Ok, with the date thing, it is time for me to come clean! Shel picked it up and so did dave (i think?) also. Here's what I told Shel about that....
"LOL! Shel, I've been sprung! I am very naughty, and I downloaded a trial version of WS FTP Pro, and this is what I use to upload stuff to my website. Only problem is that it expires after 30 days, so whenever I am working on my site, I set my PC clock back to early Oct, and bingo it works again! Only problem is (obviously), half the time, I forget to switch the date back. You are the second PDML'er to have noticed this! I really shouldn't be so stingy and should just buy the bloody program...! lol." So, sorry to be a pain about that mike, date is correct now, and if I remember to keep changing it (until i get off my butt and BUY the bloody software), it should be fine from now on in... Mike, you also said: "I _would_ say that, if you have to think of a loan for a £1000 piece of equipment at your level of turnover, you are charging seriously less than the market can stand." Firstly, in Oz it is au$3000 which is alot of money in these parts... BUT, also, yes I am not making a great deal for all of the work that I am putting in. Mainly because to date, most of my work is locally, and as I explained yesterday, we are in drought and there is very little disposable income in these parts. This will change in the coming months when I really begin to travel on a regular basis as I can charge alot more "down south" than I can here. Also, I have been currently charging "per roll", rather than a sitting fee and then selling prints. All of this will change very soon, and especially so when I get the *istD (or another Pentax DSLR if one is brought out that supersedes it on all levels). ALSO, I am still building my equipment cache and I am constantly spending basically all of my profits to do so. I am working from scratch. I have had no capital to begin my business with (being a stay at home mum), and every single thing I have purchased for my business has been paid for BY my business. This includes such things as website hosting, domain name, ISDN internet connection, business name registration, yellow pages listing, newspaper advertising, website listing subscriptions (such as www.weddingcentral.com.au) QuickBooks software, CD Burner etc. All of these things alone have been purchased in the past month, at a cost of over au$2500, and paid for BY nothing more than my photography income. I am sure you will agree, that although it is taking me some time to "get off the ground", I am doing it in a way that is secure for my family AND not impacting my family finance wise, and having 3 little kids and hubby that works his butt off, this is very important to us. Up until probably 2-3 months ago (a period of around 2 and a half years), I have been doing photography for people just as a "cash job" or "hobby" basis, it was only recently that I have set up as a legitimate business. Ok, so anyway, moral of the story is that no, i'm probably not charging enough, and no i'm not going to take out a loan for the *istD (that was a joke when I said that! lol), and it will probably take a couple of months for me to save for it (if i decide to purchase one, i am still considering leasing at this stage), BUT I am happy to be plodding along as i am, i am at a point at the moment where i still feel as though i am "holding the reins" and don't want to "step up" anything just yet. Remember, it has only been 3 and a half years since I purchased my first ever SLR camera, so I have been on a very steep learning curve, and will continue to be on one for a very long time, I would imagine! Mike also said : "I wouldn't presume to give advice to someone who is so blatantly successful." NO WAY would I say that I am "successful"! (although I know that you did say it tongue-in-cheek). See above comments... Sorry, i know i've gone off babbling again, but i hope it all makes sense, and PLEASE correct me if i am wrong! lol. tan. ----- Original Message ----- From: "mike wilson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, December 07, 2003 4:16 AM Subject: Re: card storage in the field Hi, Tanya Mayer Photography wrote: > > thanks for the advice mike! my business owes exactly ZERO dollars. I don't > even have debtors accounts with my labs. I am still too small to do that, > and actually it is a really safe way to run things. If my customers > disappeared tomorrow, I would owe nothing and own everything. It can be a > pain in that my clients have to pay me at the time of their sitting/when > they place their orders rather than when their prints come back, BUT it does > save alot of time trying to track people down for their money! Been > thinking of taking out a loan for that *istD though! (j/k, I am going to see > how things pan out, looks likes Stan might be shopping for me on that one!) > tan. <slaver> I wouldn't presume to give advice to someone who is so blatantly successful. </slaver> Our business is running in exactly the way yours is but about two orders of magnitude (= x100) slower. Our market is less obvious and is partly forced to use us by government regulation. This means that many customers just get the cheapest option they can - which is not us. It's a hoop they need to jump through to make progress. Not like getting your wddding photos done. Still, we managed to run and expand without going into (other than personal) debt and that does feel good. You do have an advantage in being able to extract the juice from your client before you do the work. We sometimes have to resort to me looming over some poor secretary's desk (and I can do that very well, no matter how much I dislike it) while the cheque that has been "in the post" for a few weeks suddenly materialises in a drawer. I _would_ say that, if you have to think of a loan for a £1000 piece of equipment at your level of turnover, you are charging seriously less than the market can stand. BTW, did you notice this: > Tanya Mayer Photography wrote (on Fri, 3 Oct 2003 04:25:11 +1000) The date on your computer is wonky - makes all your posts appear together, at one end of my inbox. It's a bugger to work out what you're talking about 8-) mike
