Joy Vertz, Milwaukee WI, is a photographer who is passionate about the business side. Having started in her basement in 2003 and now running two profitable studios, she has seen (and learned) a lot about what it takes to run a successful, smooth operation. She routinely blogs and educates about pricing, marketing, workflow and process. Joy holds a degree in Studio Art from Lawrence University. Follow Joy on Instagram & Twitter: @joyvertz

In my 10 years in business, one of the most frequently received questions is not about photography at all, it is about pricing. And photographers tend to struggle with pricing because let's face it: Numbers don't come naturally to artists. This is the most common pain that photographers feel in their business because pricing causes stress, confusion for clients, and sometimes even business failure. Pricing your photography is a big deal – and it is something that can make or break a company.

That's why, when I was looking through some “how-to” material recently and saw the following advice, it got my attention immediately…not in a good way:

“Do research on your competition: What are the other photographers in your area charging? Evaluate them and their price lists and see how your work rates in comparison to theirs. Key factors in this comparison can include customer service, image quality, and overall professionalism.”

Now that I've fought my battles in the pricing war (and have some hard-won experience and confidence on my side), it's a lot easier to see why advice like that is such a trap. It's asking you to find your value by looking at what everyone else does. Let's look at some reasons why, although it might seem like a good idea, it really isn't.

First, every business is unique and their price list will reflect their individuality. There's no way to completely know all of the reasons someone else chose their pricing and whether those choices were made on solid business experiences and practices. For all you know, they might have been guessing or worse yet, copying their competition.

Second, do you have any interest in going back every six months to revisit your competitors pricing? I can't think of a more miserable, thankless task than that.

Lastly, you have no idea if they are profitable or struggling. They might be taking huge losses or only be in business for the tax perks, so they're ok with clearing less than minimum wage per sale. Here again, you'll never have the complete story.

Bottom line: finding the right route for your business means focusing on YOUR business, not any others. It's much more useful and rewarding to get reliable information about what you're doing than unreliable information about other shops. Plus, your business deserves your time more than they do.

A great first step that you can take would be to give up the bad habit of constantly sizing up the competition. To learn more about pricing for profit please join me in a 4-part Free Video series http://www.howtopricephotos.com.

Today's guest post is by Bryan Caporicci, a professional photographer based in Canada. Bryan has quickly become an educator on various topics and has been a keynote speaker at numerous workshops and seminars. He co-wrote a book for photographers with fellow photographer Robert Nowell called “Pricing for Profit.” He is also a featured blogger for the Huffington Post.

If you are new to photography, it may surprise you to know that the time you spend running a photography business will be taken up mostly by business and less by photography. If you have been running a photography business for a while, I think that you’ll agree to this fact.

The vast majority of us get into photography because we are creative and visual. Those that are able to make their business flourish however, realize early on that they need to have a strong understanding of business in order to make their career successful.

Photographers are unique in the sense that we almost start our business backwards. The majority of successful businesses are founded by people who studied business first and then decided what they were going to sell second. For example, how many accountants do you know who decided one day “I’m good with numbers” and started their own accounting firm? Most accountants will go through extensive training and internships before they even considering starting their own company. With photography though, most don’t have formal business training, marketing experience, or a financial background. We just know that we love photography and want to do it full-time.

There are an unlimited number of resources on the topics of photography and business (this blog included), however in doing some research, I’ve been unable to find a definitive guide that clearly outlines a step-by-step process to pricing photography services and products. In addition, I’ve never found a resource that actually spelled out how to plan and organize your photography business volume.

In an attempt to help photographers take their business to the next level and start making a living from photography, Robert Nowell and I wrote a book called “Pricing for Profit” that was modeled after our popular seminar series with the same title.

While nothing will replace the value of formal education, extensive research, continuing education courses, business workshops, and so on, our book is designed to be a means of taking the mystery out of pricing your photography for a profitable bottom line.

For the next 4 weeks, join me as I share some insight into the concepts behind our book here on Tiffinbox and help you uncover the most efficient way to price your photography work to make a viable living.

Stick around – it’s going to be a wild ride!

More about Bryan Caporicci: Since his start in the industry eight years ago, Bryan has rocketed to the top of the photography industry in his market area. Bryan was one of the youngest photographers in Canada to receive his Craftsman of Photographic Arts and in 2012, he was named one of the top 25 most inspiration wedding photographers by Wedding Bells Magazine. Bryan's photographic philosophy is simple – he believes in photographing people being themselves. He believes in genuine, pure and simple imagery and he feels that photography is best enjoyed only once it's printed.