Why is pricing sooooo hard??

The subject of pricing among photographers is HUGE.  HUGE!!!  Why is this?  In  nutshell,   there is no shortage of so-called “experts” telling you how to price your products for success.  You could do a google search right now and pages and pages of pricing advice would pop up.  That doesn’t even count the Youtube Channels, Masterclasses, and Free pdf’s that we all have access to every day that are supposed to help us in this area of our business.  

The mere amount of free advice available to us is staggering.  And it is no wonder that so many of us are completely overwhelmed, confused, fearful, baffled and perplexed on how to price our services and products. 

The fact of the matter is that you can use a variety of methods when coming up with your pricing structure.  There is no perfect equation or strategy that will allow you to reach the ideal scenario where clients are happy and you make the amount of money you want. 

But before we even attach a price to anything we sell, I think that every single photographer needs to take a step back and do a quick (yet sometimes painful) look at how they feel and think about money.  

We all have limiting beliefs when it comes to money.  Those beliefs prevent us from raising prices, charging profitable rates and skew our perspectives when it comes to what others will pay for our services.  We all are brought up with certain views around money and those views shape our attitudes around money into adulthood and impact our business in ways we don’t even really see.  Our ideas and attitudes toward money start at a very young age and are shaped primarily in how we see our parents deal with money.

For example, in your home growing up did your parents always talk about only buying things on sale, how expensive certain things were, and talk about others who had more money as then in a derogatory way?  Think back about how money was discussed in your childhood home and then reflect about how you feel about money.  

Were your parents very frugal?  Only purchasing things that were on sale and denying you many things you wanted as a child?

Did your parents spoil you?  Did they give you everything you wanted, kind of like Varuca Salt’s parents in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory?

Did your parents teach you about money?  Did they show you how to handle your personal finances in a responsible way? 

Did they talk poorly about investment opportunities choosing to keep their money safe in low interest savings accounts or under the bed?

All four of those things, plus many others,  contribute to how you think about money and how you think about your client’s money when they come to spend it in your business.  It is really hard to just turn that stuff off and just go along in business without  having some of these deep down beliefs pop up.  This especially happens when you have a client sitting in front of you wanting to spend more than you would ever dream possible for your art.  It is scary, emotional, and anxiety inducing.  

WE need to remember that people who spend a lot of money on things are used to spending a lot of money on things.  

They know what they like and see the value in the services you provide

They know their own personal finances and we need to respect that they know how much they can spend

They CHOSE to work with you and WANT to spend money in your studio

Our job is not to determine how much clients can spend, it is to allow them to spend as much as possible with us because it is what makes them happy.

It is the same as me walking into Sephora and spending WAY to much money on lipstick.  Do I need lipstick?  No.  Do I LOVE lipstick?  Yes.  Does buying new lipstick make me extremely happy?  Yes it does.   Does Sephora make it easy for me to be happy spending my money on the lipstick brands they carry?  Yes they do.  I want my business to be like Sephora.   

If you are having issues with money and how your beliefs are impacting how you price and sell your art, here are some good resources for you.

Books:

You are a Badass at Making Money, Jen Sincero

Get Good with Money, Tiffany Aliche

Transforming Your Relationship with Money, Joe Dominguez

Educators:

Mel Abraham - I simply cannot recommend Mel enough as someone who people need to listen to on how to handle money and investments.  He has helped me tremendously.

James Wedmore - James is a bit on the woo side but his ideas about money and how our limited beliefs hold us back revolutionized how I think about my money and business