The Power of Outsourcing: Pricing Subcontract Work

This is a follow up to my last post in this series that related to the importance of having a contract when hiring subcontractors. This post is aimed more towards the subcontractor rather than the company hiring the contractor. Although the examples I’ll use will be specifically geared towards the video business, the concepts are universal and apply to any service business where one company hires a contractor for some aspect of the business.

Wholesale vs. Retail Rates

Our studio works with a hand picked set of contractors around the country. For most of our contractors, we have pre-agreed upon rates for the work they perform for us. Every now and then we’ll be in a situation where we need to determine a rate due to a unique project, or we’re bringing on a new contractor and we need to determine shooting and/or editing rates. One thing I come across every now and then are contractors who want to charge our studio the same rate they would charge a traditional client (e.g. a corporation or bride). In situations like that I then have to explain the concept of wholesale vs. retail pricing.

Just like in any other business where there is a series of costs that go into producing an end product, the price the end-user pays for the product is the retail price. The price the manufacturer pays the supplier is a wholesale price. The same is true for a service oriented business.

Let’s say you’re a video producer who takes on corporate clients, but also works for other studios from time to time as an independent contractor. And let’s say the going retail rate for video recording services in your area is $75/hour. That’s what an end-user can expect to pay for such a service. Now, let’s say ACME Video Productions wants to hire you to shoot a video for them in that area. You should not expect to receive $75/hour for your services. You’re now a wholesale service provider and ACME is the retail service provider. ACME will charge the end-user $75/hour. In order to make a profit, ACME needs to pay you much less than that. Maybe $40-$50/hour.

Your natural reaction may be that you’re doing the same amount of work, so you should get the same pay. But, it’s not that simple. Here are just a few reasons why it’s okay for you to charge less, and for you not to feel bad about it:

• It’s ACME’s butt on the line with the client. If YOU screw up, it’s ACME that has to deal with the consequences.
• Fewer headaches for you. All you have to do is shoot and deliver tapes. That’s it. No editing. No customer service or client management issues. No worries about delivery schedules or backlogs.
• ACME paid for that client. ACME was the company that invested in both the time and the money to land that client. Chances are there were sales meetings, e-mails, phone calls, and budget proposals that took hours to write in order to land that client. Not to mention any marketing or advertising dollars spent ahead of time to get that client to find ACME in the first place. Every job ACME does has to pay for those expenses. All you had to do was show up.

Please don’t get me wrong. I’m in no way minimizing the work that subcontractors do for the studios that hire them. But, it’s just a simple reality in business. Wholesale vs. retail rates. If you determine that your business cannot survive on the wholesale rates for your services, that’s fine, then focus your work on the retail side. But, I bet if you work the numbers, you’ll find that the profit you make after your salary (i.e. your time), marketing, advertising, etc., will be pretty darn close to the profit you could make if all you did was work for other studios who kept you busy with contract work.

Ahhhh….the Easier Life

Imagine if you didn’t have to spend thousands of dollars on sales and marketing; didn’t have to spend hours writing up proposals or schmoozing; didn’t have have to spend hours on the phone every year with customers; life could be a whole lot easier. That’s the trade-off for charging a wholesale rate to a larger studio providing a retail service to the end user. Don’t fight it. Embrace it.

101 Photoshop Tips in 5 minutes (Rap video)

We interrupt our series on “The Power of Outsourcing” to give you this funny yet education video. Found this on Photojojo (a great site by the way for anyone who’s into photography, professional or otherwise). Get your pen and paper ready, the tips go by quick. Enjoy!

The Power of Outsourcing…Editing Part 2 (Get it in writing)

Last week I addressed my videography brethren and talked about the pros and cons of hiring editors to help you with your video editing. This week I want to cover the topic of contracts. Assuming you decide to go the independent contractor route, it will be important for you to have a written contract in place that spells out what you expect from the contractor and what he/she can expect from you. It can be very easy to overlook this process, especially if you have a huge load and you want to move quickly. However, in the long run, you’re better off taking the time to cross your “t’s” and dot your “i’s” with respect to creating a formal agreement with your contractors.

DISCLAIMER (you know there had to be one): It goes without saying that I am not an attorney. The information in this article is based on my 6+ years experience in this business specifically, and my 14+ years experience in business development generally. As always, consult your attorney for definitive answers, particularly as they relate to laws in your state or city.

ONE-OFFS vs. UMBRELLA AGREEMENTS

You can either create a contract on a per project basis, or if you know work will be pretty steady, create a blanket agreement for all projects. We do the latter with our subcontractors. There are six to eight subcontractors we deal with on a regular basis. It would be an administrative headache if we drew up a separate contract for each of them every time we gave them any kind of editing assignment. If you go with the umbrella agreement idea, make sure you keep the section about payments flexible and stipulate that payment can be mutually determined in writing on a per project basis. To set expectations, give a possible range of payment for particular editing jobs. Lastly, have the umbrella agreement expire at the end of the year, or maybe every six months. You don’t want either you or the contractor feel like you’ve committed yourselves to one another forever. You’re not getting married.

KEY POINTS

Below is a list of key points I suggest you include in your contracts:

• Payment: how much you plan to pay the contractor. Make sure you include how you plan to handle revisions. Whether y0u stipulate in the contract, or decide via email, determine beforehand how much you’ll pay the contractor for hourly work done on your project after the first draft is completed.
• Timeliness: stipulate how and when you make payments to contractors. We pay final payments at the later of 15 days from final delivery or when the contractor formally invoices us. In some cases, you may pay a retainer or deposit up front. That is perfectly okay, and even encouraged. Give the contractor confidence you’re serious. If you have a long-standing relationship with an editor, you may not need to pay a deposit/retainer up front.
• Taxes and insurance: stipulate that as a subcontractor, he/she is responsible for their own taxes and insurance.
• Work for hire: it’s good to formally state in the contract that this is work for hire. That’s a legal term that basically says you’re hiring them for a job to produce a certain work(s). As such, all they produce for you belongs to you.
• Copyrights and ownership: specify that you retain copyrights and ownership (where applicable) for any work they do for you. This includes projects files they create in the execution of the job.
• Promotion: stipulate that unless you give permission to do so, none of the work created by the contractor can be used to promote the contractor’s business. This part is tricky. On one hand, you need to protect the fact that this is your job. Ultimately, YOU are responsible to your client. It’s YOUR company’s name on the video, and you are paying the contractor to edit it for you. So, it’s yours and they shouldn’t be allowed to compete against you with your own work. This is an issue because many of the editors you hire may very well be in the same competitive market as you, vying for the same clients (e.g. brides, corporations, etc.) However, on the other hand, you don’t want to be a jerk. Like you, many editors are just small business folk trying to make a living. So, be flexible in this area. Some editors specifically only do contract work for other studios, so they’re not competing with you for the same jobs. In essence, they are full time “wholesale” editors (whereas you’re the “retail” editor marketing yourself to the customer). When all else fails, just remember the golden rule: he who has the gold (i.e. You), rules. Just kidding. Really, treat your editors the way you’d want to be treated. Protect your business, but when possible, make it easy for your editors to grow their businesses too. What goes around comes around.
• Confidential information: stipulate that any information the editor is privy to as a result of the job should be held in strictest confidence.

SET EXPECTATIONS

Lastly, before you assign any job to an editor, set expectations. Spell out in writing precisely what it is you want the editor to do, how much time you want to give them to do it, and how much you plan to pay them. The payment part may not be in the first email if you have to negotiate. But, as soon as you do agree upon a rate, get it in writing in conjunction with a full description of the assignment.

When describing the assignment, make sure you mention approximate number of hours of raw footage is involved. Editing a 5 minute video from 2 hours of footage is much different than editing a 5 minute video from 20 hours of footage. To give a fair rate, the contractor needs to know everything they’re dealing with. If possible, give the editor samples of work you’ve done in the past that is  most like what you’re asking him/her to do now.

As your business grows and you take on more and more work, you will inevitably reach a point where you need to hire help. Be smart and fair. Don’t be afraid to say what you want and expect exceptional work. Treat your contractors right, pay them a fair rate, and always be a Lovecat.

The Power of Outsourcing…Editing Part 1

In this third installment on my series on the power of outsourcing, I want to talk to my videographer brothers and sisters. I want to address the issue of outsourcing your editing. In my first two installments, I covered two services for photographers to outsource their post production process, Pictage and Shoot dot Edit (two of our clients). And there are a slew of other companies in the photography realm where pro shooters can have post production work done.

Unfortunately it’s not that simple for we in the event video world. With a photograph, the still image itself is the biggest indicator of the shooter’s style and will be hugely significant in a client’s decision to hire such a photographer. For a videographer, I believe the editing is by far the biggest differentiator in the work. Now, please, don’t send me a bunch of hate mail about how important shooting is. I know that. I think good shooting is paramount for a videographer. But, you can give the same beautiful footage to 20 different videographers to edit, and you’ll come back with 20 completely different videos. For this reason, if you decide to outsource your editing, there’s a lot to consider.

I think this topic is so important, I’m breaking it up into two parts. In this first part, I’ll address the why and the how. In the second part, I’ll address contract issues as it relates to subcontractors.

THE WHY

That’s simple. Because if you want your business to grow to a point where it’s not totally dependent on you to survive, you can’t do it all. That includes the editing. If you’re successful in growing your studio beyond the “mom and pop” phase, you’re going to get to a point where you just won’t have the time to edit all the videos you shoot. So, at some point you’ll need to address the issue of hiring help.

THE HOW

When making the decision to have someone else help with your editing, because it’s so closely tied to the success of your company, you need to make sure that you hire editors that 1) can match your studio’s style, 2) can turn the project around fast enough, and 3) you can trust. This latter one is more related to subcontractors, but it needs to be considered regardless. I know a number of videographers at severe odds with ex-contractors due to allegations of stealing the hiring studio’s work. The process of finding qualified editors can be a long and arduous one. I spent a better part of a month last years going through the process of recruiting, interviewing, and hiring subcontractors. I’m about to go through the process again (fill out our online application if you’re interested in doing contract work for us).

But even before you actually pick who your editors are going to be, you need to determine their what their status will be. There are essentially three ways you can “outsource” your editing:

1. Hire employees
2. Hire independent contractors
3. Hire a post production company

Hiring Employees

This technically is NOT outsourcing, although it accomplishes pretty much the same thing. The key difference is that when you hire employees, you now have to deal with workers comp, payroll taxes, benefits, etc. The concept behind outsourcing is that issues like these are handled by the company you hire. Here are the pros and cons of hiring employees:

PROS

• With employees in your studio, you have more control over their work and their work habits.
• Easier quality assurance.
• They’re dedicated to your projects and don’t (usually) have other “clients” that could be prioritized over you.
• Usually, there’s a greater sense of loyalty with employees vs. contractors.

CONS

• Usually more expensive due to taxes, insurance, and equipment.
• Most employees will want full time work and a salary. This may be more difficult for smaller studios to maintain.
• Employment laws (particularly here in CA) are heavily weighed towards the employee. So, you’re more susceptible to penalties if you don’t abide by those laws (e.g minimum wage, number of hours worked, overtime, firing, etc.)

Subcontractors

Hiring independent contractors is true outsourcing: using a source outside of your studio to do your editing. 99.9% of the time, this will be done with independent contractors. As far as I know, most videographers who hire additional editors use ICs. Here are the pros and cons:

PROS

• Don’t have to pay taxes, insurance, etc.
• Don’t have to buy additional equipment or software.
• Don’t need additional space.
• Don’t need to worry about employment laws
• Can work on a project by project basis

CONS

• Many ICs also do work for other studios too, so your projects may take longer to turn around.
• Possibility of IC stealing your work.
• Quality control is significantly more difficult.
• Getting footage to and from the IC can be a pain in the you know what.
• ICs can sometimes be flakey and undependable.

Post Production Companies

There are a variety of different types of projects that you could outsource to a post production company. Most of the time, it may be one small aspect of a larger project (i.e. a title sequence done in After Effects, special effects, etc.) Many of my videographer blog readers however are event and/or small corporate videographers, so I’m assuming you’re more interested in companies that can edit an entire video for you. I personally only know of one company, Imacron USA, that specializes specifically in editing other (wedding) videographers projects. The pros and cons would for the most part be the same as those for subcontractors, with these addtions:

PROS

• If the company is firmly established, there’s greater confidence they won’t flake on you.
• Consistency

CONS

• Chances are there may be less say in how you want your project edited. For a stand alone operation to be successful, volume is crucial, and volume editing usually means more of a template approach. If your work is more tailored to fit each clients’ needs, this may not be the best option for you.

THE BUCK STOPS WITH YOU

No matter how you decide to outsource your editing, bottom line, the buck stops with you. That means that if your outsourcer screws up, it’s YOUR butt on the line. You can’t say “Well, the subcontractor I hired o edit your wedding lost a hard drive and all your footage. It’s not my fault.” Sorry. That won’t cut it. It’s your studio’s name on the project, and with that comes ultimate responsibility. The good news is, it works the other way around too. If you find a superstar editor who does amazing work, your studio gets the credit. Of course, if you find someone like that, make sure you treat them good.

In the next installment, I’ll discuss the finer points of drafting a subcontractor agreement so that you and the IC’s interests are well protected. Stay tuned…

The Power of Outsourcing - Letting Go of Control

I continue my series on the power of outsourcing with some words of wisdom from five top west coast photographers: Sara France, Me Ra Koh, Dane Sanders, and Marc Weisberg. This was a project we produced for Shot dot Edit, but much of the information they share is generally applicable to all small businesses.

I actually wrote a more complete article on this topic for Pro Photo Resource.
After watching the video, check out the article.

The Power of Outsourcing - Part 1

A few weeks ago we were at the stylin’ pad of internationally renown wedding photographer David Jay. (We were there for the filming of F-Stop Beyond: In Living Color, the TV version of our audio podcast). He has one of the most incredible success stories I’ve seen in the world of wedding and portrait photography. In just six short years he grew he’s become one of the top wedding photographers in the industry, a highly sought-after speaker and instructor, and CEO of a $1,000,000+ software business. He also founded and runs the extremely popular photography forum Open Source Photo. All of this at the tender age of just 29! One may ask, “How in the world does he do it all?” Well, David (or DJ as he’s commonly called) is a huge proponent of outsourcing: giving significant job responsibilities in your business to other companies to do it for you. He frequently speaks on the topic, and he’s become a master at it.

This is the first in a series of outsourcing articles I’ll write (with corresponding video where applicable, of course). I plan to highlight some companies that provide outsourcing services to the small business owner. As many of my readers are photographers and videographers, many of the companies I’ll talk about will be geared towards those industries. But, I hope that regardless of what business you’re in, each particle will give you some ideas and inspiration for your own business. This post, the spotlight company is Pictage.

Pictage. You shoot. We do the rest.

This is the slogan of what is arguably the largest online post processing company on the web. Pictage’s humble roots started way back in 2000 (ancient history in the web world), when founder Jason Kiefer and his wife posted their wedding photos online to share with friends and family, then posted their photographer’s order form to allow friends and family to purchase photos. It turned out to be a real nightmare for that photographer (she didn’t have the bandwidth to deal with all the order processing). Mother necessity kicked in, and a booming business was born.

Pictage handles everything from credit card processing, print orders, album design (they even do design FREE for their members), color correction, and a host of other products and services aimed at making the professional wedding and portrait photographer’s life easier. I assume that most photographers get into the business because they love the art. The idea of capturing images that forever preserve life’s most precious memories. Spending hours on end in front of a computer tweaking photos with your favorite Apple or Adobe product is not the best use of small studio owner’s time. Or, printing and shipping print orders. Or processing credit cards. All of these key business tasks can be done for you. I wish there was something similar for me and my fellow videographers (well, actually, there is a similar approach to outsourcing editing. But I’ll tackle that topic later in the series).

We’ve had the pleasure to do a number of projects for Pictage. The latest is re-doing their sale promo DVD (what they send out to perspective photographer members). They’ve added the entire video online. Below are three excerpts that go to the heart of this series topic. As you’ll see from the video, other notable luminaries in the business using Pictage include Denis Reggie, Joe Buissink, Mike Colón, Liana Lehman, and more.

Intro to Pictage

What is Pictage

Pictage Extra (a.ka. the closing credits)

A Mother’s Legacy

It was about 5:15 pm, Thursday, May 29. I was driving my 3-year-old son Joshua home from daycare when I got the call. I looked down at my iPhone and saw that is was my step dad (even though he and my mom have been divorced for over a decade, I still call him my step dad). Something in my gut told me something was wrong. It wasn’t unusual for him to call on my cell, but for some reason, this time it didn’t seem right.

“Hey Dennis, what’s up?”

“Hi Ron, I’m afraid I have bad news. Your mom died.”

Honestly, I don’t know if those were the exact words or not. But it doesn’t really matter. They hit me like ton of bricks. I got home as fast as I could, tears streaming from my face. I called my wife, Tasra, to come out so our daughter wouldn’t have to see me. Joshua was already crying because he knew something was wrong with daddy. I still couldn’t believe it.

A Mother’s Legacy

Saundra Aflreda Faye Adams was born April 30, 1946 in Winston-Salem, NC. She was the daughter of William and Ruth Adams. She had five other siblings. I won’t go into a long detailed history of my mom, but will share with you this one aspect of her life that most shapes my image of her.

When I was about three (1971), Saundra Dawson packed up everything she could fit into her VW bug, including her two sons, Ronny and Brandy (my brother was about one and a half), then drove cross country from Pennsylvania to Hollywood, CA. She was a single mom, separated from my dad, and about 24 or 25 years old. (I think back to my level of maturity when I was 25 and realize there’s no way in a million years I could have raised two children on my own. Much props go out to all you single moms out there). Saundra was a registered nurse and got a new job at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles (hospital to the stars).

She was starting a new life. Leaving the pain I only now can truly understand she must have felt having separated from my dad and still so young. (The divorce was finalized a few years later. I remember her telling us that she and my father weren’t going to get back together. It was a hard day.) For the next ten years (until she married my step dad in 1981 and became Saundra McIntosh), my mom raised my brother and I alone. And she made amazing sacrifices that more than anything, shaped us into the people we are today.

• I remember spending the night at my mom’s nursing office in the hospital the days she had to work the night shift. We’d stay up till ten watching “Wonder Woman” then drive over to Cedars and sleep on the floor behind her desk. It was so much fun. But, in retrospect, I imagine it might have been hard or embarrassing for her to have to drag your two kids with you to work. Or worry about leaving them in an office alone while you made your rounds.
• I remember her driving 90 minutes to two hours (each way) every week day from Playa del Rey to Altadena when I was in the 4th grade so that my brother and I could attend a private school. (Eventually we ended up sleeping at a friend’s house three days a week, another hard thing for a mom to do, I’m sure.)
• Every Christmas we had all the toys we ever asked of Santa, and then some.
• Every summer she let go of her two boys for a month for us to visit our dad back east in NJ so that we could still have somewhat of a relationship with our biological dad.
• She brought her dates home to meet us so that they’d know, if they married her, they were “marrying” us too.
• She bought her first home while still a single mom.
• She bough her second home while still a single mom.
• She got us a dog (which we later had to give up because we never walked the poor thing).
• In April of 1981, she married my step dad so that we could have a better life (he was a successful anesthesiologist).

My mom and step dad had a tumultuous, 14-year marriage wrought with lots of loud arguments. Admittedly, they were probably not really right for each other. She was a sweet, Christian lady and he a very cynical, outspoken, agnostic/atheist (I’m not sure he knows which he is.) Even after their divorce they’d fight. Much of it over the raising of my half-brother, Maquon. But, as my step dad said through tears at her memorial service, tumultuous as it was, it was due to passion. Passion can be bad and good. In his own way, he still loved my mom. (This week was the first I think I’ve ever seen him cry. I don’t even think I remember him crying at his mother’s funeral),

Her Greatest Gift

My mom’s memorial services were held Tuesday, June 3, in Inglewood, CA. Frank Wilson (an old and dear friend of the family and my mom’s pastor) and the congregation of New Dawn Christian Village pulled together quickly so that we could have the services on very short notice. Food, flowers, and friends were in abundance. Some old friends I hadn’t seen in years were there. This past week I even talked to my biological dad (who I haven’t spoken to in years…that’s a different story). He told me that my mom was a sweet and kind soul. That she, more than anything, was the reason my brother Brandon and I are the people we are today. And that the greatest gift she gave me and him was our love for God.

Friends and family shared many great stories about my mom. About how compassionate she was. How she cared for others. How she fought against injustices. (My aunt told how back in high school, my mom was taken away in a paddy-wagon as part of a civil rights protest. I never knew that. Hard to imagine my little mother being dragged off in handcuffs. You go mom! How she hated to fly. I mean, she’d literally scream on a plane. (One friend told of a time when the plane had to land and let her off it got so bad.) How she loved clothes and shoes. (My brother joked that up in heaven, as the angel was giving her her new angelic robes, she probably asked if it was Gucci). How pretty and vibrant she was. Many great stories were told. It was such a blessing to hear so many wonderful stories about her.

The last few years for my mom had been hard. Financial troubles, physical pain, and loneliness often got to her. I know now she’s in a much better place. And at peace. Next week she will be cremated and her remains placed alongside my grandfather, her dad.

The Take Away

The last time I saw my mom in person was about 18 months ago when I went down to L.A. for my high school reunion. Had I known that would be the last time I’d see her in person…well, you know. Woulda, could, shoulda.

I always like to have some sort of educational take away from my blog posts here. So I leave you with this: love on your mother. Take time to be with your family. Don’t let work get in the way of what’s really important in life. And remember, we’re only here for a relatively short time. Make the best of your visit. Find out what you’re really meant to do in this life, then pursue it with passion.

Thanks mom for helping me become the man I am today. Until we meet again, I love you.

My wedding day.

Joshua (3) and Imahni (13)

I am so happy that my mom had the opportunity to know her grand kids before passing.

Going Corporate

EventDV Magazine’s cover story this month is about event videographers making the switch from wedding work to corporate work. We were honored to be one of the four studios highlighted in the article. I am humbled to be included with such company as Darrell Boeck of Creative Images, Chris and Laura Randall of Edit1Media (my homies from the PacNorthwest), and my heroes, Brian Gunn, Russ Jolly, and Lance Gray of PixelPops. We all have slightly different takes on our path to commercial work. But whether you’re a videographer or even a photographer, I think this article can be very eye-opening.

This week while we were filming our F-Stop Beyond TV episode at David Jay’s, and in my interview with him, he shared how he’s seeing a trend in the wedding industry where many photographers are going out of business. Now more than ever small business owners in these fields need to look at alternative ways to grow their businesses. The high cost of oil and gas, the state of the economy, and the general uneasiness with international affairs all trickle down to the little guy and can affect the bottom line.

You can read the article online at EventDV.net.

F-Stop Beyond TV Taping at David Jay’s

If you’re in the Santa Barbara area around 4 pm on Tuesday, May 27, we invite you to stop by David Jay’s to participate in the latest taping of “F-Stop Beyond:In Living Color.” This is the video taped version of our weekly audio podcast. We plan to get up close and very personal with Mr. Jay (if you listen to the show, you know the deal). We’re looking to put together a small “studio” audience to do an “Inside the Actor’s Studio” style interview. Should be a lot of fun.

If you’re interested, please RSVP by Monday, May 26, to feedback@fstopbeyond.com. First come first served for this unique, “televised” event.

Cheers and happy Memorial Day weekend!

Just Say “No” (Part 2 of 2)

No, this isn’t a post on how to encourage more responsible behavior among the youth of our generation but telling them drugs are bad for them. This is part 2 of my short series on “Getting to No.” When we left off, I was discussing that there are times in business when it’s better for you to decline a job, rather than take it. Now, I’d like to briefly discuss some strategies you can use to make saying “no” easier. These are by no means exhaustive, and I am definitely not an expert at saying no. In fact, it’s one of the hardest things for me to do. Not because I always want the business, but because I’m one of those people who always wants to help out (if I can) when people ask. I tend to feel guilty when I tell people no. That’s a big problem I have to over come. But, when I have had the strength to say no in business, some of these reasons below have helped.

• Choose an area focus: for the first five years of our business, our focus was on high end wedding and personal event work. We took a small number of personal event video jobs per year at a higher rate. Any commercial work we did was totally referral based and represented about 1/3 of our business. As our rates raised to well beyond twice the average cost in our area, it naturally became more challenging to sell our services. I wanted to take the company to a new level, so last year we switched our focus to commercial work and it has really opened the world for us. We get a much more diverse range of projects to do. We still do wedding and event work, but it’s a lot easier to say no to those clients who I know may be more difficult to work with because it’s no longer our bread and butter. Commercial work now makes up more than 80% of our business.
• Specialize: I know this sounds similar to my first point about focusing, but there’s a slight difference. Here I’m talking about specializing in a particular area. For our company, we focus on commercial work, and we specialize in serving the pro photography community—photographers and companies that serve photographers. We also do a lot of work for non-profit groups looking to raise funds. If you become a specialist in an area, you can typically charge more, and you’ll find you’ll be busier since most clients in that area of expertise will turn to you. More business means it will be easier to say no to jobs you don’t want.
• Develop additional revenue streams: let’s face it, the easiest way to say “no” is to be bringing in enough money where you can afford to turn down work. If your main service isn’t at a level to do that, then look at carefully and strategically expanding your business to bring in other sources of revenue. It could be anything from selling a product to getting a part time job, doing contract work for others in your field, or relying on the spouse to balance out the budget.
• Believe in yourself and your worth: one of my favorite soap boxes to stand on is “getting paid what you’re worth.” For my event videography brethren out there, this is often a very difficult challenge to over come, particularly in the wedding world. Often times the videographer is one of the last vendors booked when the budget is almost used up. It’s hard to feel a high sense of self worth when you know a bride is paying more for her center pieces or her chair covers than she is for you, the one vendor who can capture both imagery and audio. But, it’s imperative for you to embrace your self worth, recognize the value you bring to the table, and stick to your guns when putting a price on your services. Don’t negotiate yourself down to the equivalent of minimum wage just because you want to get a gig. If you want to make three, four, five thousand or more per job, then don’t take the $2,000 jobs. It’ll be hard at first, but be resolute and work on marketing to and finding those clients willing to pay you what you’re worth.
• Set clear boundaries: sometimes saying “no” isn’t necessarily about turning down a job. It may be about what kind of hours you set, or how and when you meet potential clients. If you have a spouse and kids and you don’t want to meet clients after 5:30, then don’t. If they really want to hire you, they’ll find a way to get off work to come see you. Don’t be afraid to say “no” in situations where you will have to make family or personal sacrifices you don’t want to make. Publish your policies and stick to them. This could even work to your advantage. You’ll find that many potential clients will respect you more and be that more intrigued by you if you stand firm on such policies.

As I said, this list is by no means complete. But I think they are some of the best for getting your business to a point where you feel comfortable turning down work. Good luck out there and remember, “no” is not a four letter word.

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