Magic Monday: Oh… Pricing :)

Thank you to everyone who has entered my mentoring giveaway! I have really been really humbled that so many of you have entered and also left really nice comments! Most comments I’ve ever gotten on a blog post! If you have entered, please stay tuned for a nice email coming your direction after midnight tonight. You didn’t think I was going to leave something this big up to luck of the draw did you?

Today’s post is a re-post from last year that I think deserves another glance.  Pricing is never a boring topic and always a concern!  Please enjoy this extra fabulous video that I think brilliantly illustrates some problems we encounter.  We may find ourselves on either side of this issue sometimes.  We can certainly learn from both.  I’d LOVE LOVE LOVE to hear your comments about this!

14 Responses

  1. I like the last comment the guy makes at the dinner table. “We’ll pay for it this time, but you will have to show me how you made so we can do it ourselves from now on.” Like it’s that easy to teach someone all that you have learned for however many years that you have spent to learn your craft. A similar situation is when people say that it’s so great that there the technology is so good that anyone can take good pictures, and it’s so much cheaper than paying someone to do it. Here again they don’t realize how much work goes into learning. I’m not saying I’m the best either! I’m far from it! Just sharing my two bits…

  2. I think that is so funny. I do think that some people take it to the extreme, wanting something for nothing. However does it really hurt to ask if there is a discount available. Maybe there is a coupon or a deal going on that I may not know about.

    1. Alesa! I am absolutely a bargain hunter and love nothing more than a good deal 🙂 I think there’s nothing wrong at all to ask if there is a discount available! The part I struggle with is when someone wants the filet mignon for the price of the taco stand (to use an example from the movie 🙂 I had someone email me a few days ago offering to have me take their picture for free if I wanted “practice” with a large group of people. What they were really saying was that they wanted pictures from an established photographer who doesn’t need “practice” but didn’t want to pay for it.

  3. oh MAN that is funny!!!!!! I guess I hadn’t thought of it that way. Which I don’t know why not. I wouldn’t talk someone else down out so I could pay less but I let people do it to me. hmmmm what does THAT say?!

  4. This reminded me of an experience I had once. I went to beauty school (did you know that?) & after I graduated I started doing hair in my apartment for friends & family. I didn’t want to over-charge so I was doing haircuts for $5.00 & Highlights for $15.00-$20.00 (I think my first one was $10.00). Dirt. Cheap. Word got out & I had all kinds of people that I didn’t know coming to me for services. One gal in particular took great advantage of me. One time she made an appointment for a highlight & haircut. When she came to get it done she had a big huge box in her hands. I didn’t ask questions, just thought it was odd. After I had spent a couple of hours on her hair she informed me that she planned on paying me with the contents of the box. Inside the box were a bunch of her mom’s old mismatched & broken perms rods & hair accessories that I would never use. I was so dumbfounded I didn’t know what to say. I ended up with a box full of crap & a couple hours of time, product & materials wasted. I was quite mad at the time, but looking back I feel that it was mostly my fault. I should have valued my talents, education, time & materials more by charging what they were worth. By not doing so it gave her a false sense of my value to the point that I was worth nothing but a box of junk. There is a reason that you have to get a license to do hair, massages & many other trades. It would be easy for me to show someone how to do a haircut, but that would discredit all of the countless hours & money that I put into learning that skill. I think we as people forget these things at times. Wow, that was a long post…sorry.

    1. Oh Jackie! That is a horrible yet fantastic story! To be paid with a box of junk makes my heart sink for you! I would have cried! When you said, “It would be easy for me to show someone how to do a haircut, but that would discredit all of the countless hours & money that I put into learning that skill. I have to smile…

      Why?

      Because I don’t think it would be easy to show someone! How many thousands of hours did you have to put in to not just earn your license but gain confidence, increase your skill, and develop your talent? You know its not just a one time observation that makes you a professional at your craft. Just like buying a nice camera isn’t going to change your abilities and make up for lack of knowledge. Both skills can absolutely be learned with time and persistence and practice, and oft times (money spent on good education). One of the comments I LOVE LOVE LOVE to get from students in my classes is, “I had no idea there was so much involved in photography! I thought the photographer just showed up and pushed the button!” Sometimes that is exactly what happens when you do show someone 🙂 They learn how much they really don’t know!

  5. I also thought this video was funny. People really should budget for things like eating out and buying books and stuff. I do have a different take on some things. I have my own buisness that I run out of my home. I went to school for my business after I got my undergrad. Yes it did cost me money and it’s nice to earn a little extra around my house. Luckily my husband works and earns most of the money. People come to me with health problems, so that is a lot different than books and going out to eat. For me I don’t charge that much, compared to what others do. People tell me I need to charge more because of the area that I live in. They say I should charge what I am worth. I don’t see it quite that way. Yes I have a talent. Yes it takes up my time. Yes I have expenses that I need to cover. So that is why I charge what I do, to cover my time and my expenses. But to charge more than that I really have a hard time. People pay me what I ask, I give discounts when I can, I never charge for a child under 12 what I would for an adult, and yes I get tips from people who can afford it. With the hard times that we are facing right now, I know people are trying their best, doing what they can. I just can’t bring my self to charge huge prices for something I love doing when it also helps them so much. That is just how I see it from my side.

    1. Amy, I used to charge very minimal fees for photography because it was something that was a fun hobby for me, I wanted to help people out, and I knew that not everyone could afford custom photography. My husband was working too at the time, and I had another day job, so any extra income from photography was really inconsequential and just went to pay for more gear. Then I became more and more busy and began to realize that I needed to put a value on my time away from my family. It wasn’t just about a hobby anymore, it was about working for pennies at the expense of having time at home to nurture relationships, and take care of my home and church responsibilities. We may think of our “time” only in regards to an hourly rate of money, but its really more than that. Time spent doing one thing, is time spent away from other things.

  6. That video is hilarious. I have to say, that BEFORE I shot my first wedding last Saturday, that I was inclined to give my clients a really good deal and I thought some of what other people were charging was way outrageous. After the shoot, though, as I’m slowly working through 700 photos and doing the final edits, I’m starting to understand just how much work this is and I don’t begrudge anyone for charging $900+ to do it. And I also learned that while I’m not worth that much right now, I still did a darn good job and next time I’m going to charge for it. And I’m also not going to feel guilty when I raise my prices as my experience level goes up!

    1. Christina! Way to go! I’m excited you shot your first wedding and that you are starting to see the value of your time and experience 🙂 I think it is possible to still be fair with people and fair to ourselves—it might mean people don’t get “quite” as good of a deal sometimes, but there really is two sides 🙂

  7. This is so great. It really does put things into perspective. It’s funny how people want something for nothing especially when they know you and think they should get things for free. My other favorite is when people want to trade. Trading rarely works out to be even and is usually to the advantage of the person who asked for the trade. I really think that at least for me I appreciate things much more when I have to work hard to pay for them. It is nice to get a deal once in a while, but in those cases I think I feel fortunate to have stumbled across them. I love everyones comments on this and you’re right time is money and time is the most precious gift we have. Why shouldn’t we value it?

  8. This was great! My husband is a painter and one of the first questions people ask him is, “How long did that take to paint?” I want him to answer “20 plus years” because that’s how long it took to get to the point he’s at. But he’s nice and tells them. Then the next question, “…and how much is it?” We do work with people, nice people who don’t expect favors – like those in the vid. We also offer prints so that people who can’t afford the original can still have art on their walls. We believe people with art on their walls are happy people:-)

  9. I LOVE this video! I watched it during a sales training a few years back. As cheesy as the acting is the message is so true. Thanks for posting it.

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