Anyone with the right camera equipment and skills can set up a home-based photography marketing business. You just need to turn one room in your house into an office, and then you can immediately work.
With modern technology in the form of digital SLR cameras, you don’t even need space for a darkroom. You just need to have a personal computer and a photo editing program. The standard is Adobe Photoshop.
No need to fill up on equipment you don’t need. You can rent the equipment when you need it. You have the freedom to work part time for a while until you can devote yourself full time to photography. All you need to be is a serious photographer. There are two types of photographers who make a living from photography, the serious photographer and the very serious photographer. You can always bookmark this link and then you can quickly access almost everything you’ll need from here.
While the technical skills needed to become a successful photographer have never been easier, other aspects have changed the business. The market for photography of virtually every type has expanded, the world seems to have an insatiable appetite for photography. However, the price has fallen as net trading has expanded. Photographers are needed in many more fields. For example, many people use car websites, they just didn’t exist ten years ago, and they sell their products as a result of photography. The cameras used by divers are now of excellent quality and, although initially expensive, have carved out a new market. People celebrate special occasions more with photography than years ago. The travel and advertising markets have a greater need for landscape, travel and nature shots.
Now it’s easier than ever to turn your dream into a reality and build a worthwhile business out of a passionate hobby. However, in today’s modern world there is more to it than just pointing a camera and taking a picture. You need to know marketing techniques, and here marketing simply means transferring ownership of a product, in this case an image from a buyer to a seller. You should also be aware of any local gaps in the market in your local area. You should also try to be above your competitor’s prices, undercutting an existing photographer is one option, but neglecting the value of their skills and not charging enough to cover your overhead is another matter entirely. Remember this, it is an important point.
Use your skills for the best benefit of the business and define what you want from it. Writing a business plan helps you stay focused on the areas you specifically want to exploit. A business plan helps you define your goals and strategies, it will be changed and updated, but it will help you keep things in perspective. You can then refer back to it when things get confusing or complicated. Everyone’s business plan will be different, as every goal will be different, but there are certain common factors that make up a good business plan that will help your business grow. It allows you to develop a professional attitude towards your business, which not only helps you increase your profits, but also helps you finance your business.
For the photographer, you should include their company name, or your own, with full details of the company’s proposed location, a copy of their logo, as well as details of their copyright notices. What is the form of your proposed business (sole proprietorship, partnership, Limited Liability Company, or Corporation). This should be followed by a table of contents, which is focused in a logical order. There are resources that will give you more details, such as profitable-photography.com
Included after this should be the type of business you intend to conduct, in considerable detail, and it should contain the services you intend to offer. This section should include any goals or future paths you would like to explore, stating your clear goals. This is so you can check at a later date if your goals are on track or if you’ve drifted off track.
If you are considering at any time that you may need financial assistance, then you should include your personal business history.
You should also establish a clear and concise marketing plan that demonstrates how your business will differentiate itself from your competitors’ businesses. You need to be able to establish who your customers will be, as well as where your market will be, whether it is wholesale or retail or a combination of both. You should also be able to determine how long this type of market will be available to you.
The next section should clearly define your opposition, as well as its strengths and weaknesses. This should include the ways you can exploit any gaps in the market in the specific area where you live. A section should follow on how you intend to market and promote your individual services.
A financial segment should be included on how you intend to manage the company’s daily invoices. How you intend to price your services and what factors influence this pricing structure, including a section on your competitor’s financial structures. This means a fair amount of detective work, as well as homework. Get your friends to ask from quotes from the local competition. Or try an even more direct approach, tell your competitor that you intend to start a new business and you don’t want to undermine them, as this reduces the pie for everyone. They may offer to help you build a pricing structure that ensures everyone’s livelihood. They should help. Not everyone will cooperate, but it may mean you can get a truer picture of the market factors that govern your area.
Make a list of all the equipment you will need in your first year, as well as how and where you plan to buy it. Be aware of difficulties that may arise in obtaining your supplies. Keep in mind if the prices of your supplies have a seasonal fluctuation, that can help you influence when you buy. You should take note of any local licenses that will be required, as well as any zoning restrictions, which may restrict the growth of your business. Your neighbors may not be thrilled with a procession of customers at your door, see if they can restrict your services. Make a study of all the insurance requirements of your business.
The final segment should be dedicated to how you intend to finance the growth of your business, as well as isolating what your financial needs will be. This should include a projection of your future earnings, as well as an accurate assessment of your expenses. This should be assessed monthly for the first year and annually for the next three years. An important aspect of the financial statement is an assessment of your business’s break-even point, in other words, the minimum you will need to take to pay your expenses.
The purpose of this documentation is to enable you to state what the core elements of your business will be, by doing so it should help you to be able to quickly assess the success of your business objectives. If you are not clear about your goals, then you may not be able to make a plan to achieve the success of those goals.
