Changes in the industry

Well, it's been 3 years since we transitioned from part to full time freelancers. The industry is changing and too many people think great photos should be had at dirt cheap prices.

We've learned, and we know what we need to change.

From here on out, when people insult us by asking if we can meet rock bottom, dirt cheap, pricing charged by point and shoot amateurs, we will suggest however politely that the buyer buys the cheaper imagery.

If that's all they can afford, they aren't the right client for us.

If that's all they think our professional photography is worth, they still aren't the right client for us.

You wouldn't walk into a 5 star restaurant, inspect the menu, and insult the owner and chef by claiming you can get a decent steak down the street for half the price. And you wouldn't get a great steak with same quality service down the street anyway.

Shop where you want, but don't insult the business professional by insisting their work is worth the same as some amateur who is making extra change along side their real business.

For us, this means some big changes to our business plan. If you can't afford to pay for professional work, call your high school aged nephew and have them do it for free.

Don't ask us for free work and then brag about your business successes.

motivation

THE DAILY MOTIVATOR
Thursday, November 5, 2009

Committed to make it work
+++++++++++++++++++

Do you hesitate to take action because you're not sure if
you'll be effective? Remember that achievement is built on
efforts that work as well as efforts that don't work.

Some of your individual efforts may not bring the desired
results. Yet when you are committed to keep doing whatever
is necessary, you are sure to find a way.

The important thing is to focus on the goal, and put your
energy into doing your best to reach that goal. Accept that
you may not get the result you desire, then step forward
anyway, and do everything within your power to achieve that
result.

At the very least, you'll gain valuable experience. And with
enough experience, you'll eventually be able to get it
right.

It's true that there are no guarantees. After all, if it
were a sure thing, someone else, far less capable than you,
would have already claimed the prize.

Go ahead and make the effort. It will work when you're
committed to make it work.

Ralph Marston

............................................................................
This is the Daily Motivator email edition.
Copyright (C) 2009 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All rights reserved.
Visit The Daily Motivator web site at http://greatday.com for an archive
of more than 3,000 daily messages, inspirational photos and more.

Lunching alone

Ok - I am a freelance business professional with 12 years invested in both contract and freelance work. I am also a photographer. And I work alone a lot of the time.
Recently, I've come to need to get out of the house. I need to just pack up and go. Thus, there are days when no matter what, I eat alone while I work.

Some still stare at the woman eating alone. I wear my wedding ring always. I'm not trying to meet anyone. I don't want to be a hanger outer in the local dive.

I'm sitting here eating a not so good salad. The chicken is chopped up into little itsy bitsy pieces and the iceburg lettuce is boring. But I needed food and I needed to get away from the house.

So here I sit and some bar fly is seated at the counter. He's already loud enough I hear every word he speaks. As I felt his gaze, I looked up and he gave me that smile....that questioning " are you available" smile. Dammit, I came here to be away but to also be alone. Clearly he is a well liked regular. But still....
I didn't plan on this kind of distraction.

When is alone isolating? Because I'm not isolating. I am just alone today. And that does not mean lonely. I could have gone to a more expensive lunch spot....but this has a nice view of the river.
Hmph.

From Hobby to Profession

Photography as a business brings on all kinds of different avenues. I so admire my friend Mary Miller. She's doing a great job of marketing. She shoots all different kinds of images, from the scenic to high school portraits to weddings and events. And she is so excited to do this.

We are building our business slowly. It's fun but it's challenging. I know my limits. To shoot sports photography or wildlife photography, you really need large glass. You need a 500 mm fast lense in order to really capture the moments. And I don't want to haul that kind of glass around.

You need to get up before sunrise to capture the best shots of the day. I can get much better scenes by doing a sunrise, when the air is still and the day barely born. In summer, that often means rising at 2 AM to get to our destination.

How to market your new business? Well, first get a copy of the Photographer's Market. This invaluable guide shares the ins and outs of selling your art. But it's not enough. You can submit, submit, submit. Not knowing the person who receives your email submittal, you risk losing the opportunity because the art director has a strong junk filter. Now that sucks, doesn't it.

I recommend using a variety of means to promote yourself. Social networking online is but one part of this. In our high tech / high touch world, there is still nothing like networking. Personal networking is what I mean. Most of our business has come from word of OUR mouths. People whom we meet pretty quickly learn that we are photographers. When they think of needing photography for their web sites, they remember our team. They come to us. And it was not necessarily within a month of our first meeting. We gave them a business card and sometimes 2 years later, they need our help.

Placing ads can work, but you really need to know your lighting to do serious indoor work. So be careful what you advertise. Build a catalog of images. Show everyone your work, but make some prints, cards, or calendars, and take them to stores. A friend suggested creating a calendar and selling an entire rack to stores. Let them buy the full rack and then resell. Sell prints. Sell Cards.
Sell Calendars. Sell varied sizes or styles. Talk to local restaurateurs and see about a show in their store.

We have friends who like to work the art fair circuit. We don't, but that is a time constraint we do not have right now. Some day, we may enjoy working every weekend away from home, but right now it sounds like too much work.

Whatever you do, the one thing we always have to remember is we got into this for fun, creative outlets and we are not going to win unless we retain the fun.

I love photography

We shot a 75th birthday extravaganza last weekend. It was so much fun to do this. What was best was helping my dear friend celebrate her birthday. I loved chatting with her family, meeting her extended family and looking to capture those special moments. Working the room as a team with my partner, husband, best friend, and co conspirator, we made the event fun.
Some partygoers got it: We loved doing what we were doing and that was the party for us.
Others wanted us to stop working and start playing, but we were playing the whole time.

I toasted Nancy Tsu with a loving mention of how dear she is to me. The images will be on our website tomorrow. Take a look: www.ramblinlamb.com

What I think is the best part of the party was the family ambiance. This event gathered friends and family together for the first time in maybe 10 years. We were honored to be a part of it.

TurboTax Live Community

TurboTax Live Community

Finally, the answer to a question I've pondered for the past year. How can they know whether i'm living on profits or savings.....RIGHT ON

You can click the link, but my query was about how long a business can remain unprofitable, especially when you are living on something. You just have to prove that what you are living on is not income or profits from the business....duh!

Turbo Tax answered as follows:
"You can claim a loss in 2008 but claiming a business loss is always an audit risk be sure to have all the receipts for the expenses you are claiming and business logs for auto and other business activities. Also be able to show the IRS where the money is coming from to live on. Money that is used for living expenses may be considered income by the IRS if you can not show the source was from loans, savings or gifts from family"

ramblin on

it seems to me that all these social networking sites should be more productive. I can waste hours on facebook. I can browse all kinds of groups on LinkedIn. And if I read all my friends blogs, the day would go away.

What I really want to know is what is my next step. What do I really need to do to make it happen. Do I waste time chasing down jobs that seem self defeating or Do I focus on freelance writing gigs where I can at least have more fun if not more money?

I can't read the stock market these days. I can't sit around and resent decisions other people made about me! It does nothing.

So I can focus on what to do to grow and improve. With a job search pending, i feel like an idiot. My fear of yet more education is that I'll spend money on nothing. Maybe I can teach myself, but then how do I sell that?

I have faith in a power greater than me...but that power needs to step up to the plate and help me now. Not next year. NOW.