Goals | April 2011

Eeeek! Is it goals time again, already! Oops!

April really snuck up on me this year. March just flew by way too fast. April is a BUUUUUUSY month…. and I’m not so sure sure I’m ready for it. Oh well. Not much choice.

Looking back:

March Goals:

2. Book 3 weddings. (again a stretch… ) Booked one :-/ BUTBUTBUT had oodles of emails! Here’s hoping they book 🙂

3. Do an entire shoot just to practice different lighting Kinda… we used set 3 of Karen & Paul to practice this!

4. Shoot, edit & blog Karen & Paul DONE!

5. Edit & blog photos from the wedding I 2nd shot on Saturday Ain’t happenin…. moving along….. 

April Goals:

1. Blog wedding I 2nd shot on 3/26

2. 2nd shoot 3 weddings… Charleston this weekend, Georgia the next, & one in Charlotte! Blog at least one of them. 

3. Complete styled shoot on 4/16

4. Shoot, edit & blog Kseniya & Brandon’s engagement

#5 is a biggie…. here we go…..

5. Increase our prices. This one is super scary. What if people think I’m greedy? What if people don’t think I’m worth it? What if I don’t book a single wedding at the new rates? What if people get mad? Ugh….. pricing IS SO HARD. I have to keep telling myself that I have bills to pay, and I don’t want to be working a day job forever. Juggling 60+ hours of work every week is rough. 

Just so we’re all clear- if you have already booked your wedding with us, nothing will change for you. Your contract is just that… a contract. Our album prices are also rising. When I first started out over a 1.5 years ago, I set prices… not really knowing what I was doing…. and well, those prices haven’t changed. They just aren’t sufficent for the time & effort I put into designing them. We are honoring our older album prices for anyone who’s already booked their wedding with us- up to 4 months following your wedding date.

Remember this post about making well under minimum wage? Even at our *new* rates, making money will be tough. 

Our new rates as of this Friday 4/8/11 will be:

$1950 (12 hours & 2 photographers)

$2550 (12 hours, 2 photographers & CD of images)

We automatically set aside 30% for taxes…. whether it be sales or income tax, uncle sam will get his cut. 

That instantly makes our packages like this: $1365 & $1785.

$1385

$1785 

Thankfully, I don’t have to pay $200-$400 for a 2nd shooter right now.

Remember, this doesn’t include any of the shipping costs, packaging costs, travel costs. I’ll have to book at least 20 weddings to come anywhere close to what I make at my day job…… right, then there’s health insurance to buy,  retirement to plan for, having a baby one day to think about, replacing gear, insuring gear…. the list goes on and on….. 

So, before you gawk at mine, or anyone photography prices…. remember, this is how we’re making a living, and we have bills to pay, just like you.  And then you might say…. but you work full time on top of this…. yes I do, and I pay a high premium for it. I work 40+ hours a week at my day job (not to mention I travel overnight frequently for it)…. if I have a wedding that’s a minimum of 12 hours shooting…. and then at least another 8 hours blogging, editing, ect….. I easily work 60+ hours each week. I don’t get to spend much time with my husband (who by the way, is STILL unemployed) or my friends, or my dogs. And then of course, we hope to strive for bigger & better…. I don’t want to be in my tiny 1200sq ft. house forever (much longer, really)…. we bought a beach lot, and hope to build…. one day. I would like a new car… one day, hubs would like a new car…. one day. Savings is non existent in the Horton house, and it just can’t stay that way forever.

I love it though. I hope that these small price increases that I’ve made and will continue to make, will help you understand that I am trying to ease myself away from my day job. I want to devote my days to photography, and provide even better images, products & customer service to our clients. Price changes are the only way to do it. (Unless hubs gets a stellar job and/or we win the lotto). 

I started writing this post just to talk about goals, not pricing….. I got a little carried away…. sorry.  I hope you understand. Thank you for all your support & sweet comments. It goes a long way 🙂 

**Off Soapbox** 

Sorry there’s no photo to go along with this post…. I’m working on it!