UGH. Totally rethinking my pricing. Is it too complicated? Too much? Am I giving away the farm? Am I paying myself a living wage? Do I want less clients? Less work per client? What exactly is my goal here? I came accross an Instragram account yesterday that spoke to me in a way that I really needed to hear.
“From [sic] Driven business owners like you are going to seek out a lot of education and that’s a good thing. It’s good to learn from people who have been in business longer. They have so much wisdom to impart. But there’s 3 things to remember as you sign up for courses, download PDFs and listen to 1,000 podcasts while you edit:
1. Good educators will let you learn from their mistakes. They will tell you exactly what worked for them and what failed. BUT. If someone ever teaches you a concept and says that it is the absolute only way of doing something, RUN.
Pepsi and Coke, Wal-Mart and Target, you and other photographers are technically all selling the same thing. But wildly successful businesses are wildly different from their competitors. There is never just one way of doing something. Your job as a business owner is to develop a strong filter, an inner knowing that constantly asks the question, “Is this for me?”
2. We all want answers. It would be so nice to have a formula for exactly what works. But that’s kind-of the magic of running a business. We all do things a little differently and it’s all a bit of an experiment. What makes you different from other photographers is your instinct. Just because something works for someone else doesn’t mean it’s for you. You followed your instinct enough to start this business. Trust it enough to let it lead your decisions too.
3. You probably look up to a lot of people in this industry. But don’t let their life define your success. You need to be able to set your own goal, define what success means TO YOU, and then learn from the photographers you admire. Take their experience, see what applies to you and what needs to be tweaked to fit your clients, your ideals, and your life. You don’t want their life so stop modeling your entire business after what they are doing.”
- Rachel Greiman, @greenchairstories
Oh. My. Glob. For the first time since starting to research my local competition and best practices in terms of website SEO and all that goes into being a proper small business*, I finally found some advice that speaks to me. I’ve always been a square peg in life, business not excluded. Reading about others and how they run their businesses has left me with more questions than answers.
Now I definitely have learned a few helpful tidbits. I love that I can google, “How do you do XYZ in wordpress?” and find anything I need to know and do. I’ve learned that blogging actually boosts your search engine optimization (SEO) and isn’t just me spluttering nothings into the universe to get them out of my head and give you something to read on the toilet.
But apparently my gut that got me this far – 11+ years and hundreds of clients, probably 70% or more repeat clients – really can be trusted. That in fact I can offer services at affordable rates that also meet my capabilities for workload.
So now I’m rethinking everything. Again. Not all of it, but a enough. I think I may pair down my offerings and tweak my prices a little. I’ll still be at the low end for metro DC but that’s OK because one way I’ve been able to run this business efficiently is by intentionally keeping my costs low.
Aside from software/equipment, gas and occasional travel expenses, I don’t spend anything. I don’t have a studio, I don’t have a client closet (this is a thing – you pick clothes from my closet that changes with the seasons and then all my clients look the same! It’s all part of the brand! I cannot even imagine doing this for so many reasons – that’s a whole other blog post), I don’t deliver prints or USB drives in twee bespoke packaging or send you starbucks giftcards when you book or holiday gifts. Oh but I do spend money on M&M’s and that’s well worth the $20/year.
I also don’t invest more time than needed – My time is spent shooting and editing. Not on phone calls or in person meetings with clients to go over your vision for your photoshoot (I know my clients – I’m sure half of them would laugh and simply ask to look like a happy family and make sure their kids don’t do anything weird) or after your shoot where I sell you more images and more prints then your initial budget allows.
So here we are again. 5 weeks of this website up and running and it’s more like 80% done instead of 99% done. Stay tuned. I’m still not sure where I’m going but I’m more committed to being true to myself and my gut.
*Don’t worry, I’ve always paid my taxes. I’ve just done it in a self-employed freelance miscelaneous cash income. This year i’ll be a Sole Proprieter! So exciting! And terrifying that I’ll screw something up. More on that another day.