How to make the transsition from working a normal local job, to pro photographer?

[Life]

First answers first. Yes I do make some money off of photography. A few local jobs here and there.
I have been learning and learning and learning. Course after course, class after class, book after book It's getting expensive
I shoot a Nikon D7100, with a Nikon 18-70 ( my portait lens ) and also a Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 ( certain portaits ). I have a small studio setup, 2 flashes. 2 stands, 4 umbrellas, a couple backdrops, diffusers, gels, stands etc.

And no thanks, I don't plan to keep on cooking...

It's not min wage either whoever said that .

There is a lot of very good points here and advice thank you!

 

[tirediron]

Stick with cooking. The earning potential is much higher than photography.

The same can be said of pan-handling!

 

[KmH]

Going Pro: How to Make the Leap from Aspiring to Professional Photographer
How to Start a Home-Based Photography Business (Home-Based Business Series)

How could I take the leap, with not really any money, just experience.

Other people have done it having little money to start, but not very many.
Most of those that were successful usually had well developed business, marketing and salesmanship skills.

According to the Department of Labor, in the USA today the average gross income for retail photographers is about $32,000 a year.
In fact, most retail photographers in the US today earn an income below the poverty line and support their 'business' with other income from a 'day' job or a spouse.
Only 15% or so of professional photographers earn gross income at or above $50,000 a year.

Out of gross income self-employed workers have to pay a variety of federal, state and local taxes.
For instance - your employer deducts FICA taxes from your paycheck.. The amount you see on your pay check stub is 1/2 what is paid. Your employer is required by law to pay the other half. When you become self employed you will have to pay it all. Being self employed your state will likely require you to pay unemployment insurance taxes - that are currently paid in total by your employer.

The point being that after taxes and based on a gross income of $32,000 a year something like $8000 of your income (25% or more) will go to taxes leaving you about $24,000.
If your business is not profitable you will have to support yourself, your woman, and your business with that $24,000 until your business starts turning a profit.

Lets go back to that $32,000 in gross income, because we can use that number to calculate how much revenue your business will need to do.
First - Your income (salary) from a photography business is part of your cost-of-doing-business. Your income is not profit.
So lets assume your photography and products are priced so that 20% of the revenue your photography generates is income.
The math is simple - $32,000 / 20% = $160,000 per year in gross revenue your new business needs to generate to provide you with gross income of $32,000.
If your business skills aren't all that good maybe your business only generates income at the rate of 15% instead of 20%
$32,000 / 15% = $213,333 in gross revenue needed to generate the same $32,000 in income.
If you only generate $160,000 in gross revenue and income is 15% of that revenue your income goes down to $24,000 a year, and that is gross income, not take home pay.

 

[Tabe]

It's not min wage either whoever said that .

Uh... you did:

Right now, I work a min wage job

 

[Life]

XD. lol i'm so used to saying that. I got a raise not that long ago.

 

[KmH]

Substantial raises are not very common, so would that mean your pay is now just slightly above minimum wage?

 

[Life]

Unfortunately yes. $9... But it does make the paycheck that much higher. We are used to living with the bare minimum. But being able to make a little more money would certainly be great and that's what I'm trying to do. It seems my issue is the whole marketing thing right now. I have family who can help me greatly with the business side of things. I'll certainly read up on this books and links you are showing here. Thanks everyone

 

[dennybeall]

Annual income for photographers is mentioned in another post.
Anytime an annual earnings figure is published for a business that does not have significant inventory and is not tax deductible for the client you need to take that figure with a dash of doubt.
Having had three different businesses that met that criteria I can tell you the tax return does not accurately reflect annual earnings.

 

[Microbois]

I don't mean to discourage you, but earning money from photography is very tough nowadays, especially if you're just starting off. Sure, there are some areas of photography that can pay better than others, but don't worry, the competition is already there chasing that very little money that can be made out of it.

Just to give you an idea, my son plays minor hockey at an elite level, and I purchased 2 large pictures of 10" x 18" format for 10$/each during a tournament. One was an individual picture of my son, and the other one was a team picture. Obviously, the photographer was back the next day and he printed them all for the players. I was one of the last person to purchase his prints, and based on the remaining pictures I've seen, I would estimate he didn't sell more than 4 or 5 pictures to our entire team. That's a lot of work taking pictures of 17 players, and printing them all just to sell a couple in the end... Overall, he's done it with all the teams participating to the tournament, so maybe it was worthwhile in the end, but he spent 4 full days shooting and spent money to get the prints done. He also had to pay someone for 3 days sitting at a table to sell those prints in the arena. Once all his expenses are factored in, I doubt he made more than 100$ to 150$ / day, and it only lasted 4 days. Now he has to look for another gig...

My only suggestion to you would be to keep your day job, and try doing photography on the side. When comes the day where you have so much lucrative photography related work that you are forced to take some time off from your day job, then that will be a good sign that you are building a serious business. Until then, it's not the occasional gigs that will put food on your table every day. More over, you'll have to be a much better business man than you are a photographer because in the end, you are in the business of selling your pictures, and if you're not really good at that, you will fail miserably.

Good luck!

 

[KmH]

Anytime an annual earnings figure is published for a business that does not have significant inventory and is not tax deductible for the client you need to take that figure with a dash of doubt.
Having had three different businesses that met that criteria I can tell you the tax return does not accurately reflect annual earnings.

Tax avoidance is legal, tax evasion isn't.
There are a lot of people in federal prisons right now who got caught evading taxes.
when does wesley snipes get out of jail? - Google Search

Businesses that do not have significant inventory and that can be conducted to a large extent on a cash basis have long been targeted by the IRS for more scrutiny than other businesses.

A backhanded recommendation to file false tax returns is not good business advice. LOL.

 

[dennybeall]

Wow, thanks so much for that information, Had no idea.....

 

[Life]

Wesley snipes is not in jail..? lol. Anyway. Thanks for all the advice and your time guys

 

[Mr. Innuendo]

I'm not of the opinion that there's not money to be made being a photographer. I'm not of the opinion that being a cook will provide a better income. Those will only be true if you allow them to be true.

I became a full-time photographer out of necessity. I worked in a different industry for the better part of 20 years, and walked away from it in 2013.

I ended up moving to Florida. I took as many piecemeal jobs as I could find, and I found a lot of them. Many here will cringe, but you wanna' know where I found the best paying ones? Craig's List. Yep; that bane of the professional photographer's existence actually panned out. I've done shoots that pay upwards of $50.00 and $60.00 an hour, and there's zero anything for me to do after pressing the shutter. I literally hand the card over to the company which hired me. This company, by the way, advertises all over the country. Now, there's no shortage of people who would say "I would never work for that low an amount", and that's fine. Stay at home and I'll take the money. I don't care what anyone says, grossing $350.00 for a day's worth of shooting, and zero editing, ain't bad.

I write and shoot for a new magazine here in town. How the Hell I ended up with a gig where someone would pay me twenty-five cents a word for an article is beyond me, but that's another example of a gig found on Craig's List. I also write and shoot for their blog for the same rate. This has turned out to be a pretty sweet gig. My association with that magazine has now put me on a sort of photographer "A-List" locally, which also pays dividends in the form of other gigs. People love having "the guy from that magazine" shooting their family portrait.

The bottom line here is that you want to make money.

Look everywhere for jobs. If someone wants to pay you $75.00 for a simple head shot when you want to charge them $100.00, take the $75.00. Why? Because it's better than not having $75.00 and, really, it's not rocket science.

You have to hustle. You don't have to be the guy who gives away the farm, but you need to be the guy who people will think of when they need a photographer.

Yesterday I accepted a gig in exchange for two VIP tickets to a charity event. Why did I do that? Because a lot of high-rollers attend this event. These same high-rollers read our magazine and, by default, see my pictures and read my articles. When they need a photographer for something, they just may decide they want "that guy from that magazine".

Don't be afraid to fail. Don't be afraid to work for less than another guy, but don't be afraid to stick to your guns when your price is higher than someone else. It's a balancing act and, once you figure out how to stay on the tightrope, you'll probably find that you're doing okay.

 

[KmH]

Yep. Don't be afraid to fail.
But, for every story like yours there are a 1000 others that don't have a happy ending.

What did you do before you walked away?

 

[Mr. Innuendo]

Yep. Don't be afraid to fail.
But, for every story like yours there are a 1000 others that don't have a happy ending.

This is true.

The pertinent question, though, is why are there 1,000 others that don't have a happy ending?

Personally, I believe failure only happens when failure is allowed. For me, I couldn't afford to fail with photography. It was all I had. I was going to be pretty screwed if it didn't work out, so having it not work out was never on my radar. I couldn't let it be.

I truly believe that a person can succeed at whatever they want to succeed at, provided they're willing to weather the storm.

What did you do before you walked away?

I worked for an artist management firm in Los Angeles, and at a fairly high level. I was what most people would refer to as an "agent". It was fun for a long time, and the money was great, but it was literally sucking the will to live right out of me. Now, I bust my ass to make a tenth of what I made at the agency, but I'm infinitely happier.