I'm looking for good, not too expensive studio management software, geared toward portrait photography, including weddings or other events. I'm in the middle of researching this, but I think opinions of other people's experience matter a lot, and go a long way to helping avoid big whopper mistakes.
It looks like one of the best out there is "Successware" but I find it ridiculously expensive, at about $1500 to purchase, or you can "lease" it for about $50 a month. Either option is out of the question, especially for someone like me trying to get more established. I have only so many resources to get a business going, but I don't want to lose my shirt in the process. About the only overpriced piece of software that I own and can justify for now is Photoshop. I don't know why so much "help" out there for photographers, in the way of equipment, software, advice, or marking, is so terribly expensive and vastly overpriced. (at least the advice is free here, from big-hearted people).
I heard a statistic the other day, that 96% of all photographers are making only 26% of the money, which of course means that only 4% of photographers are making 74% of the money in photography. If it were so easy to get rich in this business, I guess there would be more millionaire photographers. I think most of them get rich not doing ONLY photography (unless you have big contracts from multinational companies) but rather, selling junk to the rest of us suckers out there. People like Gary Fong come to mind, but there are a lot of huksters out there. Not to denigrate Gary Fong, I guess he's a nice enough guy, but what business solutions exist for average people who don't have $100,000 to invest in a business?
Anyway, I've digressed a bit too much, but I'm still wondering what software might be ideal for a photo studio--it doesn't have to be "the best" but it would be nice if it is "good enough" without having overblown features, and "easy to use." Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.