Okay, so let's talk about choosing your business name. This is very exciting. This is one of my favorite parts of starting a business is coming up with a name and how you're going to move forward with your photography business. Why do we do this? Um this is what defines you and this is what's going to move you forward. And it's going to inform a lot of things, it's gonna inform on how you present yourself, your website, your instagram, how people pay you all sorts of things. So it's very important that you really take a step back and consider what your business name is gonna be. So let's talk about types of names first. You're gonna think about choosing your name as your business. So, my name is William Carnahan, usually it's your first last name and photography. So William Carnahan photography, the really nice thing about that is that it really encompasses all sorts of photography. So no matter what category you decide to start shooting, you can really slip into either of them and it ...

doesn't matter what you know, the title is, that's not wedding photography and portrait photography, it's your name. Photography. So William Carnahan photography or Phil Epner Photography works really well. Or you can come up with a name that really kind of encapsulates what you're doing. I had a friend who was a maternity photo photographer and he created his name as the baby bump or baby bump photography and that was the way he wanted to present himself and he was really focused on just that as a photographer. You could also come up with something else like Carnahan Creative, That's my last name with something interesting that can kind of encompass more things. If I decide to, you know, start selling, I don't know paintings. Carnahan Creative would work as a company. The next thing to do is make sure that it's available. So by doing a simple google search, you can search, I would say, for example, search Carnahan Creative or search William Carnahan Photography or search video school online. And lots of things will come up and you can kind of see engage, does my name or the name that I'm thinking about compete with anyone in my area or is there already a website that exists. Is there someone that is already using it to create our own business? Because when people start to search your name, you don't want to be the person that's on the third or fourth page you want to be as far up as you can be. You also may want to just search for the website directly, go to something like Godaddy dot com or you can type in the actual name of the website that you're thinking of. So I would go in and I would type William Carnahan photography dot com and I would see that it doesn't exist or someone may have bought it if my name is john smith photography dot com. I'm sure someone owns that. Uh, and there may not be anything there, but it would be hard to get that domain for your website. Another thing to do would be to look at your social accounts searching. So go to facebook search for businesses that have that name that you're thinking about, go to instagram, start typing in your name. So I would do William Carney photography on instagram and see if that pops up. Um or you know, really start to search twitter, start to search instagram, start search, facebook starts to search all sorts of social media because that also might be taken already and you don't want to start off with a name and start dealing with business paperwork and then find that you can't even start your instagram with that same name, ideally you're going to have the same name across all of your accounts and your email address. It'll just make things so much easier and seamless with getting yourself out there, talking to clients, receiving payments, communication. It's just the easiest thing you can do. And finally, a really good way to find out about your business name is to uh search the registered business for your city county or state. Uh, and see if that name for that business is already registered again, A more popular name like john smith jane smith, those things are gonna probably be taken already. So you want to take a look before you start to really commit to a name, getting business cards and all that stuff. Just check to see if another business is registered under that name. And you can do this by going on to google and just typing in business name. Search for your state or your country depending on where you are and then finding a website where you can then type in that business. So why do we consider all these things? We're going to dive deeper into permitting tax laws, all sorts of things in the next lesson. But it's important to think about because when people start to communicate with you, people start to give you payments, you need to know what exactly for them to do said to call you. I mean you want to know who's writing the check, how they're registering you on Venmo, how they're communicating with you when they can't find your email address. All these things are very important when considering a name, if you come up with a very long name. Uh it might be difficult every time you want someone to pay you or write out a check or something like that. So think about that. Um when you're really coming up with a name, a thing that I've dealt with in the past is that my name was so long or um we actually have a video production company called Will call Cinematic. And now my name on my email address is will at will call cinematic dot com and it's just such a mouthful to tell the people or to write down every time. So it's something to really consider when you're starting your business. So get out your worksheet, write your business name down or what you're thinking about maybe right to down so that you have something to fall back on if it's already chosen. Because in the next lesson, we're gonna be talking about uh tax laws, bank accounts permits, business license. And sometimes when you get into that, you're gonna need to make a split decision on what you want your business name to be. So be prepared and be ready for the next lesson.

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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.

Choose Your Business Name

Choose Your Business Name

Lesson Info

8. Choose Your Business Name

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