HUGE Custom Order

 

I am a part time fly tyer.  I have no aspirations to become a full time, commercial fly tyer.  I have just enough work to keep me tying flies which helps me both keep my skills sharp and learn more skills in the process.  I'm happy with running my online fly shop, helping others catch fish, and making a little money in the process.  The ladies at the post office know me by name and that feels cool.  Sometimes I get pictures of people holding fish on flies that I tied and that's pretty rewarding.  I take custom orders from time to time and those are usually pretty good pay days.  In June of this year though, I was approached by a good friend and asked if I could complete an enormous order.

The guy actually wanted a bigger order than I felt comfortable accepting.  I was able to talk him into placing a smaller order that I thought was less overwhelming.  What I agreed to was still overwhelming but less.  We settled on 20 assortments that would include 6 streamers and in a box with my logo on it.  He told me not to charge him less because of friendship but not to charge him too much either.  He said, "Just charge me whatever you would charge a stranger."  He requested 2 game changers, 2 lunch moneys, and then two more streamers of my choosing.  After we agreed on all of the details, I immediately got to work.

While I had a month and a half to complete the order, I also knew I was going to be out of town towards the end of July and didn't want to procrastinate.  In all honesty, I wanted to get it done early with the hope of impressing him a little bit.  I tied as many flies with the materials that I had on hand, then I ordered some more materials.  Then I tied some flies.  Then I ordered more.  Then I tied some flies.  Then I ordered boxes.  Then I tied some flies.

While I did enjoy the work, it was still work.  Members of my family laughed when I called it work.  They said things like, "That's not work.  You're doing what you like."  They said things like, "It's not work if you decide when and how much you work."  I also heard, "Tying flies isn't work."  My response to those claims was, "If you tied, trimmed, and glued eyes on 40 game changers, you would learn really quick that tying flies is work."  By the time I was done with the order, I had a bruise on my right pointer finger from the scissors I used, my shoulders were sore from leaning forward, and my cheeks were sore from smiling so much.  I got the order done and would do it again if asked.  After getting the flies in their boxes, I turned my attention to completing some side missions that I had considered completing if I got the order done early.