Hey everyone! New to the business and am looking for advice!

Questions:

  1. how many ways should I accept payments

  2. opinions on deposits?

  3. get paid up front? Over time? After work is done?

  4. how do I set up a contract for them to sign for payment purposes?

Any and all advice is really appreciated!! Thank you all for your time, and patience with me and my questions!

  • cruciblemedialabs@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    1. It depends.

    2. It depends.

    3. It depends.

    4. Generally a boilerplate template is fine. Some people prefer to have an attorney make them up something bespoke, but for someone just starting out, just google “photography contract template”.

    RE: payments, every job is different and payments will depend on how you want to make your money. I do sports a lot, and those sales are almost entirely online through my web hosting platform that I’ve set up to take as many payment methods as it will allow for the sake of convenience. When I’ve shot events, it has depended on the protocol for the people that hired me. Some people want to be sent an invoice and pay via wire transfer, some people want to mail a check, some people will give me cash as I’m about to leave and just trust that I’ll deliver what we agreed on. Doesn’t matter too much to me as long as I get paid. Deposits are nice, but some people really don’t like paying for something until they’ve seen the finished product. This is where a contract is 100% mandatory because people will screw you if you let them. It’s happened to me and it’s happened to everyone who does this kind of work for a living.