I haven’t written many business-oriented posts lately, mainly because these tend not to be popular. Many photographers, it seems, would rather read about improving their photography than their bottom line but both are important to survival—not just the number of your Instagram followers. I know that many readers of this blog and my magazine articles are aspiring professionals, so every now and then I like to present a few business-related tips that you might try for the rest of this year and in 2024.
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do— Potter Stewart
Let’s start by being honest about the cliché that say “cheaters never win.” As sophisticated 21st century individuals, our life experience sometimes tells us just the opposite is often just as true. Cheaters often win and sometimes they win big but don’t let this fact make you ignore everything that you learned from your parents or church or just plain know what’s right.
Sometimes ethical dilemmas are easy to solve, like the time a client paid me twice for the same assignment. The second check arrived several months after the first one and chances are they would never get caught their mistake if I just kept my mouth shut and cashed it.
What made it doubly interesting was that the check arrived during a time when my cash flow was tight and the extra money would have helped me pay some bills. All of these thoughts were running through my mind while I held the check in my hands knowing that no matter what excuses I made up, cashing it was stealing. I returned the check to the client along with a note explaining that it must have been sent in error.
And then something interesting happened. I originally expected the original assignment for them to be a one-shot deal but after returning the check the client continued sending me occasional small projects. I don’t know whether returning that money had anything to do with this repeat business (or maybe she just liked the photographs) but I knew one thing for sure: I could sleep at night without my conscience banging me in the head with a hammer calling me a cheater.
Something similar happened when I was writing a magazine article testing a studio lightning system. The company sent me a press release along with detailed specifications of the lights and attached to one of the documents was a check made out to me—in my name. This was trickier and I spoke to my editor about it and he said “this is just the way some companies like to do business.” But I couldn’t, in good conscience, keep the money—although I can’t speak for other reviewers who also wrote about these lights—and emailed my contact and told him I was returning the check and if he liked, he could send me a replacement check made out to Susan G. Komen and I would send it to them. He did and I did and the lights were pretty good (but not great.)
I know business ethics is a concern for many photographers because it seems to be a constant thread in questions that I’m asked about how to handle clients for assignments where mistakes were made. Look, it happens. When you make a mistake, admit it. Don’t make excuses, just tell the truth.
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