Do I have the right equipment?
The first thing I did was consider what kind of equipment I have since you can't even have a photography business if you don't have, at the very least, a reliable camera. I had a super old Canon rebel with the eyepiece missing that been sitting in my closet for what seemed like years. I knew I needed to dust that off and perhaps take it to get professionally clean. I started casually watching eBay auctions hoping to snag a new camera or perhaps a new lens (or perhaps both). I started noticing how dazzling and impressive the new mirrorless cameras are. After some research, I determined that the canon R6 was legit my dream. it’s definitely pricey though, so I mulled it over for quite some time. I ended up settling on the Canon 6D Mark II for now, since this is still only a side hustle of sorts until I retire from my Active Duty career. At the end of the day, it's important to have a decent camera, but it does NOT have to be top of the line or expensive.
Creating an online presence.
Once I had a camera, I knew I needed a way to put myself out there for people to find. I’ve had a website for forever (a personal blog really), but knew I'd need to set something up specific to my photography business. When I'd had photos taken in the past, I noticed that the photographers I worked with used PixieSet, so I started there. I quickly learned that I could do both a gallery delivery service AND a website all in one. It seemed like it used the same backbone as my Squarespace blog, so I went all in with one of their paid packages. It took some time to get all my old photos uploaded into galleries, and even longer to build out a few pages for my website, but all in all, it wasn't too difficult. I think the biggest challenge was having enough content for what I wanted to offer (hence why you should just get out there and start taking photos).
While I was working on my site, I started new Instagram and Facebook pages. I began posting whatever content I had, focusing on building one streamlined, cohesive brand. My goal at this point wasn't necessarily to book clients, but rather to build out these profiles so once I did turn everything on, it didn't look like I just started. I connected both, so when I would post to IG, it would also share to Facebook, which saved me a lot of time and put content in both places at once.
Get educated.
Next came education. I started listening to all kinds of podcasts, checked out photography Tiktoks, and watched tons of reels looking for any/all free resources I could find. I was looking to learn all about what happened in the photography world since I left years earlier... I wanted to know what’s the best email platform, what’s the best scheduling platform, where is everyone holding their gallery these days.
Previously, I used photoshop for most of my editing since I was typically working with smaller galleries or individual images. As an admitted iPhone photo hoarder, I had grown to know Lightroom Mobile pretty well, so I knew I had to get more comfortable with Lightroom Classic and develop a workflow, set aside some base presets, and ensure I knew how to work some of the more advanced editing features like HSL and color grading. I found so much, you guys! There's literally a world of free resources out there on Instagram, TikTok, Youtube, and Podcasts. And then I just climbed in a played around! It definitely took some trial and error, but now I've got a pretty good system for how I import, cull, edit, and export my photos to my client galleries.
Make it legit.
I applied for a business license through the state, opting for a Limited Liability Company (LLC). There are other options you can select, so I'd recommend getting with a lawyer or business advisor to help you decide which is right for you. I also applied for my Employer Identification Number (EIN), which helped me to open a business bank account. I went with Novo, as my researched showed it was designed for small businesses that operate mostly in a digital space (since they have no physical branches you can walk in to). I dropped some money into that account as soon as it opened, so I could begin conducting all business from that account to make things easier come tax time.
I also invested in a client management system, and landed on Honeybook. A lot of the photographers I follow use and highly recommend HB, and I can totally see why. I can literally do everything from receiving inquiries, sending emails, preparing invoices, getting paid, and sending any/all required files to my clients from this one place. Plus, it comes jam packed with templates for everything from invoices, to contracts, to emails, so I didn't have to start from scratch on anything. It took a little while to get everything set up, but once it was all in there, I could automate things and easily add files to new clients without having to change many (if any) details at all. Totally worth every penny, and there are tons of folks out there with discount codes!
Get content!
Now came the hardest part...getting content! I had some photos from the years I was taking photos, but otherwise the majority of my recent work was my own family taken on my iPhone11 Pro (which are still awesome shots thought).
I started asking my friends if I could take their pictures - whether be a family session or headshot or even just some fun lifestyle shoots or coverage of them at a special event. I researched local photographers to offer my services as a second shooter, and joined a bunch of Facebook groups for photographers, elopements, etc. to make sure I could jump on any opportunity that seemed like it fit my brand and availability. I did a lot of work for free to be able to catch my portfolio up-to-date since it has been several years since I shot. I uploaded those to my gallery site so that I had a wide variety of things that I could showcase potential clients when they came along. Then I made my first social media posts offering my services to the field.
Stay Tuned for What Happened Next!
