How To Charge For Mounts?

Materials, shipping,wage,shop hour, overhead, and profit percentage all need to be in your calculations of pricing a mount. If your shooting a number based off anything else you're selling yourself short and will have an expensive hobby instead of a business.

 

I did taxidermy for almost 20 years. When i quit i was charging 475 a deer head. Even then i was making about 8 bucks an hr. I wouldnt charge less then 600 a deer head. Some guys are charging 1000 a head.

 

My advice, listen to your wife - ha!

 

Here’s how much you can make! Lol just kidding. In all seriousness take Jrandall71’s advice and Always add 2 hours to every project from what you think it will take. Merry Christmas!

 

Don’t get wage and profit confused . You need to pay urself a wage of x$ and hour then your business needs to make a profit. Don’t forget the time you are dealing with the clients, not just working on the mount . Lastly don’t forget insurances , and shop materials such as business cards , advertisement, receipts, computer systems if applicable , paper towels, rubber gloves , all that needs to be added in .

 

Nobody is approaching the elephants in the room here. Do you have any taxidermy experience and how much? If you have never even produced a mount then you have several hurdles in front of you. A cost analysis is nice to do, but not at the top of your list here! OBVIOUSLY profit can be made as many here are living proof. But, most start out doing it as a hobby and building their reputation from there. Expect for it to be very labor intensive starting out and without much profit (You'll be very lucky to be making minimum wage starting out). And not that much work either. You will be part-time for at least a year or two AFTER you're established and properly trained. Then, don't forget the talent and getting better parts before you even think to open your doors to paying customers! You're not selling a product you're selling a service and building a brand. Most fail by either producing inferior quality work and/or not charging enough to make it worth their while. It takes skill and some artistic talent to produce a quality mount. And then once you get past all of these hurdles you now need to also be a good business person. It's good to see you trying to approach things correctly here from a business perspective, but I think you may be putting the cart in front of the horse! First see if you even enjoy doing this and then make sure you can learn to put out quality, commercial work. P.S. If I had a nickel for every post I've seen like this through the years and then never heard from the postee again, I'd be rich! Lol Good luck!

 

Curtis are you just now STARTING taxidermy or are you a seasoned taxidermist going into full-time business?

If you are an experienced taxidermist and you do quality work then you need to get top dollar for your taxidermy. Material and labor rates are important but you have to figure in your overhead costs into the price too. Your electricity, gas, telephone and auto insurance are not free. I can help you with those things, when you are ready, if you would like. Just PM me. Joe

 

It takes a lot of work to begin showing a profit. Shops, equipment, tools, and supplies don't grow on trees. Begin in a small way, and you can feel your way through it. You may have to "cook the books" if you are trying to convince your wife there's money in it...good luck!!!

 

Take some business classes and get the the Breakthrough Manual on taxidermy business. You could also purchase the business DVDs from Breakthrough's website. Then you can have a solid handle of what it will take and it is an INVESTMENT that will pay for it's self over and over from start to finish.

If starting a business is your goal and you have no taxidermy experience then first things first. Learn business first then taxidermy.

If you are already a taxidermist, then that's one thing out of the way. I can't overstate that you must learn how to run a business. A poor taxidermist with great business savvy will thrive. An outstanding award winning taxidermist with little business training will almost surly fail .

 

These are really wise statements! The easiest money made in taxidermy is deposits. Lots of guys take in a load work and collect deposits, spend them up, then have nothing to work with. Money management is a must!

 

...and don't quit your day job! You don't get sick leave or paid vacations and pensions when you are self-employed! I retired in 2016 and now enjoy making beer and bullet money with my taxidermy business!

 

The other elephant would be you really must enjoy what you are doing; especially with taxidermy. It can be challenging every day.

 

The statement Joey made about taking deposits is very good advice. Every year at least 1 folds in my area for this type behavior. I've had 2 try and get me to help them out because they were in over there ass.

 

This is a very good point! And to add to this scenario IF you get sick and need recovery time you will start to get behind. And then if you're OCD like me, you don't trust most others to put out the quality of work you do. Then, you're playing catch-up sometimes for years! Getting behind in this industry is one of the biggest buzz kills! You end up contributing to the negative situation with burn out and finding something else to do besides work - further complicating the problem. Disciplining one's self to stay on top of their work in this industry is one of the most difficult things IMO. And along these lines, getting at least a Short Term Disability policy can be a savior too when the income isn't coming in. I would have LTD too if I didn't get it through my wife's (work) insurance. It doesn't pay me anything, but it covers all my medical if something happened long term. Good luck!