3 Reasons Why A Photography Business Fail

Some people might think it’s easy to start a photography business, but just because your photos are good, doesn’t mean that your business will be successful as well. As a full time photographer, you have to spend more time behind your computer doing marketing, sending emails and do phone calls with clients, go to meetings, work on your website and social media, schedule and organize your portfolio shoot, edit your commercial shoots and so much more. Only when you really believe in it (the law of attraction) and when you are willing to work hard, your business will succeed. Let’s see what are the most common mistakes so you can avoid them!

Not knowing where to focus

As a photographer, it’s important to know where to focus. This means that you know your niche. For me this is fashion and portrait photography. So I don’t do or promote myself as an landscape-, wedding-, or family photographer for example. Of course I did all of them when I just started and I recommend to do the same, first experiment a lot until you find the genre that makes you happy. Once you know this, it’s much easier to focus on this niche. Discover your ideal client and now you know to what client you are ‘talking’ to on your website and social media. It’s much better to learn everything about your own genre because for every genre you have to practice different skills.

Not knowing how much you are worth and what your costs are

Before you start working for clients, you have to know what your costs are to do your business. The next step is to know how much you need to earn every month/year to make sure you can make a living from your photography. Some photographers think they have to be super cheap to book clients, but this is not how it works. It’s not only about the price, it’s also about the work you deliver and the client experience before, during and after the shoot. Trust me, if you only attract clients that book you because you are cheap, you are dealing with the worst kind of clients. This will not make you happy at all, work-wise and money-wise. Understand the prices in your industry and ask the fee that is true to your services. Only this will help you to grow your business while making a living as a full time photographer.

Giving up to early and not know what to do when you are not shooting

“I don’t have enough clients, I’m not good enough, I see a lot of successful photographers on social media and I’m not on the same level, I don’t know what to do during low season.”

Of course, maybe you are sure that working as a full time photographer is not the right kind of job for you and probably you have already a plan B that makes you happy as well, then go for plan B. But when you don’t want to do anything else than being a photographer and work on your own business, then you have to believe in yourself and stay positive. Write down your goals and dreams and always focus on this list. Try to write down what steps you have to make to make these dreams come true.

In the meantime, create a lot of portfolio work to show your future clients your style and expand your network. Creating new work is also good for your social media and website because you can show that you are working on your business and you can upload new work regularly. During low season, update your website with a new about text, do your administration, invest in new gear if you can and need, do firmware updates for your camera, prepare a month of content on Instagram, reach out to new clients by email or phone, go to events, organize meetings with other creative people and do photography workshops, read books and learn yourself new techniques. Never give up, you can always grow your business!