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DPChallenge Forums >> General Discussion >> Sometimes I feel like giving up!
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 05/23/2006 10:46:02 AM · #1
I started my business in 2005... I have a pretty good amount of equipment. I have 2 D70's, an 18-70mm lens, a 28-80mm, and 70-300/4.5 lens, I have a backdrop stand, alien bees, 3 backdrops, an external flash, and a few chintzy props. I work out of basement or go to people's houses.... or at outside locations.

But, I want to move out and get a studio. Right now, I don't advertise... all of my business is word of mouth. I do fairly well for WOM, but I want to do more work. Problem is, my basement is too small to really get alot of traffic in here. Plus, I feel so unprofessional working out of my basement. 1/2 of it is a play room and the other 1/2 is my studio/storage area. I always feel stupid having people come over to shoot in a "storage" area. And going on location to their house is a pain in the a$$. Packing up stuff.... taking it to the car, unlaoding and upacking, set up, tear down, and the back home again. It takes me longer to set up everything than it does to take the pictures. It's just a hassle.

Yesterday.... I went and looked at a possible place for a studio. I found a nice place and it's only a block from my house.

I used to work for the local Costume Shop..... and I know the owner well. The studio is on the side of the Costume Shop. It's nice sized. It's one big room with a restroom. He said that I could fix it up however I wanted. I would love to make a wall and make a sitting/waiting room, a dressing room (there is a little "nook" off to the side, and it would be simple to make it into 2 small dressing rooms), and redo the floor (it has an ugly Mauve carpet! YucK!). Maybe paint it a fun color. The best of of the whole room, is that there is a row of windows along the one wall with a ledge. It would be perfect for taking pictures by.

I asked how much he wanted, and he is looking for $500 a month + electric and heat! And the heat is electric.... and my mom said it gets really cold in there in the winter and really hot in the summer. I can't afford that! I can't even afford $2 a month! This sucks! It would be a perfect starter studio for me! It's so close to home, and I could do so much with it! But, I am not going to be able to do it. They say there are these grants for women who want to open a business.... where the heck are they?

I want my own studio so I can advertise. I want to have a professional looking place. A place that I can set up my stuff and not have to take it down or worry about my kids knocking it over if they are playing in the basement. I want to get a place that I can call my own.

I looked into getting a 7e loan through the SBA, and I could probably get one. Problem is.... I am looking at getting a loan for close to $100,000. That is to get everything I could possibly need for a fully functional studio and business. And while I could probably afford the payments.... it's adding those payments on top of rent and utilities that I could not do! It would be close to $1500 a month for all payments! Heck, I only made $5000 last year!

My point of this is, I get so upset because I feel like I am doing this half a$$ed. I don't have all the lenses I need, I work out of my basement, and I don't advertise. I just feel like giving up sometimes.

Lorrie


05/23/2006 11:06:39 AM · #2
It looks from your portfolio that your are amazingly talented. Its a shame your so discouraged but going from word of mouth out of your basement to full studio of your own with all the equiptment. is a HUGE step. its bound to be a really hard one. do you maybe have a friend or somone who is a good photographer too to share the space with you? or maybe an artist of another kind. if you displayed there work and they paid for it as "gallery" space, or worked out of part of it? thats all i can think of at the moment. I'd be delighted to even be where you are now so i'm sure im no help at all. but DONT give up! thats the best advice i have for you. :)
 05/23/2006 11:18:38 AM · #3
Develop a business-frame-of-mind and you will go places. There's plenty you can do with what you have. The equipment is not the problem. Doing business, selling, is the priority.
 05/23/2006 11:19:11 AM · #4
Just wanted to throw out a suggestion. Have you tried negotiating with the store owner? Maybe suggest giving him a portion of your sales from that location--maybe 25% or so--instead of paying rent. After all, he already has the space, and it's apparently just sitting there doing nothing. By letting you move in for a portion of the sales, at least he'll be getting some money out of it, and so will you. Might be worth a shot.
05/23/2006 11:20:41 AM · #5
I did a quick couple searchs that might help. I'm sure it is a lot of work finding the Small Business and Women Owned loan/grant programs but would be well worth the effort as you are talented photog.

small business loans for woman business

You probably looked at this but just in case you didn't it seems to have a lot of info links small business info for PA

I would also see if you can sort of work for the costume guy for exchange of room rent. Say you offer a specific photo shoot package to his costume customers in exchange for a reduction in rent. And you still get to book your own customers. I don't know how to do this specifically but it might also help get more WOM going. I bet someone here will have an idea on that. I could imagine customers would love to come in and get dressed up and have shots done just for fun. Might be worth looking into.

Good luck.
 05/23/2006 11:45:46 AM · #6
Maybe I'm really naive, but is it possible to start out a little more conservatively? Could you get a good start with $50K worth of stuff and put the other half in the bank to use for rent and loan payments until you start making a profit? They say when starting a business to be prepared not to profit for a long time...possibly 2 or 3 years (can't remember the exact time).

There are some clean-burning kerosene heaters that are pretty inexpensive. We have one that works so well that we can still crack some windows and get fresh air.

Not an expert on this, either...but isn't it possible that a window AC unit might be more efficient than Central Air? Just throwing out some ideas, because it sounds like you've got a great opportunity; and your work is so good!
 05/23/2006 11:48:48 AM · #7
Originally posted by greatandsmall:
Maybe I'm really naive, but is it possible to start out a little more conservatively? Could you get a good start with $50K worth of stuff and put the other half in the bank to use for rent and loan payments until you start making a profit? They say when starting a business to be prepared not to profit for a long time...possibly 2 or 3 years (can't remember the exact time).


I was thinking the same exact thing. You don't have to have the "best" of everything to produce quality images. Keep your initial equipment budget low and you should be able to sustain yourself for quite a while.

I also like the profit sharing idea posted above. It could be of great interest to both parties.

Message edited by author 2006-05-23 11:51:26.
 05/23/2006 12:23:52 PM · #8
The Small Business Administration has

online courses. If you go for a small business loan, you should have a business plan and market research available.

You might want to expand your photography business as much as you can with the resources you have available.
 05/23/2006 12:33:11 PM · #9
One of the best places to look is your state art council. Maryland has a great program. Here is the link to PA. Also, a local camera club might award grants - mine does. Also check with city and county art councils, local museums, anything. Even try the NEA

There is tons of money out there. Just start looking. :)

Another thought, local art guilds often offer studio space for rent on a part time basis - so much per hour per month. And, if you are good, you might get accepted to an arts center and become a resident artist with the use of all their facilities.

Message edited by author 2006-05-23 12:35:40.
 05/23/2006 12:37:51 PM · #10
Just one comment:

Right now you've got it easy... playing by WOM means the business comes to you, you don't have to fight for it.

A big loan payment plus rent will change everything. Possibly for the better! Once the mindset of having to "fight to survive" sets in, you'll probably start working things differently. You'll promote yourself more, you'll charge more for what you do, you'll be in a "make every cent count" mode and that could really drive you to do new things.

So while some might caution you to take it slow and easy... jumping in with both feet also has its advantages.
05/23/2006 12:39:49 PM · #11
Get a loan for 100k is just plain silly IMO ,that would be like shooting yourself in the foot . You would be under a great deal of stress to cover the payments on a monthly basis .How much fun would that be ?
Why don't save up 10 k pay your rent for a year and 4k for start up expesnes and buy new equipment as you go ,when you have funds .
I am sorry but your plan don't make sense to me :)
 05/23/2006 12:50:10 PM · #12
Originally posted by nsoroma79:
They say there are these grants for women who want to open a business.... where the heck are they?


CFDA Look under FAQ to get started.

Good luck!

05/23/2006 02:26:47 PM · #13
Another possibility is to share the studio with other photographers, and split the rent.
 05/23/2006 03:57:07 PM · #14
Originally posted by Zal:
Just wanted to throw out a suggestion. Have you tried negotiating with the store owner? Maybe suggest giving him a portion of your sales from that location--maybe 25% or so--instead of paying rent. After all, he already has the space, and it's apparently just sitting there doing nothing. By letting you move in for a portion of the sales, at least he'll be getting some money out of it, and so will you. Might be worth a shot.

With all due respect, I would avoid this idea. It's not a good idea, and will ultimately be grossly unfair to you, if you start doing well, unless you draw up a contract with him to determine a cap. Your landlord shouldn't really be your business partner.
 05/23/2006 04:31:42 PM · #15
Originally posted by Louis:
With all due respect, I would avoid this idea. It's not a good idea, and will ultimately be grossly unfair to you, if you start doing well, unless you draw up a contract with him to determine a cap. Your landlord shouldn't really be your business partner.


I agree - it's a catch-22 thing - but you need to make some sort of compromise to get moving; it's just where you want to make it and the level of risk. There really is no easy answers, most take a punt carrying the debt and the failure rate is high.

I would certainly put a cap or a time limit - probably both if you go this path. You might need to make the cap higher then the rent they want to give an incentive for the risk of getting less and presumably you would still need to cover utilities.

To be honest, it sounds like a big jump from 5K last year to a studio and all that entails but only you know if that is too much or not (no help I know). What is the marketing plan to get the extra revenue to cover the big jump in expenses and how realistic is that?
 05/23/2006 04:46:21 PM · #16
You really need to sit down and take stock. Do a business plan!!!! this is most important, you need to plan to succeed.

You never go into business without a sound plan, once you know what you expenses are including loans you will then know what you will have to return each week. eg How many photo shoots will it take pay back that 100 thousand??? Then how long will it take to pay it back????

Just because you want or need something doesn't mean it is a sound business decision. You need to stop thinking I want or need. What you need to be thinking is what I can afford to buy for my business from income generated by my business.

There was an excellent thread here somewhere regarding starting a photographic business reading that would be a great way to start.

05/23/2006 04:47:10 PM · #17
Hey. I just had one suggestion that doesn't relate to the studio. I looked at your work, and then I looked at your prices. You are selling yourself short. Your work is excellent and you deserve to be paid good money for it. I would suggest raising your prices somewhat, not just prints, but also the portrait sessions. Just my two cents.

Charles
 05/23/2006 05:08:15 PM · #18
I just thought of something. Last summer my dad had a 1200 sq. foot (30x40) building built for $11,000. It's called a pole barn. It's a metal "shop" with cement slab. You probably don't need anything that large, but that shows how "cheaply" a structure could be built.

Apart from being more than ample for your photography needs, something like that would add a a considerable amount of value to your property.
 05/23/2006 05:25:56 PM · #19
Thank You so much for all of your support, kind words and links to various loans and grants. I am going to take some time and read over all of it tonight.

I don't charge high prices, because I want to be affordable to everyone. Because of my prices, I am getting great WOM from customers. People appreciate good work at a great cost. I guess it comes down to that I want people to come to me, and I keep my costs low enough for that. Normally, I end up selling around $200 dollars worth of photos to each customer. Not too shabby. And for weddings, I end up with the same amount, if not more. I keep thinking that if I keep my prices low enough, lots of people will come to me. I dunno?

But, I will take a look at all the links and keep working on this idea.

Thank You again!
Lorrie
05/23/2006 06:24:34 PM · #20
Just remember that there's a fine balance between price and volume. A lot of work at a cheap price can be less profitable than a little work at a higher price. Therefore you work harder for less money if you don't charge enough.

People who appreciate good work and are easy to deal with have no objection to paying a fair price.

Of course, that will all become evident when you do the profit projections and business plan that are required to get an SBA loan.
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