 Melissa Hintz |
Photographing and charging Family I photograph for my family (in-laws)and need suggestions as to giving them the 'family' discount. I still want to make something for my efforts.
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Monnie Ryan |
Back when I was conducting workshops for small business start-ups, one of the biggest problems I warned about is that it's really, really hard to establish yourself as a "real" business in the eyes of family and friends. Almost always, they will expect that they're entitled to the services you charge others for are free to them. First, you need to consider the possible fall-out if you ask your in-laws to ante up. Will they be angry -- and is it worth it to upset the family applecart by asking them to pay? That's an especially difficult situation to address if you've been giving away your photos in the past. At the very least, I'd make an announcement next time you're the designated photographer that you need to be reimbursed for the cost of processing -- and be sure that includes a little extra for your editing time because you'll get the argument that you can "just" send photos to them by e-mail and they'll do the printing themselves. If you'd rather not deal with the charging issue at all, just tell your in-laws that you'll get to their photos as soon as you get some free time away from your paying customers (if that takes 6 months or more, so be it). If they ask for them sooner, repeat that your paying customers understandably must come first -- and repeat that as often as necessary.
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Melissa Hintz |
Ohh Monnie....Thank you SO much for your advice!! Perfect help and my decision feels right!! They do for me so I give them 'free' to the end of my convenience, then I charge after that. It seems to work well and they kind of respect that I am busy. Thank you again and have a great week!!
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