Originally Posted by AaronM

Maybe if they are taking on crap jobs for pennies on the dollar.

I can think of a couple of clients, who I have been shooting for on a regular basis for YEARS, who I lowered my rates for simply because of the ongoing volume they order. However, even their lower rate is significantly higher than the $150 per photo/video set that is being discussed here and they make it worth my time by ordering more than 1 or 2 sets. No, I do not and will not piggyback anything but I'm also not forced to do so by taking on low budget clients.

I have minimum payout guarantees that I make to models. If a single client's order can't cover that, plus my overhead and profit, then I simply refer them on to other shooters.

I'm not trying to impress anybody or look like a hero. I'm just sticking to my business model which includes only shooting for solid companies with good reputations and the budgets to justify booking a model for at least a half day. And guess what? I rarely have any sort of problems with clients like this.

It's similar to an affiliate manager. The affiliate with shit for traffic is the biggest pain in the ass but you rarely have issues with traffic from a whale. I don't deal with pain in the ass people very well so I tend to avoid doing business with them whenever possible. I don't mind giving up their $150-$300 in exchange for fewer headaches.