Start Here! Your PTP Cheat Sheet

WELCOME

Friends, welcome to PTP.

It is my calling to help amateur photographers make the transition to paid professionals.

If you’re taking aim at $5,000 to $50,000 in annual income from your part time photography business, PartTimePhoto.com is for you.

Here, you’ll learn to Create Value, Communicate Value, and Command Value.

I’ve been a part time professional photographer since 1999, doubling my day job income in only four hours work a week during the peak of my side hustle.

(If you’d like to know more about me, here’s a background post I did when I launched PTP.)

My family and I have been blessed creatively, socially and financially by part time photography, and I want to help you enjoy the same blessings in your life. Being a part time professional photographer has enabled artistic expression, friendships, life experiences, family vacations, financial ease, priceless memories and a life of thriving that wouldn’t have otherwise been possible.

Below, you’ll find every post I’ve made to PTP since its launch in 2009. With so much discouragement and misdirection (lens lust, megapixel envy, etc.) in the photography industry, it’s my pleasure and honor to be a voice of encouragement and real world experience for startup photographers.

Start with the Top 15 posts, and then work through the rest as time and inspiration allow.

I post monthly here to PartTimePhoto.com, but to get the most out of PTP, please subscribe to my weekly e-mail newsletter via the Subscribe box in the top-right corner of any page of this site.

Connect with me: I’m James@banderaoutlaw.com. I read everything, and I’d love to hear from you.

JamesSig

James Michael Taylor
The Outlaw Photographer
Goldthwaite, Texas

THE TOP 15 POSTS ON PARTTIMEPHOTO.COM

The Best of PTP

How to start a photography business – the Startup Series
These articles get you prepared to launch your new venture as a part time professional photographer. My writing centers around portrait photography, which I feel is the easiest, least expensive, and most rewarding way to get your photography business launched. I hope this series gives you the tools you need to answer the question, “How do I start a photography business?”

How to name your photography business
Let me get this out of the way: The name of your business is bloody irrelevant. Xerox sounds more like an alien planet than an office equipment company. Google isn’t even spelled right. If you kick ass and take names, if you better your art with every shoot while treating people right and getting your name out there, you’re going to do business – no matter what name you go by.

How to get your first client in a new photography business – the Your First Customer Series
The Your First Customer Series offers 10 in-depth articles covering all the minute details you rarely hear about elsewhere – where to find the time to be a part time professional photographer, the top 10 money-making portraits (easily the most popular post on the site), and much, much more. This series has more content than you’ll find in most high-priced eBooks, with no filler – it’s the best advice I can give having been there, done it, and come out happy and paid on the other side.

Top 10 money-making outdoor photos of people – Your First Customer Series, Part 2
It may take some practice on yourself or friends and family, but below you will find the top 10 money-making outdoor photographs you can make of and sell to your portraiture clients as a newly-minted part time photographer. I’m featuring outdoor portraits here because you can shoot them with just the camera in your hands, and you can shoot them just about anywhere, from a local park or playground to your own back yard.

14 ways you’re NOT ruining the photography industry
If you’re tired of being spoken down to, degraded, discouraged and treated like a cancer on the photography industry – this one’s for you.

Your competition can only kill you if you let them
Never lose sight of the fact that your success is equally your clients’ success. The better you are at what you do, the greater value you give to those you serve. Your artistry is a blessing to those with whom you share it, and as a professional, your clients are happy to bless you and your family financially.

Accountability is the plateau killer
If you’re reading this, it’s time to get your dream of being a successful part time professional photographer out of the clouds, off your to-do list and into the real world.

The first step to creating the Ultimate Client Experience
If you told me the story of your last photo shoot and your client’s experience, would it be the same story I’d hear from XYZ Photography down the street, or any of the dozens of photographers within driving distance for your clients?

Response time and turnaround – how to beat the competition for free
You won’t start out with the best art, the most business savvy, the best marketing – but you can start giving your clients an exceptional experience right away. Ignore what the grognards do and say, or “how everyone does it,” and ask yourself how you can do better by your clients right now – ask yourself how you’d prefer to be treated.

To do with more what can be done with less, is vanity
Don’t fall victim to the endless barrage of “you gotta have this!” and “you gotta do that!” and “you gotta spend money to make money!” horsesh*t you read every single time you get on the Internet.

Make this your year of Inspiration
The time you’re spending doing anything but something important is time you’ll never get back. You’re not just standing still – you’re putting distance between where you are and where you dream of being.

40 ways to help your clients prepare for an awesome photo shoot
Your clients are not your adversaries. Despite how the grognards view their paying customers, and the advice they give to gifted young photographers like yourself just starting out in the business, the people you shoot and sell to are not your enemy. In fact, it’s in your own financial interest to educate and empower your clients as fully as you can. One way to do this is with a Client Prep Cheat Sheet.

12 ways to make this the year your business takes off
You’ve been blessed with a talent, creative spirit, vision – you are imbued with the skills of a painter with light, a photographer. You are not reading these words by accident, you haven’t come as far as you have on a whim. I write these words for you, for your eyes, to address your fears and inspirations. I can say with complete surety, as you read this, you are ready to break free from your fears and grow toward infinity.

It’s time to Do The Work
Fact: You have never been more prepared, more ready, more wise or more capable of achieving your dreams of professional photography than you are right now. Right this moment, as you read these words, you are the most mature, capable and empowered you have ever been in this life.

One simple system for success
There is no greater knowledge-for-the-buck value than books. And there is no more self-destructive thing we do than failing to act on the things we learn. You and I are going to break that cycle… Right now.

If any of these articles speak to you, subscribe to my free weekly newsletter at the top-right of any page of this site so you never miss a post.

LAUNCHING

Pre-Launch, Post-Launch, Overcoming Self Doubt & Perfectionism

You know what? You suck.
We are always our own worst critic – don’t worry, you’re in great company. But what we desperately need is to be our own biggest cheerleader. We need to stop treating ourselves worse than our worst enemy, and start treating ourselves with love, encouragement, and grace. It starts with recognizing negative self-talk, whether actively or lurking about taking jabs in our hearts and minds.

Light the fire
Your problem isn’t that you’re spending too much time doing the second best thing (or the third, or fourth, or fifth…) – your problem is that you’re not doing anything at all because you’re a perfectionist and scared to paralysis of doing the wrong thing.

Letting go of expectations
Where you’ll trip yourself up is when you get so caught up looking at your vision of success that you lose focus on the next step along the road to that dream… This is a hugely important distinction that will shift your focus off of results you can’t control and onto processes that you can control – the processes which generate results.

The Selfish Part Time Photographer
Every day I strive to slow down, to be conscious, to be grateful, and to remember that for all the blessings I’ve been given, I have the gift of a responsibility to multiply those blessings through sharing what I know and what I’m capable of.

Confidence comes with acceptance
The seemingly never-ending insecurity we photographers experience is born from our stubborn, fearful refusal to accept where we are in our journey up the mountain of success. We don’t accept that to get where we want to be as artists and as business owners, we have to start here, where we are today – and that’s okay. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.

The two biggest fears of artists-turned-owners
You face two great tragedies: succeeding in building a business you hate, and failing to try at all.

Are you an artist or an attention whore?
You are not an attention whore. You may have been acting like one for too long, but we’re on the march now; we’re professionals, and we’re done with the procrastination horsesh*t that has turned our blazing passion and limitless potential into a slog through deep mud.

Is your success muscle atrophied?
I’ve accepted that it is my character, the man I am and the man I am purposefully becoming, which is going to determine my success in this life – not how many hours I work, how late I keep the candle burning, how many to-do items I can juggle at once, how many people I please before ‘paying myself first’ with my time, or how many books or articles I read without changing myself or taking action inspired by what I’ve learned.

Shifting gears from starving artist to entrepreneur
You know what’s going to stop you? You. You hear me – you know what I’m talking about. You are your own worst critic, your worst enemy. You’re going to quit. You’re going to come up short, get frustrated, embarrass yourself, disappoint yourself, get distracted, get lazy, and give up.

How to balance humility and confidence as a part time photographer
…And most importantly – you have the humility to accept imperfection in yourself and everything you do, and the confidence to know that your best effort – no matter how seemingly small – is leagues beyond everyone still sitting in front of their computers wishing they could be doing what you’re doing.

What is success?
What would your definition of success be if it weren’t influenced by all these voices telling you how inadequate you are?

How to turn epic failure into business success
Failure means you’re lapping everyone still sitting in front of their computer wondering what life would be like if they weren’t scared. Failure = Opportunity. Internalize that truth – the truth that failure is not a death, but a rebirth – and you will approach professional photography with a rare and powerful confidence.

Success is the result of happiness, not the preface
We look at the work we’re creating today, and a negative flood of emotions washes over us: disappointment, frustration, confusion, sometimes downright disgust. The self-critical nature of photographers, like most creatives, is legendary. Humility has its place, but especially when just starting out, we beat ourselves to a pulp in the process of trying to hammer out why what we shoot doesn’t look like what we envision.

What the super-rich can teach us as entrepreneurs
When the opportunity presents itself to be awesome to someone who probably doesn’t see a lot of “awesome” in their lives, take it and be both blessed and a blessing.

You’re going to get screwed doing part time photography
Education (proactive) trumps persecution (reactive) every time. Don’t stress out seeking every possible safeguard to put in place for protecting yourself from being taken advantage of.

How can I find time to be a part time photographer? – Your First Customer Series, Part 1
Most of you reading this blog already have full time jobs. Whether that’s as a corporate executive, coffeehouse barista, or full time mom, we’ll assume you have your hands full 40 hours a week. Being a service provider, part time photography allows you to dictate your own hours. You can book as much or as little work as you wish, maintaining all of the flexibility you need to take care of your day job and familial responsibilities.

What does a successful part time photographer look like? – Startup Series, Part 4
Different people wear success in different ways. My definition of success is probably a lot different from Work At Home Mom, Creative Outlet Corporate Executive, or Hobbyist Turned Pro. Depending on your goals (a subject we’ll look at in depth in a future article), the lifestyle and business you aim to create through part time photography, your version of success, will be wholly unique.

The legalities of starting a part time photography business – Startup Series, Part 3
God bless the spirit of the bootstrapper, but even I will say that the legal issues of starting and running your part time photography business are no place to be chintzy. Talk to a local CPA (Certified Public Accountant), preferably one recommended by a fellow photographer so you know they know your business. Even the shortest consultation will help you understand your legal position and needs, specific to your business, city, and state.

What you need to start a part time photography business – Startup Series, Part 2
The lesson here is that you can start getting paid today as a part time professional photographer with the tools you already own or have free access to. This is Dave Ramsey-style business financing: bootstrap it, start with what you have, invest what you can as you earn it.

How to make money as a part time portrait photographer – Startup Series, Part 1
Most photographers start out wanting to be artists. They get a digital camera, show their photos to friends and family, and get told “oh wow, you take amazing photos! You should be a professional photographer!” Artistry and innovation will come with experience and self development. Right now, I want to concentrate on giving you the tools of knowledge you need to practice making salable portraits and getting paid for them. Art, bless its heart, will come in due time.

Your source for making money as a part time photographer
After years and years of studying the art, business, and industry of photography online and here in the real world, I’ve learned that the people making the transition from unpaid amateurs to part time professionals is a massive, confused, underserved, underappreciated community.

Want to make money as a part time photographer?
If you have a few hours a week, access to a camera, and a hint of gumption, it’s my goal to help you make money as a part time photographer.

CREATING VALUE

Art & The Client Experience

Do you even lift (your camera), bro?
Know how to grow your muscles? Feed them. Use them. Know how to grow your art? Feed it. Use it. If you’re not doing practice shoots, if you’re not doing paid shoots, if you’re not going click once a day… What are you doing?

The After Action Report (how to get better faster)
Multiply your earned wisdom from every photo shoot by sitting down and breaking down the shoot in an After Action Report.

The power of taking more photos
However much you’re shooting right now, it’s probably not enough – at least not what it could be if you were taking your dream seriously and investing into your art and business what you want to get out of it.

How experiments can help multiply the growth of your art and business
When you change the rules of the game, when you change the game itself, the competitive scenario becomes a two-player field – You, and Them. When everyone else charges a session fee and you don’t, there are no longer five players in your market – there’s You, and Everyone Else. When you answer your phone and the four other photographers in town let it go to voicemail – there’s You, and Everyone Else. When you can turnaround a photo shoot in 24 hours, ready to sell, and the other guys are taking a week – two weeks – a month – there’s You, and Everyone Else. So it goes.

How to choose the right photography products to sell
You need to be that friend who is better versed in photography than anyone they know, and always gives the best advice – who to work with, what kind of wardrobe to wear, what the photos should look like, what to buy, where to hang it or upload it, how to get the most out of their professional photography experience.

Sharp photos – how to get them, in camera and in post
As I’ll always advise of anything to do with post-processing, experiment – see what works best for you, what works for your images and your style. It’s very inexpensive to do a test run of prints with your preferred lab, testing a variety of sharpening settings and methods. Better to know now than when a choosy client comes calling for a refund.

Practice because you love to perform
It’s a devilish catch-22 that we photographers fall into. We want to be great at what we do and, preferably, make money from it. The obvious and direct path to becoming great is to practice. But to practice, we have to take mediocre or downright crappy photos. We have to do it wrong. We have to screw up, come up short, and then wallow in how bad we are, all the things we haven’t learned to do right, and imagine all the things we don’t even yet know we need to know to do it right.

Debate: Is longevity the selling point for photography studio prints (and their prices)?
Keep in mind, it’s the draconian rules of the established competition that give you your greatest opportunity to break in and become a breath of fresh air in your market.

How to watermark your photography proofs for the web
Your watermarked photography appearing on a client’s Facebook profile is some of the best cheap, effective advertising you can get.

Open your eyes and make beautiful photos where you are now
Odds are the obvious natural scenery shots in your area have been done to death. Even if you just rinse and repeat, you’ll probably move plenty of sales. But as always, you want to look at what “everybody” is doing, and find a way to do it differently or the entire opposite. Let your imagination run and see what ways you can dream up to turn the cliche seasonal shots into something unique and special.

How to earn lifetime photography customers with the perfect follow-up – Your First Customer Series, Part 10
In any touchpoint, you can do what is expected – which often translates to mediocrity. Where the opportunity lies is in breaking expectations and giving clients something remark-able to experience.

Your first photo proofing and sales session – Your First Customer Series, Part 9
“Well, umh, uhh, geez, ehh, the total is $254.42, but that’s a lot of money…how about $200 even? Is that okay? I can throw in some free 20×30’s, would that be alright? Or I could just give it to you for half off, err, uhh, how about just $125? Is that too much? I’ll throw in FedEx overnight shipping for free…”

Culling and post-processing your first photo shoot – Your First Customer Series, Part 8
If you don’t cull your shoot down to the very best, you’ll get two results: A) Your client will be overwhelmed with so many photos – you’ll waste your time and theirs trying to whittle down their selection and exhaust them in the process; and, B) You’ll include too many fair-to-middlin’ shots and your client will be less impressed with your work.

Your first photo shoot: expectations and results – Your First Customer Series, Part 7
You’ve booked your first client, gone over your personalized pre-shoot checklist, and just parked at the location you chose for your first official photo shoot. Grab the paper bag, don’t hyperventilate, and get ready for a terrifyingly exciting ride. Here’s where you get to shine – here’s where you create art that your client can’t live without buying.

Your pre-photo-shoot checklist in four easy steps – Your First Customer Series, Part 6
With your first shoot on the books, it’s time to go down your pre-shoot checklist and make sure you’ve got all your waterfowl properly aligned. Nothing will make your first and forthcoming shoots go more smoothly and comfortably than a healthy dose of preparedness.

How to prepare for your first photography client’s call – Your First Customer Series, Part 5
So you’ve got your prices set, your most salable photos picked out and practiced, and your marketing has people talking about your business. Then the unimaginable happens – someone actually calls you! Make no mistake – if you are practicing your art and marketing your services to your target market, you will get clients a-callin’. Let’s explore how we need to prepare for this momentous, and nerve-wracking, occasion.

It’s digital: go crazy! How to make great photos by accident
Grognards will tell you that shooting so many images is “amateur,” but I don’t think any method is amateur that results in photos your client loves and is willing to pay good money for. If you’re more meticulous, do more planning and setup; if you’re like me and love variety and faster rhythms, spray away.

COMMUNICATING & COMMANDING VALUE

Marketing, Sales & Pricing

How to overcome limiting beliefs about sales and marketing
What if, if you’re willing to grow beyond your limiting beliefs, and reach outside your comfort zone, you can build a business as a professional photographer that changes your life and the lives of people you care about?

Marketing your photography business by the holidays (71 ideas) for April
From helping to engage the public on a variety of causes, to fun wardrobe and mini-shoot opportunities, to countless good excuses to make new contacts and connections, holidays are a powerful tool for growing the scope, depth, and community awareness of your photography. Here’s an outrageously big list of ideas to play with.

72 ways to rock your photography marketing campaign online, on social, in print and in person
We can Create Value. We can produce art well worth our clients’ dollars, especially at the startup end of the market. If we fall short, it’s in Communicating Value and Commanding Value. A good marketing campaign – which I’d define as either a short-term or long-term effort to communicate a specific message to your target market – is all about communicating your value

How to run a gift certificate sale on Facebook
If nobody is asking you for a donation to their silent auction or fundraiser, you’re not reaching out enough and showing what you have in place to help your local non-profits. Do a little legwork, watch your local newspaper, and see where there may be opportunities to donate your gift certificates to do good for those non-profits – and really work the opportunity.

Mailbag: First steps to learning marketing
Most artists are introverts, and it’s super challenging for us to show people our art and ask for their business – hard enough online, even harder in person, but the latter is where you really get early traction; you have to F8 and Be There, to be where your clients are. Building up a great web site, photo blog and social media channels is useless if you’re shouting at an empty room.

How do people know you’re a professional photographer?
When someone calls or e-mails to book, you want them to say, “I see you everywhere!” Not you personally (though there’s some of that)… Your art. Your name. Your business. Your brand. When people see you on the street, how do they know you’re a professional photographer?

What a street beggar can teach us about marketing and sales
He knows if he stays in front of his target market long enough with a powerful enough message, and asks for the business, he’ll get it – he’ll get enough to satisfy his every financial need.

How to price your photography, Part II
If there’s one thing we part time photographers never get bored talking about, it’s pricing our work. But I’m going to digress from talking about pricing, because your pricing isn’t the problem: You’re trying to scratch your butt by brushing your teeth.

Why courtship matters in marketing
When you do it well enough, “What do you charge?” is not even the question they ask. Instead, it’s “How soon can we get started?“ … Marketing is a story you write hoping the clues you pen will guide the characters to a happy ending.

How to multiply the value of your donated dollars
This was a big leap for me in understanding how the success of my business was good for my community: I cannot afford the time freedom or monetary generosity needed to make a difference in my community if I don’t build a successful business.

What Marketing Ain’t
But one of the biggest mistakes I see my fellow part time photographers make early on is to desperately focus on what won’t grow their business, to the exclusion of what will. It’s easy to fall into the trap where you obsess over minutiae, and oversimplify marketing to just advertising.

Pricing for growth versus pricing for profit
Pricing in the early stages of your business should give you just enough profit in pocket to make you feel good about the time you’re investing into your client. Keep in mind you’re getting the added value of live guinea pigs to experiment on; gaining invaluable experience in marketing, photographing real clients, sales, follow-up, customer retention, business in general; building a great base of potential repeat clientele; and you’re refining and improving your art throughout…. The more you shoot, the more you learn; the more you learn, the more you earn.

36 ways to better your photography business today
This post is full to the brim with 36 tips on how to improve your photography business, inspired by the contents of just one issue of Men’s Health magazine. Don’t be overwhelmed – just pick one or two tips that inspire you, and run with them.

Vision: as a photographer, as a business owner
Just as it took time to develop your vision as an artist of photography, it will take time and practice to develop your vision as an artist of business. But it will come. Plant the seed in your mind, make proactive efforts to exercise your business vision, and savor the newfound inspiration that surrounds you.

How to use coop marketing to instantly build your client list
If you’re just starting out, the other business may have a much larger network to promote the contest to, but you’ll both benefit from having more potential clients visit your partner and sign up. In fact, the larger the network of your partner business, the better. Hard to beat going from unknown to exciting business partner overnight.

How to find and partner with non-profits to better your photography business
As a newly-minted part time professional photographer, it must take years of hard work, advertising, and great word of mouth exposure to get some face time with the truly influential leaders in your community…right? Hell naw.

The Top 16 marketing opportunities for photographers in November
Always be on the lookout for inspiration – in holidays; in advertising from other industries you see in magazines, newspapers, or on television; in sports, cultural and community events, etc. I’d suggest keeping tabs on the About.com calendar above, your local community calendar (via your newspaper, chamber of commerce, or visitor’s bureau), and at least one pop culture magazine or web site so you can stay tuned into the zeitgeist.

Top 15 Internet Marketing methods, from least to most effective, from Darketing to Arketing
My (somewhat tongue in cheek) list of Internet Marketing methods, from least to most effective.

Should you buy an Apple iPad for your photography business?
So am I going to buy one? Hell yes I’m going to buy one. (And I did, which I still use today for my sales sessions!)

How do I get my first photography client? – Your First Customer Series, Part 4
Again – Own Your Zip Code. Whether you start with MySpace [throwback!] or visiting with people in your own neighborhood, your end goal is to ensure that anyone who needs photography services – on your block, on your street, in your subdivision, in your town – knows who you are and what you can do for them.

What should I charge for my part time photography? – Your First Customer Series, Part 3
“My friends tell me I take really good photos. I want to start charging and getting customers, but how much do I charge? What if I charge too much? I can’t charge as much as that guy, he’s a lot better than I am. Oh man, what if I charge too much and people realize I don’t know what I’m doing and they’re disappointed and my business is ruined before I ever get started?”

PERSONAL GROWTH

Taking Care of Home & Self

Why does photography feel so good?
I’d wasted years in a corporation believing that if I worked hard and did a good job I’d have job security and growing prosperity. But after the realization of this falsehood, I wasted even more years in a state of anger and discontent as I mouthed off to coworkers and my spouse and raged endlessly inside about the injustice of it all. I went from blisslessly ignorant to blindly enraged – what I learned, my immature self couldn’t handle.

The unsupportive spouse, and why it’s your fault
The passion you have for becoming a part time professional photographer can be interpreted subconsciously as a threat: as your losing interest in that person, or their not being good enough to make you happy, or your drifting away from them, or their losing time with you to this passion, or your growing beyond them.

How to lose weight the simple, sustainable way
Business badboy Donny Deutsch said it best – “Pain or paunchiness can render you almost helpless. If most of your energy is being spent keeping you upright, it’s not going into the areas where you need it most keenly. Go to the flip side of that equation and you’ll see how being in tip-top shape can help you immeasurably.”