At what point in your growth did you realize that you needed to join? Did something happen that made you realize you needed to join?

Thanks.

when i started shooting weddings on my own (about two years ago)

i'm not one to wait for something to happen to make me take action... and i'm really glad about that now since a recent shitty client situation in which i actually utilized PPA's included legal services.

a PPA membership is incredibly valuable, I cannot stress that enough!

about 8 years ago, great resource.

Adam joined about a year before we started our business, when he was primarily doing freelance graphic/web design. He had started doing a little bit of photography occasionally for his graphics freelance jobs and joined at that time. I think the beginning of starting your business is the best time.

I joined within the first few months of starting my business.

I had a bride contact me one day asking to match a price of a photographer advertising on craigslist. Out of curiosity I went to his site and he was using pictures off of other photographers websites. I called up the original photograher who called the PPA, and his site was quickly shut down.

I realized membership has it's privileges.

2003. Long before I really needed it because I didn't go out on my own until 2005.... so, I was REALLY covered.

I joined in the beginning as well. They have an "aspiring" membership you can do for the first two years that is cheaper, so there really is no reason to NOT join.

Just joined myself at the associates level. Thought I'd check it out. So far it seems like a great deal especially at this price point. We'll see where I go in 2 years, if I feel it's still worth it or I need it more?

Way better to join PPA than WPPI, in my opinion. You get much more for your money.

In 1994 when I started asking successful photographers advice on this business. Join GPPA and PPA was the standard answer, with good reasons.