What Marketing Ain't
Now don't let me come off as cynical.
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.
Advertising is certainly a piece of the puzzle that forms the marketing for your business, but it is only one piece.
What is "Marketing" for a part time photographer?
Marketing is:
- Your art
- Your smile
- Your wardrobe
- Your community involvement
- Your reputation
- Your confidence
- Your preparation
- Your business card
- Your web site
- Your e-mail newsletter
- Your Facebook page
- Your Google search listing
- Your knowledge of photography
- Your knowledge of your business
- Your ability to help folks look good
- Your way of making kids laugh
- Your turnaround time for orders
- Your flexibility
- Your patience
- Your kindness
- Your generosity
- Your portfolio
- Your sales method
- Your customer experience
- Your referral program
- Your photo events
- Your co-op projects
- Your volunteer work
- Your sense of humor
- Your sense of gravitas
- Your showmanship
- Your honesty
- Your compassion
- Your passion
And this is not an exhaustive list.
But you notice what's not on there?
- Your prices
- Your gear
- Your name
Yet these three topics exhaust the vast majority of a new professional photographer's time, concern, and mental energy.
Why?
Because it's what everyone else is talking about.
"What should I charge for a 3.02-inch by 10.17-inch glossy lustre coated archival quality print on acid-free Peruvian yak paper with gold flake, a textured custard mat and cherry wooden heirloom antique classic frame?
Yak, indeed - I want to yak every time I see the grognards lay into these questions with the ambiguity and hatefulness of partisan political pundits.
The same goes for what equipment you "should" use and what the name of your business "should" be.
Yet these three choices have next to no influence on your success. Surely, they are choices that have to be made - but for the sake of your sanity and momentum, make them swiftly.
Here's what you need to know to wrangle these three progress-killers:
Pricing
The better you communicate your value, the more you can charge.
If your art and marketing are weak (as they are for all of us in the beginning), ask a very humble price for your work. Even with my aggressive suggested pricing for new professionals, you'll be surprised at how much money you earn per shoot. This number only gets better as you get better - at art, at marketing, at business.
When your focus is on communicating your value through good marketing, pricing becomes a tool for increasing, steadying, or decreasing your total number of bookings. You'll raise your prices for a season when you want to slow down your bookings, and you'll lower your prices or offer sales or specials when you want to grow your customer base.
This is a completely different discussion than the grognards have about their pricing - their solitary goal is to maximize profits by squeezing the customer for every last dime they can get. Upsell the coating! Upsell the frame! Upsell the paper! Upsell the black and white "treatment"!
They all but foam at the mouth.
If you're stymied by pricing, just roll with my suggestion of no session fee, no minimum order, buy what you love - prints and files starting at just $10.
It takes pricing off the table as a reason to stress, and it eliminates price as a potential reason why you're not booking as many shoots as you want. This lets you focus on the many other pieces of your marketing puzzle that will actually make a difference in your success.
Camera Gear
The truth will set you free:
- 1. What you have is more than good enough.
- 2. Don't buy a single piece of kit until you can pay for it with your photography earnings.
- 3. Don't buy that piece of kit unless it is guaranteed to make you more money than you're making now.
It's too easy to let yourself fall in the trap of lens-lust - just about every photographer has it. I won't even lie, I love ogling and fondling camera gear better than mine, and then I pine and ache for it. I read professional and buyer reviews from other photogs. I read blogs about it. I put it in my online shopping cart at bhphotovideo.com, just to see what the total price comes to.
But truthfully, it's all just window shopping - indulgence in an overpriced fantasy.
Not to sound like Grandpa, but I've been shooting with the same camera body and lens for five years. Most of the photographers I mentor have newer, better gear than I do. And if they don't, it doesn't matter:
What kit you have that has lit the flame in your soul to become a professional photographer is more than good enough to be that professional photographer.
Start your journey as a natural light location photographer. It requires the least amount of monetary commitment, which translates to maximum profit for minimal investment.
Buy books on natural light portraiture, on basic portrait photo editing, and practice - practice - practice. This is what will make a difference in your art, not This Lens or That Camera Body.
By the time that you have so well mastered natural light location portraiture that you would truly and tangibly benefit from better gear, your art and business should be at such a level that you can pay cash and not sweat a penny of the cost.
If you do 52 shoots in 52 weeks averaging $100 per client, you will have earned enough money to buy just about any kit you could possibly want. In just one year.
But what if I'm not booking that many clients? What if my average per client isn't that high?
Patience.
You have to have patience.
Nobody (including me) ever, ever wants to hear it, but - you just have to wait.
However, while you're waiting, you should be working - working on improving your art, working on a better understanding of marketing and how to use it in your business.
Success is a byproduct of progress.
When success does present you the financial opportunity to buy better gear, you have to ask a simple but serious question:
Will buying this gear help me be a better professional photographer?
Don't get me wrong - if you want to buy that thousand-dollar lens because it has a more buttery bokeh than what you're using, that is a completely valid reason. Better art does translate to better pay.
Better gear should provide the solution to a specific and tangible artistic or practical problem. It should be a problem you're running into over and over again where your art or your ability to do your best work are being hindered.
And for each photographer, it can be different: I may want better low-light capabilities with less noise, whereas you may want access to a shorter, creamier depth of field.
Don't buy gear just because a Grognard, a Friend, a Peer, a Vendor, or a Reviewer told you you should. Only buy gear because you see it making an important and valuable difference in how you work and the results you produce from that work.
Your Business Name
I've written about naming your business and how easy it is to get paralyzed at this point, but the questions about it keep coming, so I'll say it again clearly:
You are doing more damage than good for your business by obsessing over its name.
Three facts that will help you move on:
- 1. Your business name will have no effect whatsoever on your art or your income.
- 2. As an independent professional photographer, people are going to remember you, your art, and the experience you provide them, not the catchy name of your business.
- 3. You can always, always change your business name later.
At best, your business name will provide you an easy theme to tie all of your marketing pieces together.
If you're in doubt, or if you've caught yourself stuck at this juncture, use this method:
- Your Name Photography. Perfectly simple, perfectly brands you as an artist, and (at least in my state) you don't have to register a Doing Business As name. Class it up by doubling down on your last name. Such as, Taylor & Taylor Photography.
- If your name is particularly hard to pronounce, consider using your initials, your middle name, or the meaning of your name (for myself, James Michael Taylor, my business name would literally be Supplanting Tailor Who Is Like God Photography - some artistic license may be warranted if you go this route!).
- If it isn't taken and wouldn't cause confusion in your market, consider naming your business by your town, community, or neighborhood. I could easily have named my business Bandera Photography. This leaves no doubt as to the area or target market you serve. And don't worry, just like saying you serve a specific niche like babies or seniors, you'll still get business from other areas.
Where you'll suffer the most indecision is if you try to name your business "something catchy," or worse, something introspective. This is perfectly fine if you can efficiently come up with a name that you can hang your hat on, but if it takes more than a Sunday's worth of brainstorming and discussion, settle for something simple to start with. Once you have a better grasp on your artistic talents, inspirations, and ideal clientele, you can revisit your business name.
Next Steps
Once you can fling yourself over these three hurdles on your path to becoming a successful part time professional photographer, you'll experience a great feeling of relief and real progress.
- Grab a pen and paper. Work out your pricing, right here, right now. If you don't know what to do, do this: no session fee, no minimum order, you just buy what you love. Prints and files start at just $10.
- Keep the pen and paper. Write down the three pieces of kit that would most improve your salability (through your art, through your experience as a photographer, or through the experience you create for your clients) - and most importantly, why. Write down the prices for those pieces of kit. Stick it on your monitor, and set a financial goal to earn through your business what you need to buy these tools to improve your business.
- More pen and paper. Brainstorm business names. Pick one. Done. Move on.
- Breathe a sigh of relief, and acknowledge that you just cleared three of the biggest hurdles new professional photographers face. While everyone else is mired in the muck, you are now free to do the real work on your business that leads to success.
- Brainstorm session: Now that you've gotten past what marketing isn't, what are you going to work on that is good marketing? Take a look at the long list at the top of this article, see what inspires you, and write down all the ways you can improve your marketing starting today. Pick your Top 3, and write down step-by-step how you plan to improve on that aspect of your business. File this away in your Brainstorms folder.
- My writing at PartTimePhoto.com exists to serve your needs as an amateur photographer making the transition to paid professional. I appreciate and welcome your readership, and invite you to subscribe to my e-mail newsletter at the top of any page of this site.
- If anything in this post has spoken to and inspired you, please comment below, drop me an e-mail, or call or text me at 830-688-1564 and let me know. I'd love to hear how you use the ideas here to better your part time photography business!
Pricing for growth versus pricing for profit
Just as your art and business acumen grow over time, so should your prices, and your profits.
Although I encourage photographers to work closely with and support their local chartiable organizations, we as small business owners aren't non-profits ourselves. I believe you should charge according to the value of the art and experience you provide to your clients, which almost always means less in the beginning and more later on.
Easily half the e-mails I get from the super-awesome readers of PTP have to do with pricing.
Reader R.G. from Georgia wrote this week to ask about package pricing for senior portrait clients:
Mr. Taylor, I discovered your website a few days ago and found it to be very helpful. I am having a very difficult time with pricing my services to the point I am not able to go out and do what I love to do. I have been making some money with my photography and I would like to make more.
For example right now I am struggling with pricing for Senior portraits and I live near some very large high schools. In the Atlanta area I am seeing prices for a basic package starting at $300.00 along with a setup or session fee. What should a photographer just starting out charge clients for Senior portraits?
What package options should I offer for a Senior portrait?
Here is my response, for your perusal:
R.G.,
Happy Saturday to you, and thank you for your e-mail and kind words!
I am an extremely customer-friendly business owner - within reason, I try to always err on the side of trusting and supporting my clients. Over the last 13 years, I've experimented with different packages, session fees, minimum orders, etc. What I settled on as the most successful structure for me, I write about at:
What should I charge for my part time photography? – Your First Customer Series, Part 3
I write about some of the potential risks of going session-fee-free, and the rewards, here as well:
You’re going to get screwed doing part time photography
I'm a big advocate for putting the onus of responsibility on us, the photographers, instead of making clients make a big up-front commitment before the photographer has done any kind of work for them.
I suggest starting out to go with no session fee, no minimum order, and charge as little as $10 for your small prints or digital files. This makes a heck of an elevator pitch when selling potential clients on your value. "You just buy what you love." It is now extremely rare that I don't score the business of an interested potential client, and also rare that I get taken advantage of or don't make at least a modest income for my time invested even from my 'cheapest' customers. I used this exact pricing model for years to build clientele, then just doubled my price - prints and files start at just $20 now.
I also became much more consistent with offering full CD packages of all processed images for $XXX - either $295, $395, or $495, depending on the client and the number of salable images I produced from their shoot. I'd say around half of my clients nowadays buy the full CD.
Honestly, the secret is trial and error over a long period of time. If you're wanting to build client base, lower your prices - make them very attractive. If you want to start maximizing profits from a solid existing client base, raise your prices. Over the course of six months, a year, two years, your art is going to grow commensurate with your experience and your business, you'll become better at everything from booking to shooting to eliciting expressions and personality to sales, so it's not unusual or untoward for your pricing to go up commensurate.
I don't offer any kinds of packages - I just try to introduce my pricing so simply and inexpensively ("Wow, just $20? I would have thought you charged a lot more - can I book right now?") and then let the quality of my work earn my actual wages after the shoot ("James, these photos are amazing, we have to have them all. How much for the CD again?").
It's a learning and earning process - early on, unless your art is already out of this world good (and your marketing equally so), you have to do reasonable work for reasonable pay. As you grow, progress, learn, and improve, the per-hour return on your time improves accordingly. As I state on my blog, I now earn more in pocket from four hours a week of photography than I do in 40 hours a week at my day job as a journalist (not a big number to start with, but a milestone I'm proud of).
I hope this helps answer your question R.G.! I enjoyed looking at your portfolio, especially the images from San Francisco. You do great work - there's no reason you can't achieve your goal of earning a professional and proper income from your work. If there's anything more I can do to help, please don't hesitate to let me know. And please do keep me posted on your progress! I'd love to hear of your successes and adventures.
James Taylor
The Outlaw Photographer
OutlawPhotography.net
PartTimePhoto.com
830-688-1564
Learn, then earn
As I share with R.G. above, the more you learn, the more you earn.
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.
However, as you grow, so should your profits.
You'll get a feel for when it's time to raise your prices. You'll be booking more clients than you have time to shoot, and begin turning away a few. You'll start to feel disappointed in the amount of time you're investing in your clients and how seemingly little you're getting back in profits. You'll grow beyond your tools (camera, lenses, marketing materials, web site, portfolio) and begin to see real, tangible reasons why upgrading your equipment would create opportunities for you (this is far and away different from tech lust).
It's at this time that you'll raise your prices, book fewer prospects, but see much better dollars-per-hour numbers. Then the clientele will grow again. As in all things, there's a balance to be achieved, and your center of balance will shift as your photography and business mature. You'll start marketing to a different crowd, you'll shift your attention to your favorite categories of clients (families versus seniors, for example), and you'll find yourself making more money shooting subjects you love working with.
Never suffer paralysis by analysis - throw a dart and make your best educated guess as to where you should set your prices today, and commit to it. Keep track of your numbers (expenses, hours invested per client, average sale per client, total revenue, total expenses, thus total profit) and within a few months, you can reevaluate and change your prices if you see an opportunity or trend.
The more you shoot, the more you learn; the more you learn, the more you earn.
Next Steps
- Grab your business card. Flip it over. Write "Prices" at the top, and fill out your entire price schedule on the back of that business card. If you can't 'explain' your pricing on the back of that card, you're probably overcomplicated things. Once you've got your pricing written out on this card, that's it - put the pen down and stop obsessing over minutiae. It's time to hang your shingle, commit to your pricing, and start shooting paying clients. You can always change it later, but you need to put a stake in the ground right here, right now, and get back to what's important: earning clients and making portraits.
- Now that you've set your prices, go take a look at your local competition (independent photographers and chain studios alike) and see how they price themselves, and how they present those prices (this is completely opposite to what most photogs do, in checking out the competition, then building their price list). Try to evaluate the "Why" behind their choices. Do certain pricing or presentation choices better communicate value or excite potential clients? Does their pricing encourage ever-larger purchases? Do they primarily advertise their lowest price package or their largest? Which comes first on the price list? Again: Why?
- Brainstorm session: Think about how you've set your prices, and what your selling points are if someone wants to compare you to these other photographers. Are your prices better? More simple? No hidden fees? No confusing packages? No session fees or minimum orders? Is your art unique and custom to each client? Do you provide more value via the experience you provide, the personalized attention you give to clients, your flexibility in scheduling, your access to beautiful private property locations, your digital-friendly products, and then some? All of the above? Of course. Commit this knowledge to heart. You never want to talk down the competition, but you do need to know why what you offer is more valuable - no matter how you price your products. Write this down and file away in your Brainstorms folder.
- My writing at PartTimePhoto.com exists to serve your needs as an amateur photographer making the transition to paid professional. I appreciate and welcome your readership, and invite you to subscribe to my e-mail newsletter at the top of any page of this site.
- If anything in this post has spoken to and inspired you, please comment below, drop me an e-mail, or call or text me at 830-688-1564 and let me know. I’d love to hear how you use the ideas here to better your part time photography business!
Success is the result of happiness, not the preface
"If I work harder, I'll be more successful; if I'm more successful, I'll be happier <- This way of thinking is scientifically broken, and backwards."
So shares the funny and fast-talking psychologist Shawn Anchor in his TEDxBloomington presentation, "The happy secret to better work."
I just saw this video for the first time today, and I had to share with you guys - I think Shawn speaks to an illness that afflicts so many of us photographers, especially in the early stages of our professional careers.
We're never satisfied.
We're always wanting.
We think, "If I could just create art like that photographer, I'd be so happy."
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.
We always say to ourselves, "If I could just succeed (get more paying clients, buy a better camera, create art on par with our mentors), I would be happy." And thus we work harder trying to chase an ever-changing vision of success that always hides just over the horizon - no matter how far we've come.
Shawn's presentation covers this affliction with humanity and insight, and although the solution seems simple (be happy first, then greater success will follow), the application of wise words is always harder than hearing them.
"When you raise the level of positivity in the present, the brain experiences a happiness advantage; the brain at positive performs better than at negative, neutral or stressed," Shawn shares.
How much better? If you're happy, you're 31-percent more productive; 37-percent better at sales, so says Shawn.
No wonder the "sales session" comes as such an unnatural experience to most new-to-the-profession photographers - we artists love to make salable art, but then we stress out about pricing, products, policies, session fees, minimum orders, and the entire sales process.
This is one of the many reasons I try to help you, dear PTP reader, to keep your business simple and honest. Get right legally, don't sweat the small stuff, price your work fairly but profitably, and don't be afraid to buck tradition and convention to build a business you can believe in.
If you let negativity stick around, by the time you're done with your daily responsibilities and you're able to invest some time in your photography and business, your motivation and inspiration will be flatlined. I've experienced this myself, and it almost caused me to quit professional photography - by the end of a stressful work day, the last thing I wanted to do was take on the additional stress and worry of shooting a paying client.
You started your business because you love photography, your skills are well beyond just being a Mom or Dad With a Camera, and you've been encouraged by friends or family to step up to a professional level and serve your community. Never let the business side of your venture kill the passion you have for creating art. There is a balance to be achieved between your the two, and while each can be frustrating at times, they should work symbiotically in uplifting the whole.
Shawn shares five tiny lifestyle changes that can (re)train your brain and create ripples of positivity in your life. Here they are, with my advice on how to translate this into your walk as a part time professional photographer:
3 Gratitudes
Consider three new things you're grateful for each day.
I loathe mornings. I won't lie, one of my life goals is to do work that does not require me to wake before my body says it's time. It takes purposeful, conscious effort to drag me past my disdain for an early morning and replace it with a positive, enthused, motivated vibe for the day.
But that's okay. Because I'm aware of it, and I know how to do it. I am grateful for the opportunity to take a dreadful morning and turn it around by the time I get to work. It's not easy, but it is possible.
One of the tools in my kit for brightening these mornings is to focus on the things I'm grateful for. And it's improtant to always explore your heart for new things - it's too easy to fall into a lazy rut of being thankful for God, country, and family, and to never really light the spark that comes from considering specific people, moments, experiences, and comforts that you're truly thankful for.
You know you best - pay attention to your mood throughout the day, and identify when you could most use some positive reinforcement. It may be in the mornings, or after lunch when you want to do anything but go back to work. Make it a daily ritual at this time to pause and consider three new things you're grateful for, and see how quickly you're able to halt and turn back that negativity.
Journaling
Is it cheating that my day job is as a journalist?
You don't have to be a professional writer to journal honestly and introspectively about your experiences in life. Nobody needs to read your journal but you - and honestly, once you've put pen to paper, you may never read your words either. It's the act of pouring it all out on paper (digital or dead tree) that helps you purge distress, think more clearly, and take time out of a busy day to focus on your dreams, goals, and life experiences.
Shawn encourages folks to journal each day about one positive experience from the last 24 hours.
Length is irrelevant, but try to "get it all out" on paper - don't skimp on the details, the feelings, the people, the moment.
As young reporters here in Bandera, Texas, my fellow journalist Jessica and I would always ask our salty old editor Newt, "How long should this story be?" And Newt would respond, while typing away in clack-clack fashion with just his two index fingers (as he had done for over 40 years), "As long as it needs to be, children."
Sit down, start writing, write until you're done.
(ProTip: If you get writer's block, kill it by embracing the art of The Crappy Draft. Just start writing. It can be complete horsesh*t, it doesn't even have to make sense. Everything will fall into place. That is how almost every single article here on PTP starts out.)
Exercise
Shawn shares that exercise teaches the brain that behavior matters.
The benefits of good exercise are many, but where I think most folks get caught up is on the idea that they must be physically suffering to experience worthwhile benefits - and this is by no means true.
- I hate to run, but I love to cycle.
- I hate to walk on a treadmill, but I love to walk the park with my kids.
- I hate physical labor, but I love lifting weights.
- I hate dumbbells, but I love kettlebells.
- I hate fitness classes, but I love cross training with YouTube.
- I hate most competitive sports, but I love shooting hoops and disc golf.
You don't have to do things you hate to lose weight or just improve your fitness level - there are limitless options for physical activity that can improve your health and give you the benefits, mental and physical, of good, regular exercise.
My fitness grew to be an issue as I moved from the studio to doing more location shoots, and I'd find myself running out of breath while walking from location to location with my clients - it was embarassing, and it threw my focus off of my subject and my art.
Doing anything more than what you're doing now will be a major improvement, even if it's just going for a walk. If you're already exercising, mix up your fitness routine and do something completely different - keep your body guessing. Whatever your fitness level, challenge yourself daily to improve - and you will see the results of those improvements faster than you think.
Meditation
"Meditation helps us get over our cultural ADHD," Shawn says.
I will adimt that I struggle with this more than any other activity. Between a day job, photography business, wife, three kids, and friends, it's a real challenge to take time to stop everything and just breathe.
Ironic, isn't it? To get more done, you have to slow down.
I try to meditate in the mornings when the world (and my household) is still quiet. I let my brain address and sweep out all its concerns and responsibilites, I envision success in any projects I have coming up for the day, and then try to simply be still, breathe, relax, and calm my soul. It is vastly more challenging than it sounds, and it takes practice.
But what clarity, what energy I have when I make the time for meditation! Instead of letting life pick me up and whisk me away on a sea of reaction, meditation lets me retake control of my mind and my activities - all of a sudden, I'm in charge; I'm reframing my day around the actions that will really make a difference, and I take on the day with a clear, bright, burning vision of what I want to achieve, and why.
Meditation is as much about retaking control as letting go.
It is so, so easy to let life carry you away - then one day you realize the past six months (years?) passed in a blur, you've gained 15 pounds, and you haven't even started on most of the goals you wanted to have reached by now, much less made notable progress on them.
Stopping everything, disconnecting from the world, and just being quiet with your Self allows you to chart your journey and adjust course on a daily basis, instead of finding yourself lost and far from where you wanted to be as though you'd been unconscious for months.
Meditate, and live consciously.
Random Acts of Kindness
As my BFF says, "It's the little things that improve the overall quality of life."
I think it's safe to say that folks like you and me are "good people," but life just doesn't often present us the opportunities to show it. Again, we get carried away on the buzz and rush of life, and we don't take time to do the little things that make life better for ourselves, or others.
You know what Random Acts of Kindness are - you've performed them, you've been the recipient of plenty, no doubt. The little things aren't hard to do; the hard part is slowing down and shifting your focus long enough to do them.
Shawn suggests opening your e-mail and writing one positive letter each day to someone in your social support network.
The Facebook "Like" button has disguised itself as this sort of support, but I think it's worlds apart from actually showing someone personal attention and caring.
I recently helped a young friend put together an awesome resume which landed her a job when she needed it most. I spent 15 minutes talking honestly with another friend about his new efforts as a musician, offering constructive criticism and encouragement. I try every day to text someone on my contact list and let them know I'm sending them good vibes for a great day. If you've ever left a comment here on PTP or written me an e-mail, I hope you've found me to be open, interested, and invested in your success.
These aren't heroic acts by any means, and none have taken more than a few minutes each day averaged out. But this kind of caring, personal attention is so rare in our ever-efficient digital age - very few people take the time to really listen, to really invest their emotions and imaginations in offering support or friendship.
And these acts of kindness are by no means limited to your friends - you should look for chances to do the same for your clients. Pay attention when they say their child's birthday is coming soon, or that their husband is returning from Afghanistan in two months, or their mother is undergoing chemotherapy. Even so little an act as dropping an e-mail to say you remembered the conversation and show you care enough to ask how things are going, it means the world to people.
But don't be reactionary - don't wait for an obvious situation to present itself before you spring into action. Each day, by e-mail, Facebook, phone, or in person, take just a few minutes to be a positive presence in someone's life.
Remember that passion and excitement you had when you first decided to become a professional photographer? Despite what the grognards say, that honeymoon doesn't have to end. By cultivating a positive nature, you'll not only find success more quickly overall, you'll enjoy the journey throughout.
Next Steps
- Take 12 minutes out of your life to laugh and learn with Shawn Anchor. His presentation is spot-on, and it may well be one of those lightbulb moments that changes how you perceive your world.
- Add Shawn's five little suggestions to your daily routine. Start right now: plan where those five acts will take place in your day, then make it happen. Do it for a week. Do it for three weeks, then take the time to evaluate how much of a difference these additions have made in your mood, art, business, and life.
- Brainstorm session: What makes you happy? What makes you unhappy? How can you have more happy and less unhappy? What little changes can you make to your lifestyle that will make a big difference over time? What's stopping you? How can you overcome those hurdles? Write all this down and file it away in your Brainstorms folder.
- My writing at PartTimePhoto.com exists to serve your needs as an amateur photographer making the transition to paid professional. I appreciate and welcome your readership, and invite you to subscribe to my e-mail newsletter at the top of any page of this site.
- If anything in this post has spoken to and inspired you, please comment below, drop me an e-mail, or call or text me at 830-688-1564 and let me know. I’d love to hear how you use the ideas here to better your part time photography business!
12 ways to make 2012 the year your business takes off
I've never been a fan of New Year's resolutions - I always figured, if I saw a change I needed to make in my self or my life, why not make it then? Why wait?
Well, for the same reason we eat too much around the holidays, put off going to the doctor too long when we're sick, and spend more time trying to learn photography in front of a computer instead of behind the lens - we are imperfect creatures.
We need a catalyst to make change so immediate and important that we get off our butts and do what's right instead of what's easy.
So here we sit together, on the brink of 2012 - let's look at 12 ways we can make this year the best in our lives as part time professional photographers.
1. You are your own worst enemy - Procrastination
I'd bet good money your first gut reaction to seeing this subhead was to put off reading it. Odds are you felt that uncomfortable twist inside that says, "Meeeeh, I'll come back to that later."
I'll tell you honestly and up front, Procrastination and its conjoined twin Inaction are by far the biggest reasons your business is not where you dream it to be.
You know the dreams - when you read something inspirational, or you start to get something done to better your business, or you get a big compliment on your art, or in that twilight time between laying down and falling asleep - that time when your heart's desires manifest themselves in wonderful half-moment visions of what your business and your life could be like, "If only..."
Your ego's defense mechanism is of course the excuse - "If only I had time," "If only I had more money," "If only I had a better camera..."
Horsesh*t.
But you didn't need me to tell you that, you already know it. Sometimes our egos sound like 4-year-olds - they whine and make up excuses with absolutely no connection to reality. But just like little kids, often we let our egos get away with it.
2012 is the year to give your ego a swift kick in the arse.
(Complete aside: While covering a local school board meeting here in Texas for the newspaper, my coworker overhead a few members of the board of trustees talking about spanking kids - one said spanking was ineffective and barbaric, another said such punishment was an act of teaching and love, and the third said, "Well then my daddy suuuure must have loved me!")
The first step to beating procrastination's butt is to recognize it and call it out to its face. When you should be taking action of any kind - walking out the door to practice your art, reading your camera manual and practicing to better understand shutter speed and F-stops, updating photos on your Facebook page or blog - and then you don't, you need to stop everything and at the least acknowledge what you are doing, that you are putting off something that would benefit your business or life because it scares you in some small way.
Just the act of consciously acknowledging an act of procrastination can begin to empower you against it.
The next step is to do "just five minutes" or "just 15 minutes" of work. The hardest part of any act, any project, is to start doing it. Reading, studying, learning, thinking, absorbing - that's the easy part, of course, because it requires no real effort, and there's no risk involved. Taking action imparts the risk of failure, which we all have an absolutely disproportionate fear of. Start with baby steps.
And of course the final step is to follow through. You've packed your clubs, you've driven to the golf course, you're on the first tee and you've drawn back to hit the ball down the fairway - let loose. You've got 18 holes to go, and you'll never score until you finish them all.
Projects, goals of any kind, take focused effort to complete - and don't fool yourself into thinking that becoming a better photographer is a passive act. Certainly, making any photo is better than making none, but real progress as a professional artist comes as you take on specific challenges - bettering your grasp of manual camera controls, improving how you pose subjects in relation to your light source to make their eyes dazzle, practicing and adding one specific new scene to your must-shoot list.
Honestly, you can skip the next 11 suggestions if you're going to ignore this one. If you don't overcome procrastination, you'll never get around to them anyway.
As the goddess of victory commands, "Just Do It."
2. Imitate your way to the top
Pick a photographer whose art you really love. Not some over-the-top weird artsy type whose work belongs in a turtleneck-magnet gallery, but someone who is obviously doing very well in the industry of professional portrait photography.
Now do whatever it takes to shoot just like them.
Don't copycat their work of course, but make them your subject of study as you learn to improve your art and make it more attractive, more salable to your market.
"But, but, but, I'm an artist! I'm a unique and precious snowflake and I must carve my own path lest I stifle my creative spirit!"
Well Princess, you learn to walk before you dance - you have to learn to make serviceable, salable photography before you set out to revolutionize the industry.
As marketing guru Seth Godin so precisely puts it, you don't have to be the best in the world - just the best in their world, in the world of your target market.
You limit your growth as a photographer when you invest all your focus into creating "new" art instead of learning the nuts and bolts of how other successful professionals earn a living. I could trim my entire portfolio down to about six shots and do those same six shots every shoot from now until retirement and make an honest living doing it. That wouldn't be very fun or exciting, but it's the truth - you've got to consistently nail the basics, your foundational salable shots, before you can begin to successfully play and create from imagination and vision.
It will come, and it's a great place to be as a photographer, when you can quickly knock out your basics during a shoot and then just play and flow throughout the rest of your time with a subject. As an artist, as a creative type, it's both fun and satisfying.
Until then, choose a photographer to study and imitate, and work toward equaling both their technical and artistic abilities. Study each image, each scene, each setup - study the lighting, the catchlights in the subjects' eyes, the posing, the background, the colors and textures - learn what makes each image tick, then practice those parts until you can consistently recreate the whole.
This kind of specific, purposeful, guided learning will help you make much better photos much faster than the typical scattershot, passive practice most photographers employ.
Once you've mastered one photographer's repertoire, choose another, better photographer, and learn their work. It can take months, years if your practice time is limited, but just being on equal artistic footing with a successful professional opens so many doors to your own financial success - and the resultant time and artistic freedoms that come with it.
3. Get your web site right
Bless your heart, but you don't know what you're doing.
I say this with all the southern gentility I can muster. It's nothing personal, it's no affront to you as an artist, but photographers are no more web designers than your dentist is an optometrist.
If your business is off the ground and you're turning a profit, one of the first places you should invest those profits is into an inexpensive but professional web site. Just like in the start-up end of the photography market, there are plentiful talented-if-inexperienced web designers ready to do good work for honest pay. Their grasp of code and layout and search engine optimization at their worst is better than yours at your best - you neither can nor should "do it all."
There are exceptions to this rule, of course, but far more often than not I see budding professional photographers with perfectly salable art wrapped in a broken, ugly, Do It Yourself mess of a web site. Or a Wordpress blog straight off the default template.
The profits from just 2-3 photo shoots will afford you a far better web site. Keep in mind, your web site does work for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week - give it the investment it deserves to do the best job it can for you. You don't need to spend a thousand dollars on a custom site far beyond the scope of your present work - all you need is a home page, a portfolio gallery, an About page, a blog, and a contact page.
If you've yet to turn a profit or charge for your work (see No. 12 on this list), draw on the talents and advice of anyone you know with web design experience. A six-pack of beer or a bottle of wine is often enough compensation to have a friend over to help you go over your site and make improvements. Start with a simple Wordpress blog site where you can post fresh photos every week and develop from there. Even the least technical among us can change the logo out, set up pages and make posts to a Wordpress site - if you have trouble with it, just visit the Google or watch the YouTubes.
Along with your business card and e-mail newsletter, your web site is an equal part of the core of your business marketing - if you're more interested in what new lens or flash you'll buy next instead of having your web site given a professional's touch, your priorities are misplaced.
4. Set a Facebook and blog posting schedule
All of my business comes from Facebook and word of mouth - which, here in the digital age, are pretty much the same thing.
Around 2005 is when MySpace became my biggest source of clients. When Facebook took over, so went my clientele.
Facebook is all about being where your market is. Easily three out of every four times a client contacts me to set up a shoot, it's through Facebook. Surprisingly often, I'll never even talk with a client by phone or e-mail before or after our shoot - Facebook is instant, convenient, and a daily (if not hourly) stop for most folks.
Would I rather enjoy a chat on the phone or, better, a face-to-face visit with a client? Of course, but as the service provider it is not my place to force a consultation on a client who obviously prefers a digital medium - hence why they contacted me on Facebook in the first place.
My personal Facebook also serves as my professional presence - most folks prefer to keep the two separate, and Facebook even has different profile setups to provide specific accommodations for each.
Once you've set up your Facebook page for your business, you need to maintain it, alongside your blog on your business web site.
I like to post something to Facebook daily, and update my blog with a recent photo shoot weekly.
Facebook being a casual place, you don't have to always post your latest professional work or only talk about your photography business - share links to local news, post a photo of your cat and tell a funny story - but just be sure that what you post is something of interest and appropriate to your target market. Be creative, have fun, add value.
On my blog I stick to highlights and commentary about recent photo shoots, and photo stories of fun or interesting life events. I try to pack each post with good keyphrases, writing conversationally but with purpose while including terms potential clients may use on Google when searching for a local photographer. I try to include the names of all the locations my client and I shot at, where they went to school if they did so locally, etc.
Make posting to Facebook a daily part of your routine, and pick a day of the week (I'm partial to Sunday evenings) to update your blog with fresh photos. It only takes a few minutes, but the free exposure you get with your target market is unmatched by any other venue.
5. Be Wise - Advertise
Getting your name and art out there for potential clients to see is one of the biggest challenges photographers face as they make the transition to paid professionals.
Early on, the problem is not that your art is bad, it's that your marketing is nonexistent. It's not that everyone thinks you suck, they just don't think about you at all.
Advertising to me is the paid arm of marketing - print ads in your local newspaper, postcards in the mail, a billboard out on the highway, your Google AdSense campaign, that sort of thing. You trade your hard-earned dollars for access to the eyeballs of thousands of potential clients.
Despite the fact that my day job for the past 13 years has been with a newspaper, I am a very frugal and measured supporter of paid advertising. "Any advertising" does not equal "good advertising." Any act of marketing you undertake should have an intended result from a specific, targeted set of people. If you want to book more newborn baby shoots, don't advertise in your local paper's automotive section, unless there's an article on car seats. Make sense?
Advertising is the quick and easy way to get in front of a market, but it's also scattershot - it's often inexpensive because it's mass marketing. The more targeted the advertising venue, the more expensive it is.
Advertising is also a process of placement, measurement, and adjustment - it is not something you just do and hope you book more shoots. Advertising has to be done over time, the results must be measured, and adjustments should be made to make your advertising dollars more effective.
For example, at my newspaper you can run a one-column by one-inch display ad for $8 a week. The cost isn't exorbitant, and the ad will reach around 8,000 people each week. Odds are, 400 (five percent) of those people invest in professional portrait photography at all. Maybe 20 (five percent) of those people are in the market for portraits right now. I'll do well if one (five percent) of those people sees my ad and calls me to book a shoot. But assuming I make more than $8 on that shoot, my money was well-invested.
Unfortunately, while advertising salespeople like to suggest there's a formula to guarantee a certain amount of business from an ad, people are infinitely unpredictable creatures. You may run an ad for a month and never get a bite from it. You may stop advertising and six months down the road have someone call you and say they saw your ad in the paper months before and finally got around to calling you. It's almost random.
Almost.
Over weeks and months and years, you can run consistent advertising and get fairly consistent results from those ads. You'll learn through your measurements what months are better than others, and what promotions to advertise when to get the best results. Every market is different, and unless another locally advertising photographer wants to clue you in, you'll have to go through the learning process yourself.
It's not an inexpensive education, but it's fun, and almost always if you stay frugal, the return on your investment will have been worth the cost. Keep in mind that every new client is a potential repeat client - every subject with whom you shoot is worth far more than the first sale you make with them, both in repeat business and word of mouth.
That said, my newspaper also sells full-page color ads for over a thousand dollars for a single week's placement - just because an advertising option exists doesn't make it a smart choice for your business. Should the local liquor store take out a half-page color ad in the paper the week before New Year's? Of course. Should you bump the size of your family portraiture ad in November while promoting Christmas card photos? Of course.
Spend as little as possible on advertising, and only spend more when there's a clear and profitable purpose for doing so.
Salespeople will give you a million reasons why you should spend more money - that's their job. Holt tight to your pursestrings, and only invest within your means.
6. Volunteer your talents
Volunteering with a worthwhile charity has long been one of my first suggestions to newly-minted professional photographers. It gives you great face time with potential clients, it gives you an established venue where your art can be seen, and it's just a good thing to do for your community. Do right by folks and they'll do right by you.
Charitable organizations often have many needs for professional photography:
- Portraits of founders
- Annual individual and group portraits of board members
- Photos to accompany news and press releases
- Photos of fundraising events
- Photos and photo stories of the beneficiaries of the charity's work
Explore your community for a charity with a cause you support and that has some connection to your target market.
For example, we have several local non-profits that help high schoolers earn scholarships in a wide variety of fields. High school seniors being my specialty, I attend their events to provide photos for the newspaper, I set up a mobile studio and do stylish portraits at their annual prom fashion show, I donate gift certificates for photo shoots to their silent auctions, etc.
There's always a way to help, and the rewards both social and financial are more than worthwhile.
7. Set up a photo event
Most folks don't need professional photos, they need a reason.
This is true of almost all sales and marketing - you don't sell the steak, you sell the sizzle. Hardly anyone who buys a new car needs a new car. They need transportation; good marketing makes them desperately want a specific car.
A photo event can give potential clients just the reason they need to invest in fresh portraits for themselves or their families.
Bunnies and baby chicks at Easter, Halloween costume contests, sitting on Santa's knee at Christmas - yeah, I hear you, it's cliche and done to death, but there's a reason. It pays.
Three weeks ago my wife and I took the kids to the Bass Pro Shop in San Antonio, and there were so many families in line to pay to be photographed with Santa that the store had to use a ticketing system and offered everything from a remote control truck arena to an in-store merry-go-round to ease the misery of waiting parents.
Touching on the next tip in this list, you want to be the photographer hosting these events in your own community. Whether it's for your apartment complex, your neighborhood, your city, your zip code, your potential clients would likely much rather spend their money with you and receive timely and personal service.
When I set up a photo event, I try to do the sales session directly after the shoot. For my Easter mini-shoot, we keep it super simple - we buy a bunch of stuffed animal bunnies in sizes from small to massive, make a big pile of them, and then photograph the kids hugging and playing with the toy bunnies. We spend 15 minutes shooting, five minutes culling, and 10 minutes selling. We book one shoot every 45 minutes for one or two days, depending on the number of bookings. If my wife and I double team, her doing photos while I do sales, we can pack twice as many shoots in a day without anyone feeling rushed.
Donate a portion of proceeds to a local non-profit, and you've got an instant press release for your local newspaper and radio station, both pre-event and post-event. We also do a drawing from our list of clients to give away the biggest, most expensive bunnies from the shoot, and donate the remaining stuffed animals to charity - local toy drives, the thrift store that benefits our local non-profit medical clinic, emergency services which gift stuffed animals to young children caught in stressful situations, and so on.
Photo events only grow in popularity with each event you host. I'm partial to frequent (weekly to monthly) promotions and quarterly photo events - more often of the latter if I'm targeting different markets. Even if a client doesn't bite on your Easter promotion, they may at Christmastime.
Photo events give clients a motivational reason to finally get the photos taken they've been putting off for too long.
8. Own Your Zip Code
You can be somebody to someone or nobody to everyone - never cast your net too wide.
The more narrowly you can focus your efforts as an artist and business owner, the easier and more deeply you will reach within your target market.
It's far easier to become the best baby photographer in your community when you're not trying to be the best family-senior-industrial-corporate-fashion-commercial photographer at the same time - you dilute your artistic development and your marketing message in equal amounts.
Have you done your first paid shoot yet? If not, the entirety of your artistic and marketing efforts should be focused on that goal, that first paying client. Once you've shot one, focus everything on your next client, then the next, then the next. So many photographers prepare their business for shooting dozens of clients before they've landed their first, and they market to everyone when they have yet to make an impression on any one.
Define the kind of art you want to make (re-read item No. 2 on this list), choose a specific clientele you most enjoy working with (I love working with the energy and personalities of high school seniors), and direct your efforts toward earning the business of that clientele on the smallest reasonable scale - earn the business of friends and family first, then neighbors, then of the folks who attend your church, then the folks who shop at the same businesses you do (hair stylists, for example), and onward.
Your market can always be broken down into small, manageable, reachable sets of people. When you do so, the daunting task of "marketing your business" becomes much easier, an application of creativity to common sense in how to reach and impress those people. Own Your Zip Code - be the best in their world.
9. Get photographed
By way of arrogance or ignorance, photographers rarely have their portrait taken. Indeed, the cobbler's children have no shoes.
Photographers will pay a thousand dollars for a "guru" to tell them how to perform a photo shoot and sale, but they won't pay $50 to $150 to just go to a successful photographer and have their portrait taken. If you're astute, pay attention, and write down notes after the experience, the resultant gold nuggets of wisdom will be very similar.
Soak up the experience from initial exposure through booking, shooting, selling, and delivery.
Here's my process:
- Pick a nearby community that you don't particularly serve.
- Go online and search for a photographer in that community. Where does their web site place in the Google results? Why? What keyphrase did you search for, and how does their web site capture that keyphrase? In the title? The domain? In the body copy? In a blog post?
- Visit their web site and note your first impressions - does it load fast? Is their art attractive? Is their site easy to navigate? Does it answer all your questions? If not, such as if the photographer doesn't list prices online, does the site provide easy ways to contact the photographer?
- E-mail the photographer and ask any questions the site didn't answer - pricing, current promotions, booking, etc. Study their response - how long did it take them to get back to you? Was their response friendly and professional? Did their e-mail include a call to action - did they ask for your business, or ask you to take some other action? Was their e-mail signature professional and complete?
- Call the photographer and follow-up on the e-mail. Ask a couple more questions, then if you feel good about them as a consumer (as you would with any service provider), book a shoot with them. How did they answer the phone? Did they answer at all, or go to voicemail? If they went to voicemail, was the greeting professional and helpful? Did they guarantee a call back within a certain amount of time? How long before they called back? When you did speak to them, how was their phone etiquette? Were they aggressive, impatient, or friendly and helpful? Was the booking process easy? Were they booked solid, or did they have accommodating hours and options for different days of the week?
- Between booking and your shoot, did the photographer e-mail you after the phone call to thank you for booking and provide more information? Did the photographer send a reminder e-mail before your shoot?
- During the shoot, pay attention less to the photographer's artistic specifics and more to how they treat you and make you feel, how they elicit comfortable and natural expressions from you and your family. Watch more for methods they use when working with you as a subject than what their specific artistic choices are - the latter you can appreciate during the proofing and sales session. At the end of your shoot, did you feel the photographer did a good job? Did they tell you when your proofs would be available for viewing, and how? Did they set up a date and time for the sales session?
- Some photographers proof online, some in person. Either way, measure how you feel about the process and experience. Were their online proofs easy to view and make selections from to purchase? Did the online process leave you with any unanswered questions? Did the photographer make suggestions as to which images might be best used for what purposes (wall hanging versus wallets, for example)? If you proofed in person, was the process comfortable? Did you feel pressured to buy more than you wanted? Did the photographer explain your buying options clearly? Did they photographer ask questions so they understood what it was you were looking to buy in the first place? Did they provide guidance or did they try to sell you what you didn't want? Did they give you a solid date for delivery? Did their sales tactics and policies leave you feeling empowered, confused, taken advantage of, uncomfortable, or well taken care of?
- When the photographer delivered your purchase, is the presentation professional? Were you invited to join an e-mail list for future sales and promotions? Were you invited to like their Facebook page? Did the photographer ask to go ahead and pencil in your next photo shoot (for Christmas, or next year, for example)? Do you feel like what you were handed was worth what you paid? Would you work with this photographer again? Would you recommend him or her to your friends?
With all of these questions, try to write down notes from your experience, how you felt about each aspect, and what you wish they had done differently. From just one photo shoot as a consumer, whether the experience was good or bad, you can write a book of policies and procedures for your own business that will shape the experience your own clients will have with you, from start to art.
10. Break out of your comfort zone
Your comfort zone can single-handedly kill your business.
Everyone gets stuck in a rut sometimes, and the longer you're in that rut, the harder it is to dig out. Even when staying in that rut has painful consequences, or is a miserable experience in itself, it's what you know - it's what you're familiar with, and familiarity breeds comfort, which leads to complacency.
Human beings can learn to put up with a lot of unnecessary crap. Most corporate cultures are built on this reality.
It doesn't take much introspection to see where our bad habits lie - procrastination, eating too much, reading too much and practicing too little - but we're too good at giving ourselves a free pass. "I'll do better tomorrow," is right there with Joe's Crab Shack and their "Free crabs tomorrow" deal - there's always a tomorrow.
Breaking out of your comfort zone is like jumping out of an airplane - throw caution to the wind and Just Do It.
Should I starting charging for my work? Just Do It.
Should I call up my friend and set up a shoot with her so I can practicing my location lighting and poses? Just Do It.
Should I call myself a professional photographer if I'm not sure if I'm ready? Just Do It.
Should I leave the house and go photograph some Little League games today? Just Do It.
Should I go by the newspaper and see if they need any events photographed this week, in exchange for a byline? Just Do It.
Should I go to that children's resale shop downtown and ask to set up a co-op marketing campaign with them? Just Do It.
Should I set up my Facebook page and tell my friends and family about it today? Just Do It.
Should I walk up to that attractive man or woman and tell him I'd love to photograph them for my portfolio? Just Do It.
Should I go by one of the local daycares and offer to do their annual portraits of the kids? Just Do It.
I think you get it - you're just a shade better off in your comfort zone than you are with outright procrastination and inaction; in fact, like a trio of thugs, they are often seen hanging out together, sippin' on forty's and scheming how to steal your success from you today.
Don't let them. You sure as hell wouldn't have read this far if you didn't truly want to make your photography business a success, to make your artistic and business vision a reality. If you feel fear or hesitation, you're probably on the right track.
11. Relax
With all this talk of what you should do, here's something you should not do: stress out.
The grognards will tell you you have to do this, do that, and then worry yourself into paralysis.
Never forget: you're the boss. You're in charge. You make the decisions, and you can change your mind any time you want, for any reason. You don't have to follow the rules - you are the rulemaker.
Often we start our businesses with a take-charge sense of ownership, but by the time we're done getting shot down, critiqued and "warned" of the many pitfalls ahead by the grognards, all of a sudden we're submissive and feel we have to do what Soandso said or else we'll surely fail and embarrass ourselves in front of the whole community.
When you feel overwhelmed, with how far you have to go as an artist or as a business owner, just relax. You'll do no good for anyone if you burn out before you even get started.
This is supposed to be fun. It's supposed to be profitable. It's supposed to let loose the creative spirit within us. It's supposed to be a joy - that's why we're doing this, right?
We are consistently our own worst enemy, our worst critic, our greatest challenge to overcome on our path to success. You can choose to worry, or you can choose to act.
My father's advice always was, "Do something, even if it's the wrong damn thing."
As you make this mantra a part of your professional life, you learn that all the decisions we think are so huge at the time, in the end have so little influence on the outcome. Whether you charge this or charge that, offer this product or that, go with this logo and web site design or the other one, name your business this way or another, it's all minutiae in the long run.
What counts is what you do.
If all else fails, remember what Bob Parsons, founder of GoDaddy.com, was told by his father: "Son, they can't eat you."
12. Get paid
It's time.
I've been telling you for over two years now, it's time to get paid. You're reading this web site because you want to get paid - some of you need to get paid, and you're still resisting. You're letting the mortgage slide and credit card payments go late while giving away more "portfolio building" shoots.
If your friends and family have been telling you a while now that your work is good enough to charge for, or you've been asked, "Wow, you make great photos - how much would you charge to do my family photos?," then it's time for you to get paid.
I am all for portfolio-building shots. I am all about trading free shoots for subjects' time so you can practice bettering specific aspects of your art.
But you're good enough to charge. You have been for a while. Your art has value, it is not worthless - in fact, it's a blessing to anyone with the opportunity to shoot with you. You will never stop getting better at this, so the time is nigh to get paid for your talents.
It's time to hang your shingle, call yourself a professional (or pro-am), and do work. This is what you've been working toward, and 2012 is the time to do it.
No excuses.
No fear.
No procrastination.
No inaction.
No comfort zone.
I don't care what you charge - but get paid for your time. Scribble some notes on a napkin, figure out what you reasonably want to earn for your time, and from now on that's what a photo shoot with you will cost. You don't have to charge a session fee or have a minimum order to get there, but start somewhere, anywhere, and you can grow from there. My bet is that you'll earn more money than you think you will. As you grow, as an artist and business owner, so will your prices, and your profits.
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.
There are no limits. No one is stopping you.
Let go.
Then grab hold tight, because 2012 is going to be one hell of a sweet ride.
Next Steps
- Pen and paper time, mates. Quickly go over this article one more time, and for each section, write down your thoughts on how you're going to do things differently in 2012. Keep your list to one sheet, and make your plan clear and specific to address each issue. Tack this to your wall or somewhere where you can read it every single day for the rest of this year. I am not kidding - make the study of this list a part of your morning routine. You will not believe the difference in attitude and progress you will see from this simple act.
- There is a lot to commit to in this article. Start here, and just work your way down the list: Vow to recognize procrastination every time it rears its head, to stop and acknowledge it, then to power through it.
- Head forth to the Flickr and find an artist whose portraiture you really enjoy. Find someone who makes beautiful photos, but obviously something your typical family would hang on their wall - practical, but absolutely lovely. This person is your new artistic muse - study their work and learn to imitate what makes them successful. In time, you'll grow beyond this, but for now, lay your artistic foundation.
- Look at your web site. Be honest. Start over. Begin with simple, a blog if nothing else, and let your art be the centerpiece.
- Set up your Facebook page, set a day each week to blog on your site. Stick with it. If you miss one, don't let it knock you off track - just get back on schedule as soon as possible.
- Seek out inexpensive but effective local advertising opportunities. Start with your local community newspaper.
- Pick a non-profit, and volunteer your photography services. If they can't come up with an immediate use for you, move on to another non-profit.
- Pick a photo-friendly holiday coming up in the next few months (Easter a good option), and plan a photo event around it. Prepare the promotion, do a couple example shoots, pick a charity to donate a portion of proceeds to, ask a friend to set aside the date to give you a hand, collect any props you may need, visit with your community newspaper about a story or press release, arrange to update your advertising in advance of the event, post preview details to your Facebook and blog, and make it happen.
- Introspect about the kind of art you want to make, and the kinds of people you want to photograph. Exclude supermodels (or any models) from the results. Adopt the mindset that your business exists to serve this specific set of people, and let that guide you in all of your decisions of how to spend your time and money this year.
- Use the step-by-step instructions above to get photographed and use the resulting knowledge to nail down how you want to run your business.
- Step out of your comfort zone every day in a small way, every week in a medium way, every month in a big way. Eventually you will move through life with complete freedom of will.
- Relax. Learn some breathing techniques. Exercise and take up yoga or meditation. You've got to slow down if you want to get ahead.
- Set your prices. Know that you can change them at any time. When anyone asks, state your prices clearly, simply, and with confidence. It is what it is - if you don't make a big deal of your prices, neither will your clients.
- Brainstorm session: Enough of my advice - what do you want to change about your business or your life in 2012? Write it down, and file this in your Brainstorms folder.
- My writing at PartTimePhoto.com exists to serve your needs as an amateur photographer making the transition to paid professional. I appreciate and welcome your readership, and invite you to subscribe to my e-mail newsletter at the top of any page of this site.
- If anything in this post has spoken to and inspired you, please comment below, drop me an e-mail, or call or text me at 830-688-1564 and let me know. I’d love to hear how you use the ideas here to better your part time photography business!
How to lose weight the simple, sustainable way
2016 UPDATE:
Full disclaimer, there are no affiliate links in this post, I have no business relationship with anyone mentioned, and I stand to make no money from anything shared here. This is just one man's experience with losing weight and feeling better.
Five new resources I'm loving:
1. MapMyFitness - Great for tracking my walks and bike rides.
2. Freeletics - Best indoor bodyweight workouts I've ever done.
3. Mark's Daily Apple - Primal diet and fitness, clean, healthy, and delicious.
4. Athletic Greens - Greens supplement that has helped me with pain, stiffness, eyesight, sleep, recovery, digestion, gut health, immune system, and more. Powerhouse nutrients.
5. Sleep - The better I sleep, the better I stick to my diet, exercise, and productivity plans.
What?
What in the name of Richard Simmons does losing weight have to do with being a successful part time photographer?
Business bad boy 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."
It's safe to say that most folks would like to lose a few pounds - a few as in five pounds, 20, 100, some even more. Especially us Americans who have nigh unlimited access to the most fattening, unhealthy food in the history of mankind.
It's entirely possible to kill yourself, 99 cents at a time.
If you're like me and you've struggled for years and years with being overweight, over the course of this weight loss series I want to offer some words of encouragement and some resources that have proven invaluable in my finally succeeding in losing weight.
What does this have to do with part time photography? Just from my own experience:
- Being overweight saps confidence, and confidence acts as a multiplying factor when it comes to success with marketing your work and staying creative and playful during your shoots. A lack of confidence causes both hesitation and anxiety when introducing yourself to new people, and it is a constant distraction when you're trying to do creative work with the camera.
- Being overweight literally eats your profits. Professional photography, especially in the early years, can be very stressful - surviving stressful situations can trick you into thinking you need a reward, and often with us overweight folks, that reward comes in the form of food. I can't tell you how many times I would get through a photo shoot then take my family out for a big meal in San Antonio, about 45 miles from my home. Between gas and the cost of eating out, I'd blow a chunk of my income from the shoot before I even processed the photos.
- Being overweight limits your artistic flexibility. I love shooting overhand shots, reaching to put my camera in the air and shoot down on a client - and I love shooting from super-low angles. This is a lot harder when you're worried about your shirt coming untucked, or flopping around on the ground like a walrus, grunting to get back up. I don't believe our subjects actually care, but still, it's a state of mind that leaves you trying to protect your dignity instead of focusing wholly on the art and experience for your clients.
- Being overweight is uncomfortable. I love shooting sports from a low angle, on a knee or seated or even laying down - but with all the extra weight, I get about 60 seconds in one of these positions before I start getting very sore and uncomfortable. And it's both embarrassing and distracting when you're sweating, huffing and puffing just walking around a location with a client.
It's not that your weight has a direct influence on your art, it's all the mental and physical distractions that come with that extra weight that in aggregate can have a profound influence on your work, on how you interact with people, on how confident you are in marketing your business.
Two months ago, I needed to lose 100 pounds to get in the vicinity of my goal weight. Today, I'm 25 pounds closer to that goal. By my birthday in April 2012, I'll be at my target weight. I have never had such success with my weight as I have this summer, and I've never been so confident that I can actually reach that goal.
In this series I'll outline what is working so well for me, all the 'little things' that add up to create success. I'll continue to add articles to as I reach milestones on my way to losing 100 pounds, so you can see from the perspective of a fellow part time professional photographer all of the challenges and solutions along the way.
Know this above all else: you can lose weight, get fit, and both feel and look fantastic. It needn't be torturous or miserable. You just have to find the right mix of resources and methods that work for you - here's my greatest one:
WHAT THE GURUS DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW
Here's the big secret nobody selling diets or exercise equipment wants you to know: if you eat right and exercise, you will lose weight.
You already know how to lose weight: you eat healthy (not less, but healthier), you move around more. Veggies, lean meat, lift some weights, hop on the treadmill. You already know that every "easy" and "quick" weight loss method is a scam. You already know what you're doing right, and what you're doing wrong.
I knew it. Heck, I learned this stuff watching PBS Kids as a child.
But knowing something and doing something about what you know are two hugely different things.
I knew it all the way to 270 pounds. On a stocky 5'6" Irish frame, that's a massive amount of fat for a human being to carry around.
It's like watching grass grow, though - on a day to day basis, you just don't notice it while it's happening. Especially for us men, who have built-in rose-colored glasses when we look in a mirror.
You graduate high school or college and stop playing sports. You work your first real jobs, and the added stress both distracts you from staying healthy and causes you to eat more crappy food. You get in a serious relationship or get married and get lazy with your physical appearance. You and your spouse have a baby and you both put on baby weight, then a whole new world of stress and distraction takes over.
Your pants get too tight, you go up a size and tell yourself, "Meh, I'll lose it when this stress at work settles down." Then you go up another size. "I just haven't had time to get to the gym, I'm going to start hitting it hard." Then another. "I'm getting older, I'm married now, I'm focused on more important things in life than my looks." Then another...and so on. Until one day you're laid up in bed with back problems, or your doctor tells you you need blood pressure medication, because you've slowly let yourself balloon up to a wholly unhealthy weight.
MY SECRET WEAPON: MOTIVATION
I didn't realize how unhealthy my lifestyle had become after high school until I got married and had kids. My sedentary job and lifestyle led to a back injury, my back injury led to putting on a huge amount of weight, but reality didn't strike me until I was unable to hold my own newborn son for more than a few minutes because of my back problems - back problems greatly extended and exacerbated by my weight.
This kick in the pants took me to the gym to rehabilitate my body. I didn't lose weight, but I rebuilt my muscle and gained strength all over, especially in my back. I can now lift and wrestle and play with my 7-year-old girl and 4-year-old boy. My 11 month old is light as a feather.
But my weight didn't become an slap-in-the-face issue until my birthday in April of this year.
There comes a moment when you realize you're the fattest person in the room, at a get-together, or in your entire family or circle of friends. This struck me at my birthday party, when I looked around and realized I had at least 50-75 pounds more fat than anyone at my party.
It was during this time that I made a bet with my two best friends: I wagered by my birthday in 2013, two years time, I would be in better shape than either of them. They would have to tone up and put on muscle, but I would have to lose 100 pounds of fat.
The bet got me started. My trip to the doctor for a sinus infection got me scared.
While checking my stats, my doctor looked at me and said over her glasses, "Are you on blood pressure medication? If not, you need to be." I had to convince her not to write me a prescription right then.
I hadn't felt "bad" in years, since I started hitting the gym with regularity. I'd never had heart issues or any symptoms of high blood pressure. But my weight was affecting me in more ways than just confidence and clothing - it was wearing down my heart at a greatly accelerated rate, and putting me at risk for heart disease, heart attack, and a very reduced lifespan on this earth.
I may end up on blood pressure medication anyway (my mother had hypertension), but I want to eliminate weight as a potential influence first.
With death staring me eye-to-eye for one of the first times in my otherwise charmed life, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I had to make changes. I have too much I want to experience, achieve, and leave behind in this life to risk losing all opportunity to do so over cheeseburgers and milkshakes.
That visit with the doctor was two months ago. I've lost 25 pounds since. My clothes don't fit. I'm about to punch a new hole in my belt because I can't tighten it enough to keep my pants up. I put on and had room to spare in a nice shirt that I was about to bust the buttons on just a few months ago. People are asking me if I've lost weight. It's greater motivation than I ever could have dreamed.
Weight loss is possible. Progress is real and tangible. If you stick with healthy eating and some exercise, weight loss is an inevitable, natural result.
In forthcoming articles on the topic, I'll share with you all of the meals, practices, methods, tools, books, blogs and resources that have proven invaluable in my weight loss success. There are no silver bullets, there are no magic pills, and honestly, it's not even been all that hard.
The secret is motivation. Identify your motivation, your reasons for truly wanting to lose weight, the tangible and real benefits you'll experience from reaching your ideal weight, and you will have taken the first and biggest step toward the fitness success you've fantasized about for years.
NEXT STEPS
- Go to www.MyFitnessPal.com, sign up for a free account, and begin tracking everything you eat each day. It's not a hassle, it takes almost no time at all, it's free, and it will be one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal. In fact, it becomes addicting, and fun. You'll thank me later. Please feel free to add me as friend - my username is BanderaOutlaw.
- Buy a copy of Tim Ferriss' "4 Hour Body" and start reading. I have both hardcopy and Kindle versions. The super simple diet and exercise outlined in this book is what has worked for me after every other diet and exercise plan failed, every single time for lack of sustainability. The diet is inexpensive, healthy, quick to prepare, easy (I've almost never cooked in my life), and with Tim's suggested seasonings, delicious.
- Brainstorm session: Why do you want to lose weight? Be brutally honest, dig deep, and tell all. Your motivations are valid, no matter how personal, unique, vain, or unreasonable they may seem. You have a right to your reasons for wanting to lose weight. How will your life be better if you reach your target weight? Brainstorm every reason you can think of, write it down, and file this in your Brainstorms folder.
- My writing at PartTimePhoto.com exists to serve your needs as an amateur photographer making the transition to paid professional. I appreciate and welcome your readership, and invite you to subscribe to my e-mail newsletter at the top of any page of this site.
- If anything in this post has spoken to and inspired you, please comment below, drop me an e-mail, or call or text me at 830-688-1564 and let me know. I’d love to hear how you use the ideas here to better your part time photography business!
36 ways to better your photography business today
Photography Business Vision Workout: Men’s Health, September 2011
Just as you strive to improve your artistic vision as a portrait photographer, you need to develop your business vision as a professional and business owner. Consider this, my Photography Business Vision Workout series, as us hitting the gym together for some much-needed exercise. With time and practice, you’ll learn to see business and marketing inspiration all around you, just as you see artistic inspiration in everyday scenes.
The September 2011 issue of Men's Health magazine is on the shelves at your local bookstore and newsstand. Grab yourself a copy, and let's thumb through all 190 pages together to see what nuggets of business wisdom we can glean!
Cover: First of all, check out the cover of this or just about any other magazine - see how Aussie actor Sam Worthington stands in front of the Men's Health logo? It's simple, requires just a little zoomed-in time with the lasso or extract tool in Photoshop, but it has a powerful and graphic effect to engage viewers. Consider this trick for a future marketing piece, or the best of your senior photography.
Cover: Your marketing pieces should always try to speak to what your target market wants or needs. What gets the biggest play on the cover of this issue? "Strong & Fit: See Results in Record Time" - is there any man who doesn't want to be a walking example of these attributes, and quickly at that? Consider the same focus in your marketing. When you want to grab people’s attention, speak boldly to a subject they actually care about (hint: it’s not the size of your hard drive).
Cover: Note the repetition and focus on the word "Your" - Your Nutrition, Your Health, Your Fitness, Your Money. This is good - when you 'talk' to your clients via your marketing, speak to them, not around them. "John Smith Photography wants to help its clients to experience an enjoyable and fun photo shoot. Clients can expect glorious, life-changing, heart-rending artistic photos from their session with award-winning photographer John Smith..." does not engage readers what-so-ever. Don't let the About page on your web site read like an good review of a bad art house film on Rotten Tomatoes.
Cover(s) : Note the cool factor of the reversed and upside down style guide. Slip a little something unexpected into your marketing pieces now and then, give people a reason to 'flip over' (interact) with your business card / web site / e-mail newsletter / Facebook page.
Pages 2, 3, 6, 7: We'll just blow past the minimalist (and completely boring) car and shoe ads...
Page 8: I like this Holiday Inn Express ad. I've flipped through this magazine about three times now, and it catches my eye each time. What's a secondary aspect of your photography business that might make an interesting subject to feature in your marketing? Photographers are always blasting their portraits, their end products, in their marketing - what about featuring your post-processing touch-up skills? Your great humor and talent at making clients laugh? Your extensive collection of props for baby shoots? Your access to beautiful, exclusive locations on private property? Your location Strobist lighting setup? Your buy-what-you-love pricing? Your digital image offerings? How do these features benefit your clients, how do they improve their experience and enjoyment through working with you? Instead of pimping the obvious, your end-result art, consider picking one piece to feature from within the puzzle that makes up your overall value offer.
Page 18, From The Editor: Men's Health Editor David Zinczenko (what a name!) outlines five adjustments you can make in your life (or business) to find Your Big Break: 1. Attack the clichés; 2. Ask why; 3. Collaborate across borders; 4. Think big about something small; 5. Step outside yourself. Great advice, with specific examples of how the magazine has applied these adjustments to better itself over the years. Study the advice here, ask yourself how each nugget could apply to your own business, and as I'll suggest at the end of this post, add the resultant ideas to your Brainstorms folder.
Page 18, The Tweet Life: "What Winners Knows - You can't control everything. Sometimes giving up is the best way to achieve command over chaos." I've written before about how you're going to run into bad clients over the course of your professional photography career. Shake the haters off, and sure as hell don't let them dictate your customer service policies - don't treat all your good clients like criminals because of a few nincompoops.
I'm a fan of almost all the health tips in Men's Health, but I won't touch on them here. Just keep in mind: a sound mind and sound body are invaluable tools in growing as an artist and business owner - enough so that I highly suggest you spend as much time learning about and practicing good health and fitness as you do your photography. Happiness, the arguable goal of all this work, will increase commensurate.
Page 20, Our Advisory Board, 1. Stay in great shape: - Winning is motivational. If you're struggling to "do what's right" with an aspect of your photography business - practicing your art regularly, talking to potential clients, discussing co-op marketing campaigns with other business owners, reducing your post-processing time, turning around proofs quickly - accept where you are, and set a goal to improve by some small measure. If you're only practicing your art on occasion, set a goal to practice every week. If it's taking you seven days to turnaround proofs for clients, set a goal of six days. Achieve these, then improve by another measure. Within just a few months, you will have improved your business in tangible, important ways, which you and your clients will enjoy the benefits of for the rest of your photography career.
Page 22, Ask Men's Health: Pay attention to "What's the fastest way to eliminate a crick in my neck?" and "I often work late. What's the best way for me to reboot mentally and finish strong?" These tips will be immediately useful after any marathon post-processing session in front of your computer. (Takeaway: escape your desk every 50 minutes for 10 minutes, indulge in a brisk walk and deep breathing. I set a timer on my iPhone for 50 minutes, then 10 minutes, then repeat for as long as I'm working in my office. With a sort-of deadline, you'll find yourself working faster and with more focus. Efficiency is definitely a good thing when you have a wife, kids, and/or friends waiting for you.)
Page 34: I first saw this graphic informational juxtaposition in Sports Illustrated - feature a big number, then explain what that number means. It's like Jeopardy, where you give the answer then make the viewer wonder what the question is. Slip this well-worn but effective visual trick into one of your future marketing pieces.
Page 37: If you ever do any marketing with the word "FREE" in it, I beg of you, don't put a big ol' asterisk right after - you just deflated any momentary intrigue your viewer may have felt.
Page 38, Wake Up A Winner: Just replace "athlete" with "photographer" and you have the exact same insomnia many artists face the night before a big photo shoot. My best tip: when you catch yourself losing sleep over tomorrow's shoot, calmly promise yourself you'll obsess over the details in the morning when your alarm goes off. Until then, you are absolved of any responsibility whatsoever.
If You Do Nothing Else, Do This - Page 40: Want a fun challenge? Write a page of marketing copy for your photography business in only 123 words. No photos, no fancy layout, just a small version of your logo at the end (perhaps a phone number and web address would be prudent). If you had to convince a potential client to book with you based on these 123 words alone, what would you say? Now purify down to 60 words. Then 30. Then 15. Then just 10. Call your local newspaper, and place a classifieds ad featuring these 10 words, your web address, and phone number. It's a cheap and fun experiment, and likely the best, most effective classified ad you could ever place.
Page 42, The 2-minute Office Workout: I love ‘office workout’ tips. We photographers spend way too much time in front of our computers, and often suffer pains and problems because of it. Here, Men's Health shares that two minutes with an inexpensive resistance band can relieve tension. Add this into your 10 minute every-hour break. Office Yoga is the absolute best method I've found to reenergize during a long day of photo processing and Reddit...I mean, research!
Page 46, Build Your Own Breakthrough: As always, you've got to Do the Work. Actor Sam Worthington shares wisdom learned as a hard-working bricklayer turned hard-working actor. The takeaway: work hard, and cherish the opportunity to do the work. That you're reading this now says you hold enough talent and tools to become a successful professional photographer; be thankful for the opportunity before you.
Page 52, Your First-Date Playbook: First-date advice is almost always good advice for your first shoot with a new client. From what you wear, how you smell, where you take your client, to what you talk about - forethought and thoughtfulness will go a long way toward making a great impression. Outside our home studio is a sidewalk where my wife will write "Welcome, <insert client name here>!" in bright, bold chalk before a shoot. It's the little things.
Page 56: That photo of a foil-wrapped brick sitting atop a grilling chicken has a ‘what the heck is this?’ effect on viewers. Add something quirky or irreverent to a future marketing piece and make your potential clients do a double take. Cultivate curiosity.
Page 59, bottom: I like the "Win This!" graphic with a photo of the prize. Try this graphic trick next time you run a contest.
Page 61: The old comparison chart isn't a bad format for a marketing piece. If you're feeling cocky and want to fire a shot across your competition's bow, and you can back up your claims, use this format to highlight why your offerings are superior to an "unnamed but obvious" competitor. Just make sure your proclaimed advantages are benefits people actually care about. If you have a popular photographer in your market who has draconian customer service policies, this is where you want to highlight the differences between your business and theirs.
Page 64, Major League Muscle: Are you keeping your photography muscles trained, even during the ‘off season?’ You will multiply the rate at which you grow as an artist if you simply shoot more often. If you spend more time reading about photography than you do making photographs - practicing what you've learned - you're out of balance. Pay attention to where you're investing your time, and divvy it up evenly between learning (both photography and business), marketing, and shooting.
Page 68, Wet T-shirt Contest: Grognards act as though there's only one respectable market or goal in the entire professional photography industry - boutique portraiture. Everything else, from their perspective, is ruining the industry, especially you. Just as this rundown of T-shirts for athletes shows, there's a wide spectrum of clientele and options in any industry, from best bargain to best overall. And note, the best overall is not the most expensive option.
Page 68: Related to the above, look to the left side of the page; this is a great format for a marketing piece. "The Problem: ... The Solution: ... The Question: Are all photographers the same? ..." Identify a specific, common problem clients have faced with other local photographers (especially the chain studios), then the solution you've created with your business.
Page 70: Great photography in this ad, beautiful dog. Strive to capture such variety in your own subjects, canine or otherwise, and watch your sales grow accordingly. Variety = sales.
If You Do Nothing Else, Do This - Page 71: Great layout and concept for an ad. Just replace the dog with one of your photo clients who has an interesting back-story (firefighter, military, police, volunteer, mom, dad, daycare Valentine's Day king and queen, etc.). None of your clients are very interesting so far? Find someone who is, ask them to tell you their story, take notes, and photograph them. Don't forget the model release. Tell stories, feature great people from within your community - in your marketing, on your blog, in your portfolio. “Bring out the extraordinary" in your subjects. You could put together a wonderful and buzzworthy marketing campaign with this idea alone. Ask your local community newspaper if they would be interested in running these photos as a weekly series in exchange for a byline: free, and exceptional, advertising.
Page 73, The iPad Hot Spots: I don't know what else to say about the iPad - it's the best, most engaging portfolio a photographer can carry. I use mine exclusively for presenting my portfolio and proofs to clients, and they eat it up with a spoon and a canary-eating grin. I picked up a first-gen 16 GB iPad for $300 used. As always, earn it before you spend it, but it's one of the best investments you'll make in your business.
Page 79, The Sportsman: Be thoughtful, but you don't have to over-think your portraits. All you need is a prop and some backlighting (and perhaps a reflector or white wall behind you) for a book-cover-quality portrait of a young athlete.
Page 86, The Bulb, Three Ways: Beautiful layout. Do your price or product lists look this good? If you proof online, does your digital sales presentation look this attractive?
Page 89: Busting myths is a fun way to put a twist on your FAQ page or a marketing piece. Look back over some of the misconceptions your clients have expressed about getting professional portraits done, and do a myth-buster post for your blog, web site, and/or e-mail newsletter.
Page 94: The layout of this article reminds me of the great ‘Table of Contents’ pages Merlin Mann and Leo Babauta have on their blogs. Most photographers' blogs are a waterfall of photos, marketing, how-to's, event and sale announcements, studio news, and personal anecdotes. Be a good host and provide your clients a separate and obvious page on your web site which helps guide readers to the best of your blog; photo posts by category, your currently-active or pending events and sales, all of your educational how-to's, etc. Don't force your clients to read your blog in reverse chronological order to find what's interesting to them. (I am remedying this fault on my own blog post haste!)
Page 112, Give Fear The Finger: Willpower. If you're a human being, you've probably struggled with a lack of it. Probably today. Probably in the past hour. Especially for struggling photographers, this article will show you six roadblocks to progress and how to break through them. My tip: the best day to do the right thing was yesterday; the second best day is today. Don't let negative self-talk stop you from doing something better today, that's the easy way out and a poor excuse. Try. Fail. Try again. You'll learn; you'll get to where you want to be with time and persistence. Kaizen: small daily improvements lead to big changes over time.
Page 120, Tip No. 11: Listening really is proof that you care. With clients, as it is with significant others. Yes - even if you have to take notes. If you show your clients that you really were listening during that first phone call and during your shoot, you will enjoy the rewards in both sales and loyalty. Listen. Care. Take notes, on even the little things. Three years ago, my wife photographed the newborn baby girl of a client named Becca; last week, she photographed Becca's second-born, and also remembered the first little girl's name. Because of this one act of attentiveness, Becca posted to Facebook glowing praise for my wife, and recommended to all her friends that they come to Bandera for their baby and family photos. You can’t buy advertising that good.
Page 124, Upgrade Your Whole Life: Being in the startup phase of professional photography is wildly exciting, and it's wildly easy to obsess over art and business and marketing and forget to live a life outside of your new adventure - at least until you exhaust yourself, emotionally and creatively. If you feel you're in a rut or have hit a motivational wall, open up your magazine to this list of "little leaps of progress." By letting your mind focus on something other than your business for a while, you'll reboot your enthusiasm and refresh your creative spirit.
Page 136, Be a Better Buyer: Look at the statistics down the left side of this page to get an idea of how men think during the sales process. Especially take note of the following stats, and consider how they relate to professional photography: Percentage of men who studiously read reviews before buying (where are the testimonials on your web site?), number of men who say they make their family's big-purchase decisions (are you asking that Mommy bring Daddy along for the proofing and sales session?), percentage of men who prefer making big purchases in-store rather than online (are your proofing in person or online?), number of online shoppers who've been suckered by limited-time offers (if you proof online, do your clients have a deadline to buy at best rates?), percentage of men who say shopping is almost always annoying (what are you doing to make your proofing/sales session more fun for male clients?).
Flipping this month's Men's Health to the backside Guide To Style, I won't lie: I love good-looking clothes. I get lost in style guides like this. Besides taking inspiration from the photography here, consider offering similar style tips for your clients. Create a Style Guide similar to my Client Pre-shoot Cheat Sheet to share with your newly-booked clients.
Post a tip a week to your blog, and compile these tips into your style guide. If you have no good fashion sense, ask a friend who does to help you out. Great wardrobe can really make a photo shoot sing, so do yourself and your clients a favor by providing them the informational tools they need to look their best. Remember, you're the expert - your clients trust you to guide them in the photo-making process. When your clients feel prepared, they'll be more comfortable in front of the camera and throughout the shoot.
You can expand this series in your blog to also offer health and fitness tips. Talk with a local personal trainer and feature their advice on your site. Visit with a local nutritionist. Always add value to your clients' lives. Help them lose weight, get fit, feel better, look great in great clothes, and your clients will go from appreciative photo buyers to unwavering zealots for your business.
If you've made it this far, bless your heart, your eyes must be exhausted. But congrats on making it through 190 pages of business and marketing inspiration with me!
Next Steps
- This post is full to the brim with over 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. When you've exhausted the benefits of one tip, reach out and grab another. Doing any one thing is far and away better than doing nothing at all.
- If you need a place to start, take action on this tip first: Scroll back up to the Page 40 tip, create that action-packed classified ad, and run it on Craigslist or in your local newspaper. It will cost next to nothing, and you could well score some great bookings with it.
- Brainstorm session: Your mind is probably overflowing with ideas for your business right now. Just start writing things down, stream of consciousness; let it all flow out onto a notepad or into Notepad. Empty your mind onto the page. File this in your Brainstorms folder.
- My writing at PartTimePhoto.com exists to serve your needs as an amateur photographer making the transition to paid professional. I appreciate and welcome your readership, and invite you to subscribe to my e-mail newsletter at the top of any page of this site.
- If anything in this post has spoken to and inspired you, please comment below, drop me an e-mail, or call or text me at 830-688-1564 and let me know. I’d love to hear how you use the ideas here to better your part time photography business!
Vision: as a photographer, as a business owner
The longer you've been a photographer, the more developed your vision is.
Your vision, perceiving the world as an artist, is your talent for seeing that which others do not see.
You've heard the expression "to the untrained eye." Just like an old-school gumshoe can see clues in a crime scene that the young bucks can't, a learned photographer can see artistic potential in the play of light, line, color, texture, wardrobe, expression and pose.
Admit it, you "see the light" all the time and say to yourself or a friend, "That would make a lovely photo," or, "This would be a great place to bring my next client."
You don't need me to talk about developing your vision, your third eye, your sixth sense when it comes to art - but what you probably haven't considered is that a good business owner (as you aspire to be as a professional photographer) has the same special vision when it comes to seeing business potential and opportunities.
As photographers, we take pride and joy in our ability to see the potential for art that others miss. But when it comes to doing better business, often our untrained eyes leave us with our hands in the air, crying "I don't know what to do!"
There are four major arenas that make up the whole of your business:
- Product: This is your art, what your clients directly pay for (beyond the great experience you provide). The better your art, the easier it is to market your services and sell your photos.
- Marketing: These are the methods through which you bring in paying customers, either new business or repeat. Marketing is a wide swath, a huge part of your business, which is why most of what I write about here on PartTimePhoto.com is on this topic. The better your marketing, the better you're able to communicate the value you offer as a professional photographer to the people who need to know it.
- Experience: This is the next stage after your marketing has done its job - once your client is in the door, beyond producing a great product for them, the experience you provide is what earns you repeat business. These are the touchpoints, the opportunities to go above and beyond and create positive memories your clients can't help but talk about. This is where you do all the little things that elevate a client's experience from being a consumer to becoming a superfan. The better your clients' experience with you, the more referrals you'll get.
- Workflow: This is the backend of your business; not what your customers see, but the work you do behind the scenes. This is your routine, your system, how you get'er done. The better your workflow, the less time it takes you to do business, and thus the greater per-hour profit you earn for yourself and your family.
Vision is all about inspiration and where it’s found. Developing your vision as a business owner as you have as a photographer, you will see inspiration everywhere for great marketing, great customer experiences, and great ways to improve your business. It has a snowball effect - the more you develop your vision, the more ways you'll recognize business inspiration, and the more quickly you'll innovate in your business practices.
Within the four above arenas, here are some ways to exercise your vision:
Product
The quality of your product is the baseline for your business - the better your core product, the easier it is to market, get referrals, and charge above-average prices.
Great art multiplies the efficacy of your marketing time and dollars. Great art impresses clients and sends them bragging about you to their family and on Facebook.
But art does take time - few start out their adventure of part time professional photography as wildly impressive artists. Odds are you're definitely better than the average Guy With a Camera, otherwise friends and family wouldn't be encouraging you to do what you do professionally. But growing as an artist and improving the quality and consistency of your product is a long-term cycle of inspiration, education, and practice.
Again, I don't need to talk about artistic vision here; as a photographer, you know where you find inspiration: in the forums, in photography competitions, on photo blogs, in magazines, in other artists' great and award-winning work. You find it in a walk through the park, in a sunset, in the way light dances through a window in your home.
For inspiration in the presentation and polish of your product, look no further than Apple. Theirs is so refined that their many, many customers buy out of passion and desire as much as for the tangible usage of their products. When was the last time you saw a sexy MP3 player? A stylish laptop? A luxurious monitor? Apple has mastered the quality and presentation balance to a point where they can sell a technically inferior product with such style and desirability that folks pay above-standard prices for the privilege of ownership - they’ll even stand in line all night on release day.
Look for inspiration in any product that is highly-praised by its buyers, whether its a video game review on Metacritic or a car review on Edmunds.com - what do they say about the best products, and what's the real takeaway from each? Often, the takeaway is to over-deliver on client expectations - be better than your brag. One boon to being an artist is that you are always getting better, especially at the early end of your professional career.
Work to bring something new to each shoot. One additional pose, one additional joke to elicit a true smile from your subject, one additional scene to shoot at your preferred location, one new post-processing method. You'll see your repertoire grow with every shoot, and you'll see the fruits of your learning and practice as your per-client sales averages grow accordingly.
Marketing
You can't turn your head without being inundated by some manner of marketing: banner ads on the internet, billboards on the highway, print ads and press releases and advertorials in magazines and newspapers, radio ads, TV ads, newsletters (and worse, spam) in your Inbox, coupons in the mail, blathering boxes set atop gas pumps that harass you to buy discount hot dogs and sodas inside the convenience store...it's bloody endless.
Most marketing is pure, unfiltered crap - it couldn't convince a flame-engulfed billionaire to buy a five-dollar fire extinguisher.
But some marketing stands out. It's exceptional. It's subtle, or it's bold. It doesn't insult the viewer's intelligence. You can't ignore it. It slaps you across the face and makes you like it.
This is the kind of marketing you want to draw inspiration from. Not the late-night drivel on the network TV stations, not the back-of-the magazine ads to multiply your libido. Look for the best advertising and marketing campaigns in the world. The internet makes this dead easy.
Look to what marketing has inspired you to check out or even buy a product or service. Your car dealer, your realtor, your grocery store, your cycle shop, your favorite restaurant - how did you learn about them? What convinced you to choose them to spend your money with? Whether through a marketing piece, a story in your local paper, an ad in a magazine, a window display on Main Street, or a recommendation from a friend, it's all marketing.
I find a lot of inspiration in reading business magazines like Fast Company or Inc. Great articles on innovative businesses, and great magazine advertising within. The content puts you in the mindset of a knowledge-hungry business owner, which primes you to be inspired by the good ideas you glean within.
Great small business marketing blogs like Duct Tape Marketing can also keep your mind open to new business and marketing ideas.
I originally read these resources to find specific ways to improve my business. Now, I enjoy both those ideas and the discovery of new and interesting ways to present my business, based on the best practices I see in use by other companies. Ever see an Apple product announcement? "One more thing..."? The associated e-mail newsletter, the associated resources added to their web site? The media buzz? It's all on purpose. Be on the lookout, and when you separate the wheat from the chaff in all the marketing messages thrown your way, pick from the best and apply them to how you expose your business within your market.
Workflow
The gems of good workflow, of a good business system, are harder to spot. These are the behind-the-scenes practices that help keep everything running smoothly and efficiently. A good workflow lets you keep your gear ready, your backups handy, your archives safe, your photos processed, all in the smallest amount of time required to do a great job.
Pareto's Law applies fully here: 80 percent of your results will come from 20 percent of your actions.
For example, when post-processing a shoot, 80 percent of what your client will see and care about will be a result of 20 percent of the time you invest in post. If you're a perfectionist (as most artists are), you'll lose a ton of time trying to achieve that extra five, 10, 15 percent of improvement beyond 80 percent.
When you're getting paid thousands or tens of thousands of dollars each job, then you can afford to invest that kind of time in attaining near-perfection; in fact, at that level of art and clientele, it's likely a requirement. But in the trenches, here on the start-up end of the industry, you'll get far more return on your time investment by strictly following the 80/20 rule.
That extra hour or two (or four) spent chasing perfection in post is surely better spent directly serving your clients and marketing your services.
So where to look for inspiration?
One of the best sources for me has been to read books about businesses, about business innovation, such as business biographies, stories of business successes, and such. Online and in the forums, you can also read real-world talk from people in the trenches doing the work, like here on PartTimePhoto.com.
Study fast food restaurants. Study car dealers. Study any business that benefits from a business system that maximizes efficiency and consistency.
Have you ever experienced exceptionally fast turnaround from a business? What's their backend system like that makes them so much faster than the competition? Find me a service station that can turn around an oil change consistently in 15 minutes or less (with washed windows and vacuumed floorboards), and I'll gladly pay extra. As a parent, add in a small play area with clean, fun toys for kids and a big screen TV with ESPN or CNN on, and I'll probably never even consider going elsewhere.
Photographers eat a lot of time on post-processing. Can you learn to create Photoshop Actions that will make your workflow go much faster? Could you use different software for culling and processing photos (I use Bridge and Camera Raw with Photoshop)? Could you give yourself a time limit and no matter what, adhere to it?
At its simplest, ask yourself, what would make your job easier? What would make it simpler? What can you outsource (especially web design, another realm where photographers can endlessly sink time in trying to exercise control and indulge perfectionism)?
Parkinson's Law says that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. You may find that simply giving yourself a hard time limit for tasks that otherwise have the ability to spiral beyond control (post-processing, blog reading, hanging out unproductively in the forums) forces you to focus only on what matters most - the 80/20 rule - what gives you the most results in the least amount of time.
Watch for how others apply the 80/20 rule to their business to maximize their per-hour profits.
Experience
There's a reason I preach about the Customer Experience every bit as much as marketing and art: it's where most companies fail, and where you have the immediate ability to make big improvements in your business.
In seeking inspiration for how you can better the experience of your own customers, ask yourself or others you respect: what experiences as a customer stand out in your memory as exceptionally positive? When have you received great customer service or enjoyed comfort or simplicity above and beyond the norm? What customer experiences have you had that you've gone out of your way to tell friends or family about?
The customer experience ties into every touchpoint in your business, from how you answer the phone to the jokes you tell during a shoot to the wrapping you use to deliver your client's purchase. A great customer experience is so rare as to be downright refreshing nowadays. It goes beyond customer service - it's a level of thoughtfulness that shows a business both understands its customer and truly strives to delight them at every step.
Many times, it's the "duh" moments, the simple stuff, the little things. Wouldn't it be fantastic if all these self-serve DVD rental kiosks showed the Rotten Tomatoes score for each movie inside? How about if you could sort inventory by score and availability? What if they let you sign up for e-mail or SMS notifications of when a certain movie was returned or newly-available? What if they had a smartphone app or web site where you could go to "re-rent" a movie and save 50 cents on keeping it an extra day, just in case you didn't get to watch it in time?
Look not only for instances of where a business does all the little things right to give you an exceptional experience as a customer, but also for those times when businesses merely maintain the status quo (which, sadly, is most often the minimum possible), doing nothing to go above and beyond in meeting your needs or delighting you along the way.
More often than not, you'll find that these little touchpoints, all the little moments of thoughtfulness and purposeful delighting, cost little to nothing to provide, but mean so very much to your clients. Remember above where I mention my dream service station with a clean family room and ESPN on the big screen? My oil's getting changed either way, but I'll pay more, tell my friends all about it, and never go elsewhere.
That's the kind of experience you want to create for your clients, and you'll find inspiration to do so in watching for examples of it in the businesses you and your social circle frequent.
Imitation, the greatest form of flattery
In the midst of all this inspiration, don't find yourself plagiarizing other businesses. No more than you would identically recreate another photographer's image, would you want to straight up jack another business' inspired marketing campaign.
However, there is nothing at all wrong with imitation, with taking inspiration from other great work. Just as you have photographers whose art you admire and try to learn from, look to successful businesses in structuring marketing pieces, incorporating the best practices of efficient workflow, and creating memorable experiences for your clients.
Don't just look to other photographers by any means - the worst thing you can do is grow to become "just another photographer" in your market. See how excellence is on display by businesses across many industries. Incorporate the best ideas, put your own twist on them (trust your own creative instincts), and reap the ever-multiplying awards.
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.
Next Steps
- Go to Amazon.com, type in the name of a product you know people adore, and read the customer reviews. Study and learn. Take notes on what people are "really saying," what the real takeaway is, and how you can incorporate these ideals into your product and business.
- Go to Yelp.com, type in the name of a local service business or restaurant you know folks love, and read the customer reviews. Study, learn, take notes.
- Go to Google.com, and search for lists of award-winning advertising. Study, learn, take notes.
- Make it a short part of your morning routine to remind your subconscious to be attentive to business inspiration around you. Day by day, with practice and a bit of proactive effort, you'll find yourself inspired by new ideas to help you do better business. A quick way to do this is to thumb through a few pages of Fast Company or Inc. with your morning coffee - it'll prime your mind for the day.
- For every book you buy about the art of photography, purchase and read a book about the art of business. Duct Tape Marketing by John Jantsch, Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port, The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk, The Dip and Purple Cow by Seth Godin, Customers For Life by Carl Sewell, The Starbucks Experience by Joseph Michelli, are great places to start.
- Brainstorm session: Consider for a moment the best Product you ever used, the best Marketing you ever saw, the best Workflow you ever read about, and the best Experience as a customer you've ever had. Write down each of these, the why behind these choices, and a brief brainstorm of ways you can learn from and incorporate these ideals into your photography business.
- My writing at PartTimePhoto.com exists to serve your needs as an amateur photographer making the transition to paid professional. I appreciate and welcome your readership, and invite you to subscribe to my e-mail newsletter at the top of any page of this site.
- Where have you found inspiration for your business? Leave a comment below, e-mail me, or call or text me at 830-688-1564.