Business Help Archives - Page 3 of 8

Why You Should Delete “I’m A Photographer” From Your Vocabulary

If you, me, and everyone else reading this post were jammed into a room at a networking event, I can almost guarantee you that 75% of the crowd’s introduction would go sorta like this…

“Hi! I’m so and so. I’m a photographer, and I shoot enter subject here.“

It’s when there’s hundreds of us all saying the same thing that the problem becomes grossly apparent. This is what we do, yes. But it’s no different than anyone else in this business and it’s not even a good way to articulate what we do.

After all, we’re not machines. We don’t produce the same results or experience. And, we don’t produce the same solution to the same problem.

With about 170,000 people reporting their career as “photographer” according to the US Census Bureau, how do you differentiate?

It’s really, really hard to figure out what you do differently than the pack. Businesses (not just photo businesses) struggle with this, sometimes for years before figuring it out. I’m about to give you a few huge shortcuts to help you figure it out much, much quicker. [Click to read more]

Photography Business Insurance Coverages Every Photographer Should Have

This week’s post is a guest post from Rachel Brenke.

Running a business is serious..business.

It is super exciting to get a new prop, lens or spend money on education but there are a few areas that small business owners sometimes overlook.

Safeguarding your business through insurance policies is a major one.

You may as well be playing the lottery with your livelihood, clients and self confidence when not carrying the proper insurance policies.

While you should always consult with an insurance agent to make sure you have all the coverages you need, here are some of the main things you need to consider and purchase when getting photography business insurance. [Click to read more]

How to Focus When Your Photography Business is Overwhelming

This post is a guest post by Tanya Hirschy.

Starting a photography business is often a bit awkward.

When I first timidly started my photography business a few years ago I would frequently hear, “I didn’t know you took pictures.”

“Me neither” my response would be, followed by nervous laughter. This showed my lack of confidence and slightly revealed how overwhelmed I was. Maybe you can relate.

Then all at once my young business unexpectedly exploded with clients. Here’s how I handled the overwhelm and uncertainty I felt about my success so early.

[Click to read more]

Top 10 Photography Business Resources of 2012

Every year I put together my Top 10 Must-Read Photography Blogs to help you waste less time and know which blogs are worth following, and I thought it might be helpful to do the same thing with my favorite photography business resources out there.

Right now is a great time to pick up a few of these to take advantage of tax deductions for 2012 and reduce your tax bill. Then set aside some time after the holidays to learn from them and implement them to make as much as possible into your business for 2013.

Less taxes to pay in 2012 + more profit in 2013 = Pure Awesomeness!

So let’s dive in and look at the Top 10 Photography Business Resources of 2012!

[Click to read more]

How to Find Balance in Your Photography Business

Are you working too much?

I’m guessing the answer is “yes”.

You are not alone. It’s incredibly difficult to find balance while running a business.

Most new photography businesses are started by people also working another job or who are stay-at-home parents who have a full-time job (plus some!) raising children. Once you do get to the point of going full-time, you still don’t have enough time to do everything you want to do to sustain and grow your photography business in the way you want it to grow.

Personally, I’ve justified all the extra work by believing that “one day” it’ll get to the point I want it to be at and I won’t have to work as much.

It’s a lie. The more you grow, the more time it takes to sustain, and you can’t ever really just ignore it without negative consequences.

Yet at the same time, you need to find balance. Your kids are only young once, and life is too short to work all the time. Not to mention the fact that you are utterly exhausted from late-night editing sessions so aren’t the person you want to be during the day.

So what do you do? Do you fold? Do you cut back? Do you get an extra job so that you don’t have to do photography for the income and just do it for fun?

Let’s dive in and talk about how to find balance long-term in your photography business.

[Click to read more]

50+ Black Friday and Cyber Monday Photography Deals

I am RIDICULOUSLY excited about this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals for Photographers and iPad mini giveaway!!!! WOOT WOOT!

For those of you outside the US, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving when places offer their best deals of the year. Cyber Monday is the Monday after, and usually has some fabulous deals as well.

Biggest List of Black Friday Deals for Photographers!

Because I know your time is precious and we all love a good deal, I’ve spent literally HOURS scouring the web, emailing my most favorite vendors, and putting together this list of sales that is going on that you might want to get in on now in addition to sharing significant discounts on my own products. These are usually the lowest prices of the entire year on products, so it’s a great time to buy.

6-Week Photography Marketing Bootcamp: VERY Limited Pre-Release!

I’m also doing a very limited pre-release of a brand new e-book I just wrote called the “6-Week Photography Marketing Bootcamp” that will ONLY be on the market through Cyber Monday and then will be taken off until Spring of 2013 when it will be available as a bonus with my full marketing e-book that I’ll be releasing. More details on that below.

Win a free iPad mini!

Finally, I’m giving away a free iPad mini! No purchase is necessary – all you have to do is enter below. Why would I do this? Because I’m ridiculously thankful for you, and it’s just one way I can give back.

[Click to read more]

Best of the Rest: Great Photography Resources From Around the Web

This week I have some big news (scroll to the end to read it!) and am bringing back the “Best of the Rest” series to share my favorite resources from around the web.

If you’re new around here, the “Best of the Rest” is a post where I sort through all the fluff out there on various photography business blogs and share my absolute favorite and most-helpful blog posts around, saving you time and effort sorting through them all. They are all worth a read.

And don’t forget to read to the end to make sure you hear about our big news for what you can expect next week. I’m ridiculously excited.

[Click to read more]

Happy Birthday To Me Sale!

FYI, Sale was extended one extra day through Thursday 10/25/12!

On Sunday I turned 31, AND the day before that we reached our 10,000th email subscriber, so I thought it was a fitting time for a celebration! WOOT WOOT!

Use the coupon code above when checking out on any of the following 3 products. Click on the image to learn more about each one, and enter the coupon in the cart to apply.

These products will help you with pricing, with client management and expectations, and with exactly how to respond to all sorts of difficult situations. Check them out now!

Happy shopping!

Free Pricing Gudie for Photographers from The Modern Tog

7 Ways to Make Extra Money With Your Photography Business

Let’s face it: We’d all like more money.

So I thought I’d compile a list of 7 ways to make extra money besides just booking more typical sessions, because most people I talk to still don’t have as many clients as they’d like.

I’m just going to dive right in. Here are my 7 ways to make extra money with your photography business.

[Click to read more]

Why I Switched to Flash Drives Instead of DVDs and Why You Should Too

It’s all Apple’s fault. No, really.

As a wedding photographer, I give all of my clients the digital images from their wedding day.

I used to deliver these in a beautifully packaged DVD that had a custom image of the couple printed right onto the DVD. It came in a modern metal case, and when wrapped up nicely with a bow it looked awesome. I loved every part of it.

But then Apple decided to release new MacBook Pros without a disc drive in them.

So that cute customized DVD? It’d be useless to any client that has one of the new MacBook Pros.

Just like Apple killed flash websites, they’ve now also made the DVD an outdated way to deliver images to your clients.

Sure, at the moment only a very small percentage of people out there would have this problem, but if you have high-end clients, they are more likely to have one than the general public. And the last thing I want is to come across as outdated or give them something that they can’t even use 2 years from now.

So, I accepted the fact that it is time to move on to a different way of delivering digital images to my clients and started researching. I decided that flash drives were the best way to deliver the images and am really happy with the switch. In fact, I’m so pleased with it that I wish I had done this a few years ago.

Here’s everything you’ll need to know about switching to flash drives for digital image delivery for your clients.

[Click to read more]

5 Super Simple Accounting Tips for Photographers

This week’s post is a guest post written by Allan Branch.

Professional photographers have the technique down and creative abilities to succeed at making money doing what you love. However, managing the business side, specifically your finances, is just as critical as making certain the bride looks even prettier in her wedding photos than she does in person. Here are five simple tips to help lessen the headache of accounting and get you back to creating lasting memories.
[Click to read more]

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