Tips and resources for new freelancers.

[Jimmy Jeong]

Hi everyone, I thought is might be useful to start compiling some useful resources for freelancers. Can I ask for your help in sharing some of your advice. And then I can put together a check-list or booklet for download.

Websites
Get your portfolio out there but take the time to figure out what you want to include. The old saying is true - put up a portfolio that reflects your strengths but also the type of work you want to do. If you don't have those images yet, then go out and shoot it.

Livebooks.com and Photoshelter.com is what I use. Both kind of expensive at around $30-$50/month in US dollars. But they also have cheaper options. I like how clean and easy Livebooks is and use it strictly as a portfolio site. It seems to have fairly good SEO if you take the time to add great captions and keywords to all your images. Remember Google can't read photos yet so you need to use good written descriptions. I then use Photoshelter mainly as an archive and provide private client galleries for clients to download their images. I also sell some archival stock photos using Photoshelter.

Invoices and Billing
First off go meet an accountant.
Being a freelancer means being a business owner. So take a intro business course. And keep track of everything in regards to money going in and out. I use Billings Pro from Market Circle. https://www.marketcircle.com/billingspro/ They only sell the cloud version now but I actually prefer it. It's about $100US per year. I like it because I can use it to send invoices, keep track of expenses, and taylor categories for my needs. I know others like Wave (https://www.waveapps.com/invoice/) because it's free to use for invoicing and you can send a credit card invoice (they take a cut).

I think other more seasoned veterans will use a beefier accounting program like Freshbooks or Quickbooks.

Rates and Contracts
It's a scary and rough world out here being an independent business owner. You really need to do your research and understand your market. Talk to other photographers - my line is always open. You need your own standard contract to use but also be diligent and read the contracts that potential clients send you. And find out what some of the standard rates are for your region.

Ok, I'll add more as this discussion progresses. Please, please contribute and let's look out for one another.


Jimmy

[James Park]

Networking Websites

https://blink.la/
https://wonderfulmachine.com/

Reference websites

http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/eng/h_wr00003.html
http://whopaysphotogs.tumblr.com/

Time killing websites

http://totallycoolpix.com/
https://500px.com/
http://aphotoeditor.com/
http://www.poyi.org/
http://www.latimes.com/visuals/photography/

Self-help

http://phlearn.com/

There's whole lot more but my bookmark organization game is weak.. sorry maybe I can update later

[Mathieu Belanger]

I use Sage One for accounting. It's very easy to use, in the cloud, have an app for the iPhone and it is very user friendly. You can even give a special access to your accountant, so no more pile of papers or shoe boxes full of invoices!

You have to have basic knowledge of accounting but I think everyone who owns a business should at least be able to understand and speak the same language as an accountant...a basic course in accounting/business is something that could be useful in the long term.

As for the website hosting, I like Photoshelter for the archives and my site was built way before any good website building platform was available. But I'm considering revamping it and Livebooks looks like a really good option so far.

I will keep an eye for any suggestions you may have.

For marketing pieces and business card, I like to use Moo...their products look really professional and nice.

Mathieu

[David Buzzard]

My wife is a professional book keeper (handy thing to have around), and she flatly refuses to use cloud based accounting systems.  It's way too easy to hack those cloud servers.  Think of all the nude celebrity photos that ended up up on-line when hackers got into Apple's iCloud system.  The last thing you want to to do is have to tell your clients that their accounting information is compromised.  The computer I use for my book keeping isn't even connected to the internet or LAN. 

Keep track of all your expenses, almost everything is deductible, as long as you keep good notes on the expenses.  I write off 90% of my car expenses, half my clothes, all my restaurant meals, coffee at Starbucks, 80% of my mortgage interest, phone, utilities, etc.

One of the the best things I ever did was take a basic web design course.  Now I use Wordpress, which is pretty easy once you get the hang of it, can be easily run over multiple computers, and has great search engine visibility.  My GoDaddy account is $14.00 US a month, and I'm hosting five different web pages on it.  There are tons of pre-made templates for between $20 and $100 for a decent one.

I have a couple of web pages I use.  One is for my wedding clients (http://www.whistlerweddingphotos.com), and the other one is for commercial clients (http://www.media-centre.ca).  The reason for that is I really don't want art directors or news guys looking at a bunch of wedding photos. 

[Mathieu Belanger]

I agree that having somebody who knows accounting around is a good thing to have around. My father was a CPA and he helped me a lot with accounting in my beginnings.

I can understand why a book keeper wants to keep his client's infos secret...as well as Fortune 500 companies. But as far as I'm concerned, I don't keep state secrets hidden in my personal accounting (which is probably the same for a lot of freelancers). Only infos I have on my clients in my database are pretty much all publicly available on the internet...the only looser if I get hacked would be myself!

And the fact that you can invoice a client on the fly instead of waiting to get back home (and even getting paid if he is paying by credit card!) is something I really like. Even though I know some apps can do the same thing, I enjoy not having to do the invoice and enter it in my accounting database afterwards.

I just need to make sure I do a backup once in a while in case something happen.

So I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

[Warren Toda]

If I may suggest (in no particular order):


1) Define yourself in your marketplace.

Exactly who is your customer? If you answer, "Anyone who has money," then you lose.

What does your business do? If you answer, "Take pictures," then you lose.

What is your focus? If you say, "Auto," that's only a little bit funny

Understand that everyone is not your customer. That's a good thing. If you try to be everything to everyone, you risk being nothing to anyone. Remember Putney Swope saying, "I can get anybody for nothing."


2) Why should a customer spend their money on you and not the other photographer? If you answer "Because I'm a better photographer," then you lose.


3) If you think you can discount your way to success, then you lose. It isn't mathematically possible.


4) The purpose of running a business is to make money. Learn to talk money.


5) Your portfolio (web site) should show both where you've been, photographically speaking, and where you'd like to go. Show what you want to shoot. This may sound simple but many photographers don't know what they want to shoot.

      "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" asked Alice.

      "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cheshire Cat.

      "I don't much care where..." said Alice.

      "Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.

      "...so long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation.

      "Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."


6) You're worth what the customer thinks you're worth. But your marketing goal is to influence their opinion of you. Your marketing is more important than your photography.


7) Wear nice shoes once in a while. And read a book or two.

[Jimmy Jeong]

Ah Warren, I always enjoy reading your posts. Great tips everyone. Thanks for contributing.

[David Buzzard]

One thing I forgot.  Don't fall in love with your old work, show what you're doing right now.

[Warren Toda]

Some of these are for estimating and invoicing, some are for accounting, some are for business management, some offer pricing, and some do a combination of things. Most of this type of software is now cloud-based.


Blinkbid                    Fotobiz (and Fotoquote)                    Freshbooks                    Ledger Book                     Light Blue

Minutiae                    Quickbooks                                      Studio Cloud                    Studio Plus                      Tave

Wave                           Xero                                               17Hats



Federal gov't        BC prov. gov't         ON prov. gov't          Most provinces have similar sites. Whether they're useful is another thing.