Best Business Practices For Photographers

by Harrington ,John

• ISBN13: 9781598633153
• ISBN10: 1598633155
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-10-04
• Publisher: Cengage Learning PTR

Summary

A truly successful photographic career means not only financial success, but also personal satisfaction and fulfillment. The goal of Best Business Practices for Photographers is to help you achieve success in each of these areas. This book is not a guide to taking better pictures or selling your photography. Instead, it explains how photographers can meet important business objectives. It covers the focal points of best practices - best practices in interacting with clients, best practices in negotiating contracts and licenses, and best practices in business operations. It provides a roadmap for successfully navigating these - and many other - issues facing photographers today.

Table of Contents

Introduction	xvii
Part I Nuts and Bolts of Your Business	1	(28)
You Are a Business--Now Let's Get to Work!	3	(8)
Whether or Not You Think You're a Business, You Are	3	(2)
Making Decisions: Strategic versus Tactical	5	(1)
Reviewing Your Current Business Model and Revamping What You're Doing	6	(5)
Know What You Don't Know	8	(1)
Creating a Business Plan for an Existing Business	8	(3)
Professional Equipment for Professional Photographers	11	(10)
We Are Professional-Grade: Why We Must Use That Equipment	11	(1)
Pro-Line versus Prosumer-Line Lighting: Why Spend the Money?	12	(2)
Cameras and Optics: Why You Want the Best	14	(1)
Computers: Desktops, Laptops, and What's Wrong with That Three-Year-Old Computer	15	(2)
Specialized Equipment: From Gyros to Blimps to Generators	17	(1)
Renting to Yourself and Others	18	(3)
Planning and Logistics: Why a Thirty-Minute Shoot Can Take Three Days to Plan	21	(8)
Be Ready for the Unexpected	22	(1)
It All Comes Down to Now! You'd Better Be Ready	23	(1)
Conveying Your Plan to a Prospective Client Can Win You the Assignment	23	(1)
When a Seven-Minute Shoot Becomes Three, What Do You Do?	24	(1)
When to Call in a Specialist: From Lighting to Location Management, Catering, and Security	25	(4)
Part II Financial and Personnel Considerations	29	(66)
Working with Assistants, Employees, and Contractors: The Pitfalls and Benefits	31	(10)
The Hurdle of Growing from Just You to Having People Working for You	32	(1)
Who Must Be an Employee?	32	(6)
The Benefits of Someone Regular versus Various People	38	(1)
Paying Those Who Make Your Life Easier	39	(1)
One Solution for Concerned Employers	40	(1)
Pricing Your Work to Stay in Business	41	(22)
School of Thought #1: All Creative/Usage Fees Are Listed as a Single Line Item	44	(1)
School of Thought #2: There Should Be Separate Line Items for Creative and Usage Fees	45	(2)
Raising Your Rates: Achieving the Seemingly Impossible	47	(1)
Surveying Your Competition: How to Gather Information without Risking a Price-Fixing Charge	48	(2)
Never Be the Cheapest	50	(1)
If You're the Cheapest, Find out What Is Wrong	50	(1)
What Do You Charge for Whenever You're Working for a Client?	51	(1)
Tools and Resources for Understanding the Body Politic of Photographic Pricing	51	(1)
Words to Avoid	52	(1)
Pro Bono: When to and When Not To	52	(1)
Licensing: A Primer	53	(4)
Why Work-Made-for-Hire Is Bad for Almost All Non-Employee Photographers	57	(5)
Recommended Reading	62	(1)
General Books on Negotiating	62	(1)
Books on Negotiating Developed by and for Photographers	62	(1)
Overhead: Why What You Charge a Client Must Be More Than You Paid for It	63	(4)
What Is Your Overhead?	63	(1)
Back in the Day: The Forty-Dollar Roll of Kodachrome	64	(2)
Markup: What's Yours? How Do You Establish It Fairly?	66	(1)
Who's Paying Your Salary and 401K?	67	(6)
If Everyone Hiring You Has a Retirement Plan, Shouldn't You Have One Too?	67	(1)
If Everyone Hiring You Is Paid a Salary, Shouldn't You Be Too?	68	(3)
Establishing a Fair Salary	68	(2)
Targeting That Salary in the Short Term and Long Term	70	(1)
Transitioning from a Salaried Staff Position to Freelance	71	(2)
Insurance: Why It's Not Just Health-Related, and How You Should Protect Yourself	73	(8)
Health Insurance: Your Client Has It, So You Should Too	73	(1)
Life Insurance: Get It While You're Young, and Protect Your Family Too	74	(1)
Disability Insurance: Think Again if You Believe You'll Never Get Hurt	75	(1)
Business Insurance: When Things Go Wrong, You Need to Be Covered	76	(4)
Camera Insurance	76	(1)
Office Insurance	77	(1)
Liability Insurance	77	(3)
A Few Insurance Endnotes	80	(1)
Accounting: How We Do It Ourselves and What We Turn Over to an Accountant	81	(14)
Software Solutions: The Key to Your Accounting Sanity	81	(1)
Retain Those Receipts and Don't Give Them to Clients	82	(3)
Reimbursing Yourself: Say What?	85	(1)
Separate Bank Accounts: Maintaining Your Sanity and Separation	86	(1)
Separate Credit Card: Deducting Interest Expense and Other Benefits	87	(4)
When to Call an Accountant (Sooner Rather Than Later)	91	(1)
What Is a CPA? How Is a CPA Different from a Bookkeeper?	92	(3)
Part III Legal Issues	95	(168)
Contracts for Editorial Clients	97	(42)
``We'll Send Along Some Paperwork'': Why You Should Be the First to Send the Contract	97	(3)
What an Editorial Contract Must Have	100	(4)
Using a Word Processor for Contracts versus Dedicated Software or Your Own Database	104	(1)
How to Work through a Contract Negotiation for Editorial Clients	105	(5)
Case Study: Portrait for University Magazine	110	(7)
Case Study: In-Flight Airline Magazine	117	(3)
Case Study: Major Financial Newspaper	120	(7)
Case Study: Consumer Magazine	127	(12)
Contracts for Corporate and Commercial Clients	139	(34)
What's the Difference between Corporate and Commercial?	139	(2)
What a Corporate or Commercial Contract Must Have	141	(1)
How to Work through a Contract Negotiation for Corporate/Commercial Clients	142	(3)
Multi-Party Licensing Agreements	145	(2)
Case Study: Law Firm Portraits	147	(13)
Case Study: National Corporate Client	160	(5)
Case Study: Regional Corporate Client	165	(3)
Updated Contracts	168	(5)
Contracts for Weddings and Rites of Passage	173	(8)
From Time to Time, Even the Non-Wedding Photographer Will Cover a Wedding or Rite of Passage	173	(2)
What a Wedding or Rite-of-Passage Contract Should Look Like	175	(2)
Negotiation with the Bride, Groom, and (Often) Paying Parents	177	(1)
Protecting Yourself from Liability	178	(1)
Multi-Photographer Events: Calling the Shots and Taking Control	179	(1)
Recommended Reading	180	(1)
Negotiations: Signing Up or Saying No	181	(22)
Negotiating from a Position of Strength	182	(5)
Creative Solutions in the Negotiation Process	187	(3)
Defining Your Policies	190	(1)
Deal Breakers: What Are Yours?	191	(1)
Why ``No'' Is One of Your Most Powerful Tools	192	(1)
Studying the Aftermath of a Lost Assignment	193	(1)
Case Study: Science Competition	194	(9)
Protecting Your Work: How and Why	203	(18)
It's the Principle of the Thing for Me	203	(2)
Don't Steal My Work, Period	205	(1)
Copyright: What Is It, When Is It in Effect, and Whose Is It?	205	(1)
Pre-Registration: How to Protect Your Work	206	(1)
Registration: How to Register Your Work Systematically	206	(12)
Title of the Work	213	(2)
Nature of This Work	215	(1)
Year in Which Creation of This Work Was Completed	216	(1)
Date and Nation of First Publication of This Particular Work	216	(1)
Sign and Date	217	(1)
Archival	218	(1)
Definitions: Published versus Unpublished-the Debate	218	(1)
Recommended Reading	219	(2)
The Realities of an Infringement: Copyrights and Federal Court	221	(8)
What to Do When You're Infringed	221	(1)
Timeline of an Infringement Suit	222	(1)
Types of Infringers	222	(2)
The Preexisting Client	222	(1)
The Third Party Who Legitimately Obtained Your Image but Is Using It Outside of the Scope of the License	223	(1)
A Licensor Who Stated One (or a Limited, Smaller) Use and Who Is Using the Image in a Much More Expansive Way	223	(1)
A Potential Client Who Reviewed/Considered Your Work and Stated They Were Not Using It, but Then Did	223	(1)
The Outright Thief	224	(1)
When to Engage an Attorney	224	(1)
Settlement Agreements	225	(4)
Handling a Breach of Contract: Small Claims and Civil Court	229	(4)
Why You Might Be Better Off in Small Claims or Civil Court	230	(1)
What to Expect and How Long It Will Take	230	(1)
Case Study: A Textiles Company	231	(2)
Resolving Slow- and Non-Paying Clients	233	(10)
How to Engage the Client and the Accounting Department	233	(3)
You Delivered on Time, and Now They're Paying Late	236	(1)
Statistics of Aging Receivables, and the Likelihood of Collecting at All	237	(1)
Late Fees: A Good Idea?	237	(1)
My Solution to Late Fees for Some Clients	237	(2)
Collections Services: An Effective Last Resort	239	(4)
Letters, Letters, Letters: Writing Like a Professional Can Solve Many Problems	243	(12)
E-Mail: The Current Default Communications Tool	246	(2)
Signatures--and Not with a Pen!	248	(2)
Summary Letters: What We Discussed	250	(1)
CCs and BCCs: How and When	251	(1)
Thank-You Notes: How Much They Do and How Right They Are	252	(1)
Recommended Reading	253	(2)
Attorneys: When You Need Them, They're Your Best Friend (or at Least Your Advocate)	255	(8)
What Attorneys Can Do for You	256	(2)
Contract Review and Negotiations	256	(1)
Writing and Revising Your Current Contracts	257	(1)
Advising You on Legal Matters	257	(1)
Taking a Case	258	(1)
What You Can Expect to Be Billed	258	(3)
Retainer Fee	258	(2)
Phone Calls	260	(1)
Copy/Fax and Other Miscellaneous Charges	260	(1)
Ask Your Attorney Whether It's Economically Sound to File Suit	261	(1)
Why Attorneys Are Reluctant to Take Cases on Contingency (and When They Will)	261	(1)
When You Pay for Advice, Heed It	262	(1)
Part IV Storage and Archiving	263	(26)
Office and On-Location Systems: Redundancy and Security Beget Peace of Mind	265	(12)
Redundancy: What Is It?	265	(1)
Communications Networks	265	(1)
Firewalls and System Security	266	(1)
Port Forwarding: Port What?	266	(2)
Back Up, Back Up, Back Up!	268	(3)
Backing Up Your Desktop	269	(1)
Backing Up Your Laptop	269	(1)
Backing Up Your Work in Progress	270	(1)
Dual Backups of Image Archives, On Site and Off	271	(1)
Dual Cameras on Assignment	272	(1)
Excess Lighting Equipment: Don't Take Three Heads on a Shoot That Requires Three Heads	272	(1)
It Only Takes One Flight: Carry On Your Cameras	273	(1)
Software Validators and Backup Solutions	274	(1)
The Aftermath: How Do You (Attempt to) Recover from a Disaster?	274	(3)
Digital and Analog Asset Management: Leveraging Your Images to Their Maximum Potential	277	(6)
Recommended Reading: The DAM Book	277	(1)
Solutions beyond The DAM Book: Adapting the Principles to a Variety of Workflows	278	(2)
Evaluating the Cost of Analog Archive Conversions to Digital: Is It Worth It?	280	(1)
Immediate Access to Images Means Sure Sales in a Pinch	281	(2)
Stock Solutions: Charting Your Own Course without the Need for a ``Big Fish'' Agency	283	(6)
What's the Deal with Photo Agents These Days?	283	(2)
Personal Archives Online	285	(3)
Digital Railroad	285	(1)
PhotoShelter	286	(1)
IPNStock	287	(1)
Others	288	(1)
Part V The Human Aspect	289	(30)
Care and Feeding of Clients (Hint: It's Not about Starbucks and a Fast-Food Burger)	291	(10)
They're Your Clients: Treat Them Like Gold	292	(1)
How to Improve the Odds That Your Clients Will Come Back Again	293	(3)
Do Something Unexpected, Something Value-Added	296	(1)
Feeding Clients: Fast Food and Takeout Coffee Won't Cut it! Cater and Bill for It!	297	(1)
Deliver When You Say You Will or Sooner	298	(1)
Return E-Mails and Send Estimates ASAP	299	(1)
Recommended Reading	300	(1)
Education, an Ongoing and Critical Practice: Don't Rest on Your Laurels	301	(6)
Continue the Learning Process: You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks!	302	(1)
Know What You Don't Know (Revisited)	303	(1)
Seminars, Seminars, Seminars: Go, Learn, and Be Smarter	304	(1)
Subscriptions and Research: How to Grow from the Couch	304	(1)
The Dumbest Person in Any Given Room Thinks He or She Is the Smartest	305	(2)
Striking a Balance between Photography and Family: How What You Love to Do Can Coexist with Your Spouse, Children, Parents, and Siblings if You Just Think a Little about It	307	(6)
When What You Love to Do Must Not Overwhelm Those You Love	308	(1)
Solutions for a Happier Spouse/Partner and Children	309	(1)
Dealing with the Jealousy of a Spouse or Partner	310	(1)
Listening to Cues: What Those You Love Are Saying When They're Not Saying Anything	310	(1)
Vacations: Really Not the Time to Shoot Stock	311	(2)
Charity, Community, and Your Colleagues: Giving Back Is Good Karma	313	(6)
Charity: A Good Society Depends on It	314	(1)
Pro Bono Work: You Decide What to Do, Not in Response to a Phone Call Soliciting Cheap (or Free) Work	314	(1)
Engaging the Photo Community: Participating in Professional Associations and Community Dialogue on Matters of Importance to Photographers	314	(1)
Your Colleagues: They May Be Your Competition, but They're Not the Enemy	315	(1)
Reaching Out: Speaking, Interns and Apprentices, and Giving Back	316	(1)
Pay It Forward	317	(2)
Index	319