I'm just curious what the going rate is for an employee. Ex. The girls who work with me don't take any of the portraits but they do editing, retouching, get slideshows together, post stuff to my blogg and send orders to the lab.

Do you have similar assistants and if so what exactly do they do for you, how much do you pay them, and how long have they been working for you to get paid that. Thanks in advance for the help!!!

I have someone come here only 1 day a week. She lives by my lab, so she picks up my orders and sorts them at home. Then, one day a week she comes and does all my ordering, slideshows, and online proofing. She usually puts in about 8-10 hours a week. I pay $9 an hour.

I think the pay will very greatly depending on where you live and the what the cost of living is in your area.

I have a friend photographer who has two girls working part time. One works about 15 hours a week, and the other 20-25. One girl asnswers phones, helps customers place orders, sorts orders, office works... I think she pays her 8 or 9 dollars an hour. The other girl does the computer work, editing images and sending them to the lab. She gets $12 an hour.

Thanks for the info!

So what size towns are you in so I can compare that to where I am.

Are these girls totally trained where they do not need your help anymore or are they paid that and still require some of your time to look over what they have done etc.

About how many sessions does she process in those 15 hours?

Also....do you pay their taxes on top of that pay or are these girls considered independant contractors and paid the straight $9/$12 and they have to pay their taxes out of that.

If they come into your place of business (or your home) and do the work you tell them to do with the materials you provide, they are EMPLOYEES andyou are required by law to take out taxes and pay SS on their income. This is not something you want to mess around with - the IRS will penalize you 7 ways from Sunday for not doing so if they find out (and they will find out eventually).

The IRS has *very* strict rules for what constitutes a contract worker vs. an employee.

Karen

Let's start with my friend.... The two girls that work for her are trained. She had to train the office girl herself, but she has been working there over a year now, so she is self sufficient. The girl who does the computer work had the computer knowledge before she was hired. She works part time for my friend, and part time for a Lab. They had to come up with a game plan on workflow and how things work. My friend usually has between 15 and 25 sessions a week, with it being a little slower Jan-April. 25 is about her Max during peak color week for the leaves. As far as I know, the girl who does her editing, gets all of these ready for proofing. If she can't quite do it all, my friend will step in a edit a few sessions. She does not to too much PS to the proofs though, and processes them further once the image is ordered. The PS girl takes care of all the PS work once the images are ordered. My friend does pay their taxes, but no insurance since they are part time. She worked out all the tax stuff with her accountant.

Now, on to my situation... the girl who works for me is contracted. I file a 1099 for her at the end of the year. (And yes, I did talk to my accountant about this.) I did this with some one different last year. She only started with me in July, and only helps me when I need her. She had a week off here and there when I wasn't as busy. She will probably be done soon, as I am getting into slow season. If she is available for contracting next season, I will have her back. If not, I will probably find someone else. I did have to train her, but now she almost can do anything without me. Every once in a while she gets stuck on something and has to ask me. If I am not here, she will call me on the phone and I will talk her throught it.

I live in Grand Rapids, MI. I think I read here that the AVERAGE sallery for my county is about $48,000. Starter houses are around $110,000 - 130,000 and nice family houses are around $200,000 average. Of course there are neighborhoods that are way above that!

Hope this info helped!

Thanks for the heads up. My girls do not work at my home. That is why I was curious what their set up was so I knew if I needed to take into consideration and add more $$ since my girls would have to pay their own taxes out of what they made.So is $9 average for someone who does what my girls do. Also...how much would you add to that $9 to accomodate them for paying their own taxes so they still made that base of $9?KimWay helpful info.!! Thanks. fyi...I spoke with my accountant too b/c in the beginning one of my girls came here to work but it was on her own schedule and only when needed etc. My accountact said that would be considered an independant contractor too.