You can have all the artistic and technical talent in the world, but if you are not a savvy business-person, you are not going to have a lot of luck making a living from photography. This excellent video features an experienced photographer discussing seven things you should do before you start your photography business.
Coming to you from Daniel Norton, this awesome video features him discussing seven things you should do before you start a photography business. Of the tips, I think the one that I overlooked the most when I started mine was simply having systems in place for things like invoicing and image delivery. For my first six months or so, I was very haphazard in my business organization, sometimes invoicing in Excel, sometimes in QuickBooks, sending images in three different ways, etc. As my business grew and I couldn't just keep track of things in my head and on thrown-together documents, my fragmented methods really became tedious and made things difficult, forcing me to rebuild my approach from the ground up. I really wish I had done it properly from the start. Check out the video above for more from Norton.
And if you want some extra help getting your photography business off the ground, be sure to check out "Making Real Money: The Business of Commercial Photography!"
Thanks for posting this! I'm in the process of getting my LLC started up and the setting pricing part was a big help! Grouping in to Paid, and outstanding is such a simply way to do it! also the Licensing upon Payment is a key item I can use! SUBSCRIBED! Ill be checking more of your videos soon! Thanks!
Check out shootproof.com, incredible value for only $10 / month. Manages proofing, digital delivery, purchase and printing thru WHCC/BayPhoto/etc, manages digital contracts, invoices, payment, and much more. Now instead of culling, editing, and presenting photos to the client I just cull them, edit one as an example and let the client favorite what they want edited to buy. Big time saver! Wish I would have known when I started.