I’d like to vent, if you’ve got a minute? Or maybe 5?
So, the thing is, I have no poker face. I find it very hard to play games.
Wait let’s not start there; let’s backtrack. Here’s the ‘thing’: When I first started my business back in 2007, I took a lot of advice from people in the field whom I looked up to.
And without fail, they all told me the same thing – don’t give your clients all the digital files. If they want them all they will have to re-mortgage their house & busk on the street in order to pay for them (well, they didn’t say that, but that’s how I felt about it). Sell packages where the most they will get is 30 images, and then let them pay per image for any extras. Uhmmmmm…ok?..
Yeah, I didn’t like this approach from the get-go. It never sat well with me.
I felt mean withholding files from my clients, plus I was so excited to share what we had made together that I never wanted to upload a gallery of 20 photos when I knew I actually had 65 awesome ones that they would love. And I’m a WYSIWYG kinda girl. I know people who had photo sessions with other photographers and then never got all their photos because they couldn’t afford to buy the disk on key.
At the risk of upsetting other photographers who are reading this…I just want to say..what IS that?! How can we leave our clients without their files? Look, I know everyone has to earn a living, but isn’t this missing the point of why we are in this industry in the first place?
My goodness if I wanted to be a millionaire, I would not have become a photographer. It is one of the most expensive passions a person could ever have. The amount of money that we have to plough back into our businesses could make your hair stand on end. BUT, this was *my* choice and personally, I don’t feel I need anyone to suffer or lose out because of it. My clients should not have to go without just because this is an expensive industry. If they have invested with me, I want them to get the max out of their time with me.
If you are my client, I want you to be happy. I want these photos to work for you and elevate your business. I want you to have a quick access file on your desktop that is full of stacks of images that are already formatted for web, so that any time you need to post to social media or update your blog or make a landing page, you can find the perfect image to accompany your text within seconds. Yes, it should & it can be THAT easy.
And in my humble opinion, I am not going to accomplish that by sending you 10 images from our 2 hour session together.
ALSO!! 2 hours of your time for a measly 10 photos?! If you are posting to social media on any kind of regular basis, you are going to use those up in just over a week! And as your business evolves, you will need to update your photos, but you dont want to be booking a new photo session every 3 weeks, do you?! (do you?..)
I want to maximise our time together because…say it with me….time is precious (you thought I was going to say “time is money”, didn’t you? yes, that too..)
So, as of January 1, 2019 I am changing the way I structure my packages. Until now, I have defined them by time & number of files, but I ALWAYS, without fail end up giving more time & more files than I first specified, so what is the point?!
The focus going forwards will be on how many ’stories’ we will map out during your session.
For example, if you pick Package 1, we will tell up to 3 stories. What do I mean by 3 stories?
Well let’s say you are a fitness instructor. Your 3 might look something like this:
Story 1: preparing for classes – going through routines in front of a mirror, writing out your class plans, calling clients to check they will be attending Story 2: Leading a class – you in front of the class, close ups of students, detail shots of their shoes, shots of the equipment Story 3: behind the scenes – doing online research, recording videos, working out in your spare time (ha!)
My new packages will provide either 3, 5 or unlimited stories with the minimum amount of images being around 60 files. Go big or go home, right?!
Thanks for listening. I HAD to get that off my chest!
PS: Just in case you thought I had forgotten to give you info on how to work with me.. If you would like to lock in my 2018 prices but get all the benefits of the new 2019-style packages without having to sell your first-born child to pay for it, now is the time to schedule a call with me. Here’s the link to book a video chat https://calendly.com/sarahraanan/15-minute-work-with-me-consultation/11-28-2018