Looking for help on a business plan...

Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

04/18/2008 07:07:29 PM · #1

I am seriously considering taking the plunge and opening up a studio. Before I get too far in debt I was wondering if anyone else took this step and started with a plan.

I am looking for a business plan of everything I would need. Of course I wouldn't be getting the top of the line equipment but I would be pretty close as I would be producing professional images for the area. If you have your own studio please let me know what all you did to get the ball rolling.

I want to create a break down of every cost I will have along with a monthly budget and expenses. Iâ��m looking for discount suppliers and information about who does your printing.

PS. In house studios don't really count. And really any information that you may have could be useful to me. Also should notâ��s might be helpful as well.

ClubJuggle

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

04/18/2008 07:27:50 PM · #2

Joe,

The physical aspects of how you will equip and set up your studio only scratches the surface of creating a business plan. You'll also need to map out how you plan to advertise, your anticipated costs and revenues, how much business you need to generate to break even, how you plan to finance all this, etc.

In addition to the advice you seek here, I'd strongly recommend you check with the small business development center for your area. I think this is it. Small Business Development Centers are government-funded and exist to provide assistance to entrepreneurs like yourself in starting a successful business.

~Terry

Man_Called_Horse

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

04/18/2008 07:28:05 PM · #3

SBA Business Plan Basics

yakatme

Lytro Illum Light Field Digital

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D IF-ED

04/18/2008 08:38:25 PM · #4

I save a lot of threads that I have seen here in my 'Watched Threads' and they have become somewhat of a library of reference material for future use. I have several saved that might have a lot of the information that you are looking for.

Starting out in Pro Photography

How do you market your photography business?

Business of Photography - Group 1

Business of Photography - Group 2

Prof_Fate chimes in often in threads relating to this topic and would probably be of immense help if he sees this thread or if you PM him.

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

04/18/2008 09:55:25 PM · #5

Wow Thanks all. I am still reading all of these threads I might be here for a while, but thanks this is all very helpful.

jrhendri

Canon EOS-30D

05/22/2008 04:31:34 AM · #6

You should be able to get 1 on 1 business counseling at the Alabama Small Business Development Center. //www.asbdc.org/aboutus.htm

I work for the Mississippi Small Business Development Center. You might find some of our videos at //www.mssbdc.org/bus_info_cds.html helpful. I especially recommend watching the 3 marketing videos.

Message edited by author 2008-05-29 01:53:09.

Sigma 70-200 /2.8 APO EX DG Macro HSM II

05/22/2008 10:38:31 AM · #7

Search (if you can) on my posts - I did a plan on here not long ago.

Make a list of everything you need to shoot. (cameras, lenses, lights, backdrops, etc)
make a list of everything you need to edit (computers, networks, LEGIT software, desks, etc)
make a list of everyting you need in the office. (file cabinets, phone system, tables, chairs, coffee pot, etc)
Overhead items - rent, insurance, legal, financial/accounting.
Make a list of vendors - labs, framer/supply, albums, bags, envelopes, etc
Physical plant - signage, displays, lighting, gallery area, sales area, samples, etc

that can hit $20,000 at a minimum, $1.2 million on the upper end...marble floors, 50" plasmas in the windows...If you want to get $7000 for a family portrait then you need marble floors.

Competition - who are they, what do they sell, what do they charge. You don't have to be cheaper, but NO ONE knows you so you WILL have to spend money on advertising and give it time to work.

RULES OF BUSINESS: COGS for a photo bis is 21% of sales. Advertising should be 15-20% of what you WANT sales to be. YOu need $100,000 in sales for EVERY employee, including yourself. Overhead will be rent plus debt plus utilities plus $15,000 to $25,000 a year (ball park to get you started - covers rent, biz cards, software upgrades, insurance, website, postage, etc)

Add up them thar costs and you'll find you need a hell of a lot of business just to break even. $3000/ month easy if you're renting a storefront. $36,000 a year. And you'll want $40,000 a year, and probably ahve to hire help for some things (weddings, editing, sports team and individual - some things you just need help on) so $15,000 for part time help. Plus your dept..I've got $30,000 in gear and could use/spend $10,000 more in a blink of an eye, $20,000 if I wanted/needed 1D pro bodies (at $4300-8000 each). So 50,000 in debt over 3 years is $16,000 a year. $130,000 a year, roughly, divided by 12 months is around $11,000 a month in sales is what you need, if you want to make $40,000 a year. And remember, 1/3 of that is taxes as you're self employed so you really only net $27,000 from that, or $520/week. And some weeks you may not get paid. You get paid LAST. Everytime.

So what do you need to sell to make $11,000 a month, on average. I say on average as this is a seasonal business. You make not make $5,000 in Jan/Feb/March COMBINED. So you need to be really good at budgeting, saving cash for the slow months, etc. Or you will fail.

Month 1 will have $0 sales. But you have $11,000 in bills. Month 2 may be $1000 in sales. Even if you book weddings in advance and get ready, you may only make $6000 a month for the first year. The rest of it comes from you. Yeah, you need what is called 'liquid capital' to carry you over the start up.

I've got friends in the restaurant management biz. A local chain (like denny's) opened outisde the new walmart a few year back. As of year 4 they were still not making a profit. A national chawin opened next door and the first year it did really well, but then things slowed a bit and they're not profitable anymore. Not that they're losing so much they'll close (or at least I hope not) but if you saw the lines outside the doors on either on a weekend night you'd wonder why they're not profitable - its' cause the other 150 hours a week they're practically empty, but the costs run 24/7 even if the customers don't. You need to plan for this too.

Eyesup

Nikon D300

05/22/2008 10:55:40 AM · #8

Prof as usual is bang on... there's lots of info here too Are you planing on getting a Loan? if not then you will need to save for your startup and a few month of operating before you'll hit your sales targets... if you are getting a loan then you have to factor in payments into your budget as well (remembering Banks don't care how good or bad business is this month). Like Prof said too remember you'll have to make enough in the busy months to compensate for the slow months... this part (as I'm finding out) is critical...

Of course I wish you nothgin but good luck! and you know your fellow DPCer's are here to help when we can :)

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro

09/09/2008 03:44:07 PM · #9

Thanks guys I can't believe I am just now seeing this. I have actually started the business but not a studio yet. I My short term goal is to have it in 3 years. Until then I'm doing what I can when I can and keeping business business. I will go back through and study more but right now I have to find a funny thread and post this joke I read hahahaha.

Spork99

OM System OM-1

09/09/2008 04:28:46 PM · #10

Originally posted by Dirt_Diver:

I used to work for a commercial photographer who started working out of his house. He's successful locally and nationally, working for 20+ years and, while he now lives in a much a bigger house, his business is still located in that original 3 bedroom house.

09/10/2008 10:11:29 AM · #11

I know photogs that are one man bands, so to speak, and some that own 3 or 4 studios. Some work from home, some have home studios (me) and some have 'main street' studios. There is no right answer - each choice comes with a trade off of some kind.

If you get to be bigger than a one-man show then the challenge comes in communicating your vision to another person (employee) - be that shooting style or editing/PP style. As I'm at the stage that I've had to hire help it's quite challenging (read frustrating at times) to make this happen at times. Do you see what I see? Probably not, but if you're hiring a person to PP then they need to make images that meet YOUR vision. And you may need at some point to replace them and be able to continue that same style.

That is one reason I think many photogs stay small - control issues (not that there's anything wrong with that!) Just give it some thought if your plan calls for a large business with many employees. What is your role in 5 years? Management only, sales, shoot only or what? That needs to be part of the plan too.

Google Glass Google Glass

09/10/2008 10:21:40 AM · #12

Yeah I plan it to be just me for a while, at least the first 5 years or so. Depending on the amount of business I recieve would really depend on a lot so I have considered all that. I am shooting my first PAID wedding this weekend and I guess I'll see how that goes and if it's something I want to get into... More than likely not but I have to at least try it right?

I don't have the room in my house to dedicate to photography but I do have some space that I can set up and take things down if I had too. Not that I am inviting people to "My house studio" but you know how that comes up sometimes. I would like to get into senior portraits but school photos but I'm in no hurry to jump start that. I have my name out there on some websites and I have some people promoting for me. I had some t-shirts made with my name, and logo on them along with biz cards of course. Actually now that I mention biz cards, I just ordered my second order of them. My first order was 500 cards and I am just about out already. I dropped some off at a craft store and some other places around town.

I even put one on my kids school project "about me" poster, hahaha.

Has anyone every advertised on Craigs list? After all it's free advertising but I'm afraid I'll get spammed with junk mail from the abyss...

ambaker

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM

09/10/2008 10:35:11 AM · #13

RE: Craig's List... Use a dedicated throw away email address. Whether it is gmail, hotmail, etc. or even an additional account with your current internet provider. (Mine allows 5 addresses)

Craig's List will generate some spam. My experience wasn't too bad. If you are going with local advertising on CL, I'd got with an additional email at your provider, if you have one available. That way you seem more local. I trust hotmail and gmail less than local internet addresses, even though I use gmail for the vast majority of my email.

09/10/2008 10:38:51 AM · #14

Originally posted by ambaker:

Well for all my photography stuff I use my business email Joe@josephsalmi.com but I could make another if I needed it.

Message edited by author 2008-09-10 10:38:57.

09/10/2008 05:07:15 PM · #15

I'm a capitalist pig. "Can you...." Sure, if it pays. If it pays I'll do it...so this week i've booked 2 weddings and 4 senior shoots with another probable wedding from a meeting today - and the week's only half over! Problem is that's over 80 hours of work - I can't keep up if the bookings keep coming, but then as I've said, I can't say no to money. That's $7500 ish in bookings with another $2200 wedding probably. Granted, all that work doesn't need to be done this week, but the seniors will need done this month. It's easier to stall an album design than a senior wanting their pics!

So if you get successful all of a sudden you need to either raise prices, say no, or find a way to do the work - and that may mean hiring a person (my solution). I can pay $50 in labor for editing for a senior that pays me $800. In the past 3 year's i've done about 6 seniors/ year. This year the dam has broken wide open. I'm not turning away what I've been trying to get for 4 years!

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D IF-ED

09/10/2008 05:09:23 PM · #16

Originally posted by Prof_Fate:

You hiring????? hahahaha

shehanaaz

03/23/2009 12:56:38 PM · #17

Planning a new business or business project must at some stage address a few financial details, and challenges and opportunities relating to modern technology, the internet, websites, etc.
------------
shehanaaz
workout plans

Flash

Nikon D700

03/23/2009 02:04:54 PM · #18

Originally posted by Prof_Fate:

This post should be its own sticky - or maybe the Prof's other business plan post.