Ok, so I'm at the 6-month mark of being "in business" with wedding photography, and wondering what is par for the course here. Not that it matters, but I'm still shooting in addition to my 8-to-5, and I'm quite curious as to how long it has taken others to build a thriving business. Obviously no two people will be the same, just wondering what the average is.
So, what I'm looking for is the period of time between the "start" of your business (taking your first booking/deposit/payment) and the time when you felt comfortable making a living from photography. Hope that makes sense. Thanks!
Edit: Hmm. The first option should be "less than" 6 months. The last option should be "greater than" 3 years.
The period between start and takeoff has not much to do with actual time. For me it was the point at which I took control of the business aspects of things and got on the right track with managing my financial goals, accounting, expenses, pricing, etc. Once all that came together I got my branding in order. When I had business and branding in hand the business took off. If you get this figured out you'll take off. However long it takes is up to you.
Granted, every time you hit new level of business you have to restructure, set new goals, adjust branding, and try to take off all over again. It gets harder every time, but the rewards get better. Good luck.
My answer won't help you any. I was working as an industrial photographer and darkroom tech in 1982 when the bottom fell out of the oil industry. So I was laid off - along with 1200 other people working for that company.
Having no job, having been out of the secretary/accounting field for over 10 years, not knowing how to use a computer, I could not find a job. (Of course, it had nothing to do with my being over 40 and female, I was told...but that's another story.)
So we moved to a small town south of Austin, where I worked for the local newspaper for a few weeks during their Xmas rush, and we bought an old house on 1+ acres of land, with my son's help. It had big rooms, trees, high ceilings, and even a natural spring. So we started the studio. We had no debts except the house and living expenses, and we lived off my husband's disability check as we got the business going. It was lean times, and most people wouldn't call what we did "living off" but we ate regular and were happy.
When I had to close the studio due to an eye disease in 1996 it was making us a comfortable living. It was hard work, long hours, and lots of fun!
What TR said, keep finding longer runways, ATC keeps changing, nobody is sure whether where still in it or coming out of recession. Hope I haven't run out of runway.
i never had a real job as I was a student before this whole thing, but, I "took off" after blogging semi-consistently. that's helped my brand more so then any other single action i've done.
"The business of photography breaks down to two main parts, 1: Make better pictures, and 2: Show more people." - Mark Leibowitz
I wouldn't say that I've taken off yet... "taken off" to me, means that I can replace my 9-5 income with what I'm making in photography. I started my business 1 year ago, booked 5 weddings for 09... I've got 9 already booked 2010, with solid leads on 3 more right now. I'm confident I will get all 3. I figure I'd need about 20-25 to replace my current 9-5 income as a landscape architect. I hope I can answer this question solidly by this time next year.
Tony Hoffer wrote:
Got my first deposit in early '07, quit my job in fall of '08.
Nice... but it doesn't say much if you're making $35K at your day job and make up almost that much with 10 weddings at $3K. Makes it easier to quit your day job.
I envy you and wish I could do the same, but my salary from my day job is quite difficult to replace with just photography at this point.
Nice... but it doesn't say much if you're making $35K at your day job and make up almost that much with 10 weddings at $3K. Makes it easier to quit your day job. - Inku Yo
Yes, but 10 weddings at $3K does not make a profit of 30K! Much less take-home pay! Let's get real, here!
Inku Yo wrote:
Nice... but it doesn't say much if you're making $35K at your day job and make up almost that much with 10 weddings at $3K. Makes it easier to quit your day job.
I envy you and wish I could do the same, but my salary from my day job is quite difficult to replace with just photography at this point.
Sorry, didn't mean to imply that Tony was only making $35K. In general, it's easier to make the jump if your income from your day job is lower. Obviously, I don't know Tony's financial situation before or after he went full time. My point was that simply stating that he took his first deposit on X day and quit his day job on Y day doesn't say much without us knowing more details.
For me, the hardest thing wasn't replacing the income, but rather making the decision to leave a job and company that I liked and was giving me a promising career. Self-employment is a great unknown for a typical 9-5er, and it was scary and still is... for me at least.
Tony Hoffer wrote:
For me, the hardest thing wasn't replacing the income, but rather making the decision to leave a job and company that I liked and was giving me a promising career. Self-employment is a great unknown for a typical 9-5er, and it was scary and still is... for me at least.
I hear ya. I like the idea of having the steady income from my day job. With a wife and an almost 1 year old son... it makes the decision for me to make the leap even scarier. I don't know what your situation was when you made the decision to go full time photographer, but if I were single right now, it'd be a no brainer.
I think I'm on my way, though. At this point last year, I only had 1 wedding booked and 9 weddings in 2009 total. Booked most of my 2009 weddings in Jan-March. I already have 10 booked for next year. We'll see how Jan-March 2010 goes in terms of bookings.
I figure it will come to a point where I can't find the time for both and need to make the decision - full time day job or full time photographer.
