Y’all!! This is SERIOUS!! Want to start your photography business in 2020?! I’m here for YA!! I’m breaking down my 12 tips to getting started!!

Get Legit

Register Your Biz

Do some research and register your business. We’re an LLC but there are other options for pick and choose what’s good for you. Just check out your state website and go from there.

Invest in a CRM

Invest in a CRM or client relationship management system. We’re talking all the communication, scheduling, contracts, payments, ALL of the things!! We use Honeybook (check out our code below for $200 off!) and love how much it has helped us stay organized and keep our workflow smooth.

Find a Gallery Delivery System

We’ve seen people use Dropbox, Google Drive or even Airdrop them… yes, that works but it’s not professional. It’s going to create more problems in the future if you run out of storage or need to pull those images back up. There are TONS of delivery systems like PicTime, Pixiset or Cloudspot, there are a lot to choose from.

Better Yourself

Find a Mentor

Find one to three photographers that you align with whether you love how they shoot, run their business or interact with their clients. Follow them religiously and learn from them in every way that you can. Listen to their Instagram stories, subscribe to they YouTube channel, check if they have an free guides or a Facebook community. Soak it ALL up.

Paid Education

Yes, pay and invest in education. Let’s get real, we take things more seriously and actually go for our goals once we’ve paid & invested in ourselves. Find something broad that covers what you need, rather than a niche topic. Like posing, editing or managing a business.

Do the Marketing

Say Yes

While you’re going to have an end goal or a dream, try EVERYTHING. This will help you try out all the different things and you might find something you love that you wouldn’t have thought of. You don’t need to have everything figured out right away.

Find Your Ideal Client

Think about aesthetic, personalities, look and preferences so that you know where to gear your marketing. You want to speak directly to that individual so you know that when they read it, they know that you are the photographer for them!!

Shoot for Free

A lot of people will say to never shoot for free, but I disagree. In the very beginning shooting for free can be beneficial. Set up some shoots so that you have content geared towards your ideal content. That way these clients book with you and you will get a return for your work.

Tell Everyone

Seriously, we mean it. Tell everyone that you know. The more people you tell about it, the more the word will spread. Maybe you tell your dentist who tells their friend who tells their daughter who is getting married and it your ideal client!

Network! Network! Network!

Embrace your local wedding community. Meet with them in-person and connect through social media. It might be scary but that’s okay!! When you create relationships you can get excited to be apart of a community AND they may refer you!

Create a Basic Website

You don’t need to hire someone to have all the colors and logos and extra things to start. It doesn’t have to be perfectly branding. It just needs to be a site that connects your leads with you. Don’t worry about it being perfect, done is better than perfect!

Create a Great Instagram Profile

This is a beautiful online portfolio, and a place where your clients can see more of your work. This allows them to verify that they love your work and want to book YOU.

Our Facebook Tribe for Photographers here!

Discount Code Alert: Get organized and use our favorite CRM: HoneyBook! Here’s 50% off and a FREE trial!