Best Business Practices for Photographers [37]
So, to prolong your staff life, you should be encouraging your DOP to pay freelancers a premium and to allow their images to rightfully belong to them. And, because they can't fall into a work-made-for-hire (WMFH) category, they should be paid for the assignment as one-time use only and then paid again when there is a reuse. Not only is this the right thing to do, it will affect the longevity of your staff job for a few more years.
Further, when prospective freelance assignments come into the photo desk, since you don't need the work to make ends meet (now), charge a rate that takes into account the numerous expenses you would incur if you were freelance and begin developing a client base that places a significant value on the work you do so you can rely on them in the future. Of equal importance, they are not calling the paper looking for someone who "maybe" could do the work. As a staffer, you have the imprimatur of a talented photographer. You wouldn't have that same imprimatur in the prospective client's eyes had you not been hired by the paper, and so the notion that they can get a cheap photographer by calling the paper's photo desk should be dismissed as disrespectful of the talent that the paper does have and brings to the community every day.
Lastly, many prospective clients know they can get newspaper photographers "for cheap" because they don't know how to handle a negotiation over rights, and they have little problem doing a work-made-for-hire assignment because that is what they are doing for the publication that employs them. Further, they know that the income from the paper is going to underwrite their budget for what they want photographed. These are not the types of clients you want to nurture relationships with, because they will not sustain you once you are freelance. Quote them the full-freight price and have them take it or leave it—stand your ground.
Unfortunately, getting up to speed can't happen overnight. From the book How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School (National Academies Press, 2000):
It is important to be realistic about the amount of time it takes to learn complex subject matter. It has been estimated that world-class chess masters require from 50,000 to 100,000 hours of practice to reach that level of expertise.... Although many people believe that "talent" plays a role in who becomes an expert in a particular area, even seemingly talented individuals require a great deal of practice in order to develop their expertise (Ericsson et al., 1993).
Do not think you can just jump in and run a business because you know how to make great photos. The skills and thought processes of running a business take a great deal of time to master. Think about this: What do you think about when you're on your way home from work? When you get home, after dinner, before you go to bed, what's usually on your mind?
What's wrong with this picture is...where is the planning for the future? I can honestly say that as a young, aspiring photographer, for the hour or two after I woke up and before work, I thought about making great pictures and about my portfolio. On my way home from work, I put the traffic out of my mind. I was thinking about my portfolio. When I got home, I would edit images I made over the weekend. I would caption them and prepare them to send off to publications for consideration. I would scour the newspaper to see what they predicted would be happening the next day. I would watch and see what events were coming up over the weekend. I would check to see what concerts were coming to town so I could seek a credential to photograph them.