When you are a business owner, you will inevitably receive all sorts of business advice. Reading up on tips on managing a photography business online will find you hoards of tips, advice, must-do’s, and misguided “steps to launch your business” …
… ironically, many of those are written from professionals who have just completed the process themselves, ie. the inmates are running the asylum. And the news isn’t good about how many of them will still be in business much longer.
We launched our photography business in 2009. Currently we are hitting the 2 year milestone and entering into our 3rd year. I certainly don’t claim to be an expert on photography businesses, but I have learned a lot along the way. Here is some of the worst advice I’ve found about running a photography business.
Enjoy the giggles.
The absolute worst advice for new photographers:
1. “Your work is amazing. But I have to be honest, you’d get a lot more business… at least double… if you halved your prices.”
Wow. Now that’s… um, tempting. So basically… you could work twice as much for the same pay.
As photographers, there is a serious underestimation of the training, professionalism, preparedness, research and time involved in making portraits and fine art images as well as operating a business. What’s the likelihood any other profession would walk into their bosses’ office and say, “Hey, you know, I like my job. I’d really love to put in twice the hours around here. But go ahead and pay me the same salary.”
Even though we have the best job in the world, your business plan should not be to work as much as possible. It should not be to get every client through your door. A good business plan means people hire you because they love your work, feel strongly that YOU are the best artist to commission for their images. This also means a fair share of people will not be a good fit for you – be it personal style, availability, rates, and the products you offer.
It’s really bad advice to suggest an artist work twice as much by halving their rates.
2. “It’s a digital age, you’d be a fool not to offer your clients a CD of images and the copyrights. They’re going to do it anyway.”
This post is not the place to debate “shoot and burn” vs “print product” photographers. I clearly have my stance. The worst advice in that sentence is two-fold. The keyword is copyrights. Never, ever surrender your copyrights to your images. Ever. Once you do so, your clients now own the rights to the images and can legally dictate to you how you may use those images. This includes charging you to use their likeness. It is one thing to offer printing rights or, as many photographers do, provide web-sized images to use on blogs, social media, email, etc. If you legally give up the copyrights to your images, you are no longer the owner and would need to behave just like you would if using another artist’s work.
Second point – “… they’re going to do it anyway.” That’s an unfortunate belief and a sweeping generalization about the integrity of your clients. Maybe about humans in general. I do not believe that clients are going to abuse the rights and terms you’ve created about your artwork. Perhaps I’ve been fortunate, perhaps I just have the best clients in the world (I do! I do!) – but I’ve had very, very few incidences of clients abusing my terms of use. Set up clear and forthright expectations.
3. “The most important thing in your business is you, your camera and your art.”
Wrong. Did you know that statistically 85% of photography start-ups don’t make it into their third year? Dane Sanders published his findings that a mere 15% of photography businesses will make it to their 3rd year – with 60% quitting after the first year and an additional 25% quitting the second year.
This means there is a staggering fail rate – a dropout rate higher than med school or law school.
Why? Because photography business is less about photography and more about business.
4. “Once you build your portfolio, it’s time to get a business license and start recruiting clients.”
Don’t set up your business backwards. Get insurance, research your state’s business requirements, get licensed, set up shop before you start working. If you aren’t financially savvy, hire an accountant to help you. Know how much your state will require in taxes – and trust me, small business taxes are staggeringly high. One of the reasons so many businesses fold? They have underestimated the costs of the legal work, taxes, and out-of-pocket expenses and have under priced themselves right out of business. Having examples of your work is only about 1/10th of your prep work before launching.
You need a business plan. No, it’s not fun. You have to understand your out-of-pocket costs, the overhead and operational investments you’ll make before you ever pick up your camera for a client.
5. “Facebook is free and the best way to get clients.”
Sure, use social media and use it well. Facebook should not be your only means of getting your content to your clients and potential clients. Nevermind that Facebook is constantly revising their terms of use and making it increasingly harder for photographers. You should own and control the URL and website on which you conduct business. This means you should NOT have a website that has name.blogspot.com or name.wordpress.com or name.zenfolio.com. A domain name is less than $10 a year. Clients will not take you seriously if you can’t fork up $10 for a domain. Host and own your own site and content. Do not rely on a 3rd party and their fickle terms with your business. Own a domain, get a site, update it regularly. Use social media to enhance your brand.
I won’t even begin to tackle the bad advice out there about branding, equipment, pricing… no wonder why only 15% of us have survived to year 3.
What is some of the worst business advice you’ve heard? What is some of the best?
GREAT. ADVICE.
These are great tips Darcy! I have a question about #2—I know personally, if I needed a photographer, I literally don’t know what I’d do with prints. If I didn’t have digital files, it wouldn’t be worth it to me. Is it possible to offer a CD of images without giving up your rights to the photos?
I don’t quite have a ‘real’ business, but I still don’t give rights to my photos. I do offer cds with water marked images for online sharing…. Not sure if that really answers your question, but I thought I would chime in
You can provide the use digital files without surrendering copyrights. Set up clear terms of use and publish them on your website or include it with the information about your sessions.
I also recommend including a terms of use document with the digital delivery.
Thanks so much for sharing. I was trying to get a business plan and everything set up, but with all of Carsyn’s medical needs I have just been doing a few shoots for friends and family. Once we get in the swing of things I plan on sitting down and doing a plan. I do already have a dot com and everything set up for print editing. Thanks for the advice again.
Good advice Darcy … it’s tough out there in the digital world these days!
Very nice post. I have dreams one day of starting a photography business. I am a stay at home dad and I am working on my photography skills and hope to get them up to par by the time both kids are in school. I still have some time since the youngest is 2 1/2 but I have been looking down this road. I enjoyed your post and would like to see more like this if you don’t mind sharing your experiences.
HIya Scott. Several requests have come in about this – while I never want to be one of the “inmates”, by request I will do some more about my experiences in our first couple of years.
Hope you had a good 4th!
oh man, I want the rest of the advice too! So can you tell me if there is a good resource on writing a business plan for photographers? This is one thing that is baffling to me.
Read Dane Sanders book and blog. And be very judicial about the stuff you find online.
By request, I’ll do a few more about this. I had no idea the response would be what it’s been.
also, not sure I know fully your thoughts on cd/dvd. Do you have a post on that?
I’ll do a post about it just for you.
….. And number 3 is EXACTLY why I don’t have a ‘real’ photography business. I am FAR from a Buisness person. I’m happy with my very small, friends and family word of mouth here and there photography….. Ew, even just the thought of all that business stuff stresses me out
I’m in a similar boat with doing a little work for friends. I don’t have an officially registered-licensed business. I have kept detailed records on the pocket change I have made and do plan to report it as income to the IRS. My question is, will I be penalized for not being a “real” entity? This year I have only had less than 10 paid jobs. I wnat more time before launching head-long into something.
Great advice : ) exactly why I am not going into business yet. I Am overwhelmed by how many people I see that start a business after a month because their rebel takes great pictures.
Life with kaishon is right. Seems like everyone I went to school with has a camera and is now in business. Those statistics are eye-opening. Even though I’m not involved in photography business, I am helping a lady in a children’s clothing businesss. Some of these tips would be helpful to her. There are so many ins and outs of business which is why I don’t have my own.
This statement is priceless: “ie. the inmates are running the asylum”
“Oh, no! Please do, “begin to tackle the bad advice out there about branding, equipment, pricing”. I wanna hear it! I am in pause right now because I refuse to get started premature and be among the 85%. I’d rather wait tooo long than start too fast. I just keep working on my skills and soaking up wisdom in the bus. area.
“I refuse to get started premature and be among the 85%.”
And this alone is why it’s much more likely you’ll be in that 15%.
So smart! All seems so logical but I bet all those details get lost once you start.
Hope everything is going well….sounds like you’re staying busy.
GOOD STUFF!
Really great advice. Especially the aspect on business. Startup costs are high, but I’d rather pay them up front now and avoid trouble with the IRS later. LOL
Great points!
very eye opening, thank you! SO many things to consider
And I have a CPA haha.
I DO want to hear about branding, equipment, pricing!!
Thank you! This is exactly what I needed to hear. I’ve heard the stats are stacked against us, so I’m always aware of keeping my business hat on at all times as well as my creative one.
Can I repost this on my blog? bog.locke-innovations.com
Please email me to let me know!
I encourage you to link here, absolutely. Google penalizes duplicate content, so please do not repost it. But I would love for aspiring pro photogs to find it.
Thank you!
Darcy – great post! I would be curious to know what your terms of use are on your photos. Like, when you take photos of people, do you keep your copyright on the actual photo (the watermark) or remove it? This applies to photographers who even do not-for-pay pix (which I’m starting to get into). As people have asked me to do photography (like for work or friends), on a volunteer basis (work), or just for fun to practice (friends)… most definitely NOT for business (not there yet)… what do I need to think about to protect my work?
Others have asked as well. What I do works for me, but it won’t work for everyone. I’m happy to write a post about it – coming up.
i’ve heard from some that the camera makes all the difference. while that may be true to some effect, it’s definitely about the photographer’s eye, art, and composition that truly sets the pros apart!!
great post!