Digital Wedding Photography For Dummies

Setting Up Your Wedding Photography Business

The first step in setting up your wedding photography business is to think of the big picture. The nice thing about starting your own business is that you get to decide how you want things to run and what principles you bring into your workplace. Before diving into all the details, consider where you want your business to go, what success looks like to you, and how you want to get there. In this section I cover some basic guidelines to think through to get you started, including a business plan and a budget.

Writing a business plan

One of the first things you should do when starting your wedding photography business is to create a business plan. Just like you need a plan to get to your destination when you get in the car for a road trip, so should every entrepreneur have an idea of where she wants to go and a strategy of how to get there. A business plan maps out your goals and covers the logistics of how to accomplish them. You can edit it as your business grows and changes and refer to it when you feel stuck as a business owner.

Keep in mind that your business plan will — and should — look different from those of other wedding photographers. Focus on figuring out what your own vision is and what success looks like to you. Whether that means you want to shoot 10 weddings a year or 30 weddings a year, determine where you want to be and ...