Last Sunday I blogged about contracts (including getting paid).  This is a continuation of that post since I've researched it a bit further and have learned new information from last week.

I asked around to see how people formulate their contracts for their photography businesses.  Some people draft them themselves and have their lawyers review them to make sure they're "kosher" while others have turned to pre-existing contracts that are available for purchase online.  I think I may go with that option!  Why spend time drafting my own contract if someone else has already made a killer document that considers all bases? 

Two such contracts I was directed to were:

1. Designs Aglow Wedding Photography Contract (currently $150)
2. Photographer's Tool Kit Contracts (which has a variety of contracts but comparatively speaking their wedding contract's currenly $49/$59)

Photographer's Tool Kit offers a wedding contract, portrait session contract, and associate's contract (for someone that assists for you, like a second shooter).  You can actually purchase all three for $105/$125 depending on whether you're a Sole Proprietor or Corporation/LLC. 

Actually, I just saw on their site they have a commercial photography contract too.  Just an FYI in case anyone reading is looking for something like that.

I'm sure if you wanted to continue searching for more options online for contracts their certainly out there!  But for me, this is perfectly fine because I trust and respect those that recommended it to me and the price is right.

Regarding "how to get paid," I researched this a bit too.  I thought most people went with a third party vendor that could accept credit cards but I was wrong!  I actually thought most people would not accept checks due to fear of the checks bouncing but it turns out that's what most people I asked do!  They brought up a good point - clients need to pay in advance so there's no question checks can bounce!  They pay a deposit to hold their date then the balance in advance of the actual event as well.  I feel more comfortable with this option now.

The down side to accepting credit cards is that you have to pay a third party vendor a percentage, just like PayPal. However, if that's the route you want to take just do your research before deciding to go with one company over another.  Also, negotiate with them to get the percentage fee down.  Someone said all they had to do was ask and voila!  The percentage fee her company charged her was lowered.  Never hurts to ask, right?

But back to PayPal as an option.  I never even thought to look into it.  I use it for personal reasons and have a personal account like I'm sure most readers out there do.  But if you go to their site and look on their top toolbar you'll see the following tabs, "Home," "Personal," "Business," and "Developers."  Here's the business tab link.  Paypal can do a number of things for you as a businnes, dealing with money. 

1. Accept credit cards on a website
2. Accept credit cards by "Virtual Terminal," which is by phone, fax or mail
3. Add PayPal as a payment option on your site (if people want to directly pay you from their PayPal account)
4. Issue rebates and commissions

I think the plus side to using a name like PayPal is that it's well known and people trust it.  Of course one service isn't necessarily the answer.  If people don't want to pay by check or cash (I'm envisioning cash for the lesser expensive things like portrait sessions) then I'll have to have an additional option so perhaps PayPal's great to keep in the back of my mind.  Someone mentioned it's about $30/mth for a business account with PayPal but I haven't gotten that far into my research to confirm this.

The bottom line is that it's a business so don't skimp on a good, solid contract.  And of course seeing as it is a business and most likely a source of income for you, you'll certainly want to get paid!  I hope that this post has helped you out a little bit like the information greatly helped me.

On another note the huge WPPI (Wedding & Portrait Photographers International) convention is this week in Las Vegas.  About 10,000 people attend and, sadly, I will not be one of them.  I didn't find out about it until a few weeks ago so it was unlikely I could pick up and go with a full time job I care greatly about and the funds just weren't there so I'm going to plan on going/saving for next year's convention!  I hope that some of my peers and [b] schoolers bring back tons of information to share!

Luckily some vendors are offering special deals this week on their products - the same deals they're offering at the convention are being offered on their sites.  I've had my heart set on a Shootsac for a while now and this week's the week I'm going to get one because they're on sale, starting tomorrow, for three days!

Here's the bag, with the cool "switch the covers" feature.  

And here's the promotional trade show pricing that lasts until Wednesday this week:

It's a bag for carrying lenses while shooting.  It's not intended for holding your camera body and/or storing lenses while you're not shooting.  I have my Crumpler for that!

I also hope that Bludomain will reveal their new site designs this week because I'm so anxious to see them!

I'm off to enjoy the Academy Awards.  Happy Oscar Sunday!