The Cost of Doing Business – UMX 2009

Turning your photography into a business means money comes in as well as goes out.

You used to ignore all the little costs your hobby accrued; perhaps your significant other didn’t but you sure did. Gas, meals, batteries and that new flash diffuser were all necessary to pursue your dreams. It’s expected that you dump money into your hobby – that should be the definition of hobby.

Hobby – a useful means of disposing disposable income.

Not any more.

Say that with me again.

Once you turn your hobby into a business it is no longer a hobby. It seems self-evident when you say it out loud, but poor business plans and lax attitudes towards money flow destroy businesses everyday. They are waiting somewhere to destroy your small business. They want to destroy mine as well.

How can we battle back against this?

• Have a plan – Let us get my hypocrisy out of the way quickly shall we? I’ve got a rough approximation of an idea of where I might like to go with Tenuous Thread Photography. I certainly won’t attract much investment capital with that statement will I?

  Develop a plan for your business. Identify your market and your competitors. Set goals and list the steps needed to achieve them. Visit your local Small Business Association for consultations and advice. Then stick with your plans and follow through.

• Keep records- There a plenty of ways to keep financial records. If you’ve put money aside for your fledgling business it might be wise to hire an accountant, set some guidelines and develop a detailed system of record keeping. Come tax time you won’t be sweating bullets.

  If you are starting a small business with a minimal amount of capital then investing in one of the many accounting program offered today might be the way to go. This is the route I’ve taken with Tenuous Thread Photography. Heck, just putting the numbers into a spreadsheet program would be better that stuffing receipts into a shoebox. Again, stick with it. Discipline now with pay dividends later.

• Don’t delude yourself #1 – Currently I’m marketing myself in Denver as a concert / music photographer who also does promotional photos and portraits. I’ve got confidence and experience in this area; enough of both to deliver what I promise.

  Would I do weddings? Yes – but I am not currently a wedding photographer. I’m not set up or knowledgeable enough to provide online proofing and album design. I’d need to make this very clear in the beginning and set my prices accordingly. The last thing I need is to destroy my brand before it is even developed.

• Set a budget- You’ll eventually need to make money with your business (I know, crazy idea isn’t it). Income needs to be higher than expenditures. Decide what you need versus what you want to move your business forward and plan it out.

  What can you borrow, rent, improvise? Plan for big expenses and don’t forget repairs – stuff breaks and now its your livelihood we’re talking about. Credit is not a good option.

• Don’t delude yourself #2 – I really want a 400mm f/4.0 DO or 500mm f/4.0 IS lens. Really, really badly.

  Why?

  When I was twelve I spent afternoons taking pictures of small birds from really far away. I’d wait for those images to come back from Kodak only to be disappointed by small brown blurs in giant expanses of sky. I want to make really nice bird images for myself.

  Notice all those wants? Neither of those lenses will ensure the success of my business based on the goals I’ve set. In fact, I’m pretty sure either of those lenses would currently ruin me, my business and my marriage. If I want to play bird photographer for a day I’ll rent.

• Act like a business- All those things you never worried about while photography was a hobby now matter. You are now the living, breathing representative of your brand.

  CEO, Financial officer, PR Director and front-line staff all rolled into one.

  Act like it and people will take you and your business seriously; drop the ball here and you’ll spend an inordinate amount of time rebuilding what little reputation you had.

  Get professionally made business cards, lose the sweatpants, skip the whiskey with lunch and for goodness sake answer your phone. Have a price structure in place and practice an elevator speech. If you are promising something – deliver it and more. Oh, and get insurance. This is the land of litigation after all.

So what does any of this have to do with UMX 2009 in Denver?

Well, I’ve not currently made any income from covering the event. But here are my rough expenses:

Gas – $39.60
Parking – $10.00
Food – $6.00 (As volunteers we got free food – sweet!)
Equipment – $250.00 (See Below*)
Wages – Did you forget about paying yourself? I didn’t, but let’s stick with consumables here shall we.

So, before I even get to pay myself I’m in the hole $305.60.

Looking at this number and factoring in an hourly wage will help me set prices to stay competitive in the local market for this type of coverage.

Considering the weekend this way makes me take my business endeavor seriously. I can’t afford to give away $300 every time I pick up the camera – can you?

(*You'll need to consider depreciation of your equipment and eventual
 replacement with newer models; factor that into the cost of doing
 business and help yourself stay solvent)

This entry was posted on Friday, April 3rd, 2009 at 4:05 pm and is filed under Business and Marketing and tagged with business, learning, marketing, planning, preparations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.