So you want to be a Professhional!

[pgriz]

(In case you're wondering, the spelling error is deliberate).

As someone who has run businesses and consulted, there are some common elements that come up again and again. Here’s a checklist to see if you’re ready for “business”: To how many of these can you say “Yes” to?

1. I know the difference between revenue, cost-of-production, gross margin, overhead expenses, and net margin. I have an accounting system that allows me to track all of these on a job/week/month/year basis.
2. I know my cost of production, down to the number of hours needed for travel, prep, client management, post-production, administration, and delivery. I also know my overhead costs and have a sound justification for each overhead item.
3. I have managed my business risk by having the appropriate business structure, licenses, tax numbers, insurance policy(ies), and contracts.
4. I have managed my financial risk by having a clear and sound cash-flow management strategy that works.
5. I have a clear idea of my break-even point(s), and the volume of business I need to achieve my business goals.
6. I have a good marketing plan and branding strategy that allows me to attract the right type of client.
7. I have a clear idea of my target client profile, including how to market and sell to them, and the level of pricing appropriate for the services provided.
8. I have a client management process, from recruitment, through sales, through production, to delivery, to collections and payment, to after-sales follow-up. This is also known as effectively managing expectations.
9. I have managed my production risk by having backups to my production equipment, as well as backup manpower available on standby as needed.
10. I have equipment appropriate to the level of production I am delivering.
11. I have the skills and ability to effectively operate the equipment and to efficiently produce the deliverables on schedule. This includes preparation, staging, production, post-production, packaging, and delivery. I have the skills and knowledge to adapt to the situation when the plans or environment change.
12. I have an administration system that allows me to track money, time, commitments, and deadlines. This allows me to see if I am meeting my goals and performance indicators.

Any profitable business is a machine designed to mine opportunity/need and generate money.

All the points above apply, whether you’re doing “professional” photography, running a catering business, operating a hair styling salon, doing contracting work, or free-lancing as a writer. Note that only 3 items (9, 10, 11) are specific to a given field (photography in this thread). The other nine items are about managing money, time, contacts, commitments and risks.

All of the above points need to be addressed in a business plan, whether it is in your head, or on paper (hint: paper’s better). How professionally you approach running your business tells others what kind of professional you really are.

Keep in mind that each field has its own collection of skills, abilities, knowledge, and practices that need to be learned. Whether you acquire these by formal education, by apprenticeship, or by experience (also known as the school of hard knocks), it takes time to learn how to do well in a given field. It’s been said that you need to spend up to 10,000 hours in a given field before you can be considered capable. The other simple fact is that there are also probably twenty to a hundred other people who can do what you want to do, and can do it better, faster, cheaper and more effectively than you. So part of any good business plan is to make sure you pick a niche where there are relatively few competitors, and that you have the ability to “sell” yourself ahead of them.

Most small businesses fail within the first three years. Almost always, the reasons are: Wrong market, poor planning, poor cash-management.

Anyways, those are my ideas on the subject of being an aspiring PRO. What do the rest of you think?

 

[KmH]

That pretty well sums up what is needed to start, maintain, and grow a business.

 

[EIngerson]

Well said.

 

[rexbobcat]

tl;dr

 

[pgriz]

tl;dr

That's your contribution to helping aspiring photographers succeed? Maybe you have more succinct points to offer?

 

[The_Traveler]

 

[TreeofLifeStairs]

Photography is just a hobby for me but I do own a stair company (TreeofLifeStairs.com) and can attest to the benefit if having a niche. I have somewhere between 6 and 12 competitors depending on the area. There may not be as many customers out there in the market for stairs as for pictures but I've got basically a 10% chance that those that are looking for stairs will be giving me a call. Good luck to all you pros out there trying to make a living taking pictures.

 

[mishele]

:heart::heart::heart:

 

[trojancast]

What a crock . . .

 

[rexbobcat]

That's your contribution to helping aspiring photographers succeed? Maybe you have more succinct points to offer?

Moments like these make me wish so deeply that there was a sarcasm font.

 

[pgriz]

What a crock . . .

Would you like to elaborate why you feel this way?