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Photographer invoice example for Research and Development

hey photographer Jessica Whitaker here with bumblebee bumblebee is my little creative director in today's photography video we are going to be sitting down in talking about taking payments in invoicing your photography clients and this topic could actually expand out into a number of industries if you're a creative entrepreneur I asked in the building bloom Facebook group which if you're not a member I really encourage you to join down below it's a free photography community full of 60,000 kind encouraging supportive photographers I asked them to build a million Facebook group if you have any questions regarding taking payments and invoicing clients and I have some good questions I'm gonna be covering in today's video this video is sponsored by skill share skill sure is an online learning community with thousands of classes covering creative and entrepreneurial skills if you're watching this tutorial chances are you're a great match for what skill share has to offer let's be real photographers we are one person shows there's classes on Skillshare covering business basics from writing effective website copy to accounting for freelancers a great class to begin with is bookkeeping for freelancers by Emily Simcox a yearly subscription to skill share is less than ten dollars a month making it one of the most affordable online learning communities because skill share is sponsoring this video they have given me the opportunity to give you two months of free access for their Premium Membership let's hop into the video first question is when it should payments be made before the session or upon delivery of the product or the service and in this case the photoshoot I personally have my clients make their final payment the day of the session next question kind of ties in to the previous one do you collect everything before the shoot or some before and then some after in my own photography business I do take a non-refundable retainer that goes towards the final payment for my clients like secures the date and the time of their photo shoot so that I can reserve it for them their slot and I don't over booked myself I do not do any kind of scheduling I don't put anything in my calendar pen or pencil until that retainer has been paid then I take the remainder of the payment the day of the - the amount of money you want to take for retainer will just depend on you and your business some people do a 50% some people do 30 % some do $100 this is a good comment that I want to read from Ashley in the Facebook group and she'd by somebody who asked this question she kind of answered with her own advice and I want to include that in here because I think it's a good perspective usually a $50 deposit and the remainder of the balance is due 24 hours before the session this allows to fill the spot if they cancel or prevent no-shows weddings I do three even installments with the last being 30 days prior to the wedding day I included this answer in the video because it really goes to show how great of a resource build and bloom is if you want to ask questions and receive other perspectives outside of my own answer everybody runs their business differently and there's sometimes no right or wrong answers it's just great to get other perspectives so that you can see what might fit the best in your own photography business again building bloom will be linked down below but I wanted to include that comment from Ashley because I think it's an interesting and a good perspective I'm looking down at my computer for the questions that I have written out so the next one is should you have a deposit or initial payment to reserve the slot 100% yes this benefits both you and the client it gives your client peace of mind that their time is 100% reserved and you're not gonna book somebody else for instance and you're not gonna just take another job that day because they're paying three times more or somebody else let's say you're booking a wedding and somebody else booked your premium package and the person that you are originally booking with that day the original client booked maybe your standard beginning smallest package it gives your client peace of mind that you're not going to somebody else over in them now you wouldn't ever do this right but it just gives your client peace of mind it also gives you peace of mind knowing that even if your client cancels the day of or a few days before a session or they don't show up maybe they're just a no-show for whatever reason you still are paid and compensated for some bit of your time and money that you could have been making with another client who would have showed up you might be wondering well how do I even take these deposits retainers how do I do these payment plans and receive my final payment how do I actually get paid in a way that's organized because I don't even know where to begin I have a client management software called honey book that I use and I love and I'll link it down below I've been a link a free trial it's a 14-day free trial the honey book has so many different features to it including photography contracts templates like dozens and dozens of templates and they have a lot of other plugins and tools that you could use within your business I think that's why their free trial is so long it's 14 days so that you can fully absorb all of the amazing tools that they have to offer you in your business but what I love about honey book in particular is that it's all about automating the process of booking clients so you're setting up a system once or twice maybe set up weddings senior portraits boudoir styled shoots you set up a system almost a template and then every time you have a client who inquires within your contact form through honey book it takes them through this automatic system that you've only set up once and then you can step away from so you're not going back and forth back and forth with clients checking in about their deposit sending over the contract having them sign it counter signing it sending the final one back receiving the initial invoice making sure that they have your email address correct for that invoice however you're taking it it's all within honey book and it's all automatic so you only set it up once and you send it off that's what I love to do in my own business the last time I have to spend it behind my computer screen the better and the more that I can automate my business the better for me and for my client so that they're not relying on me to get back to them when they send over that initial inquiry at twelve o'clock at night when I'm either editing or sleeping I don't have to wait on my clients either it's all automated all already set up so that they can be booked ASAP and the same goes for taking the payments so within honey book I can schedule the deposit or the retainer to be let's say three hundred dollars and then let's say I am going to be the day of the session right the day the morning over right after I would have the remainder let's say five hundred dollars be scheduled for that date then within honey book they can pay all of that everything is automated so you don't have to write in your calendar and constantly be checking back in and also having that hinder you from getting paid because it's all in one system so I'm gonna link honey book down below for those who are interested it's a free trial and this isn't sponsored by honey book at all it's just the tools that are used and that I want to share with you because it's an incredible game-changing resource but definitely explore it when you have a free hour or so because there are so many great tools within it the next question is how do you actually take the payments PayPal venmo cash check I personally would book everything electronically through PayPal or through honey book but regardless of however you're taking payments you need to make sure that you're reporting that as income for your taxes next question is offering payment plans is that good or is that bad when it comes to larger ticket items or larger packages like weddings I do think that is a fine idea I think that's great and that can be more incentive for somebody to book a larger package with you knowing that they don't have to pay four thousand dollars up front right but I would say when it comes to standard portrait sessions I don't offer payment plans in my own business I we find that to be necessary let's say for example just for example you're gonna be booking a four hundred dollar portrait session it makes more sense to either have a 50% retainer down for that deposit down and so that's $200 and then the day of the session or the day before the session have them pay the remainder $200 that's kind of like a payment plan in and of itself next question is how to send invoices are there any websites that are easy to use yes honey book you can send invoices through honey book even if you're somebody who is a blogger influencer you make youtube videos you're working with brands and companies outside of your photography clients you can still utilize honey book to send out those invoices which invoices are different than those payment plan features on honey book and you could do that within that software and that is what I use and would recommend for you if you are accepting money from a shoot do you have to be a registered business even if you don't bring enough in regularly I am NOT a lawyer and I'm also not an accountant I cannot give legal and business advice or tax advice nor can any other photographer unless they also happen to be a lawyer or an accountant but what I can tell you is you def really should go on to laws are going to vary state to state wherever you live but I definitely recommend registering yourself ASAP most the time it's an easy simple process and you can actually have and set it up for you if you're somebody who doesn't have the time the bandwidth or the desire to set it up yourself you can have their services do it for you but whatever amount of money that you are bringing in you need to report that on your taxes as income you have to pay tax on that money the answer is yes whatever money you are bringing in you need to pay taxes on those are all the questions that I'm in answering for today when it comes to receiving payments and invoicing and getting paid for your work I believe in you and your business and that's why I'm here every single week creating for free for you here on YouTube definitely check out skill sure I'll have the trial linked down below if you want to continue to support these tutorials and see them in your inbox every single week be sure to register on Skillshare and their free trial I'll also link honey book which is my client management software below that also linked down below which I talked about more at the end they make setting up your business so so easy and you can also ask them other questions what else I'm gonna share with you my building bloom free photography Facebook group that will be linked down below as well as a link to my online photography workshop if you are in this video and you are looking to learn more about growing your photography business my online photography workshop covers how to build a sustainable photography business in your own backyard from A to Z it's six and a half hour program all online my workshop covers so much from pricing and a whole in depth really big chapter about pricing literally everything you need to know from like travel fees to building out packages it's so good and worksheets downloads templates so much more Clack communication branding customer experience it's such a great great program so if you love my youtube videos and you love the business and you want to learn more my workshop is the resource for you that's everything I have to share with you in today's tutorial I hope that you enjoy it I hope that you learn something be sure to hit subscribe if you haven't already so you're the first note when any tutorial for your business drops I believe in you and I believe in your business I'll see you in the next one bye