04/07/2025
Long post but I would appreciate everyone take a few minutes and read it please.
I wanted to reach out to everyone and bring up something that’s been on my mind lately.
Starting in 2024 I decided to change up how I will mount, and how payments are done. I’ve told all clients since the start of 2024, no deposit required but you’re welcome to leave one if you like. Some do, some don’t. When I’m ready to mount their trophy, I will contact them and require 100% payment before work begins. Once the payment is received I promise to have it finished and ready for pickup within 45 days or less (normally less). Then, if times are tough, or for whatever reason the client doesn’t have the funds for their taxidermy bill at the time, that’s no problem. I can simply wait a month or so and try again then. It protects them from having to worry about a debt and definitely protects me because if they don’t have the money at the time, I haven’t mounted it yet, (and don’t want to), and haven’t put much time into it so it’s no problem to wait till a better time.
I didn’t want to do this to customers prior to 2024 because I hadn’t discussed it with them first. In the past I’ve always just contacted people that are up on the listing to be mounted and gave them the heads up that I’m ready to start it if they are ready for the mount. Then I let them know, if I go ahead and get started on it, it will be finished and ready for pickup and payment in 2-3 weeks. That gave folks the opportunity to have me wait a month or so in case that current time is tough for them, having an extra bill and all. Basically I was just touching base and trying to stay within good communication. A handful of times folks asked me to wait, and I seriously appreciated it if that’s what they needed. 99% of folks tell me to go ahead and do it, but many times I still find myself waiting weeks or months to get paid for the work and get it picked up. So my plan of contacting them ahead of time doesn’t always prevent any hiccups. In the past I also did collect deposits. But it wasn’t near enough to cover labor and materials if it didn’t get picked up when finished.
As of right now, I’m currently sitting on about 160 hours of work that I have yet to be paid for. That’s just labor and doesn’t include approximately $1000 worth of materials. And those materials don’t include operating costs like electricity, insurance and all that good stuff. That makes it very difficult to move on to the next person in line and get their stuff done for them. One piece in particular in my shop is a beautiful piece. This month makes one year it’s been finished and ready for pickup and payment. Customer knows it, yet has never made an attempt to pick it up or pay for it and hasn’t even seen it in person. And I was contacted multiple times asking for it to be done 🤷🏻♂️.
There are lots of people that are ready. Really ready. And I could have done their stuff for them if I had known the outcome ahead of time.
Many times when something is finished and I call a client to set up a time to meet, I get asked to send pictures of their finished mount to them. Many times I sent the pics. I heard rumor of a client saying it was cheaper to look at the picture and show his friends than it was to pick up and pay for the mount. So I will not be sending any more pictures of completed pieces without it’s paid in full. Once paid I can send lots of pictures if desired.
A lot of folks really want me to go full-time, and I really want that too, but it’s just not possible the way things are going currently, without making some changes. I’ve discussed this with other taxidermists and learned that this pre pay method works for everyone. So, I’m going to give it a try. And after reevaluating my current situation, I’ve decided to begin this method immediately. Even with prior 2024 work. I don’t suppose it matters in the end if it was pre discussed or not really. If a person is ready and has the money, great. If not that’s fine too. No harm whatever because I won’t have invested any major time in it yet.
If this doesn’t work for you, be sure to reach out to me and we will see if we can come up with a better solution for you. I understand situations come up and financial stumbling blocks happen. They happen to me all the time. That’s another reason I think this method will be better for everyone.
Thanks for the understanding and hopefully this helps everyone. Including helping improve my turnaround time even more.
Love you all, appreciate you all.
Jason
