Becoming a real professional?

[paigew]

Good luck! Its always important to charge your worth $600 is way too cheap!!

 

[DGMPhotography]

I wondered at first if I had the wrong person in mind and took a look at your profile page, so now I know I did have the right person in mind. It seems like this would be maybe the third job you'd be quitting in I guess a year or two since school? I don't know what your major was but maybe you should think about what you can do to figure out what you'd like to do and where to go from here.

This idea seems unrealistic. The money the other photographer makes might sound good but if you go into business yourself you won't have benefits, so you'd have to pay your own taxes since it won't be withheld by an employer, would need to provide for your own insurance, retirement, etc. Which isn't something anyone thinks about much probably at your age but at some point it's going to be necessary to consider and include in a business plan.

Photography itself doesn't seem to be a likely job or career for that many people to support themselves. I'm not sure that it ever was, and in recent years even less so. It seems to more of a sideline for most people. You seem to have ability but would probably benefit from continuing to develop skills. Your friend seems to be having success booking weddings but there are photos on her site that seem to still need improvement as I see what seems to have been editing done to correct for inconsistencies in quality. Which indicates to me being on a learning curve where the work is good but could be better in time. I suppose the average potential client won't necessarily see it but continuing to improve would help in being successful to be competitive with established photographers for this to be a long term career.

And acting? that doesn't necessarily seem like a lucrative job either but I don't know what experience you have in that.

I hope you can find a job or career choice that you'd enjoy and be a good way to support yourself. Photography may not be the best choice for fulltime work, but could develop into that in the future.

I've always valued your opinion, but I'm afraid I have to disagree with you 100% here. Yes, I have had a couple of jobs, but I only "quit" one of them. The jobs I've had were short because they were internships or contract positions. They weren't meant to be long term anyway. They were good experiences, and they taught me things, and I was there long enough to realize what I'd rather be doing.

I have a degree in entrepreneurship and I've done the research and know what goes into the financial side of running a business. I know plenty of people who make a living from photography, and a lot of them are at the same level as me, skill-wise. Taxes, etc. That's just part of running your own business.

I'm not the best, but the work I provide is valuable. I just have to get my name out there.

You say acting isn't lucrative, and neither is photography. But that's not the reason people (or at least I) go into it. We do it because it's our passion and it's what we enjoy doing the most. I don't need to be rich. As long as I'm making enough to sustain myself, and I'm doing what I love, I'm happy. You remind me of my mom when she told me in high school that my dreams were unrealistic. That just drove me to try harder.

And of course my goal is to always be improving. I'd think that wouldn't have to be stated. Of course, we can always do better.

Photography isn't the only thing I'm doing. As an entrepreneur, I have my hand in a lot of different activities, but photography is my main thing.

So thanks for your comment, but I'm going to interpret it as naysay, and use that to drive me forward.

And thanks to everyone else for your advice and support as well!

 

[dennybeall]

Reminds me of a software salesman from years ago. He sold hotel software and tried selling it cheap. Couldn't sell much! So he raised his prices five fold and the same stuff started selling like hotcakes. The cheap prices were seen as for a cheap product and the high cost inferred a quality product so folks bought it.
Worth remembering......

 

[DGMPhotography]

Reminds me of a software salesman from years ago. He sold hotel software and tried selling it cheap. Couldn't sell much! So he raised his prices five fold and the same stuff started selling like hotcakes. The cheap prices were seen as for a cheap product and the high cost inferred a quality product so folks bought it.
Worth remembering......

Yeah, that's exactly what I'm thinking. I was just ignorant to Richmond's price point.

 

[randymckown]

There's always somebody who will pay whatever you're asking .. you just have to ask for it first. LOL ... other side of the card ... there's always somebody who will want to pay you $2 an hour for your time and still feel like you're ripping them off. The trick is to not care if you don't get any business from the cheapskates and focus on the average to high-end clients.

 

[DGMPhotography]

There's always somebody who will pay whatever you're asking .. you just have to ask for it first. LOL ... other side of the card ... there's always somebody who will want to pay you $2 an hour for your time and still feel like you're ripping them off. The trick is to not care if you don't get any business from the cheapskates and focus on the average to high-end clients.

Yeah. You're definitely right.