another really great way to expand your business is to talk to other photographers in person and this means there's meet ups and conventions. I'm a big fan of this because you start to bounce ideas off each other. It's not necessarily that competitive because you guys are all helping each other and you're keeping each other accountable. One of my favorite things that I did when I was starting out as a wedding photographer was, we invested some money in going to specific wedding vendor conventions. These are little pocketed wedding conventions where you'd sign up, you'd have a booth, you put up all your photos on the wall, have some prints out and potential couple couples would take laps around the whole convention center, going to different florists, wedding venues, videographers, photographers, DJs, uh, you know, people printing out invitations, just all different types of wedding vendors. Now, this not only gets you in front of clients, but this gets you to meet other vendors who may...

could get your clients recommend you, it gets you in with other venues, who might want to recommend you for stuff. Um, you'll meet other photographers whom you will start to talk to you and you can talk business with, you can talk shop, it keeps you accountable for your business and it keeps you in the trend and knowing what you're doing. They're a little expensive. Some of the cheaper ones would range from $200 to some of the expensive ones would be 1000 and up, depending on the size of your booth or what you're doing or your location in Los Angeles. They're very expensive maybe in smaller areas, there may only be one a year. So it might be hard to jockey and get in there. But if you're feeling like you aren't able to go to one yet, you want to see what ones like it's kind of fun to go in and pose as a new couple or pose as someone looking for a friend. Uh And you can start to get quotes from photographers, you can meet photographers and pretend to be a potential client. You can start to learn what they do. Um learn the prices, see what works, see what you like, see what you don't like. Um It's really a huge wealth of information for you to attend and just check that out. There's also a photographer conventions where it's just a bunch of photographers hanging out talking shop. One of my favorite conventions is called W. P. P. I. And it's in Las Vegas Nevada, United States and its basically wedding photographers and portrait photographer international. And everyone meets up. There's booths of different equipment, all the camera, all the camera companies, they're Canon Nikon fuji Sony camera strap. So their flash like tons of product stuff, zen folio has a booth uh there's just tons of equipment, tons of meetups, tons of conferences about how to grow your business, how to engage with clients. Um It's probably all the information that I've gathered is being is from that from that and from experience. So go to that. It was so worth your time. So worth your money. Um and have fun meet other photographers, learn, learn, learn, learn, you will always be learning because you are not only a creative photographer, you are a business entrepreneur. And the only way we can kind of help each other up is by sharing all this information. It's really cool. I've had really cool conversation with photographers from other countries, other states, other cities um that I've taken their practices and applied to mine. They've taken things that I've done and applied to them constantly learning constantly building. So a convention like that with other photographers is invaluable and lastly an online community. There's instagram where you can talk to other photographers chat, talk about business, see what they're doing, How are they growing, how are they using their prices, how are they editing, What are their tools? Also groups like photography and friends that we've helped develop through video school online is such a great community and we've noticed so many people asking questions and talking and growing. It goes from novice to advance and you can really get in and talk to people about, learning how to expand your business, learning how to expand your skills as a photographer and just growing in general. So taking advantage of social media in a way that you can learn and build a community around your own business is also super valuable

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Philip Ebiner

Professional video & course creator, photographer & teacher to 1mil+ students; 10+ years experience with 1000+ videos.

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Will Carnahan

11+ years experience as a cinematographer, camera operator, and photographer. Working with Disney, Nike, ESPN, PredPol and many others.

2,000+ classes ranging from fundamentals to advanced techniques.

Use Conventions and Meet Ups to Grow Your Business

Use Conventions and Meet Ups to Grow Your Business

Lesson Info

64. Use Conventions and Meet Ups to Grow Your Business

Lessons

Welcome

Why Do You Want to Start a Photography Business

What Kind of Photography Business Do You Want to Start

Important Personal Note from Instructor Will

Case Study Starting a Photography Business

Quiz - Chapter 1

Introduction to Basics of Starting a Photography Business

Choose Your Business Name

Choose Your Business Structure

Register Your Business Name

Get Your Federal Tax ID

Get Your Business License

Get Your Business Bank Account

Register Your Online Accounts

Branding Your Business

Set Your Prices

The Photography Gear You Need to Start a Business

Case Study - Business Basics

Case Study - Equipment

Quiz - Chapter 2

Intro to Getting Your First Paying Clients

You Need to Prove Yourself

The Best Place to Find Your First Clients

What to Charge for Your First Clients

On Set - Partnering with Other Creatives

On Set - Getting Work in a Competitive Environment

Use Your First Shoot Wisely

Case Study - Getting Your First Clients

Quiz - Chapter 3

Introduction to Create Your Photography Business Website

Why You Need a Website and Platform Options

What Needs to Be On Your Website

Design the Perfect Portfolio

Case Study - Looking at Photography Websites

Quiz - Chapter 4

Introduction to Expanding Your Online Presence

Use Instagram to Grow Your Business

Use Facebook to Grow Your Business

Get Listed on Google

Get Listed on Yelp

Get Listed on Review Sites

Using Craigslist to Get Work

Case Study - Expanding Your Online Presence

Quiz - Chapter 5

Introduction to the Photography Business Workflow

Step 1 - Meeting Your Client

Step 2 - Booking Your Client

Step 3 - The Shoot

Step 4 - Editing Your Photos

Step 5 - Delivering Your Photos

Case Study - Business Workflow

On Set - the Shoot

On Set - Backdrop Placement

On Set - Paper Backdrop Rolls

On Set - The Back Light

On Set - Interacting with Clients

Quiz - Chapter 6

Intro to Business Infrastructure and Continued Growth

Productivity Tools to Make Your More Efficient

Get Business Insurance

Accounting Tools & Tips

Business Tax Tips

Scaling Your Prices Up

Use Conventions and Meet Ups to Grow Your Business

Case Study - Business Growth

Quiz - Chapter 7

Intro to the Selling Prints Section

Why Should You Sell Your Prints

Choose a Printer

How to Price Your Prints

Selling Your Prints Online

Selling Your Prints in Person

Wrapping up This Section

Quiz - Chapter 8