*For more information visit AdoramaTV YT page, and of course you can keep up with Vanessa on Instagram @VanessaJoy.
Continuing sensitive topic of pricing your photography services right, this lesson with Vanessa Joy and AdoramaTV will reveal 5 common pricing pitfalls many photographers (and artists in general) fall into.
#1 DO NOT make your pricing super complicated.
“Make sure you have packages, and a la carte, or if you’re not an a la carte person… fine, but just make it easy to read. Don’t talk too much, don’t type too much. Don’t send the 500 megabyte PDF. Make it simple. Make it clean!”
#2 DO NOT lower your prices
“A huge pitfall is thinking that because you raised your prices, a whopping $25, that’s why no one’s booking! Guess what? It’s not. There are a myriad of reasons why someone is not booking you. It’s probably not because you’re charging $10 more than the guy down the street. If somebody loves you, they love your work, they’re going to book you. Don’t make price the first thing that you attack, when you think you aren’t booking enough. Don’t lower your prices because you’re scared. I have seen photographers have success, and start booking more clients, because they’ve raised their prices. Don’t fall into that pitfall, don’t blow your prices just because you’re not booking. Instead of lowering your prices, find ways to be more valuable as a photographer.”
#3 DO charge more.
“The third pitfall is that you’re probably charging too little. Most people don’t take the time to do the math, and figure out their cost of sales, or cost of business and all of that. More often than not you’re actually charging too little for what you’re worth, and what the industry commands. A lot of people think that they’re charging too much, because they have a ton of money in their bank account, and that’s pitfall #4! “
#4 DO NOT overestimate your resources.
“Thinking you have more money than you actually have… You’re collecting sales tax, you’re collecting income tax, you’re collecting what you’re going to have to pay out in, in freelancers, and graphic designers, and products….All that money that you take, it feels like you’re rich, you’re not rich, what does 80% of that, is going out the door maybe you’re keeping 20% of it.”
#5 DO the math.
“Finally pitfall #5… You’re not doing the math… you have to do the math! You have to add up your cost of sales, add up your cost of business, the cost of business is all the subscription stuff that you buy. All the equipment that you buy here at Adorama. The album that you have to purchase, the canvas that you have to purchase, what it is that you pay in order to make the actual sale. So you have to do the math. Add it all up, and then add up how much you want to make per hour, add up how many hours you work on a typical job, and then that is the minimum price that you can charge. Adding your cost of sales, cost of business, and cost per hour.. that you want to make.”
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One of our closest workshops – Learn how to Shoot on Manual Mode will take place on July 20th, 4-7pm, in one of our Los Angeles studios !!!
Watch the full episode with Vanessa Joy and Adorama TV: