Hey, welcome to the first. We'll call them case studies of this course. These are lessons videos, where will and I are just going to have a more casual conversation basically going over everything that we covered in this section of the course and in these case studies, it's really about giving more details, more examples using specifically will see photography as the example in this course. But we're also going to talk about our past projects, businesses we've run and I know we'll see where it goes. But these are going to be a little bit more casual longer and this might not be your style of lessons. So to be completely honest, feel free to skip these because the main bulk of the steps to starting a business are going to be in the other lessons. But I think these will add a lot of color and help kind of expand your knowledge a little bit more. Yeah, basically, I just want to take what we said and show you how I've applied it to my own business or past businesses. Yeah, sounds good. So ...

in this first section of the course, well, of course we welcomed everyone. But you talked about why why why even have a photography business? We talked about what kind of business um, there are and also you just talked about like personally like how hard it can be to start a business and you can't have to consider that. So, with your company will see photo I guess talk about First, why why even did you decide to start another photography company because you've had photography companies in the past, you still do photography on the side and why start a new one, I guess. Well to be honest, Phil I did have a wedding photography business that I started about 10, 11 years ago when I was About 20. And I learned a lot from that and this probably all of everything that I'm talking to you about now. I learned from that. Um it actually we were shooting for like 56 years, but my business partner at the time decided to move away and chase another career. So I was kind of lost without that in the meantime, You know, I'm a freelance video cinematographer and I teach. So these are my two things that I do and I was doing photography on the side, but I hadn't I haven't really like pushed it. It's always been sort of like, sure, just pay me like there's no like business structure to it. And recently I've taken sort of, if you talk about the section that we just did, I took sort of a pulse of like what I want to do what I'm capable of doing. I wanted to take my photography and turn it into a business and basically make it a side money maker. Now being in L. A. I could do that with weddings, I could do that with modeling and portraits or I could do that with head shots. And to me my network was a lot of actors that I know actors always need headshots, the wedding game I've been in before, but it's so sporadic and although you get paid more, you don't have as much control over it. So based on market based on what I think I can afford. Based on my network, headshot photography seemed like perfect for me to make some side money. And it also, as far as running it goes would be easy, right? Because I just need to take photos of my friends to start off with. I have some old headshots I've taken um it's easy to start an instagram that way. Hashtags are super easy. Again, I have studios that I can rent from around the sort of L. A. Area. So it just made sense for me to go in that direction and the equipment. That's the other thing is I already had everything. And so the startup cost was low for me, Startup costs as low and, and because I have other jobs, like I don't have to dedicate a ton of time. I feel like if I got back into wedding photography, like really full force full time, it would be a lot more like taking meetings, like setting up more websites. Maybe getting on some like, you know, just doing a lot more that I just don't have time for. Yeah, I mean, I know you talked about with your other companies, you had well so far, like a much bigger presence online with like, yelp and all those other accounts which we'll cover later in the course on setting all that stuff up, which is important as you grow your business. But just to get started, it seems like the headshot idea is like really simple. So, you know, one thing you talked about in this section was how it's better to pick and choose kind of one style of photography to get started. And I completely agree with that. And I think that's great advice. But I also think some some of the students probably are just like feeling it out, trying to figure out how they can make money from the skill and they might not know what they're going, what direction they want to go in. And I think that's something that you should understand that. Like, I think for most photographers, the first way that they actually make money is just the fact that they have the skills of photographer and then like friends of theirs or family will ask them to do X, Y, Z. Kind of photography. Like, hey, can you take photos at my party at graduation, Can you take photos of me for, you know, family photos, I'm having a kid or whatever. So I feel like if you're just starting out, you don't really know what you want to do, it's okay to kinda feel it out. But maybe as you more solidify your business, that's when you kind of pick and choose a specific style of photography and I think as you go on, you start to see a trend and what people are asking you to do. Like you'll start to gravitate something naturally and we talk about this more in the class, but like, you know, if you're at a certain age, a lot of your friends are graduating from high school, graduating from college, having babies getting married, you know, starting business profiles. So you know, you'll fall into it as you go on. The important thing is to start shooting and sort of see where that's going to take you and yeah, you never know what it's going to be. This class is really dedicated to starting your own business. But as we mentioned earlier too, there's lots of ways to make money as a photographer and even the first time that I made money as a photographer because my background is mostly video production. Um, but when I was working at a college in their media department, it was kind of a pseudo video and ended up being a photography. I was at the school photographer because I knew how to use a camera. Um, and that was kind of cool because it helped me learn more skills, get more comfortable shooting shooting events, working with people and in turn later on, even though I don't have my own photography business, I have my video production business online business and a lot of it's very similar in terms of the structure marketing and things like that. I still have friends, family asking to take photos. This is a cool skill to have. Yeah. Anyway, it's cool. Well, great little chat. Anything else you wanted to add to this case study about will see, no, this is just the beginning of the class. There's lots that we're going to go in just like, you know, there's a lot that I, once I committed to it. I like, you know, fully committed and we're going to get more into this about instagram my portfolio, what I use, like my equipment, my structure, my contracts, my deals, like all this stuff we're going to get into, but just having the idea to start a business, get excited about it. Make the commitment to do it is such a huge step. So if you're already at that point and you probably are, if you've made it this far, you know, you're, you're going in the right direction. Yeah. Cool, awesome. Well, we'll see you in the next lesson

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Philip Ebiner

Professional video & course creator, photographer & teacher to 1mil+ students; 10+ years experience with 1000+ videos.

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Will Carnahan

11+ years experience as a cinematographer, camera operator, and photographer. Working with Disney, Nike, ESPN, PredPol and many others.

2,000+ classes ranging from fundamentals to advanced techniques.

Case Study Starting a Photography Business

Case Study Starting a Photography Business

Lesson Info

5. Case Study Starting a Photography Business

Lessons

Welcome

Why Do You Want to Start a Photography Business

What Kind of Photography Business Do You Want to Start

Important Personal Note from Instructor Will

Case Study Starting a Photography Business

Quiz - Chapter 1

Introduction to Basics of Starting a Photography Business

Choose Your Business Name

Choose Your Business Structure

Register Your Business Name

Get Your Federal Tax ID

Get Your Business License

Get Your Business Bank Account

Register Your Online Accounts

Branding Your Business

Set Your Prices

The Photography Gear You Need to Start a Business

Case Study - Business Basics

Case Study - Equipment

Quiz - Chapter 2

Intro to Getting Your First Paying Clients

You Need to Prove Yourself

The Best Place to Find Your First Clients

What to Charge for Your First Clients

On Set - Partnering with Other Creatives

On Set - Getting Work in a Competitive Environment

Use Your First Shoot Wisely

Case Study - Getting Your First Clients

Quiz - Chapter 3

Introduction to Create Your Photography Business Website

Why You Need a Website and Platform Options

What Needs to Be On Your Website

Design the Perfect Portfolio

Case Study - Looking at Photography Websites

Quiz - Chapter 4

Introduction to Expanding Your Online Presence

Use Instagram to Grow Your Business

Use Facebook to Grow Your Business

Get Listed on Google

Get Listed on Yelp

Get Listed on Review Sites

Using Craigslist to Get Work

Case Study - Expanding Your Online Presence

Quiz - Chapter 5

Introduction to the Photography Business Workflow

Step 1 - Meeting Your Client

Step 2 - Booking Your Client

Step 3 - The Shoot

Step 4 - Editing Your Photos

Step 5 - Delivering Your Photos

Case Study - Business Workflow

On Set - the Shoot

On Set - Backdrop Placement

On Set - Paper Backdrop Rolls

On Set - The Back Light

On Set - Interacting with Clients

Quiz - Chapter 6

Intro to Business Infrastructure and Continued Growth

Productivity Tools to Make Your More Efficient

Get Business Insurance

Accounting Tools & Tips

Business Tax Tips

Scaling Your Prices Up

Use Conventions and Meet Ups to Grow Your Business

Case Study - Business Growth

Quiz - Chapter 7

Intro to the Selling Prints Section

Why Should You Sell Your Prints

Choose a Printer

How to Price Your Prints

Selling Your Prints Online

Selling Your Prints in Person

Wrapping up This Section

Quiz - Chapter 8