Senior Forum Members, PLEASE HELP! In need of some advice :/

[Steve5D]

this might have a lot to do with who you are and the circles you travel in, company you keep. "I promise" is usually more than i tell people i usually say "ill take care of it" and have traded thousands on just that.
Different phrasing, means different things amongst different people.

You must be the guy who believes someone when they tell you that, even though they can't pay you, it'll help your business because you can use the shots for your portfolio...

 

[pixmedic]

Well, this is turning into a "chicken or the egg" argument.... My answer is simple. Honor the job you legitimately set up first. If the restaurant didn't return calls or emails, and in that period of time you booked the prom gig, then the prom girl should be your focus. Period.

In the end though, you have to do what you feel is best. What is best for you or your business is up to you to decide. Personally, I will (and have) lost money before breaking my word. Sometimes that really hurts....but not as much as the feeling that my word has no value would.

 

[runnah]

I don't understand how this has lasted this long. You said you were going to do something now do it.

God my 2.5 year old knows this.

 

[Steve5D]

The good news is that this wouldn't be the first time a prom date has been left in tears.

That was funny...

 

[bribrius]

ditch the prom queen. pay her limo, give her cash, hire another photographer, whatever. But DITCH the prom queen. your first commitment was already made when he said he would get you in the door and you agreed.

apparently you thought he was joking. Business isn't like that. If you don't do that job now, you are backing out on the guy that said he "would get you in" and depending on how or what this business entails he or they could very well be PISSED.

The prom queen is the double book. I think YOU misread this entire situation.

If the prom shoot was scheduled first, then it's not the double book. If someone tells you that they'll "get you in the door", but doesn't immediately follow that up with a scheduled gig, then you can't be expected to just sit around and wait. In this case, a few weeks went by, with no word from anyone. So, the OP scheduled the prom shoot. Should the OP have just scheduled nothing? I don't wait weeks to hear from someone who might want to hire me. That would be beyond foolish.

At this point, if the Senior wants to confirm, let her give a deposit. Without a deposit, the date remains open, and the Senior needs to be made aware of that. If she doesn't pay a deposit, she does so at the risk of losing the date...

suppose "get you in the door" and "ill get you the job" are two different things. Like i said, a lot of this is who you are talking to.

 

[Steve5D]

I don't understand how this has lasted this long.

Yeah, two whole days.

On the interwebs.

Freakin' unheard of...

 

[runnah]

I don't understand how this has lasted this long.

Yeah, two whole days.

On the interwebs.

Freakin' unheard of...

 

[Steve5D]

ditch the prom queen. pay her limo, give her cash, hire another photographer, whatever. But DITCH the prom queen. your first commitment was already made when he said he would get you in the door and you agreed.

apparently you thought he was joking. Business isn't like that. If you don't do that job now, you are backing out on the guy that said he "would get you in" and depending on how or what this business entails he or they could very well be PISSED.

The prom queen is the double book. I think YOU misread this entire situation.

If the prom shoot was scheduled first, then it's not the double book. If someone tells you that they'll "get you in the door", but doesn't immediately follow that up with a scheduled gig, then you can't be expected to just sit around and wait. In this case, a few weeks went by, with no word from anyone. So, the OP scheduled the prom shoot. Should the OP have just scheduled nothing? I don't wait weeks to hear from someone who might want to hire me. That would be beyond foolish.

At this point, if the Senior wants to confirm, let her give a deposit. Without a deposit, the date remains open, and the Senior needs to be made aware of that. If she doesn't pay a deposit, she does so at the risk of losing the date...

suppose "get you in the door" and "ill get you the job" are two different things. Like i said, a lot of this is who you are talking to.

On what planet are "I'll get you in the door" and "I'll get you the job" even remotely the same thing?

I had someone tell me that they would get me "in the door" to shoot for an online concert magazine. I've written them, trying to find out what's going on, and he hems and haws and is never able to tell me what's going on.

I had a friend tell me that she would "get me the job" of doing security at a bar she manages in St. Augustine. I start tomorrow night.

There's a very, very big difference between the two statements...

 

[bribrius]

this might have a lot to do with who you are and the circles you travel in, company you keep. "I promise" is usually more than i tell people i usually say "ill take care of it" and have traded thousands on just that.
Different phrasing, means different things amongst different people.

You must be the guy who believes someone when they tell you that, even though they can't pay you, it'll help your business because you can use the shots for your portfolio...

no. i just have worked things similar in way to how the o.p.s. conversation with the printer went. someone told me they need a roof, asked if i knew anyone. i asked them what they had for money, shingle metal what did they have in mind..And told them don't worry about it ill take care of it. couple weeks goes by i pulled a favor. construction company i know told him 2k and a case of beer. no prob. crew showed up and put on the roof on this persons house banged it out in less than a day. person calls me back telling me the roof came out fine. i collected the money passed it on a few days later and moved on.

suppose the original person could have called me ten times and hired someone to do it. But when i said "don't worry about it ill take care of it" i meant it and they knew i meant it. All in who are are talking to. Not one person in my situations has a misunderstanding, schedule problems or is asking for security deposits. I've had people side houses for me and do 15k dollar jobs with no money down and a simple phrase like "yep, ill do it". Just side work like that I've dabbled in for a comparison but i think you understand where im going with this.
"hey can you grab me 41 windows while you are down there?" "yeah ill size them out tomorrow "
"About how much you think itll run?"
"probably around four k. ill pick them up later this month and we'll catch up"
"okay"
Brokerage house margin all (back when i had more money lol)
"hey bri, we got a call on one of your accounts, your in about fifteen k"
"umm ****. im dumping xyz and ill cover give me a couple days"
"alright, talk to you then"

another
"you going to the auction this weekend (cars"
"yeah, i need a few things to throw on the lot"
"looking for something for my nephew, mind keeping your eye out"
"yeah, if i see something ill throw it on, if he don't want it well toss it on the lot"

"thanks, keep it under a couple k"
"yep"

its that simple. All in the circles you travel in.

 

[Braineack]

no.

 

[bribrius]

no.

yes. printer is probably one of those types of people. Business people in general usually are. which is why i immediately jumped to the printer and the o.p misunderstanding. he probably wasn't joking.....
"get in the door" in some circles is "you have the job"

 

[Steve5D]

Well, the issue here is that the OP doesn't really know the restaurant folks, and "get you in the door" means very little. It's akin to "I can't pay you, but they'll look great in your portfolio". Neither one advances a business, and one shouldn't rely on either.

In this case, the OP had no reason to believe that anything with the restaurant would come to fruition. She e-mailed and she called, and for her efforts she got zero response. Hey, it wouldn't be the first time a potential client decided to go with someone else. So, when another client came along, she took that job; the job for which she could actually speak to someone.

Waiting for a client to reply is a bad move. It's bad business. Sure, every once in a while it might pan out, but far more often than not it'll bite you in the ass and, instead of shooting a gig, you're sitting on the couch wishing you were shooting a gig...

 

[Steve5D]

"get in the door" in some circles is "you have the job"

I'm gonna' guess that'll end up being the dumbest thing posted to the internet today.

The OP did everything reasonable here. The restaurant took their sweet time contacting her, despite her repeated attempts to contact them, and the result is that she took another booking. It was the smart move.

I still think shooting both could be arranged, and I would try working towards that end...

 

[bribrius]

Well, the issue here is that the OP doesn't really know the restaurant folks, and "get you in the door" means very little. It's akin to "I can't pay you, but they'll look great in your portfolio". Neither one advances a business, and one shouldn't rely on either.

In this case, the OP had no reason to believe that anything with the restaurant would come to fruition. She e-mailed and she called, and for her efforts she got zero response. Hey, it wouldn't be the first time a potential client decided to go with someone else. So, when another client came along, she took that job; the job for which she could actually speak to someone.

Waiting for a client to reply is a bad move. It's bad business. Sure, every once in a while it might pan out, but far more often than not it'll bite you in the ass and, instead of shooting a gig, you're sitting on the couch wishing you were shooting a gig...

im just sayn, i think the o.p. misread the printer. which im not surprised. i can see how this would happen just by reading the responses on this thread. And if it is the first time the o.p had dealt with the printer or these people they have nothing in the past history to understand exactly what something means. The only thing i can correlate this too, is actually a insurance claim on a deck for fivek for someone. People asked me about it. i said i could "probably do that". i showed up and sent someone to start knocking down the old deck. They looked a little shocked the person was there with me because apparently they didn't comprehend we were doing it by my wording. Or maybe they didn't believe it. no idea. so out there with sledgehammers and saws, they walked out and were kind of shocked watching the old deck coming down.

 

[Steve5D]

im just sayn, i think the o.p. misread the printer. which im not surprised. i can see how this would happen just by reading the responses on this thread. And if it is the first time the o.p had dealt with the printer or these people they have nothing in the past history to understand exactly what something means.

Assumption is the mother of disaster.

Words mean things. They mean what they mean. If someone tells me they'll "get me in the door", what that tells me is that I'll either be put in contact with the right people, or my information will be passed on to the right people. What it tells me is that, once in contact with the right people, it's up to me to get the job. Period. I don't know a single person who would consider "I'll get you in the door" as "I'll get you that job"...

The only thing i can correlate this too, is actually a insurance claim on a deck for fivek for someone. People asked me about it. i said i could "probably do that". i showed up and sent someone to start knocking down the old deck. They looked a little shocked the person was there with me because apparently they didn't comprehend we were doing it by my wording. Or maybe they didn't believe it. no idea. so out there with sledgehammers and saws, they walked out and were kind of shocked watching the old deck coming down.

You're lucky you weren't sued.

What would you have done if you'd shown up, and another crew was already there? You had no binding contract, yet you set that day aside to do that work. Now you've got a crew to pay with no money coming in that day.

Doing business is such a fashion isn't just stupid, it's dangerous...