Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 31 Business is booming

   "Ring bell bell ring..." The phone rang again, Ronald picked it up, and by the way gave a demonstration to the neighbor Miss Weber,

   "This is Ronald's portrait photography studio, may I ask you... ok, I've written down your name and phone number, your appointment time is 02:30 pm.

   "Look, it's very simple." Ronald looked at the neighbor girl, the temporary operator today.

   "Ring, ringing, ringing..." The phone rang again after a few seconds. Ronald:

   "This is Ronald's photography studio, may I ask you... ok, your appointment time..."

   "Ring, ringing, ringing..." The phone that had just been put back rang again,

   "This is Ronald, may I ask you..., tomorrow afternoon, can..."

   "Ring bell ring bell......"

   "Cough cough..., please say"

   "This is Ronald's portrait photography, do you want to make an appointment to shoot?" Fortunately, Miss Weber took over immediately.

  From 10 am, Ronald's phone started ringing non-stop, and the book for recording appointments became longer and longer. Appointments soon filled up for photo shoots, and Ronald had to make arrangements for the evening.

  There were so many people that there was no place to change clothes and wait, and it was a mess with the comments of the customers.

   There were more people in the afternoon than in the morning, and the filming was delayed until 8 pm. Ronald felt that the momentum was not right, and the effect of the advertisement greatly exceeded his expectations. Today is Christmas, and there will be more people tomorrow. If you don't improve, your reputation will collapse.

After thinking about    at home for a long time, Ronald decided to expand his business immediately, took out a pen and paper, and started planning.

  First, he found his neighbor, Mrs. Weber, and Ronald immediately raised his daughter's daily salary from $5 to $20 a day. A little more rent was paid to Mrs. Webb, who asked her to temporarily take out the living room and bedroom of her apartment as a waiting room and dressing room for the portrait studio.

   In the next few days, Miss Weber was upgraded from operator to secretary, responsible for making reservations and recording the number of shootings every day, and issuing numbers to each customer. Arrange customers to line up next door, put on makeup, and call the number.

  Her mother, Mrs. Weber, also hired by Ronald, was responsible for filing each customer's film, twice a day, to the Kodak lab, where the prints were retrieved.

  In order to prevent mistakes, Ronald also bought a Polaroid one-shot imaging camera to take pictures of customers for Mrs. Weber to use with the film to archive in case of mistake.

  Ronald has stopped taking outside filming business and only shoots in his apartment. After taking portraits every day, after printing, file them at night, and send them to customers the next day.

  Working non-stop morning and night, Ronald has earned more than $14,000 after a week off. After taking into account the employment of Mrs. Weber and her daughter, the cost of film and the cost of printing, the net profit was more than 12,000.

   Looking at the cash in the drawer, Ronald counted it one by one again, the real green notes he earned.

The   star endorsement strategy was so successful that as soon as customers saw the two beauties audition photos, they would have a fantasy, as if I could take such photos too.

  This is because the customers Ronald attracts are mainly young people in their 1899s and early 20s, and women account for more than 80%. Most of them have never appeared in film and television dramas.

   They are similar to the two dancing beauties of "Rock High School". They are at the age where I am the most powerful in the world, and I am full of dreams for the future, and my mind is full of thoughts of "I will succeed, just a photo is needed".

With good audition photos, they can become the next Olivia Newton John (starring in "Grease"), dance on screen with John Travolta, and become the idols of thousands of boys .

  Ronald took advantage of his experience with the crew during this period of time, and explained to them the role of the audition photo, the shooting method, and a few more gossips in a few words.

   then pointed them to audition photos of Demi Moore and Natasha Kinski, and casually mentioned that director Roman Polanski had picked them both, and customers couldn’t wait to pay to take pictures.

  Ronald did not say that it was because of the audition photos he took that impressed the director Little Shorty, which were all imagined by the customers themselves.

   He even made a lot of money with the nearby Kodak printing shop. The manager was surprised and asked tentatively if he wanted to send someone to serve him, and wanted to eat him, a big customer with stable business.

   Ronald's advertisement was done in the right way, and it was blessed by Demi Moore's invincible beauty. This wave of people during the holiday was beyond his expectations. The business seems to be doing well.

   Ordinarily, if Ronald's purpose is only to make money and find a career, then this start is very good.

   Next, you should register the company, rent the space, hire people, and then sign a contract with the Kodak printing shop to ensure the time and quality of the printing. When the business stabilizes, you can start recruiting photography assistants and expand the scale step by step.

   Then try higher-level photography business, such as shooting the cover of fashion magazines, and shooting models for print advertisements.

   But Ronald's ideal is to be a film director and do something real. Portrait photographers, at their best, are not as influential as budding film directors. After all, the size of the audience for the work, the amount of money earned, and the satisfaction you get are not on the same level.

   Is it taking advantage of this wave of popularity to do another advertisement? In a short period of time, I made the most of the money I could earn, at least 4 years of tuition and the money for making a graduation short film.

   Ronald hesitated.

   The continuous flow of people in the apartment has aroused the curiosity of many people. Ronald felt that if this continued, it would attract the attention of the IRS and send someone to check the account.

   In addition, Ronald is also worried that there will be robbery. Venice is relatively safe, but it is not without people from other communities wandering.

  There is too much cash at one time, and I am afraid of being coveted by others, and I am afraid of being targeted by the IRS. Ronald inquired when he was taking pictures in Staten Island, and now the tax rate of individual freelancers is high, and the annual income of more than $400 through photography is taxed.

   In addition to the tax filing season in April each year, freelancers also need to estimate the tax amount for the next quarter and prepay the income tax for the next quarter in advance.

  California state taxes are also not friendly to freelancers. In short, in addition to the high tax rate, the tax payment procedures are still very cumbersome. Paying a few dollars less and paying a few days late will lead to a large fine from the IRS.

  Everyone avoids it if they can, so that small businessmen and freelancers try to use cash to trade as much as possible, so as not to let the IRS get caught. But the IRS will also conduct unannounced checks based on reports, or clues on the news.

  Cash transactions can avoid taxes, but keeping so much money at home is not safe.

  If the one-time cash deposit is too high, the bank will be vigilant and report to the IRS.

   If there is a senior you know well, you can ask for this kind of thing.

   Ronald simply called Aunt Karen, congratulated Aunt Karen, and asked her how to deal with this kind of thing.

   Ronald said that he was a part-time portrait photographer and made a fortune, but he didn’t know whether to continue his business to earn tuition, or continue working in a company to gain experience.

  Aunt Karen comforted him by saying, don't be afraid, God will guide him:

"If you don't have an answer, then go with your intuition, which is God's direction for you. Every time you set your direction intuitively, it will be smooth sailing. If you don't follow God's direction, you think about it, back and forth, often There will be setbacks.”

   After a typical bowl of American Chicken Soup, Ronald decides to...listen to Aunt Karen.

  I am indeed hesitant about the idea of ​​expanding my business, and I may not want to continue subconsciously, so I simply proceed with caution.

  Ronald made another trip to the Los Angeles Times advertising agency, where he posted another closure notice. From now on, we will only take orders recommended by regular customers on weekends to avoid attracting thieves and the IRS.

  Then broke it into pieces, went to the post office and Western Union, and bought some cashier's checks (MoneyOrder) for $300-500. This kind of promissory note is purchased in cash, which is more reliable than a check and will not bounce.

   So it has a good reputation and can be cashed at any time in major department stores and supermarkets.

   Divide the remaining cash and promissory note into two parts, one to carry with him and one to hide in a plastic bag in the refrigerator, so Ronald felt a little relieved.

   He intends to spread it out in different time periods, one after another, go to the bank every one or two weeks, save a little money into the bank account, and fly low-key and stick to the ground, avoiding the radar of the IRS.

   After doing these things, Ronald's thoughts became clearer. The current business volume is undoubtedly brought about by holidays and advertisements. After the holidays are over, if we do not continue to advertise, we cannot maintain this kind of passenger flow.

   Instead of reluctantly expanding the business, it is better to close down and return to a semi-underground state. After all, it is still uncertain where to go to school in half a year. If you go to New York, it will be very troublesome to deal with business here.

   Afraid of scaring Aunt Karen, this time Ronald only sent $500 home, and when he returned to New York, he would give her a little more money to make her life easier.

   The Christmas and New Year holidays passed in a blink of an eye, and it was time for Ronald to go to New World Productions as an editorial assistant.

   (end of this chapter)