The mindset between freelance photographers vs. business photographers
Ever wondered why it is that freelance photographers don’t normally have a good success rate in business? And what it is that makes business photographers fairly better when compared to them?
We all love the term ‘Freelancing’. Being your own boss, flexible working hours, informal dress code, sometimes the pleasure of staying at home. All sounds so fancy and convenient. But this shouldn’t take a toll on the success of your career. One should be able to balance the freedom of freelancing with the responsibility that comes along with it.
Here are some of the reasons why freelance photographers aren’t as successful as business photographers?
Professionalism
As soon as you turn to freelancing, you start enjoying the freedom. You work at your own leisure and your own time. Which is okay because that is usually the reason why people want to freelance but then you start to lose touch with professionalism. This is a dangerous phase because when you turn freelance, friends and loved ones start to ask for favors.
Maybe a relative of yours would want you to be her wedding photographer, or a friend would want you to take photographs of her Jewish cousin’s Bar Mitzvah. And then you feel like you must oblige because they’re like family. It’s a morally right thing to do, but you might lose out on a better opportunity with real pay. It"s hard to ask your close ones to pay for your work, but when it comes to your job and career, you have to deal with things on a professional level. Remember, you’re freelance. Not free.
Lack Of Focus
While freelancing there are high chances you will spend half your time at home. This leads to a lot of distractions like paying bills, mortgage issues and repairing the sink. Although these are necessary distractions, there are also the insignificant ones. Like maybe going to a neighbor’s party and you don’t have an excuse since you’re working from home anyway, or maybe there’s a really good movie playing on the television, or maybe you’re in the mood to redecorate your house. There’s a good chance that all this will make you lose focus on your job. It will make you postpone your work to tomorrow. And honestly, tomorrow never comes.
Looking for projects
One part of being a freelance photographer is that you have to look for your own projects. You have to market your resume and you have to find a job for yourself. This is usually tough since you have to do everything from the scratch. Right from your publicity to the final printing of your photos. Being able to get a hand on a project is not easy because if you want people to hire you, you need to earn the trust which means you need to create a brand in your name and publicize it well and even then, you may not be their first option as a photographer.
For business photographers, it is easier since a company employs them. Probably a reputed one so they don’t have to worry about sending out a brand message or marketing themselves. They are handed projects one after the other and they don’t have to stress about running after clients and attracting more customers.
Lack Of Business Skills
Being a freelance photographer you are more likely to concentrate on your technical skills than on your business skills. Lacking business skills like financing your projects, negotiating with clients and correct pricing is one of the main reasons why you could fail as a freelance photographer. You must charge your customers based on the projects they hand you.
You should charge clients that come from big brands higher than the ones that come from smaller non-profit organizations, you should know how much to invest in each project based on its genre, you should be aware how to reap profits, negotiate for a win-win situation with the client. Negotiating is usually where it goes wrong.
You must demand a pay high enough to value your work but not high enough to make your clients think you’re looting them.
You must ensure that the negotiation doesn’t turn into an argument because then not only would you lose that client but it will also spoil your reputation as a professional. For business photographers, this is easy because the employers do all the financing and negotiating with clients and all they have to do is their job.If they need a raise or a hike, all they have to do is negotiate with the employer. They don’t have to deal with the complications of a good business negotiation with customers and clients.
Organization and prioritization
Your work schedule tends to become disorganized and scattered as a freelance photographer. It gets postponed sometimes and disrupted other times. It is necessary for you as a freelance photographer to be able to organize your work with efficiency. Use calendars and sticky notes or anything that helps to prioritize your projects, set proper dates, make day to day schedules and execute them well.
Business photographers are given timelines and deadlines for every project they are handed. This puts pressure on them but at least they know that if they do their job within the given timeline, they wouldn’t have to worry about anything else. For a freelance photographer, however, since there is no one to boss around them, they have to be strict with themselves and ensure that they work on their projects with diligence and finish them in time so as to keep their clients coming back to them for more projects and better pay.
Being a freelance photographer, you can have the time of your life. You can reap all the benefits of being freelance provided you are professional enough with yourself.
Final Words To Freelance Photographers
When it comes to every technology related work, it is important to keep updated yourself with the latest technology. If you are outdated, then you are practically out of business too. The modern trend in photography and image creation is 360 degree pictures and videos. If you want to succeed in this business, you have to know about 360 virtual tours. It enables you to capture the entire surroundings in every angle and then view it in a suitable player later.
Local businesses are hiring people to create a full 360 virtual tour of their shop. If you are a freelance photographer, you can create some of these virtual tours and host them online on platforms like VisualPathy. You can get the embed code and post them on your own site too. Showing your clients about your previous work will be good for your business.
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