Martin.............head up. I know it seems impossible right now, but life has a funny way of mixing things up. I sympathize with you and your situation. Be strong!
Clear your head, and think of your strengths. Focus on them and fail forward with your new opportunity. Things happen for a reason so don't let depression set in.
Sorry to hear, Martin. Sounds like it was a shock, that makes it worse.
My husband's (also named Martin) business is dependant on the building industry here in the Pacific NW, which is abysmal. 2 of the large established builders who owe him for work done are in serious trouble and are not paying him. We are losing everything we have, including the house, and we have our daughter, son in law and twin baby grandsons living with us, as well as my 84 year old mother in law. I have no idea where all of us will be living in 6 months.
Talking it over, I told my husband I consider it a fun challenge, and as long as we are all healthy, (yes, the babies, who were preemies are doing great), and keep our spirits up, we'll be OK.
I wish you well, know that you are not alone, times are tough and getting worse, but with the right spirit you can make it.
Your strategy here is not about taking the best pictures in the world, rather marketing strategies that will find you more clients quickly. The fact you already have a few weddings and some experience gives you a lead.
Don't know how good your credit is, but you can try getting a loan from the SBA. You probably won't need a studio from the beginning, rather you could use a small office space in the beginning just to have a bit more credentials about your business.
You already have a website, so invest some into marketing your website, and a bit more. It's a risk you're taking, but you will never know how well you may have done until you try.
If I didn't have a college degree, and nowhere else to work, I'd risk.
Martin - I'm sad to hear - but this is a golden opportunity to do photography on a full time basis. Your port shows that you're already capable of taking better pics than many established photographers - just starting building your own business - it'll be great!
Thank you for all the encouraging and helpful comments. I really do appreciate it. This is a wonderful forum (well, most of the time!). Be sure I'll let you all know when there is good news.
First off sorry about the bum deal. Second here is my advice.
When I started my business I attacked it with brute force. I thew up a website, got the images I had up, and then looked at the marketing situation. Like others have said this is a business like any others. The key way to get more business is through getting your business's name out there. Its honestly a numbers game. If you can get 1000 people viewing your site a month your a lot more likely to get a job than if you only have 200 visitors.
In my opinion to get there you'd need to follow these steps. These are only my opinions and I'm sure there are lots more.
1. Make sure that your price matches your ability. It can't be to low or people won't think that you are providing a quality service. It can't be to high or people will just go to your competition. If you are getting lots of visitors, but no contacts, lower your price. This is a basic marketing strategy. As you get more weddings and a larger portfolio raise it up a little at a time.
2. Look at what your competition is offering and for what. Make sure to look at businesses in your quality range. Be honest with yourself.
3. Use Google Analytics to track where people are coming in to your site, how long they stay, and where they exit. Its free to boot. This is invaluable information. You have to know this information to know where to make improvements to your site and portfolio. It quickly shows you what people like and what they dont' like.
4. Use Google Ad words. It costs, but it works and then some. Do your research and know which keywords to use and how much to budget for. 75% of my customers come from here.
5. Talk to event planners and work with them to get them to recommend your service to their clients. 10% of my clients come from here.
6. At the weddings you do work, be extremely professional and courteous. Do a great job and you can generate weddings from that. I get 10% from there.
7. If you can't afford to get into a bridal expo as a vendor, order some brochures and put them under the windsheild wipers of people at a bridal expo. I haven't done this but have heard of it being done. Once again its a numbers game, its all about getting people to your site to see your work.
8. As a marketing ploy put up a 25-50% off contest. The lucky winner gets a wedding package with that much off. Helps to generate possible interest.
9. Get listed on wedding sites. Most offer it for free. In Google type wedding photography and go through looking for the wedding forum sites and wedding "super sites" that have links to everyone an their mother. It is a good way to generate clicks.
10. Most importantly, keep your head up and keep going. Keep re-evaluating your marketing strategy and keep changing things to better target your market. Its not easy and honestly I spend a large amount of time just getting my name out there, but it works. Until I become a big name and have honed my skill more I'll be doing it still.
by the way the other 5% comes from organic clicks that I don't pay for in any search engine. Those are my favorite kind
Martin - I'm a firm believe that everything happens for a reason. There is an absolute reason you were laid off. Now it's up to you to figure out what it all means. If it were me, I'd jump in head first to get our photo biz runnign full time. No time like the present. I wish you & your family all the best...
(can you tell I just got back fae Dundee?)