For some of you full timers. How long did you do taxidermy work in your kitchen/basement/one car garage before you got enough business to go full time and make a living at it? I know it depends on how many taxidermist are in your area and what kind of salary you are willing to make it on. How many deer,turkey,fish and all the other stuff does an avg. taxidermist get in in a season? I am wanting to go full time and am just curious to see what you all went through. Thanks.
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dont save your real job if you have one ive been 9 yrs ft have a large studio gross 150k a yr but only net 20k with no bennys the choice is yours if you are not concerned about the money then do it i love my job i love being my own boss but im not getting rich ive tried alot of differnt angles to improve my situation just all ends up bout the same i do have a commerical facilaty and a couple of employees i could probally work at home do half the work and make more profit i know this now but still unless you can come up with somthing pretty special i dont see anyway to knock down big middle class wages in the game good luck
150k gross and only 20k net...thats ugly.
Too many variables to really TELL you yes or no. I have posted stuff like that in other posts, but Im starting to learn that it really varies from one area to another. I see some really successful studios, some that dont do anything more then clean commercial work. Others have some financial backing in the form of a wife and second job income. Some go like a bat out of hell and barely make it. Im full time, but you dont wanna copy what I do, trust me. In my area its hard the way I chose to do it. I always suggest trying to work your job and keep the benefits, so if for no other reason then you have options with taxidermy and what it needs to pay you.
I have a great little taxidermy business for sale in northern B.C. Canada. If you are interested, email me for more info. I am ready to retire after 35 years.
#1. When you are the HIGHEST priced taxidermist in your area, by a good margin AND you still have to turn down work.
#2. When your part time business is taking over 40 hours a week and you KNOW exactly(to the penny!)that it cost for each of those 40+ hours. That's ALL your expenses and potential expenses.
#3. When you are paying yourself AT LEAST twice the wage(per hour) that you make at your regular job, AND there is still money left over(profit).
If you can't answer ALL three of those questions POSITIVELY, you aren't ready to make the jump. The number of deer, turkey, etc. is meaningless if you you aren't making your expenses, wages and a profit. Because if you don't at this point, you never will! Especially if you expect to move out of your current shop situation and into a commercial setting.
MAKE THAT DECISION. DONT WORRY WHAT THE OTHER GUYS ARE DOING. YOU KNOW IF YOU ARE MAKING ENOUGH MONEY TO LEAVE YOUR FULL TIME JOB. JUST DONT FORGET ABOUT ALL YOUR EXPENSES INCLUDING MEDICAL, RETIREMENT AND COLLEGE IF YOU HAVE KIDS. BEING IN BUSINESS FOR YOURSELF IS MUCH DIFFERENT THAN WORKING FOR SOMEONE. PAID VACATIONS, SICK DAYS, AND THE ECONOMY!
BEST OF LUCK ON WHAT EVER YOU DECIDE!
I'm in the same boat. What I am doing, is putting the 40 hr. pay check from my full time job in a seperate account. I DO'NT spend that money at all. If I can keep doing that for one full year I will start doing taxidermy full time.
I also have the luxury of turning work away. I take in what I want to do, and have time for. If you feel compfortable with your work, and have the clients on your door step. I'ts time to make a desision.
Todd, If you go to the search button and enter "full time" you will probably find lots of comments on this subject. I just had my tax forms done and had my biggest year ever. I am in my 9th year full time and will pay taxes on $#@,^%*.00 this year----the actual amount is just too embarasing to put here. I work pretty hard and take very little time off- I am turning mounts around now at just short of 1 year and sometimes a bit over that. I am behind. I charge at the top end of taxidermy in my area and I do a little retail in my shop as well but then I never got into this for the money, and that's a good thing. I love what I do and hated my past life in the working world. I have no regreats about leaving my pretty decent job with good benefits-I only miss the money and those benefits. There are a lot of smart people doing taxidermy and some do pretty well but it's a rare few who make the real money at this. As for how many mounts you need for full time it depends on your prices and the quality of your work. I personaly can't see going the big volumn way-I'd rather charge more and do fewer so numbers become less important. Most taxidermists price their work too low and end up not doing much better than minimum wage or worse. I hired a plumber a while back and he charged $75 an hour plus materials-he understands what it takes to stay in his game. If you love it and have someone to back you up and are willing to work at it maybe it's the thing to do. Best wishes, Aaron H.
Yep I can see it. There alot of taxidermists in my area. It is divived buy the part timers and full timers. I am full time but am making peanuts shells. I have no other income. Being disabled stinks. My first year 41 customers turned $5 g's my way but I know I spent more trying to advertise and mount quality work. So I I will just do it cause it is or can be challenging.
i cannot believe the comments i'm hearing. i have been self employed for the last 8 years. just started doing taxidermy as a hobby and from what i calculate you have roughly 25% in materials the rest is labor so in my mind i'm making a 75% profit on any animal i do. thats un heard of in normal business practice. granted you have to have the work to go full time but if you take the example of charging $250.00 per deer you have $50.00 in materials and the rest is profit now i dont know ant taxidermist that is full time that does'nt do at least 100 deer per year thats $20,000.00 just doing deer and if you work at it you can do that in 3 months. do something else the next 3 months make another $20,000.00 and you have made $40,000.00 in 6 months where else are you going work to bust your but and make $40,00.00 in 6 months. the money is there if you have the work good luck because i plan to do this full time starting this fall and i know it will be a success.