Best Business Practices for Photographers, Third Edition, 3rd Edition

Chapter 16

Overhead: Why What You Charge a Client Must Be More Than You Paid for It

Overhead consists of those expenses directly associated with the production of your photographic services. A few of the numerous examples of overhead include office supplies, from paper for your printers to staples and pens; utilities, including electricity, gas, high-speed data lines, and so on; advertising and accounting; and some might suggest computers and cameras, although those might be debatable, instead allocated as “cost of goods sold” items or such.

Overhead is one of the categories of expenses that photographers most often fail to include accurately in their cost of doing business, and thus they will incorrectly attribute these expenses to the personal ...