Setting a Rate for your Business

Pricing. I know that people get frustrated from me not being able to answer how much my rates are. But honestly I don’t even want to give a rate until I meet someone. Not that I don’t want to shoot, but there are some clients you just don’t want to deal with. Sometimes those people ask me why I charge so much. I guess those people forgot that I shoot so that I can maintain my daily cost of doing business which includes:

“Salary / Retirements, Health insurance, Income Tax ( a huge one that’s not seen upfront), unemployment benefits, Social Security, Business License, Accountants fees, Sales taxes, Shipping cost, Shipping supplies, Ceaning supplies, RENT (water, gas, electric), Deposit bills for utilities, Camera Equipment cost / Rental, Computer equipment (usually the higher end computer) , Web marketing, Website host/domain, Maintenance, Educational Expenses (online education/classes) / Magazines , Software, Association Cost, bank fees/ Accounting fees, Expendables ( tape, ink/paper, and CD), Travel Cost, Meals, Cloths/Shoes, Framing and Matting” And perhaps my Time….. If I do it full time, I will need to keep it up.

Anyways. Here’s a good video that I’ve found that is really good at explaining this. Hope that people find it useful.

Daily Cost of Doing Business + Production Cost + Markup = Rate