How many days work did you get per year at first?

[fooby]

I am in the process of building a fresh portfolio consisting of work that I want to shoot, mainly tests that I treat as if they were for clients. I plan to use it to start actually getting some payed work and making this my career now that I'm out of college and finally feel like I am confident enough in my skills to work for paying clients.

I am currently working out my daily cost of business, and I'm wondering how many days of work you guys received when you first made the decision to go pro and do this full time? This is only fully payed shooting days. Not including post production or odd jobs when business is slow that aren't your usual thing.

Thanks!

 

[pgriz]

Very hard question to answer because it totally depends on your niche. If you're starting out, you can make a set of assumptions (hopefully grounded in some reality/experience), and work your numbers based on those. When I was working as a consultant (not photographer), I basically had to assume that at best, I would be working 50% of the time, the other 50% being spent on marketing, sales, administration, training, etc. It really depends on whether the nature of your business is "one-off" or recurring. And that depends on your niche. One professional photographer I know has about 25-30% of his work being corporate (recurring), 20-30% travel (semi-recurring), and the rest being individual events (non-recurring). It took him a lot of hard work initially to get the recurring work, and he uses the networking at those engagements to get leads or referrals for the individual events. The travel stuff he does as "paid hobby" where he give talks to photographers, or to people who want a photography show during their event. To stay busy, he's always, always, always networking and marketing. It ain't easy.

 

[fooby]

Yeah I can see that networking is going to be the biggest hurdle when first starting out. I'm lucky enough to have worked on a shoot for Nat Geo, during which I got to make lots of great contacts. Hopefully that helps a little with the initial trust a client has to put in somebody new on the scene.

Based on equipment that I need for most shoots, equipment for running my business, insurance and general living costs, I can break even by only working around 20 actual shooting days a year if I charge roughly what local commercial photographers are charging. That leaves no space for profit but the way I see it - the harder I work to network and get jobs, the more I get to invest back into my business to do personal projects.

 

[TheNevadanStig]

I don't really consider myself pro as much as getting payed for a hobby, but I am set to complete 4 sessions this month, possibly 5. Not too bad considering I only do in game/action sports, nothing else. I've also turned down 3 jobs this month as well. Total cost of business for me is about $40 a YEAR. I have a website, and that is it. I also get a decent pension so I'm not really worried about how many jobs I get at all lol.

 

[fooby]

I don't really consider myself pro as much as getting payed for a hobby, but I am set to complete 4 sessions this month, possibly 5. Not too bad considering I only do in game/action sports, nothing else. I've also turned down 3 jobs this month as well. Total cost of business for me is about $40 a YEAR. I have a website, and that is it. I also get a decent pension so I'm not really worried about how many jobs I get at all lol.

That sounds like a pretty sweet business plan!

My niche is combining documentary style adventure photography with cinematic portraits. I'm hoping to get work mainly in the location based commercial industry. My plan is to work with newer, upcoming clients for free on a collaborative basis to help build my portfolio and make some more contacts and hopefully move into shooting similar stuff for paying clients. I think there could be initial work in the form of local outdoor retailers and venues, as well as businesses in other fields that want to use remote locations in their advertising.

 

[fooby]

Excuse the double post, I didn't want to open a new thread as this links in with the original question.

What is the standard process once you actually have a solid portfolio? Have you found it to be a matter of persistence? Cold calling and e-mailing the kind of clients you would like to work for in case they check your website and remember you when they need somebody? Do you ever work for clients for free to help build your portfolio in return for them referring you to potential future clients?

 

[KmH]

Total cost of business for me is about $40 a YEAR. I have a website, and that is it.

You wish.
Wear and tear on your gear is cost of business.
Wear, tear, gas, part of your car insurance is cost of business.
Your salary is cost of business.
Part of your computer and software costs are cost of business.
If you use your cell phone to conduct business, part of your cell phone cost/plan/usage is cost of business.
And the list goes on and on...........

 

[fooby]

Total cost of business for me is about $40 a YEAR. I have a website, and that is it.

You wish.
Wear and tear on your gear is cost of business.
Wear, tear, gas, part of your car insurance is cost of business.
Your salary is cost of business.
Part of your computer and software costs are cost of business.
If you use your cell phone to conduct business, part of your cell phone cost/plan/usage is cost of business.
And the list goes on and on...........

It was so depressing yet oddly sattisfying to know exactly what I was spending and how much I need to make to stay above the water each year. I was actually pleasantly surprised - maybe I'm just good at living quite cheaply.