Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Anger as Inspiration

Raya showing her work in France

When my client told me that they had received the purchase order for an image of mine, I started counting the money. Imagine my surprise when I got the order and they had cut the price by 40%. Their reason? The customer didn't have the budget for the price I had quoted. We renegotiated the price. I got more than the PO, but less than I quoted. Does that make it a win-win? Not to me. I feel like I have been taken advantage of. I will remember this the next time. The challenge for me is structuring a deal so that this can't happen.

I am angry. Anger is a well known motivator, and today I am painting. Very loose colorful abstracts. Not angry colors, but bold, bright and happy.

Raya is coming to visit today. She was at the residency in France. A very prolific, very talented artist, her work is sold worldwide. We have been friends for many years, yet she's never been to Dallas, so this will be a treat.

2 comments:

Annette Bush said...

Kind of like asking for a Beamer for a tiny Toyota price! why do people think that? Is it because it's just art and we can do it again?!! Definitely not a win-win. Big hugs to you and Raya. Do something wonderful and gossip about the rest of us. A

Bee Skelton said...

Sorry if you feel I'm butting in, I just felt I had to comment. I too would be hopping mad if some body had done that to me. If I've understood correctly, sounds as if when you insisted on re-negotiating they merely reduced their commission a little to give you more of what you wanted. They had no right to do the deal without checking with you first. Obviously it depends on your relationship with these people, but it could have been one of those times when 'no deal' would have been the way to go. Some times I've found you have to know when to say no. OK you may have lost this particular deal, but you would get their respect. They would then have had to go back to the customer and get themselves out from under. They certainly wouldn't be doing that to you again in a hurry.