I have been a photographer professionally for going on 12 years now and I still struggle with pricing, with charging what I am worth. Because in large part it is so very hard to put a number on something you love, on art, on your passion. I also didn’t want to come across as greedy which of course made me want to hold back on charging what I am worth.
Friends would constantly advocate for me to charge more, and there are numerous other articles out there that support charging what you are worth but it is not an easy journey to accept that your skills and talent are worthy of the prices you set.
The thing that makes pricing hard is that we consider our client’s feelings over the needs and goals of our business.
Clients are very important to what we do, to live our dreams, and the fear of charing too much and driving them away is real. The real truth not every single person who visits our websites or contacts us is our ideal client. There comes a time when discounting your time, packages, and work will become detrimental to our business. To succeed we need clients who come to us and accept our pricing for the value our skills, equipment, time, and talent will bring them in results without haggling for a cheaper deal.
Here is the thing I am not simply here saying to raise your prices that is something that is going to come in time when you grow. I am simply saying that no matter how terrifying it is to charge what you are worth you need to realize that:
YOU. ARE. WORTH. EVERY. PENNY.
We put our hearts and souls into creating these creative businesses. Into learning to become the best we can be, and it is hard to fight our hearts to figure out what we need to become a sustainable business in the long term.
The thing is you are going to have people question you, call you crazy, and even compare you to others whose prices are not the same. But then you find people who support you and save for months to work with you because they see the value in what you do and think it is worth the investment.
I have had many inquiries, chatted with many potential clients, and tried to land them I have offered to discount my worth and they have still walked away. I have had clients who were so excited to work with me they have done everything they could to make it happen without me discounting myself. I stumbled my way through learning how to price my work and self, through when to offer a discount and when to hold firm.
Most of this is about becoming confident in yourself and your business. In being able and ready to walk away from clients who are not right for your business. It is scary at first but saying no and being firm in what you need will help you reach success without many of the struggles I and other photographers have made.