Business talk: How I became a professional businessperson, and stayed in business for 15 years (Despite barriers!)

1 Apr

I discovered that I wanted to be a professional photographer, and chose to become self-employed in the winter of 2009.

In January 2010, I booked my first client, although this was a TF shoot (Time for print; where photographers give images free of charge to models without any money being exchanged), because I did not have a portfolio, and I knew that I needed one to showcase my work as a photographer. I gathered my models from a site called ‘Model Mayhem’, as well as asking friends.

How I started:

1) Borrowing different DSLR cameras to find which one works for me. Previously, I had used my former partner’s Canon 550D camera, and I borrowed my friend’s aunt’s Fuji camera at our shoot, as well as my tutor’s Canon 1D camera, and borrowed another friend’s Nikon camera, later that year from Uni, and another photographer’s camera. By the end of the year, I knew I wanted to be a Canon user (Although I switched to SONY in 2013). I finally got my camera in May of 2011.

2) Setting up a ‘business page’, which was my Facebook page. Here I could showcase my portfolio, market myself, and get clients. I then expanded to other sites and directories over the years – other than my website, and Google Business page, my Facebook has been the best site to get clients from (but this is different for everyone).

3) Training: I booked my first 1-2-1 independent training with a photographer in February of 2010. I knew that I needed to learn how to use a camera and get tips on how to be a professional. I also applied to go to college to study media.

4) Personal research: on how to start a business, how to be a professional, and gathering tools that I would need: a camera – I did not have a DSLR at this point, because I could not afford one. But this was a perfect time to build my portfolio; I was upfront with my clients that I did not have a professional camera, and I was using a ‘point and shoot’ digital camera.

5) Mindset and passion: having the right mindset for business and being a professional photographer. Or, I would not have lasted this long!

Things that have helped me improve and stay in business:

1) Niched professional training: This elevated my photography skill, my business knowledge, expanded my professional network, and overall was one of the best decisions as a business person that I could have made.

The key to this was doing several different workshops; I was not relying just on one trainer, I got multiple points of view and styles, to allow for my own personal photography style and to understand business at a deeper level. When you rely on one trainer, you rely solely on their style and their point of view.

Continued learning: Another important key to success is continued learning; you cannot train once and believe that you're set for life. Business changes, photography style changes, technology changes, and society changes! So, being open-minded to continue that investment of training and learning throughout your career will help you succeed.

2) Understanding and managing money: This is another key to success! Understanding how to price yourself properly and manage your money will allow you to run your business efficiently and ensure the longevity of your business.

Financially, I started off not charging my clients because I did not have a portfolio, and I had very little skill and experience. I then built this price up slowly, as my experience and skill grew, whilst simultaneously researching how to price myself appropriately, and therefore created my prices to reflect my business sustainability. I have a workbook for sale with this exact topic, so get in contact with me if you’d like to know more.

I started charging clients in 2011, just £10 per shoot, which went to £20 by the following year.

3) Passion, grit, and skill: Another key to my success in staying in business was being completely in love with photography, passion burning in my soul, and developing grit over the years, learning from mistakes, and difficulties to grow as a business and as a person.

If your heart is not in it, I feel like you cannot develop the grit to withstand the storms. Not only that, but having the right mindset; in business, there are many things you need to juggle, you need great communication skills with your clients, good organization skills, time management, technology skills, business skills, interpersonal skills when people facing, money management skills, the ability to learn, ect.