If you don’t take credit cards, or if you’d like to take credit cards at an event, you should check out a new service called Squareup.

Squareup is an application that runs on any iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch or Android phone that is connected to the internet. It lets you scan a credit card with the free Squareup credit card reader, then submit the payment online. You get a response if the credit card was accepted, the customer will get a receipt via email, and in a few days, the payment will be deposited into your bank account.

I can think of a dozen ways you could use Squareup. For example, you could take print orders from guests during a wedding reception, an event, or while shooting families in the church for portrait directories.

Here’s what you need to get started:

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I have a friend who owns a flower shop. She tells a story about Aunt Pinky, a dozen roses and Valentine’s Day. I call it the customer service paradox. I’d like to share it with you.

Every Valentine’s Day, my friend would hire her Aunt Pinky to wait on customers. Pinky was a widow on a fixed income, so she appreciated making a few extra dollars. The job was pretty easy. Guys would line up at the front door to buy roses on their way home from work. Going home empty-handed was not an option, so selling them a dozen roses was a little bit like shooting fish in a barrel.

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One of my pet peeves is answering the same question twice. For example, I hate registering for a hotel online, then getting asked the same questions when I arrive. If it is so important to ask for my address the first time, why don’t they keep it?

Now I’m sure that the hotel’s online team told them they needed to collect my address for marketing, and the reservation desk folks needed it for billing. Two reasonable management decisions, but evidently no one ever actually registered at their own hotel to learn how frustrating it was for customers like me.

The same thing happens in our businesses every day. We make logical business decisions that seem perfectly normal to us, but are frustrating to our customers. For example, how many of us ask for a phone number on our website contact form, and ask again when we write the contract?

So how could you discover these frustration points your customers face when doing business with you?

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A potential huge client will be in the studio in the next few minutes. If all goes well, this could be your biggest sale of the year. It could put your studio in the black again. The importance of the job begins to make you perspire a little bit, and your mind begins to race around the studio looking for things to tidy up.

So with 15 minutes until the client arrives, how should you spend your time?

According to Sian Beilock in her new book Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To, panic under pressure happens to everyone. One of the secrets is to not feed the panic with negative thoughts about bad possible outcomes (the client is really broke, they don’t like your work, etc.).

So how can you apply this to your business?

I suggest you make a scrap album of all your best work, the stuff you’re most proud of. The album isn’t for anyone else but you. Fifteen to thirty minutes before the client arrives, look at each page in the album. Pause and remember the pride and accomplishment you felt when you took that image. Focus you on accomplishments, not worries.

Once you’ve settled down, walk though the entire sale in your mind. Imagine the feeling of confidence as you tell your story, handle any objections, and close the sale. Imagine always saying the right thing, and being proud of how well you will serve your new customer.

Then when the big client arrives, put the book away, and go meet them. You’ll be ready.

One of the stories I’ve been following lately is professional photographers who sell portrait sessions via online coupon sites like Groupon. While this service could be a great opportunity if designed and marketed correctly, it could also hurt your business.

If you are not familiar with online coupon sites, they way they work is this:

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JD is proud to have partnered with Kirk Russell at 3lenses.com to help bring you a whole new level of marketing knowledge for your business. Kirk is known throughout the industry as a photography marketing expert, and can help you take your studio to the next level.

To make it easier to find all Kirk’s resources, we’ve opened a new website jdphotoimaging.3lenses.com. Here you can find:

• Recordings of Kirk’s Webinars including Weddings, Families, Dance & Pre school, Seniors and Sports. Each hour-long webinar is packed with action-items you can use in your studio to help you be more profitable.

• Free marketing Evaluation. Kirk will schedule a private phone interview with you to review your business and help you set new goals.

• Inspiration. A collection of Kirk’s articles designed to inspire you to take your business to the next level.

• Tips, Techniques and Templates. A collection of useful scripts and templates you can use in your business.

To get started, go to jdphotoimaging.3lenses.com and register. Registration is FREE for JD customers only.

Once you’re registered, check back often. Kirk will be regularly adding new materials to the website, and you don’t want to miss any of them.

Paul Pannone at eWedNews.com reports that the number of part-time wedding photographers is growing as customers become more cost conscious.

If you are a full-time, professional wedding photographer, this is obvious – and perhaps even frustrating – to you. That is why I was so impressed with Kirk Russell’s article below about how our attitudes can help or hurt our success.

In my opinion, the new crop of part-timers can only hurt your business if you let them. Here’s why.

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by Kirk Russell, 3Lenses.com

I often hear from financially struggling photographers who, when asked to explain a loss of business, offer: “It’s so easy for new people to get into the business today. And they don’t have to be good photographers, because they can rely on Photoshop to fix their images.” Is this really IT?

But what about…

• The cost of equipment, props, and backgrounds is so much less than it used to be. Really? Is future success dependant on keeping the cost of entry into the industry too high for others?

• “Soccer moms” entering the industry can afford to spend hours, or days, manipulating images before their clients see them. Really? How long could you stay in business doing that?

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Here is a question from a professional photographer that passed across my desk recently.

I have a client that is so thrilled with all her daughters senior pictures, and has requested digital files…. I will not release the original files, but I am considering selling the web files with my business logo on them… Is this something I should do, and if so what should I charge?

First, I suspect the photographer doesn’t know what the customer plans to do with the files. If the the daughter wants a thumbnail-sized image to use on Facebook, make it a lagniappe and give it to her as a gift. If Mom wants to make prints at the local BigBoxStore, that is another matter.

The bigger point is, the photographer has not properly prepared for the question, nor do they know what their time is worth. If it takes a studio an hour to resize, logo, burn and ship a CD of images, and their burdened rate is $50/hour, then they should charge at least $125.

Help me help this photographer. What is your opinion? Do you offer digital files? What are you charging?

An article in the recent edition of Entrepreneur Magazine makes the argument that you can run a successful family business from home. If you have a home studio, it has some great tips for success.

While I don’t have any statistics to back it up, my guess is that we have equal numbers of professional photographers who work from home and have a separate studio. Both have their advantages: a home studio is a great way to get started, it keeps expenses low, and it allows parents to spend more time with their children. A separate studio has the advantage of seeming more “professional” to clients, and it forces you to divide your time between your work and your family.

But there is a hidden benefit to a home studio you may not realize.

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