No divas! Being beautiful does not make you special. It does not make you entitled to get paid simply because you are attractive. Beautiful people are a dime a dozen. If you wish to be successful in modeling, it takes a lot more than being good looking.

Having a good attitude, being professional, reliable, on time, serious about what you do, and being a pleasure to work with are factors that will help. Really want to help your career? Then be the type of person that leaves the people you work with with a positive impression that makes them want to say nice things to others about you.

Why isn't that professional photographer agreeing to work with you for free, or "ACK!", offering to pay you? Because after a lot of hard work, years of experience, and significant investment, he now makes a living from people who pay him for his services. He has paid his dues.

He knows his work and services are valuable and he has to ask himself why he would work with something who doesn't put any value on his services, when he can work with others who do.

There are thousands of beautiful people, just like you, who wish to get into modeling or who are doing so on an amateur level. Those who are serious about it and work hard at it are more likely to be successful than those who don't. You have to pay your dues like everyone else.

Additional Points:

I am not suggesting models should not be paid. I am suggesting that one should think about their expertise, experience level, and from whom they are expecting to get paid (and why).

There is a difference between getting paid by photographers who pay you out of there own pockets and getting paid by clients who hire you to perform a professional service.

Professional models get tear-sheets and tend to work for professional and reputable clients. These clients are usually very selective about the models, and the types of models they hire. They generally do not with models at random and they do not simply pick the first "pretty people" that come along.

Models who get paid out-of-pocket by photographers and then call themselves "professional models" is like someone who mows lawns during the summer calling themselves a "professional lawn mower".