I have a notebook of well, notes. The notebook contains self-taught lessons and tricks in photoshop. It also contains a list of planned shoots (both paid and unpaid) to keep track of how much work I put in this year. It also contains hard lessons… hard. lessons.
The one I’m going to touch on was the one that stood out from the summer. I remember being furious while writing it. However, now that I have gone back almost 6 months later to read what I left myself, it makes sense.
The Shopper
#1. in the aggravating lists of scenarios that no one tells you about when entering photography. The Shopper is a person who doesn’t just inbox/message/call you once for prices. No. This person will keep asking you for pricing in the hopes that you will decrease your prices. I had one particular person who kept asking so much that I honestly thought they were looking for something for free. When I told this person for the umpteenth time my prices, they finally said that they were ready and needed to get confirmation from another party. I gave them my availability for the umpteenth time only to have this person not message/call/inbox me back.
Tardy to the (after) Party
2. not “oh, I’m 5 minutes away due to traffic”. I’m talking about so late that I was getting ready to go home. I sat and sat and sat at the agreed upon location until I was about to give up. I grew anxious then irritated. Almost an hour after I arrived at the location (not the originally agreed upon time because I had agreed to push the time back prior to THAT) they still weren’t there. As I started my car and was getting ready to make the long trip home… my phone rang.
What did I learn from these two annoying but cautionary tales? I learned a very strict lesson from both of these scenarios. The first being that it is very important for people to shop around and compare prices. We. All. Do. It. However, there is a certain level of respect that must be maintained. If a person is constantly seeking a discount when you aren’t running specials or what they want doesn’t apply with the current discount/special, they aren’t truly serious about doing business with you. They may like your work, but don’t value the time it takes, the traveling to set locations, editing (if any) and planning that goes into your work. Or it may be simply that they do not understand. It is okay, they are not the only clients that will come along. But it will be ultimately up to you if you decide to keep putting up with it. Or whether or not you will no longer respond to their messages. Photography is not like the dollar store where the same person can come in every single day and not purchase anything. The dollar store will not suffer as much as the photographer because there will be 5 customers for the 1 that like to window shop. At least that’s how I see it (LOL).
Tardiness… not the excusable kind. I have personally decided that if I am made to wait ungodly amount of time for a person or party to show up. I may service them that time, but never again afterward. I feel like this, I cannot be over an hour late to work (my day job) and expect to not be penalized. That level of blatant tardiness isn’t acceptable anywhere. At my job, tasks get delayed or maybe not even finished if an employee is late. In photography, I took the same principles. If the tables were turned and I was tardy to a shoot and the client was on time, the client may never want to work with me again. I mean, first impressions are everything, right?
Right?
😐
Peace.
Memories by Shanese 