The bottom line, hiring a professional

Every industry has a bottom line to make money. The photography business is no different. If everyone were to think "they are just photos I can take myself" we'd be out of business. But we are not. Because you are busy being good at what you do every day, I am busy being a damn good photographer every day. The point is we all have a skillset that comes with a price tag. If we could do "the thing" ourselves we would, for cheaper but sometimes it's just not possible and it becomes necessary to go to the person with the skillset and pay them to do it for us. That being said it is also not just a professional skillset you are hiring. It's the tools, the supplies, the transportation, the advertising, the accounting, etc, etc. that comes with that service or skill for hire. All of that is the bottom line. The bottom line is to make money to pay for all that and make some for ourselves to live off of. Often times we take for granted all THOSE other things when considering hiring someone to do "the thing" we cannot. And suddenly the price seems so much different when you have to factor in all that. It is fair to say we all want "the best price" when it comes to what we pay for in services and products. No argument here. But is the discount the priority or the quality ? It would be better to sacrifice cost for quality and it doesn't always means quality is the most expensive. Quality and value are only relative to you in that moment for what you are trying to accomplish. So next time you think about negotiating your price, consider negotiating your need instead. Pay for what you need. Hire, what you need. If it's an experienced lawyer then find "the one" that will provide what you need. Your have bottom line also of what you are able to afford. You have to shop based on your bottom line to get what you need. I have a cost. You have the need and that is the bottom line.