Recession Like A Pro - A Freelancer’s Guide.
SUMMARY
Introduction.
Personal context.
Hot to recession like a pro.
Specialization is for insects.
Change the value, not the price.
Your price is your brand, recession or not.
Think like a client.
Everything will be okay, I promise.
Even though Bloomberg News analysts to Jamie Diamond have tempered the severity of an impending recession from severe to mild, there is still consistent and objective speculation from unconnected sources that a financial winter is coming, my friends.
Caveat: Hot recession takes receive disproportionate traction and clicks, so let's keep that in mind as you research and formulate your opinion. Most articles out there are clickbait political hit pieces disguised as sound economic advice.
No matter where you land on our short-term economic outlook, chances are if you are a freelancer, you will have to do business during a recession at least once in your career, if not three, like myself. Your business needs a bag of tools and plans to survive an economic zombie apocalypse. So let's get started.
PERSONAL (but important) CONTEXT
Please allow me to introduce myself.
I moved to San Francisco in 2005 after college in southern California. On a whim, I was browsing jobs and apartments in San Francisco from afar. After two weeks of exploring my options to uplift my life and move to an entirely new city, I found roommates, a great apartment, and a new job as an in-house photographer for...wait for it... LVMH
My four-year run client-side was epic. I learned multitudes about photography, producing, fashion, and how to pronounce Möet.
I was promoted three times, eventually overseeing a creative studio of three photographers and eight retouchers. At the moment, I felt like the American "pull yourself by your own bootstraps" dream was real because, at the age of 28, I was taking the first steps to purchase a two-bedroom flat in The Lower Haight of San Francisco. But I was so very wrong.
If there is any truth to the American Dream metaphor, it stands to reason that nightmares are equally true.
For astute readers, you probably know where this is going.
Now it's 2009, and everyone I know lost their job. With the exception of Sephora, L.V.M.H. rolls back all S.F. operations to Paris. The result is the studio and an entire floor in the Stuart Tower at 1 Market St. got the axe. Eighty employees, many of us now competing for the same positions in the open job market.
And here is where my freelancing career is born, in the darkest depths of the worst economic recession in generations. Basically Mordor.
I know what we went through during the covid pandemic was an economic struggle for many, myself included, but it was nothing like the 2009 recession, at least not for me.
I will never admit that losing my job and scrapping gigs together off Craigslist in 2009 was a blessing––however, I did learn how to cope emotionally and financially during tough economic times. I learned how to weather the storm and not lose my head.
How you (1) market yourself, (2) price yourself, and (3) manage finances are essential adjustments you need to understand to make it through the storm.
So without further ado.
HOW TO RECESSION LIKE A PRO.
STEP ONE: SPECIALIZATION IS FOR INSECTS.
Every photographer needs to have their corner to stand on and protect, but you should not spend all your time there.
Market yourself as a specialist in multiple fields but in siloed marketing channels.
Using myself as an example, my 'Big Jobs" are in fashion. By "Big", I don't always mean large productions with big budgets. Big jobs can be enormous in your collaborators' ideas, risks, and talent. These jobs excite me and get me out of bed early to finish revising the treatment that no one asked for initially. If you read a creative brief that sparks your imagination into visualizing the killer portfolio pieces you can get out of it, that's a big job.
My editorial work is what I am known for and want to be known for in the long term. It drives me creatively, but it's not all of who I am.
In college, I focused on photojournalism, portraiture, and still life. I had zero ambition to become a commercial photographer. Why bring this up? I had to remember that in the 2009 financial crisis, I was pretty good at capturing events (photojournalism), headshots (portraiture), and product photography (still life).
After four years of shooting lookbooks, I had to remind myself that I had a more diverse skill set than I remembered.
Though I thought I walked away from these past relationships because of my newfound love of storytelling through editorial fashion work, I had to put my ego aside and meet the job where the job was. Please note that there was zero rent relief during the 2009 financial crisis, and the first of the month closes in quickly when you are broke.
How To Put This Into Practice.
Create separate landing pages or websites for each field of photography you are proficient. Do this before the financial storm hits, so you have it all up and running. Like now.
If you conflate all the fields into one site/marketing channel, you risk losing credibility as an expert and you risk ‘keyword stuffing’ which will ruin your SEO on google.
Experts specialize, and you are an expert. Separate your fields of photography into different marketing channels.
It's okay to work in multiple fields. To command strong price points in each, your clients need to know that their money is going to an expert.
Your wedding site should have nothing to do with your headshot business or remote product photography studio—three separate areas for three very different clientele.
Diversify and Specialize. I guess even our hustle needs a side hustle.
STEP TWO: YOUR PRICE IS YOUR BRAND.
"These are tough times."
"As you know, budgets are tight right now."
"It's a small project; it won't take up too much of your time."
It doesn't matter if you are in the throws of a recession or not; you will encounter the above resistance for your entire career.
That is not to say that your clients are not having a tough time too. They are good stewards of their business by scrutinizing each line item in a budget. I don't begrudge them for exercising their fiduciary responsibility, but I never bid 5K for a job that should be 7k, for example.
There are better ways to approach pricing yourself during a recession and help your clients stay out of the red.
Change the value, not the price.
In other words, price appropriately for the scope of work and deliverables. If the price needs to come down, then so does the scope.
Ex.1)
If you are a wedding photographer, offer a package that allows your assistant to cover the reception so you can split early. Or give them a break on the overall rate as long as every print order goes through you.
Short-term savings for the client is desirable during a recession. Just don't cheat yourself and sign up for the same workload as you would under your normal circumstances.
Ex. 2)
Allow your clients an a-la-carté model for usage. I offer a less expensive, one-year digital-only package with an option to extend next year should they feel the need for it. They can also extend the usage per image at an already agreed-upon fee.
This example allows the client to hang on to more cash and save on budget in the short term. There is far more value in purchasing the long-term usage rights upfront ( 5 years, OOH etc), but cash is king when dealing with the unpredictability of a recession.
Have empathy for your clients and create avenues so they can stay in the black as much as possible without compromising your financial needs.
Ex. 3)
At least once a year, I receive a brief that calls for a two-day shoot crammed into one day. What experience and great producers have taught me is some corners can be cut while others are untouchable. It's our job as the expert in the room to know the difference and know where to stand firm. But budgets are seemingly immutable when the cash flow slows to a halt.
So here is what I do.
Work the shotlist.
Each shot list has several priority shots and several that are not as important or as complex. I work with the client to identify those shots and segment the workload. Then I hire a 2nd shooter to alleviate the workload so you can focus on the stories that matter to you and your client.
This creative flexibility always comes across as a great compromise (the fee for 2nd shooter is a fraction of an additional shoot day, $1250 vs. $20K ) and creates a win/win for all stakeholders.
In both the examples above, we made our client's budgets work without lowering our rate.
Remember this, get it tattoed on your leg; your price is your brand, recession or not.
STEP THREE: THINK LIKE A CLIENT.
Cash is king in tough times, so your financial priority is maintaining a positive cash flow, just like our clients need to do.
This accounting priority translates to three money moves.
Money Move 1
Personal Emergency Raining Day Fund. This is to pay for housing, auto, and food when all the work has seemingly dried up. Not Netflix, Uber Eats, or that gym you only visit once a week. Cut that out now.
Do the same for your business, yet identify what bare-bones essential expenses you need to operate. Adobe CC, Internet, Cell, Dropbox, Capture One, and my business insurance are my essentials.
I have already pulled back on purchasing equipment, paying for advertising, and software subscriptions that I don't need.
To be clear, when I say cash, I mean cash. Put it in a shoebox or a checking account. You need access to it at a moment's notice, 24/7. Investing or letting it hang out in your Venmo is not the place for emergency backup funds.
Plus, you can only pay for a friend's bail in cash, but that's another story.
Money Move 2
Pay off your debt as much as possible now before work slows down and stop charging those cards asap.
If you carry multiple balances, start aggressively paying off the card with the lowest balance and pay the minimum on the larger card. Once you pay off the smaller card, take the aggressive monthly amount you were paying and roll it into the larger card.
This method creates a reverse-credit snowball effect. Shout out to Dave Ramsey.
Money Move 3
Increase your deposits/advances/retainers now. My advances always cover travel and the fees for my team at the very minimum. There is no reason why a photographer, for example, should be putting a shoot's travel and production expenses on a credit card. Get in the practice now to set a standard.
ProTip: Learn how to accept A.C.H. and Credit Card Payments. I use Square and Melio. Both services are freemium. Venmo for business seems to be catching on, too, with clients.
Lastly, I want to leave you with some normal albeit important advice from someone who has been through it. Everything will be okay, I promise. Just take it one day at a time and remember that everyone else is going through it too.
That's all I have. Thank you for reading. Please comment below if you have any insights that have helped you in the past.