Common Myths & Unknown Truths
Lesson 2 from: How to Start a Photography BusinessPye Jirsa
Common Myths & Unknown Truths
Lesson 2 from: How to Start a Photography BusinessPye Jirsa
Lesson Info
2. Common Myths & Unknown Truths
Summary (Generated from Transcript)
The topic of the lesson is about common myths and unknown truths in starting a photography business. The instructor discusses various misconceptions, such as the need for a studio, the idea that nobody makes money in photography, and the importance of a perfect portfolio. The instructor also emphasizes the importance of client experience and education over gear in the success of a photography business.
Q&A:
Do you need a studio to have a photography business?
No, it is not necessary to have a studio to start a photography business. The instructor shares that they ran their business out of their apartment for the first three years.
Is it true that nobody makes money in photography?
No, this is a misconception. The instructor emphasizes that it is possible to make money in photography and shares personal experiences of running a successful photography business.
Does your portfolio have to be perfect?
No, having a perfect portfolio is not necessary. The instructor shows early photos from their career to demonstrate that improvement comes with time and experience.
Do you need the best camera and lenses to start a photography business?
No, it is not necessary to have the best camera and lenses. The instructor reveals that they started their business using entry-level cameras and still produced successful work.
Is a perfect brand and look essential for a photography business?
No, while having a good brand and identity is beneficial, it evolves over time. The instructor emphasizes that potential clients are more influenced by factors such as reviews, word of mouth, and price.
Is Apple the only computer for creatives?
No, the choice of computer brand does not determine the success of a photography business. The instructor shares their personal experience of using PCs for the majority of their career before switching to Apple for maintenance reasons.
Will taking great pictures guarantee success in a photography business?
No, taking great pictures alone does not guarantee success. The instructor explains that business decisions and purchases are influenced by various factors, and success also depends on how one interacts with clients.
Will your market or clients not pay a certain price?
No, the instructor argues that there are ways to find an audience within your existing market or to market outside of your existing market to overcome this misconception.
Is shooting in full RAW necessary for a photography business?
No, shooting in full RAW is not mandatory. The instructor shares that some successful studios shoot in JPEG, but they prefer shooting in RAW for flexibility in post-processing.
Do you need the best camera and lenses for a photography business?
No, the choice of camera brand does not matter. The instructor highlights that all camera brands are great and encourages the use of any tool that works for the individual photographer.
Is working for free a waste of time and harmful to the industry?
No, the instructor contradicts this statement and explains that working for free can lead to valuable opportunities if approached with purpose and strategy.
Do you matter more than your camera or product in the success of your business?
Yes, the instructor emphasizes that the photographer's skills, personality, and the experience they provide to clients are more important than the camera or product itself.
Is education more valuable than gear in a photography business?
Yes, the instructor declares that education is greater than gear in the photography industry. They challenge the idea that gear determines the quality of a photograph and emphasize the importance of knowledge and skills.
Lessons
Class Introduction
13:12 2Common Myths & Unknown Truths
11:42 3The Road Ahead
13:03 4Find Your Passion
06:06 5The Lin & Jirsa Journey
13:54 6Part-time, Full-time, Employed, Partners?
03:51 7Stop Wasting Time & Money
06:07 8Your 12 Week Roadmap
04:33Great Plans Still Fail
06:01 10Strategy Vs. Planning
04:16 11Mind Mapping
07:25 12Select a Focus
14:16 13Competitor Research
09:34 14S.W.O.T. Analysis
13:54 15Strategy & Long Term Goals
03:50 16Values, Vision & Mission
27:49 17Effectively Managing Your Time
15:05 18Artistic Development
07:30 19Create Your Plan
13:12 20What's Your Product
10:51 21Luxury vs Consumer Products & Experiences
11:44 22Quick Break for Econ 101
16:31 23Your Target Market & Brand Message
21:25 24What's in a Name
09:20 25Your Client 'Why'
05:43 26Crafting the Why Experience
24:17 27Document the Client Experience
08:29 28Business Administration Basics
27:03 29Book Keeping Management
06:51 30Create the Logo & Branding
07:04 31Portfolio Design
15:11 32Design Your Services & Packages
18:51 33Pricing Fears & Myths
08:46 34Three Pricing Methods
25:39 35Package Pricing Psychology & Design
06:15 36Psychology of Numbers
07:29 37Pricing Q&A
23:51 38Grass Roots Marketing
09:36 39The Empty Party
07:03 40Friends & Family Test Shoots
16:28 41Join Groups
04:32 42Second Shooting Etiquette
07:44 43The Listing & Classified Hustle
14:10 44Make Instagram Simple
13:55 45Your Automated Pinterest Plan
08:01 46Facebook Because You Must
07:37 47Giveaway & Styled Shoots
12:17 48Content Marketing & SEO
08:12 49The Monster: SEO
07:26 50Selecting Your Keywords
05:45 51Testing Your Keywords
07:53 52Grouping Main & Niche Goals
12:39 53Your Content Road Map
11:47 54Content Marketing Q&A
10:45 55Inspiration to Keep Working
07:45 56How to Craft Your Content
15:03 57Internal Linking Basics
05:30 58Back Link Building Basics
04:55 59Link Value Factos
14:38 60Measuring Link Value
04:24 61Link Building Strategy & Plan
06:10 62Link Building Plan: Vendors & Guest Writing
06:45 63Link Building Plan: Features, Directories, Comments
03:11 64Link Building: Shortcuts & One Simple Tool
14:44 65What is Sales? Show Me!
12:58 66Your First Massive Failure
05:17 67The Sales Process
07:31 68Your Second Massive Failure
05:23 69Understand Buyer Psychology
10:00 70Step 0: Building Rapport & Trust
15:14 71Step 1: Identify Need or Want
15:39 72Cognitive Dissonance
12:01 73Steps 2 & 3: Value Proposition & The Solution
14:21 74Step 4 : Close, Make the Ask
04:32 75Step 5: Follow Up & Resolve Concerns
06:13 76Family Photography Hot Seat
12:06 77Business Example Hot Seat
15:52 78Boudoir Photography Hot Seat
16:09 79The Best Sales Person
07:45 80Your Mindset, Vibrations & Frequency
06:56 81Always Positive, Always Affirming
11:55 82The Second Money & Dual Process
07:39 83Chumming the Price Waters
03:57 84Creating Want or Scarcity
09:54 85Timeless Advice on Being Likable
11:53 86Selling Over The Phone
10:59 87Forbidden Words in Sales
11:40Lesson Info
Common Myths & Unknown Truths
I wanna talk about common myths and some unknown truths. This is all about setting the expectations of what you're about to get into. I think that's so critical, to have the right expectations, because, have you guys ever heard that basically disappoints, what do disappointments come from? It's literally just unmet expectations. So the the problem is that when you're setting out on a journey like this one, a career path, having the wrong expectations can derail you very quickly. So let's talk about it. How many people have heard this? You must have a studio. Nobody's heard that? You just promised to interact with me. You have to have a studio to have a photography business. Oh my goodness. So false. You do not. We ran the first three years, like Kenneth said, over there, over here. Like Kenneth said, the first three years of our business was out of my apartment. I had an employee in my apartment. Oh, here's the funny thing. I actually had a video I was gonna show you guys. But me, Just...
in, and our first employee Joe, we lived in the exact same apartment complex, and so our commute was like, you'd open Justin's door, walk three feet, and you're at work, and then you walk in on the other side. And we did that for years. Completely fine. At home, in an apartment, doesn't matter where you are, totally fine. Nobody makes money in photography. That's completely wrong. How many people have heard this? Please, tell me your parents said this. Everybody's parents said this. My dad just told me he'd disowned me. I'm kidding! But seriously. Okay, your portfolio has to be perfect. Oh, I'm gonna prove this one wrong. I'm gonna prove it. I'm gonna show, you guys wanna see some of our early on photos? Oh yeah, you do. Everybody loves a good bashing session. You need the best camera and lenses. Eh, wrong. Have you heard this, yeah? We were shooting, it sounds, this is almost embarrassing to admit, we started out our studio on Rebels. The Costco kit. Hey, let's start a business. Let's go to Costco and buy some Rebels. That's literally what we did. And the very first shoot that we did was in a helicopter with a Rebel. It didn't come out great. You're looking at me like, no, it didn't come out great. We made it, okay, you're gonna see it, you're gonna see it, don't even worry about it. You need a perfect brand and look. No. It's great to have a good brand and a good identity. We're gonna help you create that. But these things evolve over time, right? How many of you have not bought a great product because their logo wasn't good? Okay, how many of you have gone onto Amazon, found a really great reflector, like a five-in-one reflector, and you're like oh man, 20 bucks, it's got good reviews. How many of you looked at their logo and branding and made the decision at that point? Raise your hand if the logo and branding mattered. No. You saw the reviews, word of mouth, you saw the price, it was good. Okay, Apple is the only computer for creatives. Oh, holy crap, that's wrong. You can use anything you want. I recently switched everything over to Apple, if you guys are curious about it, I can tell you why. But, the first nine years of my career, I've been on PC. I've been on PC my entire life. I still love PC. It's just tough to maintain a studio of 60 PCs, so we're switching everything over for maintenance side. If you take great pictures, you will be successful. Oh man, that is so false. You can take the best pictures in the world and tank it. It has nothing to do with that, unfortunately. I mean, in the perfect world, in the perfect business environment, business decisions and purchase decisions would be made strictly on the quality of the product. That's just not the world that we live in. Business decisions and purchases are made based on how you feel, on what's presented to you, on the information that you actually have. So, probably a lot of the world's best photographers are people that nobody knows about. My market or clients won't pay that price. That's wrong. Your market might be smaller. Maybe it doesn't have a ton of high-end, super wealthy clients, but every time I've heard this statement, I've thought, man, there's a lot of ways around that. Either find that audience in your existing market or market outside of your existing market. Solved. Full RAW only. Please, gosh. I know studios that run jpeg. Their clients pay $8,000 to $10,000 per wedding, and they shoot all jpeg. That's not what we do. From a shooting standpoint, we shoot medium RAW for all journalistic moments. Basically moments that are not gonna be blown up to a 20 by a 30. We shoot full RAW for anything that could be. Family portraits, portraits of the clients, that kind of stuff, we'll go full RAW. But this is up to you guys to choose that. Now, I saw a question in the back. Tell me what that is, what's the resolution on that? That's like, it depends on the camera. On a 5D Mark IV, that'd be something like 16 to 18 megapixels, something like that. It's in between. Okay yeah middle. The point is, you choose. This isn't a huge, honestly, when I shoot for myself, like family stuff and all that kind of stuff, if I'm doing a portrait session for friends, I'll shoot in jpeg. Full jpeg. You know why? I'm shooting it myself. I know exactly how my camera works, I know exactly the range that I have, and I shoot it in camera to be almost, you pop a preset on it and it's done. So I'll shoot it in camera that way. But when you're operating a studio of 30-something photographers shooting, how easy is it to make sure that every single person shoots the exact same way? So we operate RAW, so that way we have more flexibility in post to be able to fix errors. Does that make sense? So, but I'm saying that I have friends that operate studios that shoot only jpeg. High-end studios. You need the best camera and lenses. No. Canon greater than Nikon, Sony, I mean that's true, let's be honest. Just kidding. Pick your weapon. It totally doesn't matter. They're all great. Use your iPhone. I'm just kidding, don't use your iPhone. If you're online, I take it back, don't use your iPhone to take wedding pictures, that's no, that's not what we want. You probably could, actually. Working for free is a waste of time and a bane to the industry. This is one of the biggest incorrect statements that has been put around the internet, that working for free is a bad thing. Working for free without purpose is a bad thing. But working for free has opened up some of the best opportunities that I've had in my career. We'll talk about it. You matter more than your camera or product in the success of your business. This is a truth that nobody ever talks about. Do you know what I mean by that? You will, 'cause I'm gonna show you how we were producing some not so great images, but we still sold $3,000, $4,000 weddings at the very beginning of our studio. It had nothing to do with operating out of an apartment, it had nothing to do with anything. Something had to do with the people that we're interacting with. Education is greater than gear. Can we start spreading this truth around? We are so brainwashed by all the fantastic marketing efforts on the parts of these camera companies that we actually believe that the lens and the exact specific aperture diameter matters. This is something that we're going to talk about quite a bit. The client experience trumps all. This is right. This is one of my favorite things to talk about. If I asked you guys here to think about an image, okay, if you're online, think about an image in your head, one of your favorite photographs of you or your family or your loved ones. You have something in your head? Are you thinking about a particular image right now? Give me my nods. Pick a picture. Now tell me if the lighting or the exposure or any of those things mattered about that photograph? Did the picture that you select, was it a perfect exposure, was it a beautiful image with amazing dynamic range? Or was it something emotional? Was it something that had a meaning and a purpose to you? This trumps all, because it doesn't matter how good of a photograph I take if I made you feel like crap when I took the photo, if I said oh my gosh, this is your wedding day, just relax, there's no reason to do that. It doesn't matter how great that picture looked, if I made you feel bad about something, that's what you're gonna remember. When you see that photograph, you're gonna remember how you felt when it was taken. Alright? Which means that if I made you feel good when I took your picture, it probably doesn't matter so much what the picture looks like. If you look flattering, if it looks good, and you remember that good feeling, that's all that matters. Is that a weird thing to hear? Good. I hope not. The business of photography is more about service and experience over the product itself. Yes. Now, you can call this an unfortunate truth, I don't know. To me, it's wonderful, because if you can separate yourselves, and this is the beauty of a statement like this, and this is the beauty of the truth of this. If I said to you to be successful, you had to be, my dear, what is your name? Chelle. Chelle, I'm Pye, nice to meet you. If I said you, Chelle, like... It's Michelle, but I go by Chelle. Ah, that is, I've never heard, that's amazing. Sorry. So, Chelle. Yes. Along these lines, if I said to you to compete in the photography industry, you have to be taking the best photographs, better than everybody else, how would you feel? I would feel intimidated. Okay, what if I said, instead, that to compete in the photography industry, you just have to give the best client experience? How would you feel now? I would do all I could to make that happen. Do you feel like one's more controllable than the other? I think so. Yeah. Giving somebody a great experience should feel a lot less intimidating, a lot more in your control, than something subjective like being the best photographer.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Armstrong Su
This class and materials are to the point and eye-opening on the business side of photography. Pye Jirsa is an amazing and fun teacher as well! Most photographers need more business classes offered to bring us who love to create art back to reality for a more successful business that makes a living on it's own. This course will definately get you started in the right direction and so cheap too! Great investment! armstrong outdoor tv case outdoortvcase Pye Jirsa is one of the best instructors that I have the pleasure to learn from. He and his team have given me so much more than they'll ever realize. Knowledge, wisdom, training, friendship, mentoring, inspiration, joy... I cannot thank Pye enough for changing my life for the better. I owe them more than they'll ever realize. Thank you, Pye Jirsa!!!
Angela Sanchez
This class has been an eye opener for me; a point of change in my vision as photographer. Pye is and AMAZING, INSPIRING, GENEROUS instructor, with an, authentic desire to help people and to share with them the best of his knowledge. I will not have enough words to say thanks to Pye Jirsa, as a teacher and as a human being, and thanks to Creative Live who allows us to benefit from the experience of such a knowledgeable, educated, well-versed photographer and instructor. 1000% recommended!
Yenith LianTy
Been following this guy forever. Pye Jirsa may be well known in the wedding & portrait photography world and if there is something that this guy knows it is how to create a business, a sustainable one. The workbook he provided is comprehensive, and I honestly wish I had this when I first started out as a photographer! I love that he talks about his failures, keeping it real and honest for anyone starting out. He is definitely one of the best instructors around, super humble, down to earth and with a sense of humor to boot. The course is worth it! THE WORKBOOK is AMAZING! SUPER DETAILED!