Hello.. Emily Deisroth here. My studio has been up and running in Washington DC for close to 3 years. I have learned photography through classes, books, friends, seminars and oh yes.. making lots of mistakes. Luckily I have 2 kids and a cat to be my unwilling subjects. I shoot weddings, families and everything that has a pulse (although I have shot cuts of meat and found it rather enjoyable to photograph something that does not move) … I am finding that i really need to deal with my pricing structure AND get the courage to say “sorry” when people ask if I can lower my prices. Being in the business of photography is a whole different game than taking really good pictures..Even with a Masters degree in Taxation and background in accounting.. I can’t quite get a grip on the business side. HELP!
Looking forward to meeting everyone in a few weeks!
Emily, we look forward to meeting you too!
emily, thank you for posting! do you have 2-3 top things you want us to address in the seminar? i am spending hours each day working on it, but would love to make sure i’m prepared for the most important issues you have. we can talk about how and when to give a discount or deal, and will.
hi emily, thank you for posting! do you have 2-3 top things you want us to address in the seminar? i am working hours each day on our talks, but would love to make sure i’m prepared for the most important questions you have. and i’ll be glad to discuss how and when to give a discount or deal, and we will.
Well.. LEt me state my issue at hand. My style is unique to DC and I know that my studio could be uber-successful… I am struggling with the prints vs. CD issue.. Becaseu I am a wedding photographer and a portrait photographer I think it causes this imbalance. My question is..how do I offer a disk to portrait clients and not lose money?
Other than that big giant monkey in the room – I need to market myself better and develop a pricelist that works.. I have the skill and talent, now I need to sell it and show people the value in my skill.
i’ll be very very happy to help you with the prints vs cd issue, and for me it was negatives given after a wedding. no problemo.
secondly, there’s almost nothing i enjoy better than sitting down with a price list and helping you bring it up to where it needs to be. we should be able to do it over the weekend and if for some reason we don’t do yours, i’ll meet with you another day and we’ll handle it.
i will show you mine and discuss it as part of my presentation. when i started doing portraits, more experienced and successful portrait photographers gave me their price sheets and i copied them but tweaked the numbers to closer to my comfort zone. i raise my prices twice a year, no matter what.
I am Really Looking forward to it!… I will bring what I have as far as marketing materials, pricelist etc.. to share … THanks so much..