Ok I have a confession to make. Up until a couple weeks ago, I was afraid of commitment. There, I said it. Last year, I must’ve shot about 150 people and every single one probably got a different price list depending on the day. I had a list for sessions I was confident about and a cheaper list for when I was having a low confidence day. And couldn’t commit to my prices when I thought that someone would probably say I was ‘too expensive’.
- Even if I was happy to set a price and stick to it, where do those prices start?
- What products do I offer?
- What products do I not offer? And why?
- Will I sell a disk with the copyright? And do I price that per photo or for the whole shebang?
- What about packages?
- Or do I call them collections?
- Packaging?
- Do I deliver them or make them come to me?
- Friends and family discounts?
In comes Alicia Caine with her enlightening, refreshing and (above all) completely fool proof pricing strategy guide to whip me into money-making-shape.
Easy as Pie is a MUST READ for anyone who is just starting out and wanting to be a professional photographer (professional meaning that you want to make money from photography).
And if you think you don’t have to set your prices until you’re in it ‘for real’ and have completed your obligatory 10 years of portfolio building you’re totally wrong. You NEED to think about it now and here is why in Alicia’s own words:
“It’s easy to start shooting, fall in love with newborns and kiddos and camera equipment, and leave pricing on the back burner for a year or two. When people on forums mention that they’ve been portfolio building for 3 years, I literally shudder. Get your pricing established NOW. You want your future clients to get used to seeing what you are worth at this very moment so that when it comes time to go full force, they won’t get sticker shock at seeing your prices.”
It’s so so true. You have to know where you’re going before you can get there and before I read Easy as Pie and implemented Alicia’s practices, I felt really unsure of myself and where I was headed. I felt lightheaded when thinking about pricing and continually put it on the back burner because I just couldn’t devote brain space to figuring that out.
Now, I have a solid products offering, prices that make sense and encourage clients to invest in packages which save them money and the confidence to back up those prices with the full assurance that I’m doing the right thing.
{Before you can be a photographer, you have to be a…well…photographer}
Before reading Easy as Pie, you have to actually be good at photography. So if you haven’t started learning how to make images which are worth paying money for, work on that and then build a business around that skill. How do you know when you’re good enough to make money taking photos? Your friends will start asking you to take some for them. “Oh, bring your camera to the party” or “hey, could you take a pic for our Christmas card?” When people start admiring your work and trusting you to take shots for them, that’s a pretty good indication that you’ve got something to build on.
What I learned from Easy as Pie (only a small fraction of what I learned, actually!)
- Setting your pricing is about building from a foundation. You have a foundation of ‘gift prints’ (which you price according to Alicia’s easy calculations) and from there, you work up in an orderly fashion. No sporadic pricing based on what you feel is the most valuable. Every product has a sensible, stable price set by the calculations in the book.
- Do I put pricing on my website for people to see? Yes I do. Which ones do I show and why? That’s in the book!
- I learned how to price my digital files
- I learned how to price a collage or storyboard
- How to build collections
- When and how to raise my prices
- How to charge for the session
- Taking deposits to reserve a session
- I learned how to offer effective payment plans
- I learned what lingo is and isn’t appealing when talking dollars and cents
- And SO.MUCH.MORE!
The sequel to Easy as Pie is called Pastry School and it answers all the questions that came rolling in to Alicia after she wrote the first book. Instead of equations and cold hard facts, it’s just Alicia explaining how her business works for her. Time management, dealing with cheapies, how to approach working for friends and family and all of that stuff you really want to know. But you HAVE to read Easy as Pie first because that foundation of understanding is absolutely essential before reading Pastry School.
Oh and one more thing before you download these amazing books and then read them twice in one day (guilty!) You’ll need to tweak the numbers mentioned depending on your target client base, the demographics where you live and what you’re comfortable charging. Alicia makes a million times more in America than I think any British people would be willing to pay. You have to know your clients and adjust accordingly.
{What you really want to know}
These are ebooks which means you could have them in your hand right this instant. No waiting! I printed mine, highlighted the heck out of it and put it in one of those plastic sleeve binders so it was like a ‘real’ book.
And for an investment which can turn your next session into a $500 order, not a $50 one, it is totally and completely worth every darn penny. I know it has changed the face of my business forever.
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