January 8, 2011
-
Craptastic
Today was a crappy day.
This is really embarrassing for me to share but I want to write about my success AND struggles in managing a small business.
Last night my third Dell laptop crashed. Since it was the 3rd one to let me down you would think that I expected it, right? It already had that fat vertical white line down the middle of the screen. My dad has been bugging me about backing up my photos. Just last week he said, "If your laptop broke down, would all of your photos be safe?" Ryan reminds me to do it too. I hate people telling me what to do. I think more often than not, it makes me want to do the opposite just to spite them. I did back up the photos... but not all of them. There are two sessions on the hard drive that I don't have copies of anywhere else.
So when the screen began to flash and show black and blue pixels, I panicked. I was scared to even try to restart it, scared to face the truth that I hadn't backed up my files like a good responsible photographer should always do. That was last night. This morning I turned the laptop off and turned it back on again. After 4-5 times I got to the desktop, but... it's not looking so good.
That was stressful. Then I went to work at a birthday party for a little boy who turned 4 years old. Photographing young children is like photographing sports... you have to anticipate their timing and keep up with their constant movement. The party was at an indoor inflatable "bounce stadium." At the end of the party (three hours later), the mom turned to me breathlessly and thanked me for coming. "Here's $100 since you came early," she said.
I was stunned. I wonder what my face looked like at that moment, because in my email I had stated that I charge $80... PER HOUR. That meant she owed me $240. Everyone was packing up to leave... they were carting (literally, in a rolling cart) out the presents to the car, gathering coats and babies, etc. I imagined telling her she owed me more than twice the amount she paid and then demanding that she pay up in the midst of this chaos. I did not want to do that. So I didn't.
Instead, I walked to my car dejectedly and sat there watching them load up the car, wondering how to go up and ask them to pay up. Still couldn't do it. I felt like crying.
While driving home I turned up the radio to drown out my misery. Ke$ha started playing and (this sounds so silly) the song brightened my mood and gave me the confidence to call the mom.
"Hi! I'm sorry to bother you - there was a misunderstanding with the pricing. I actually charge $80 per hour. I didn't want to hassle you while everyone was leaving."
"Oh...... I see... how much do we owe you?"
"It's $240 for three hours."
"What??? That's WAY too much. We picked you because the other photographer charged $150."
"Ohhh... I'm sorry..."
"You know, he only charges a flat rate for events."
"I see..."
"Yeah, that's way too much. Can we work something out? Can I give you $150?"
"Okay. I'm sorry about all this."
"Alright, I'll mail you a check."I WAS going to write up an invoice beforehand but I thought $80/hr was clear enough in my email. Lesson learned. I came home and told Ryan about what happened and he got upset at me for letting her get away with a discount. "You can't do that!! Don't give her the photos!*"
*edit: He meant don't give her the photos unless she pays the full amount. He also wanted me to explain to her why I charge this much (aka remind her that I also spend more time editing the photos afterward).
These situations are really tough for me. I don't like confrontation.
Comments (26)
Oh man... =/
You might be able to recover your photos/files on your laptop. You can probably remove your hard drive and hook it up to a hard drive dock or attach it to another hard drive and put it in slave mode [not sure if that works for laptop hard drives though].
As for the lady who misunderstood you, I can understand why you hesitated with asking her for the rest of the money. I don't exactly agree with Ryan though. I would still let her have the photos for $150 [unless you can negotiate for more] instead of not giving her the photos. You already took the photos and did all the work, so you might as well take $150 instead of nothing.
That's a tough one. I wouldn't know what to do either. I think I'd be like you. Though I think the boyfriend would help me out. And if not him, my parents or sister. But that just shows how...nonindependent I am. Sigh.
I hate that this happened to you, Fern.
I hope everything works out.
wow, i never knew you were a photographer. i don't know anything about what the pricing of photographing should be... although i have been to many events where there was a hired photographer, i never thought about how much they cost.
but anyways, i think your approach was appropriate. i mean, now you know what to do for the future, but in this case, demanding her to pay up or you won't give her the photos wouldn't have been the best thing to do. maybe she would have spread negative feedback about you. so in this case, you also spared your reputation. it IS frustrating to be underpaid, but you have a good backbone and good morals.
That sucks. But it's a business and you have to be firm with people. You know what, you're worth $80 an hour. You should never be ashamed to collect money owed to you.
In this case, you've already agreed to take the lesser price of $150 so you kinda have to go with that. But you should never apologize for what your price is. If you think you were clear about your rate then you should say so.
Also people will try to take advantage of you. I know you don't like confrontation, but you are a business and you should be paid for your services. Perhaps you can look into drawing up a basic contract with clients stipulating your rate and how you're gonna be paid. I don't think you even need a lawyer. Just get it on paper with their signature. Worse case scenario, you don't give them their photos if they bulk on the price.
Lastly, don't let it effect your photography. Keep taking great pictures. Your rep for doing so will only want to make people pay you all the more.
Hmm. It's hard to say with the 150 dollar thing. My first response was to side Ryan and say she should pay all or you give her nothing. But then I thought... well, maybe you can build up a better reputation as a business by being flexible and willing to work well with clients. Maybe this is a good thing.
@fLiPgUy31O - Haha, that is the state of my last laptop. The hard drive is being used as an external. I wasn't sure if the current laptop could be saved in the same way but my friends have assured me that my files should be fine...
Then you are just like me.
Thanks for understanding and making me feel less pathetic and cowardly lol.
@misajour - What do you mean, they would help you out? With the broken laptop or the client?
Thanks, I'm sure it will. It was just... discouraging. =
@bamzilicious26 - The prices range drastically from FREE to $10,000 for a wedding. It really depends on a lot of factors. You're right, I've been thinking (almost obsessing) over the thought of a customer writing a bad review... that would be so horrible. Thank you!
@misuterihomme - As always, you write the most thoughtful comments.
I do have a wedding contract that I go over with couples and have them sign, but I don't have a template for other services. It has never been an issue in the past year of photo shoots (at least not that I can remember...)! But I guess now is the time to start writing up contracts for everybody to make sure there are no misunderstandings.
@NikBv - The problem with that is she can tell her friends that she got a discount when she demanded it. So it could go both ways... =
But if she does that, I'll talk to her friends directly and clearly state my prices. I'd rather go that route than have her complain or write a bad review about the business.
Ask her to refer to the email! It's so fair! I think that this sort of thing is going to happen a lot unless you practice your business-time face. Don't worry, you'll be real good at confrontation soon ><
I bet she spent frivolous hundreds on the party even without stiffing the photographer.
@onlyjustbegun - Well I don't do confrontation often unless something really bugs me. But the boyfriend (though he can't stand confrontations, has had the tendency of always standing up for me), and the family...let's just say they can be VERY VERY frightening.
@onlyjustbegun - I am sorry to hear about what happened with the laptop and the shoot. Thankfully you saved your photos and got some money out of the shoot. Just curious but do you use a fan or cooling for your laptop? I have a feeling it's your graphics card overheating and burning out. On my old laptop, my graphics card burned out on me once but I kept a fan close to it to get some air going inside there. It lasted for a pretty long time. It's a pity that photography is basically a business so you're forced to confront people. I hope things start to look up and these kind of talks become easier for you.
@kaiori - Too late now... I'll work on it.
I looked up the pricing for that party place because I was curious. $419 for the birthday party package.
@misajour - Hahaha what a fun family. I think I'm the same. The only people I confront are Ryan and my parents. Ryan gets the worst of it though. ^.^
@samuelchoo - Thanks for the kind words. Hmm... I have a fan but I haven't been using it much. Maybe that was the problem.
So what did you end up doing? =/
@karen0z - I took $150 instead of $240.
You're not alone in feeling the way you do when it comes to confrontations---I strongly dislike them. I know the feeling.
@onlyjustbegun - You'll probably never let that happen again yeah?
as much as you hate confrontation, you gotta do it and he's right, you can't just let her get away with a discount because then you'll start doing that to everyone... needless to say your business will suffer.
That is a very bad misunderstanding. And you had a bad habit too.
I mean, doing opposite of what people told u. But to be really honest, I had that same habit. When I was younger, my mom was also reminding us to study, study and study. I thought I was about to study, and if she mentioned something about it at that time, I didn't want to do it anymore. And I even said it out loud. It always drove my mom mad. I guess I still do that now.
me too, i end up doing the opposite of what people usually tell me to do. I don't like being bossed around. I don't like it when other people act as if i don't know what im doing. so just to prove a point, i do the exact opposite. even if i know that they may be right.
i don't like confrontations as well. you've been in a difficult position. people can be too demanding. and it sucks when they don't stick to the deal. i will cry and whine so hard if im in your shoes.
btw, did you receive my response?
I do freelance as a 3D artist. First off I create a contract with the rates/hours, having them sign it before hand so they have a full understanding. I totally understand that you don't want to start a confrontation, but business is business, they paid for your time and you deserve every penny. Sorry to say, but you actually have to be a little cut throat sometimes so people don't push you around in this type of business. I learn that the hard way as well so chin up Fern. =]
@HeartLUST - They are so uncomfortable!!! However I am eager to start a fight with my boyfriend.. hahahaha. I'm pretty good at it actually.
@karen0z - Yeah!!
@LadyLuck7 - I can't take it back now but I won't do it again. And if her friends demand discounts I'll stick to my rates.
@kyalzinlay - Yeah, it's a terrible habit! Especially when people tell me to do things and they're right! lol.
@KGTeriKat - You can relate to me so well! Yes, I did. Sorry I didn't get a chance to reply yet!
@wingtrung - I have a contract for weddings but never had the need to create a contract for other events. Thanks for the thoughtful comment... I know I have to be tougher. I'll work on it!
You must learn to stand your ground, at the very least hold your business ground when it comes to your customers. Somewhere down the line it will be a big headache for you. I think that even if you don't have a contract for all the photography services you provide, you should still outline the services and related fees they are asking you to provide that day and ensure they understand what they are signing up with. As you said, she could potentially tell her friends that you gave her a discount and then people could complain about inconsistent business practices.
That sounds rough. Is it possible to draw up a contract detailing what the transaction is exactly? That way they can't pretend to not know anything. I don't like confrontations either, but you have to be assertive to get what you want. For example, that lady if she just cooperated with you to avoid confrontation she wouldn't get her discount, but if she keeps arguing, maybe just to cheat you even, she gets what she wants. Your job might involve being aggressive in your pricing. There are a lot of jobs that require more of a person than the job description.
I would suggest negotiating UPFRONT for a flat fee for events.
Why? The parents will be too busy to tell you to stop before racking up the bill. Just like wedding, they won't be able to focus on the photog while celebrating, traffic control, etc. This will prevent awkward situation later on.
Having everything in black and white (start w/ creating an invoice) so that everyone's agree and know what's to expect beforehand. Live and learn, right?
As for your computer, you can do the same as your first hard drive, take it out of the laptop and use it as an external drive to copy the data.
Remember: photos = Your livelihood = customers cherish moments (very important)
So, make at least 2 backups onto different media. You will also need to have an online backup in case your house burnt down (not to jinx you but to let you know the severity of things). Online backup isn't expensive and save the information that's most recent (ie something you haven't delivered to you clients). Message me if you want more ideas of secure backup (this is my line of work)
@LADYLILYTHAO - Thanks for the advice. I will definitely be more clear in the future.
@ShallowGraveDigger - Yes, in fact I almost wrote up an invoice for this specific job but opted against it because I thought the email was clear enough. That was a mistake. Haha, this is the ultimate job that requires more than the job description...
@sf2slc - Oh I won't charge a flat fee, it will still be by the hour. I don't think it makes sense to charge the same rate for one hour versus five. But yes I'll negotiate pay beforehand instead of afterwards.
I have two external hard drives and I also upload my photos on a site that stores the original files. So I think I have everything I need, I just have to use it.
@onlyjustbegun - you have the means and you didn't do backup? Bad bad bad. I am sure you know what to do, don't have to preach to the choir.
What some photog do is to charge a flat rate for an event, with a time limit. So when the client reaches that time limit, ask them if they want to extend. At least no surprises. (No one likes surprises, typically, beside Publishers' Clearinghouse showing up on my doorstep with a big foam board)
Comments are closed.