"Just like that I cram to understand you" MC Lyte (back in the days)I am trying to understand what it is that people want from a small business. Being the owner of a small business, I get approached by all walks of life, inquiring about my services. Recently I have heard "complaints" about my prices, which I feel are so low that I am actually LOSING MONEY in a sense. Im gonna keep it real with my cyber family, just as I do with the cats I meet and talk to on a daily basis. I shoot "instants" at a bar that I frequent...at the insistance of the owner of the establishment (we cool like that...) I charge $10 for a 4X6 print. IMO thats not a bad price, because when I shot at another venue in the city, I was charging $20 for the same size picture and well the results were different (more in my favorite). Tonight a dude came up to me with all kinds of "bling" on, fronting buying bottles, food, and what have you. He asked what the pictures were goin for, and I told him. He jumped fly right quick saying that $10 was far too much. I told him that I would cut him a deal if he took multiples or if his crew wanted copies of the photo. He told me that I was outta my mind and he wasnt gonna take a picture. I was like cool, your loss, cause Im a beast with this thing and can even make YOU look good. He then commences to tell his folks not to do business with me (once again, im cool). While all that nonsense was goin on, I counted up how much money he had spent on food and drinks and realized that dude was fronting really hard and prolly only had $5 left in his pocket. (Sounds like a refund check baller to me).
I spoke with a close personal friend of mine, who is the point person for her soroities line reunion. She told me that they wanted a photographer to shoot pictures of the sorors and their friends and families during their reunion weekend. I was down with it, cause 1.) It was an oppertunity to make a nice piece of change 2.) I can promote my business and lock in on future work 3.) she has been my friend for some years and I would do damn near anything for her (as long as it was legal). I have gone as far as reaching out to an artist to get some custom work done that I can use ONLY for their event. **wink wink** and during the conversation realized that I have to set up good package prices to ensure that I walk away from the weekend with a profit. This conversation happened the other day...
me: Hey K, how you doin?
K: Great, I had you on my list of people to call this weekend
me: whats goin on? is something changed from our last convo?
K: No, we are still good to go, even though Soror R said that $20 was too much to spend on an 8X10 photo...
me: are you serious???? do you know how much its gonna cost me to print 1 of those up for? I'm not making much from it.
K: I know, dont change your price...this hoe (her words) is just cheap as hell, and I think she is tryin to pull a fast one.
me: thats cool...I aint sweating her, she wont be buying any pictures, but when she sees the rest of em, she'll be looking for me in the daytime with a flashlight...
By the way Soror R...is a doctor here in the city and makes enough money to pay for all 20 packages and wont even miss it. Thats sad...
Finally,
I shot a wedding a couple of weeks back, and considering that dude and his wife were on a strict budget (in other words, they spent too much money on bullshit) I cut them a hella good deal, one in where again I was gonna end up making a profit, but not what other photographers in the area were making. Dude had the audacity to want to make installments...i agreed, cause at the time I didnt really have a side hustle at the time. The week before the wedding, he shoulda been completely paid in full (mind you I was out of town 5 weeks and he could have been paid for the services), he comes up with this. "Dude, Ima pay you $100 today and the balance after you get us the pictures and the dvd." I was like "WHAT??? What kinda bullshit you tryin to pull potna?" I told him that I was a professional and that I wasnt thinkin about this nonsense. So instead of refunding the monies I already had collected or cancelling on him, I went ahead and shot his wedding. I have yet to see the balance and he has yet to see his stuff, but calls me twice this week and wants to talk smack about, where his shit's at. I told him that the next time he calls me he better be calling me to say, "Gus, I gotcha money" to which I will say, "I gotcha stuff, where we gonna meet?"
Why do my people always think that a black owned business has to cater to their needs as opposed to a white owned business who they pay upfront, with no hassle, no haggling, no foolishness? I really cram to understand.
