5 Steps to Starting Your Photography Business
You're thinking about starting a photography business and you're feeling a little overwhelmed and wondering exactly where to start. I get it. I've been there. There's so much new stuff you have to learn and you can't even figure out where to begin. Your brain is on overload and you just want someone, anyone, to tell you where to start.
I hear you, I've got you, my friend. Today I'm going to talk about 5 steps to starting your photography business. This is just a small sample of things you need to factor in but what these steps will do is give you a place to start to see if your little dream is even feasible for you right now.
Now some of these points may scare you a little and all of them require you to do some work. Don't worry, I'm going to talk you through each one so you have a better idea of what it is and how to go about doing it.
I will say however, that if you don't put in the time to do these steps then you aren't really running a business but flying by the seat of your pants and hoping for the best. Which is not the best way to get you where you want. Some people have all the luck and this might work for them but for the majority of us poor suckers we need to put in the extra effort to make it work.
1. Business Plan
You need a business plan. To two ifs about it. You cannot get around this one. But don't stress! It doesn't have to this gargantuan document with legalese and mumbo jumbo speech that you don't understand, let alone think you can write. (ok, I lied. It will probably be a large document if you put the effort into it BUT it doesn't have to be a scary document, I promise)
At the core, a business plan is a living document that will help you to plan for your business and its growth, help you make decisions, make goals and stay accountable and give you a clear picture of how you want to run your business and what you need to do to make it sustainable.
Things to include could be:
Mission Statement
Target Market
Brand Guidelines
Marketing Strategy
Your Services
Pricing
Competitor SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Analysis
Don’t be afraid of all of these things. As I mentioned above, this is a living document.
Now, what did I mean by a 'living document'? This means that it isn't a piece of paper that you file away in Dropbox or Google Drive never to be seen again. You don't write it out on a piece of paper and then shove it in the back of your drawer.
This is a document that you need to refer back to periodically (I like to do it every month) to make sure that I'm staying on track with my plans and goals. I can also add more, change it and reassess it as I go if circumstances have changed. And I would encourage you to do the same.
2. Marketing Plan
Your marketing plan is essential for your business and it's growth. This is where you work out your marketing strategy for the year. Think of your marketing plan as the route to your destination. Your business plan lays out where you want to go and your marketing plan shows you how you will get there.
In this document you will lay out the foundations of your marketing for the year. What promotions you want to run, how you want to advertise, who you want to build partner relationships with, what your social media strategy is and how and when you need to implement each step.
For example, you know that you want to run Christmas mini sessions. In order for you to run these sessions and have the images and products back to your customers you need to hold them in the beginning of November so that all orders can be in at the lab by the end of November cut off dates. So, to get customers for your mini sessions you need to advertise Late September/early October to fill the spots by the end of October.
If you didn't have this laid out in a marketing plan, chances are that you'll be so busy working in your business that you'll probably forget that you need to have Christmas mini sessions until it is November.
Then you'll be left struggling to fill your spots and get your orders in before the lab cut of dates for Christmas delivery. You'll be overwhelmed and stressed, you probably won't fill all of your spots and you'll be so rushed that chances are your clients won't get the same experience they would have if you had planned ahead a little.
Your marketing plan not only ensures that your customers are receiving the best experience from you, it also ensures that you are never left scrambling at the last minute, desperately trying to fill spaces because you 'need' the money.
And it also means that you have a steady stream of income flowing into your business as you have strategies in place to always be bringing in clients and reaching out to past clients.
3. Cost of Doing Business (CODB)
This is just want it sounds like: doing the math! Arrrghhh! I know, I know. As creatives this is usually the most torturous part of owning and running a business. But I can assure you that if you don't get this part right you won't have to worry about running your business for long because you won't have one.
Sounds harsh, I know but the reality of this industry is that people come into it looking to get some quick cash with an 'easy' business and quickly burn themselves out and quit because they haven't worked out the numbers, end up severely undercharging and end up burning out because they can't keep up and it's not worth to them because they aren't making any money.
So don't skip this part! It's extremely important!
Your CODB is not to be confused with your COGS (cost of goods sold), which is different and I'll be speaking about that next. Your CODB is all of your expenses related to running your business.
Expenses such as:
Business and liability insurance
Domain and website hosting
Tax
Superannuation
Retirement savings
Monthly subscriptions: Photoshop & Lightroom, photo gallery hosting, social media scheduler
Internet
Electricity
Office supplies
Marketing
Rent (if you have a studio)
Gear replacement
Gear maintenance
Product samples
Accountant
And this is just a small sampling. there can be many more and you need to factor these into your costs otherwise you will be pricing yourself out of business rather than in business if you don't.
4. Cost Of Goods Sold (COGS)
More maths. I promise that this is the last little bit for now. The Cost of Goods Sold are the costs associated with the products and services you sell. Sell a framed 20 x30" for $800? How much did that cost you to produce?
You need to take into consideration not just the physical cost of the product from the supplier, but the cost for freight, the amount of time it takes you to prepare and order the product, the time it takes to check the order and package it for your client, whether are you hand delivering it or shipping it to them and the costs for both ie the freight charge to ship to your clients or the cost of time and petrol to hand deliver it.
See how many factors can go into one product? And you'll have to factor these costs in for all of your products.
One of the best ways to work this out is to determine your hourly wage, then figure out how long it takes you to do each step, then add the cost of the product & freight.
It's ok if you're just starting out and you aren't sure. Just estimate, you can always go back and readjust later when you know more clearly how long something takes. I will say though, to be on the generous side when you are just starting. I always have a habit of thinking that something will take a lot less time than it actually does. So keep that in mind.
Once you've figured out your base cost for each product you carry then you have a better idea of how you need to price it to stay profitable. A good rule of thumb to get you started it to times that number by at least 3 to get your product prices. Ideally you'll want to be charging more than that but if you work out both your CODB and your COGS you can then work out how much you need to charge per product and how much you need to make per session.
And don’t think that digital files should cost less because it’s not a physical product and doesn’t have as many hard costs associated like canvases, albums etc.
Your digital images are your most important products. They are your art. They are the end product and should be looked at as the most expensive item in your pricing menu.
And why is that - because if you sell your digital images (usually with a personal print release) you are giving the client the ability to print your images as many times as they want, as big as they want, in as many ways that they want, now and in the future.
And the ability, the value, to do this should come with an associated cost that is higher than any one item.
5. Mindset
If you've done all the above and worked out your figures you may be a little shocked to discover exactly how much you need to charge to be profitable. It can be overwhelming. We've all been there.
But don't let the fact that you probably wouldn't spend that amount for a photographer or the fact that your friends and family will think that you are crazy and will have no business (preaching to the choir on that one, I assure you). Just remember that you are not your ideal client/target market. There are people out there who appreciate what you do and are willing to pay for it.
Acknowledge that this is a business. And that in order to keep doing what you love, you need to be profitable. And to be profitable you'll probably be charging amounts that you aren't comfortable with.
This is a biggie. And something that a lot of us struggle with, especially when we are just starting out. I've been there. I know.
Just remember that you are worth it and that there are clients who will pay it.
It's simply your job to find them.
Now I hope I haven’t scared you all off completely. There’s a lot of steps involved in running your own business but you’ll be glad you spent the time upfront to do the work
