Italian Family Reunion Gig

I just got a paid gig! Im excited, and its THIS saturday! I have been practicing fun things with all my new split cakes- thanks for all the inspiration. The lady asked me to practice up on the Italian flag and the Italian Horn designs for their reunion. I was curious to see if anyone has had any requests like that, or any ideas for inspiration and good designs? Later on today Ill post a few pictures of things I have been working on. Thanks to a google search.
If you have even had a request like this, (or even take them) do you end up painting what they requested? Or do you paint the normal bundle of butterflies, eye masks, rainbows, cars and such?

Organizers always seem to like theme related designs - and participants rarely go for them for me - adults more than children do though.

this was off a tattoo design i googled


i just like fireworks. this new glitter is awesome! its from the forumshop

whoa, thoes images turned out huge! im sorry. the flag i painted lefthanded which I thought turned out great! it was funny, I had to stick my toungue out to paint on that one to feel balanced. lol

LOL! I know what you mean

I think they both turned out really well and the fireworks and glitter just adds to the celebration of them - good work!

Have a great time on the weekend!

Those are pretty cool designs. I especially like the first one, looks so glitzy

Both are really cool! It's been my experience that what Noella said was true. I done an Easter Bunny birthday party, the mom said she wanted a cute bunny design for her daughter to wear and some options for the other party goers. When I got there the birthday girl chose the simplest eye design I had, go figure! And only 2 of the other girls wanted Easter themed designs. A better alternative might be to have some fun options in the regular designs just in the flag colors. The masks that Marcella is doing on FABATV are awesome! They would be super cute in those colors. Good luck and have fun!!!

ooOoo I have to say. Im glad its over!
I painted for about 2.5 hrs, and enjoyed it. I did a few Italian designs but not many. It went ok till the end- the man that hired me turend out to be a lawyer and was intent on proving a point. "If Im running a business I need to be prepared" I agree, but I am new at this and stated that several times! How am I sopposed to know everything that goes on and have it all right before I start painting? I just turned to being paid for things! ARGH
I normally work a gig, then accept whatever they want to pay me at the end, or work for tips, or volunteer for goodness sakes. I dont have the head for all this paperwork.
He was somewhat nice about it but made me feel completly stupid. He went on about contracts, deposites, receipts and proof of showing up and being paid. I mean, I had started thinking about these things since I saw some postings on here about it, but defintly didnt have anything to offer. I was almost in tears when I left.
Who do I go to, to write up a contract for services or something? How did you tackle this venture? Did you need to? He has got me scared to say YES to anyone anymore.
I feel like I need to shut down my website and call it quits. Stick to volunteering or just painting for people I know.
Its not what I want to do, but I know I wont be able to handle writing the fancy things, and I will struggle with the paperwork/receipt contract part

venting a bit. thanks

Don't let him get to you! Contracts are for your benefit as much as theirs, but it sounds like he was trying to get you to hire him to write up your contracts. He also is a laywer so he is covering himself by wanting some proof that you were paid so you can't come back and sue him for non-payment. He's a lawyer. . .they have a tendancy to see the worst in people. So don't take it personally.

Someone on here posted a copy of one of their contacts. . .I think you can find it with the search function by searching contracts. Then try to tailor it to your needs. You can always post it back on the forum for some suggestions

Deposits are helpful for you, so you can buy supplies ahead of time, but not a requirement if you don't need it. If you have people that cancel on you at the last minute, a non-refundable deposit would be a bonus for doing nothing.

The bottom line is, did you have fun painting? Did the people enjoy it? Most of all, did he pay you?? My guess is that he did, he just wanted to let you know that since there was no contract, or any proof that you were there (aside from all the happily painted people) that he didn't have to.

This one jerk should not stop you from painting if it is what you love! Just look out for yourself, so someone doesn't give you a dollar for working 3 hours

I don't think most people will freak out if there isn't a contract, deposit, or receipt. It's not like they can usually write face painting off on their taxes

What a jerk!!!
You will build your business in your own time...Dont panic and tick off one thing at a time..This is suppose to be a job you love,, dont let old smarty pants pull you down..HUGS!

Sorry he made you feel uncomfortable. Just take a breath and take a little time to get some things in order. You paint beautifully and are worthy of good pay for sure. Just get your contract, prices and everything down and be confident and ready 4 your next paying job cause it is coming. I am not as prepared as I should be either as far as the contract thing so, I am really going to jump in on that this week too.
Loved your Italian designs by the way.

Thanks.
Maybe Ill rethink it slowly this time and not have another sleepless night. this guy had me freaked, then my actuary SO agreed with the lawyer man. argh
i told him off this morning that if he wanted me to have them then HE can figure out how to write them and get them printed and filed! i want to use my profits for paint! I made $62 yesterday and im getting more splitz and a few more big colids- thoes things are soo much better to work with then the plastic palattes. I was 11-2 so not to bad at all I think. COnsidering how many people I painted. PLUS I did some great new designs with the rainbows cakes, awesome practice. and my roses, thoes roses ar e ahuge hit!

thanks for reassuring me and talking a bit about contracts, ill do the search and see what I can come up with. i was thinking about the first hour is non refundable deposite anyways so I might just make it happen. then to tackle the wording on my website to state as much.
thanks again

PM me your email and I will send you some blank stuff to modify for your own use.

What a jerk! Seems like he was just trying to justify all the time he spent in law school-but in some ways he is right. If you want to run a business, then you need to have business documents.

-Metina

Sorry he was so rude to you, but at the same time, he has a very valid point and was probably trying to help you but came off as blunt. We're a very supportive forum and tend towards the coddling end of encouragement rather than blunt, here. =) There are so many resources available on this forum, for free! Use your profit on paint, but don't neglect to build the structure of your business - that's whats going to keep people hiring you and keep your splits coming!

I'm not trying to be mean, just give you some food for thought on why I don't think the lawyer was completely off-base. Even if he was grumpy about the information he presented, you're pretty fortunate that he took the time to share his expertise with you in the attempt to help. Not all clients will do that, most will just turn around tell everyone they know not to hire you again - even if it's over something you considered trivial.

Perhaps you did not come across as "prepared" despite your insistence that you're new to this? Of course you can't anticipate everything, but part of being prepared is making reasonable assumptions about situations and learning from the experiences you've had. If you're expecting payment, regardless of how you choose to go about it (tips versus hourly vs volunteer), you are presenting yourself as a professional. Professional doesn't mean "awesomely amazing face painter," (though your designs are very cool!) it just means "charging for your services." For someone who hired you, you're representing THEM as much as your own business. Your designs, and more importantly, your preparedness reflect on your client, in this case, the lawyer.

Keep up the good work! I look forward to seeing more of your designs!

I'm glad you had a good time (until the end bit.) It sounds like the paint-ees enjoyed it too

When I had my "sunny the clown" business I was registered as a small business and had business cards, but never had a need for deposits (no one ever cancelled last minute) or used contracts - I just gave out signed receipts after payments. (They were carbon receipts so I kept a copy too.)

Since being back and starting up face painting again and being on this site, I'm realizing that maybe things have changed since the 'old days' and that I need to start looking into contracts, deposits etc too... something I find rather imposing - I hate paperwork

As someone mentioned above, there could be some good links/info on contracts on here and/or maybe google will bring up some ideas. I'll let you know if I find any.

I know I don't have to start charging tax until (if) I ever make more than $30,000 and don't need to register as a business until then (I checked with the business bureau)