TIPS60 - Administrative fees as a tool to encourage timely payment

Here is another of our videos offering tips and inisights into the business of photography. a transcript of the video is included after the jump.

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TRANSCRIPT:Here are a few thoughts on administrative fees. I'm John Harrington. We deal with a lot of clients who may not be paying in thirty days or even sixty days or gosh, even ninety days. The problem is that all of our vendors require thirty day turnaround. As such, we've implemented and have been using successfully for about twenty years an administrative fee where we pre-bill the client a 10% surcharge and allow them to take it as a discount if they pay on time. This is also a great opportunity, when a client says, ""Hey,I'm a non-profit, what can you do?"" You can say, ""Well we'll give you a 10% discount if you pay on time."" We always pre-bill these administrative fees, however, because unlike the electric company, we can generally not be adding on an administrative fee after the fact to the next bill, because that really doesn't work that way in the client relationship that we have. So administrative fees are a great solution for helping you keep your bills paid on time.

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PDN's PhotoPlus Expo - 30 Years and Counting

This year marks the 30th Anniversary of the PhotoPlus Expo, which takes place in the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City. There slogan this year is "Honoring the Past, Envisioning the Future", and it's quite appropriate for an event as storied as this. Each year tens of thousands of professional photographers, those that aspire to be professional, and yes, on Saturday, the weekend-warriors make it out to see the latest and greatest in what is out there for photographers to better be in business.

There are some that suggest that everything they need to know or learn about when it comes to technology, class-style learning, and so on, can be garnered from online resources. Yet, as connected as we are, the PhotoPlus Expo really delivers an excellent signal-to-noise ratio that cuts through all the posturing and gives you a hands-on experience like you can't get many other places.

There are many vendors that I find that I never would have, save for the opportunity to walk the aisles and discover interesting things. Here's one.

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PhotoFlashDrive.com is a really cool vendor that lets you deliver customized USB drives with your logo, along with customized packaging. One that piqued my interest was the crystal drive that really is slick. Here's one of their displays.



The seminars are another great place to get that hands-on connection that YouTube and Vimeo just can't give you. Make your way down to Javits if you're here in town. If not, it's an inexpensive bus-ride or quick train trip into town.

Your future will thank you.

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TIPS60 - On Quickbooks - Professional Photographers Expense Categories

Here is another of our videos offering tips and inisights into the business of photography. a transcript of the video is included after the jump.

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TRANSCRIPT:Here are a few thoughts on how to best set up your Quickbooks software for use as a photographer. I'm John Harrington. Setting up your Quickbooks properly is critical to understanding your business how it's running, where the money is going, where it's coming from, and how to best manage it. I can't stress enough the importance of doing this. Setting it up properly makes sure that your expense categories and the chart of accounts are correct. PPofA Professional Photographers of America has a really great resource, if you simply Google PPofA Quickbooks categories or follow the link below, you'll get there, there's a whole host of information on how to set up your Quickbooks. It's a really great resource and checking it out, making sure that your system is set up to a standard to make sure that all your finances are right really will set you apart, make your accountant happy, and really let you understand how your business is running.

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TIPS60 - What Exactly is a Purchase Order?

Here is another of our videos offering tips and inisights into the business of photography. a transcript of the video is included after the jump.

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TRANSCRIPT:If you're a photographer, or any business for that matter that is doing business with other businesses, a purchase order is something that you're probably, if you haven't already seen it, will likely see very soon. If you're doing direct business to consumer, if you're dealing with the general public as your clientele, if you're a wedding photographer, if you are doing family portraits of some sort or even senior portraits, you're not gonna see purchase orders. Purchase orders are when you're doing business with corporation "X" or corporation "Y" and it is essentially an approval to pay you once work has been performed. It's a document. A purchase order you'll be often given a purchase order number. Sometimes you're asked to sign a purchase order. The problem with purchase orders, if you're not careful, is that there can be contract language on that purchase order that transfers ownership of your creative endeavors, your photography, to the company as a part of their boilerplate purchase order. So you need to make certain that your purchase order language has been reviewed, make sure that none of those things are on there that are egregious, changing the rights that you have on your existing contract.

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TIPS60 - iPads and tablets as client review tools

Here is another of our videos offering tips and inisights into the business of photography. a transcript of the video is included after the jump.

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TRANSCRIPT:Here are a few thoughts on tablet computers in your photography business workflow. I'm John Harrington. iPads and tablets are great because they allow the client to see the images you're shooting when you're shooting, whether you're transferring images wirelessly from your camera straight over to the tablet or whether you're shooting tethered from the camera in the tablet, especially when you don't have a full-blown digital workstation setup for the client to see. Sometimes when you're working on the fly or working in a tight environment, you don't actually have the ability to set up a complete digital workstation so a tablet is great. In addition, especially if you're shooting wirelessly as you're shooting, as you're working, it gives the client the opportunity to review the images you're shooting, make certain that you're delivering exactly what they need, what they want, and give you requests or say, ""Hey, I this is a great, but I need you to shoot this as well."" Having a tablet, having an iPad for client review is really a great tool to make certain that the clients happy with everything you're delivering.

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