Pastor Rodrigo Cisternas is studying at his church in Santiago, Chile. [NIKON Z 6, VR Zoom 24-105mm f/4G IF-ED, Mode = Aperture Priority, ISO 5600, 1/100, ƒ/5.6, (35mm = 68)]

This past June, I was working in Santiago, Chile. I was helping lead a workshop of storytellers. I was focused on those stories and had no idea about the kettle ready to explode.

On October 14th of this year, the protests in Santiago started.

Chile’s most diehard protesters may be young, but their grievances possess a long lineage, one decade in the making. Back in 2007, the government made it possible for more to get loans to go to college.

The problem is that many who graduated have massive student loan debts and lousy, low-paid jobs. The issue that is very evident today is a significant inequality gap that education didn’t help solve.

I fear what is happening in Chile can happen here in the USA.

In Chile, privatizing health care and education has led to more choices and greater access, but it also left the poor and middle class saddled with mounting debt. Chile’s cost of living has become increasingly expensive while wages have remained low.

The more you read about the unrest, the more you can see their storyline in ours.

George Washington’s chair for the Federal Conventions had a sun on it. James Madison reported Benjamin Franklin saying, “I have often looked at that behind the president without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now I… know that it is a rising…sun.”

There is a scripture that says something similar about unrest.

Deuteronomy 28:67

“In the morning you shall say, ‘Would that it were evening!’ And at evening you shall say, ‘Would that it were morning!’ because of the dread of your heart which you dread, and for the sight of your eyes which you will see.”

This week we need to remind ourselves of how blessed we are even amid unrest.

First Thanksgiving

At the first Thanksgiving, colonists were likely outnumbered by more than two to one by their Native American guests. Colonist Edward Winslow writes: “many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men.”  The preceding winter had been a harsh one for the colonists. Seventy-eight percent of the women who had traveled on the Mayflower had perished that winter, leaving only around 50 colonists to attend the first Thanksgiving. According to eyewitness accounts, among the pilgrims, there were 22 men, just four women, and over 25 children and teenagers. 

Philippians 4:6

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

I believe the whole concept of hope is born out of those who seem to have much unrest.

Every Cloud has a Silver Lining

The phrase seems to be John Milton’s 1634 poem “Comus,” which includes the line, “Was I deceived? or did a sable cloud/Turn forth her silver lining on the night?”

“I have always found that actively loving
saves one from a morbid preoccupation
with the shortcomings of society.”

Alan Paton

This is the children’s ward of Hôpital Baptiste Biblique. As you can see the children are precious. You can see the parents taking care of their children while they are healing from their sickness.

Listen to Dr. Tom Kendall, Jr. talk about their needs.

“Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone.”

Fred Rogers

Last night my wife and I saw the movie staring Tom Hanks as Mister Rogers in “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”. That quote stood out to me.

As a storyteller I am often just wanting to mention often the unmentionable so that something can be done.

I was first moved in the hospital by the people and quickly was aware of how old the place looked. Don’t you think that 35 years is a long time before upgrading and refreshing a hospital?

Here is a link if you want to help support the hospital as they upgrade and expand to meet the physical and spiritual needs of Togo.

Women cook for their family members who are patients at Hôpital Baptiste Biblique, located in Tsiko, Togo, West Africa.
[NIKON Z 6, Sigma 24.0-105.0 mm f/4.0, Mode = Aperture Priority, ISO 5000, 1/200, ƒ/4, (35mm = 52)]

I went to West Africa to help tell the story of Hôpital Baptiste Biblique, located in Tsiko, Togo. Built in 1985, they are in desperate need of infrastructure upgrades and need expansion. Today I want to share what they have to develop for the patients and families.

You see, there is no hotel in the area or restaurants. When patients come to the hospital, they need a place to stay, cook and take care of their family members.

When you go to the Hospital here, you get your mother’s cooking or a relative’s cooking because the hospital takes care of the medical care, and the family takes care of laundry, food, and things like bathing the patient.

The first thing that they are doing is adding more space for the patients and their families by creating a hotel with traditional outside kitchens.

They first build four new hotel wings in their renewal and expansion project. They had to do a better job of taking care of the community and putting them first.

Besides adding hotel rooms, they have had to build sewage and an electrical system. They cannot tie into the existing grids because they don’t exist for sewage, and running a hospital where the town’s power goes out almost daily isn’t realistic. They have a generator and system that kicks in when the local power goes out.

When I was there, it went out 2 to 3 times a day, and the generator kicked on after 7 seconds.

It won’t be long before the patients move from this older hotel to the new, improved version.

Here is a link if you want to help support the hospital as they upgrade and expand to meet Togo’s physical and spiritual needs.

The photo above: Mother and her little boy carried in kitenge. They are staying here at the Hôpital Baptiste Biblique in Tsiko, Togo, West Africa.

African Time is when one says they will arrive at a particular time but come much later.

It should be noted that almost every African (on both the leaving and receiving end) does this. So, if one does arrive on “American time,” don’t be surprised if a party is still getting set up, a person is still getting ready, etc.

Most all my frustrations with Africa were from my not allowing for myself to adjust to the way we do things in Africa or as the old saying goes, “When in Rome do as the Romans do.”

How this impacts Humanitarian Storytelling

In the United States, if you plan a project, you email, text, and call people and plan. You put together a schedule so you can make the most of your time when you arrive.

On all my trips to Africa [Burkina Faso, Ghana & Togo], the team I worked with did everything to work with Americans who lived there to plan our itinerary. This last trip reminded me of African Time. Had I been fully aware, I would have designed to take two weeks to accomplish what I usually can achieve in one week in the states.

Now Africa isn’t the only place like this, but for Americans who are punctual and like to have a packed and productive schedule, you might find yourself like me, with little hair left.

Most likely, the host in Africa you will work with is more than willing to help you and will start when you arrive.

I planned trips for a few months with a writer when we went to Burkina Faso.

This is a photo from that meeting where the writer reviewed the plans. This was when they said what possible the next day was. Looking back, I should have noted that this is a common way and not the exception for storytelling coverage by media specialists when they come from another country to Africa.

I arrived in Lome, Togo, on Friday night. They don’t drive in the country on the roads at night because it is just too dangerous. You can hit an animal, and getting help wouldn’t be until daylight.

I stayed at a hotel in Lome with the plans that we had worked on to leave the following day to drive and arrive to meet with a team that afternoon to plan.

Well, I found out at the airport the night before that they had to wait and pick up more people later that afternoon. No communication to me or the rest of the team that this was happening.

In Africa, this is “normal” behavior, whereas, in the USA, we would check with the guests before making plans for them without involving them in the process.

It took us four days to locate Faro Faro Agoda, one of our subjects, for the story. I didn’t know until he arrived that he had driven almost 4 hours to make it for our video interview.

In the area of Africa where I went, there are over 43 languages. This impacted everything you do. While you think you are clear and the person you are talking to might understand, by the time your thoughts are translated through who knows how many different languages, the message can become quite different to the intended audience.

In the movie The Wizard of Oz, in which Dorothy, upon arriving in Oz, says, “Toto, I have a feeling we‘re not in Kansas anymore.” This is how one often feels when they forget there is a cultural difference to working in another country.

Preplanning

You can still make plans before going to Africa. They will tell you a good time to come and can tell you most of the time if the people you need for the project will be in the country. As always in life, you still need to be flexible for those things outside your host’s control. Accidents can happen, and even family crises take people away.

You can still communicate your plans for the project and get as much as a possible agreement before you go.

I would suggest making most of your time to get the people to agree to a schedule before buying your airfare and booking your hotels. You can find out this way if they tell you everyone is OK with the program.

Boots on the Ground

When you arrive, you must have planned your first meeting to go over everything you have been planning in person.

From my experience, everything you are used to doing in the States will take twice as long or longer to do in Africa. This is the culture; you must learn to work with it and not fight it.

Bottom Line

With Humanitarian work, you are often in a different country and working with a different culture. You must learn to be flexible and able to go with the flow.

It would help if you still got the storyline no matter where you are to tell a story. Continue to be persistent and ask for what you need. Just give them time to respond.

Disclaimer: I am not getting any money from TripLog and I am not affiliated with them at all.

So you need to get the most out of the tax deduction by tracking your mileage. The IRS lets you deduct some of the costs of using a personal vehicle for business purposes. Like you can remove the cost of business expenses such as marketing, you can also deduct your business mileage.

58 cents

Beginning January 1, 2019, the standard mileage rates for using a car (vans, pickups, or panel trucks) will be 58 cents per mile for business miles driven, up from 54.5 cents in 2018. Twenty cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes, up from 18 cents for 2018. [update 62.5 cents starting July 1, 2022]

Commuting from your home to your regular workplace and back is not deductible every day. You may deduct business mileage only if you travel to and from a temporary work location, from one work location to another, to meet with a client, to a conference, etc.

Yes, you can deduct the mileage. As an independent contractor (received a 1099-MISC), you are considered self-employed by the IRS. … You can remove the miles driven for business. The other option is claiming all your expenses such as gas, tires, interest, etc.

I live in the Metro-Atlanta area, and on average, the round trip to a job is about 40 to 100 miles. That means I write off my taxes from $23.20 to $58.

You can use a notepad and write down all your mileage, fill-ups, repairs, and auto expenses and then spend some time adding things into those categories that you want to use for deductions at the end of the year on your taxes.

I have found after doing this for more than 35 years that having an APP is so much easier.

I like that this app can be customized. TripLog has three auto-start options and also a manual start for each trip.

You can use your phone’s GPS with the app to track your trips.

They even created a device you plug into the car’s USB, which will pair with the phone so that you are not using data to track your trips.

Here is the video of how that works:

I use my one account on both of our vehicles. My wife tracks her mileage with her Toyota Camry, and I follow the Toyota Sienna.

Keeping a mileage log

The IRS tends to be strict in its documentation requirements for business mileage deductions. For this reason, you’ll need to keep a thorough, accurate mileage log each year you attempt to claim a deduction.

Your mileage log must include the starting mileage on your vehicle’s odometer at the beginning of the year and its ending mileage after the year. Each time you use your car for business purposes, you must record the following information:

• The date of your trip
• Your starting point
• Your destination
• The purpose of your trip
• Your vehicle’s starting mileage
• Your vehicle’s ending mileage
• Tolls or other trip-related costs

You can keep a mileage log in a notebook and update it by hand or use a spreadsheet to track your mileage continuously. You can also use a mileage-tracking app. The key is to update your records regularly to ensure they’re precise. Additionally, the IRS requires you to keep your mileage log for three years from the date you file the income tax return containing your deduction.

I recommend using an App to help you capture the data you need for reporting purposes.

Some of the most successful restaurants are those with the simplest of menus.

In-N-Out Burger

The menu is a prime example of In-N-Out’s intense focus on simplicity to maximize quality and minimize expenses.  Items on the menu are mainly unchanged from the original restaurant stand and exhibit a rare marriage of quality and affordability:

• 3 Burger Choices: Hamburger, Cheeseburger, Double Double (most expensive at $3.40*)
• French Fries
• Beverages: Soda (4 sizes), Shakes (3 flavors), Coffee, Milk

Since its inception, In-N-Out Burger has enjoyed tremendous success, growing annual sales to approximately $400mm per analyst estimates and consistently earning a #1 ranking in the fast food burger chain segment, ahead of competitors such as Wendy’s, Five Guys’ and Fuddruckers. 

While you may have created a very complex spreadsheet to figure out your pricing, don’t show this to a client. Please don’t abandon it either. It would help if you had this to help you in the future as costs change to figure your pricing.

After you do a job, you may want to return to that spreadsheet and adjust the numbers.

Keep Menu in Mind

Just like in photography, you keep things simple for design purposes; this holds for your estimate and pricing. Restaurant patrons aren’t looking to be overwhelmed when it comes to reading a menu. A clean, straightforward design will convert better than a list of options or large chunks of expository text. A visually pleasing design effectively uses white space and naturally guides the eye to essential menu items.

Your customers are the same. Please keep it simple.

Ditch the dollar signs

Pricing shouldn’t be the center of attention. One way to downplay price is to remove any associated dollar signs, which tend to elicit a negative emotional response. You want them to concentrate on the content, not the price. 

Don’t line up the prices

A list of prices aligned to the left or right is easily scannable, which could encourage people to choose lower-priced items out of habit. Mixing up pricing placement throughout the estimate will minimize decisions based on price comparisons.

Use simple, descriptive language

Avoid industry jargon or long sections of text that will confuse people. Yes, more and more people consider themselves experts, but the simple, descriptive language in the item’s title will attract more sales. 

A photographer wrote me and asked for advice on quoting a nonprofit. Here is my advice for them. Now there was a list of specifics, but I wanted to get to the pricing strategy rather than giving them a quote I would do. You see, each person has different costs. This is due to where they live, what lifestyle they want to maintain, and the cost of their gear are just a few things that influence one’s price.

BACKGROUND

I believe first you need to have your pricing for “Normal Jobs” and then for those you consider a “Charity Job.” Charity is something that you deem that you want to donate your time to. You may want to give everything for free to an organization. That is up to you. Once you embrace discounting your price for an organization, you will also have to be sure you have enough “Normal Jobs,” or this will not be sustainable.

What I am communicating here is not what you speak to the client. This is for you to understand while you price something for them.

Once you have figured out your pricing thought process, you then create packages—the price and what they are getting and not how you arrived at that price.

PRODUCTION FEES

Normal Job Price = 100% for time

Charity Job Price = 60 – 70% for time

Hard costs to you I would pass along at 100% to a “Charity Job.” Charity means the organization you consider a charity to which you want to give your time. Regarding IRS, you cannot write off your time to a charity.

I suggest creating your “Normal Estimate” and then giving a discount. This way, you are communicating your standard rates and letting this organization know you are giving them a HUGE DISCOUNT.

I think a rate of about $600 to $800 a day for your time for a nonprofit is where many I know are charging these days [This is what many of my circle of friends have told me and my personal experience]. Most photographers capture $1600 to $4000 daily for their time for regular jobs.

Most in the industry will charge 50% of their rate for a travel day. That is a day that you do no work at all. If you show up and shoot for an hour after traveling most of the day, that is a shooting day, not a travel day.

POST PRODUCTION

Don’t forget to charge for the post-production. Many organizations will abuse you with having multiple revisions. Making them pay for this will make them responsible.

By the way, be sure in all your correspondence that you communicate you are charging for revisions. You can have priced 1 or 2 edits in the package, but let them know when the additional modifications are happening.

Quote your shooting fee, post-production fee, and expenses in your estimate. Be sure you spell out what it includes. Just like McDonald’s does for what is included in a sandwich. If a video is expected, describe how long it is and how many revisions it includes.

I would give a range of finished and edited photos for your photography.

START WITH PHONE CALL

Always start with a conversation. In-person or by phone is the best way to start. Ask them what their expectations are for the project and if they have a budget figure for the project. Sometimes they not only tell you their expectations clearly but also give you a price you are thrilled to work with. This rarely happens, but ALWAYS start with the idea they may know what they want and have a realistic budget for the project.

Your goal is to manage expectations. First, by being sure, they articulate what they want, and then you, in the end, tell them what you can provide to them. Do your best to underpromise and then over-deliver.

When you finish this conversation where you agree on what you can do for them, you will put it in writing to them. However, get some ballpark figures during that conversation to see if it is worth your time to go further. No need to spend all this time to put together a formal agreement in writing if they have no way of paying what you need to agree to go forward.

ESTIMATE

Give them three versions of an estimate. This is how you show them you are flexible and also help talk them into spending more on something they will genuinely enjoy and use.

Don’t line item things you used to come to your price. You don’t see McDonald’s selling their Big Mac with the time it took to make it and each piece listed. Imagine 2 – Beef patties, 10 minutes cooking, shipping costs to get the products, and so on. No, you don’t see that. They give information the public wants and a price. Price changes on where in the world you are buying it.

Bottom Price:
This will just give them what they barely need

Middle Price:
Add more deliverables to the package. More Photos, other videos, Blog posts, etc

Luxury Price:
Coffee table book of photos, Videos, More Photos Etc

The Sky Is the Limit:
Sometimes you can add a 4^th price for the client who could spend a lot if they wanted.

They most likely will go with the median price every time.

The Stanley Works was founded by Frederick T. Stanley, in 1843, originally a bolt and door hardware manufacturing company located in New Britain, Connecticut.

One of the most innovative things they did with the door hinges that helped them to outgrow their competition was to include screws in their packaging.

Clerks were taking time to find screws to fit competitors’ hinges.

Friction Free Economy

To succeed in the friction-free economy, long-established companies must form new and more fluid relationships with customers, workers, and owners. Those that don’t will either struggle to maintain market share or fail.

It is the intangible assets that businesses need to understand, measure, and exploit to succeed. These include intellectual property, brand value, human capital, and customer loyalty.

Friction Free Resource

You want to be a Friction Free Resource for your clients. You want not just to solve their problems but do so in a way that the experience is not a bumpy road but smooth.

Just like Stanley did in the 1850’s by just packaging screws with their hinges making it easier to go to the hardware store and leave in little time, you must think of ways to help your clients make things smooth.

What do you offer your clients like Stanley, who packaged screws for his clients?