PHOTOGRAPHERS - What Are You Even Charging For?
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- Опубликовано: 8 ноя 2023
- You can find me on;Instagram / facebook Group / 1893064874281393
Tin House Website and WORKSHOPS www.tinhouse-studio.com/
My Commercial Workscottchoucino.com/
In this video, I'm going to discuss the time-value of photography. I'll talk about why TIME is money, and how it affects photographers.
If you're a photographer, then you know that time is one of your most precious resources. In this video, I'll talk about why time is money, and how it affects photographers. I'll also offer some tips on how to manage your time and make the most of your photography career. 
Хобби
Thanks for the video idea Mark H
I know that your channel is geared more towards professional photographers, but as an amateur photographer, I get a lot out of your videos too. My calculations are a bit different than yours because I don't make money with my photography, but I really enjoyed your eye-opening and thought-provoking discussion of time and money and what we choose to spend our money on.
Wow, thank you!
I can tell you that being frugal, not cheap, or patient, not flamboyant, has never cost someone their business.
Frugality is such a good train to have in this business.
I’m constantly getting contacted by photo editors who want to edit for me. And they make me want to run and hide because I love doing my own editing! It’s part of the creative process. And creativity is a major part of what people pay me for!
GREAT stuff....and I'm an old grizzled vet/commercial trenches. When I started, 1978....you went to photo school, then assisted some hotshots (interning), and then you opened your own studio. I think I've learned more on YT then I ever have in my real world experiences- and that's saying something. This stuff is gold! One of the first guys I assisted told me the first week there- said: Kid....."Pay yourself first. (savings/investments). Always live below your means. Buy used gear. Under-promise, Over-deliver. Never, ever fuck w/ the models. Every well done job= your next job." ps: I'm still using a iPhone 6S+. Why?: because I don't care about the cameras/capability or speed; in fact, the actual telephone feature- Talking, is my least used!! For me it's an ultra-portable mini-computer....and literally allows me to show a portfolio to clients, research anything afield, etc.
The numbers cut through all the airey fairy flights of fancy! I am fascinated by the '80/20' rule. 80% of our time & effort produces about 20% of billable turnover, and the other 20% creates 80% of it.
I invested a few hours of time shooting and launching 3 keys images onto the company's website, which helped generate five out-of-season leads. Those leads, became around $70k+ in turnover.
SO, I now try to outsource as much of the 80% stuff as the 30% budget allows, then proportionally increase the development of the 20% golden time. My job now? -I'm a gold digger!🤠
This is one of your more important vids, Scott. An absolutely invaluable resource for anyone try to get traction. 👍
Absolutely love this kind of content! I run a CGI studio with two partners and we absolutely love cooking food, mucking about at home (maybe not cleaning….), gardening etc. To enable this we have a 4 day work week. It doesn’t always work out, but that’s the goal and that’s how we calculate our 30%. Everything we do is aimed at this. There are so many things we could spend money on - but to what end? We absolutely love our craft and spend a lot of our free time in front of the computer as well, but we work to live, we don’t live to work. We are creatives, but we run a business, the business should not run us. Thank you for all your insights!
Time does NOT equal money! I love this clip, my man!! AMEN!
At the beginning of this venture (photography) I decided to price by job, not by time. Watching you and hearing your journey and where you are today from where you've been has only encouraged me to charge fixed price for a specific result. So much haggling and nit-picking avoided and also time wasters passed by. One of the best things you ever said in these videos had to do with avoiding clients who have no budget - they haven't taken their own project to the point where they are ready for [me] ;-)
“That’s the craic” I love it when your dialect slips in 👌
Something I did learn in school. You will fill the amount of time you’re given to do the project, if it’s two days or two weeks. I didn’t always follow that principle.
yeah, I realised this when I overslept once and still got everything int he morning done on time
Today (I’m 64) free time, good wine/food is the most important thing for me. In the past it was money and clothing.
As someone who took your advice a few months ago - get an agent, it makes a difference people.
It's amazing how much more you need to do, other than taking photos, to run a photography business!
I am horrible at this, so thank you for putting it in a way that really sinks in it truly was extremely helpful and I feel like this should be seen by anyone trying to start any business
That’s where I’ve landed now that I’m seeking to make my photography a business and not a hobby. If a purchase can’t directly be tied to the financial growth of my work/business, it’s a no go.
Mate, you have such great content, but this one is pure gold.
One of the few content creators that is worth listening to; I don’t feel like I wasted my time.
Thanks for the awesome video! Always so much to think about 👍🏾
Thanks! That’s a really useful way to look at things for my business.
Thank you for this wisdom
Top end advice for us freelancers out here👌
As always excellent advice
This was a really great video
amazing video thankyou!!! best youtube find!
Once while assisting, I was tasked with going out to buy a 1 gallon gas can for the generator running the lights for a dusk shot that evening. I came back with a 2.5 gallon gas can because it only cost $10 more and would better fill the gennie's tank. (A 1 gal gas can wasn't available anyway ... ) The entire rest of the trip I never heard the end of how I wasted his money.
On-SPOT!
Like some others who have commented I’m just an average Joe amateur photographer but I still find your videos very interesting. I particularly like your thinking with regard wanting/needing new equipment. Some pro photographers on RUclips seem to buy new gear only to discuss it on this platform. I’m a Fujifilm user (X-T1 and X10) and subscribe to pal2tech and Simon d’Entremont and of course Tin House Studio. Thanks again for an excellent video and keep ‘em coming.
Clear, concise, and makes perfect sense...now to find some money... 🤔 Great motivational vids. Thank you.
Awesome! Thank you!
Good video, Cheers.
Nice one brother!
This is rapidly becoming one of my favourite RUclips channels. Very interesting.
Wow, thanks!
wooww... another financial lesson. THANKS!!! i think 10 times ... I need it or not... and in the end the answer is NOT. replaced my phone... it was an emergency - the old one had really died... not with an iPhone... with a Motorola g72(130euros - new device).
This is possibly the most helpful video you have shared in regard to business acumen - nicely described against your own story.
If we all use the metrics you shared, and they would certainly work for any freelancer or small business; then I think we would be financially fitter. I was once that guy, buying and upgrading my kit, car, the works.. did i go bankrupt, no, but I would have been far better off with my current mindset that runs on a very similar set of values…
So thanks Scott, you’ll be helping out many peeps with this advice.
AH, now this explains the same purple shirt and denim jacket in all of your videos..🤣 Golden information as always!!
EXCELLENT advice‼‼
Glad it was helpful!
Great video
Depends on the specifics of your industry sector. If you are doing high volume work, things like an editor or spending on things to speed the process up can be useful, depending on the number of hours of work you do per day. Not everyone is that busy of course. The other thing to bear in mind is that if paying to free up that time enables you to chase higher paying work, then that potentially is a worthwhile investment ( if you do actually use the time, but that’s a different question).
I spend too much from what I make from my photography. I’m too much into gear rather than running and growing a business. Fortunately this is my part time passion/business and I don’t NEED to make more than what I make. Having said that I’m going sell a camera (I have 5) and 5 lenses (I have 14) and put more focus on growing my business just to see if I can. I think I can grow once I find what it is I want to shoot, rather than dipping my feet in too many pools.
Thanks
Thanks so much thats very kind of you.
FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!
For those that are interested, the book is called Profit First and it’s very useful in working out freelancer finances.
I like a lot of what you say, I agree with a lot of what you say, I just think its a use case, this works for you, you are happy with it, great! But as to time/money, for my use case, saving an hour per shoot can save me in excess of $200-$400 on crew rates, imaging paying a mua, assistant, tech, grip, stylist, wardrobe, an extra hour per shoot.
Also the way people look at purchasing a new camera, buying $5k camera and doing a shoot for $7, I agree its not paid for, but how serious business evaluate is the depreciation over x years, me I look at it over 5 years, thus a $65,000 phase one, I would need to pay $1,083 per month. Yes I buy it cash up front, but on the books I am paying $1,083 month for it. So I must earn an additional $1,083 per month to be able to afford it.
Now there is also such a thing as business investing into growing, my current studio has 3 shooting areas, 2 are permanently setup with their own cameras, set of lights, everything. So here is my use case, my full body ecom area, no stands, all lights fixed positions, dedicated camera, distances marked off with gaff tape on ceiling and floor. Now because of this investment, when a designer calls me last minute (always do) to shoot a buyers book, we can be ready in 5 minutes, we just flip the master switch for all the lighting, turn on computer, turn on camera, quick light check and we are done, no setup, its already done, proven out. This investment allows me to be faster, and removes the wasted time of setup/teardown - now as you mention reducing time to only sit around, thats not money, I agree, but the savings for me, are being able to now deliver the proofs/finals withing 2-4 hours for the client and thus getting paid sooner.
By removing the setup/test/teardown, I can now use that time to test our for upcoming shoots. And here is an example, I have a product shoot coming up next week and since I have an open area for these build outs, I can build, test, send concept to client for approvals, and leave it setup until next week, all while still being able to shoot buyers books in the other area - this investment to save time does turn into more money. as for me spending a lot of money on a medium format, it allows me to cheat, I dont have to take 3 photos of an outfit, full, half, closeup, I take one shot and move on, we crop out the shots we need. When I can shoot 1 outfit a minute for a book, the designers are happy, have the rest of their day to do as they wish, models are happy to get paid nice amount and spend less than 2hrs in the studio to shoot 20-30 outfits. This investment of dedicated lights, dedicated cameras, has made clients happy and wanting to come back, same with the crew, they like the efficient workflow - so large investments do not make my photos better, but make everything else better and does directly correlate to more money.
Now this is just my use case, I overspent a ton and went broke when getting back into photography - I thought having the lastest, greatest, was needed to bring me work, I always blamed not having something as the reason I was not getting work - only difference then and now, I go out and get the work, then spend what is needed to perform the work.
This is my use case, not every one of your viewers use case, and your use case is yours, not everyone of your viewers, to where I disagree is with these hard fast rules you have and points you stress, it is just my opinion that those things should come with a reason and the use case. If I followed your use case while building up my business, I would not be where I am now.
All of your points are very well taken, and you have justified your use case. However, Scott did mention that everyone is different. You kind sir and your use case are different.👍🏽
The unfortunate thing about mobile phones is the planned obsolescence. I kept my iPhone 4s for 10 years. In the end, moving away from 3G networks, the operating system no longer being supported and apps no longer working as a result, at some point, the phone has to be upgraded.
Another thing to consider is how much people spend on their coffees, break times , lunches and even breakfasts during a workweek. Although it’s a few $ here and a few more $ there, it adds up really quickly over the course of a week, month and year. Bringing your own lunch and snacks saves a bunch of money.
Great video/content as always...curious why each video takes that machine 45 minutes to export. Which editing application are you using? Feel like I could help with this.
A freelancer means to be paid to be free. I am sure this will be my motto for the rest of my life!
As a Commercial Photographer, I am charging for my time, skill set, value added to my Clients projects through the images that I create and the licensing of my images.
Thank you for always sharing such gems with us!
I have a quick question regarding the breakdown. When you allocate 15% is that how much you are being taxed overall or is that how much you estimate you will owe after writing off expenses?
Its the latter, but go read profit first for a good explanation
That’s a reasonable voice
Thanks for this.🙏🏻
Just one question: Are these percentages nearly the same over the world or only in England?
Maybe I missed it, but where does profit go if not eventually to salary or operating expenses? Is it to mainly put aside as a way of tracking how your business is doing?
Each 1/4 I use mine for a holiday haha, but use it as it suits you.
Kids are not educated about money at school - they are taught to pass exams so they can get a job that pays 'x' amount. Those who go into business have to learn it after school. Money management should be taught from high school level (11+) so kids get used to the rules and don't fall into debt or have business failures.
👌
Time, money, AND effort. People leave out effort. Equipment without effort is practically worthless. Barrier to entry goes to effort. Leaving your RUclips rig (kit) setup and ready to go reduces effort. Without effort, and efficient effort at that, time and money won't get you very far (unless you hire people to put in the time and make the effort for you).
Scott🌀
Wonderful advice.
It’s nice to hear it said.
Great Wisdom
Obi-Wan🌀
May the Horse
be with you.🌀
Jim🌀
(-: :-)
You mentioned the Patreon in your video but there isn't a link that says Patreon in your video description.
Because of some of your previous videos and now this one too, i directed people in comments of another well known youtubers video to check out your videos because they were attacking someone for saying this 👇
"I really don't understand why everyone have to change their gear so often, is it to make content for RUclips? With all respect this consumer mentality makes me sick, did it really matter if you had a 5dmk4, a Z7 mk2 or Z8 for landscape photography because to be honest you would have still got the same shots"
Adam Smith vibes
i have no money, I do have some time though and that time i spend on well helping other photographers , you cannot put a value to the time that I have as I value it more than I value money , yes I fail at business, I do however have heaps of fun and meet the most random people
Sounds like the operation cost will have to be like US100k to pay for all that
1:10 I am not a native english speaker but isn’t money undefined rather than infinite? I know it doesn’t affect the message but RUclips commentor doing RUclips commentor stuff
15% for Tax? I need your accountant 😁
Don’t ask me how as I don’t get it, but with the 30% operating costs regardless of gross it’s pretty spot on for corporation tax. Personal tax is sadly a different matter…
Why are you working with a 6K+ file for a RUclips talking head video? Just film in 1080 because we are here to LISTEN to you.
It lets me fix it when ive had the camera a bit wonky or composition is off. Its oddly hard to film yourself haha.
Umm, not to be contrary but time is the history of the universe. Money is time you've spent doing something that someone else thinks is worthwhile. Just a point.
Nothing to disagree with in the video.... but what's going on with your face? Is that youtube bitrate just smoothing your face like crazy when you are still or i don't even know what during editing? Looks like a highschool kid trying to photoshop their selfie half the time
I mean I stopped drinking recently so could be that haha.
Yeah the iPhone camera is better…..😂
This got really existential 🥹
haha, yeah it was fun to make
15% tax is a bargain!