Had a clueless guy accuse me of taking away his business

TopHatMoments wrote in post #12332248
Find something a buyer will pay a higher price for and you have sold for said higher price.
That's not a hard concept to grasp either.

Sell to the 5 & Dime crowd or sell to the abercrombie and fitch crowd. The people that live in the 5 n dime area shop at A&F look at there charge cards.

Why do they shop at " a & f " because they can not find what there looking for at the 5 n dime.

You sell what you market for!

Every one of my seniors have a&f wardrobes. Standing in line. Initial consultations are always what can we do creatively? We dream it up. We shoot it. They buy it. A lot of it. But a word to the wise. A&F crowd didn't get their money by not buying quality and spending it wisely and saving where they can.

Bosscat wrote in post #12335394
Didn't I and everyone else in North America have to help bail out the smart folks of Motown, when their beloved auto industry couldn't stay afloat due to bad business practices?

Nope, the Chinese did, you and the rest of your beloved North America have been running on red for quite a while, so stop beating your chest - nothing to be proud of here.
Maybe they used the same advice and shipped all those under-$100K jobs abroad and now they cry because illegal immigrants steal their high-paying tomato-picking jobs...Just like the "pro" photographers, who it seems make millions every month and would never touch anything that doesn't pay $10K+, yet for some reason cry that some guy lowered his prices at the local school...

Dont' get it twisted, the people of Detroit had nothing to do with how the bigwigs ran the companies and they suffered the most, bailout or not.

airfrogusmc wrote in post #12335306
Only if you are someone that has little value for what they create. I guess with the defensive attitude that would be.......

A year ago my pricing stategy was just like yours. I'm making creative art. I deserve to be paid. Everyone would call and say they loved our work, what's it cost? I would tell them. Never hear from them again. Talked to the hair stylist I mentioned earlier, changed my pricing and they knocked down the door.

So you see it your way, I will see it mine. I make more than enough shooting seniors. I had 26 seniors apply to be a senior rep out of a graduating class of 100+/- for 2012. It's not because I am cheap. It's because they like what we do. 11 of the applicants that didn't get chosen set up senior sessions.

Defense, no...I just know what works here and what doesn't and don't need anyone being pompous telling me it's wrong.

atlrus wrote in post #12335434
Dont' get it twisted, the people of Detroit had nothing to do with how the bigwigs ran the companies and they suffered the most, bailout or not.

If they were a unionized worker, they played a pretty large part in the mess, don't kid yourself.

Bosscat wrote in post #12335556
If they were a unionized worker, they played a pretty large part in the mess, don't kid yourself.

Unions didnt cause mismanagement. Collective bargaining agreements are just that. Agreements. The auto makers agreed to the contract. Unions don't have the power to strike anymore if it affects interstate commerce. We go on strike. The prez puts us back to work within hours. Months later it is battled out in courts. I would hate to see what would have happened to the auto workers if they weren't unionized.

I'm just making all kinds of new friends today.

You will soon enough.

I'm not a union member, have never been a union member, have never had family in a union. But I have read history. All the benefits taken for granted these days--overtime, paid vacation, sick leave, et cetera, are the result of union members willing to be beaten and killed to make such things commonplace for blue collar, then white and pink collar jobs followed suit.

I don't think the Trumps, Murdochs, and Turners of the world have suddenly found any more religion than their forebearer robber barons of the so-called Guilded Generation had. But if they can demonize the very concept of collective bargaining as they've done in Michigan, they can get back to those days.

cbknight wrote in post #12335529
A year ago my pricing stategy was just like yours. I'm making creative art. I deserve to be paid. Everyone would call and say they loved our work, what's it cost? I would tell them. Never hear from them again. Talked to the hair stylist I mentioned earlier, changed my pricing and they knocked down the door.

So you see it your way, I will see it mine. I make more than enough shooting seniors. I had 26 seniors apply to be a senior rep out of a graduating class of 100+/- for 2012. It's not because I am cheap. It's because they like what we do. 11 of the applicants that didn't get chosen set up senior sessions.

Defense, no...I just know what works here and what doesn't and don't need anyone being pompous telling me it's wrong.

Again show me where I said it was wrong for you and why are you making this personal. I never called you names. I said if you read those that have little value in what they create. I never pointed anyone out but a few got a bit defensive.

And again very rarely does anyone create commercial that is art. That still doesn't mean that you should not value what you create.

cbknight wrote in post #12335677
I'm just making all kinds of new friends today.

You are like the forums anti Mr Rogers...........LOL

RDKirk wrote in post #12335754
You will soon enough.

I'm not a union member, have never been a union member, have never had family in a union. But I have read history. All the benefits taken for granted these days--overtime, paid vacation, sick leave, et cetera, are the result of union members willing to be beaten and killed to make such things commonplace for blue collar, then white and pink collar jobs followed suit.

I don't think the Trumps, Murdochs, and Turners of the world have suddenly found any more religion than their forebearer robber barons of the so-called Guilded Generation had. But if they can demonize the very concept of collective bargaining as they've done in Michigan, they can get back to those days.

Its not taken for granted. By some yes. By all no. I am a union rep. For 11 years now. I can't speak for the auto makers. I can for railroads. We make a lot of money compared to non union jobs. We also have guys die every year. We also are forced to work 24/7 on call schedules with no holidays and often times we are in very unsafe situations. You see the wrecks. The derailments. These aren't always caused by human error. Often they are faulty equipment. The list goes on. I won't get into the bible of rules that if we violate, the carrier tries to dismiss us. Even when their fault. You get hurt, they want to fire you. The good news is, a deadly industry has to answer to unions. To the Feds. And to the media.

But yes, it is often taken for granted.

Bosscat wrote in post #12335824
You are like the forums anti Mr Rogers...........LOL

You should see my inbox.

I love a good debate. I don't always debate for the side I'm on.

Allen it's futile, he's being arguementative.
How Walmart's business model could apply to a small
business eludes me.

wyofizz wrote in post #12336009
Allen it's futile, he's being arguementative.
How Walmart's business model could apply to a small
business eludes me.

Hi. Ever tried it?

I can't do volume but I know that my area's cost of living is low compared to many others. What that means is expensive to me is cheap to some other folks.

Saying you have to go where the higher paying photography jobs are is kind of a chicken & egg argument. You can live a small life with a small income where you are, or you can go chase a big life with a big income elsewhere. At the end of the day, your kids can be comfortable and happy either way...that's down to what kind of human beings you teach them to be, not how many toys you buy them for Christmas.

You can buy a 5000sq foot house in the sticks for less than you can a 5000sq foot house in the city, but your income in the sticks will probably be less in the sticks than in the city, so you'd be working pretty much equally as hard to pay the mortgage in either location.

It's a wash, really.

Doesn't work if you value your time and family. The OP and others like him only exist because they have another full time job to pay the bills. Plane and simple. Their not running a business their running a charity.

wyofizz wrote in post #12336144
Doesn't work if you value your time and family. The OP and others like him only exist because they have another full time job to pay the bills. Plane and simple. Their not running a business their running a charity.

I'm not looking at his books so I can't really judge his profitability.

At any rate, if I can't make money at it and can't afford to donate my time doing it, I move on. It's really that simple.