Free Focht Creative Pricing Calculator is here!

Posted by kevin focht on Nov 20, 2011 in Business, How to's and manuals | 12 comments

We decided to take pricing to the next level, and try and make it as easy as possible. We spend a lot of time teaching how to create packages that sell, but the first thing you need to know is your cost of goods. To photographers, this seems like a daunting task…..not anymore.

Plug in your hourly rate for the studio, add in the costs of the product and hit calculate and boom, you are done. The calculator gives you industry standard pricing for 20-30-40%.

Our competitors think that you should be paying $100 bucks for this, not us. We are trying to raise the bar on photography, not try and screw photographers out of their hard earned money!

Our Pricing Calculator is FREE!

You can now stop guessing at your pricing and know that you are doing it right.

You can either fill out the form below or the form on the upper right of this page for your Free Focht Creative Pricing Calculator!

The pricing calculator works on both pc and mac and is a stand alone application. Just click to install and it does the rest. ( You need Adobe Air to install the app. It’s free also and you can download it HERE)

Here is a quick video on how to use it!

The End of Vintage Weddings?

Posted by kevin focht on Nov 16, 2011 in Business, How to's and manuals | 0 comments

This article says yes!

from the article

“This infatuation actually affects the quality of work too! Robert Evans, co-founder of WeddingPhotography411.com, appreciates art when it doesn’t reflect last week’s wedding. “Wedding photography should tell a different story each time. If you buy into the recent fad, your wedding photographs will quickly become dated before their time. Every vintage wedding I see looks exactly the same, as if there is a set of directions on how to shoot it! The couple in the field holding hands two feet apart, back lit by the sun, or the dress and slacks pulled up showing shoes and socks. I think it’s important for photographers to find their own vision and capture the unique style of the couple, not the trend of the season.” Bottom line: the end of a trend can actually benefit brides and grooms, as it translates to more original thinking on the part of wedding vendors.”

Click here to read the full article

We need to up our game.

Posted by kevin focht on Aug 25, 2011 in Business, How to's and manuals | 3 comments

I just got done reading 3 pages of posts on another forum for the photography business. The basic premise was that she shot a family portrait and after it was done, the mom wasn’t happy with the shots. She also stated that she didn’t think there was good enough communication or any pre-planning.

The photographer posted that she was just sick to her stomach.

I read through 3 pages of posts in which fellow photographers stated over and over basically…screw her!

Now I looked through her images and the first thought I had was that the images were just really not good. It was funny to me that not one person commented that maybe, just maybe she should take a look in the mirror and put a little thought into maybe she might be at fault.

I spent some time pondering this today, wondering why not one person said “hey, your photography sucked!” I came to the conclusion that most people never even noticed.

We are surrounded by bad photography now and the mundane is now considered amazing. I see it in the commercial industry too.

She had images shot with short lenses at too big of an aperture with bad composition and tree branches growing out of peoples heads, and yet not on person called her on it.

So here is what I want all of you to do. Every time you are shooting ask yourself this simple question, “is this the best that I can do?’ Then ask yourself ” can I do anything to make this better?”

We need to raise our game and stop settling for “good enough” and don’t settle until you you are at “that is f%$&ing amazing!”

If I can get one of you out there to raise your game, it’s a win for me!

Kevin

You really need to think and have a little courtesy

Posted by kevin focht on Aug 12, 2011 in Business, How to's and manuals | 1 comment

I just had something very odd happen, but it seems to be the sign of the times in photography.

Everyone is a photographer these days as we all know, especially here in Portland.

That’s all good, but have just a little respect.

This time of year it’s kind of funny in the area around my studio. During business hours, I am the only one in the area outside shooting. I am in the cool industrial area of town, and everyone likes to shoot here.

Once the normal work day is done, all the “photographers” that get done with their day jobs come into the area in droves to shoot their seniors. These are the people who call themselves professional photographers and then charge $2 for an 8×10.

It’s all good and kind of fun to watch as I am heading home.

Then it finally happened, someone crossed the line.

My studio is in a “U” shaped building and the only people that come around the building into the “U” are either businesses who have space here or their customers. No one else is supposed to be back here.

I was sitting doing some editing late in the day and was watching a “photographer” coming around with his senior to shoot in the parking lot. No big deal, he isn’t supposed to be there but I could really care less.

Then guess what he did? He came and set up right in front of my studio! He even had the model leaning against my big glass windows.

In reality, I could care less if someone comes back here and shoots. I have enough confidence to know that if someone was shooting with him, they were not my client anyway, but to totally disrespect my studio like that made me angry.

I actually confronted him and told him that was not ok. He went on to tell me that he could shoot where he wanted to, and I said he could but he would have me in his background. I just stood in his shot.

For me it was as simple as just having some respect. It makes me angry that here I am paying rent on my studio and this “photographer” thought it was ok to set up shop in front of my studio and use it as a prop. It would be like Home Depot setting up a tent full of stuff in front of Lowes. It just shouldn’t happen.

It’s ok to shoot in an area, but have a little respect for the brick and mortar stores that are actually paying rent and taxes to keep the area alive.

Lowering your prices, but not your profit

Posted by kevin focht on May 19, 2011 in Business, How to's and manuals | 2 comments

Most of the country is still dealing with loss of jobs and people worried about paying their bills. Here in the Northwest, we got hit with the recession about 6-9 months after the east coast did.

It seems the east coast is finally coming out of it a bit, but we are still 6-9 months behind.

Our clients are in the upper middle class, and they seemed to have done better than most. That being said, one of the nicest neighborhoods in my area is starting to feel the pain. This is my main client base. I noticed when I was shooting my senior reps this year, that the moms were talking a lot about money. You need to listen to your clients and respond before they do.

The dilemma is that if I just lower my prices on everything, then I am just doing what I have been preaching not to do. How can I give my customers something a little more affordable, but still keep my profit margins?

The answer is smaller packages!!!

I used my same pricing scheme of 4 packages, but what I did was make my packages about 15% smaller. It looks like I lowered my packages, but in reality I just took some product out. After going through my pricing, I think I have actually made my upper packages more attractive. In the end, I bet my profit margins this year will be way up. My $1500 package last year that my profit margin was around $1200 is now a $1300 package and my profit margin is $1100. So by “lowering” my packages, I actually am making a higher margin.

It’s a win win for both my clients and my business.

Kevin

Get yourself organized!

Posted by kevin focht on Apr 29, 2011 in Business | 0 comments

I know that a lot of you are working all by yourself, and think that you don’t need to be organized.

I was there, and let me tell you that getting organized will help you down the road. I used to name my folders things like ” Bob’s shoot” “Bob’s new shoot” ” Bob’s new shoot 2″. Does any of this sound familiar? Now I knew what all that meant, but when I had my first employee come in, she was ready to scream!

You need to get some sort of system in place, and do it now. Your system should be so simple, that a person coming in off the street should be able to figure out what is going on in your studio with a 10 minute explanation.

Can you do that now?

We use a simple system of the date, followed by the name, then what type of client it is. i.e. wedding, senior and such.

As an example a wedding shot on the 29th of April this year would look like this-

110429-jones-wedding

Easy to follow and searchable by name, type, or date. How simple is that?

You can use a spreadsheet if you want, or you can use some sort of studio management software like successware, studio cloud or the one I had designed for us Mobile Fotographer

I think you need to have a system on your computer and also a hard copy system too. Sometimes it’s easier to go to your order folders instead of your computer.

So get busy, and get organized. It’s never too early to start.

Kevin