Frustration…
Thumbtack.com is just one resource that you can tap into to help you grow your photography business, but it is also the most frustrating overall resource that I have tried. Yes, I have had some success, but there is a lot of time, money and frustration involved. If it weren’t for the occasional larger projects that I get, I would have quite using Thumbtack a long time ago.

Rate Increases…
On Thursday, February 24th, 2016, Thumbtack raised the number of credits required to provide a quote. There are some areas that double, tripled or quadrupled in the number of credits that were needed just a few months ago. That wouldn’t be so bad is their system was not flawed with countless issues that you can easily see others complaining about online.

Example Of A Core Issue…
A single credit at the current retail price is $1.67. A headshot that has a budget of $300 to $500 currently takes 5 credits which is $8.35 on the high end without buying a credit package. Up to 5 photographers can quote on the project which means Thumbtack gets 5 quotes x $8.35 for a total of $41.75 whether any photographer gets hired or not.

If you are not on Thumbtack, you may be saying to yourself, “I’ll pay $8.35 to quote a $300 to $500 project.” But there are core problems with Thumbtack across the board in numerous photography categories.

1) You send your quote.
2) If the prospect views your quote, you get notified they have viewed it and get charged.
3) The prospect will likely do one of the following the majority of the time:
A) They never reply to your follow up messages. It’s RARE to get a response on a follow up.
B) They never view your profile or website. Important step when hiring a photographer.
C) You may get a message that says the request is canceled, but you are still out $8.35.

It will quickly leave a bad taste in your mouth and make you wondering if the request was legit. Yes, they are legit ones because I have been hired over 100 times. However, the system is still frustrating.

I know from my own personal experience, some others that I know personally and numerous comments that I see online that the closing percentages are low. For example, you may do 5 of these quotes to close one deal which is $41.75 or even 10 to close one deal which is $83.50 plus it takes a lot of your time sending the quotes and jumping through the hoops. Keep in mind that MINIMAL information is required from the person submitting the quote.

With a 1 in 5 closing ratio, that’s 20% and with 1 in 10 that’s 10% and the cost to get the business is over 10% on 1 in 5 at $300 and over 20% on 1 in 10 at $300. Yes, I used $300 not $500 because more than likely, it’s going to be on the lower end if it’s coming through Thumbtack.

So let’s split the difference and say that it cost you $60 (multiple quotes) to close a $300 deal which is 20% of the gross. If working of $240 rather than $300 works for you, you will likely find Thumbtack to be a great fit for your needs. Just don’t go into it getting your hopes up that you will close a really high percentage of what you quote on.

My Business Decision…
For me, until Thumbtack corrects a lot of issues, I plan to do a lot less quoting than I have been doing. There system has numerous other flaws that I will not cover here.

The post Don’t Rely On THUMBTACK To Drive Your Photography Business first appeared on .

As of this post, I have been on Thumbtack for 19 months, so I have formed my own opinion. That opinion does cross over into the Facebook conversation of my two photographer friends.

1) I have 98 MARKED AS HIRED as of this message, so I’ve done a few gigs on Thumbtack. Guess what, not everyone that MARKED ME AS HIRED actually did business with me. That number is low, but it’s also a reality of Thumbtack. Yes, you can be MARKED AS HIRED and still not get business.

2) Thumbtack is a numbers game. You have to provide a lot of quotes to close just one gig. It’s the nature of the beast. You have to accept that or not use the platform.

3) Many (actually most it seems) will click on your quote/message but will NEVER actually look at your profile, your website or even communicate with you at all. NADA/ZERO/ZILCH Again, it’s the nature of the beast. You have to accept that or not use the platform. 19 months on Thumbtack has taught me that.

4) Thumbtack makes money whether you do or not. For example, on the low end, a headshot is about $3 to quote. If 5 photographers quote, that’s $15 for Thumbtack. That number is much higher on other things like events and architectural which could be roughly $24 to $35 +/- if 5 photographers quote. 5 is the maximum number of quotes thus the use of 5 in my examples. What can be frustrating is knowing that Thumbtack made all the money and not a single photographer was hired especially when people check that they hired someone outside of Thumbtack.

So what’s the solution?

You must accept that Tumbtack is a numbers game, that not everyone that marks hired will actually do business with you, that communication from those requesting services is generally pretty non-existent and that Thumbtack is going to make money on people submitting quotes whether any of the photographers that reply with quotes are hired or not. It’s the nature of the beast. You have to accept that or not use the platform.

In closing, don’t assume!

Don’t assume that because I have a physical studio outside of my home in a business district that I close the majority of headshot quotes that I provide. NOPE, I’m right in there with everything stated above. It’s a numbers game and I have decided to accept it along with everything else that I mentioned above. Why? Glad you asked why

For me, it’s MATH and MATH is part of the numbers game. For example, if I quote on 5 headshots that costs me around $15 or even 8 headshot that costs me around $24 and close just one of them, I am fine with the math based on what I consistently get for headshots. Thumbtack, for me, is CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS. At the end of the day, am I making money on Thumbtack or wasting my time? Do I put more dollars in at the end of the day than I get out? Oh, and that’s based over a period of time and numerous quotes not just a bad week of quoting.

FYI, I’m still Thumbtack, so as frustrating as it is, Thumbtack is NOT a complete waste of time for me because I accept #’s 1 to 4 above. As long as the math works in my favor over time and not Thumbtack’s, I’m fine. There are days that Thumbtack wins and days that I win.

The post Thumbtack For Photographers – It’s Frustrating! But It’s A Numbers Game! first appeared on .