Foto-Biz — Business

Biz (438 pages in category)  

1. $100 Wedding  What happens when somebody wants to pay me only $100 for their wedding
2. $9 per hour  Reactions to a Craig's list post of looking for an assistant for $9/hr
3. 0% Financing  How to get 0% financing
4. 25% Off  Usually I don't like to give discounts, but this time I gave 25% off, Why?
5. 32Gb Flash Card  How to corrupt photo flash cards
6. 640k  Quote from Bill Gates about hardware
7. A Curmudgeon and The iPad  On Saturday 3-Apr-2010, the iPad went on sale in the US. On the news, all the media companies were saying how good it will be, it will save the world, cure hunger, cancer and poverty...
8. A Curmudgeon and The iPad: Round 2  Sales of the iPad didn't live up to predictions. Apple announced on Monday 5-Apr-2010 that it sold only 300,000 iPads on the first day
9. A Curmudgeon and The iPad: Round 2  Sales of the iPad didn't live up to predictions. Apple announced on Monday 5-Apr-2010 that it sold only 300,000 iPads on the first day
10. A Friend In Need  A customer of mine went bankrupt and now needs my help
11. A Sucker's Born Everyday  Many photographers are suckers, they buy a camera because such and such photographer uses...
12. A Very Wise Wacko  Wisdom come from many people, even the unexpected one
13. Advertising vs. Marketing  What's the difference between advertising and marketing
14. Aggressive Pricing  How much can you charge, a lot if you ask the right question
15. All Things Being Equal  When people compare, they always talk about all things being equal, but they are not
16. Alligators  Alligators and competition
17. Amateur photographer vs. professional photographer  How do I differentiate myself as a professional photographer from an amateur
18. An Army March On Its Stomach  How to treat people around you
19. Anonymous Guilty Party  I've been holding on, but I couldn't resist anymore. At least the guilty parties will remain anonymous
20. Another one from the Dumb Department  Some people are dumb, they decide to stand-up for their rights when the cop has a gun and is willing to use it
21. Appointment with the Vet  People are not listening, even when I say the most outrageous things
22. Archival vs. 200 years  The right choice of word will help sell photos
23. Are You A Yes Man Or A No Man  When somebody asks a question, how do answer: Yes or No
24. Are You Believable?  As a photographer are you trustworthy?
25. Are You Missing Some Sales?  Because he forgot, a friend of mine lost $3500 in licensing fees
26. Are You Selling A Service or Are You Selling Photos?  Are you selling a service or are you selling photos. Hint you make more money selling a service
27. Are You Selling The Steak Or The Sizzle?  What are selling? The steak or the sizzle or why are paparazzi raking all the money
28. Ask For The Order  Quote from Michael Bloomberg
29. Audit  5 years ago, I was audited by the tax people. The audit took 45 minutes only
30. Baby On Board  Why do people place the baby on board sticker on their car? Will I crash in a tree instead of their car?
31. Backups: Do you know what you are doing?  Early this morning, I received a phone call from Steven. His computer crashed. He's a Mac. I'm no Mac expert, but I can figure things out
32. Backups: Real World  Backup is important, but do you know if it works? Only a bare metal recovery will tell you
33. Badmouthing The Competition  Never badmouth your competition, but you can differentiate yourself from your competition
34. Bailout  Both GM and Chrysler are getting their bailout, where's mine?
35. Bamboozle  Are you reading carefully the fine print? This is were they will get you
36. Becoming A Professional Photographer  Another great cartoon from What The Duck on becoming a professional photographer
37. Being A Pro  What does it mean to be a professional photographer?
38. Being True To Yourself  What does it mean to be true to yourself. But do you know who you are?
39. Benchmarks  Before doing changes, you need to have a baseline to evaluate the changes
40. Billings  Many photographers complain about how long it takes to be paid, but are you doing your accounting?
41. Blackmail  A customer refuses to pay for photos unless she gets more than was agreed
42. Boring  Doing the accounting is boring but it's critical to know how much you have to pay and who owes you money
43. Borrow  Quote about borrowing photos
44. Build A Brand  Can photographers build a brand?
45. Build Your Portfolio  How to build your portfolio according to what The Duck
46. Burn Rate  Venture funds use the burn rate metric to judge their investments, but photographers should use the burn rate in a different way
47. Business Curse  Brand new, innovative way of collecting from a customer
48. Camera Clubs  I was talking with some guy. He invited me to join his camera club. He is the senior photographer
49. Camera-advice  
50. Cameras and Competition  How much competition do photographers have?
51. Can I Get A Copy?  What the duck had this great cartoon for when people ask: "Can I get a copy of that?"
52. Can I Sell These Photos?  The most difficult part in becoming a professional photographer is starting. Where and How?
53. Can You Help Me Justify Spending This Much?  Why hide the prices, especially when it will be expensive, justify it.
54. Can You Shut Up?  Often photographers talk themselves out of a job. They need to learn to shut-up
55. Can You Take Criticism?  Can you take criticism? How do you deal with criticism?
56. Can't Afford To Go Out Of Business  When customers ask for discount, and I don't want to give them the discount, I say...
57. Can't Win?: Change The Rules  What should photographers do when they have to compete
58. Canceled Shoot  One of the most often used scam on photographers is cancelling the photo shoot and then asking for a refund
59. Canon 7D — Almost Review  Here are some of my opinions on the Canon 7d after a couple weeks of use.
60. Cash For Clunkers  The cash for clunkers program, from the US government just ended for car buyers. That doesn't mean that the program has ended for you.
61. Cash Is King  Cash is the most important measure, not AR or AP but cash
62. Cashmere Sweaters  The recession is here, but Kos men's wear boutique is not lowering its prices
63. Charging for Travel  There are great debates about whether photographers should charge for travel or not, here's mine
64. Cheapskates  Choose your customers carefully. Only deal with customers that will pay
65. Christian Science Monitor  The newspapers are folding, retreating, laying off. Now the Christian Science monitor is going to the online model only
66. Clean Socks  How you present yourself is very important when you are a photographer
67. Clearance Sale  Are you giving discounts? Then customers will ask for more discounts
68. CNN Trade Secrets  How to become a photojournalist according to CNN
69. Comparative Advantage  Quote from Peter Peterson of the Blackstone Group
70. Compete With A Lower Priced Photographer  How do you compete when the next photographer is cheaper than you
71. Compete With Free  How do you compete when the next photographer give his photos for free
72. Complaint Department  How to deal with customers that complain about your photos
73. Copyrights Warning  Often people update some information on their website, but forget to update the copyright dates
74. Corrupted Techie  Techie destroys computers and files at my largest customer
75. Cost Cutting  A customer wants me cut my prices, so I examine what cost I can cut
76. Cost of Doing Business — Part 1  Do you know how much it cost you to stay in business?
77. Cost The Same  The cost of producing a photo is the same if you do a good job or a bad job, but the customer will notice
78. Costs In Producing Photos  Do you know how much it cost to produce a photo
79. Coward  Since 11-Sep-2001, I have become a coward and don't stand for my rights when a rent-a-cop threatens...
80. Craft fairs: a waste of time?  Is it worthwhile to have a booth at craft fairs
81. Craft Fairs: How To Ignore Customers  I was at Granville Island and saw photographers with booth ignoring potential customers
82. Craig's List  Craig’s list is free, but do you want to be associated with all the cheapskates
83. Crashed Server  Friday, my server crashed. I knew for a week that one of the hard drive was dying. The server send me a personal email announcing that there were problems with the first hard drive
84. Credit Cards  When to use a credit card and when not to use them as a professional photographer
85. CRM vs. CEM  Are you building relationships with your customers or are you trying to eliminate your customers
86. Customer Finally Sees The Light  A very common problem for photographers is when the customer bought photos and now want to use the photo for other things without paying more
87. Customer Service  How do photographers provide customer service
88. Cutting Corners  Quote from Rob Haggart, a photo editor
89. Daylight Saving Time  Daylight Saving Time is here, but have you updated your cameras?
90. Daylight Saving Time — Fall 2009  Now is the fall 2009 and you have changed the time on your computers, what about your cameras?
91. Daylight Saving Time — Spring 2009  Now is the spring 2009 and you have changed the time on your computers, what about your cameras
92. Deadbeats  How to deal with deadbeat customers
93. Deadlines  One case where my customer didn't care about the deadlines or I though so, but
94. Debriefing  Long after most of my assignments, when I have been paid, most of the time I will call the client and even sometimes meet with her and I explain
95. Deflation  Recession and deflation are scary words and concept, learn from an industry that lives with it for the last 25 years
96. Delays  I am a procrastinator, new year’s resolutions
97. Delusions of grandeur  Some organizations have delusions of grandeur and think that the whole world revolve around them
98. Didn't Get The Photo Shoot  My advice on what to do if you don't get the photo shoot
99. Discount: YouTube  A YouTube video that would be extremely funny if it did not hit so close to home
100. Discounts  I don't like giving discounts but instead I will give extras
101. Discounts For Referrals  Wimpy from Popeye the sailor man said "I'd gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today"
102. Discounts, Discounts  I've never been a fan of discounts and here is my latest weapon
103. Do As I Say  Newspaper are laying off staff, complaining about the world but they pilferage the copyrights of writers and photographers
104. Do You Know What You Are Talking About?  Anybody can open a new blog and claim expertise because they saw once a professional photographer
105. Do You Know Your Customers?  Who's your customers and what do you know about them
106. Do You Specialize?  Do you have a specialty? Why not?
107. Doing Wedding Photography?  The life of wedding photographers is tough. No testing, no trial, only one day and it must be done right. No second chance. what happens when you screw-up?
108. Drunk  I was doing a photo shoot at a customer, and an employee was drunk
109. Dumb Email  Why are some photographers sending dumb emails?
110. Earn More  How to earn more by just doing a better job of showing your photos
111. Editing Your Photos  Why is there so many bad photos on the web. People forget the editing process
112. Email Auto Responders  Examples of emails auto responders
113. Email Checklist  Do you have an email check list?
114. Email Errors  Quote about email errors
115. Email For Blackberry Users  Email suggestions for BlackBerry users
116. Email Statistics 2008 - Part 1  Email stats — Part 1
117. Email Statistics 2008 - Part 2  Email stats — part 2
118. Emotional Bonus  Quote from Seth Godin
119. EppicSurf.com  How eppicsurf.com, a website, make money selling surfing photos
120. Everyone Can Be A Professional Photographer!  Click, click and now you are a professional photographer
121. Expensive Restaurant  What to do when an expensive restaurant screws up
122. Expert  Quote from Neils Bohr
123. Facebook  Should photographers have pages on Facebook, I don't like Facebook
124. Fear Uncertainty & Doubt  Fear Uncertainty & Doubt and how you can use it in your photo business
125. Firing a photographer  Are you in time for your customers, your fellow photographers?
126. Flash Only Websites  What I think about flash only websites
127. Follow Ups  Are you following up after giving a quote?
128. Foto-Biz — Business  The complete list of all articles about the photography business in alphabetical order
129. Free Photos  Here are my conditions for giving my photos for free
130. Free Publicity  How to get free publicity for a photographer
131. Freebies — Part 2  How do I deal with Freebies after I give them to the customer — Part 2
132. Friends and Discounts  A friend asked me make photos. Now what? How much of a discount to give her?
133. Gatekeeper  Executive always have gatekeepers, how to reach them
134. Gathering Information  There are so many things to remember when I talk to a potential client that I made a form for it
135. Get Sales Up  Quote from Nelson Peltz
136. Getting Better At The Photo Things  People are complaining about the specs of the Canon 60D. They haven't tried it. It's not out yet! Somehow they forget what it's about. Photos!
137. Getting Rich  What does it take to become rich or to become a professional photographer?
138. Getting Screwed  A photographer friend gave some of his photos to a charity which in turn gave them away to their sponsor a very big and large corporation
139. Getting Side-Swiped  Photographers are sometime used to get other business done on the corporate ladder
140. Getting The Appointment  A review of the book "Successful Self Promotion" by Elyse Weissberg
141. Getty Confidential Information: Part 1  Getty Confidential Report — Part 1
142. Getty Confidential Information: Part 2  Getty Confidential Report — Part 2
143. Gift Cards  The great benefit of giving away gift cards
144. Gifts  People always love gifts, especially when not expected
145. Give Up Your Shirt  Quote from Marc McCutcheon
146. Gone Bust  A photographer that I know just closed his studio
147. Good Debt — Bad Debt  Debt, some are good, some are bad
148. Great Business Based on Craig's List  Every photographer with a website and or a blog will tell you, to stay in business, you need to charge full price to make a profit, the overhead...
149. Great Portfolio Piece  We don’t have a big budget but it will make a great piece for your portfolio. Should you run for cover?
150. Groupies and the D300s  Last year when the Nikon announced the Nikon D90, the press and the bloggers were raving about this camera sight unseen. Now with the Nikon D300s, nothing, why?
151. Groupies and the D90  Groupies reaction to Nikon D90 without even seeing it or even trying it
152. Groupies and the D90 — Part 2  A review of what happened 2 weeks later after the announcement of the Nikon D90
153. Harassment  Some people love to harass and destroy any good atmosphere
154. He's a Thief  Some photographers have no problem from stealing from their customers
155. Headshots  So many headshots, and very few are inspiring but there is always Ben Baker to show you how it's done properly
156. Hooligans  Hooligans pan the Nikon D3x without even trying it or even testing it
157. Horizontal or Vertical  Do you shoot mostly horizontal photos or vertical photos
158. Hourly Rates  Why you shouldn't charge by the hours on a photo shoot
159. How Can I Help?  When I answer the phone I always say "How can I help?"
160. How Low Can It Go?  With the price of photos going to less than a penny per photo, how can you be cheaper than that?
161. How Low Can You Go?  Getting me to lower my prices? I didn't but still gave the customer a break
162. How Many Quotes?  How many quotes to send? I always gave 3 quotes to cover the "elcheapo" and the "deluxe"
163. How Much Should I Charge?  Every month I get a couple of emails asking me for advice on how much to charge for photos.
164. How Much to Charge?  When somebody turns professional, one of the first question is: How much to charge?
165. How NOT To Lose  I'm not going to get the job, so what should I do? Recommend somebody else
166. How Often Should You Promote?  Further praiseS for the book "Successful Self Promotion" by Elyse Weissberg
167. How To Become An Excellent Photographer In A Week  How to become an excellent photographer in a week without using your camera
168. How To Charge Full Price  How somebody charges full price when all the competitors are slashing the prices with 30% to 60% discounts.
169. How To Make $1,000 A Week In Your Spare Time From Your Photography  Another get rich quick scheme targeted toward photographers
170. How To Piss Customers Off — Part 1  The manager was furious. So as I tried to make conversation and asked what the problem was — he charged me $54 for the extra print!
171. How To Piss Customers Off — Part 2  Do you really need to piss customers off — Part 2
172. How To Piss Customers Off — Part 3  Do you really need to piss customers off — Part 3
173. How To Say No  Sometime I have to turn down business, how do I do it without antagonizing the could have been customer
174. How to Start as a Pro?  How do you start as professional photographer? Some photographers are lucky. The rest of us work hard.
175. How's Business?  When people hear that I'm a photographer, the first question they ask is "How's Business" but they don't really want to know
176. How's Business?  It's the first question people ask and everyone lies
177. How's Business?  Have you noticed that whenever you ask "How's Business?", the answer is always Good!
178. Hypocrite  Hypocrisy is do as I say and not as I do. Many photographers complain about cheaper competition... but do the same to others
179. I Am A Purist  Some photographers are pretentious
180. I Am Sure  Being sure and negotiating prices
181. I Blew It  This morning, I went to a customer to show them the out-takes, so they could decide which print they wanted. And the problems started
182. I Don't Really Know What I Want  I'm a terrible poker player. No matter what I try to do, when somebody drives me nut, you can see the steam coming out of my ears
183. I don't really like it  A customer decides that suddenly he doesn't like it so he can use his nephew instead
184. I Know Who You Are  I know who you are! You'd be surprised by how much I know, from your IP address, where you are coming from...
185. I Told You So  Don't you hate when somebody tells you: I told you so? A friend of mine that I help with her website is up the creek. She lost everything
186. I Tried Doing It Myself  The customer tried to take her own photos and it didn't work. Now what?
187. I Want To Pay More Taxes  I'm happy to pay my income tax
188. I'll Get Paid, When They Get Paid  This guy wants to pay me, maybe, but only if he gets paid
189. Ideas For Stock  Where to get photo ideas for stock
190. Idiots at the Helm  What's your business? What kind of business do you have long term if your goal is to screw the customer?
191. Increased Income: Fees vs. Hours  Should you work more hours or should increase your fees
192. Increased Income: Working Longer Hours  How many hours more can you work to increase your income
193. Industry Standards  Using industry standards to raise your prices
194. Input vs. Output  Relationship between work and earnings
195. Insult Your Customers  Who'd be stupid enough to run PhotoShop on a PC? do, we are and we have 11 PCs running PhotoShop
196. Internet: Delivery vs. Source  Quote from Mort Rosenblum
197. Inventory  The inventory of photographers is made of all the photos done and ready to be sold
198. Inventory Turnover  How often are you reselling the same photo?
199. iPad vs Netbook  What to choose an iPad or a Netbook? What to use for showing portfolios?
200. Is The Customer Always Right?  You must always agree with the customer's feelings
201. Is The Sky Falling?  Listening to the media we have reached the end of the world, but photographers are still working...
202. Is This A Good Workshop?  Jane, a friend, wants to improve her photography so she asked for my advice on wether she should take this workshop.
203. Is Your Camera Approved?  If you want to do stock by the big boys you need the right toys, I mean cameras
204. It's Just A Thought  How do I present my ideas and alterntives without forcing them on the "could be a customer"
205. John Lund's Interview With Charlie Holland  John Lund interviewed Charlie Holland and should be mandatory reading for anybody that's interested in stock photography
206. Just Plain Luck  Luck is so important
207. Keep Your Copyrights  To have more information about copyrights go to the Columbia Law School website
208. Keeping Your Eyes On The Ball  I often get distracted and have to get myself back working on the business
209. Keeping Your Eyes On The Ball — Part 2  Can you keep your eyes on the ball? Can you live with the consequences?
210. Knowns & Unknowns  What do you know? What you don't know
211. Lawyers and Contracts  As photographers when are always involved with contract, either from us the photographers or from the buyer/customer
212. Layoffs  What you should know when you will fire, I mean let go, people
213. Lead Horse to Water  My suggestions for the car industry
214. Lemmings  On the web most blogs only repeat what others have said — Part 2
215. Lemmings At Work: Feb 2009  On the web most blogs only repeat what others have said — Part 1
216. Let's See How  Let's see how we can make this work. That should be your starting position
217. Liability Insurance  Do you have liability insurance and how to use it against your competition
218. Liable For Links  If the SEC gets its way, you will be liable for links on your website
219. Lightroom 2.3 Has NOT been Released  Contrarily to what many bloggers say, Lightroom 2.3 has not been released yet, it was only the beta
220. Limited Print Editions  What's a limited print edition?
221. Long Term Relationship  I really hate this expression. It's the red flag that they want to "screw" me
222. Losing Money  Can you be a professional photographer and lose money
223. Lost Photos  A friend of mine lost the compact flash card of a photo shoot
224. Lots of Visitors but Low Sales  I have been taking soccer photos of my kids and their team mates for years and giving them away. This year, I put my photos on SmugMug and posted over 10,000 photos for this season. I've had plenty of visitors but sales are dismal.
225. Lottery  The importance of luck when having a blog or doing anything on the Internet
226. Loving It Is Enough  Is loving it enough? a cartoon from What the Duck
227. Lower Risk  Quote from Zhang Xin of Soho China
228. Lowering My Rates  In time of recession, should I lower my rates
229. Luxurious Wedding Photographer  How do the high end wedding photographers get there
230. Magazines & Newspapers Going Out of Business  The Internet is supposed to be the death of the publishing industry, but some are growing and prospering, why?
231. Make Your Own Luck  Some photographers are more lucky than others, mostly the lucky photographers make their own luck
232. Manners  Why do so many professional photographers have bad manners?
233. Manual for Camera  The discovery of the manual for an old camera: the Canon EOS Elan
234. Meeting Canceled  It's the 3rd time in a row that I just had a meeting canceled and rescheduled
235. Mistakes  What does experience means
236. MIT Free Photo Courses Online  The prestigious MIT, just outside of Boston has a whole bunch of free photography courses online. So you can save your pennies.
237. Money Back Guarantees  GM is offering 100% money back guarantee. what can photographers learn from it
238. Money Money  Some photographers are more successful than others, why?
239. Moo Business Cards  I ordered 50 moo cards, for $30, expensive but well worth it
240. More With Less  Work more, get paid less
241. Mystery Customer  What are the benefits of having a mystery customer
242. Naivety  So many young people do and say stupid things on the web, and forget that what's on the web stays there forever
243. New Year Planning  It's a new year, it's time to start planning your photography
244. Nikon D3x  Many people rant about the Nikon D3x. Do they know what they are writing about?
245. No Free Lunch  Steward Brand vs Steve Wozniak at the first Hackers Conference in 1984 and how it still affect us, photographers, today.
246. No Good Deed Goes Unpunished  A photographer friend of mine helped a friend and now got punished for doing a favour
247. Non Compete Agreements  Another useless non compete agreement that means nothing and is not worth the lawyers fees
248. Not Close Enough  quote from Robert Capa
249. Not Even In The League  Everybody, and their dog, thinks that a camera's all you need to get into the photography business.
250. Obama's Coronation  What can photographers learn from Obama's coronation
251. Obnoxious Photographer  Why are some photographers so obnoxious?
252. Oh By The Way  Watch out when customers use the Colombo’s Oh By The Way
253. Old Computers, Old Software  Should you update your older computer with the older software?
254. Only 1 customer  Would your attitude change if you only had one customer?
255. Outsourcing  Many people use outsourcing, but then they complain when they get outsourced themselves
256. Overhead  Knowing and controlling your overheads is what will make the difference between staying in business or not
257. Overhead Costs  Keeping track of your overhead for operating a photography business
258. Overseas Shoot  Here's another scam about photographers and overseas photo shoot
259. Paparazzi  Why are paparazzi making so much more money than other photographers
260. Perfect Storm  Only incompetents use the excuse of the perfect storm
261. Personal Project  I'm looking for my own photo personal project and don't know yet which one to take on
262. Photo Booth For Marketing  What about doing a photo booth for marketing purpose? Mark just did
263. Photo Contracts  Today we live in a very litigious world and as photographers we need to be protected
264. Photo Ideas  Where to get ideas for photos
265. Photo Pixels  Quote on what photo pixels are
266. Photographer vs. Plumber  Comparison between a photographer and a plumber
267. Photographer's Stages  It's what real photographers think
268. Photographers and Gloves  It's cold out there, especially for photographers. There's not real good solution, except mine of course.
269. Photographers: Recession Proof?  What does it mean to be recession-proof?
270. Photography Forums  Here's a list of various forums that deal with the business of photography
271. Photography Websites: What Buyers Want  What do photo buyers want, and how not to alienate them
272. Photography Wedding Business Survey  2008/2009 survey of wedding photographers
273. Photos — Facebook Size  Posting photos on the Internet. People will steal, copy and print them. Here are some of my suggestions.
274. Photos of Jesus  Today, I received an email requesting photos of Jesus in Jerusalem. Yes, that Jesus, the Christ, the...
275. PhotoShop Piracy  Photoshop is the most pirated software because of Adobe's attitude and pricing
276. Pick A Niche  What your photo niche
277. Pissing Match  There are only losers in a pissing match, nobody wins, so stay away
278. Please Do Not Reply To This E-Mail  Why do they send emails that say Please do not reply to this e-mail
279. Policies For Customers  What are your policies when dealing with customers
280. Postcards  The lowly postcard, one of your best advertising tool
281. Predictions  Here are my 2009 predictions, and they are the same as last year
282. Predictions 2010  2009 is almost finished, everybody makes the predictable predictions for 2010. So here are my predictions, kind of.
283. Price Of A Photo  How do you price a photo, what price should you charge
284. Pricing Don't Explain  You don't have to explain your pricing. If you explain, they can argue with it
285. Pricing for 1/2 Page: Corporate Use  Prices for corporate use of photos: 1/2 page
286. Pricing for 1/4 Page: Corporate Use  Prices for corporate use of photos: 1/4 page
287. Pricing for Full Page: Corporate Use  Prices for corporate use of photos: full page
288. Pricing Front Cover Page: Corporate Use  Prices for corporate use of photos: front cover page
289. Professional Photographer Skills  People skills are the most underrated requirements to be a professional photographer
290. Profit & Loss or Cash Flow  Should you look at your profit and loss or at your cash flow
291. Profits  The higher your rates, the higher your credibility
292. Promises, Promises  What kind of promises are you doing? As a photographer, are you keeping your promises?
293. Proofsheets  Proofsheets are a poor way of showing photos to your customers unless they are themselves professionals
294. Publication Prices  Web resources for pricing your photos
295. Pursue Customers  How to follow up after sending an email
296. Questions For 2010  This is already January 2010. Photography is a tough business, prices are going down, competition is growing and the market is expanding significantly. How do you get your piece of the pie?
297. Raise Your Prices  Why should photographers raise their prices
298. Raising Prices  How to raise your prices
299. Reaching Customers  To be a photo business, you must have customers
300. Read The Darn Contract  Since it's a brand new customer, I read the contract, the contract and guess what I found in the payment terms section?
301. Referrals  Referrals can come from the most unexpected value
302. Religion  Religion has not part of business, so keep it that way
303. Rentals  Renting photos by the month
304. Replacement Camera  What's your backup camera
305. Reply To Lowball Offer  What to do when there is a lowball offer?
306. Retouching vs. Enhanced  Are you retouching your photos or are you enhancing your photos
307. Returning a Canon 1DsMk3  A friend of mine bought and returned a Canon 1DsMk3, the camera was too good for his business
308. Returning a Canon 1DsMk3  A friend of mine bought and returned a Canon 1DsMk3, the camera was too good for his business
309. Returning Phone Calls  How prompt are you at returning phone calls
310. Revisiting Groupies and the D90  Photo bloggers have a mob mentality instead of thinking for themselves
311. Revisiting Groupies and the D90  Photo bloggers have a mob mentality instead of thinking for themselves
312. Revisiting Returning a Canon 1DsMk3  Looking back at a friend of mine bought and returned a Canon 1DsMk3, the camera was too good for his business
313. Revisiting Returning a Canon 1DsMk3  Looking back at a friend of mine bought and returned a Canon 1DsMk3, the camera was too good for his business
314. Revisiting: $100 Wedding  Here is again what happens when somebody wants to pay only $100 for me to do their wedding
315. Road Photography  How Killboy is marketing their photos
316. Rolex Watches  There are many large brands like Seiko, Citizen, Swatch... that make "better" watches
317. Running A Photo Business From Home  What do you need to run a photo business from home
318. Running Out Of Money  The leading cause of failure of startups is death, and death happens when you run out of money
319. Rush Jobs  Low paying rush photo shoots are the bane of photographers
320. Satisfaction Guaranteed  Customer satisfaction starts with communicating with the customer
321. Schmexpert  There are many schmexperts but so few people actually doing
322. School of Stock  A great resource for stock photographers
323. Screw Your Customers  Why do some corporations insist on screwing their customers
324. Sell More  You can earn more either by doing more photo shoot or by raising the price of your photo shoot
325. Selling A Commodity  what are you selling commodity or do you bring value with your photos
326. Selling Photos on eBay  Many photographers sell their prints on eBay
327. Selling The Problem  What are you selling? Are your photos the solution to their problems
328. SEO  Search engine Optimization for photographers
329. Set Your Hourly Rate Where You Really Want It  Freelanceswitch.com advise to steal from your customers
330. Setting Prices  How do you set your prices, by the hour, by the day or by the photo
331. Show Off  A very large part of the people with Digital SLRs are show off. They buy the most expensive camera or the camera with the best high ISO
332. Show Yourself As A Professional  Do you show yourself as a professional. amateurs never use or even know what's a grey card
333. Shut Up!  Too often, I keep on talking when I should keep quiet and loose the sale
334. Silent Auctions  Silent auctions are a great way of promoting your photo business
335. Slice and Dice  David Kirkland specialize in a tiny market and makes a very good living at it
336. Small and Medium Businesses  Press release from iStockPhoto about small and medium businesses
337. Smart vs. Lucky  Are you smart or lucky. Personally, I'd prefer to be lucky
338. Sold Out  With your website, you should give as much information as possible
339. Somebody Told Me I Should...  Waffling customers are hard to deal with
340. Soul  quote from Ted Grant
341. Specialties  What's your photo specialties
342. Spitting In The Soup  Never spit in the soup, and don't bad-mouth your customers or you'll end up like the newspapers
343. Squirrels  How far can you specialize. Some photographers specialize in Squirrels
344. Staff Photographers  Almost all staff photographers are gone, now what?
345. Starbucks  I used to always go to Starbucks, now not anymore
346. Staying In Business  How I am staying in business in spite of the recession
347. Stealing Keywords  Find out which keywords other photographers use
348. Stealing Photos  somebody has copied your photos and posted them on their website. What to do?
349. Stop Wasting Time  Realize when people are just kicking the tires and will buy your photo services — Part 1
350. Stop Wasting Time — Part 2  Realize when people are just kicking the tires and will buy your photo services — Part 2
351. Strangled  I was Downtown Vancouver, BC, trying to take street photos when somebody tried to strangle me and mug me.
352. Stupid Racist  why did I have coffee with a stupid racist? I didn't know that he was an anti-semite when we started.
353. Successful Email Subject Lines  Various email subject lines and how successful they were
354. Suckers  The famous quote from PT Barnum
355. Supply & Demand Revisited  How photographers are affected by the law of supply and demand
356. Supply And Demand  The standard economist theory of supply and demand. As a photographer, by selling services I limit the supply
357. Take or Make Photos  Are you taking photos or are you making photos
358. Take The High Road  Whenever there's an argument, take the high road
359. Tamrac AeroSpeed 85 Backpack  I don't do too many reviews, because I only review what I buy. I'm a backpack freak and I bought the Tamrac Aerospeed 85 backpack. It was on sale.
360. Taxes  I'm happy to pay my taxes because it means that I made a profit
361. Telephone Cold Calls  I hate doing telephone cold calls
362. Telephone: Ears vs. Mouth  When you are on the phone, how much do you talk vs. listening
363. Thank You Note  Always send handwritten Thank You notes, people will appreciate it
364. Thank You Note After Meeting  I had the meeting with the 'could become a customer' now I need to sit tight and wait
365. The $200 Assignment  Over the last couple of weeks there has been a kerfuffle about photographers that should not accept the $200 assignment and that was started by A Photo Editor
366. The Big Launch  Many photographers try to have a big launch. Here's my experience on how to loose money with a big launch
367. The Check Is In The Mail - part 1  The long saga of being paid by a reluctant manager — part 1
368. The Check Is In The Mail - part 2  The long saga of being paid by a reluctant manager — part 2
369. The Check Is In The Mail - part 3  The long saga of being paid by a reluctant manager — part 3
370. The Check Is In The Mail - part 4  The long saga of being paid by a reluctant manager — part 4
371. The Cloud Is Falling  Are you sure that this is the end of the world for photographers?
372. The Customer Is The Enemy!  How do you treat your customers
373. The Fountainhead  People always ask me which camera, which lens they should buy
374. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly  How not to treat customers who buy over the Internet
375. The Information Age and Photography  What's the difference between information and data. How does this apply to photographers
376. The Last 10 Years  The last 10 years have been the most momentous years of the whole 150 year history of photography
377. The Paywall  Rupert Murdoch placed a paywall on the Times in July 2010 and it looks that it's not working. Even subscribers with free access aren't coming in
378. The Professional Photographer is Out of Business!  I had a conversation with a "guru". He claims that photography as a business is dead because everybody can buy a photo for a buck ($1) on iStockPhoto
379. The Service Department According to What The Duck  The service department for older cameras according to What The Duck.
380. The Smart Ass  Sometimes I'm a real smart ass. I was at the beach taking photos of Walter, a wonderful killer, a 9 month old French Bulldog. I was busy making my photos
381. The Squeeze  Are you helping your customers decide to buy?
382. This camera takes nice pictures  Does a guitar plays nice melodies? So why would a camera take nice photos?
383. Throwing Money  When projects don't go ahead, why keep trying to still make it work and keep on loosing money
384. Timeline Photo Shoots  Are you calling back to check after giving a quote?
385. Times Are Tough  Copy the promotions used by camera makers and adapt them to your own circumstances
386. Times of Unprecedented Changes  Photography has a history of unprecedented changes, here's my abridged history of photography with the important cross-roads
387. Tom Grill and Stock Photography  An interview of Tom Grill on stock photography
388. Trade Guilds and Associations  Trade guilds and associations have always taken the position that they must be the only one... Only their members can do...
389. Trademarks  What's a trademark and how it affect us the photographers
390. Traitor  There are always religious fanatics, but do we need fanatics in the photo world?
391. Travel Commercial Photos  Many places are copyrighted and trade marked and can't be used by travel photographers
392. Travel Stock Photo Rejections  Why do stock photo agencies reject photos
393. Treating Customers Right  Are you treating your customers right?
394. Trust Me  when somebody says trust me, it always raises an alarm bell in my mind
395. Turning Down Business  Sometimes I have to turn down business. Why? Because, it's not my forte or I don't like it
396. Two People  Famous quote from Ansel Adams
397. Unhappy Friend  Dealing with friends when selling your photo services
398. User Experience  Memo from Bill Gates about his experience with Windows
399. Value  Do your customers feel that they are getting value for your photo services
400. Value Of A Backup  What's the value of a backup
401. Want To Grow Your Photo Business?  How can you grow your photography business
402. Watermark — Photographer's Math  A very nice and entertaining quote from Photographer's Math website
403. We don't like their sound  Dumb music executive on the Beatles
404. Weasel  Weaseling out is never good for business
405. Web Site Friendly or Frustrating — Part 1  David Walker interviewed photo editors and photo buyers on what they like and what they hate about photography web sites
406. Web Site Friendly or Frustrating — Part 2  Why piss-off your customers or your potential customers? More of what frustrates buyers and potential buyers
407. What Do You Sell  Photography as a business is a dead business
408. What I Learned Buying a Rug in Turkey  Photography and people
409. What The Duck — Camera  I always say that now is a good time to buy: the cameras, the computers... Yes, it will improve and be cheaper next year
410. What The Duck — Camera Makes Nice Photos  So many people have told me that my camera must make nice photos.
411. What The Duck — Make Better Photos  Many people spend their life discussing which camera's better.
412. What The Duck — Work For Free  How do you compete when the next photographer give his photos for free
413. What The Duck Blog Summary  There are times when What The Duck hits the right note, today's one of these days.
414. What To Do After You Are Laid Off  You are a photographer and have been laid off. Now what?
415. What Went Wrong?  The photo shoot did not went well, what to do now
416. What You Can Control  Quote from Ben Selekman
417. What's the best …  I regularly receive emails asking "What's the best …?"
418. What's your photo specialty  Specialties are a way of boosting your photographic income, but are you really a specialist
419. Which Camera To Buy - Part 1  Which Camera To Buy - Part 1
420. Which Camera To Buy - Part 2  Which Camera To Buy - Part 2
421. Which Camera To Buy - Part 3  Which Camera To Buy - Part 3
422. Whine and Complain  Photographers as a group love to complain instead of dealing with the issue
423. Whiners  Many photographers reminisce about the good old days. Where they that good?
424. Who Are Your Customers?  We've all heard that newspapers can't compete in an Internet world. The newspaper industry is dying. That's because they are managed by incompetents.
425. Who Can You Trust?  Some people will do anything to take advantage of you, even large companies. Who can you trust?
426. Who Owns Your Photos?  You make photos be it portraits, wedding, landscapes... You sell them, now who owns these photos?
427. Why Buy Photos From You  What are the reasons that people buy photo from you
428. Why Insist On Annoying Customers?  Many photographers and websites go to great length to annoy their customers
429. Why you, why now  Why you, why now? That's really the only questions between you and a sale.
430. Will Photograph Anything  Presentation is one of the most important aspect of photography
431. Wordpress — Hacked Again  Over the last four weeks, many WordPress blogs have been hacked. Especially on GoDaddy, where thousands of blogs have been hacked. This is not just a problem with GoDaddy
432. Work For Free  Here are my requirements for giving away my photos
433. Working For Free And Charities  Charities that pay their employees extremely well are asking for my photos for free because they are charities
434. Wrong Attitude  Many businesses think that they are immune to the recession
435. Xmas Cards & Presents  I have stopped giving Xmas cakes and food to my customers. Instead I way for January when I have no competition
436. Yellow Pages? — Not!  I have tried the yellow pages for advertising and what a mistake it was
437. You Just Never Know  Yousuf Karsh of Ottawa was one of the most respected portrait photographer. He operated from a far away place Ottawa, Canada
438. You'Ve Got To Be Kidding Me!  Not all customers are good customers. Some customers should be avoided like the plague