Canon® EOS Digital Photography Photo Workshop

11.4. BUSINESS DETAILS

To run a photography business, you have to do more than just take great images. You must be adept at managing sales, marketing, administration, accounting, and customer relations. When you're a small-business owner, you do virtually all the work, which can make it challenging to get enough time behind the viewfinder.

It's important to have as many people as possible providing you with services that take up your time. This is why I use an online photography fulfillment service (Printroom), so that I do not have to worry as much about creating prints, shipping them, and processing payments. Of course, I still spend a substantial amount of time with customers, and I do a lot of custom pricing and jobs, as well — so I still have to do it all, but the online fulfillment service takes care of a lot of the details. I also have outside services provide accounting.

Marketing and sales, as well as customer relations, however, tend to be very personal aspects of business management. While most photographers typically have no qualms with outsourcing their accounting, when it comes to advertising, updating their Web sites, or interacting with customers, it's hard to let someone else take the proverbial reins. Yet as a photography business grows, inevitably others must become involved, and even the most involved, micromanaging photographers cannot do everything themselves.

When setting up a photography business, I recommend you seriously consider addressing these issues ...