Getting Business

[int0xicatedxluv]

Hey guys,

Well, I'm wondering how you get business. Or how you got business when you were first starting out? I've been building up my portfolio for months...and these are my current rates , and I don't think they're too expensive, yet I havn't gotten even [b]ONE PAID JOB yet!! Its driving me nuts !!!

http://www.negativex.net/kristy/files/rates3%20copy.jpg

I know my work isn't fashion magazine quality, but its not bad, and when I see OTHER photographers in my area who are much, MUCH worse than I am..it makes me wonder. What am I doing wrong?

Any thoughts, ideas, etc?

[EOS mE]

wow.. great photos~ are you trying to get into fashion photog business? if so.. i think your photos rocks! try submitting some of your fashion photos to magazines and what not.. perhaps you'll get your leads from there?

[int0xicatedxluv]

Hmmm that's an idea.

Man, I have NO idea how to go about this!


At this point, I'd even settle for making money on
just portrait shoots, but I can't even get those!!! :(

[int0xicatedxluv]

Just for the record, I'm on Myspace, Model mayhem, and posting ads weekly on Craigslist trying to get ANY business...

and still NOTHING!!!

[EOS mE]

kristen.. it's tough.. that i know. i'm still in the process of building my portfolio and don't really have that much access to models and what not. so at least you are several miles ahead. the hardest part for me is finding people to shot.. :(

[Gary_Evans]

I dont think the wording reflects a professional image, and the third paragraph will put people off instantly - well it would me!

[int0xicatedxluv]

The paragraph about flaking?

Have you ever had models flake on you after you've rented equipment and set up the whole shoot that has at least 3-4 people involved? I've seen many photographers require a deposit...

why would that offend you?

[troyer16]

It's more of how the paragraph is worded, it doesnt sound professional. For example:

"good old regular mail"
"flaking"
Those are just a few terms that stand right out to me.

In the second paragraph you switch tenses a few times. For example, try the sentence : whether makeup artists and hair stylists are being used. This sounds better than whether "we're". These are just some quick things i've noticed

[int0xicatedxluv]

Cool cool. I've be revamping my whole rates package and wording tonight :)

Thanks guys!!!

[Master Mason]

It is not the idea, it is the wording. I am not a professional photographer, but I am a professional sales guy.

In the second paragraph you say "I always do my best", that leaves the reader open to wonder what your best really is. You should just say that your photos will be turned around quickly.

"Flaking" is slang, professionals do not use that type of languge in business papers or public contact. You could use something like the wording below.

Inorder to confirm your reservation, I will require a 30% deposit. The deposit will be forefeited if there is a no show the day of the shoot. Payment may be made via paypal or a check by mail.

Hope that helps and good luck.

[troyer16]

No problem. Your work is great and i think with better "wording" it would help a lot.

[Costa Del Canon]

I dont think the wording reflects a professional image, and the third paragraph will put people off instantly - well it would me!
Yes! I thought the same.:(

[ssim]

What have you been doing to get business??

Your website as per the link in your signature has some good images but you don't tell anyone about yourself, how to contact you other than your email address, no explanation of services, etc. The myspace in your sig isn't valid either.

You need to get the customer interested in your work before you get them to your pricing page. From what I see is another website of someone sharing their work, there is nothing there telling me you want to do photography professionally.

[PhotosGuy]

Well, I'm wondering how you get business. int0xicatedxluv, meet ShannonHeat!
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=316176

[ShannonHeat]

int0xicatedxluv, meet ShannonHeat!
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=316176
Haha, ok I get it. In my defense, I didn't see this thread.

Intoxicatedluv, I didn't mean to step on your toes here, I'm just rocking the same boat you are. My love of photography, and aquiring business :D
If you find something that works, let me know.

[int0xicatedxluv]

Okay I took everyone's advice and made some major changes in wording, as well as adding different packages, in the hopes that until the day comes that I'm in a magazine of some sort, I can make a little bit of cash here & there.

You can check out my new rates in my blog on my myspace, here:
www.myspace.com/ktylerphotography.

Unfortunatly, that website that I have at www.kristen-tyler.com is just a place marker. I do need to get a site built thats comprehensive and dynamic, and lists my rates and breaks my images out into separate categories, etc.

First up.. business cards. That's tonights project.

I'll be in LA next week at a few art shows so I'm thinking that may be a plus to have on me!! Also, I'll be looking for an affordable web deisgner to get my "Real" site up and running here soon! I think that will help bring in business.

Or so I hope :(

[ShannonHeat]

A good, inexpensive way to go is microsoft office live. www.officelive.com
It's actually free, and it's what I use for my website. It's not 100% the best, but it works. I hope this helps.

[Master Mason]

It is much much better.

This sentence
"All portrait packages and "ale carte" pricing includes a 1/2 hour free consultation meeting" I think "ale carte" is misspelled, but I am the worlds worst speller, so I might be wrong. Also, I would just say it includes 1/2 consultation, noting is free, that's part of the fee's being paid. It also leaves you open to charge more if the consultation is longer then the 1/2 hour.

I would also revise your copyright statement...

I would make it very simple. "All photos taken are covered under US copyright laws, and as such no commercial use of any photo is allowed without the express permission of the artist."

[Banbert]

As has already been said you need a proper website before you can expect any business, thats a nice gallery of images that you have at your domain, really nice, but thats all it really is and they take an age to load because each image is almost 1meg, they need to be optimised for the web so they load quickly even on average connections and you need a site with content not just images.

Whilst your building your website think about what your target market is and build your content with that in mind so that search engines index your site favourably for the keywords your looking to target.

So your site should have a short title that explains what the website is about, the keywords, description and body text should all tie together nicely and be on the same theme, images should be named with keywords in mind, alt image tags with the same things in mind and the tructure should be easy to navigate.

Once you have a MK1 site that is complete, use googles webmaster tools to verify it, setup google analytics on it, create and upload a sitemap for it and start submiting it to search engines and finding sites that you can link from to your site to increase your page rank.

The webs great for generating business from very little but you do need to put some effort in behind the scenes for it to work well.

[Coastwatch203]

Ok guy's. on the "up side" of photography,,,, YES there IS money to be made from photography! I worked with a mate in Australia last year who is a pro photographer taking mostly landscape and wildlife photography in the tropical north of Australia. He shot then with a 20D, a 16 35mm L2.8, and a 70-200 L2.8 lens ( his only two at the time) He invested in a picture frame guillotine, underpinner and mat cutter and made sure he kept costs down by doing as much as he could his self. His photography is fantastic, but he's no photoshop guru, so not much more editing than sharpen and push up the saturation a bit on the pics. He had an epson 1200 printer and printed all his pics as well. Paul turned over $80,000.00 dollars during December alone last year by renting an area in a large local shopping centre and manning it 6 days a week. Hard work, and the pictures (all framed in various sizes) sold amazingly well to both locals and tourists as Christmas presents. I was gobsmacked! - and saw this first hand as I helped making frames etc etc!, -
Dont be dismayed by "sad sack stories" of other photographers who cantmake a buck, - with all respect to them there IS money to be made in photography!! - Heck everyone in the world has piccy's hanging in their houses!
Think outside the square!!! , dont just try to sell a pic or two to a magazine, get out and look for somewhere to set up and sell beautiful pictures that people will love - and want in their homes!
This mate of mine has only been a pro for 2 years and through "SMART THINKING' and clever marketing (printing calendars and christmas postcards from his piccy's as well, he HAS MADE big bucks!
Tourist "markets" area place to be with the same framed pictures. They sell really well, both framed and just in a Mat board.
Have faith, have great piccy's and USE YOUR HEAD! - you will succeed!
Cheers, Mark

[JR1]

To start with, do you have a business plan? Without a roadmap, how does one know how to get to where they want to go...and which way turn when one runs into the inevitable deadends and construction zones? The best photographers are those who are business people first, photographers second. I would suggest getting your hands on John Harrington's book "Best Business Practices for Photographers." Another great resource is joining a professional association. If you are primarily a portrait/commercial/wedding photographer then the Professional Photographers of America or Wedding & Portrait Photographers International. PPA's monthly magazine Professional Photographer has been a wonderful resource for me in terms of business practices. If you lean more toward special events/sports leagues and the like you might look into SEP (Society of Event Photographers). The annual PPA/SEP conference and tradeshow is a great value...for learning, networking, and so forth. It's in Tampa in '08. But most of all, if photography is your passion, just keep plugging way. There are too many people stuck in jobs/careers that pay well but hate what they're doing. Life is far too short...