My business is about 90 percent dealing with individuals, and about 10 percent working with brands. I just moved into a new live/work studio and, to help break it in, I decided to hold a "Pay What You Can" sale and the results made me change my entire business model.
For the first week of the sale, I limited myself to one shoot per day to try and keep things under control, however, all of the slots filled up extremely quickly and I decided to open up an extra seven slots for the last week. Asking people to pay what they want for a photo shoot leaves a lot of doors open to abuse and being taken advantage of, so I was sure to keep my bases covered with some fine print.
Keeping Myself Protected
In order to make sure I didn't take a headshot and suddenly see it on a realtors billboard, or take a photo of a model and see it in a campaign I had a clause in my original Facebook post that images could not be used for commercial purposes. That said, I photograph a lot of people that are a part of the LGBTQI2S+ community, including drag queens/kings/gender performers, so I added a clause that gig posters received a pass since a lot of these people might get 50 or 100 dollars a show — so charging them licensing isn't in my best interest as a business. Making it seem like a favor to them also helped them push the sale even more.
The Post
I am including the actual post I made, in case you decide to do something similar for your own business working with individuals.
PAY WHAT YOU CAN PORTRAITS!!!! (Value: 250CAD)
Moving is expensive. Terrifyingly so. I am moving to a brand new live/work studio this month so, in order to cover costs, I am doing an experiment. A Pay What You Can sale!
Are you super broke and need a headshot for your acting Resume? I got you covered! Don't worry about it!
Are you super duper mega rich but also stingy? That's fine too! From 0 to 10,000 dollars you can pay what you can for a session with me!
How is it going to work?
I will be giving away SIXTEEN spots, from July 15th to 31st, one a day, to break in my brand spanking new studio and help cover some of the costs it took for me to move in there.If you want a spot - SHARE THIS POST with your friends and message me here or email me at David@fulde.ca to reserve your session!
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THE FINE PRINT:
NOTE: Images may NOT be used for commercial purposes.If you would like the photos shot on film you must pay 40/roll (1/setup) to cover Film/Dev/Scan costs.
Sessions are up to an hour long OR Three setups, whichever comes first/we discuss.
I will send you proofs and you can choose three photos, and I will choose three photos. If you would like more than six, it will be 20$/photo for retouching etc.
Photos will be shot in the Sherborne/Queens Quay area
Makeup Artist NOT included - but is available at an extra cost
Tl;Dr: Portraits for whatever you want to pay. 1/day for fifteen days. Share this post and email me David@Fulde.ca to set up a slot.
As you can see, within the post I tried to keep everything as succinct as possible — explaining the whole process (and the "why" of it) as plainly as possible. I also included a small sentence that sums up the whole post. One of the rules for the promotion is that if someone wants to take advantage, they absolutely must share the post. This is to try and force the post to get more eyeballs and, by my calculations, it worked.
Facebook loves images — so I was sure to put together a simple, easy to share, image with some of my work so I could entice potential clients.
The Advertising image I used to promote the sale
Marketing Myself
When it came to advertising, I did a few things, along with making the photo above, I spent about 75 dollars (Canadian) on advertising. Out of the sixteen or so people that came through my studio, a grand total of one person had seen the sponsored post. That said, spending a few dollars on Facebook advertising does seem to tell the almighty algorithm to give it more attention than a regular post so I don't see it as a lost cause. Most of the people that took advantage of this sale found it from people sharing the post (as required by the rules) so apparently something did well!
The Results
In the two weeks that I ran this promotion, I found that my Facebook page got more likes, my Instagram got more followers but, who cares about that? The real benefit, and reason, is money. I was expecting one or two people to pay me nothing, but that didn't happen. Quite the opposite. Every single person paid me something. The lowest someone paid me was $45 while the highest I was paid (including extra photos) ended up being almost ten times that at $400. Most people did what they could, averaging a bit more than $100 dollars per person, which isn't bad for an hour on set, and an hour in post for the selected images.
While this isn't buckets and buckets of cash, it's a decent chunk of change.
Moving Forward
When all is said and done, I calculated that I earned about $75/hour on average. When I account for time editing, time shooting, and the average amount that people were able to pay it's a totally fine wage. I have decided to continue this "promotion" moving forward with a few changes.
The new ads promoting the Pay What You Can services — featuring images from the promotion
First of all, headshots take very little time and creative energy, and thanks to the Peter Hurley Perfecting the Headshot tutorial, my skills have improved a lot. Due to the lack of creative energy it takes, instead of one or two a day I am setting aside Sundays as headshot days. Pumping through them, up to eight in a day, and using the same lighting setup. Now, if I was solely doing headshots for my entire life, I think I might lose my mind. So I am also continuing with more creative portraits on Wednesdays and Fridays. There's no real reason for these days other than the fact that it just felt right. I have limited the number of slots on these day to just two, as more creative portraits take up a lot of creative energy, and take more time to set up, so I don't want to burn out. By restricting the times and dates I am available, it means that if someone is in a rush, and the slots are full, they can pay the full rate and it also allows me to move forward with my normal freelancing gigs for companies and agencies.
I've also had more than one person find out about this promotion and approach me for things that were outside of the scope, offering to pay for more for commercial use. I've also gotten lots of eyeballs on my work and it's helped build new connections within the advertising industry.
Not judging, just pointing out that more Christians should read the WHOLE bible instead of just skimming the Southern Baptist cliff notes. ;-)
I do read the whole bible. I am a preacher. But no matter how you read it, homosexuality is a sin. Family is only a unity of one man and one woman. There is no tolerance towards sin. Loving people would not exclude telling them where they seen and need to come to Christ. In fact, if you see that someone is living in sin and you say nothing...you do not love this person because you know that he goes to hell and you do nothing about it. Being nice and tolerant for everything is like-able by some, but true love it is not
Well, all I can say is if heaven is full of people that spent their life on earth being so "lovingly intolerant" and passing judgment on others, I'd rather just pack my flame retardant swimsuit so I can paddle around in that lake of fire.
Have a great day, pastor.
Hello, Mark. I do not see why you see me being judgemental? I am following what is written in the Bible and what is written in the Bible is that in God's design family has a very unique place and in His definition family is a union of one many and one woman. People who are opposing it are opposing God. Just like with any other sin. Problem here is that other sins are not promoted so strongly and the sin of homosexuality these days. That is all. I do not see me judging anybody.
Why do I see you being judgmental? Allow me to submit Exhibit A:
"I do not have to prove that the Sun is the Sun or the Earth is the Earth. There is only male and female. As simple as that. The world has gone mad completely, but I am not forcing anyone to accept the normality."
Gone mad? Normality?
Exhibit B:
"Family is only a unity of one man and one woman. There is no tolerance towards sin. Loving people would not exclude telling them where they seen and need to come to Christ."
No tolerance...
I grew up in the church and understand what you're saying here. The problem is that the old saying, "Love the sinner but hate the sin," ends up doing a lot more harm than good. So many Christians are determined to tell the sinner (that they supposedly love) exactly how much they hate the sin and how wrong the sinner is for sinning. This may be done with the best intentions but it can easily destroy not only their relationship with you, but also their relationship with the god you're trying so hard to bring them closer to.
I will tell you from first-hand experience, as someone that's had so many (self)righteous people tell me how much they hate my sin but they love me anyway, hearing that over and over and over again did nothing but make me think, "Well, I'm such a nasty awful sinner that even god loves me only because he has to (and that's questionable)." That's a horrible way to feel, but that's how it is... That's what this "hate the sin but love the sinner" talk does. And THAT, my friend, is why the church's numbers are dwindling.
Matt. 22:37-40 says, "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
How would you feel if someone told you everything you are is a sin? How would you feel if someone's constant condemnation and berating made you feel like not even god loved you? As a pastor, I'm sure you counsel people on a regular basis. Hopefully when a family asks you to sit down with a teen who is suicidal and feels like not even god loves him because of his/her sin, you'll be a little more thoughtful in your choice of words.
Mark, that is true...God loves you. What would you think Jesus would say to people who are homosexual? To people that promote homosexuality?
To what portion do you specifically refer?
Thank you, sir. I have no problem with Christians or other religions. I do have a problem with them 1) being bigots 2) pushing their beliefs onto others as if everyone should live by what they believe and 3) the infection of religion into politics and government. Many people in government (mostly Republicans) think this (the United States) is a Christian nation (it is not) and make laws and decisions based on their own religious beliefs.
But I've known many respectful, nice, caring, loving, and tolerant Christians too - tolerant and loving of EVERYONE. Those people I like.
The Bible also says that you cant wear mixed fabrics, expensive clothes or jewelry, eat shellfish or pork, trim your beard or have certain haircuts.
you seriously need to consult a biology book. even one at the high school level would help you to understand that sex is ideally binary to facilitate procreation, but there are many, many examples of non-binary babies being born every day, world wide. they used to be referred to as "hermaphrodites."
"many, many examples of non-binary babies being born every day"
How many? Do you know how exceedingly rare they are?
I used to think people could be either stupid or smart, but turns out they can also be bigoted, homophobic/transphobic jackasses.
Live your damn life - preferably away from most people - and maybe see a therapist since the mere passing mention of a group of people sets you off.
Most people are indeed males and females and not imposing anything on anybody.
Uh, yeah, MOST people.
But you've said "there is only male and female" implying ALL, not most.
In which case, go f*ck yourself. Read your Bible, go to church, and leave other people alone.
Note that there's no H in LGBTQ(fill-in-the-blank)+
I wonder why that is.
A matter of time. There will be full alphabet.
Good stuff. Congrats on your new space and new approach.
"the LGBTQI2S+ community"
Oh, that's the new one? What happened to the good ol' LGBTQQIAAP+ community?
I have to admit - I'm good at staying up to date on these things and totally support that community - but this is the first I've heard LGBTQI2S+. I'm most used to LGBTQ but I last I knew it was LGBTQIA. At a certain point, I won't be able to remember this... and I think I'm approaching that point if this new one is actually a thing (I will be googling).
Edit: googled it - QI2S+ is Questioning, Intersex, and Two Spirit (don't ask me what the last one means).
To further confuse matters, the LGBTQI2S+ is an organization (kind of), not the new nomenclature. But there is also a LGBTQIA group where the A doesn't stand for asexual but rather Allies.
So... I'm mostly going to stick to LGBTQ because I am not sure about everything after that, seems to vary quite a bit.
LGBTQ is standard but as someone within the community I try to go the extra mile and be more inclusive.
Two spirit is a sort of way to include first Nation identities
Thank you for the info! I also try to be inclusive, but obviously it gets hard to remember especially once numbers get introduced haha. And also it seems like there are different nomenclatures or communities or something? Like when I googled LGBTQI2S+ it took me to a page that seemed like the "official" group. I don't quite understand the intricacies but I definitely try to learn and be respectful of them.
No, M+F is standard.
So you included First Nation identities but excluded the A of "Asexual". You can't win this game by adding letters and numbers ad nauseam. It's cool to be inclusive and all, but when it starts getting ridiculous even for people who support the cause, I think it becomes counterproductive and, quite frankly, useless. Why not use LGBT+? It's simple and includes litteraly everyone.
Great article, enjoying to read it. Something different as the usual fstoppers "watch the video" like articles (?).
I think it's great what you did. Not everybody is born on the bright side of life. But people appreciate good work and will pay for it. It's great that you made it possible for them.
Thumbs up!
I've done a fair bit of this and been happy with the results. Photography is a secondary income source so that makes it less stressful but more important is that I don't feel stressed over the shoot itself - if they don't like it they don't pay and I'm OK with that. Being more relaxed MAY be good for creativity and output quality. I also feel like I can take some risks with setups that I can't do for a typical paid shoot.
I'm surprised Facebook let you use the "share this post" language. In all their greed, that's against their advertising guidelines because they don't want you getting reach you didn't pay for. They've rejected ads I've submitted specifically because of "be sure to share" or "tag someone who should see this" verbiage.
That's a good point, maybe that's why people didn't see the ad! Ha ha ga
Nah, Facebook would have rejected it outright. I think you got through because you have that wording in the middle instead of at the end where a call-to-action normally is. They're probably only checking for something like that at the end of an ad.
Thanks for the tip. Facebook is stupid some times...
Excellent advice! Thanks for writing.
Great article. I live in a Montreal suburb and would seriously consider doing something similar
I have done portrait sessions with no deposit, I did the photo shoot at my expense, and then gave the client a price list and a proof album, I made more than I had ever made when I charged a sitting fee.
The Golden Rule means Golden Doubloons
Good idea for a new business.
Years ago I opened a professional accounting and tax practice and offered a free half-hour consultation to members of an environmental affinity club I belonged to, advertising in their monthly paper.
Very good results leading to repeat business and referrals. Cultivate your affinity group connections. I guarantee it will pay off.
It's sad to see just how far away from photography these comments have gone instead of actually addressing the point of the article... regardless that's an interesting promotion you came up and I'm glad it worked out positively for you. I'm trying to turn my hobby into a more serious profession and the hardest thing I've found is finding that audience and making those connections. It's great to hear out of the box ideas like that. Good luck in your new studio!
Agree 100%!
Yeah, this could be perfect for you. Get people through the door and meeting you in the most important thing going forward.
Great article and glad to hear it is working for you David.
Most of the comments have nothing to do with topic at hand. Everybody has an opinion on what orifice is proper for sex, but lets discuss the idea behind "pay what you can". I find the idea fascinating. I wonder if it would work for wedding photographer. You shoot the wedding and let people pay what they think is fair and then offer them to pay for prints, albums, slide shows, portraits. You probably would make just as much because people shopped around and have some idea how much it going to cost them. So instead of upfront price you get paid for delivering extras like metal prints.
I was thinking of doing pretty much the exact same thing.
Do you think people would react differently if you worded the add as "Pay me what you think I'm worth."?
And should I then decide if I want to do the shoot based on what they are willing to pay? Kinda like a bidding system...🤔
I don't think so. You are proposing to walk away if they don't understand what you are worth. How about shooting a wedding, present them with final results and then ask them to "pay what they can". Traditional way is to show your portfolio and ask them to pay half upfront for the work you are going to do. You are selling them cat in a bag and asking them to sign a contract. I think that whole idea of "Pay what you can" is to do it first and take a chance. Say they shopped around and got quotes from $2000 to $5000. If you are any good, they would love your work and most likely pay you reasonable amount and then it will be your time to up-sell.
Interesting experiment, thank you for sharing!
Hey David, this experiment sounds cool! Can I try to replicate the same experiment? My text copy should be different as I live of the other side of the hemisphere, but otherwise I'll try to replicate as much as I could. Would that be fine for you?
Seriously I have no idea what people living around my area are willing to pay for corporate shoots and creative shoots, yet I need an incentive for them to come over to my place. Thought this would be perfect to try.