I did pet photos with santa, worked alone, and did the typical one shot and sold them for more than you're asking, a portion of the proceeds benefited the local humane society.
a good number of people showed up and spent just because of the charity aspect.
Year 1 I worked alone, had limited items to sell and averages $24/person
Year 2 I had an assistant/sales man. We added products as we went along (mostly framing). Christmas card sales were hot - and we charged more than JC penney/sears/target/walmart. This year we have higher end cards and they'll sell for like $5 EACH and I bet we sell a ton.
Anyway we let the client pick the poses - at first via printed proofing a few days later and then we got a laptop to bring to show the proofs - sales averaged $65/person.
You need an assistant. You need to raise your prices - pet people have money! $7 at a minimum for a 5x7 (and give 10% to the charity). Get hooked up IMMEDIATELY with a pro lab (profilmet, tpiphoto, H&H color lab, WHCC, or any of 100 others) - then you sell UNITS - a unit being an 8x10 sheet - 4 4x5s, 2 5x7s, 8 wallets, or an 8x10 are each one unit. Some labs offer 2 4x5s and 4 wallets as a unit, etc.
Offer magnets, calendars (some are simply 8x10's with a photo and calendar), coffee mugs (TPI has nice ceramic ones), Tshirts (again, TPI), puzzles, mouse pads and more.
YOU ARE NOT WALMART!!! So don't price yourself at walmart prices. Pick JCPenney and add 10-20% - custom work, convenience of you being there, etc. Have confidence in your work!!!
charge postage ($2.95 or 3.95) and mail the prints and products out to them. when they don't have to worry about picking it up (and tell them the gas to drive costs more than the postage)
If you don't take credit cards you need to do so IMMEDIATELY. Paypal has the ability via a merchant account (free) and Virtual Terminal ($20/month). No machine to buy, can be turned off eastly enough and you can take visa/MC/Amex and discover. MANY people buy with credit cards/check cards, and will buy on average 20% more - and you don't have to make change, take as many checks, etc.
100 people at $5 per, less the costs of the prints, labels/envelopes, postage, etc....you might net $350
Offer packages instead of prints and some other products and you can average even $15/net a person you make $1,500.
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