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The Business of Photography

May 26, 2007

Stop, Continue and Start: A Self-examination in Three Questions

Filed under: — harvey @ 6:50 pm

One of the best ways of examining your business, or even yourself, is simply by asking yourself three questions. I have included one or two sample answers just to serve as guide, but you would have to think of the answers that are important to you. Try to include as many answers as you can think of, including those that relate to you as a person or photographer, to your business or family relationships, or those that would contribute to the growth of your business, your creativity or personal worth.

1. What am I doing that I should continue to do?

Sample answers:
a. I should continue to attend seminars and workshops, at least two in a year.
b. I should continue to read books on the business of photography, at least one book a month.

2. What am I doing that I should stop doing?

Sample answers:
a. Since it is not wise to buy all sorts of gadgets and gears that I see other photographers buy, I should stop trying to “keep up with the Joneses.”
b. I should stop offering my services for free.

3. What should I start doing?

Sample answers:
a. I should start having contracts to cover all my jobs.
b. I should start asking for down payments.
c. I should start spending more time with my family by devoting at least one day a week with them.

I hope you will have fun doing this, and I hope you do this handy self-examination regularly. By the way, I picked up this three-question self-examination from my daughters’ grade school.

May 25, 2007

Animal Photography Seminar Postponed

Filed under: — harvey @ 6:25 pm

Sorry, but Kathy’s seminar on Animal Photography which was originally scheduled today, has been postponed. We will let you know – through this site – when a new date is available. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

May 21, 2007

Animal Photography Seminar

Filed under: — harvey @ 5:35 am

Here’s an announcement from the Filipinas Heritage Library re a forthcoming seminar on photographing animals to be given by Adphoto associate photographer, Kathy V. Chua:

Photographing Animals
May 26 at 9:00 a.m. -6:00 p.m.

Whether tame or unruly, animals definitely make good subjects. This specialized field in photography is intended for novice photographers who may also be animal lovers.

As a culminating activity, a weeklong photography exhibit will be mounted at The Alcove gallery.

Requirement

Basic knowledge in photography

Camera with manual override, preferably digital

Venue

Manila Zoo

Speaker

Kathy Chua, an associate photographer of Adphoto, is a Ford Foundation Grant Awardee for her thesis, “Portraits of Philippine Wildlife”. She has photographed for international environmental organizations in Asia, Europe and Africa, and co-founded MyZoo Volunteer Group Foundation, a local wildlife and nature preservation group in Manila.

Fee
Php 2,500.00 inclusive of handout, meals, transportation, entrance fees, and certificate.

Due to the limited number of slots, interested participants are requested to register on or before May 23 by placing a partial payment of at least Php 500.00 (non-refundable). A 10% discount will be extended to those who will settle in full on or before the deadline.

For more details, please call 892-1801, email events@filipinaslibrary.org,ph, or visit www.filipinaslibrary.org.ph.

May 13, 2007

Negotiable?

Filed under: — harvey @ 5:52 am

When you indicate that your price is negotiable without giving the reason why, you may be undermining your own quotation. Anytime I read that a price is negotiable, I feel that I am being told by the seller that the price he or she has set is high and I am being given permission to bargain. Now, that does not say much for the integrity of the quotation.

Before we submit a quotation, we do a lot of work (compute, decide, compare with others, weigh matters) and we submit what we feel is the most reasonable quotation. The amounts in quotations are not something we pluck from nowhere, and therefore, we should be prepared to defend the price that we have offered.

However, this is not to say we/you will not negotiate, but the initiative for asking to bring down a price should come from the prospective buyer and not the seller.

Instead of saying that the price is still negotiable,
1. ask if you had correctly understood their requirements (if you misunderstood, you may have to increase/decrease your price),
2. offer to recompute if there is any chance that they would change their requirements (some clients, when the quotations they receive are all higher than their budgets, would actually downscale their requirements, and you would like to be invited to quote again when they do change their specs)
3. ask if your quotation (specs and price) is what they have in mind. You are just getting confirmation about what budgets they are working with (something you should inquire about before you even started computing for your quotation – some clients/customers already have their budgets set before calling photographers).

Whatever they answer to the above questions, then you can ask for clarifications and the negotiation process can start. Please remember that it is not only price that is negotiable – their requirements are negotiable too. If they cannot afford your price, they may be willing to downscale their requirements in order to be able to afford you, if you are the photographer whom they want. If their budget is set, and they don’t care who their photographer will be, then you have to decide if their budget is acceptable to you and if you would accept them as your customer.

Buyers and sellers both need each other, and there should be mutual respect between them. However, before sellers could earn respect from buyers, they should first demonstrate that they respect themselves, and their prices.

Let me show what I mean through this true story:

My husband and I were in Bangkok in 1986. At a sidewalk shop, I spotted a blouse that I liked so I asked how much. The salesgirl said 300 bahts, but before I could say anything, or even react, she rattled off her discounted prices in rat-tat-tat-tat fashion “270?250?230?200?” So, I said “thank you,” but walked away. How could I trust her to give me a fair price, if she herself would bargain before I even asked.

May 6, 2007

Collection Tips

Filed under: — harvey @ 3:57 am

The principle of being specific can be applied to the way we prepare our bills. Instead of being vague as to when we expect to be paid, why not be direct about it? Be specific. Indicate the date.

All invoices indicate the date when the invoice was prepared. Then, we specify the terms – COD, 15 days or 30 days. In the advertising industry, the date due is usually 60 days from date of invoice.

We also indicate the discount that we would grant if the invoices were paid sooner than the terms we normally extend to our clients, for example 5% discount if paid within 10 days.

But here are two small tips that may tip the scale in collecting sooner than usual.

1. Why leave it to the Accounts Payable Officer to count the days to see when payment is due? Instead of writing “Payable in 15 days” or “Due in 30 days,” it might help tremendously if we checked the calendar ourselves, counted the days and wrote “Payable on or before May 30, 2007.”

2. In addition to the computer printout of your invoice (or typewritten, if you are still using a typewriter), why not have a bigger rubber stamp in red to reiterate the date when we expect payment?

Hope these tips help you to collect on time. If you have other tips, kindly share them by emailing me at harvey@adphoto.com.ph

May 1, 2007

Friends and Partners in Business

Filed under: — harvey @ 5:08 am

I had been asked to give my opinion on going into the business of photography with other people. They’re starting off as friends and pooling their resources together in order to set up a studio, a venture that they find expensive, if each were to go solo.

First of all, I would like to say that success in business could come to anyone – to those who are doing it solo, or to those who have business partners. Since the question is about going into partnership with friends (emphasis on friends), I will limit myself to the topic of friends partnering for business.

My own view is life is like a coin – there are always two sides (would you believe, sometimes more two?). Advantages come with corresponding disadvantages. Benefits and costs are said in the same breath, because in everything – there are trade offs.

Some advantages – lowered cost of initial investment, sharing of expenses, complementariness of skills, synergy, etc. – are obvious but allow me to present their corresponding, albeit less obvious, disadvantages, and what friends can do to prevent their friendship from ruining the business, and vice versa.

Let’s tackle some advantages, and look at their flipsides:

1. The individual investment is lowered because you are putting your money, equipment, furniture and other resources together.

What challenges does this arrangement entail?

You need to find a fair way of assessing all non-monetary contributions. It may be tedious to do this, but this is the only way to arrive at how much each is contributing to the company.

Decide if these resources become company property, or if individual partners retain ownership. If they become company property, then shares of stock can be issued for the amount of contribution (cash and non-cash) made by each partner. If individual partners continue to own resources used by the company, you should be able to compute how much rental is owed the partner whose equipment or furniture etc. are being used. Decide whether you will be paying rent on per use basis (how much per use – per day? Per hour?) or, on the basis of certain frequencies – monthly, for example.

Make a detailed inventory of all things “borrowed” from the partners, including comments on the condition of these items. Take pictures and keep them in your inventory file.

Assigning values and deciding payment schemes may be tedious, but it will make life easier for everyone concerned. Some things – like equipment that are not used day to day – such as cameras, lights and lenses – are better “rented” whenever used, but furniture may have to be rented on a monthly basis. But for how long? Like any business, you would have to decide on the “life” of such resources. Worn out sofa, desks, outdated equipment, whatever – would have to be replaced with new ones. Or, maybe you need to rent only while the business is new, and as soon as able, your company can buy its own equipment/furniture.

2. Expenses in maintaining a studio can be shared. I was told that photographers, when they have jobs, intend to give a share to contribute to the upkeep of the studio.

While this may sound good, in practice it may not work. Running a studio incurs fixed as well as variable expenses. If photographers contributed only when they have jobs, who will take care of the studio’s fixed expenses? What are those fixed expenses? Telephone, electricity, Internet, salaries of staff etc.

3. Different people could bring into the organization different skills, and they can complement each other. Perhaps, one photographer is good in photographing products, while another is good in photographing people. Or maybe one works as sales/marketing.

There is synergy (1+1=3) here – as a company of several photographers could potentially earn more than combined incomes of the individual photographers.

What downside do you need to watch out for? It is possible for one to be busier, or doing more for the company, than the others.

Therefore, you must find a way to keep an accurate record of work done by each. While more tedious (again!), a performance-based compensation system would be fairer, as the photographer with more work will receive greater compensation. Sometimes, it’s not just getting more jobs; it could also mean getting more high-value jobs. We find that paying commissions to photographers and account executives, for example, follow the ups and downs of their productivity. Make sure you pay commissions only on paid jobs (clients have paid).

Not all jobs are easily quantifiable (basis for commissions), and one or two members of your group may be spending time, talent and knowledge to manage the business. A managing partner, even though he may be a photographer as well, may be losing some shoot opportunities because he is busy managing, so your company must be aware of this situation, and find a way to compensate him for his lost opportunities. Sometimes, a salary and/or overriding commissions can take care of this.

4. While “two heads are better than one,” you may find yourselves disagreeing on how to decide certain business matters – buying equipment, pricing assignments, sales and marketing, rent or buy, expand or maintain status quo, etc.

Make sure you prescribe a way to reach certain decisions. Define which decisions are for the sole discretion of the manager or the individual partners, and which decisions require the participation of all the partners. When partners vote to decide, should the decision be unanimous or a simple majority will do? When you are in disagreement, how do you break an impasse?
5. It’s fun to work with friends. That definitely is an advantage, but is there a downside to this?

Even though you are friends and you like and trust each other, a formal organization would still be needed to ensure that your business would run smoothly. Being in business together is not all fun, it’s also work. You would need to incorporate, define systems and procedures, establish policies and guidelines, design forms and require that they be used properly, and require, read and review reports.

Just because you are friends, it does not mean you can’t be businesslike in the business. To insure that your friendship will survive the rigors of your business, you would have to be transparent in all your dealings. At some point, you would even need to hire independent auditors. If you have schedules for audits, you don’t have to feel guilty about auditing anyone. It should be part of the business game, and not done only when you start to become suspicious. Don’t be shy about scrutinizing business reports (bank statements, financial reports, accounts receivables, collections, contact reports etc.). You are not doing a disservice to your friends or to your company if you took a more businesslike approach to your business.

By doing your homework and laying the ground rules now, and running your business like a business, you will be avoiding pitfalls that could ruin not only the business but the friendship as well. When friends get into a business together, that business should serve to enhance the friendship, for if not for that, why go into business together at all?

 
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