Photography Breakthrough System
Episode 39 - Why Your Photography Prices Feel Too High (And How to Finally Fix Your Pricing Confidence)
Descripción
Why Your Photography Prices Feel Too High (And How to Finally Fix Your Pricing Confidence) Speaker: Treating your pricing like a math problem is. Well, it's a lot like trying to measure the value of an unforgettable Michelin star meal. Right. By simply adding up the cost of the raw ingredients. Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. Like sitting in the back room of the kitchen with a calculator. Speaker: Exactly, yeah. You sit down, you have this incredibly transformative, culinary experience, right? Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker: And then you try to justify the final bill by saying. The chicken was maybe $4. The carrots were 50 cents. And I mean, there was maybe a dime's worth of salt. Speaker 2: Right. Which completely misses the magic of the whole thing. Speaker: It totally misses the magic. 'cause you aren't paying for raw carrots. You're paying for the atmosphere, the chef's, you know, 20 years of absolute mastery and, and just the way you feel when you walk out of that restaurant. Speaker 2: Yeah. That lingering feeling. Speaker: But yet when it comes to pricing our own creative work, we are constantly just sitting in the back room. Basically counting the carrots. Speaker 2: That is such a perfect way to frame it, because that reduction to, uh, like a sterile mathematical equation, it strips away the entire context of the service, Speaker: right? Speaker 2: We tell ourselves that, okay, X hours of labor plus y dollars of equipment depreciation equals our rate, and it's just a fundamentally flawed way. To calculate value Speaker: because it ignores the human element Speaker 2: exactly. It completely ignores the psychological weight of what is actually being delivered to the client. Speaker: Which brings us to the core of today's deep dive. We are looking at a really insightful audio essay by the renowned photographer, Matthew Jordan Smith. Speaker 2: Such a brilliant guy, Speaker: incredible work, and the mission today is to explore the deep psychology of pricing creative work. Specifically how to move from that rigid market-based math equation to a model that is firmly rooted in emotional value and client impact, Speaker 2: right? Speaker: But honestly, to you listening right now, I want you to consider your own physical reaction to pricing. Speaker 2: Oh, that's a good point. Speaker: Think about whether you've ever hesitated or maybe felt your chest tighten up or noticed your voice. Go just a little bit soft right before you tell someone. Speaker 2: You're right. Everyone does it Speaker: right? Whether you are a photographer, a freelance designer, maybe a consultant, or, or just navigating a salary negotiation. Yeah. That visceral hesitation is exactly what we are dismantling today. Speaker 2: Yeah. And that hesitation is just incredibly common. And Smith points out something pretty confronting right out of the gate about why it actually happened. Speaker: Okay, cool. Is it, Speaker 2: he argues that it is not an economy problem. It's not a market saturation problem either. Speaker: Right. Speaker 2: It is entirely a self-trust problem. I mean, independent creatives often put together a quote, send it off, and immediately brace for rejection. Speaker: Oh, the ghosting situation. Speaker 2: Yes. They live in constant anticipation of that deafening silence after the rate is sent. Speaker: It is visceral, isn't it? You send the email, you stare at your inbox, and your brain immediately starts writing this narrative that like you've deeply offended them with your audacity. Speaker 2: Oh, totally. You're like, who do I think I am? Speaker: Exactly. And to avoid that awful feeling, creatives often start looking sideways. Speaker 2: Looking sideways. Yeah. Speaker: Right. They look at what their competitors are charging just to find a number that feels quote unquote safe. Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. Speaker: But wait, I have to push back a little bit on this. Speaker 2: Okay. Let's hear. Speaker: It isn't looking sideways, just, I mean, isn't that just basic market research? Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker: How do you draw the line between being aware of the market and being totally controlled by the fear of it? Speaker 2: That's a really fair question, but think about your own analogy. Okay. Building your business by looking sideways is essentially like trying to wear someone else's prescription glasses. Speaker: Oh wow. Yeah. Speaker 2: You know, you are trying to look through a lens that is calibrated for their vision, their insecurities, their specific business model. Speaker 2: It's not gonna give you a clear vision of your own worth. Speaker: It just gives you a massive headache. Speaker 2: Exactly. It distorts the whole landscape. Speaker: Yeah. Speaker 2: And the psychological ripple effect of that distorted vision is profound. When you choose a quote unquote safe competitor-based price, your intention is rooted almost entirely in the fear of not being chosen. Speaker 2: Yeah. You are preemptively shrinking yourself to fit into a space where no one can object to you, Speaker: because if you're cheap, they can't say no. Speaker 2: Right. But Smith highlights this fascinating cognitive reality. If you don't stand firmly in your pricing, the client won't stand firmly in booking you. Speaker: Wait, really? Explain that? Speaker 2: Yeah. It comes down to how the human brain assesses risk when a client senses hesitation. And that can be implicit through a price that feels defensively low; their risk-aversion heuristics just kick right in. Speaker: So they start wondering what the catch is Speaker 2: exactly. Speaker: Like if the price is a defensive posture, it signals a complete lack of belief in the product. Speaker 2: Yes. And that lack of confidence transfers directly to the buyer. I mean, high-value clients are rarely out there looking for the absolute cheapest option. Speaker: Right. They are bargain hunting. Speaker 2: No, they are looking for the surest option. They want the psychological comfort of knowing that the professional they just hired is absolutely certain of their own capability. Speaker: That makes so much sense. Speaker 2: So by softening your tone and lowering your prices out of fear, you inadvertently train your clients to view you as a risk rather than a solution. Speaker: Man, that's heavy. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker: So the only way to step out of that fear-based race to the bottom is to recognize that, well, maybe we are totally misunderstanding the product itself. Speaker 2: They definitely are. Speaker: Right. Like if we are stuck comparing the cost of our pixels and paper to someone else's pixels and paper, we've just lost the plot Speaker 2: completely. Speaker: And Smith introduces this massive paradigm shift here. He states really plainly. You are not selling photos, Speaker 2: which is wild for a photographer to say, Speaker: right? But if the product isn't photos, what is it? Speaker 2: Well, Smith argues that you are actually selling confidence, identity, and legacy. Speaker: Legacy. Speaker 2: Yeah. The client isn't lying awake at night thinking, you know what? I desperately need some high-resolution JPEGs on a hard drive. Speaker: No one has ever thought that in the history of the world, Speaker 2: right. The desire is emotional. They're thinking, I wanna finally feel comfortable in my own skin, or I wanna remember the specific fleeting version of my family. Speaker: It's like, okay. You know that old marketing adage, Speaker 2: the drill one? Speaker: Yeah. People don't buy a quarter inch drill, they buy a quarter inch hole. Speaker 2: Right, right. Speaker: But in this case, I feel like it goes even deeper than that. They aren't just buying the hole in the wall. They are buying the intense feeling of pride when they look at their family, perfectly framed, beautifully lit, hanging right there in their living room. Speaker 2: Yes, Speaker: they are buying a physical manifestation of their own legacy, Speaker 2: and that is exactly why the shift matters so much by moving the focus from technical specifications like, you know, shutter speed, lens choice, lighting setups, Speaker: the nerdy stuff, Speaker 2: right, the technical stuff. Moving from that to the emotional impact changes the entire cognitive framework of the pricing conversation. We are talking about price anchoring here. Speaker: Okay, unpack that for us. Speaker 2: So when a client anchors your service to a commodity, like a standard eight by 10 print, they naturally just seek the lowest price. Speaker: Sure. Paper. Speaker 2: Paper, right? But when you anchor your service to a psychological transformation, the value becomes subjective, and frankly, it becomes infinite. Speaker: Because you can't put a price tag on that Speaker 2: Exactly. You cannot put a standard market rate on making someone feel beautiful for the first time in a decade. Speaker: Wow. That is powerful. But you know, it's easy to assume that selling confidence is only necessary for everyday clients Speaker 2: like amateurs. Speaker: Yeah. People who aren't used to being photographed. We tend to think that seasoned professionals are somehow immune to that vulnerability. But Smith shares an anecdote that just completely shatters that assumption. Speaker 2: Oh, the Samuel L. Jackson story? Speaker: Yes. It proves that this emotional vulnerability goes all the way to the top. Speaker 2: It is the perfect piece of evidence for this. I mean, Jackson is a Hollywood legend, Speaker: the coolest guy on the planet, Speaker 2: right. His entire life, career and public persona are built on being in front of a camera. Speaker 2: He projects absolute confidence. Yeah. Yet Smith reveals that the very first words out of Jackson's mouth when he stepped onto the set were, and I quote, I hate taking pictures. Speaker: Wait, really? Samuel L. Jackson. Speaker 2: Samuel L. Jackson. Speaker: That is wild. A massive unflappable movie star admitting he hates the process of being photographed. Speaker 2: Yeah, Speaker: it really highlights how universal that vulnerability is. Speaker 2: It's everywhere. Speaker: Every single person who steps in front of a lens is silently asking, can I trust you to see me? Well, Speaker 2: yes, Speaker: but that brings up a really pivotal question. If the client, even a massive movie star is secretly terrified, how can the professional holding the camera afford to project their own fear about their pricing? Speaker 2: They can't. That's the thing. It creates a massive contradiction in the power dynamic of the room. In psychology, there is this concept called co-regulation. Co-regulation, Speaker: okay? Speaker 2: Basically, it's where one person's nervous system responds to and mirrors the state of another person's nervous system. The photographer's primary job is to take the client's fear completely off the table. Speaker: To be the anchor in the room, Speaker 2: to be the regulated, calm presence. And you cannot effectively remove a client's fear if you are simultaneously radiating financial anxiety. Speaker: Like if you're apologizing for your rates, Speaker 2: right? Or overexplaining a line item on an invoice. If you do that, you are introducing chaotic, dysregulated energy into the relationship before the shoot even begins. Speaker: Oh man. And the client definitely absorbs that anxiety. Speaker 2: They interpret it as a lack of professional safety. Speaker: They don't just think, oh, the photographer is just insecure about their pricing strategy. Speaker 2: No, they feel it viscerally and they think this person is unsure of themselves, which means I am not safe in their hands. Speaker: Wow. Speaker 2: Confidence in your pricing is really the very first indicator to a vulnerable client that you are capable of handling them with care and authority. Speaker: Okay. Projecting that quiet authority when you might be secretly terrified of losing the gig. I mean, that requires more than just faking it until you make it. Speaker 2: Yeah. Faking it doesn't work here. Speaker: Right? It requires a fundamental rewiring of how you conceptualize and describe what you actually do. And honestly, understanding this emotional vulnerability in theory is a great aha moment. But how do we practically communicate that to justify our rates? Speaker 2: Well, Smith provides a very specific practical messaging framework to solve exactly this. Speaker: Let's hear it. Speaker 2: It's a simple pen and paper exercise that forces clarity. You have to physically write down the sentence. My work helps people fill in the blank. Speaker: Okay. My work helps people blank, Speaker 2: right? And the way you fill in that blank dictates your entire business model. He contrasts a generic completion of the sentence with powerful, transformative ones. Speaker: Give me an example of a weak one. Speaker 2: A weak version is I take photos for families. Speaker: Yeah, that sounds like a cheap, commoditized errand. It carries the same emotional weight as, I don't know, I file taxes or I restock shelves. Speaker 2: Exactly. It describes the physical action, but leaves a complete vacuum where the meaning should be and nature of whores a vacuum. Speaker: It really does. Speaker 2: When your messaging is vague, your prices feel completely arbitrary to the client because there is no anchor to the value, and honestly, more dangerously vague messaging creates a cognitive vacuum for the creator themselves, Speaker: right? Compare that to Smith's stronger examples. He says things like, I help busy parents finally have photos where they feel present, connected, and proud, or. Speaker 2: I help women who feel uncomfortable see themselves as confident and beautiful. Speaker: It almost sounds too simple though, I have to ask, right? Can changing just a dozen words on your website actually overhaul your entire business model? Speaker 2: It really can because it isn't just a marketing trick. It's about clarity of meaning. Speaker 2: That linguistic shift rewires the freelancer's own self-trust. It creates a cognitive feedback loop, Speaker: so you start believing it yourself. Speaker 2: Exactly. When you articulate the emotional transformation you provide, your brain anchors your own worth to that profound outcome. You read your own copy and realize, wait, I'm doing something deeply important. Speaker: And when messaging is clear like that, your pricing makes logical sense to both you and the client. Speaker 2: Yes. The clarity of the message creates the internal justification for the price. When you believe you are delivering a life changing transformation, your entire posture changes on a sales call. Speaker: You stop apologizing. Speaker 2: You stop over explaining. You stop negotiating against yourself. You know that instinct to follow up a quote three hours later with an unprompted discount. Speaker: Oh, the panic discount, Speaker 2: right? That vanishes because you understand that discounting a transformation actually cheapens the emotional outcome for the client. Speaker: Wow. And to truly internalize this shift from math to meaning, from a mathematical commodity to emotional legacy, we can look at Smith's own body of work as the ultimate proof of this. Speaker 2: He really loves it. Speaker: He does the deep dive highlights, his published books. There's Lost and Found Future American President and Aretha Kool. Speaker 2: Which by the way, he mentions is available @ wrcool.com, Speaker: right? Wrcool.com. But the key takeaway from the source is that none of these books are really, quote unquote about photography. Speaker 2: No, not at all. They are explorations of identity, confidence, and how we see ourselves. They serve as these physical reminders of what happens when a creative fully owns their vision. Speaker: Viewing a creative portfolio, not as a resume of technical skills, but as a museum of human identity. I mean, that totally flips the script on what a creative is actually worth to society. Speaker 2: It really does. You become a documentarian of the human experience and the macroeconomic impact of this mindset shift goes way beyond just a single creator's bank account. Speaker: How so? Speaker 2: Well. By deciding that your work matters and speaking about it as if it does, you don't just elevate your own business. As creatives step into their confidence, the entire industry becomes stronger. Speaker: That makes sense. Speaker 2: And clients are ultimately served better because they get the privilege of working with professionals who create the emotional safety required for them to be seen the way they deserve. Speaker: That is beautifully said. We've covered a tremendous amount of ground today. We moved from the trap of competitor-based pricing through the realization that you are selling confidence rather than a commodity, all the way to communicating that transformation boldly. Speaker 2: It's quite a journey. Speaker: It really is. And to you listening, remember that stepping into your value. Speaker: It means you can stop attracting clients who hesitate and haggle and start attracting those who are absolutely ready for the impact you provide. Speaker 2: And you know, we can actually take this entire framework one step further. Speaker: Oh Speaker 2: yeah. Just as a final provocative thought to mull over, we've talked exclusively about how, my work helps people, exercise applies to professional pricing and business models. Speaker: Mm-hmm. Speaker 2: But what if you apply that exact same, fill in the blank exercise to your personal life. Speaker: Oh, interesting. Speaker 2: If you asked yourself right now, my presence helps my friends and family fill in the blank, what would you say? How am I recognizing your own emotional impact? The transformation you bring just by walking into a room completely changed the way you value yourself in your everyday relationships.
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