# 39 reasons why you should NOT start a photography business.



## e.rose (Dec 11, 2012)

39 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULDN'T START A PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS - BUSINESS HELP FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS - STARTING OUT RIGHT: BUSINESS WORKSHOPS AND RESOURCES FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS


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## rexbobcat (Dec 11, 2012)

Well I'm glad I don't shoot weddings then.

I wish I could come up with 50 reasons not to go to college. It would make me sound like such the enduring trooper. Lol


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## e.rose (Dec 12, 2012)

HAHA!  I'm sure my husband could come up with that list for you. XD


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## TATTRAT (Dec 12, 2012)

A lot of that can be applied to my trade. I am glad that photography is still just a spirited hobby, I am not quitting my day job.


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## KmH (Dec 12, 2012)

QFT! 



> 6. Most of the people that contact you will think you're overpriced.  You'll never know how many didn't take you seriously because they thought you were underpriced. The ones that think you're underpriced are the ones you want to market to and price for.
> 
> 9. People expect you to be able to make their children smile... on command... every time.  10. When people realize you can't make their children smile, they'll get mad at you... as if you punched their kid in the face. This is why I threw in the towel.
> 
> ...


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## JAC526 (Dec 12, 2012)

Those three reasons at the end shouldn't be underestimated.


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## sm4him (Dec 12, 2012)

Ha, pretty funny!  Personally, I only need two reasons though:

1. No matter WHAT my mommy and my sister and friends say, I'm really NOT good enough to go "pro." (not saying I'm not "good", but *I* would expect a consistently high quality from myself that I am currently not able to produce).

2. I already have ENOUGH problems in my life, thank you very much.


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## joshua_ (Dec 12, 2012)

Man..... I was just about to go pro .....

I can't be a pro though, I haven't bought one of those camera that gives me an instant masters degree.


The list seems funny in some ways and sad in others.  


Well.... a hobby it is then :0


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## spacefuzz (Dec 12, 2012)

Well whew looks like a dodged a bullet! Since my business deals only with landscape photography it should be smooth sailing.............

Wait, sir, please dont walk away.  $1500 is a perfectly respectable price for this image....all I need is your credit card...stop....


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## pgriz (Dec 12, 2012)

Unfortunately this is not limited to photographers.  

In my contracting business, I keep coming across the wanna-be contractors who figure I (and other contractors who have been in business for a while) are making a killing, and they want some of the action.  Some of them were my former employees that I trained.  What they don't realize is that there much more to the job than buying product and installing it.  For some reason, they end up lasting a year or two, and then they're working for someone else again, poorer, and usually not much wiser.

One of my acquaintances loves baking.  So she set herself up as a professional baker.  Uh-oh.  There are various laws covering the operation of a food-producing facility.  There are permits and certifications.  There is commitments for rent, utilities, and professional services.  Then there's the challenge of finding enough customers to cover the monthly overhead.  All of the sudden, it's not as much fun any more.

I know another person who believes her calling in life is to be a motivational speaker.  She's got energy all right, and can talk.  But there's this little issue of having to find customers, arrange for venues, handle the logistics, cover the insurance, business taxes, and various permits...  and she's struggling, because she's got the 20% (the speaking part) more or less covered, but the rest of the stuff is just a lot of headache and drag.

I have seen successful small businesses, but they tend to be partnerships of like-minded people who divvy up the hard work and each is good at what they do.  Someone has to handle production.  Someone else is dealing with marketing.  Someone is looking after administration, cashflow, and making sure all the regulatory stuff is handled on time.  Someone has to do the sales.  And if there are employees, well that's another can of worms.  

It ain't easy.


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## 12sndsgood (Dec 12, 2012)

Even after all those reasons. I still am glad I'm giving this a shot.


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## cgipson1 (Dec 12, 2012)

pgriz said:


> Unfortunately this is not limited to photographers.
> 
> In my contracting business, I keep coming across the wanna-be contractors who figure I (and other contractors who have been in business for a while) are making a killing, and they want some of the action.  Some of them were my former employees that I trained.  What they don't realize is that there much more to the job than buying product and installing it.  For some reason, they end up lasting a year or two, and then they're working for someone else again, poorer, and usually not much wiser.
> 
> ...



Damn Straight!


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## unpopular (Dec 12, 2012)

according to this I'm already a semi professional!


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## e.rose (Dec 12, 2012)

JAC526 said:


> Those three reasons at the end shouldn't be underestimated.





12sndsgood said:


> Even after all those reasons. I still am glad I'm giving this a shot.



You and me both :sillysmi:

I posted this cause I thought it was funny... cause it's true... but still funny.  

My (successful) pro photographer friend in Nashville sent this to me and we had a good laugh together over it, picking out points that we LITERALLY just experienced, or that we had a crazy story to go along with.  But even after all that, as JAC said... the 3 points in the bottom weigh more than any of the other bullet points for me.  Well those 3 points plus 2 of my own which are:

1. Because I love photography and I want to do something I love for a living, not something I don't have my heart in

2. Because, to me, trying and then failing is better than never trying and always wondering.  <-------------------- That's the whole reason my husband and I are dropping what we have here and moving to Nashville... on a whim... with nothing lined up.  

We *have* to try.  Yeah, sure, job security is fine and all that, but what weighs on us more is that question of "What if?"... and we're still young enough that we can afford to take a risk on "What if".

If one of us makes it... it was well worth the move.  If both of us make it... it will have been one of the best decisions we've ever made in our life together... and if neither of us make it... then at least we won't grow up old and bitter because we're still wondering if we could have done something with ourselves there.  :sillysmi:

BUT... even still...

Those 39 reasons are totally, completely, without question, simultaneously hilarious and frustratingly true.  :lmao:


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## Designer (Dec 12, 2012)

e. (can I call you  "e."?) That is just precious!  Thank you for posting!  

One thing I learned when I was working for one not-very-good designer is that his gift of gab and self-promotion carried him past all the really lousy design projects he did.  There was always another new client willing to pay him for bad design.  Truthfully, it made me sick.  

J.


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## e.rose (Dec 12, 2012)

Designer said:


> e. (can I call you  "e."?) That is just precious!  Thank you for posting!
> 
> One thing I learned when I was working for one not-very-good designer is that his gift of gab and self-promotion carried him past all the really lousy design projects he did.  There was always another new client willing to pay him for bad design.  Truthfully, it made me sick.
> 
> J.



That's business, haha.  That happens everywhere


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## jaomul (Dec 12, 2012)

That link sucks


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## e.rose (Dec 12, 2012)

jaomul said:


> That link sucks



Why?  

Haven't you learned anything about critiquing around here?  You can't just say it sucks... you have to state WHY you think it sucks.    :lmao:


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## jaomul (Dec 12, 2012)

e.rose said:


> jaomul said:
> 
> 
> > That link sucks
> ...



Sorry, there was just so many "sucks" in it. My sense of humour is obviously deteriorating with age


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## e.rose (Dec 12, 2012)




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## rexbobcat (Dec 12, 2012)

I honestly can't tell if it's supposed to be serious or humorous.

Part of me wants to laugh and the other part wants to play the world's smallest violin.


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## e.rose (Dec 12, 2012)

rexbobcat said:


> I honestly can't tell if it's supposed to be serious or humorous.
> 
> Part of me wants to laugh and the other part wants to play the world's smallest violin.



I get the impression that it's supposed be be ... humorous, and slightly inspirational while still keeping it real?  I dunno, haha.  I thought it was funny.

Someone else that I know that also posted this and knows the photographer who wrote it said:  "True, [Insert Name]. He's a hugely successful photographer who is sharing the realities of owning a photography business instead of sugar coating with unicorns an rainbows that its the "super fun and fabulous way to be known by people" opportunity that anyone can do."

But even with that, I think that his "Bonus" points are meant to be sort of a, "Yes this is all true... HOWEVER... if you can read all that and STILL really want it, here are the awesome things about doing it!!" kind of thing.

I guess we'll never really know since inflection isn't clearly shown through text, haha.


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## rexbobcat (Dec 12, 2012)

e.rose said:
			
		

> I get the impression that it's supposed be be ... humorous, and slightly inspirational while still keeping it real?  I dunno, haha.  I thought it was funny.
> 
> Someone else that I know that also posted this and knows the photographer who wrote it said:  "True, [Insert Name]. He's a hugely successful photographer who is sharing the realities of owning a photography business instead of sugar coating with unicorns an rainbows that its the "super fun and fabulous way to be known by people" opportunity that anyone can do."
> 
> ...



Yeah but at the same time I could find 50 reasons not to do a lot of things.

That doesn't mean that it's so horribly difficult. It just means that I found 50 things to complain about.

If he's tying to be funny, then kudos lol.

If he's serious, I think the point he's trying to make is kind of moot.


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## skieur (Dec 12, 2012)

Work for a company where photography and video productions are part of the job and pick up private work on the side.

skieur


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## e.rose (Dec 12, 2012)

rexbobcat said:


> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I think more than just trying to complain about stuff he was trying to give a heads up to beginners that it's not all clickin' shutters, smiling children and burning disks?  Just like you said... as is with *anything*, there's a lot more to it than that.  But we've seen enough new photographers, who are really enthusiastic, who don't realize that there is actual work that goes into it.   Well... those that want to go into it for business.  If you're not starting a business, then it really is just all clickin' shutters... sometimes smiling children... and depending on what you do with the end result, burning disks, haha.  ::shrugs::

Like I said, I found it humorous, but maybe that's just the way I'm interpreting it


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## 12sndsgood (Dec 13, 2012)

I basically took it as a light hearted way to point out a lot of things people should think about before they take the plunge.  I laughed because i fit several of the listed remarks but I went for it for the same reason Erose did. for the what if factor. Ive spent a lot of time in my life thinking about doing things and not doing them. or scaring myself out of doing them, or worrying about failing. this for me was stepping outside of that box and just going for it. even though i fit some of those marks on the list i'm not going to let them push me away from something.


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## e.rose (Dec 13, 2012)

Kphipps said:


> This post made me laugh so hard. Nailed it.
> 
> I love this one -
> 6. Most of the people that contact you will think you're overpriced.  You'll never know how many didn't take you seriously because they thought you were underpriced.
> ...



I would have MUCH preferred that happened to me over what happened the last time I actually took a wedding inquiry via the phone.  

After that phone call there was a lot of slamming doors in my apartment, accompanied by the sucking down of a clove cigarette and downing half a bottle of wine.  

I was not a happy camper.  But NOT because they didnt' want to book... I was just pissed at how rude the dude was and how polite I HAD to be.  It's not in my nature to stay smiling and polite when someone pisses me off.  Someone bites me, I bite back.  Which obviously goes against good business practices... so I took it out in other ways after the conversation was over.  

After talking to that Nashville photographer friend I mentioned earlier in the thread, she assured me that I had done nothing wrong, and my pricing was fine... he just wasn't a client for me.  I'm better prepared to deal with the "WHY ARE YOU SO EXPENSIVE?!  THE OTHER GUY CHARGES XYZ!!!" responses a lot better now, but... for the time being... until I'm a little more practiced and rehearsed, I don't take those initial inquiries over the phone.  I make them e-mail me and weed them out that way first, haha.  If they're still interested THEN we talk on the phone.

I KNOOOOOOW, I know... "You lose clients by talking to them via email instead of the phone".  Yeah, I get that... but I'm not that quick with my responses yet, and my anxiety kicks in and everything fails much much faster that way for me at the moment, haha.  I'll get better with practice and when I feel better about it, I'll put my phone number back up, haha.  I'd rather get zero wedding clients via e-mail than get yelled at on the phone and still get zero clients because they think I'm too expensive.    I'm not even really sure I want to SHOOT weddings on the regular so... if I lose any, it's not really any skin off my nose.  

Wow... sorry, word vomit.  :lmao:


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