Typically April 15th of each year is Tax Day, the day when individual income tax returns are due to the federal government. With the help of my new tax preparer, I filed electronically in February but I know, at least, one of my friends will be going down to the main post office before midnight on April 14 to mail his tax return. So it’s appropriate that today’s topic, instead of cars, is about making money.
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. –Benjamin FranklinThe only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets. –Will Rogers
If there is any secret to any successful professional photography enterprise, it’s establishing practices that protect your cash flow and help your operation grow. What follows are a few suggestions that may help insure your profitability no matter what kind of photography you do. Some of you may already are doing some of what I’ve listed below and if that’s the case, please look at them as a reminder. Others, who may not be doing any of what these suggestions offer, might just think about them to see if they can help. It’s your choice.
here are a few ideas
#1. Adopt a pricing/packaging policy to ensures you make money. While this may seem obvious, too often new photographers set prices that are based on what their competitors charge without analyzing what their own overhead and out-of-pocket costs may be. Your competition may be subsidized by a spouse or trust fund and you may not be.
#2. People sometimes ask me when and how much they should raise their rates. I always tell them as they gain more experience and deliver a higher quality product to their clients they should gradually and slowly raise prices until they get the slightest price resistance… then stop.*
#3. Following up on #2: Much of your work will come by telephone or email, that’s why it’s important to maintain an up-to-date Rate Sheet and Schedule of Costs that you can quote to potential clients. It’s a good idea to keep your studio’s forms and product information in a binder or a tablet so you can quickly quote rates to potential clients.
#4. Here’s one rule you should never forget: Every exception you make to any of your policies costs you money. When someone tells you “give me a deal on this shoot, and I’ll throw a lot of work to you in the future,” don’t do it because it has been my long, sad experience that future day never comes.
#5. Never begin any assignment without a written agreement specifying what you’re going to do and what the client is going to do, especially the method and timeliness of payment.
#6. Get advance payments for work involving on-location photography. Ask for a 50% advance on or before the day of the shoot. I think wedding photographers should collect 100% of the amount before the big day. Once the loving couple returns home from their honeymoon, they’re broke.
#8. Don’t sign an agreement with anyone other than the party for whom the work is being done unless you can bill that party directly.
#9. Some photographic consultants will tell you that it’s OK to wait 120 days to get paid but my bank disagrees. If you’re willing to live with that kind of payment schedule, so be it but in that case you should be charging a high enough day or hourly rate to cover the time value of the money you’re losing while waiting for the check to arrive.
#9. Be original; don’t be like everybody else. Any imitation reduces your photographic services to a commodity and all commodity purchases are based on price only. Every photographer is different and it’s important we express this difference to potential clients.
*I recognize that in the “everything is free” world we live in that for some people any price over $0.01 is too expensive. And no matter what you say to explain how you have to make a living, it doesn’t matter to them.
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If you’re interested in learning how I shoot portraits and use cameras, lenses and lighting in my in-home studio and on location, you can pick up a copy of Studio Lighting Anywhere that’s available used from Amazon.com starting around nine bucks, as I write this. The Kindle version is $19.99, if you prefer a digital format format.