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

[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...

this. And doesn't know the printer. And it may have caused a serious miscommunication issue.
Hey, i gave my two cents. That is what i gather from the situation. Hard telln not knowing. i don't know the people either or the o.p and wasn't there. Just how i read this situation.
No doubt, i could very well be totally wrong just how i see it. I do think the o.p should have followed up if need be going to the printing establishment or contacting the restaurant directly before scheduling another venue. vague phone messages from unknowns and emails often go unchecked.

As another poster suggested too, maybe they were just using the o.p. for a "backup" really no way to know, depends on how much you can count on the unknown printer and what pull he has or what the intentions were there. Fun thread!!!!!

 

[AmberAtLoveAndInk]

Ok everyone, put down your battle swords! I haven't checked in on this post in awhile since I got about all the advice I needed within the first 5 responses. I do have extremely good news about this whole predicament though! (in case anyone wanted an update)

I called the restaurant after getting their email and told them that I had reached out to their printing guy a few times in the last week and either through my own error or his, I hadn't heard anything back about the event having interest in my services and assumed the restaurant had gone with someone else. I then booked a former client for the same weekend since I had thought I had an open schedule. The woman from the restaurant was very confused and had assumed I was already "hired" weeks ago and she was following up to get the bill from me and talk about the time frame details. So what happened is the PRINTING GUY dropped the ball. The restaurant had agreed to use me weeks ago and when I reached out to him numerous times (I even went as far as asking the guy for the restaurant's contact info so I can speak with them personally) he ignored me and in turn told the restaurant I happily agreed, the restaurant assumed the printing guy would be getting a quote from me and setting up the booking process. I told the woman it is ultimately in the hands of my prom client now and that if I am able to reschedule it, I will be able to shoot the event. I sent my price quote, she agreed to the proposed amount and said she will be waiting patiently to hear back.

I then called the prom client (who is actually the mother that booked me, not the teenager) and laid it all out on the table. Explaining that my obligations are to her and that this scheduling disaster is completely my fault. She has booked me many times over the past year for her family pics, holidays, ect. Before I could even offer her a free shoot and start my rounds of apologies she congratulated me on the job in Chicago and said that I need to take the other job. She said she knows how hard I have worked to get my business name out in Chicago and would tell her daughter the situation. She said we always have next year (since this is her daughter's junior prom, not senior) and I offered her a free 2 hour session (twice as much time as the original prom shoot) and she can use the time however she would like with as many family members as she would like the next time I would be in the area. She then thanked me and told me to "knock em' dead."

The restaurant has now sent over the contracts and put down the event payment. All is good and the Photographic Gods must have been in on this one because no one was offended and my honor is still in tact. Whoooo!

 

[paigew]

Yes!! Awesome news. Pays to communicate. 😀


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[bribrius]

well i guess i pegged the printer guy right. eat your heart out people im the only one that came close to pegging this situation....... :lmao:

 

[AmberAtLoveAndInk]

well i guess i pegged the printer guy right. eat your heart out people im the only one that came close to pegging this situation....... :lmao:

You may have been right about pegging him for seriously booking me the job, but you also blamed ME for not working my end. Yes, the printing guy got me the job, but he DIDN'T EVEN TELL ME I WAS BOOKED and he IGNORED my attempts to call and email him to get all the specs on the situation. Resulting in this horribly confusing predicament.

 

[robbins.photo]

"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.

Umm.. hmm. I dunno so much about that. I mean your looking at some really, really stiff competition here.

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...

I guess my thoughts on this are twofold, when you make a commitment you keep it. So the prom pictures should take priority regardless, if they can arrange to get the resteraunt gig taken care of as well great but if not then the prom pictures should be the ones to focus on. My second thought is, just how much help do they really think this resteraunt gig is going to be to their photography business? I mean other than being able to use it for bragging rights it's not like the resteraunt will generate much in the way of word of mouth advertising for them. Why would they?

I mean lets assume for just a second that these pictures are just so unbelievably amazing that every resteraunt in town suddenly starts clamoring for the OP to come to their resteraunt and shoot for them too, so they call this place and what, this resteraunt is going to say "Sure, since you are our competition let me help you out and give you the name of our photographer so that you can get promo pictures as good if not better than ours, because that really makes sense for us to do that."

I mean granted I don't shoot pictures for a living, but I have run a couple of small businesses in my day, and I one thing I did notice is that I rarely if ever got referals from a business. I got plenty from individuals, but the only time I ever got a referral from a business it was on an individual basis - IE the owner's brother or close friend needed some work done and they would refer them to me. Never once did I ever have one business referred to me by another. It just never happened, and frankly the number of referals I got from the businesses I did deal with were very few and far between, once in a blue moon sort of things really.

 

[AmberAtLoveAndInk]

Yes!! Awesome news. Pays to communicate. 


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I'm still in shock over how easy it all was when I talked to her. I am so thankful for loyal clients like her. Not many would have been understanding, let alone root for me to do the other job!

 

[Braineack]

well i guess i pegged the printer guy right. eat your heart out people im the only one that came close to pegging this situation....... :lmao:

what does that actually say about you?

 

[bribrius]

well i guess i pegged the printer guy right. eat your heart out people im the only one that came close to pegging this situation....... :lmao:

what does that actually say about you?

Years of business relations experience. im happy for the o.p. This is excellent.

 

[table1349]

well i guess i pegged the printer guy right. eat your heart out people im the only one that came close to pegging this situation....... :lmao:

what does that actually say about you?

Years of business relations experience. im happy for the o.p. This is excellent.

Gee that's the same line all of Al Capone's Loan Sharks used. Face it, with the buisiness ethics you dislplayed I wouldn't hire you to photograph a dead dog.

 

[AmberAtLoveAndInk]

I mean lets assume for just a second that these pictures are just so unbelievably amazing that every resteraunt in town suddenly starts clamoring for the OP to come to their resteraunt and shoot for them too, so they call this place and what, this resteraunt is going to say "Sure, since you are our competition let me help you out and give you the name of our photographer so that you can get promo pictures as good if not better than ours, because that really makes sense for us to do that."

This is completely true, the reason I believe this could potentially get my more clientele is because almost all of the restaurant owners have friends that also own their own businesses and they all come from large Italian families, so I may be able to get more business from them for family portraits or their great-niece's wedding kind of thing.
Either way, I'll see if it pans out. I doubt I'll be getting more business from the printing guy though because even if he "promises" me another job, I WILL NOT put myself in this situation with him again.

 

[Braineack]

what does that actually say about you?

Years of business relations experience. im happy for the o.p. This is excellent.

Gee that's the same line all of Al Capone's Loan Sharks used. Face it, with the buisiness ethics you dislplayed I wouldn't hire you to photograph a dead dog.

Careful. He might come to your house unexpectedly, kill your dog, and proceed to take photos of it.

 

[robbins.photo]

I mean lets assume for just a second that these pictures are just so unbelievably amazing that every resteraunt in town suddenly starts clamoring for the OP to come to their resteraunt and shoot for them too, so they call this place and what, this resteraunt is going to say "Sure, since you are our competition let me help you out and give you the name of our photographer so that you can get promo pictures as good if not better than ours, because that really makes sense for us to do that."

This is completely true, the reason I believe this could potentially get my more clientele is because almost all of the restaurant owners have friends that also own their own businesses and they all come from large Italian families, so I may be able to get more business from them for family portraits or their great-niece's wedding kind of thing.
Either way, I'll see if it pans out. I doubt I'll be getting more business from the printing guy though because even if he "promises" me another job, I WILL NOT put myself in this situation with him again.

Lol.. I hear you. Glad it all worked out for you, and really if you ever run out of opportunities in Chicago and want to get a photography business started in a hurry try moving to Omaha. It sure would be nice to have somebody I could refer people to who are looking for a professional photographer .. lol.

 

[robbins.photo]

Years of business relations experience. im happy for the o.p. This is excellent.

Gee that's the same line all of Al Capone's Loan Sharks used. Face it, with the buisiness ethics you dislplayed I wouldn't hire you to photograph a dead dog.

Careful. He might come to your house unexpectedly, kill your dog, and proceed to take photos of it.

Would that be before or after he demolishes your porch with a sledgehammer? Lol

 

[nycphotography]

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...

And even then, "I'll get you the job" is far short of "here's the job offer, do you accept it?"

Until the moment I have a concrete offer that I accept, or until I agree to something specific in some context, everything is hypothetical.