I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the correct area or not but...

I'm just getting started and how I do want a successful business, I don't want a huge business. I don't need to work and I'm a stay at home mom. I just really want to have fun with this....but I will take it seriously. I don't want to get to the point where I'm stressing about it 24/7.

Anyways.

Whats first?
Website(if you have a good, cheap, easy suggestion?) How do i do this?
Business Cards(how much is avg?)
Logo(again, how much?)
Advertising? do's and dont's?
Prices?
Contracts?
Lawyers? Do i need one?

Any other tips would be greatly appreciated!

Hi Jessica! These are questions everyone has when they start out (including me )...and the good news is there are TONS of topics that have these very questions in them. My advice is to dig in! Go through all of the boards on here and read, read, read. There will be a few different opinions too, from what companies are good for websites to whether you really need a lawyer or not. Ultimately you have to make the decisions about these things, but OSP is a great resource for info. Also check out Photo Love Cat for good business advice and questions to ask yourself about starting your business. Hope this helps!

Jessica, it's hard to say what would come first-you would need a logo of some sort to put on busines cards and a website, but that's something that if you had to, you could make yourself! The web lets you get your photos out there for everyone to see, but you might just want to start with a free blog through Wordpress or Blogger, send the link out to people that you know, and ask them to pass it along (a good way to get feedback). You might consider joining the PPA because you would have access to lawyers, contract information, copyright information, etc (I believe it is in the neighborhood of $370 per year). With regards to pricing, I would look at what other photographers in your area are charging, and rate yourself accordingly, taking into account your portfolio and experience vs. theirs. Hope that helps!

Hi Jessica! Welcome to the wonderful world of photography! I'm sure your passion will take you far

So what comes first after a few cameras, lenses and an account on OSP? Definitely a lawyer. Before you start doing anything, you want to make sure you're set up properly and legally with the federal government (incorporation and the IRS), your state government (sales taxes and fictitious name), and your county (occupational licenses and tangible personal property taxes if applicable). For maximum protection and tax benefits, I highly recommend being a subchapter S corporation, but talk to your attorney and CPA and get their advice (IANAL ). But this is all very important...if you don't register properly with the IRS, you can find up being liable for taxes on your entire gross instead of your profits! Eeek! That would be an oversight of the pants soiling variety Your attorney will also be able to help you with contracts. Also, don't forget to get liability insurance (in case you accidently injure somebody on the job) and equipment insurance.

Prices come next. Figure out your exact costs of business for whatever kind of jobs you'll take on. Are you looking to get into weddings? They are tons of fun Or portraits? Figure out how many weddings you want to do a year, and add up ALL your costs. Equipment, taxes, insurance, phone, internet, professional fees, marketing, advertising, office supplies, etc etc. Divide that by the number of weddings you want to do per year, and that's your base cost for showing up at a wedding. Add to that the cost of goods sold per wedding (the cost of whatever's in your package. So the cost of the prints or album or whatever). Now you have your break-even number. Shooting for anything less than that and you're losing money (Old photography joke: One photographer says to another, "Man, I shot 50 weddings last year and lost money on each one!" "Well, what are you going to do differently this year?" "Shoot more weddings!").

Now figure out the time involved for each wedding. First, give yourself a decent estimate for the number of hours a week you'll need to spend doing general business-related things that aren't tied to any specific job. Marketing, training, bookkeeping, idling on OSP, networking, making samples, etc etc. Multiply by 52 and divide by the number of weddings you want to do per year. Now estimate the number of hours it takes to complete each wedding job, from the time you pick up the phone to the time you deliver the finished product. So, add in, time spent talking on the phone, answering emails, the first consultation, processing the booking, consultations before the wedding, gear prep, travel, shooting, downloading, sorting, editing, uploading, proofing, designing, printing, packaging, delivering, etc. That's your time spent per wedding. Add that to your general "time overhead" and now you've got your total time investment per wedding. Figure out what you want your hourly wage to be before taxes, multiply that by the number of hours it takes to do the job, and add that to your overhead we figured out in the last paragraph. And there you go, that's the price you charge for shooting a wedding

Obviously, those are estimates, and can be influenced by things like reprint sales, etc, but it's a good start

Once you've got all that, go for the naming/logos/branding aspect. Doesn't make much sense to print up business cards or get a website when you don't have a name, logo, or color scheme, eh?

Then the website...check out Big Folio. They make great sites for reasonable prices.

Advertising Dos and Don'ts...well...do advertise, don't not advertise I'm sure if you search through the forum you can find a lot of great advice on advertising. There's the web, local magazines, bridal shops, bridal shows, networking with other vendors, building a referral network with other photographers...there's a billion ways to go about it, and what works for someone else may or not work for you. You'll just have to use your best judgement on this one

Best of luck, and, once again, welcome!

Matt

P.S. wow, that was long. Good thing I type 100WPM...

Good thing you're always willing to take the time for awesome, detailed responses, Matt




He pretty much has you covered!

And by my own math, that cost me $18.37 to type

Hi Jessica,

I'm developing my new business as well and have been through a few of the items on your list. The first thing I did was get a designer to do my logo...(if you can afford it use a designer. Don't do it yourself) and then my website which is still being developed. I used Creative Motion Design and they are great. As someone mentioned here a blog will work in the short term if you're not ready for a site. As long as you have a place to show your work.

For me the pricing was/is the hardest. Even though this is not your main source of income if you're doing this and don't want to be losing money you have to understand your pricing and your cost of sales. I bought Leana Lehman's Profit Center DVDs which really helped me understand the nuts and bolts of the business and how to avoid costly mistakes.

In terms of advertising, start small by telling everyone you know what you're doing and show them samples. Then develop a "refer a friend" type of promotion where a client gets something for each new client they refer that books you.

Oh, and I'm sure you already know this, but research as much as you can on OSP. There's a lot of good info here. No sense recreating the wheel.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Dennis

Wow! Talk about a RESPONSE!
I guess i'm basically worried about the whole IRS thing. Is it hard to do all of this, who do I call, what info do they need, etc? Does this take a lot of bookkeeping and so forth?

We already have our own business but its not your traditional business...so none of this was needed.

WOW!

Hi Jessica,

Talk to an attorney and a CPA and they'll get you set up, and can explain it better than I can I'm curious, though...this is all pretty basic bookkeeping required to pay federal, state, and local taxes for any business, not just a photography business. What kind of business do you have that doesn't require you to pay taxes?

Oh we pay taxes but we have a web office. And every thing is done for us pretty much.
LTD/Quixtar is the business....very different than this. All of the attorney's are already there for us, etc.

Gotcha. No, here you'd actually be starting a corporation based in a county in your state. Find a CPA and he'll hold your hand through the taxing issues, and can probably recommend a tax attorney who can set up your corporation for you.

DO NOT SELF-INCORPORATE!! Pay the $400 and have an attorney do it for you correctly. Yes, maybe you can save $250 doing it yourself, but if you screw it up, you could be on the hook for thousands upon thousands of dollars more in taxes.

Great info, Matt! Thanks for sharing.