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Hey, it’s Jenessa.

In today’s issue:

• Deep Dive: Pricing Your Work as a Freelance Jeweler: The Formula No One Taught You…

•DEEP DIVE

Set Your Rates (No Complex Math Required)…

This article is for all the bench jewelers who feel stuck at a pay ceiling working a 9–5—and already have a solid home studio set up.

What if you could raise your hourly rate, skip the shop politics, and work from your own studio on your own schedule?

Freelance bench work makes that possible.

Welcome to part one of my series on booking freelance jewelry work—and we're starting things off with the question everyone wants answered:

How the heck do you price yourself?

Here’s The Easy Way to Price Your Bench Work—No Second-Guessing Needed…

Pricing yourself can be tough because a lot goes into it.

On the one hand, you must consider the financial realities of running your own business.

What must you earn monthly to cover your rent, mortgage, and expenses and live a satisfying life?

One way to figure that out is by adding up your monthly expenses, dividing by the number of hours you want to work, and using that number as your base hourly rate.

But there's another way to approach pricing—by aligning your rate with the store's shop rate.

What does that mean, you ask?!

Every custom fine jewelry shop I've worked with has a baseline shop rate—a flat hourly rate they charge clients to keep jobs profitable.

Twenty years ago, when I was designing and pricing jobs at one of the largest custom studios in the country, the shop rate was around $150/hour.

Today, with inflation and rising costs, many custom fine jewelry shops start at $175–$200/hour.

That number increases depending on complexity:

All of those justify a higher shop rate—sometimes up to $300/hour or more.

Here's the sneaky secret you should know before walking into a jewelry store looking for freelance work…

Either ask the store their shop rate or use the industry average because, as a freelancer, you aim to price your work at 30–50% of that rate—depending on your skill level.

This 30-50% pricing structure works well for both parties because, as the freelancer, you assume all the risk and cover your own overhead—while the store saves the cost and hassle of managing another employee.

Here's an easy way to explain your rate when you are speaking to a shop owner you'd like to freelance for:

It's a professional, straightforward pricing strategy that's easy for stores to understand—and it positions you as both a skilled craftsperson and a smart business partner.

Here is a quick breakdown of the pricing for you to use as a cheat sheet:

💎 Freelance Bench Jeweler Pricing Guide

I hope this helps you price your work confidently!

If you have any questions about booking freelance work, just hit reply, and I'll answer them in a future issue.

Until next time, let’s continue creating jewelry people can’t live without!