This workshop was incredibly helpful. I have been selling products for quite a while now, but always have to do lots of “back of a fag packet” calculations every time I work out my pricing. If I’m honest I often have an uneasy feeling that I am not charging the right amount for some of them, or that I am not tracking my profit margins properly. I wanted to understand my pricing properly and thought I’d try out Sara-Jayne’s workshop because I know she works with small businesses and people who make their own products as well as bigger businesses.

The workshop was brilliant! She went through all kinds of concepts but in a way that I could really understand and didn’t make me feel foolish for the bits that I didn’t quite grasp at first. We walked through some pricing psychology that I can definitely use on my website, and looked at some different ways to calculate costs when you sell on lots of different platforms. There was definitely something in there for all the scenarios I was worrying about.

Best of all, she provided me with a spreadsheet that was already set up for me to do calculations from so that I can go away after the workshop and enter my products in. We entered one product during the workshop itself so I was able to check that it would work for me and I have set aside some time to put the others in. It has taken such a lot of work off my plate having the spreadsheet set up exactly the right way for a business like mine that makes things for different audiences.

The two biggest takeaways that I got from the workshop is that I am not respecting my time properly and need to make sure that I am factoring that in more to my pricing, and that I shouldn’t be afraid of looking at my product figures, because if I find out something that I don’t like in them, I should be working out what to change, because they are not serving me well.

Highly recommended if you are a bit overwhelmed by the idea of investigating your pricing and want someone who is expert and experienced to walk through the process with you and provide you with tools to do the rest.

Most of all, recommended if you want help from someone who passionately cares about you making a good living from the thing that you do, and wants you to succeed.

I worked with Sara-Jayne for several months on a project for a charity, and I was extremely impressed both by her technical skills, and by her ability to understand the issues behind a question. Several times, I asked her if A or B might be possible, and I always received really helpful, insightful responses, which often went beyond the original question and showed deep understanding of what was actually needed. I have absolutely no reservations in recommending Sara-Jayne – she is brilliant.

Amethyst Racoon has brought clarity and responsiveness to the financial workings of New Mills Festival. We can now see the current state of each project and event within the Festival as well as overall figures. Additionally by having immediate access and understanding of all our figures when she attends meetings Sara-Jayne is able to directly respond to any queries that arise on whatever aspect of our finances.

For the project that I was directly responsible for she ensured that it came in on budget and was able to follow through on all grant requirements, etc. Beyond that she is personally interested in how the various events are doing and can contribute informed suggestions on how to proceed.

I would happily recommend her services to any arts organisation or individual trader.

A huge thank you for the bookkeeping spreadsheet! It’s amazing! Made my end of month mad rush to do the books so so so much easier! Absolutely love it thank you so so much!

Positive: Professionalism, Responsiveness
When you worked with us I saw our organisation become more professional, efficient and effective. It was really great being walked through my technical problems. So helpful and patient.