If you are thinking about starting out as a photographer or maybe you have just started your photography business, this blog is for you. After reading this you will know where to spend your precious time and energy for the best results.
Starting a photography business can be overwhelming. So many skills to master since you basically are an entrepreneur and you have to do all the things, like dealing with taxes, bookkeeping, contracts, sales, marketing, ordering and delivering products and last but not least learning to work with your clients and capturing them or their wishes in an amazing way. When you start out it’s difficult to know where to start learning since everything is pretty new.
One of the biggest mistakes I see a lot of starting photographers make is focus 80% of their time on their photography skills and 20% of their time on things that are not that urgent, like their logo or their business cards or the look and feel of their website.
They forget to do marketing or sales since it can be a bit scary to get yourself out there when you are brand new in your business and so they ‘play’ business for a while. They have all the parts but no clients.
This blog focusses on the three things that will help you move the needle in terms of booking clients so you will quickly have a serious business.
After that, you can focus more on your bookkeeping, website, logo and all the other things that require your attention.
3 Things that will help you book clients when starting out as a photographer
Booking clients is about making connections. Connecting with people is the most powerful way to get bookings. People are booking people and they usually stick with a certain photographer over the years too.
[thrive_custom_box style=”dark” type=”color” color=”#FDE38C” border=”#FDE38C”]In this overview of ‘Starting your photography business’, there is a section on finding your first clients. In an article, 115 photographers were interviewed and most attributed their first clients coming directly from their network.[/thrive_custom_box]
Here are three things that will boost your number of bookings in your first year:
- Shoot every day and show your work every day. People need to hear from you, they want to see your confidence growing, your work evolving and it shows that you are working. Even if the clients, in the beginning, are ‘free’ portfolio clients, people don’t know that and they only see a very active photographer who is proudly showing her work.
Related: No portfolio yet? Reach out to vendors in your area
- Become active and known in your network. If you like talking in person join local networking communities. If you like social media join local photographer communities. Become active, be helpful and create connections.
JOIN THE SHOOTZILLA FACEBOOK GROUP & meet other photographers
- Join a professional networking community like BNI. They are professional since they are aimed at generating business for all the members and not just having a good talk over coffee. You will practice your sales pitch over and over again and it will become second nature to make yourself be seen. Inform around in your area which professional networking hubs there are and visit a few to see which ones match with your personality best.
Useful when you are starting out as a photographer: The definitive guide to starting your photography business
Did you find this useful? Let me know in the comments, it absolutely motivates me to write more articles like this one. Thanks!