Shop Talk: 10 Tips to Starting a Photography Business

There comes a time in a photographer’s career where the path splits into two – hobbyist/enthusiast or professional. There are a few things that are always good to keep in mind as you switch over from a hobbyist to a professional.

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Love what you do – get paid for what you do.

 

1. You’re an artist – but you also have to eat.

Photography is an art and usually with art – there are three ways people will look at your work.

1. They don’t appreciate it and don’t see it as a real profession.
2. Some people will like your work and compliment you on it – but will not want to pay for it or compensate you fairly.
3. There are people who will appreciate your work and know the value that your art brings to them.

As a professional photographer, you’ll meet some combination of the three mentioned above. You want to work with Number 3 and occasionally Number 2. A Number 2 needs selling and you, as a photographer, must sell them on the value that your photographs create for them. Educate your clients and they will have a much better understanding of the effort it takes to create your photographs. Educated clients that truly know the value of good photography will more than likely compensate you for your time. At the end of the day, it’s a job and you have bills to pay.

 

Work hard for your shots – put yourself in situations to excel in your craft.

 

2. Never work for free – even for your portfolio.

This can be a heavy debate among the photography folks, but I stand firmly behind what I say here – never work for free or “exposure”. I’m not just talking about money, but also about time, effort, and creativity. When you give away any of the above, be sure that you are getting something in return. If you are doing a discounted shoot (Even if it is 80% or 90%) , ask for other things as well; a feature on their website, help with connecting to a potential client, or things that will advance your portfolio, career, and business.

It is extremely important to establish early on with clients and even family, that you are a business. Don’t work for the simple promise of “Exposure” this statement that is thrown around by clients or potential clients is a large indication that they do not respect your work or value and simply think that they are doing YOU a favor.

Don’t do it.

 

 

3. Build connections, contacts, and relationships early and often

Networking is not just reserved for bankers and brokers. Connections help excel your business and will always help your pipeline.

Connections turn to contacts, contacts turn to relationships, and relationships turn to clients.

Budget some time every month to make it to at least a few functions or even just one. Make it a goal to have meaningful conversations and networking for the purpose of finding people you TRULY want to work with. Don’t be a connection/networking junkie and be known as a person that just throws names and business cards around. This devalues your networking efforts very quickly and will make you seem very desperate for work. Stay cool, calm, and collected while introducing yourself and your business – it will pay off in the long run.

 

 

4. Stay within your means

This is a big one and can kill your business faster than you think. A business, down to its core has revenue and expenses. The difference (revenue – expenses) of the two is your profit. No profit means no money to grow. Be sure to manage all three of these at a balanced rate. Don’t be too greedy and pay yourself too much if you are in need of money elsewhere in your business. That is a sacrifice you will need to make early on, but will pay you immensely later down the road. Invest in your business and it will invest itself back to you.

On another note of expenses – don’t go buying all the latest and greatest gear until you know you truly need it or have outgrown your current kit. Balance the need for gear with the quality of work that you can deliver.

Example:

If a shoot requires you to deliver 10 photographs of a cupcake for the sake of Instagram posts and the client is only paying you $200, don’t go buying a brand spanking new full frame camera for $6,000. It will take you a long time to recover from that or if you run out of business – never.

Fit the gear to the job and not the job to the gear.

 

5. Be legally protected and insured

Be legally established and get insurance for you and your gear. No questions. Not establishing yourself as a legal business can have terrible ramifications later on down the road. Keep good books, documentation, and have a good lawyer draft up your contracts. Be sure that you and your clients know where your company stands on certain issues like commercial usage, intellectual rights, etc. Be sure to separate your personal expenses from your business expenses. Be sure that you have all the necessary permits, licenses, and paperwork necessary to operate within your area.

If you’re serious about turning this into a legitimate business – you have to ensure that you are able to do so on all ends.

 

Legal contracts, financial organization, and of course – insurance.

 

6. Choose your clients and gigs carefully

Just as much as a client screens and chooses a photographer, so must the photographer. The amount of stress and money will not always be worth it if the client is a terrible person or organization to work with.

Turning down a potential client that doesn’t suit your style or creative process is always a smart move – just point them to another photographer/creative that is more suited for the job. Sometimes, saying no is even more important than saying yes.

 

Choose who you want to work with and clients carefully – it makes a difference.

 

7. Find your niche, but stay flexible while you find your feet

You may have started out with dreams of solely photographing that one subject you love. For me, it was outdoor and hunting photography. I quickly realized a few things:

1. I did not have enough clients or even shoots to get me through month to month
2. I was new to the industry and could not charge rates that could sustain me or my business
3. I needed to be realistic and realize that I could not build Rome (my business and portfolio) in one day – or even one year.

Engagement shoots, family portraits, pets, food, retail, product, and corporate head shots soon started to fill my calendar. These types of photography, one would say, are far removed and vastly different from the photos I want to shoot personally,  but until you feel confident enough to transition to a single niche – stay flexible and diversify yourself monetarily and skill-wise.

 

It takes a whole lot of work and time to build up your business – be patient.

 

8. Be open to collaborations and different projects

Work with other photographers and creative people – it will open your business up to more opportunities as well as connections. When passionate people come together for a project – good things also come along. Usually, collaborations are personal projects for me as I try not to bring any monetary motivation to complete it. This lets you stay unrestrained from doing what you want and how you want. At the end of the day, you’ll end up with something you are proud of working on, make new friends, and have decent stills for your portfolio.

Always be on the lookout for interesting and collaborative opportunities.

 

9. Always be professional and courteous

Always, always, always be professional. One thing people will remember is how you conducted yourself. It requires no money or talent and pays dividends on how people see you and your business. Be respectful and courteous to your clients and people around your during your meetings and sessions. If you’re out in a public place for a shoot and someone gets in your way, don’t push them aside and mutter under your breath – your client will notice these things.

 

 

10. Have fun, stay passionate, and keep learning

At the end of the day, you’re in the business because you love it. You have the passion, drive, and might be slightly insane, but it’s worth it. You get to deliver your work to clients that matter and you should enjoy it. Yes, you may have those long edit sessions where you want to call it quits after looking at the same 2000+ shots, but keep at it.

Stay sharp and always improve yourself – your business relies on it. Learn as much as possible and hone your skills so that you’re ready when the opportunities come. Experiment and don’t be afraid to try new things – even if you fail or said experiment looks terrible.

Keep the passion strong, have loads of fun, and as someone once told me “Keep burning pixels!”

Remember to always have fun and keep growing as an individual. Everything else will follow!

An Interview with Emily Denson – Bison Coolers

 

This past Fall, I watched a pickup truck pull up to a gas station with a couple of guys sporting some camo and blaze. We exchanged nods and went about our business. Two of them went into the gas station store and came back out with some bags of ice and proceeded to fill up a cooler in the bed of the truck. Curiously, I took a peek and realized the cooler was not a Yeti, but had a big X on the front.

“Hey! What is that? A Yeti?”

“Nope, it’s a Bison, man. Go check em’ out. They’re pretty awesome!”

Bison Cooler 50 qt (Bisoncoolers.com)

Fast forward a few months, the cooler has proved itself worthy as a dog stand, bench, step-ladder, and pretty much anything you can think of – including a hardy surface for me to type this on. A mobile work desk with access to cold beer? Sweet!

I’ve been thoroughly impressed with their coolers and have been spreading the word amongst my groups of friends and hunters looking into purchasing a premium cooler. Bison Coolers is constantly making strides to improve their products and continually innovating in a furiously growing outdoor industry.

I’ve had the great opportunity to interview Emily Denson of Bison Coolers. Their story, in my opinion, is quite the inspiration.

Starting a business, overcoming fears and obstacles, but ultimately seeing the fruits of your labor is something that embodies the American dream.

So without further ado, check out the interview below!

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Could you tell us more about yourself? How did you find yourself in premium cooler business?

I am actually a former middle school math teacher which shocks people because I look like I could still be in high school!  Our goal was always for me to be able to stay at home once we had children; so when Jeremy had the idea for the cooler company back in 2010 I was both excited and terrified. 

I had never been in the business world in any capacity but I knew that Jeremy was meant to be an entrepreneur.  It was in his blood; his dad had started a few small businesses and Jeremy was always studying about it and dreaming about doing that himself. 

We teamed up with Jeremy’s parents, Lisa and Dennis, and started Bison Coolers (at the time Brute Outdoors) in 2011 and I was expecting my daughter at the time.  I remember getting our very first truck of coolers; it was dang near 3,000 degrees outside and I was larger than most baby elephants and we had to unload every single cooler by hand at the end of the street, load every single cooler into the bed of a truck, drive them to the barn, and unload every single cooler. 

It took hours!  Our first goal was to sell one cooler a day.  It took us over two weeks and our very first customer was a man named Marty.  We were as giddy as school girls with our first sale!  Since then we have gone from working out of Dennis and Lisa’s barn to moving to a super tiny warehouse/office space to recently moving into a 10,000 sq ft warehouse with a large office and a showroom.  Hard work pays off!

 

How did Bison Coolers get its start? There’s stiff competition out there and the bar for outdoor gear is always being raised. How or what sets you guys apart from the rest?

First and foremost all of our coolers and softpaks are American made.  That is key in this industry.  It really speaks to our customers and we try to get as much of our accessories made here as well.  We have been around since 2011 when there were only a couple of us out there.  So we were able to build our name before the industry really opened up. 

Our price is quite a bit lower than the leading competition and I really believe that we have the best customer service.  When you call you are talking to someone who cares and has a vested interest in the company.  Almost everyone that works there is family!

It’s a family business – how does that translate into your business model? Does it make running Bison Coolers easier? Harder? More fun?

It is a family business!  It started out as myself, Jeremy, and my in-laws, Dennis and Lisa.  Thank God I love them!  We then brought on Tyler who is my sister’s husband and someone who I have known since I was 3 years old.  Then came Jack who worked for Dennis previously for about 20 years and then we hired Lisa’s sister, Janis to run the front office and showroom. 

Finally we added Walker, our only newbie that actually has no relation but we found him because he is on our Field Staff.  He fits right in and we think of him as family too. Now we do have our head of sales, Rich, and our salesmen but they are not housed out of DFW.

Working with family has been great for us but like all businesses there are differences of opinions but we try to really let each person take ownership in their strength areas.  For example Jeremy is the visionary, so he takes the lead on the product development, partnerships, etc… and Dennis is a numbers man, so he does the day-to-day and financials. 

I am a chatter box so Field Staff was an easy fit for me and I work with Lisa on all the laser engravings.  Since I do not work full-time Field Staff is something I can do at home a few hours a day.  

How large is the Bison Coolers team? Do you encourage your staff to get outdoors and use your products?

There are 8 of us housed in the warehouse/office and a handful of salesmen.  Of course we love when get out to use the products.  I know I use my bottle and tumbler daily and my softpak all the time. 

The best feedback is from people who use the products in different environments and settings.  They may have an idea for something that I would have never thought of because it was never a problem I needed a solution to.

You have a pretty solid group of Field Staff members – how do they help Bison Coolers now and what do you foresee for them in the future?

We have the BEST Field Staff out there and here is why I know that.   I cannot remember the last time we have posted about joining the Field Staff on our social media.  It is up on our website and that’s it.  I get numerous applications per day and so many talk about how they heard about it from one of their friends or they saw someone wearing the shirt, or they saw a picture on someone’s Instagram page.  It’s awesome! 

They are a huge advocate for our brand and they represent who we are.  We work hard and love enjoying the outdoors.  We have teachers, mechanics, military, police officers, fire fighters, students, moms, athletes, business executives, you name it and they are a part of our Team.  I love that.  I love showcasing how our products are built for the American people. 

I think that we will continue to add the right men and women to the team and we will start promoting to Pro Staff as well.  We have tinkered with the idea of an Elite Pro Staff for those that just go above and beyond, but we just aren’t ready to take that on just yet.  But great things are in store for our Team!

The weekend warrior and “Works Hard – Plays Harder”…how did that part of the Bison Cooler brand come about?

We wanted a phrase that encompassed who we are and who our customers are.  We are the weekend warriors.  Americans work extremely hard to be able to enjoy those fun times with friends and family.  That was important to us because that is literally who we are.  I think a lot of people have the misconception of when you have a small business that you can sit back and hang out and everything magically falls into place.  As lovely as that sounds, that just isn’t the case. 

The office work starts by 7am and even after we close for the day we are still working at night doing emails, answering calls, connecting on social media, meetings, etc… We love what we do, but man, we work hard!  

Where do you see Bison Coolers in the next 5 years and beyond?

I see Bison all over the US.  We aren’t in every state yet but that is coming, I can promise you that!  Still made in America but I see our coolers evolving and getting even better than they are.  I also see us expanding into other outdoor products for the weekend warrior. 

Any tips or advice for someone starting out in the outdoor/product industry?

The biggest piece of advice I can give to someone is to make it clear to a new customer/fan who you are and what you are all about.  It has to be very simple as to what you are portraying.  If you want to break into the kayak fishing industry as a pro then your social media should always tie back to that. 

I follow people and then I randomly see videos of a cat or they talk about their favorite ice cream.  That’s great fun but that isn’t for your business page, that is for your personal page.  If I was a new fan I would be very confused and honestly I would probably stop following. 

Your social media should tell a story.  Selling a product?  Tell the story of who the customer is, how you need that product, why it’s different, and what makes it special.  Basically sell the brand to me and I’ll buy into whatever you have!

Also invest time in learning how to take quality photographs.  Sounds crazy but pictures catch the eye and spark interest.  No one is going to be interested in a blurry dark photograph.  There are a lot of free tutorials on lighting, angles, framing, etc… And you don’t need a fancy camera either.  There are tons of information on using your smart phone and there is free editing software you can download as well.

Finally, it takes time and a lot of work!  Things will happen if you have a plan.  Write down what your goals are and what paths will take you there.  Then, get after it!!

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Thanks to Emily & the Bison Cooler Family for a great interview and insight into their growing business.

Be sure to check them out here