraiser" is an event hosted by a non-profit agency to help them raise money to support the work they do. The idea is that you, as the teacher, are helping the agency to raise money for their cause, by providing an activity for their event.

The goal is for the agency to make money and for you to help them make that money.

Here's one of the questions I recently received along with my thoughts on how I handle this request.

Q: "I've been asked about doing a fundraiser. I’m not opposed to that, but how would I go about it as far as figuring up cost and how much actually gets donated to the cause?"

A: Before you figure up the costs. think about WHY you might want to do a fundraiser and if it's a good fit for where you are in your business right now.

I'm all about giving back and volunteering, but there are many ways to give your time and/or money to help others. It doesn't have to be by giving away your services for free.

I personally like creating win-win situations for both you and the non-profit. Teaching at a non-profit event can help build your business in terms of gaining experience, expanding your connections and marketing your service. Here's what I mean:

• You're just starting out and would like to get your name out there and make more connections
• You're passionate about/involved with the cause and have a strong desire to give your time and services
• You don't have much experience and you'd like an audience to practice with
• You'd like to get photographs, testimonials and talk going about your class to help market it
• You'd like to build your email list of students interested in your classes
• You can build in your time to the cost of the class, so you're still getting paid while also helping others

Now that you're feeling good about why you'd like to do this, start by breaking down all of your costs. 

Be sure to include all of the materials you use in each class (plug your own numbers in here, these are just for example:)

Canvas @ $5.00 per person x 20 people=$100.00
Paint @ $30.00 for an event with 20 people=$30.00
Paper Plates $3.00
Paper Towels $3.00
Table Covers $8.00
Total=$144.00

Then you can add a charge for your time and overhead such as your liability insurance. Let's say you want to make $100.00 pay for the 4 hours you will spend with set-up, teaching and tear down and you add another $20 for your liability insurance.

Your grand total is now:
Materials: $144
Time: $100
Ins: $20
Total: $264.00

Once you know how much you need to cover your time and expenses, you now have choices of how you can present your class fees.

Example 1:
You can charge a per person rate that is a discount off of your typical rate:

If you typically charge $40.00 per person you can instead charge a discounted price of $20 per person.
The non-profit can then offer the class for $40 per person and they keep the difference of $20 per person.

In this scenario, you earn $400, covering your expenses and time and they get $400. Win-win.

Example 2:
Another option is to just buy all of the supplies for the class and have the non-profit reimburse you for the expense. Then you straight-up donate your time.

I give all of the left-over supplies to the non-profit, as they paid for it and it belongs to them. I use my brushes and easels and aprons and such, but all of the disposables, they buy.

In this example, you are 100% donating your time and have no material costs. You still gain the benefits in marketing and experience we talked about above and the non-profit gets to offer a great service to people and raise funds by charging whatever they want for the class.

Example 3:
You charge a flat fee for the event. If you know you're costs are $264, you can round that up to an even $300.00 flat fee for the event, for up to X number of people. The non-profit pays you this fee and charges as much as they want for participation in the event.

In this scenario, you get cover your costs+time and the non-profit is able to flexibly charge to meet their own fundraising goals.

So, there you have 3 different ways to structure a fundraising event, while also feeling good about it and doing some outreach and marketing for your business.

Happy Creating!
Kelly

ps: I've gotten a little side tracked on the project I've been creating for you, but it's back in the front of my mind as we move into 2019 and I'm SUPER excited about it!

I'd love to hear from you about what you need help with as you explore teaching these types of social art making classes.

• Would you like more lessons like these?
• A FB group to share ideas with other creatives?
• An Ultimate Guide to starting a wine and paint business? (or similar type of business?)
• Learning about other types of social art making classes that aren't painting on canvas?

How can I best help you?

I'd be delighted if you would contact me and let me know. I read every one and will reply to any questions you have.

(Some people have started texting me? I'm not sure how that happened, but please reply by email only.)

 

 

Home Painting Parties

I recently was asked a question about taking painting classes into people's homes. I think this is a great business model for your wine and paint business for two BIG reason's I'll explain below.

Q: Thank you for providing so much helpful information about starting a wine and paint business. I am a retired art teacher, who also worked part time at a Muse Paintbar so I am already at ease with the instructional part of the business. I purchased materials, easels, aprons, canvases, paint, brushes, etc. I thought I might like to do this in private homes (I come to you), but I am not sure if people are comfortable with painting in their homes. I could do small groups in my house but I have crazy dogs that jump. So, I am not exactly sure how to go about it.
 
A:  Yes, teaching in homes is totally doable and a great business model for two reasons that I love.

1. There is no overhead to pay for the space, which saves you money.
2. The Host does recruitment of students for you which saves you both the time and expense of promoting the class.

Here are a few things to consider when teaching in people's homes:

Space:
Hosts need to know what to expect as far as space considerations, tables, chairs and flooring concerns (you don't want to get paint on a pretty white carpet for example.) I typically set up in people's dining rooms and that works out well using the table top easels and plastic table cloths. Hosts will need to know what YOU provide and what THEY need to provide, so make sure this is clear. (A written agreement is always good for this.)

Pricing and Supplies:
I charge a per person rate for home parties, the same as if I'm hosting them in a public venue. My rate is $35.00 per person and I provide all of the art supplies needed including easels and aprons. I also have two 6-foot tables that can be used for seating or art supplies.

You may want to charge more if you have to travel longer distances, to account for the extra time and mileage expenses.

You may want to consider a deposit to secure the date, especially if you're booked solid and rely on the income from each party.  Be clear about what happens to the deposit if the class is cancelled by either party.

I require a minimum number  of guests to run the class and insure I cover my costs.  As far as maximums go, the host needs enough space to comfortably seat all of the guests so that can vary based on the house you're teaching in.

Getting started:
A good place to start is by having a friend host your first party and then work to build more parties from that first class. Once people attend one and have a great time, they are more likely to book a class. That's how I started.

If you ever attended a Pampered Chef Party or Lia Sophia or Tupperware even, you can take some cues from them as far as marketing goes. You want to give incentives to people in your first class to book the next class. Bring a calendar with you and if they sign up for a party in the next 2 months, they will get a special gift on the night of their party, as well as getting a free class themselves.

I also do a giveaway to sign up for my mailing list. This can be a small prize, like wine charms, a wine stopper or a bottle of wine, but the idea is to get all of the students onto your mailing list so you can contact them again in the future.

I take photos during the party and send out an email to the group following the event to keep the excitement going. You can also ask for permission to use the photos on social media or your website to promote your home parties.

I teach in-home parties for both painting and jewelry making and in 2017 these were one of my biggest money-makers. I would definitely encourage you to give it a try.

If you're not interested in hosting classes in people's homes and need more ideas about where you set up shop, visit this post.

I hope this gets you thinking about the possibilities of hosting your own in-home events. As always, if you have questions, just reply to this email and ask away!

Happy Creating!
Kelly

ps: if you're ready to start teaching your own sip and paint classes, you can get your parties started ASAP using my quick-start guide. Grab it below and join our group of merry art makers.

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