Better Be A Steep Learning Curve…for Custom Headbands to be Mailed!

I was contacted by Mrs. W from Georgia to make a White Christening Headband. Backstory:  I have only made these white headbands for own daughter’s baby blessing, everyday ones and one for my neighbor. My neighbor had asked for the white headband for a baby gift and it was a huge hit! A while after she had given the gift I saw her at church and she asked me, “ Did I ever tell you about the headband?” I instantly thought, “Oh no, did something go wrong on it!” (Thank heavens, I kept my thoughts to myself and looking back I had to laugh at my reaction. Yikes, I assumed the worst!) She then went on to tell me that the lady L-O-V-E-D Loved It!! It was going to be a prized possession and heirloom piece. She said the lady used it for her baby’s blessing day and they want to use it again for her baptism and then they plan on incorporating it in her wedding some how! How cool is that!!!! I felt so honored that she loved the headband so much. I had never been asked to make one for someone else before so I did my neighbor’s baby gift for pretty near cost.

Current Story: I was emailed by my Mrs. W in Georgia to make a white Christening baby headband. I was thrilled that people were loving it so much and was happy to oblige. I tried to figure how much it would cost me to make it and gave her a price of $15. (I know, looking back, I should have realized there would be more time than I realized and still should have added cost to ship it, thus……this better be a steep learning curve…see, this is where I am surprised my geek/math side didn’t kick in!) By the time we emailed back and forth and I figured out exactly what she wanted, I went to work on the headband.(with only 10 days until her christening, still totally doable)  I didn’t receive payment due to president’s day(no mail service on holidays and now only 6 days until her christening). And she had forgot to send it on the Friday before the holiday and with no mail service Monday (holiday), she emailed me and said that she had MoneyGram’d it to Utah. Me, in my naïve mind, thought this was for sure some kind of scam. What was MoneyGram? To Utah huh? That doesn’t seem like a red flag at all! (You can probably hear the sarcasm here!) I finally emailed her and let her know I had no idea what this service was? Of course, and you smart readers probably already know this but, it’s a way to send money electronically and it’s in almost every Walmart or grocery store in the country. Ha Ha, apparently I am in the dark ages! I went to WalMart and received the money. Easy Peasy! By the time I had gotten this straightened out I went to mail it off (now only 4 days until baby christening and only 3 days with mail running, no mail on Sunday) right after I received the payment for the headband. This was now Wednesday afternoon and I only had until Saturday to get it there, clear to Georgia from Utah. I could mail it priority and make sure it would get there by Friday, Saturday at the latest or go first class and it would get there Saturday possibly Monday. I couldn’t take that chance!! No sense having a christening headband if you don’t use it for THE christening!! So, I mailed it Priority and spent $5.90. Yep, that’s a third of my total cost, even larger part of my profit margin. Smart huh!?! Well, the good part of this story is that my client was super happy with her christening head band and I learned a valuable business lesson when doing custom work for those that need it mailed! I need to figure in shipping costs. I really love creating one-of-a-kind headbands but, if you email me and ask for one and it needs to be mailed, it won’t be $15…..just sayin’….I learned my lesson!!