Consider creating service goals and making sure that every-
one who works with you, from daily assistants to your monthly
bookkeeper, is aware of and agrees to your ideals when it comes
to serving clients.HONORING YOURSELF FINANCIALLYPricing and licensing are perhaps the area of business
where photographers have the toughest time creating and
adhering to their values.
Leslie Burns-Dell’Acqua, author of the book Business Basics
for the Successful Commercial Photographer, is a photo consultant
located in California and works with photographers on licens-
ing issues daily.
She urges photographers to become educated and to use
the licensing system. She sees it as an expression of a photo-
grapher’s professionalism and a benefit to his or her total well-
being: “I think that photographers get several levels of benefits
by structuring their businesses around the usage licensing
model. On the most basic level—financial—photographers
who license their work and who are the most stringent about
pricing their licenses on the value of their images vis-à-vis their
use, are, in my experience, significantly more successful. Simply
put, they make more money.” She continues:On a deeper level, they tend to be happier people.
This is not only because they are making more money
(after all, money is not the key to happiness); they’re
making that money in fewer hours of travail. In other
words, those who license have more time for their
personal and family lives because they don’t have to
work insane hours to make their “nut.” Having a
healthy balance between work and home lives results
in happier creative. Having a healthy and happy life
both inside and outside of work enriches the soul.
That is vital to running a truly successful creative busi-
ness. When you are calm, rested, and undistracted by
fear, you can focus your mind on what you choose—
you’re in control. That ability to focus results in betterPART1 / VALUESChapter 01.qxd 7/3/07 12:19 PM Page 8