Best Business Practices for Photographers [32]
Figure 4.2
Dealing with the Uncomfortable
I get that dealing with the business end of photography isn't always comfortable. It wasn't for me in the beginning. Whether it's determining the specific fees and applicable production charges for an assignment; providing an explanation to a client about a particular item (such as, "What is post-production? Can't you just copy the photos off the card and burn me a CD? That's all I really need...") so that they not only understand, but they can explain it to their superiors/client and be on board with it; or calling up a delinquent client about an overdue invoice, all of these and countless more situations frequently make photographers queasy and even weak in the knees.
Also something that you may not realize is that you are now your own information technology (IT) department as well. No longer can you just call a help desk to fix things when your computer doesn't work or you need a new cell phone. You are now that IT department.
When you are just starting out or have been forced into freelance from a layoff, don't worry about having an assignment every day or even every week. Worry that each assignment you do is done right—from a qualitative standpoint as well as a business standpoint.
Ensuring that your paperwork is in order, with signatures from clients on contracts/estimates, alleviates other issues down the line, from bad language on purchase orders that come along to misunderstandings over who owns what.
Moreover, practice explaining things such as what post-production is and why the client should be paying for it, why there's a markup on certain items, and what the difference is between a creative fee and a usage fee. Oh, and why the client doesn't own the images to do with them whatever they want.
Discussing these things—especially at first—is uncomfortable. Add to that uncomfortable situation the fact that you want this client to like you, to hire you, and yes, to pay you a fair fee for these things, and it gets worse, because things like money to pay the rent and electricity are on the line.
Help Out a Staffer
Staffers must be prepared to become freelancers unexpectedly. They first need to have a website. I know of several current staffers who have their own websites. Further, that means having their own business cards to hand out where appropriate. This means knowing how to send a contract and figure out rates and rights.
Oh, and if you're friends with staffers who used to look at a $200 freelance job as gravy to complement their meat-and-potatoes staff job revenue, and now those staffers are out of a job, you need to enlighten them that they can no longer afford to work for those clients expecting them at $200. This alone should be an argument for why staffers shouldn't be doing these jobs at side-job rates, not to mention how doing this affects your freelance brethren's ability to charge a living rate in your community.
What must be done by the freelance community that these photographers are joining? I know it sounds counterintuitive, but you need to get them work. Really. The question is how.
If your normal rate for a wedding is $3,500 or press-conference coverage is $750, or your family/pet/child portrait sitting rate is $350, and an enlargement is $950, then rather than trying to convince your newfound friend to charge those rates, book the job on their behalf at those rates. By doing so, your friend will soon realize that this is what he or she is worth and will apply that same rate structure to people calling him or her directly. From time to time, everyone gets a call for a period that they are double-booked. Don't forward on the job and hope your friend does things right—do it right for your friend by taking the job and then hiring your colleague to do the assignment, with you passing through the assignment fee to him or her. What chance to do it right do they have if they've never before negotiated an assignment rate or a rights package?
By embracing and helping out these talented people, not