Making a business out of nothing

[MTN-Freerider]

So, I'm a 23 year old bicycle mechanic, just out of college, I studied business but after a bad experience in the corporate world I have no interested in pursuing such a career.

I took a few photography classes in college, and I have been taking pictures for fun for a while now.

I've been thinking about opening up a little photography business on the side.

Arguably my my business has already started. I am currently negotiating a contract to cover a couple series of mountain bike races for a small publication. Up to this point the idea was to do that for fun. I was also thinking of shooting other similar events and submiting editorial photos for other larger publications.

Now I'm sure that you know as well as I do that I will never be able to come close to making a living doing this type of freelance work. I figure it will ammount to little more than profitable hobby.

Anyway, I was thinking about doing some more traditional photography work, like weddings, senior pictures, etc.

My plan up to this point is to spend the next few months collecting the basic photography gear that I will need to get started, and then doing whatever odds and ends I can to gain experience, such as volunteering as a lighting assistant for little or no pay.

When spring rolls around I plan to promote myself as a "discount photographer" using whatever cheap, yet effective media I can find; search engines, occasional newspaper ads, leaflets, posters, anything I can think of. In addition to that I see ads on sites like craigs list for people looking for amature wedding photographers, real estate photographers etc. quite often.

I'm not saying that I'm planning to suddenly quite my job and become a photographer! More or less see what kind of work I can get on the side, then perhaps gradually begin to take less hours at work if it becomes profitable enough to do so.

Now a couple questions.

First of all, does this sound feasible? I really havn't put a whole lot of planning into this yet, but at this point I really don't see this as being a huge risk.

What kind of complications or obsticles should I expect to see as I am getting started?

Comming up with the basic photography gear will be hard enough with my income. It's going to be even harder to get the gear to make professional prints. Would it be possible to pay another company to make my prints and still make a worth-while profit?

Any other advice or words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated. I'm sure many of you were were in the exact situation I am now. How did you get started?

[David_S85]

You sound like me when I was younger. Read my profile (http://www.dgrin.com/member.php?u=1358).

Yes, your current plan seems mostly feasable.

You sound like you're expanding your talents and are excited with growing your skills and adding to your income. You also seem dedicated to multiple employment. This is good, as building a business is hard work and sucks initial capital. Primary income at your age is absolutely vital. Don't lose your day job. Is your current employer OK with you doing other jobs on weekends when the store is busiest?



When spring rolls around I plan to promote myself as a "discount photographer"


Why would you want to start this way? Even if this angle gets you business and your photo workload becomes full, where do you go with that handicap?

If you're good at something, discount in the mind of many potential customers equals "not as good, not as experienced as...(somebody else they can hire)"


It's going to be even harder to get the gear to make professional prints. Would it be possible to pay another company to make my prints and still make a worth-while profit?


Smugmug to the rescue. Really. Why buy equipment that will depreciate and cost dearly to run? Just job it out and collect the money.


What kind of complications or obsticles should I expect to see as I am getting started?


Rejection mostly. You're 23. Your potential customers are probably going to be older. To counter that, and just a real good plan since you are selling your services, would be to build up a winning portfolio. Plenty of threads in this forum on portfolios, but Smugmug, or a site like it can be a vital showcase for your work, and for customers to securely preview proofs.