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1.20.2013

Today: Part two

So, if you read the entry where I said I am currently a sewing instructor at a local JAF, you will also know that I am not as keen about the whole thing as you would think one would/should be (at the prospect of doing something you like - and have a talent for - all the while, getting paid for it).  Well, allow me to explain....again.

Their policy is to charge a price for the class - usually not a lot to begin with.  The instructor receives 60% of that - but that's if the class is a go....and the students show up.  If a student blows off the class, well, then the instructor receives 1/2 of the 60% they should have made.  JAF keeps the difference - lots of money for them.  JAF also regularly sells their classes at 'half off,' thereby reducing the fee the instructor would make.

Example:
$50 class at half off = $25.
60% of $25 = $15. 
Now, divide that by the number of hours (3, on average) for the class, AND the 1/2 hour extra JAF expects you to be there before the class (and something a little more afterwards, because you can never walk outta there right at the stroke of the end of class because of clean-up, non-compliant/slow working 'students', etc).
$15 / 3 = $5 per hour. 

And since JAF will run a class with one person in it, which generally has happened in my case, that's not a lot of do-re-mi. Most classes are significantly less expensive, so the general take is $4 or less per hour for a class.

$35 at 1/2 off = $17.50. 60% of  $17.50 = $10.50 / 3hr = $3.50 per hour.

Yes, if the numbers of students in a class exceed more than one, the amount earned per hour would go up, but that occurrence is fairly dismal. 

Yesterday I instructed a class with two women, which was supposed to be a class of five!  One person was a no-show, and two others cancelled well in advance "due to the flu," so it was not the moneymaker I was counting on.  Couple that with the fact that I expected to be teaching another class later in the afternoon (planned on because those were the instructions I was given two or more weeks ago), which ended up having been cancelled completely.

Today's class is part two of a skirt class which began last Sunday, for two people.  Yeah, right.

One woman didn't show / didn't call / didn't cancel, and the other showed up 25 minutes late......and NOT PREPARED!  No supplies, no clue. 

So I sat there waiting for the first 50 minutes for people to arrive, then another 1/2 hour while the lone person who finally showed up shopped, had material cut, waited in line to purchase the goods; then we faux-cut her material (because it hadn't been pre-rinsed/-shrunk for cutting). 

Didn't get out of there on time because I felt compelled to impress on her the things she would have learned had everything happened the correct way.  Here's the math:
$55 / half price class sale = $27.50.
60% of $27.50 = $16.50
$16.50 / 5.5hrs (4hr class + extra wasted time before and after scheduled class time) = $3 per hour.

I know, I know...I'm looking the big ol' gift horse in the mouth.  The only bright spot at the moment is that the samples are all made, otherwise I would be out of pocket (WITHOUT reimbursement) to make the items used for display in the store (to advertise the classes and drum up business).

[sigh]
[deep breath]

Forty-six days (give or take a few) until notification is received that PQ1 is in the AQS 2013 'running.'

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