The story goes that Picasso was sitting in a Paris café when an admirer approached and asked if he would do a quick sketch on a paper napkin. Picasso politely agreed, swiftly executed the work, and handed back the napkin — but not before asking for a rather significant amount of money. The admirer was shocked: “How can you ask for so much? It took you a minute to draw this!” “No”, Picasso replied, “It took me 40 years”

Maybe my favorite story concerning business and art. This is for any artist, creative, photographer, videographer, painter, or even a cabinet maker that has been under appreciated. Experience is so often over looked when it comes to looking at numbers. Quality is why you got the job…Experience is why you have the quality. To me time is irrelevant to pricing for anything creative as long as the terms are agreed upon. X of $ = Y end product….The end. As long as you are done before your deadline who cares. Photographers get this pretty bad because all anybody hears is “CLICK”… little do people remember is it was years of “CLICKS” to learn how to make the quality image of today that the client desires.

Do not discount your investment in yourself my friend. If you accept the job for terms agreed upon then do the very best you can because your name will be on it forever!

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life” – Pablo Picasso