Tuesday, 3 August 2021

Potential business client wants to pay me in services, not money.


A potential new client recently reached out to me, we talked on the phone for a few minutes. They are a local small resort often used for weddings and such. She explained that they needed new photos for their webpage and more action shots of people in their restaurant, bar, pool, croquet lawn...etc. This is mostly due to the fact they only get new photos of weddings. They want to show they do more than weddings. It sounded like they wanted photos from different seasons of the property as well, so this could potentially turn into a nice longer term business relationship.Then things turned a little strange, it sounded like they wanted to pay me through their services...like free stays at their resort and such. While it is a nice resort for sure, I already live close by so its not like I'd be staying in a new area. Also, that doesn't pay the bills or overhead costs of doing business. It sounded like they'd consider paying me money later on if they like my photos...huh. It also seemed like another photographer in the past may have accepted such a deal. Leading me to wonder if they'd move on to find another photographer after I stopped accepting services as payment.She later emailed that this was the scope of the work:Corporate set – 3 different locations (Did not mention how many employees total)Food & Beverage – 3-4 different imagesActivities – 4-5 different imagesProperty & Garden – 5 different imagesThat is a decent amount of work, easily well over a single day in on-sight shooting. The corporate sets alone could take a day since I'd have to move gear to three separate locations. (I'd consider hiring an assistant) I don't see myself a full blown professional yet, though I have spent a great deal of time and money in the craft over the years, but only recently started paid work. This would be the largest and most diverse job I will have taken on. Head shots, food, event, property and landscape photography all wrapped up in one job! Somehow I have a hard time believing what they would pay in services alone would add up to what I would typically charge per hour. There is some value in the job from an experience perspective so I offered that they could pay me in services in substitute of my hourly rate, they would only need to pay for image licensing of images they choose when we go over the proofs. This is where I am at currently, this client seems a little slow to respond though so I may not hear from them till later in the week. (Even though she said the job needs to be done asap) Or maybe this is their way of getting a "deal" for photography for their business? Does anyone have experience with such clients?Accepting what I can only guess at this point as a few hundred worth of services at the establishment, I believe this would well undervalue my work and that of other photographers as well in my area. Thoughts? via /r/photography https://ift.tt/3yz6nPK

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