Should I settle??

[craig]

Why are you guys grasping at straws? Ok. I know that answer, but your work is a lot stronger the Bella's anything. Be it weddings, or newborns or whatever. Leave Craigslist alone. Save your money; get a rep or buy adlist or google adwords.

Your work is clearly upper eschlon. Start marketing it that way.

Love & Bass

 

[caroldeandaphoto]

I actually work for them...I have been with the company for a little over a year now...
to answer a few questions....We do not leave our personal laptops in the rooms....we leave a hospital laptop that bella baby provides....as for camera equipment...the hospital has either a cannon30d or 20d along with a cannon flash we can use...we are suppose to bring our own equipment in as well though but a lot of girls bring their own equipment as a backup and use bella's on a daily basis....
Money wise....Commission is great...I usually make anywhere from 100-300 a day...the most i have made in a day is $700....I average about $1600 every two weeks.....with a high of $2200...and a low of about $1000 when i first started....people buy the pictures....I would Say about 80% of my clients actually buy.....i mean its their baby....I work 4-5 days a week....
Bella has contracts with the hospitlas we are at...so no you would not be able to go in there and do it yourself....
Bella is my bread and butter...I also freelance...
Anyone who wants pictures outside the hospital is a bella client...I am bella life certified so I can go into their home and do pictures.....Yes i may only get %40 commssion but i get a CONSTANT flow of clients....a website to upload pictures to so families buy pictures from....a customer service team to help me...and bella baby's name to back me up if anything goes wrong...I LOVE my job and it is a GREAT opprutunity.....My bosses are WONDERFUL...especially Scott and Sara....If you have any other questions email me at cmilliganphoto@yahoo.com
Ill be honest with you about any questions you may have....you might of gotten a lot of emails because we are expanding and really need to find great photographers for the different hospitals....sooo many hospitals are requesting us and they all want to start but we need great photographers to make that happen....

 

[PatrickHMS]

I know someone (a male and female couple) who does this on their own. I kinda mentored them to help them get started a couple years ago..

They went to each Hospital Maternity ward in their area, and went right to the Nurses station on the Maternity floor to say "hi" to all the nurses (went several times to catch all shifts, incl weekends). Told the nurses that they are baby photographers, and showed some of their work they had brought with them.

Then they handed out business cards to the nurses, with printing on the back that read something like - When you refer a client to us who pays for our photography services, we will give you a gift card to Longhorn or Outback ( or some other equally nice place - minimum $25.00) for an amount appropriate to the sale involved. Also gave nurses business cards to give to others.

The gift card and referral was my idea, I have already been using it in my (non-photography) business for 10 years or so...

Then they did a similiar thing with all pet hospitals and pet specialty places...

And a similiar thing with all kiddie nursery and pre-school places.

And to elementary school teachers.

And to several churches in their area.

And to restaurants that had "meeting rooms" where the restaurant holds events.

And to catering places.

Each customer gets a card stating what they do (including parties and events, as well as babies and pets) offering the same kind of referral idea to those customers.

Then, when restaurants offer a free $5.00 gift card for every $25.00 gift card bought, they buy cards like crazy, generating an easy 20% discount for what they spend for referrals.

Now this couple works as full-time photographers, he does the photography, handles the camera and that part, she does the laptop and printer, and they just swap out memory cards to camera as necessary.

And now they are pretty much full-time photographers, and stay pretty busy just working off referrals...

Good for them!

 

[SpeedTrap]

I actually work for them...I have been with the company for a little over a year now...
to answer a few questions....We do not leave our personal laptops in the rooms....we leave a hospital laptop that bella baby provides....as for camera equipment...the hospital has either a cannon30d or 20d along with a cannon flash we can use...we are suppose to bring our own equipment in as well though but a lot of girls bring their own equipment as a backup and use bella's on a daily basis....
Money wise....Commission is great...I usually make anywhere from 100-300 a day...the most i have made in a day is $700....I average about $1600 every two weeks.....with a high of $2200...and a low of about $1000 when i first started....people buy the pictures....I would Say about 80% of my clients actually buy.....i mean its their baby....I work 4-5 days a week....
Bella has contracts with the hospitlas we are at...so no you would not be able to go in there and do it yourself....
Bella is my bread and butter...I also freelance...
Anyone who wants pictures outside the hospital is a bella client...I am bella life certified so I can go into their home and do pictures.....Yes i may only get %40 commssion but i get a CONSTANT flow of clients....a website to upload pictures to so families buy pictures from....a customer service team to help me...and bella baby's name to back me up if anything goes wrong...I LOVE my job and it is a GREAT opprutunity.....My bosses are WONDERFUL...especially Scott and Sara....If you have any other questions email me at cmilliganphoto@yahoo.com
Ill be honest with you about any questions you may have....you might of gotten a lot of emails because we are expanding and really need to find great photographers for the different hospitals....sooo many hospitals are requesting us and they all want to start but we need great photographers to make that happen....

Wow your first post and a glowing review of a service most of us would run from. Your post sounds like you are trying to recrute for them and the fact that you use and @ yahoo email instead of your own photo website just makes me think that you are not that serious of a photographer.

There is no way I would let someone take 60% of my income for the use of a name.

 

[NiKOnSLR]

Less than 50$ Take Home? and you have to use your tools? HELL NO!

 

[caroldeandaphoto]

I actually work for them...I have been with the company for a little over a year now...
to answer a few questions....We do not leave our personal laptops in the rooms....we leave a hospital laptop that bella baby provides....as for camera equipment...the hospital has either a cannon30d or 20d along with a cannon flash we can use...we are suppose to bring our own equipment in as well though but a lot of girls bring their own equipment as a backup and use bella's on a daily basis....
Money wise....Commission is great...I usually make anywhere from 100-300 a day...the most i have made in a day is $700....I average about $1600 every two weeks.....with a high of $2200...and a low of about $1000 when i first started....people buy the pictures....I would Say about 80% of my clients actually buy.....i mean its their baby....I work 4-5 days a week....
Bella has contracts with the hospitlas we are at...so no you would not be able to go in there and do it yourself....
Bella is my bread and butter...I also freelance...
Anyone who wants pictures outside the hospital is a bella client...I am bella life certified so I can go into their home and do pictures.....Yes i may only get %40 commssion but i get a CONSTANT flow of clients....a website to upload pictures to so families buy pictures from....a customer service team to help me...and bella baby's name to back me up if anything goes wrong...I LOVE my job and it is a GREAT opprutunity.....My bosses are WONDERFUL...especially Scott and Sara....If you have any other questions email me at cmilliganphoto@yahoo.com
Ill be honest with you about any questions you may have....you might of gotten a lot of emails because we are expanding and really need to find great photographers for the different hospitals....sooo many hospitals are requesting us and they all want to start but we need great photographers to make that happen....

Wow your first post and a glowing review of a service most of us would run from. Your post sounds like you are trying to recrute for them and the fact that you use and @ yahoo email instead of your own photo website just makes me think that you are not that serious of a photographer.

There is no way I would let someone take 60% of my income for the use of a name.

Wow...i was just trying to tell the OP a little bit about what we actually do vs. people who know nothing about the company going of in rants...Im a photographer...not a manager or anything like that...so i have nothing to do with new photographers being hired

No I don't have my photo website up yet...I graduated school a year ago and got this job right out of photo school...So I am a serious photographer...I work for bella and freelance as well for weddings, bands, promo, and portraits
Flickr: fallingbombz's Photostream
You can see some of my portfolio...

Are you one of those photo snobs who thinks you are better than everyone else? Sure seems like it...great way to make a new member feel welcome

 

[SpeedTrap]

Are you one of those photo snobs who thinks you are better than everyone else? Sure seems like it...great way to make a new member feel welcome

Not at all, but you need to consider that I have seen time and again in many forums that a discussion is started about a company and before you know it the owner or employees are in defending it telling everyone how great it is when it is not.
This is done via google alerts, and it can take a few days for them to work. When I see an oler conversation spring back up with an opinion being the complete opposite of most you could understand how it could be questioned.

I welcome you to the forum and look forward to seeing some of your work.

 

[bigtwinky]

I would have serious hesitations in joining a place like this.

While it could be a good way to gain some experience if you have none, the % they take is big IMO for the amount of work and turnaround you have to do.

If you have no other job, then sure, its an income. But medium or long term? No way.

 

[BlackWolF]

I actually work for them...I have been with the company for a little over a year now...
to answer a few questions....We do not leave our personal laptops in the rooms....we leave a hospital laptop that bella baby provides....as for camera equipment...the hospital has either a cannon30d or 20d along with a cannon flash we can use...we are suppose to bring our own equipment in as well though but a lot of girls bring their own equipment as a backup and use bella's on a daily basis....
Money wise....Commission is great...I usually make anywhere from 100-300 a day...the most i have made in a day is $700....I average about $1600 every two weeks.....with a high of $2200...and a low of about $1000 when i first started....people buy the pictures....I would Say about 80% of my clients actually buy.....i mean its their baby....I work 4-5 days a week....
Bella has contracts with the hospitlas we are at...so no you would not be able to go in there and do it yourself....
Bella is my bread and butter...I also freelance...
Anyone who wants pictures outside the hospital is a bella client...I am bella life certified so I can go into their home and do pictures.....Yes i may only get %40 commssion but i get a CONSTANT flow of clients....a website to upload pictures to so families buy pictures from....a customer service team to help me...and bella baby's name to back me up if anything goes wrong...I LOVE my job and it is a GREAT opprutunity.....My bosses are WONDERFUL...especially Scott and Sara....If you have any other questions email me at cmilliganphoto@yahoo.com
Ill be honest with you about any questions you may have....you might of gotten a lot of emails because we are expanding and really need to find great photographers for the different hospitals....sooo many hospitals are requesting us and they all want to start but we need great photographers to make that happen....

Wow, what a commercial ...

 

[caroldeandaphoto]

Are you one of those photo snobs who thinks you are better than everyone else? Sure seems like it...great way to make a new member feel welcome

Not at all, but you need to consider that I have seen time and again in many forums that a discussion is started about a company and before you know it the owner or employees are in defending it telling everyone how great it is when it is not.
This is done via google alerts, and it can take a few days for them to work. When I see an oler conversation spring back up with an opinion being the complete opposite of most you could understand how it could be questioned.

I welcome you to the forum and look forward to seeing some of your work.

Oh....I can see how you might think it....although im not sure what google alerts are lol...i just was browsing through the forum and i saw the post and decided to join....looked like a pretty active board which I like...Im still trying to figure out how this particular board works...and reading all the faqs and such.....Looks like a great resource ;-)

 

[caroldeandaphoto]

I actually work for them...I have been with the company for a little over a year now...
to answer a few questions....We do not leave our personal laptops in the rooms....we leave a hospital laptop that bella baby provides....as for camera equipment...the hospital has either a cannon30d or 20d along with a cannon flash we can use...we are suppose to bring our own equipment in as well though but a lot of girls bring their own equipment as a backup and use bella's on a daily basis....
Money wise....Commission is great...I usually make anywhere from 100-300 a day...the most i have made in a day is $700....I average about $1600 every two weeks.....with a high of $2200...and a low of about $1000 when i first started....people buy the pictures....I would Say about 80% of my clients actually buy.....i mean its their baby....I work 4-5 days a week....
Bella has contracts with the hospitlas we are at...so no you would not be able to go in there and do it yourself....
Bella is my bread and butter...I also freelance...
Anyone who wants pictures outside the hospital is a bella client...I am bella life certified so I can go into their home and do pictures.....Yes i may only get %40 commssion but i get a CONSTANT flow of clients....a website to upload pictures to so families buy pictures from....a customer service team to help me...and bella baby's name to back me up if anything goes wrong...I LOVE my job and it is a GREAT opprutunity.....My bosses are WONDERFUL...especially Scott and Sara....If you have any other questions email me at cmilliganphoto@yahoo.com
Ill be honest with you about any questions you may have....you might of gotten a lot of emails because we are expanding and really need to find great photographers for the different hospitals....sooo many hospitals are requesting us and they all want to start but we need great photographers to make that happen....

Wow, what a commercial ...

ill just ignore you...its not a commercial...i just like my job a lot and its been a great starting point for me I plan on branching off completley on my own in the next 5 years

 

[pinkowl photo]

I know someone (a male and female couple) who does this on their own. I kinda mentored them to help them get started a couple years ago..

They went to each Hospital Maternity ward in their area, and went right to the Nurses station on the Maternity floor to say "hi" to all the nurses (went several times to catch all shifts, incl weekends). Told the nurses that they are baby photographers, and showed some of their work they had brought with them.

Then they handed out business cards to the nurses, with printing on the back that read something like - When you refer a client to us who pays for our photography services, we will give you a gift card to Longhorn or Outback ( or some other equally nice place - minimum $25.00) for an amount appropriate to the sale involved. Also gave nurses business cards to give to others.

The gift card and referral was my idea, I have already been using it in my (non-photography) business for 10 years or so...

Then they did a similiar thing with all pet hospitals and pet specialty places...

And a similiar thing with all kiddie nursery and pre-school places.

And to elementary school teachers.

And to several churches in their area.

And to restaurants that had "meeting rooms" where the restaurant holds events.

And to catering places.

Each customer gets a card stating what they do (including parties and events, as well as babies and pets) offering the same kind of referral idea to those customers.

Then, when restaurants offer a free $5.00 gift card for every $25.00 gift card bought, they buy cards like crazy, generating an easy 20% discount for what they spend for referrals.

Now this couple works as full-time photographers, he does the photography, handles the camera and that part, she does the laptop and printer, and they just swap out memory cards to camera as necessary.

And now they are pretty much full-time photographers, and stay pretty busy just working off referrals...

Good for them!

Patrick-
Would you mind giving me more details on how to track the referrals.

Also- " Each customer gets a card stating what they do (including parties and events, as well as babies and pets) offering the same kind of referral idea to those customers." does this mean the the same cards you created for the nurses, teachers etc!? ?

sorry for all the questions, but this is a fantastic idea. I just moved to a new city and am trying to build my business. I would love all the details you can give.
Thanks again,
Geni

 

[iowaphotogirl]

Is there a contract through Bella stating that you cant compete with them after youve worked for them? That's one thing I would check on.

 

[CMfromIL]

Is there a contract through Bella stating that you cant compete with them after youve worked for them? That's one thing I would check on.

Boy that's great advice. If the OP is reading this, I'd encourage her to get in her Deloreon, go back 2 YEARS and follow it.