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Worth reading

As a photographer, you’re leaving money on the table when you do this. 😭😭😭

If you’re not a hobbyist, then you’re doing photography to make money off it. And every time you don’t earn from photography especially after investing huge amount in getting gear, frustration begins to creep in.

This post is for photographers that always leave money on the table.

As a photographer, if you don’t send Invoices especially for Free gigs that you do, you’re leaving money on the table.

Let me explain.

As a photographer, there are times when you do free work; maybe to build your portfolio, or to get attention or to get into the circle of influence of the person or people you photograph for free.

I know you’re asking “Why should I send them an Invoice when it is a free shoot”

Invoice does 3 things

1. It states the service or product you’re providing.

2. It states the fee to be paid for the service or product and the payment structure.

3. Most importantly, it states the worth of the service or product you’re providing.

It is for making a statement.

Most photographers only consider the first two things and they see no need for it when they’re doing free gig.

By not sending an invoice, you’re conditioning the person never to pay you for such a service.

Let me say that again.

“By not sending an invoice, you’re conditioning the person never to pay you for such a service.”

One of the biggest names in Marketing Seth Godin puts it this way, “Whatever you want to do for money, never do it for Free.”

Because by doing it for free, you’re conditioning the person not to pay for that service,

Let me give you an example.

Imagine you had always wanted to photograph me and one day, you have the opportunity. You invite me for the portrait session, gave me such a wonderful experience and later send me the retouched photographs.

I posted the images online and my friends saw it, loved it and asked me who did it and how much it cost.

Guess my response? “One of my guys photographed me and he did it for free.”

My friend will then want you to do a portrait session for him for free.

Let me tell you the same story if you had sent me an invoice.

When my friend see and love the images and ask me, I will tell them how much was on the invoice and the discount you gave me. Then they will ask to see if the discount is still available.

When doing a free gig, send an invoice stating your fee and give 100% discount.

Imagine if your rate is N100k and you gave me 100% discount. I didn’t pay anything.

But if my friend wants it and you say that they can pay 50%, it goes from you getting zero money to getting N50k

With an invoice with the fee and 100% discount, I can never tell anyone that it was a free gig because it wasn’t.

By sending that invoice, you’re conditioning people to respect you and what you do.

You are putting value on your work.

And the thing about conditioning people, is that they will soon become entitled.

They will be angry that you want to charge them money for something you did for free for them or someone else earlier.

Robert D. Lupton describes it well in his book “Toxic Charity”

Lupton argues that One-way charity has the following ever-descending life cycle:
-Give once and you elicit appreciation;

-Give twice and you create anticipation;

-Give three times and you create expectation;

-Give four times and it becomes entitlement;

-Give five times and you establish dependency.

The time it takes to go from Appreciation to Dependency is very fast.

So when you complain that people are bringing their friends for free pictures that you only did for them, you conditioned them to do that.

For every time they get angry that you now want to charge money for your work, know that you enabled them.
Finally, my advice to you is, next time you’re doing free work either to build your portfolio, get attention or gain access into someone’s circle of influence, make sure you send them an Invoice stating your fee and then run them a discount.

I really hope you find this valuable and helpful.

Always remember, 100% discount is NOT the same thing as Free.

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