Running a photography business is challenging, and landing your first client can be tough. In this article, I will walk you through how to charge for photography in the three stages of a beginner photographer’s career.
Let’s divide beginner photographers into three categories. If you consider yourself a beginner, chances are you’ll fall into one of these. Once you’ve watched my entire video, I’ll go into more detail on what you should do and how long you should do in each stage.
Photographers are afraid to charge
It seems like most of us all started here, and there’s no shame if that’s where you belong. Use this as an opportunity to build on strengths that will help you earn more later. The biggest fear is that they are afraid to charge. Photographers will even make excuses why they shouldn’t charge, reasons like “nobody in my market charges.” Or they may say that they are not good enough to charge.
For this type of beginner photographer, I recommend starting with a fee. Worry less about money and more about the courage to claim your worth. Charge!
The reason is that you never get to take pictures for free, and investing from your own bank account is even crazier. We taught this photographer that asking for money doesn’t mean the end of the world. That’s why I encourage them to just charge and do this up to 30 to 60 days. That’s the important part: If you go for more than 2 months, you are bound to tell the market that this is your perpetual value.
We’ve been here long enough to develop the necessary courage to ask for money. It allows you to grow your portfolio and gives a small signal that you are no longer free. And do it for up to 60 days, so we can quickly introduce you as a second-stage photographer.
Photographers willing to charge
This is where you have let the market know that you are no longer free. Now we are telling them that you fully understand your worth and are ready to work but with your training wheels. You will still get your value but maybe not all for the money. I encourage exchanging and working with businesses that can support your growth. Exchange dollars for dollar value. If you really want to charge $2,000, then ask for $2,000 for their product.
Barter with accountants, lawyers, website builders, those types of people. Claim your full rate when you exchange. The reason why I insisted on exchanging goods first is because this photographer was afraid to ask for money just two months ago. Now we are teaching them to claim their full value, but through an easier method. When you ask a restaurant for $2,000 in credit, it really only costs them about $400. It’s an easier “yes” for the photographer, and sometimes we needed that in the earlier days. While it’s easier than YES, you’re still letting the restaurant know you’re charging $2,000.
I suggest staying in this phase for a maximum of 45-60 days. Now you realize the world doesn’t stop when you ask for money and people will believe you when you speak your worth.
As we near the end of your term with phase 2, you can use the combined payment system. Maybe you get $1,000 barter and $1,000 cash. The biggest win is that you’re asking people about your full rate without fear and I think 60 days is a lot of exercise time.
Photographer charged but not sure
This is phase 3, we only accept full rate payments (Credit Card, Zelle, Venmo, etc) from our customers. You’ve spent the last few months letting the market know that we’re a fully operational business. We will continue to do business at our full rate in the future.
If you want to make a small exchange here or there, that’s fine but your main goal should be to charge your full fee with each future customer.
Here are a few tips to make sure you’re charging properly for this stage, the longest stage.
- Do you offer customers additional products on delivery? Otherwise, you’re leaving money on the table
- Have you charged the production fee? If not, you’re actually cutting your profits
- Do you count all the hours for pre-production and post-production? Take inventory because you’re spending a lot of time on each project
- How have you priced yourself to make room for last-minute add-ons?
Watch the video and see how I go into each stage in much more detail. Every beginner photographer is different and their needs must be met in different ways.
