Also, I am giving away one headshot session each week during the hottest month in Houston. More information can be found here.

Please click any image to see a larger (and uncropped) version.

More information is available here.

Jenny is a graduate of the University of Houston’s School of Theatre and Dance with an emphasis in Acting and Directing. Favorite credits include: Grease (Rizzo), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Helena), and Hairspray (Amber). She also performs with Murder Mystery Texas, dances in a variety of styles and sings as a soprano.

These are just a few of the images we made together, including her final actor headshot image. What do you think?

Have I got the contest for you! Starting July 5th, we will be giving away one of our Headshot Sessions (a $395 value) away each week for the twelve hottest weeks in Houston.

To join, just go to the contest page on Facebook, like the page and let us know how to reach you if you should win. Only one entry each seven days and you must be in the greater Houston Area to win.

What are you waiting for? Go enter already!

A short whirlwind of dating and sharing adventures from the Great Plains to the Gulf of Mexico to the Extraterrestrial Highway in Nevada to the New England coast, and I knew I had found who I wanted to be with for the rest of my life. After a proposal in Death Valley last year, we decided to have a quick wedding rather than spend a year planning the event. So several weeks later and on stage of an outdoor festival, we exchanged vows and rings and my story changed to something filled with much more laughter and light.

Since then, I have moved and flourished in life and in my technical consulting, photography, and love of nature – even thinking a few thoughts and making a few images. So you can expect to hear much about my world in the future.

Eventually, though we come to setting a price for their time and services, and the question comes up, “How do I know what to charge?”

What Should You Charge?

Whether you are a photographer, a computer consultant, a web designer or a social media strategist, there will come a time in your business where you will have to name a price for your services. It’s a nervous moment. Name a price too high, and your prospect will walk to one of you many competitors. Yet, name a price too low, and you may resent the work or worse, not be able to put enough time into the project to do a great job.

There are also several ways to answer this question, including the mechanical answers. It’s easy to find different ideas and approaches for the actual process of setting consulting rates on the web (and photographers can find more resources on what to charge here), but I want to talk about the process I used that increased my consulting fees by over 700% in five years when I was consulting full time.

The Book That Improved My Consulting

I have owned many books on consulting, but none of them have helped me as much as Gerald Weinberg’s The Secrets of Consulting. I can’t say enough good things about the book, but I credit the wisdom in this book for a great deal of my success. Many of the rules and laws that Jerry teaches through story and parable have been told to my clients as well to help them understand one issue or another. In fact, the last time I reread the book, I found that one piece of advice I had been attributing to ancient Chinese wisdom over the years was also from this book – it’s that timeless. Every time I read it, I learn more.

Other books I owned gave those same mechanical methods I quoted above, but in this book, I found a different way of looking at pricing. I have used these laws of pricing to tremendous success, and have guided my friends getting started in consulting on how to use them as well and watched them become successful. So, because so many others I know are starting out right now, whether from the economy or because of their passion, I will share this small taste of the wisdom in that book.

The First Law of Pricing

Pricing has many functions, only one of which is the exchange of money. My sister once became the principal of a struggling private school. In spite of lowering the cost of admission and the entrance requirements, the school had not been able to increase its registration. My sister raised the admission fees (the money part of the price) and raised the entrance requirements (another form of price as you will soon see) and the school flourished. There’s more to this than just money crossing a desk.

The Second Law of Pricing

The more they pay you, the more they love you. The less they pay you, the less they respect you. Once upon a time, I was a beginning consultant working for an Oil and Gas company on a project with another consultant hired by another member of management. In one notable situation, they asked our advice on a situation, and we both offered conflicting advice. The other consultant billed out at a rate more than three times what I was charging at the time, so his advice was followed – all the way to disaster. The more I raised my rates, the more my clients followed my advice and benefitted.

The Third Law of Pricing

The money is usually the smallest part of the price. This law is a critical one to understand. I mentioned before that tougher school admission requirements were part of the price, and this law explains it. I helped a friend with a proposal recently. We wrote up a cost that was reasonable, but not likely to survive the cut-throat market that their business is in. So we then set a monetary price that was competitive (but not the lowest to honor the second law) and gave credit to secure rights to use the finished work in a commercial portfolio and the requirement of a letter describing the service provided – what we hoped would be a letter of recommendation. My friend got the job, and a glowing letter of recommendation and a valuable item for their portfolio.

The Fourth Law of Pricing

Pricing is not a zero-sum game. I know a consultant using this law as I write this late at night. He is working on state-of-the-art computer networking gear in which he knows the experience is in very high demand by other clients and gaining experience. These late night hours will not be billed to the client because tonight’s payment is in the form of experience and education, and the client will get better management of their systems because of the work he is doing. Both parties gain something of greater value than what they are contributing. Both have positive values at the end of this engagement.

The Fifth Law of Pricing

If you need the money, don’t take the job. For me, when I have really needed the money, I would over commit to justify a greater fee than I would normally propose, and then struggle to deliver. You’ve heard the advice to under commit and over deliver? Taking a gig when desperate for the cash causes pressure to do just the opposite of what is wise. So start before you really need it, or find something else to get past the point of desperation – for the sake of both your client and yourself.

The Sixth Law of Pricing

If they don’t like your work, don’t take their money. If you thought that last law was difficult, here is another one that is equally difficult to follow. But it does work. Really. I thought it was an open invitation to have a client take advantage of me and my services, but it says something to a client when your interest in their satisfaction is greater than your interest in the money. It brings out the best in them when it is genuine. I only have one reputation, and it’s really worth more to me than whatever a client may be forced to pay me.

The Seventh Law of Pricing

Money is more than pricing. The third law of pricing shows us that pricing is more than money, and the converse is true as well. Money is more than used for paying for the final product. For example, down payments on a project create commitment by the client, and a willingness to commit resources and accomplish prerequisites for projects. It doesn’t take much for a client to verbally approve a date for a project to start, but to provide a purchase order number, or pay the “due upon signing” portion of a contract – then the commitment is much stronger which means according to the second law that they will love you more (because paying something up front – not anything extra, just a small portion – is also part of the price).

The Eighth Law of Pricing

Price is not a thing, it’s a negotiated relationship. In the Cluetrain Manifesto, we learn that markets are conversations. This, then, is a corollary to that principle, because as markets are conversations, so too prices are relationships. It is a structured relationship. It is a negotiated relationship. And negotiation takes conversation, listening, and understanding between you and your client.

The Ninth Law of pricing

Set the price so you won’t regret it either way. Here it is, permission and encouragement to charge more to do the jobs you don’t want to do, as well as charge less to do the work you really want to do. In fact, it’s a law. I once worked on an emergency situation for a company on the weekend on my young son’s birthday. I first attended my son’s party (for there was no amount great enough to be paid that would have caused me to not regret missing it), and then I charged three thousand dollars an hour (with a four-hour minimum) if they still wanted me to help them. I would not have regretted it in the least if they had turned me down, but they were losing hundreds of thousands an hour at the time so they accepted. And in turn, I didn’t regret working that situation as it allowed me to take several days off that week to spend more time with my kids. This is how it is supposed to work – not one hourly rate for the work you love and the work you hate.

The Tenth Law of Pricing

All prices are ultimately based on feelings, both yours and theirs. In my example of the ninth law, it’s been an issue of debate with my fellow consultants whether the same hourly rate should be quoted for every project, or used as a basis for a flat-rate projects as well. It certainly is reasonable. Standardized pricing is more scalable than pricing based on the principle of least regret – especially when you have a team of consultants. It’s reasonable that a consultant that does what he said he would do should get paid, regardless of how the customer may feel about the work.

But that’s the thing, feelings are not always reasonable. But they are always being felt, and they often guide decisions. This is where Jerry’s smarter than I am. He talks about how these laws guide one through the feelings of pricing. I would just have said how irrational they are.

But having tried them – they work. These laws of pricing, by the way, are only one small part of what is in that book. And if you are getting started freelancing or consulting and need to know how to price your work, consider these rules. Then go buy that book. Really it’s that good.

It was a very fun day of shooting in spite of the weather, but these High School Seniors will have some unique portraits. It seems the most frequent request for senior pictures are to be unique and not like all the others. It’s a challenge I truly enjoy.

I am pleased to announce that the Houston Strobist meetup for January is open to all who wish to either practice what we learned this past week, to share new projects that are built, or who just want to learn and practice how to light their photography. It will be at the Coffee Groundz once again, on January 24, 2010 from 6:30 to 9:30pm.

If there is anything you want us to work with you on, please leave a note here in the comments or on our Houston Strobist Flickr group.

As an example of what I have been able to do since I started on the Strobist journey, please consider these Senior Portraits and other images:

The Houston MugtoMug group is a local Smug Mug Users Group or SMUG. I use Smug Mug for displaying proofs of my work to my clients and for managing on-line sales. The people there have been awesome, and worth checking out.

If you are one of my fellow Strobists from my Flickr group, Houston Strobist, please come and share and help keep me in line. Or if you caught my presentation at PhotoCamp Houston last year, and have been inspired to make your own light modifiers, please bring them.

I look forward to seeing you there.

If you had any problem opening the link to the Coffee Groundz website to get the address and directions, they are at 2503 Bagby Street Houston, TX 77006 and here’s a map.


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Why Learn to Identify Trees?

People learn to identify trees for different reasons. For some of us, it is recreational. For others, its about learning to landscape or manage their property better. Rich Mullins, one of my favorite poets and songwriters, used to suggest to people speaking of depression or anxiety that they learn the names of all the trees between their home and their work.

For myself, it is about learning to look outside of myself, and my world of screens and routine. I have to look – really look – at nature to learn from it, and this simple act of looking outside myself does wonders for my spirit.

Getting Started

Mags, a recent visitor, left the comment:

I love the idea of enjoying nature in my own backyard. I’ve even started photographing various trees and flowers there. I become frustrated however when I realize that I have no idea what any of the trees and/or flowering shrubs are. Do you have any ideas for this “beginner” nature lover regarding identification?

In my case, I learned to identify many of the native trees by attending a class at the Houston Arboretum as a part of their Nature 101 classes. While there, I learned how to use a tool called a Dichotomous key, which is just a list of questions with two possible answers – and each answer showed me where in the key to look next for either the next question or for the final answer. But from the first question I was looking at the tree and trying to get answers.

Does the tree have leaves that are needles or scales (evergreen) or does it have flat leaves (broadleaf)? The questions start there and so I have to look at the leaves and start understanding how the leaves work. I learned that there is a language for describing the parts of a leaf, and by learning how to describe the leaf, I could answer the questions and possibly know what sort of tree I am looking at.

The process is not always fool-proof. Sometimes, I am left needing an option “C” in the questions, and this could be because I am looking at a tree not in my guide or because I made a mistake describing the tree. This is an exercise best spent by the tree and in the field. Commercial lists, or field guides, are available by the Audubon Society (which is great and has many photos), although I carry a Peterson’s Field Guide in my pack which has fewer images, but is smaller and lighter.

On-Line resources

In this case, the “field” is just in back of the house, I can also use modern technology to help me identify the trees. I have on my phone a link to the mobile What Tree Is That? tool from the National Arbor Day Foundation. It works in the same way to identify a tree, and includes images of the leaves to verify I have the correctly identified the tree. They also have a tutorial for working through the process of identifying a tree from your home browser, and a larger and graphics-rich tool for the people who can walk out back with their laptop.

Identifying Threats to Local Ecology

I did have one tree in my yard that could not be identified through these methods. It was growing very rapidly, and didn’t show up in any of the field guides or lists. I finally found it by checking a warning list of invasive species for my area. It turns out that this tree is from China and does so much damage to the environment that it is prohibited and owning one without a permit is a class “C” misdemeanor in Texas. Getting rid of it is a boon to my area and could only have happened from the desire to identify the tree.

But for me, more than the advantage to the environment, I find that just going outside and looking at the trees – and I mean really looking at them to see where the leaf nodes are so I know if I am looking at a leaf or a leaflet on a complex leaf system – means that I am once again outside of myself and connecting to the larger world outside of me. Maybe this is a natural thing for some people, but for me, learning how to observe the world around me in nature is something I have to keep learning – and every time I do, I keep growing.

UPDATE – here is the QR Code for the Mobile WhatTree Application for Android, iPhone and Blackberry Users:

I am building a new e-commerce architecture this week. I have built others, starting before the dot-com boom and bust, but the networking tasks remain much the same, only the tools and some protocols have changed. But one change I expected over the years, and looked for, I could not find.

Where are the Networking and Cisco Blogs?

Don’t get me wrong, there are millions of hits for Cisco on Google. And there are many blogs and magazines that talk about Cisco the business, and an almost equal number that talk about Cisco certification programs. But where are my fellow packet-geeks and wire-heads? Cisco employees are all over Twitter, but where are the blogs of the people actually building the foundation of the new information ecology?

As I am currently building a new Cisco infrastructure, I sometimes need to find out specific configuration answers. But there is so much noise from people selling products, or requiring registration or payment to view conversations, that I rarely search for fore anything without a “site:cisco.com” limiter in my Google search. This limits my results to the cisco.com website and its a much better solution than using Cisco’s search function on their website.

This noise continues in trying to find good network blog sites as well. But I also wonder if the signal is as strong for network engineers as it is for other niche blog categories. I know that in my own case, I was late in starting to blog because I was busy building the networks to carry those blogs. And when I started, I had so many other things I wanted to talk about first. Even now, technology and network communications is only a prt of what this site is about. So I wonder if network engineers do that much blogging about network engineering.

Two Great Blogs to Investigate

That speculation aside, I have found a couple of people and blogs to whom i would like to introduce you.

Jeremy Stretch runs PacketLife.net, and if I ever did a strictly-focused networking blog, I would want it to grow up and look like his. Like many others, I suppose, I found his site because of the awesome cheat-sheets he has available for a variety of protocols and tools, and then stayed because i learn a little more about effective and secure communications with every post he write. Check him out, it is well worth your time.

Greg Ferro runs the EtherealMind.com blog and it is also another treasure. In Greg’s case it is because he takes the time to write about the part of a network communications system that we represent – the humans building the technical systems. As a result, as much as he occasionally dips into the lower levels of the ISO model, he also writes about the rest of what it is like to be a network architect and designer. It is a site that is worth a subscription.

Do You Have Any Suggestions?

But what other signals are out there that are buried by the noise? What other Cisco and network blogs are there out there? Can you help me find some of your favorites?