Real Estate Photographer wanting other sources of income

[skid2964]

I am a Professional Real Estate Photographer and have photographed about 6000+ homes and businesses since I got started. I shoot about 5 to 8 houses per day and spend my late nights processing photos. I have tried outsourcing the processing with unsatisfactory results. I am trapped working every minute for every dollar... cant complain about the money but I have zero time. I need to somehow monetize something else and create some passive to semi-passive income.

Looking for suggestions...
Some ideas:

Sell stock photos? I have thousands! but they are all so similar.

Build a blog and teach the world what I do?
Hopefully sell ads if I get enough traffic?

Teach the local agents to take photos(for a price), then sell the processing services?

I am also exploring possibilities in the computer world. I am a web developer and marketer also.
Maybe could sell turn key website packages to Real Estate agents and brokerages.

Hopefully there are some things I have not thought of yet.... That's why I'm here.

 

[jeffW]

raise your rates

 

[Jeff15]

The easiest way to make money from photography is sell your gear................

 

[smoke665]

It seems you have tapped a niche market that most would be envious of. As JeffW alluded to, it might be time to do a little study on your pricing. A little quality vs quantity???? If you raised your prices would it drive off all your business or only the problems? Over 40 years in business, it took me awhile to learn I didn't want every customer out there. If you raised your prices could you offer additional services? You mention your web/marketing abilities, just a thought but could you build a site, where you could offer expanded views of a property and sell advertising or market the service to the realtor so they could give potential customers a link???

 

[selo]

It sounds like you are looking for new challenges but don't have time for it. I think raising your price will result in less customers but probably the same monthly income or at least close to it. With the extrq time you have left you could look into other stuff without worrying about the income. You can start a blog or a videoblog. Once you get more traffic to your website you could advertise the homes you photographed and generate more income from that home.

 

[Christie Photo]

I am ... marketer also.

DECADES ago, I attended a marketing seminar for photographers. The presenter made a statement like, "If you raise you prices 20%, you can afford to lose 50% of your business." I could never get the math to work out or really understand his reasoning, but I have to agree with what others have already said here. Bump up your pricing a bit. If you lose some work, you'll free up some time and enjoy the same cash flow. If you keep all your current clients, then you'll find your work more gratifying. A win/win result.

I can't say just how it will turn out, but please let us know if you go this route.

Thanks!
-Pete

 

[selo]

@Christie Photo

I think he was a little optimistic and was looking for wow really effect.

But he is righ a little... we increased our price few years ago and. The first time we did that, we lost about 50-60% of our customers... But these were the customers we wanted too lose anyway. a few months later we were making the same money but with less hours and with better customers. then we did this a few more times but in smaller steps.

Portait photography for low price attracta customers we dont really appreciate your photos but they just want the photoshoot because some other family also had a photoshoot.

 

[smoke665]

I think it's largely the same in any service business. Owned a trucking company for years, had a saying "The cheaper the rate, the more problems with the freight". Plus if we had cheap freight on we were blocked from the better paying load. Photography is much the same.

 

[Light Guru]

raise your rates

^^^That^^^


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RealEstateCOMO]

What about creating a course on something like UDemy or another courses website?

I am wanting to raise my rates here in Columbia, but there are several others who are doing the same and we are all priced around the same. So rather than raise my rates, I am adding services. I just purchased a DJI Osmo+ to do interior walk-throughs as an add-on package. I found one on Amazon for under $400. I am not sure if you are already doing this, but may be worth looking into. I am doing a few for realtors who use me all the time to get my technique down and make some promo videos for my self so I can offer it to the masses.

Hope this helps...

 

[dennybeall]

I would say Raise your rates and find someone to do processing for you that meets your needs. There are a lot of us old guys that aren't up to working a wedding or a 6 bedroom estate in the country but we're skilled at Photoshop and the rules of real estate photos.