Stop cheapening my profession

October 31, 2011 in Personal Development with 30 Comments

Here’s a note I received from a 48 Days member a few days ago.

“Dan, I recently reviewed the – 48 Low-Cost Business Ideas and the section 45 – Photography. With all due respect, we would appreciate the removal of this topic for suggested business startups. It is a misconception that photography is easy and that $400 puts you solidly in the game. I have been a professional photographer for over 25 years, it is not easy and $400 is not sufficient to put anyone in the game. These suggestions, along with the invention of digital photography have created more unskilled and untalented people taking business away from those in the industry with the experience, by low balling prices and giving everything away.”

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Bill, Thanks for your note – I can appreciate your perspective on this.  I hear the same thing from graphic designers, webmasters, speakers and coaches.  But, perhaps unfortunately from your viewpoint, times have changed.  The customer is ultimately the judge of what’s desirable in these areas.  And that creates a level playing field for those with a wide variety of investment and academic preparation.  Websites that used to be $30,000 can now be created for $1500.  Book covers used to be a $5000 proposition; now we can get the best talent in the world for $400-500.

I don’t have easy solutions for someone in your position – other than the encouragement to be so outstanding in what you do that people will demand you alone.  Last week Joanne and I were in Park City, Utah where we visited the gallery of Michael Fatali.  I know nothing about his equipment or training – but I see that people are willing to pay $25,000 for his stunning photographs.  Regardless of his history and training, his final work obviously commands that kind of compensation.

Last week I wrote about Steve Martin’s quotation: “Be undeniably good.”  Steve says to “be so good they can’t ignore you.”  I think that’s still the best defense against all the new competition.

I wish you continued success in your work!

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  • http://www.suttonparks.com Sutton Parks

    When I was in school for Diesel Mechanics, the best student was a kid with the ‘no-name’ brand tools.  Every other student had the professional tools, but this kid had a professional mind.  He thought like a mechanic and worked on cars and trucks at night and on weekends.  The tools are just tools.  The great artist uses whatever tools he has to make remarkable work.  Great tools only make a mediocre artist a mediocre artist with great tools.  

    • Anonymous

      Sutton – so I keep hearing more about your own bag of skills.  So what ‘s your most fulfilling tool – the microphone, the pen, the broom, the wrench, or the guitar?

  • http://twitter.com/vidpodcast Vidcast School

    This reminds me of when I started doing PC repairs in my spare time in college.  After placing an ad on Craigslist, I was swamped with angry emails from “legitimate” technicians.  Their arguments always contained some sort of vailed threat that if I mess up fixing the computer, I would be sued into the ground.  Well, after 4 years of fixing PC’s while attending college, that was never the case and I made  a hefty sum with part time work.   I believe that most that get upset at the “cheapening” tend to be the less talented (or less hard working) of the group, and thus are threatened by new comers that can undercut them and provide a superior product.

    • Anonymous

      Wow ouch.  I think you are exactly right.  Those that try to protect their profession because of fancy degrees and expensive equipment are kidding themselves.  

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=137801458 Adam Beshara

    I have to agree with Dan on this one. There are all sorts of ways for amateurs to enter the market these days but if you’re the best, you’ll be hard to compete with. Customers will have to make the decision and if they’re like me, they will decide on the professional photograper for $3000 for their wedding and maybe get an amateur for $300 for some baby pictures or other events that can be recreated.
    Just be the best and make sure everyone in the community knows your name and your previous customers need to be spreading the word about how great you are.

    • Anonymous

      Adam – yep – just be the best.  Yes, continue learning but don’t think customers will ask about the length of your training of the cost of your equipment.  

  • http://twitter.com/JoshMokma Josh Mokma

    As a graphic designer I find this tough to hear, but it is very true. I look at it this way. If someone wants to go to a $100 “grab bag” logo shop they are welcome to do so. However, they will get what they pay for. More often than not,  a $100 logo is not a logo that is thought out. It is not intentional and it does not stand out in a crowd. It is probably a knock off of something else or it could be a template type of design. It is $100 because it probably one took an hour or two to make. I do believe that there is a place for this type of work in the market and I myself have done this type of work in the past.

    However, when you pay someone (lets says $3000) for logo development you are paying for more than just a logo. You are paying for expertise in branding and the hours and hours spent concepting your identity. With the $3000 logo you pay for the creative process + the production process as apposed to only the production process for the $100 logo.

    I also think that in us people in “creative” professions can get fussy really quick. It is very easy to attach ourselves to our work (even though we shouldn’t). When another person comes along and undercuts us, I think that at times we take it personally. It really sucks when this happens, but it’s at those times where we get to have a gut check and really tighten up OUR identity. Perhaps it is also time to ask yourself the question, who do you I want my client to be?

    Personally, I would rather have 1 customer that pays me $1,000 for a job than 10 customers that pay me $100 each. There is usually a level of sophistication and knowledge that comes with the higher paying client that the lower paying client does not usually have. (This is not meant to be derogatory. There simply are some people that understand the value of the creative process and others do not.)

    Here is a link to an info-graphic that explains this topic really well. Check it out! http://www.coolinfographics.com/blog/2010/12/28/how-would-you-like-your-graphic-design-infographic.html

  • http://cherubdefense.com/blog Elmer

    It’s hard for someone for anyone entering the market.  I used to think that about myself.  I thought the only way to get people to be my customers is to provide my services for free or even lower my prices.  It wasn’t until I went to a famous martial artist dojo in California till I decided to change my fees.  Bruce Lee’s protege’, Dan Inosanto, has a qualifying interview process even though his prices are relatively reasonable.

    This qualifying process allowed him to say no and not only that, helped people want to pay the fee he asked.  I noticed that when he did this, he changed the playing field.  It viewed people as if they were desiring his services rather than trying to get theirs.  It wasn’t in a mean way, in fact the process was very humbling on my part.

    What I took from the process is these three question.  Do I value my services as a need?  Is it a service that can help enrich people lives?  How much am I willing to pay for my own services for myself(and then double it according to the coaching starter kit)?

    People want our services – we just need help them to see the value in it.

    • http://twitter.com/JoshMokma Josh Mokma

      Thanks for the comment Elmer, VERY insightful. A qualifying process sounds like a great way to weed out people who do not want to pay for your services. Nice.

    • Anonymous

      Elmer – great advice.  Don’t push your service on people – make them qualify to receive it.

  • Aventurine

    Actually lower priced and lower skilled people aren’t taking business from a professional, they are saving them time with people who can’t afford them or don’t want to afford them.

    As Dan Pink has pointed out, if your job can reduced to a set of steps or easily mechanized process, it can and will be done by someone or something cheaper. If you’re threatening by this, you need to step up your game, add more individual artistry to the process. Bring to the job what cannot be mechanized.

    • Anonymous

      Wow – that’s a great zinger.  ”Add more individual artistry” – great advice!

  • http://www.bayareacircuits.com Peter Brissette

    Time are changing that is for sure.  Part of my business is building website for my clients.  I am not a graphic designer in any way.  I can do some minor graphic editing is all.  But I know how to find out what the customer is looking for and I work with a variety of graphic designers to get the look that my client wants.  But that look can not sacrifice the other important parts of a website which is SEO (getting found!) and usability, and content!  Which I excel at.

    I can work with their graphics design person if they already have one or with one of my own.  For a graphic designer right now you better have something very unique to be able to charge higher prices.  If my client already has a logo they like I can take that and elements of their business and have the graphics designed on my template for about 100 bucks.  That is working on it, going back and forth with multiple revisions, etc. to get exactly what we are after.  I am glad I am not a graphics designer!

    It comes down to what value you provide and how unique is what you are offering that provides the customer with the result they are after!

    Peter

    • Anonymous

      Peter – you’re absolutely right.  Quality and innovative thinking still commands a premium.

  • Megan

    With 25 years professional experience, it seems that Bill would be a great teacher to those entering the field (and non-professionals who just want to know how to take good photos). I have friends that have begun photography businesses over the last few years and the one thing they all have in common is that they have each sought out more experienced professionals to gain knowledge. The have all paid to go to conferences, community college classes, webinars, etc. have all helped them develop their skills and personal style.

    People want to learn from the best, and are willing to pay for it.

    • Anonymous

      Megan – great point.  As a coach I still look for a coach in any area I want improvement.

  • Dennis Lutz

    Dan … Thanks as always for your gracious spirit and response! Please never cease in offering inspiration to those who with talent that has been marginalized by fear need a nudge of You can do it regardless of education, money or equipment! Talent, passion and drive can still take you places …. I bet along the journey you will pick up some of those “tools”, others think you need to even start the path! 

    • Anonymous

      Dennis – thanks for your comments.  Yes, it’s an exciting journey for sure!  I do love challenging the status quo and trust that it helps inspire others to stretch and reach for their best.

  • Tim E Parmenter

    Dan-you hit it on the head, coming from someone who is in an industry (landscape contracting) where all you needed was a pickup truck (not anymore-I saw a VW Beetle pulling a trailer with landscape equipment) and a shovel.  Skill, knowledge, and persistence will continue to keep you in the lead.

    Tim E Parmenter

    • Anonymous

      Tim – I live in an area where a whole lot of guys can “mow my yard.”  But my landscape guy is always suggesting things to make my property spectacular.  Incidentally, he went through the 6th grade, started his business with $600 and today has an amazing business.

  • http://www.puredriven.com Patrick Garmoe

    I see both sides on this. I know lots of photographers, and while you can buy a camera for $400, getting good enough at taking pictures that people will pay you a decent amount for is where the real challenge lies.

  • Lane Greeno

    Dan, you’re spot on. Don’t whine about “right to work is a ripoff”, or that your industry is being cheapened. If you are truly a professional, honest businessman or woman than you’ve no need to worry about your industry. There is far too much entitlement and expected benefits in our day and age to go along with blind tradition. When like minded people find the way around the unnamed guilds and bureaucracies to do what they love, I encourage and envy them.
     In my prior profession I was renowned for the cunning ways that i could get around “the way we always do it” and even official bureaucracy to get the mission accomplished better and faster. I look foward to finding that place soon in my civilian life.
    Lane G. Greeno

    • Anonymous

      Lane – yep, if you do it the way it’s always been done you’re going to get the results that have always been gotten.  Progress, by definition, requires change.  Sounds like you’re on track to creating the life you want.

  • Judah the Wolf

    I think Bill, the photographer, is absolutely right!  I used to do photography as a collateral duty on a U.S. Navy submarine (how many pictures can you take on a submarine, right?), & it’s not easy or simple!  In the days before digital photography, “regular” people used to take extra pics of a single subject in hope of getting a good shot because they couldn’t see the results until the film was processed.  Today, with the advent of high-quality digital cameras, everybody’s a “photographer” shooting up the world with his camera on “full auto” thinking that because he can see the results of his picture-taking right now, he’ll have the chance to “fix” bad shots, or I don’t know what – maybe hoping to get one good photo out of a hundred!  Often, a photo opportunity is momentary; then there’s the matter of picture composition, as well as 100+ other things that the amateur doesn’t think of.  A professional photographer who’s really good has got a lot of money invested in equipment & training, lots of time invested in study & practice, and in addition, that person has to be artistic enough to send a message, or tell a story with a photo.

    I’m not against the sale of cameras to people who aren’t pros, not at all, but the pros deserve respect and remuneration for a job well done.  The rest of us can have lots of fun shooting up the world with our cameras on “full auto!”  I do!

    • Flbmx2

      Again… no matter how good you think you are or how bad a professional says you are, supply and demad from the customer rules.  The market demand will keep you in our out of business!

  • Flbmx2

    Supply and demand from the customer rule.

  • Ultima001

    i agree with bill, people like dan cheapen the market and ruin it in my opinion.  just like the quack doc or the unskilled contractor.   leave the job to the professionals at the top with have the talent, experience, equipment, etc.  quit promoting those who have no investment, no experience and little to no talent. 
    and dan i am sure some high school grad write a better article than you so why not promote them to take over so you can work for nothing?  i did not see you mentioning the profession your involved in as being ripe for the inexperienced, untalented, and no investment but clearly your field is ripe for those sorts of people, right?  of course i am right.
    and for the record those who try the zeros because they are cheaply priced usually have to turn around and then go find a professional to do the again or fix what is inferior, paying much more because they had to pay twice.   you need to mention that in your liberal article also.   not only is your propaganda ruining market places its also hurting people. 
    no not everyone who has a lawn mover should be a lawn man……………….
    who is your boss please forward his name? i will work cheaper than you and do a better job and i have no experience!
    hey why not promote illegal immigration while your at it, they will work very cheap and can really ruin america.  typical liberal garbage.   booooooooooooooooooooooo

    • MexicanAmerican and PROUD!

      Ultima001 – you are sooo hateful. I don’t believe there is any mention of an unskilled person doing anything.  Everybody has dreams and hopes the 48 low-cost ideas are just that “ideas”.  Most successful people started off with just that, why should  you all care who is talented or skilled and who is not?  America is a land of dreams and freedom and for your information founded by immigrants.  Maybe you yourself should return to school so you can learn your history, yes we have alot of illegal immigrants but just because they are does not mean they are not hard working.  Tell me how many white and/or black Americans do you know working the pig farms or picking crops – funny how you so called Americans are quick to judge others yet allow them to do the jobs you don’t want.  So in case your mother never taught you – IF  YOU DON’T HAVE NOTHING NICE TO SAY – DON’T SAY NOTHING AT ALL!

  • Ultima001

    and for the record the new generation is cheap and zero minded because of the ideology you promote there and other places.   they are so brainwashed by it they pay cheaply for major appliances every few yrs for the rest of their lives instead of buy the best and paying for an item once and owing it for 20 plus years. (you promote cheap, inferior, low investment people who produce cheap inferior low investments products)   what your promoting is very damaging to the consumer and to the general public.     it erodes all this country stands for and it breeds poverty.   shame on you.   why not try getting a conscience and then demote yourself to unemployed and see
    what you missing (but strongly promoting).   you must be evil because only a person with not little regard for others would do what your doing…………..
    i guess you reasoning it to appeal to the new world order and your own preservation.  one quesiton have you every truly been unselfish or thought of anyone other than yourself?  please respond back here, we will all be waiting.  if you do not respond to the question we will assume your unwilling to disclose the sad truth about yourself.

    • Anonymous

      You ask for the name of my boss.  My bosses are the thousands of people who choose to do business with me.  And if they can get better value from someone else I would be the first to encourage them to do so.  As a coach, I happen to have plenty of degrees to support that.  But we refer lots of requests to coaches who have no academic training in coaching at all – just great life experience that make their advice very valuable.