Pay me my money!

I've had a good break from the working world but I've got to get my business on track now. I'm currently focusing on the photography side of things, E Etomi photography but will eventually expand into production. I've been trying to think up creative ideas to make some money with my photography aside from the regular client sessions. Please share any ideas you might have.

One thing I'm really bad at is collecting the money who people owe me. I feel bad 'bugging' them...for my own money! Imagine. So I really have to work on that because people definitely take advantage and end up owing me for months. Now that I'm a broke ass entrepreneur, it doesn't really worth it (I love how bad the grammar is!). From now on I will be collecting a 50% deposit upfront. 

I'm having problems setting my prices as well. People always want to haggle no matter how reasonable the price. Photography is not easy, after hours of running around capturing images, I still have to sit for hours editing each picture. Its very time consuming. The funny thing is that Nigerians seem to equate quality with outrageous costs. People like to say, 'David and Newton provided flowers for my wedding, Astoria is doing the catering' etc etc. So maybe one day they will pay me stupid money and say E Etomi is taking my pictures lol. 

I also have to find a niche so I can separate myself from other photographers in the Nigerian market. I'm looking at concentrating on maternity and women, and children's portraits but I also love pictures of my surrounding environment I'll put up some pictures from my last maternity session in my next post.

IMG:http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/money.jpg

I QUIT MY JOB!

In the time of economic instablility and credit crunching and purse tightening, I, Tminx have quit my job. Not so bright eh? Well the future will determine that. I've decided to pursue my photography full time. That's the answer I give whenever anyone asks..So you have a better offer somewhere else abi?' and then they roll their eyes and say 'Yeah right. You are such a liar!' Why is it that Photography sounds so ridiculous to people?

This decision didn't come easy. It took months and months of prayers and  deliberation and analysing and sleepless nights. Eventually I just had to go with my heart and put all the negative comments in a huge wide box.

So i'm free from the 9-5 institution and have registered my company. Its not going to be easy, infact its going to be a lot of hard work and I'm sure I'll meet many 'special' clients but I know I wouldn't be doing anything else. 

Wish me goodluck!