As a New Jersey Photographer, I constantly receive phone calls from clients about my prices. Many of them are actually interested to find out what exactly I do for that price. They are truly open to my ideas, my services, and my products, definitely have a will to be photographed by me and considering. Unfortunately, many phone calls are just to see if my price is cheaper then someone else. It doesn’t even matter to them that even for a little more they get so much more, as long as numbers are competitive.
Yesterday, I had to find a new vehicle for my family and I was in everyone else shoes. I was a consumer, we always end up leasing a car because my husband thinks that it’s not worth to purchase them anymore. We haven’t been in car’s market for about three years and we totally missed the opportunity to find a low-cost minivan for our family. We found out yesterday that minivans start up price are $28,000 which means I won’t receive anything below $350 a month. First, it was a sticker shock but we decided to look further and understand the whole situation.
We traveled to 5 different dealerships and tried four different minivans from different makers. Our last stop was the cheapest we could find. The minivan was for $290 but it was empty and had nothing that we were looking for, where the first place gave us everything we wanted but $70 more per month. Here was the decision time, which every consumer has to go through. Should we take a vehicle that was under out budget but giving us nothing that we are looking for or for an extra little bit of money we can take a car that has everything we wanted and more. You get what you pay for! Has been in my mind the whole time. It definitely should be everyone’s quote. There is nothing in this world that is free.
My only argument with myself was, do I pay less and get nothing that I wanted on my list but only what I need which is a car or do I invest more money and receive what I need, want and on my wish list? Since I don’t purchase vehicles every year, I decided to go with little more money and get everything that I wanted. My car is a beautiful color, pretty design with a bunch of little toys for me and my children and kids asked me to give them a ride before the school today. They were very excited about our new car. All those buttons and automatic openings and a tv for them to watch. I made a little more investment to receive joy not just for myself but also for my family. Yesterday’s lesson taught me one thing, be smart as a consumer but also enjoy things in life.
If you hiring photographers couple times a year for all types of events and portraits then maybe you can invest less and get what you paid for but if you never hired a photographer in your life and this is your first time. I suggest, invest in your first experience and make sure you will enjoy it. We can’t make all the money in the world but we also can’t save all the money in the world too. What we can save is memories and experience in our minds and in photos. So take time, save a little more money and allow yourself get a wonderful experience, beautiful photos and just enjoy being photographed by a great artist.
