Photography Business Mistakes Archives

Just Say No! 7 Ways to Tell When Buying a New Product is a Mistake

The number of products available for photographers right now is downright overwhelming.

With lots of people promoting products all the time, it’s hard to know what is worth buying and what is simply a waste of money.

I’m a huge proponent of learning and of buying educational products because they are a great way to grow your photography business faster, giving you more money sooner.

However, there are several instances when buying something is a mistake, even if it’s an awesome product.

So I’ve compiled a list of 7 tips to help you know when you should buy and when you should “just say no” and save yourself some money. This is a list you can use for all business purchases, not just educational ones. [Click to read more]

Don’t Make These 5 Mistakes When Starting A Photography Business

I never intended to start a photography business.

Like many people, I became interested in photography and the business just sort of fell into my lap.

While we’ve come a long way since then and I was able to leave my day job to do photography full-time, I made several mistakes when starting out that I wish I could go back and do differently.

These mistakes are easy to avoid if you are aware of them, yet it seems like almost all new photographers make them.

Here’s 5 common mistakes to avoid when starting a photography business. [Click to read more]

The Most Common Portrait Sales Mistake That Almost All Photographers Make

When I was first starting out in photography, I had no idea what I was doing.

I think I charged something insanely low like $50 for a session plus a disc of all the digital negatives. I put the images in an online gallery, but I didn’t really sell many prints. I got lots of compliments about how people loved that they got the disc and could do what they wanted with it.

I told myself this was simply a case of meeting my clients’ needs and giving them what they wanted, so it was a good business practice.

The problem was, my ideal clients, the ones who valued photography and really wanted to preserve their memories didn’t just want the disc. They wanted someone to walk them through the photos, help them decide which ones would look best on their walls, and suggest products that would truly help them preserve this time in their lives as best as possible. I just didn’t believe that.

Not only that, but sometimes life gets busy and sometimes people simply don’t do what they intend to do. Eventually I stopped just giving the disc away and started charging for it to help encourage print sales, but then I’d get clients who raved about their image but never actually bought anything. Life just got busy and they never got to it.

That made me a Sad Panda. See? [Click to read more]