If you have a boss-ass camera that can take boss-ass pictures, then you can start a photography business!
This post is designed to show newbie photographers how to get their first paid gig. Let's get started:
A classic way to generate some side income is when you have a piece of equipment others don't have. In this article we'll be assuming you have a camera that can take sweet pictures. You can then do one of three things:
1.) Use the camera for your own personal use (-$).
2.) Rent the camera to others for a fee (+$$).
3.) Use the camera to do photoshoots for money (+$$$$).
I've come across a ton of people who enjoy photography, and WANT to take the leap into getting paid to do it on the side, but they are either a bit afraid to start, or don't know HOW to start.
So instead of telling you what to do, your old Uncle Neville is just going to map out the entire process for you! Just copy/paste the scripts I make for you, or copy the scripts other people have successfully used.
These steps are specifically ordered like this to maximize for least effort and maximum results.
So let's get started to get your very first photography client!
Step 1.) Identify the specific service to sell:
Obviously within photography there's several TYPES of photography that tend to be easier, and some require more experience and lots of time commitment:
- Professional head shots. (Easy).
- Family photoshoots. (Easy).
- Dog portraits. (Easy).
- Photographing a business. (Easy).
- Wedding photos. (Harder).
If you don't know what you specifically want to sell, then let's just keep this mindset:
That promise is simple, to-the-point, not a huge sum of money, and not a huge time commitment (and you can change that formula to whatever amount or hours you think is right).
So we're now in the business of selling photography sessions! So where do we first promote our little service?
Step 2.) Post your photography offer on Facebook:
We're not asking for professional prices. We're not promising the best pictures on the entire planet. We're just putting out a small request to our friends that for $100 we will do a photography session for them.
Your personal friend network is going to be the easiest place to score a photography gig for several reasons:
- These people already like and trust you.
- They've probably already seen your great photographs on facebook or social media.
- They are highly likely to refer to you to other people.
It's often a scary prospect for people to "sell" like this, so that's why I've typed out a template to help you. You can literally copy/paste this script onto your Facebook (obviously change up the contact info), and you will quickly find out if people want your service:
This is a VERY simple and low-risk thing to post on Facebook. Most people are actually shocked how quickly this script works.
Often within 1-hour to 24-hours people get gigs (if not MULTIPLE gigs)!
It's simple as copy/pasting the above script onto Facebook, just like this:
If you do anything else from this post, just do this ONE step as a small "experiment" and see what happens.
Side Note: Some people are afraid they sell themselves too short with this initial offer. To them I say: WHO FREAKIN CARES.
Every single high-paid person I've ever met started out doing stuff for super-cheap. The point was they first GOT STARTED, then as their demand increased, their prices increased too.
Am I expecting you to make a career out of $100 photoshoots? No.
I am expecting you to GET STARTED by offering a fairly low price compared to professional photographers.
Step 3.) Post to Facebook Groups:
This part requires being part of groups on Facebook where your photography services might be useful. Since we’re selling photography sessions, it would be useful to post in groups where people might be interested....since these sessions will be in-person sessions, post to groups that are local to your area.
Since I live in Austin, I would post to these pages:
-
Austin Entrepreneurs Facebook Group:
"Hey Austinites, I'm offering a professional set of headshots for only $100...."
-
Austin Photography Group:
"Hey professional photogs, if you need an extra shooter for a gig, let me know. Prices start at $100."
-
Austin Startups Group:
"Hey Austin Startups, I'm a photographer that can come and take professional headshots or team photos. For only $100 I can come do a 1-hour long photoshoot for your company."
-
Austin Young Entrepreneurs and Job Seekers:
"Hey there, if you want your LinkedIn, Facebook, and Resume to look far more professional, I am offer a 1-hour photograpjy where we find you the perfect headshot! Here are some recent examples of my work....."
Step 4.) Post to Craigslist:
Craigslist is still a super hot place for people to buy services like Photography!
You will first need to navigate to the Services –> Creative section of Craigslist:
Then you can copy/paste this script into an ad:
Depending on where you are in the world, you can post this same script as a "visual picture ad." I made you a sample one below. You can click the picture and it will bring you to a Google Drawing which you can save as an image.
To edit the document, just do File --> Make A Copy:
The other way to get gigs from Craigslist is to actively seek out photographer requests and followup. These can be found in a little section found under Gigs --> Creative.
It could be worth your time to check this section everyday looking for photography gigs. HOWEVER, you'll generally get a better match when you post your own ad (It's Craigslist, so a lot of the listings are still pretty shady) :-P
Step 5.) Make a One-Pager flyer to post:
Honestly this is the step most people skip, because the other methods get them clients so quickly!
A One-Pager is a single sheet of paper you can hand out that gives people a high-level overview of your service.
The best part about these One-Pagers is that we can stick em up on a wall in front of everyone's face!
Here's a One Pager I made for our new photography service:
(You can click that image and go to the Google Doc it was made in.
Then click File --> Make A Copy to edit your own version).
This ad isn't designed to be pretty...it's designed simply to get people who are interested in a photography session to call us:
You can print a bunch of these babies out and plaster them all around town!
- Post one in a college union center...maybe a student wants some professional headshots.
- Post one at a local coffee shop...maybe some cool hipster dude will grab a session.
- Post one at a music store...maybe a band will grab a group photoshoot.
- Post one at a daycare...maybe someone will want a family photoshoot.
The best part is these can be printed on a regular ink-jet printer for extremely cheap. Just $1 worth of flyers can potentially bring in hundreds or even thousands of dollars!
Now some people are still quite timid when trying to promote a service for the first time....and that's 100% normal.
So maybe instead of just TELLING you what to do, we also SHOW you three examples of people who've gone from "person with a camera" to "paid photographer."
Example: Linda's $240 email
She got photography clients from offering photo sessions to her friends over email. The cool part was, Linda creatively "disguised" the sales pitch as a friendly request for going to a cafe.
She sent this message to 28 of her friends and old classmates through email:
I just started a photography business and am still growing it. I will be in Houston working an Artful Bachelorette party next weekend and thought I'd offer discounted photo sessions mornings of Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd to my old schoolmates!
If you're around and interested. I'll charge a flat and discounted rate of 120 dollars, shoot for an hour and share digital prints via Google Drive. Typically I share about 20-50 prints for an hour's worth of shooting. It'll be lovely to see your faces and meet your families!
If you're not in the market for photos at this time, I'd still love your support in the form of a like on Facebook or Instagram. Many thanks in advance.
Lastly, I also want to check out Honey Art Cafe Saturday afternoon if anyone wants to join me! If so, just FB message me or text me at (number removed).
Sending you all love and light,
Linda
So what happened after Linda sent that simple email through Gmail to some friends? She booked not one.....but TWO paid photography sessions for $120 each!
So within 24 hours of sending the email she got TWO paying clients for a total of $240!
Here's why this is great:
- Linda was previously a bit scared to charge for services...turns out several of her friends wanted her services so much they booked sessions immediately.
- Linda didn't have some big email list of people to promote to, it was literally just 28 friends/family she sent a casual email to.
- Linda didn't pitch hard, in fact the end of the email was a request to hang out when she was in town, not a sales pitch.
Pretty neat huh?
Hopefully Linda's example shows you this simple method of offering your services to the world really can work!
Example: Rimp's first gig was a birthday Party:
I know he does photography on the side and decided to ask him a few questions, and he answered:
"How did you get started getting photography gigs?"
All started from a hobby when someone said “Hey, can you take some pictures? We can pay ya.” From there, I thought I should try to see what I can do to turn this into some side money. So I went to Craigslist in mid April 2011 and posted a few ads in the creativity section and focused on gigs where I could learn from.
So I posted this quick ad on Craigslist asking if anyone needed a 2nd photographer:
This lead to my first booking in May which was for a kiddo’s 1st birthday party which happened to be the son of a local photographer. This made me super nervous as soon as she confirmed to hire me after a brief email exchange. I think she knew it would be a great learning experience and she can have a bit of relief to put her own camera down and enjoy the party. It ended up being a success and gave me a boost of confidence as I posted more frequently on Craigslist and got small gigs.
"Was it scary to start?"
It wasn't scary, but of course I would get nervous before showing up. Sometimes I would forget things like extra memory cards, batteries, etc. and from there it became more routine to where it was a simple checklist the night before. The first gig was only about 20-25 people for the birthday party, so it wasn’t too overwhelming once I got the hang of things.
"How much did you make on your first gig? What was the gig?"
First gig for that birthday party was just a flat $100 for an hour and a half. I got the gig by posting on Craiglist. Here was how the email went:
Price range varies as I offer a variety of services, but for portraits anywhere from $175 and up. Events starting at $150 which end up as package deals if there are breaks, etc.
"Do you have a portfolio you show people?"
Yeah, I have a Facebook Page and a website:
http://www.facebook.com/photographybyrimp
http://www.photographybyrimp.com/
I thought this example was cool because everything started with a simple Craigslist posting them bloomed from there.
Example: JohnRoss gets free dinners:
(I know....he LOOKS like he should be named "Kobe Sakamoto" or something right)??
Amongst friends we call him JR, and he's already got a solid career in the corporate world, but photography and videography has always be "his thing." He's always the dude with the cool cameras and drones and all that photography gadgetry.
So in the last few months he decided to make YouTube videos 1-2 times per week. One thing he loves doing is going to different restaurants and making videos and reviews of his meal.
What interestingly happened is a bunch of restaurants started giving him free food for the videos!
Here's two examples told by Johnross:
1.) Poke Poke: A poke (Fresh Tuna) spot in Austin.
"I went into Poke Poke one day after the gym as I heard about the opening from Eater.com. When I was there I overheard their owner mention they didn’t do any marketing on Instagram or YouTube.
I worked up the courage after they closed and asked if I could create a video for them. Below is the amateur email I sent after I left:
Since making the video and taking pics they’ve either given me free poke or a local friendly discount :)
All we did was a 30 sec montage video:
2.) El Primo: A poke (Fresh Tuna) spot in Austin.
El Primo is my favorite breakfast taco truck -- 1 man shop and conveniently 2 blocks from my home. The trailer is always packed from 8AN-11AM everyday he’s open.
One afternoon coming home from work I pulled over and pulled this line:
“Would you be up for it?”
He said yes. It was that simple. So here we are with another food truck video:
What I find interesting is that Johnross never got in this for money (he's already got a great career which takes care of that), he just does this for fun, and is still "profiting" from it by accident!
Example: Christina's first $75 gig using a Kodak point-and-shoot camera:
I asked her a few questions about her side photography business:
"How did you get started?"
One day, I realized that I was always taking pictures of my husband’s soccer team. Every time I’d show a parent their child's picture, they’d ask me if I was interested in taking family pictures or photographing birthdays etc.. After turning many requests down for a while, I finally stepped outside my comfort zone and went for it.
At first, I didn’t really charge these families. I felt that since I wasn’t a "professional" I shouldn’t charge them. But after a few shoots and building a portfolio, I realized that this was something that I really loved doing, and I was good at it.
"What kind of camera did you have?"
Believe it or not, I started taking pictures with a point and shoot Kodak. Yep, you heard me. Kodak. I knew nothing about shooting JPEG vs RAW. So I bought a $250 point and shoot with a minimal zoom option and went for it. Hey, it got the job done.
"How much did you make on your first photography gig?"
When I finally started charging, I made my first $75 for a family shoot. I was so nervous about taking their money and making them happy with my product that actually gave them every photo I took. Somewhere around 100.
"Was it scary to start?"
Of course it was scary. I was putting myself out there. Outside my comfort zone to try something new and opening myself up to be criticized. To be honest, I still get a little nervous on my large shoots. I’m a Virgo. I want to make everyone happy...LOL.
"Nowadays if you put out a post on Facebook asking for photography sessions, could you easily get booked?"
When I first started advertising on Facebook, I wasn’t using graphics, nor examples of my work. I was just making a statement/offer and crossing my fingers. Here's two examples:
I’ve learned over the years that everyone wants to SEE what I’m offering. Now, I only use graphic images for advertising and it’s usually only when I’m offering a mini-shoot or special. Here's some examples of those ads:
They don't always get the results I'm looking for, but it’s never stopped me from posting. Even now after years of marketing, I find that the "specials" are the only ads worth posting. So I’ve learned to run at least 4 specials a year, updating my page throughout the year with client images to keep the interest going.
When I first started, my specials were $75 for 45 mins (all images on a CD). Now that I’ve been doing this for years and have built a clientele, my specials usually run $125 for a 30 min session (10-15 edited pics).
"Do you have a photography portfolio you keep?"
Yes, I have a webpage and a Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/gwinsphotos
I like that Christina came to the conclusion you definitely need to SHOW people some examples your work.
Also....I LOL'd that Christina used a cheap-o Kodak digital camera for her first gig! But it just shows you've gotta start somewhere, even if it's a little ghetto!
Download this post and all templates:
--Keep this entire post and templates for your own files--
--Download as PDF, Google Doc, or Microsoft Word--
--Share with colleagues and friends--
Sincerely,
Neville Medhora
P.S. What was your first gig as a photographer? How much did you get paid?
Share your story here. It may just help someone a bit nervous about starting!
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