I also thought about opening the studio, hiring another photog as the main photographer, and using the first year or so to build up my portfolio. I might do the PP side of things and pay them per shoot. Just a thought
Outsourcing or delegating is a smart way to run a business...but it's usually the other way around. The owner is the primary photographer and they might hire someone to do the post work.
You would need to decide where your strengths are and how much your time is worth. An example I saw at a seminar went something like this...
As the owner & main photographer, his time was worth at least $50/hr. But he's really only generating money when behind the camera or selling....and time working on images (sitting at the computer) was considered a drain on that. So he looked at the cost to hire someone to process the images and that ranged from $12/hr for basic stuff and up to $25/hr for someone who was really good. Either way, it was to his advantage to hire someone to do it, so that he could spend more time behind the camera.
Then there is the office/reception work. If you are busy enough, the photo should be ringing, the E-mails should be coming in and hopefully some foot traffic comes in as well. Those are all things that would distract you from being behind the camera, so it makes sense to hire someone. I've even heard of a photographer hiring a salesman to be the customer's first point of contact.
Of course, the position of photographer could be hired as well...but in many cases, this is the most important position, so you'll want to hire carefully and probably have to pay well.
There is another business model, which is fairly common. You see it at Sears, Wal-mart etc. That is to set up a 'fool proof' studio and then just hire some kid to snap the photos and herd the customers through like cattle. Although, this model doesn't seem to be good for big individual sales...as you can see by their advertised prices. It's usually something like 8 wallet sized, some 4x6s and an 8x10 for less than $20. You won't be able to compete with those prices.
Many of the more successful (people) photographers devote as much space to selling as they do to shooting. In other words, they have a reception area (filled with photos, of course) and they have a sales area. The sales area is a comfy area that is set up specifically to entice people to spend money. You bring the clients in (when the photos are done) and soften them up. Then you show them the photos, projected quite large on a wall and with emotional music playing etc. Emotion is the key...they cry, they buy. This technique, often called 'projecting' seems to be the best method for big sales. The idea is that this is the only time they can purchase prints, so little things, like making sure that both Mom & Dad are both present, can really help.
I've seen plenty of stories from photographers who use this technique to take their average sale (for a portrait sitting), from something like $200 to something like $1000.
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