Turning a Facebook Photography page into a Six Figure business

[adversus]

Saw this come across my Twitter today, was an interesting read. I think in the grand scheme of things this is an abnormality, but still interesting nonetheless.

How a photographer generated over $100,000 through Facebook » Nieman Journalism Lab

 

[Geaux]

Notice the title...."A photographer"...meaning ONE. You do realize how many "photographers" are on fb? lol

I didn't bother reading past the title.

 

[tirediron]

In the same vein as those late-night infomercials where someone claims to have lost hundreds of pounds doing two minutes of exercise a week on this unique machine that you can have for only four easy payments of $49.99! But wait... there's more... As it says in the fine print of those adverts, "Results not typical", HOWEVER it can be done! Good for him and any others that can succeed.

 

[KmH]

Plus, for a retail photography business, $100,000 a year basically means working for minimum wage, after business and product expenses are accounted for (COBD & COGS).

 

[thereyougo!]

My father in law ran a courier company until recently. He had a turnover of over £1million. After taxes, fuel van and truck lease and maintenance, wages he made nothing and had to give up. (the straw that broke the camel's back was the fact that the company they contracted to, Citylink surcharged it's customers for fuel but never passed on the surcharge to those that actually paid for the fuel in the first place). So you can take 7 figures, doesn't mean you will make​ even 6.

 

[shootermcgavin]

That's probably pretty accurate if they have a decent studio. If you want to run your own business you better be the kind of person that would rather make 40k a year for yourself than 80k a year working for someone else. Remember the grass is always greener! There are lots of days I miss getting a nice safe check every other week, insurance, benefits, expenses paid.

 

[Kerbouchard]

It says he does 25 weddings a year and his highest package is 3500, comes out to 87,500(if he sold his highest package everytime) before costs, taxes, materials, etc.

Seems like that would leave around $35000 for the year. I would say that was pretty typical of most facebook photographers.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

bestbuy and FB crank out mega-buck pro photographers daily =)

 

[tirediron]

...Seems like that would leave around $35000 for the year. I would say that was pretty typical of most facebook photographers.

Really? I would have thought $3500.00 was a more typical Facebook income.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

Saw this come across my Twitter today, was an interesting read. I think in the grand scheme of things this is an abnormality, but still interesting nonetheless.

How a photographer generated over $100,000 through Facebook » Nieman Journalism Lab

Bestbuy can't even top this one

 

[Kerbouchard]

...Seems like that would leave around $35000 for the year. I would say that was pretty typical of most facebook photographers.

Really? I would have thought $3500.00 was a more typical Facebook income.

Possibly, but most facebook/craigslist photographers are strictly shoot and burn and pay no taxes. With little to no overhead, lots of bookings due to rock bottom prices, I wouldn't think it would be difficult for a photog under those circumstances to easily clear $35000.

 

[adversus]

From a business perspective I would have been more interested if the article went into their overhead so you could get an idea of what their actual net income looks like.

The stance of "If you include post processing time and all that administrative work" you come out to minimum wage holds true for a lot of professions. I make per hour a lot less than my annual salary says I do, simply because I usually work 50-ish hours a week.

 

[shootermcgavin]

I think putting craigslist in the facebook catergory is wrong, craigslist is a great place to advertise any business. 1. It's free 2. It's viewed by thousands of people not friends 3. Creates a solid backlink to your website 4. It's like the 21st century phone book, it doesn't have to do with price you can still get top dollar on craigslist. I don't see facebook as a horrible place especially if you're just starting but in the long term probably not ideal. I dare someone to post a decent ad on craigslist every day for 3 months and tell me that it didn't beat their paid advertising!

 

[Tee]

Good for them! Their processing style is very "in" with the 20's and 30's crowd. I can see why they're busy.