Am I cut out for commissions?

This has been on my mind a lot these past few days. I told you all at the start of the year about a commission that was pretty much definite. I’ve had meetings with the person, and they’ve all but crossed the tees on the quote I’ve sent them. However, I haven’t heard from them in months, and it’s getting closer and closer to the date we agreed upon to begin work on the puppet. This wouldn’t worry me so much if it weren’t for the fact that I need more info from them to know exactly what materials to buy and how to make the puppet for their needs. I haven’t been calling them every day, but every two or three weeks to try and check in. It seems as though they’re avoiding me, and the whole thing is getting on my nerves.

Over the past year and a half, since trying to do puppetry professionally, I’ve gotten an average of two or three emails about commissions per fortnight. Half of those I turn down because of the distance of the person to me, or because I don’t have the skills (or interest) to do what they need. Of the other half, I sincerely do my best to follow up, provide quotes, etc. Of all of them, I’ve had only one true commission (the classes with Reach Out).

I have ten times more luck with normal puppet sales. Despite my recent hackings, and despite a sometimes all-over-the-place approach to both marketing and products, I’ve developed a growing business. It’s taken me about two weeks to start selling again after replacing my shopping cart system (I just sold my first batch of stuff on Etsy, and have sold two patterns on Lulu), and I’ve been getting pretty decent sales (perhaps three sales on average per month over the past year) considering my distinct lack of advertising outside of this site and the fact that I have just started out in the biz.

The discrepancy between the commisions that fall through (including my first ever commission, which failed miserably) and the potential for products on sale is so obvious to me that it’s making me wonder: should I just be turning down commission work? It seems very backward, I mean who turns down the opportunity to earn more money right?

But the thing is, in chasing up commissions; spending time and energy researching materials and making quotes; doing sketches and designs; replying to emails and making phone calls… I’m actually losing money by responding in the first place. If I just have a ‘no commission’ policy, then I can focus my energy in areas, I know are working - namely, extending my product range. Maybe if I had a better income to rely on, or maybe if my product range was bigger, I could consider taking on commissions. But at this stage, is it worth it to chase commissions that ultimately fall through anyway? Or would I miss out on opportunities?

This current commission that I’m worried about would be huge for me. It’s with a big enough company and will be public enough for me to potentially gain a whole new market audience; but that’s only if it actually happens. If it falls through, as I’m guessing it probably will - I really haven’t heard from them in several months - then it’s wasted money on materials that I’ve already had to hunt for (another conversation for another time), wasted energy trying to find rare items for the puppet, and wasted everything on just getting the person to respond to my queries.

Should I just say no from now on? It’s a tough call… but I think maybe it is the right one for now.

Want more? Help build a puppet!