The almighty internet and world of social networking. It can either be a thorn in your side or one of the most powerful tools for small business people. Today, it is the latter for me. This morning I was up before the rest of my house, came downstairs to get started on some e-mail and up pops an article from one of my favorite vendors, Design Aglow. I was barely awake and hadn’t even had my beloved coffee yet, but this article was enough to clear my head and jump start my day.
As a creative, photographer, mentor and small business owner this article by Sean Low resonated with me on so many levels. It’s a struggle that we all face as photographers – putting a dollar sign on our own work. Counter that with the 14 photographers that are right up the road from you who pretty much shoot exactly what you do with exactly the same gear and the struggle deepens. Throw in a few new photographers that are knocking down your door to find out exactly what you do to make your images look “magical” and you’ve got a recipe for an overly saturated market with photographers charging anywhere from $100 – $1000+ to pretty much shoot the same thing. So where does that leave our clients? Confused, at best. They are confused as to why one photographer charges pennies and the other charges thousands for virtually the same service. And especially confused because everyone’s work looks pretty much the same.
“You are swimming in a boundless ocean … Time, stuff, things are not part of your boundless ocean, only your creativity and the process of translating your client’s vision beyond what they themselves could ever imagine for themselves.”
And let’s face it, we all need to start somewhere. We’ve all shot for free, taken charity shoots, or grabbed the nearest family to build our portfolio. We’ve all watched other photographers that we admire closely with hawklike vision. Taking meticulous notes on posing, lighting, editing. I was there as well. But I wasn’t there for long … at all. And you shouldn’t be either. The moment you decide to become a “photographer”, it is less about the tools between your hands and more about the tools in your heart and in your head. And that is worth something. I’ve had – what I thought to be – potential clients laugh at me when I told them my price for a wedding, senior or portrait shoot. And I do mean laugh. And one that I remember specifically even followed up with why would I ever pay you that much to take a few pictures? I also remember my response to her (before I politely excused myself from the conversation) were because I’m worth it.
“When you force yourself to push beyond the boundaries of what you think you are worth, you also force yourself to define all that is valuable about you, your art and creative business on a deeper more connected level. You can then become more and more unapologetic for doing what you do, how you do it and for what price. The haters will never show up. More important, neither will the take it or leave its. And this is the thing about all creative businesses – it is never about price.”
“What I am talking about here is absolutely not about greed. It is about demanding to be acknowledged for the art you are about to create, earning what is necessary for you to feel good about it. Moreover, it is about defining you, your art and your creative business for those that care the most. When you live there, you live in the possible. I, for one, would rather see where that takes me than where “an authentic reproduction” does.”
So this is the point in this blog post when I ask you to ask yourself, what are YOU worth? Take time to look at who you are as an artist, a business person, an individual. Don’t just grab some gear and slap on a price tag. Evaluate what you have to offer to your clients as a whole, the heart and soul you pour into your work and what you’re worth.
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