How Having a Legit Photography Business Can Make You More Money
Topic: Business, General Legal
Time Investment: 6 Minutes
Suggested Product: BizRevamp®
Your business is rocking, your clients are responsive and you are motivated to make more money! ‘Cause come on – who isn’t? There may be one piece of the puzzle that you’re missing, and I’m going to let you in on a secret:
Being legal can make your business more money.
True story, and I’m gonna tell you why. In the end, if you don’t believe me – please email me, and we can chat. I’m not just saying all this because I’m a lawyer. I’m telling you all this because I’ve seen it first hand as a business owner!
I just happen to know how to be legal, and I want to share this with you – hence this site!
Being legal can make you more money through increasing buyer confidence, avoiding issues, and giving you the confidence needed to take risks to climb that success ladder.
#1 Increases buyer confidence
You have a product or service that your audience wants and probably needs, but there is something holding them back from purchasing. This is called lack of buyer confidence. Having your legal i’s dotted and t’s crossed will help build up buyer confidence and make writing a check or clicking the payment button much easier. In fact, having this done can encourage the buyer to engage excitedly in the business transaction AND turn around to talk about how awesome their experience was with your company.
All of this starts with the buyer confidence they receive from landing on your site or through interactions with your business.
Placement of Terms of Use and Privacy Policies in the footer of your website give a little nod to the legalities, but can subconsciously skyrocket the confidence in the buyer. Use of contracts and an identifier such as an LLC or business license can further demonstrate the legitimacy of the business and create a sense of security in the client’s psyche.
On top of this, let’s take it outside the client arena. What if you’re trying to engage local businesses to collaborate on works or hire others for projects? Using contracts for each of these agreements also facilitates a confident (and legal) relationship. Individuals you are seeking to work with will feel more at ease and respect your professionalism at a higher level than businesses who fall back on verbal agreements or lackluster communications via social media, text, or even email.
#2 Avoids issues
Not only does buyer confidence increase when you get legal, but the probability of issues greatly decreases.
People are people – therefore, potential issues can occur when working with clients or independent contractors. Contracts and other legal forms help outline expectations, manage ownership of intellectual property, and identify how issues will be handled should they arise.
Also, having a Terms of Site that outline to the buyer your policies on refunds, exchanges, copyright ownership, and other information to help define the relationship and avoid any customer service complaints. This not only avoids issues, but it gives you documentation to point to if a customer service issues does arise. No longer do you sound like the “no” man, rather your Terms will do this for you as the buyer agreed to terms by using the site and at checkout. This helps the customer to understand they share some of the responsibility as well.
Avoiding issues is a major way to keep money in your pocket. First, if issues do arise and you have to engage in legal activity, you can end up with lost money through damages and fines. Also, the more time that is spent on managing or fixing an issue, the less time you are spending on the money making activities of your business.
Quit holding your breath, put these supports in place, and keep money in your pocket! Remember: the key is to understanding how to use these tools for good and not evil! Use them as sales, marketing, and customer service tools to aid your relationship while protecting your business at the same time.
#3 Gives YOU confidence to take risks
When you legitimize your business, not only do you instill confidence and lower the probability of issues, but you gain the confidence needed to take risks, to put yourself out there and to grow. Photographers are just the same as any regular brick-and-mortar business you pass on the street – you just may or may not have that actual studio space. You are required to be legal like all other businesses. You are not exempt.
Get legal, use these tools, gain confidence, and put yourself out there more as you climb the ladder of success.
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