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Being an independent, self-employed professional photographer is a dream for many people. And many people make a success out of that dream.
Many others don’t.
That isn’t meant to be a discouraging statement, but rather a bit of a warning. You can have all the talent in the world, all the skill of a savvy businessperson, and all the right gear, but without hard work, dedication, and smart decision-making, it could all go wrong very quickly.
With that in mind, here’s four ugly truths about being a professional photographer that you should keep in mind as you build your photography business.
Ugly Truths About Professional Photography: Your Business is Doomed Without Insurance
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When you’re starting out, there’s a lot of money output and perhaps not that much money coming in. As such, it can be tempting to cut corners on expenses.
Some photographers opt to go without proper insurance as a means of saving money, and those that do are in a Russian Roulette situation. A fire, flood, or damaged gear can spell disaster for a photographer that doesn’t have coverage for the equipment they need to work.
So while the ugly truth is that some photographers might view insurance as a luxury and not a necessity, the reality is that you absolutely need to have the proper insurance to protect your investment in your business.
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Don’t think that getting the right insurance is a long, drawn-out, and expensive process, either. For example, Athos Insurance Services offer photographers peace of mind with coverages that address a whole host of situations. They start at annual premiums of just $175.00 for equipment coverage.
For example, if you accidentally drop your camera and your lens is damaged, repair or replacement is covered.
As another example, if there’s a fire or flood in your office space and your gear is destroyed, that’s covered too.
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Athos Insurance Services has coverages for natural occurrences like lightning, hail, and windstorms as well as manmade acts like terrorism.
If your gear is stolen, that’s covered too. Perhaps best of all, coverage extends worldwide so you have peace of mind that if something goes awry, you can get replacement gear and keep on working.
Speaking of replacement gear, the coverages offered by Athos Insurance Services are replacement cost. That means that your gear is valued in today’s dollars, not what you originally spent on it.
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To top it all off, getting a quote and signing up for coverage couldn’t be easier. Just head over to the Athos Insurance Services website 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to get a fast online quote. If you like what you see, you can sign up for a policy right then and there.
You have enough to worry about starting your own business. Take some of that stress away by protecting your gear with the right insurance coverage!
Learn More:
- 3 Mistakes That Could Cause Your Photography Business to Fail
- Why Photography is a Financially Risky Business
Ugly Truths About Professional Photography: You'll Likely Not Charge Enough
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When you’re just starting out, you’ll almost certainly need to discount your prices just to get your foot in the door.
But once you’ve developed a reputation and have a good client base, you need to evaluate how you spend your time so you can charge an adequate amount.
The ugly truth here is that many photographers - particularly new ones - undervalue their services. More to the point, they undervalue their time.
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Your fees can’t just be based on the time you spend actually taking photos. If you do that, you’ll find you don’t make any money at all.
Instead, examine how much time you spend on client-related activities each day - returning phone calls, emailing clients, processing images, placing orders, traveling to and from shoot locations, and so forth - and base your fees on that total time spent.
Again, though you might charge less initially just to get started, it’s imperative for your long-term success to develop a pricing strategy that accounts for all the time you spend on business activities.
Ugly Truths About Professional Photography: You Can't Be Everything to Everyone
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The ugly truth about being a professional photographer is that, try as you might, you can’t be everything to everyone.
There’s a couple of dimensions to this…
First, though it might be tempting to try to be a “jack of all trades” kind of photographer, doing so can actually hurt your business.
After all, if you’re a fantastic portrait photographer, but a so-so sports photographer, you don’t want to waste your time taking sports photos. Doing so takes time away from what you’re good at, and your so-so sports photos could very well damage your reputation.
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Secondly, it’s important to understand that you aren’t going to be able to please every single client.
Things will go wrong. There will be clients that are difficult to work with. People will badmouth you to their friends. You’ll get bad reviews on Yelp. It’s just the nature of the beast.
Of course, it’s imperative that you do your best and give each and every client top-notch service. When things go wrong, reach out, try to rectify the problem, and do what you can to please the client. But do so knowing that some people just can’t be pleased.
Learn More:
Ugly Truths About Professional Photography: It's Hard, Hard Work
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Though photography might seem like a glamorous job in which you jet-set from one exotic photo shoot to the next, for the vast majority of photographers, that just isn’t the case.
Sure, many well-known photographers travel the world and have a herd of assistants to help them with day-to-day business activities.
But the ugly truth for most of us is that it’s all on us. We’re photographers, receptionists, bookkeepers, social media gurus, website designers, and so forth. You’ll wear many hats - some of which are for jobs you’re no good at - and that means you’ll put in a lot of hours over the course of the day, the night, and on weekends.
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Happily, through all that hard work, you can build something really successful and realize your dream of being a professional photographer.
Though there are many hurdles in the way, if you adhere to the advice I’ve outlined here, you’ll be on stronger footing than you otherwise would be.