so anyway i finally booked my first actual paying job outside of just doing stuff for friends. its a small local brewery that wants some content for their instagram, exterior shots of the building and some footage of the surrounding area for like a brand vibe thing. they asked what i charge and i panicked and said $150 for a half day which they immediately said yes to without even hesitating and now im sitting here like... that was probably too low wasnt it.

i dont have a ton of portfolio stuff yet which is part of why i went low, figured id rather get the experience and have something to show. but i also dont want to set a bad precedent for myself. they mentioned they might want to do this quarterly which is great but also means if i lowball now im kind of stuck. anyway just wanted to share i guess, any thoughts on pricing for this kind of thing would be appreciated. im in a mid-size midwest city if that matters

yeah $150 for a half day is pretty low but honestly for a first gig building a portfolio its not the end of the world. the fact that they said yes immediately does tell you something though, experienced clients who've hired photographers or videographers before often have a budget in mind and if yours comes way under they just assume they got lucky. for small business social content in a mid-size market you could probably be in the $300-500 range for a half day once you have a few things to show. just dont lock yourself into a rate with them explicitly, when they come back for the quarterly stuff you can just say your rates have updated and most small businesses expect that anyway

congrats on landing it though, seriouly getting that first real client is its own thing. i remember mine, also massively undercharged. i think most people do. just do a really good job and make sure you deliver something that looks way more valuable than what they paid, if they think they got a deal they'll talk about you to other businesses and thats honestly how the first year or two of this works, word of mouth from those early clients is worth more than whatever extra $100 you left on the table