BUSINESS TYPES

                You should establish your photography business as either a sole proprietorship or single member LLC. Many photographers choose to establish their business with their name. A sole proprietorship and LLC are great but an LLC gives you added legal protections.

INCOME SOURCES

My income sources are from being hired directly, royalties form shutter stock, and sales from fine art America. I also sell prints on site at the event and after the event from my website. I upload the photos from the event or shoot and the can buy from there. A third party company takes care of printing and shipping to the customers directly. There is no other work on your part. An examples of this is smug mug.

So I get a great source of passive incomes from my prior work and I still earn active income.

PRICING

The best way to price your services is by the hour. Charge by the hour and include a minimum, lets says 2 hours for events. Also make a chart outlining your prices to send to clients. I charge a different rate for weddings, portraits and video. I have add on charges for mobile studio an extra shooter(another photographer).

LOGO

Have a graphic designer design a good logo for your business.

Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to try different marketing channels. If your getting into weddings I would not recommend  going with sites like The Knot or Wedding wire. For your business you need qualified leads and those sites end up sending you unqualified leads.

Qualified leads include those who are not window shopping but seriously looking to close a deal soon. Those with a reasonable budget and not cheap, and ones with good parameters like location and dates.

Unqualified will include those just windows shopping doing “initial research,” please avoid them you will waste your time. Avoid the cheap people, the want the best photographers to the lowest price possible. These people do not really value photography, they only care that you can show up and do a decent job. They will try to lowball you low as possible. Overtime with my experience I can just read an email and know who is qualified or not. There is no shame in not responding, but please do not send a reply explaining why you won’t take them as your client you might get a bad review.

Paid advertising can be hit or miss. I’ve actually gotten most of my leads from unpaid advertising, it cost you nothing and it is more effective. When you place your unpaid ad in the right place in front of the right people you get qualified leads. You have to keep in mind the demographic  Paid ads can work the opposite if your not careful and can end up wasting your money. Referrals are your best source for leads.

You get a happy customer that refers someone they know. Not cost or effort on your part.

Yes I have a new book on photography for those looking to start making money in photography!

New pricing!

Now offering a mobile photo studio. I come to your location and setup a pro mobile studio. A 10×10 foot backdrop with color of your choice, lights and more. Ask me about this service when booking your shoot with me.

It was a pleasure photographing the event. Photos are now uploaded. The remaining are being edited in photoshop and will be uploaded asap.