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Everybody starts somewhere; even the most famous of photographers began as a hobbyist.
Some people make the transition from hobbyist to professional in a matter of months, and for others it takes decades. Regardless of how quickly you do it, there are some very real concerns you need to be focusing on during your transition.
If you’re looking to turn your photography hobby into a career, there are a number of steps you need to take to assess whether or not you have what it takes to make it as a professional.
Table of Contents
- Ask Yourself Why You Want to Start a Business
- Work on Technique BEFORE Buying Tons of Gear
- Don’t Quit Your Day Job
- Get Insurance Sooner Rather Than Later
- Think About What Daily Life Will Be Like
- Know the Costs of Being in Business
- Get Familiar With the Market (and Your Clients)
Ask Yourself Why You Want to Start a Business
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The most important question you need to ask yourself before learning how to start a photography business is, “Why?”
Are you looking to make people happy with your creative vision? Do you want to make enough money to survive off of, or just to take your family on some extra vacations every year?
My personal motivation on some days is just to be able to have a drink while I work, but realistically you probably need a larger goal in mind.
Once you understand why you want to do something, taking the steps to get there is much easier and you’ll be less likely to fall out of love with photography throughout the process.
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My personal motivation on some days is just to be able to have a drink while I work, but realistically you probably need a larger goal in mind.
Once you understand why you want to do something, taking the steps to get there is much easier and you’ll be less likely to fall out of love with photography throughout the process.
Recommended Photography Business Books:
Work on Technique BEFORE Buying Tons of Gear
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There’s only one thing that incredibly expensive lens is going to get you if you don’t know how to use it: debt.
Since photography is something you constantly improve on, there’s really no threshold where you’ve learned enough techniques to be able to stop learning entirely.
But, there’s definitely a time when you can no longer use your kit lens because your skills have outgrown your gear.
The first year of running your business is not that time
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In fact, many people get away with using just a couple of lenses and one or two camera bodies for the first year or two of their photography careers.
New gear is expensive, firstly. But, it can also be difficult to learn. You definitely don’t want to be learning how to use a new camera at the same time as being responsible for photographing a wedding because it would be incredibly overwhelming.
Photo by Brandon Burk
This same principle applies to other photography gear as well.
For example, you don't need to drop tons of money on a new camera strap when budget-friendly options are available.
Case in point - Holdfast just dropped their HF Classic leather camera strap that hits all the marks for comfort, functionality, and aesthetics, while also being budget-friendly.
Photo by Brandon Burk
For less than $100, you get a high-quality strap. Since it's made of full-grain leather, you know that as you use the strap it will get broken in and adapt perfectly to your shoulder making it even more comfortable with time.
Better still, Holdfast has a reputation for creating long-lasting products, so even though it's a budget strap, you can bet that it will last you for years and years.
When budgets are tight but you still need good, solid gear, finding deals like the HF Classic Strap is a huge blessing.
Spend smartly, buy only the gear you need, and in doing so, you'll be equipped to do your job without breaking the bank!
Don’t Quit Your Day Job
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One of my best professional photography tips is this: go part-time before you go full-time.
When your passion is also your career, and thus the only way you can keep food on the table and pay for your mortgage, it’s a little stressful. It can even cause you to lose the passion you had for it in the first place.
I recommend doing your photography part-time for at least a year in order to build up a client list, get your marketing campaigns started and basically figure out if this is even something you really want to do.
Your business will tell you when you need to go full-time. Ideally, you will be able to scale back at your day job as you scale up with your photography, but if this isn’t possible then there’s no harm working on your photography business solely on the weekends.
Get Insurance Sooner Rather Than Later
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How much money are you carrying around right now in your photography bag? How much more money will you be carrying around when you decide to start a photography business?
Photography insurance is no joke, especially considering the average photographer has thousands of dollars of gear on them every single day.
We have written extensively about how to prevent your photography gear from getting stolen and how to make your equipment look less expensive than it is, but let’s face it. Nobody can truly prevent emergencies from happening.
So, even if you haven’t formed your business yet, it’s time to start thinking about photography insurance.
Full Frame Insurance makes this process simple. There are no quotes, no salesmen, and no wasted time. You simply go to their website, pick the insurance you need, and pay for it.
Typical photography insurance companies operate just like health insurance or life insurance sales. They are bureaucratic and only concerned with making as much money off of you as possible.
Full Frame is a small business, which means they are concerned with ensuring you are happy and making sure you’re protected when something goes wrong.
With coverage options for any budget, excellent customer service, and an easy-to-navigate website where you can quickly buy the coverage you need, Full Frame has everything you want in a photography insurance company!
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Think About What Daily Life Will Be Like
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Realistically, all a professional photographer does is chase people down to get them to pay their invoices, edit frantically in coffee shops, and send 1,000 emails a day.
Okay, maybe I’m not being completely realistic, but a lot of your time is taken up simply communicating with people. I know a few friends who hoped to go full-time with their photography careers because they wanted to be shooting all day, every day.
That’s not what photographers do.
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This is also a good time for you to discover what parts of your day-to-day are going to be hardest for you.
If you’re a small business owner, you’re going to be doing your own accounting, human resources, marketing, project management… the list goes on.
If you know you’re particularly bad at networking, start hosting some after-hours cocktail hours. If you know you’re bad at accounting, take a QuickBooks class.
Learn the skills you will need to make your average day flow as seamlessly as possible.
Know the Costs of Being in Business
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Other than insurance, there are dozens of monthly costs you will need as a professional photographer and dozens of other costs that will be unexpected and intermittent.
5-Minute Classes has an educational, albeit boring, video about calculating the costs for your startup.
But, don’t think you can do this once and then you’re done, because you will need to continually assess how much your business is costing as your clients fluctuate and your business scales.
Additionally, you will need to decide how much money you’re willing to lose before you call it quits on your photography business and go back to a day job because starting a business is in many ways just like gambling.
Get Familiar With the Market (and Your Clients)
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As a professional photographer, you’ll need to not only be incredible at your photography, but you’ll need to up your emotional intelligence.
What are your clients like? What are they looking for? How can you meet that need?
This video by Young Entrepreneurs Forum walks you through how to assess your market for different risks, like competitors.
So, not only do you need to have a solid understanding of the types of clients who may want to use you, but you also need to assess how many photographers in your area already provide those services.
What will you do differently than those photographers? Do you have a better understanding of your client base than they do? Are you priced more competitively? Do you offer something they don’t?
Figuring out the answers to these questions will make all the difference in building a successful business!
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