Skip to main content

Create Your Business Plan

Lesson 2 from: Building Your Photography Business for under $3,000

Kathy Holcombe

buy this class

$00

$00
Sale Ends Soon!

starting under

$13/month*

Unlock this classplus 2200+ more >

Lesson Info

2. Create Your Business Plan

Lesson Info

Create Your Business Plan

Let's talk about the plan. I really think about this part as a job interview. This is where you find out what you're going to invest and what you get in return. You would never take a job without knowing a few important answers to questions that you may have like how much should you expect to work, what are your hours gonna be and what are you gonna be paid for that in return, right? You would never take a job without knowing those two things. So, we need to look at this business in the same light and say okay, realistically, how much am I gonna be working, how much am I gonna be making in return for that, and is that a good investment? When we think about that, we need to talk specifically about where you invest your dollars. Where are those dollars gonna go to give you the most return because you could spend $100,000 on your business and never make a penny back if you're not careful. This same thing is true with your time. Your time slips away so easily. I think that's the most elusi...

ve thing as a business owner. We went into this business thinking, okay, we're gonna sacrifice three years where we are going to work ourselves to death, and then we're gonna have a successful business. Then we're gonna make a lot of money, and we're going to be on the top of our game. So, what happens after three years? We worked so hard, we sacrificed time with our kid, we sacrificed time outside doing the things that we love. You know what happened on the fourth year? We were in the habit of doing that exact same thing, so we just kept charging, and then the fifth year, we were like is this business really worth having? We are working all the time, and we thought, ya know, this isn't why we started our own photography business. We did this so we would have freedom, so that we could control our own destiny and look where we are. We're working until 2:00 o'clock in the morning. What's the point? This magical thing happened. We said we're not gonna do that anymore, and we quit doing that and ya know what? We still made the same amount of money. (laughs) It was amazing. You have to put parameters on everything. Time and money both slip away if you're not paying attention. That's what this part is about. Then, what do you expect as payment? Let's get down to the real numbers because this is what we all came for. How on Earth do you start a business for $3000, that's crazy, right? Okay, so, here, this is the painful part. You guys brace for it. You get $1300 for equipment. If you have nothing, you don't have a camera, you don't have a computer, those are the things you buy first, and you have to buy them used because this is all you get. (sigh) It's a bummer, isn't it? (laughing) But this is true, it doesn't matter what cameras, what lighting, what equipment you have, you can make an amazing image that you can sell with an iPhone. We do it with a Go Pro camera all the time. It's a $400 camera, we make money off of that. It's not about the camera, it's about your skills as a photographer. This is the budget that you get. It's okay to shed a little tear right now, hang in there, you're gonna like it in the end, I promise. Marketing tools, you get $200 to spend on marketing tools. That's not gonna go very far. Whenever you have your business phone number, I guarantee in the first month, somebody's gonna call and say for only $500, I can send you an amazing amount of clients. Has that ever happened to anybody? I get those calls every day. Oh, lemme help boost your SEO. Oh, why don't you place an ad in this high school whatever? All of these things happen all the time, and the answer to those questions is no, right? Clean ... You have $200, and you're gonna have to stretch it really far. I'm gonna show you exactly where to spend it. What sales tools do you need? This is the most important thing starting out behind a camera. It's how to sell your product to your clients, and so this $500 is worth every penny. It's a lot of your total budget, but I'll show you exactly how to do that. Then we have $1000 for other expenses, miscellaneous things that are also really important.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Product Development Guide
Marketing Plan
Price Calculator Guide
Website Guidlines
Business Plan

Bonus Materials

Discount Codes

Ratings and Reviews

Amanda Beck
 

Kathy was a wonderful instructor. She was engaging and someone who was precise and incredibly helpful. We have a full time photography business and are always looking for new ways of running our business. Her information was insightful and forced us to have conversations about our business that we have haven't had in several years. She is fantastic and someone who has the information needed to help you start or expand your business. Thank you for a wonderful class!!

Chrissie
 

Thank you Kathy for yet again another very thought provoking class. You are such an inspiration, teaching us the right questions to ask ourselves so we too can be brilliant photographers / entrepreneurs. I was a fulltime RVer for seven years, traversing 44 states and seeing some of the most beautiful places on our planet. It gave me a great opportunity to meet some extraordinary people and to hone my photography skills. Now I have put down roots in Stapleton - Denver, CO and am soon to launch my own Family Lifestyle Photography business. Your course has definitely given me the courage to just charge ahead and go for it!

Jeph DeLorme
 

Another top notch production from the amazing team at Creative Live! Kathy Holcombe, aka FAMAGOGO did a great job of covering all the basics along with the associated costs involved in starting up a photography business. However, you don't need to be a beginner to get great info from this class, it's packed with ideas and tips that even an experienced pro can put to work and take to the bank literally the next day. I highly recommend this class.

Student Work

RELATED ARTICLES

RELATED ARTICLES