Part-time, Full-time, Employed, Partners?
Lesson 6 from: How to Start a Photography BusinessPye Jirsa
Part-time, Full-time, Employed, Partners?
Lesson 6 from: How to Start a Photography BusinessPye Jirsa
Lesson Info
6. Part-time, Full-time, Employed, Partners?
Summary (Generated from Transcript)
In this lesson, the instructor discusses different options for starting a photography business, including doing it part-time, full-time, employed, or with partners. He explains the advantages and disadvantages of each option, such as less risk and better work-life balance for a side gig, faster growth and development for a full-time sole proprietor, and the opportunity to learn from an established studio for a photography career. He also emphasizes the importance of considering factors like time commitment, division of labor, conflict resolution, and equity in a partnership. The lesson concludes by mentioning that working for a studio can provide a steady salary and income, but may have limited upside potential and require patience.
Q&A:
What are some advantages of doing photography as a side gig?
It carries less risk, allows for better focus on photography as a passion, and can provide a significant income boost.
What are the challenges of running a photography business as a sole proprietor?
It can be lonely and depressing, decision-making may become less autonomous, and there may be concerns about equity and workload distribution.
What are the benefits of working for a photography studio?
It offers the fastest artistic development, no risk, good salary and income, and the opportunity to learn from established systems and potentially launch a successful studio later on.
How much can photographers working for a studio expect to make?
Shooters at a master status can make between 80 to 120 thousand dollars, but it takes time to reach this level.
What should be considered before entering into a partnership for a photography business?
The ability to handle conflict and fight like family is important, as well as an equitable division of labor and consideration of how time will be managed.
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
Part-time, Full-time, Employed, Partners?
Should you do this part-time, full-time, employed, with partners? Those are all viable routes. Let's talk about this as a side gig. I have friends that have their 100-plus thousand dollar jobs in IT, programming, tech, all those different things, that they will side-bust and shoot three- to five-thousand dollar weddings on weekends, and may make another 60, 70 grand a year doing that. Is there anything wrong with this pathway? No, it's really great. It carries less risk, it's a better fit for photography as a passion. I don't want to do all the other stuff that are involved in running a business, I just want to kind of focus in on this, and dual income, they can make upwards of 200 to 250 thousand dollars just with this as a side gig. The problem is that it takes more time to launch your business. Eventually, there becomes a work-life balance. So for all of them, they reach that critical point where they're getting so much demand for their work that they have to pick one or the other, ...
'cause it's not sustainable for your family to be able to have you gone every single weekend plus during the week for more than a few years. Your time is also limited, and there's going to be limited scalability. Who's thinking about this as a full-time? 'Kay. So full-time as basically a sole proprietor, that just means running it by yourself, okay? So if you're running it by yourself, it's faster to launch, quicker to grow and develop, more time for scaling and development, better focus and balance in terms of work-life balance, significant risk, it can get lonely and depressing. I know that's a weird one, but it seriously can be lonely and depressing when you're the only person in your business. So if you have a spouse or a partner that can support in that, it really makes a huge difference. Photography is a partnership. I get asked this question quite a bit. You can double or triple the effort going into it, which makes launch very quick. Faster growth and development, division of labor provides better focus. Conflict resolution is a huge one here. And this is what I'm gonna say. If you ever consider a partnership, a few simple words. If you can fight like family, good. But if you come to me and say, "I'm thinking about a partnership. "We have a great relationship. "We never fight." I'm gonna say, "Walk away from it." It'll be done within six months. You can't do it. If you can fight like family, and this relationship has been tested over time, consider it. But otherwise, walk away. Equity and work income, this is gonna become the greatest stress. Which partner is doing more or less than the other? Less autonomy in decision-making. Now you have to consider where your time is going. So for me, with Justin and Chris, every time I say I want to do something, I have to go and ask them what's best for the business. These are the things I'd like to do. What do you guys want me to focus on first? And a lot of times, it's not what I wanna do. My time is not my own. Photography is career with a studio. Fastest artistic development, there's no risk, good reward in salary and income. You can learn the business, you can think different, because you probably would never think on the level of a Lin and Jirsa unless you'd actually worked there, and you saw what the systems were in place, right? You have a career platform and a business springboard, so after a few years, we've seen our shooters go off and start very successful studios, because they've watched for three to five years, and then they go out and do. So again, this is another viable route. There is less upside potential when you are working for a studio. It's not to say you won't make good money. A lot of our shooters, they make between 80 to 120 thousand dollars when they get up to master status. So they make really good money. But it takes time, a lot of time, and most people aren't patient enough to stay through that process.
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!