How do professional photographers increase their income?

Professional photographer is a sad career behind the scenery in front of people, but if you have made up your mind to be a photographer with small achievements, how can you bring more income through your work, so as to continuously improve your life and work level?

Mr. JP Danko is a Canadian commercial photographer. For several years, he not only gained a good reputation, but also gained a lot of experience in photography business management. In his view, photography is not only a personal hobby, but also a kind of work, a breakthrough in artistic and technical restrictions. Desire, like a man chasing money, is in our nature. But many people tend to pay too much attention to the first two and ignore the importance of management. Recently, Danko shared some business ideas of photography business and experience of increasing income with the public.

1. Raise the price

A friend used to work in a high-end cabinet company, responsible for contracting and decorating luxury kitchens and bathrooms. After many years, he decided to start a business. At the beginning of his business, this friend set the price lower than that of his competitors in order to attract customers, and the response was flat, so he continued to reduce the price, and some quotations even approached the level of IKEA. You know, he runs a high-end decoration company.

However, this is not the worst. In the worst case, customers are not satisfied with the decoration results and continue to depress prices. Later, someone gave him a suggestion-raising the price. Although the pricing strategy below the industry is attractive, it only establishes a psychological bottom line for customers, who often end up choosing a company with better quality but moderate price.

This friend listened to the suggestion, increased the pricing by two times, and improved the service and material level at the same time. In the next few months, not only the order volume doubled, but also the profit was quadrupled.

Why choose to raise prices? Psychologically speaking, it is only a one-sided idea to alienate potential users at high prices, so don't underestimate your work.

2. Seek more opportunities to earn extra money.

Professional photographers are usually paid by the hour. Its greatest advantage lies in its reliability, steady profit and no loss, and its disadvantage is obvious. There are only 24 hours a day, and there is an upper limit to the hourly wage.

Extra money, to be more precise, should be called "flexible income". Its advantage is that there is no fixed measure. Many people disdain or dare not earn extra money, largely because of its uncertainty. But when the work enters a certain stage, you will gradually find that flexible income is the real high-profit business. So you may understand that a photographer's hourly salary is fixed, but his photos can be sold at sky-high prices.

These flexible incomes include selling photos, providing photography courses and advertising. As for more doorways, you need to ponder for yourself.

3. Cultivate strategic customers

As a professional photographer, to classify the customer base, the more types of customers, the better. That's why some photographers shoot everything, weddings, babies, lawyers and real estate are welcome. Don't choose customers according to your likes and dislikes of the subject matter. Challenging different shooting themes also helps to improve your professional level.

But at the same time, don't forget to cultivate a few strategic customers. These people may not directly bring tangible benefits, but they are often well-connected and will bring you more job opportunities. Their word of mouth is your best sign.

The above is a summary of JP Danko's experience in managing photography business, which may not be applicable to everyone. I also hope readers can express their views or share some valuable experiences.