triple your rates. Seriously, a lot of times people don’t take you up on it because you’re simply not charging enough. I went through a similar thing and doubled my rates and went from struggling to get any bookings to getting more work than I knew what to do with. Do some footwork and figure out what the going rate is for your area and charge the same amount or maybe a little less.

That’s normal, but they should pay for it, don’t give it away for free.

I rarely shoot higher than 800-1600. If I need more ISO than that, then I add light, which almost always will look better than cranking the ISO up even more.

That being said, most of what I shoot is paid work where I’m being paid to deliver good looking photos.

Can there be millionaires? Yes. Can everybody be a millionaire? No. Why? If everybody was a millionaire, then nobody is a millionaire. The way a capitalistic system works is there are those that control most of the money, and those that want to control most of the money.

Can you be a “have not” and work your way up to being a “have”? Yes, but it’s not that easy, and it requires doing a lot of work that you probably won’t like, but you want to be a “have”, so you grin and bear it and do the work.

If it were really that easy, everybody would be doing it, but as evidenced, not many actually are, so it must not be that easy.

Make it your side hustle until you’re busy enough that it’s obvious you need to pick either that or your 9-5.

If he’s a client, you don’t ask him for a raise. That is backwards thinking.

You charge your rate. Period.

1. You’re already not charging enough. If you factor in how much time you’re actually spending, I’ll bet you’re not even making minimum wage, and that is not even taking into account the cost of your equipment that you have to have to get it done. You should be charging an equipment fee on top of that that is equivalent to what you’d pay a rental house if you had to rent the gear you’re using. Whether you split that out to a separate line item is up to you.

2. You cannot make a $500 client turn into a $5000 client. A $500 client will tolerate small incremental increases to account for things like inflation (which you should be revising your prices at least every year anyway), but if you want to make more money, go find a new client that pays what you charge.

3. Don’t spend money on gear that will not get you higher paying clients. We all love new gear, but if your existing gear works, that money is better spent on marketing to gain higher paying clients. Get a client that needs better gear? Start off renting it. This is why you charge that equipment fee. If you can’t rent the gear to get the job done and still make at least minimum wage, then you are not charging enough.