Finding Clients

[kkamin]

Also you should be aware there are standard business practices and pricing guidelines that have been established by commercial photographers. It is a deep and somewhat complicated subject at first, and I am in the same boat as you where I am positioning myself for the commercial markets.

How much would you charge a company to take 3 architectural photographs that will be used in business to business brochures with a circulation of 10,000? What if they wanted to re-license the image for a year for web use? What if it was going into a national magazine advertisement? What if they wanted exclusive rights to the images? etc. etc. How much do you charge for your creative fee? What is your cost of doing business? This is not straight forward stuff and if you end up undercutting the market you are not only hurting your business and gaining a reputation as a cheap photographer (which will be hard to shake), you are hurting hard won established practices of other professionals and driving their market downward. Food for thought.

 

[Vautrin]

Hey guys,

I finally started my business! Registered and everything, though right now it is technically a sole-proprietorship until I get off the ground at which point my uncle will be helping me out making it into a business.

So the big reasons you might decide to become a corporation (either S corp or LLC) is twofold: limination of liability, and favorable income treatment

What is liability? Someone comes to your photo studio, trips over a light, sprains their ankle, and sues you for your unsafe work environment.

Under a sole prorprietership if they win they can take your studio your car your house your investments, EVERYTHING

Limited liability means under these corporate structures all they can do is bankrupt your business, they can't touch your personal assets.

You're starting out so you're probably what's known as "judgement proof" Basically if someone did sue you there isn't enough to take to make it worth a lawyers while. But it's something to keep in mind.

Treatment of income is another thing. You can get different tax brackets if you're an LLC or S corp, which means you pay less taxes then a sole prorpietership. You can also get all kinds of nifty deductions.

But if you're not making any money it's probably not worth the hassle (it'll cost you $500 - $1000 a year, you'll need to get a lawyer, make it official, and do all sorts of "corporate" things like appoint a board and hold meetings. And each year you'll have to pay another fee to the state).

So bottom line, if you have $100k in sales a corporate structure is good, but if you're just starting out a sole proprietership won't hurt.

Of course, don't take my advise, always discuss things like this with with your legal & tax advisors...

 

[Vautrin]

Oh -- try your local chamber of commerce. A lot of times they have networking events you can meet fellow business people. It might take some time to get a reputation but if you smile a lot, and stick around after meetings and offer to clean up you will become well known in the business -- and get business.

Do you have a studio? What kind of photography are you doing?

You might try advertising in the local paper but as always sometimes it takes $$$ to make $$$

 

[c.cloudwalker]

Another thought about the web. We have all heard the stories of people losing their jobs because of things posted on social networks.

An independent photographer would not lose his job but he/she could very well lose jobs because of posts, somewhere on the web. I don't talk politics, religion or sex with my clients. I don't do it on the web either unless I use an assumed name and no photo of myself

Yes, the likelyhood of a potential client finding that stuff is small but I would rather not take a chance.

Another problem of the web turning against you is your use of photo sites. Do you use flicker, TPF, etc? Make sure there are zero photo there that are not 110%. You don't want potential clients to see the stuff that is trials, random, etc.

 

[Vautrin]

Another problem of the web turning against you is your use of photo sites. Do you use flicker, TPF, etc? Make sure there are zero photo there that are not 110%. You don't want potential clients to see the stuff that is trials, random, etc.

And don't forget the watermark -- and only post low resolution photos!

 

[c.cloudwalker]

Oh -- try your local chamber of commerce. A lot of times they have networking events you can meet fellow business people. It might take some time to get a reputation but if you smile a lot, and stick around after meetings and offer to clean up you will become well known in the business -- and get business.

Very good suggestion. I am actually a bit ashamed to not have made it. :er:

And don't forget clubs such as the Rotary. They are very good for old fashion networking.