How Do I Start a Photography Business?

Video Transcript

"This is Anthony and I'm going to talk about how to start a photography business. Now the first thing, you want to think about when you're starting a photography business. Is that, it is a business. So there's an element of math involved. Meaning that, a business should make a profit. And so you want to see, how much your costs are. How much is your equipment? How much is your rental space for your studio? How much time are you going to spend? And how much you're going to charge for your time? So it's the first thing, whether or not you even want to start a photography business. That's key. Number two, is there a need for a photography business, in the area that you live in. Some areas, there really aren't very many photographers around. That is a great area to start a photography business. Some areas, there is more photographers than you want to know about. You could throw a stick, chances are you're going to hit a photographer. That's probably not the place that you want to start a photography business. After those decisions have been made, you want to format a business model, a plan. So to speak. How do you want the first six months of your photography business to run? Are you going to advertise? How are you going to advertise? Who you're going to market yourself towards? These are really, really specific decisions. And believe me, I've made mistakes. That you want to think about, when you start your photography business. And the more specific you are, the better your photography business is going to be. If I lived out some place, where there is a lot of snowboarders. I might say, you know, I really love photographing snowboarders. I'm going to start a business. Specifically, towards snowboarders and people that make snow boards. You may live in a place, where there's a lot of. Let's say there's horse stables. I'm going to do photography about horses, about breeding horses, about riding. And I'm going to be the best photographer in that area to do that in. Those are excellent examples of how to start a really good photography business. Once you've made those decisions, you just need to be organized. You need to spend a lot of time. I mean, people that I know that have started successful photography businesses. Really do work about, I would say, an average of 12 to 15 hours a day. Not non stop. But they keep plugging away, at it. It's not something that you're just going to sit at a desk at. You'll be surprised. And that to me, is sort of, part of the math. How many hours, I might want to spend? Do I want to be away from my family? I'm I single? Do I have enough time to even do this? The other thing, you want to think about when you're starting a photography business. And this is a really important, important thing to start small. Don't take a huge job, as your first job. Chances are, you're going to fail miserably. Take very small jobs, complete them and build up. Once you feel that confidence level in yourself, that you can do this. You'll be o.k. The other important issue in starting a business, is don't be afraid to say, no. And don't be afraid to say, yes towards a job. Someone offers you a job, that you don't think you can handle. No one is going to be upset with you. Or think any less of you. If you say, I think, this is a job that's too big for me. And on the other hand, you might get a job that you don't have the confidence to think that you can do. But you deep down know. That you have the equipment, the time to do that job. That's when you want to say, yes, I can do it. And really work hard at doing it. Because after you complete it, you're going to fell better about yourself. Your bank account's going to feel better. And everything works out. But I always like to write stuff down on paper. And a lot of times, I run it by a friend. Someone who knows me and has sort of an outside opinion. Because I always want an outside opinion. A second opinion, you know. I'm I doing this right? That's really how, I would go about starting a photography business."