Episode 96: 10 Things We Wish We Knew When We Started

PhotoSpark

Ok... I don't know about YOU guys, but there are DEFINITELY some things I have learned in the past ten (TEN!) years of running a photography business that I wish I knew when I started. We were chatting about these randomly last week and decided there's no better topic for our podcast! Whether you're a veteran photographer or just starting out, there are always changes you can implement in your business... it's NEVER too late! In our episode, we talk about TEN things we wish we knew when we started our photography business, but in the interest of keeping our blogs brief, we're just going to list our top five here. Tune in to Episode 96 to hear more!

FIVE things we wish we knew when we started our photography business:

1. Blogging really IS that important: Keeping your blog up to date is not only important for SEO purposes, but it also makes sure that potential clients can see that you're A) still in business and B) have your sh*t together (pardon my french!). Kate chooses to batch blog... she saves up images from each shoot in a folder on her computer & does a week of intensive blogging every 3-4 months or so. She post-dates if needed so blogs look consistent, and pre-dates posts for the months to come, to get her to her next batch blog date. It's easier for her than sitting down to blog on a daily or weekly basis, and still looks pretty consistent on her website!
2. Be legit from the get-go: We mean this!! Get your business license, ficticious business name, DBA ("doing business as" registration), insurance, etc. File your taxes. PAY YOUR TAXES. Even better, SAVE money for your taxes!! Research locations you want to shoot in and see if they require a permit. Setting yourself up to be a 100% legitimate business as SOON as possible will not only relieve stress from your life, it will save you from penalties, and potentially losing your business. It will also garner respect from other, established photographers. Do this NOW if you haven't yet! It's not that hard!!
3. Cut things you don't enjoy shooting: So simple, and yet so hard to actually do. Figure out your niche! Stop being a wedding/graduation/family/newborn/pet/red carpet/fashion/real estate/product photographer. Find what you love & what you're naturally good at and roll with it! Life is too short to spend time doing things you don't enjoy. The best part of running your own business is having the ability to eliminate stuff you don't want to do. So just do it already!
4. Be consistent on social media: Post on Instagram daily. Share your favorite sessions on Facebook. Make sure you're reminding your clients that you're alive, and ensure that they see your recent work. There's nothing more sketchy than visitng a photographer's social media only to see they haven't posted in 2 years. Are they still in business? Are they still any good?! You have no idea because they haven't been consistent on social media. This is huge & important. You can even hire someone for this if you really aren't good at it.
5. Invest in education over equipment: Nothing is more exciting than walking into a camera shop with $2k in your hand ready to spend on a new fancy lens. But at the end of the day, if you're not investing time (and possibly money) in education & learning HOW to run a business, it's not going to matter how pretty that lens makes your clients look, because you aren't going to have any. YouTube, CreativeLive, and podcasts are just a few avenues of FREE education in our photography world; you just have to invest the time. And there are a million other PAID education opportunities to jump on as well: workshops, mentoring sessions, online courses... it's SO worth your time and money to invest in learning both the technical and the business side of running your business!

We hope you liked this quick recap of our episode... please tune in to hear us elaborate more on these topics & hear 5 MORE things we wish we knew when we started!