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The Best Place to Find Your First Clients

Lesson 23 from: Launch a Successful Photography Business

Philip Ebiner, Will Carnahan

The Best Place to Find Your First Clients

Lesson 23 from: Launch a Successful Photography Business

Philip Ebiner, Will Carnahan

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Lesson Info

23. The Best Place to Find Your First Clients

Lessons

Class Trailer

Chapter 1: Introduction to Starting a Photography Business

1

Welcome

02:26
2

Why Do You Want to Start a Photography Business

04:40
3

What Kind of Photography Business Do You Want to Start

05:38
4

Important Personal Note from Instructor Will

02:25
5

Case Study Starting a Photography Business

07:43
6

Quiz - Chapter 1

Chapter 2: Basics of Starting a Photography Business

7

Introduction to Basics of Starting a Photography Business

00:52
8

Choose Your Business Name

05:29
9

Choose Your Business Structure

06:12
10

Register Your Business Name

01:47
11

Get Your Federal Tax ID

01:39
12

Get Your Business License

01:16
13

Get Your Business Bank Account

02:16
14

Register Your Online Accounts

02:17
15

Branding Your Business

02:18
16

Set Your Prices

12:56
17

The Photography Gear You Need to Start a Business

03:42
18

Case Study - Business Basics

24:42
19

Case Study - Equipment

10:05
20

Quiz - Chapter 2

Chapter 3: Get Your First Paying Clients

21

Intro to Getting Your First Paying Clients

00:44
22

You Need to Prove Yourself

01:30
23

The Best Place to Find Your First Clients

02:36
24

What to Charge for Your First Clients

02:44
25

On Set - Partnering with Other Creatives

01:57
26

On Set - Getting Work in a Competitive Environment

02:38
27

Use Your First Shoot Wisely

01:20
28

Case Study - Getting Your First Clients

07:55
29

Quiz - Chapter 3

Chapter 4: Create Your Photography Business Website

30

Introduction to Create Your Photography Business Website

01:05
31

Why You Need a Website and Platform Options

04:30
32

What Needs to Be On Your Website

07:32
33

Design the Perfect Portfolio

03:17
34

Case Study - Looking at Photography Websites

12:56
35

Quiz - Chapter 4

Chapter 5: Expanding Your Online Presence

36

Introduction to Expanding Your Online Presence

00:55
37

Use Instagram to Grow Your Business

02:29
38

Use Facebook to Grow Your Business

01:21
39

Get Listed on Google

03:53
40

Get Listed on Yelp

03:20
41

Get Listed on Review Sites

04:06
42

Using Craigslist to Get Work

03:01
43

Case Study - Expanding Your Online Presence

13:16
44

Quiz - Chapter 5

Chapter 6: The Photography Business Workflow

45

Introduction to the Photography Business Workflow

00:54
46

Step 1 - Meeting Your Client

03:32
47

Step 2 - Booking Your Client

05:53
48

Step 3 - The Shoot

02:28
49

Step 4 - Editing Your Photos

06:34
50

Step 5 - Delivering Your Photos

01:05
51

Case Study - Business Workflow

15:54
52

On Set - the Shoot

02:50
53

On Set - Backdrop Placement

01:13
54

On Set - Paper Backdrop Rolls

02:01
55

On Set - The Back Light

00:46
56

On Set - Interacting with Clients

04:58
57

Quiz - Chapter 6

Chapter 7:Scaling Your Business with Better Infrastructure

58

Intro to Business Infrastructure and Continued Growth

00:46
59

Productivity Tools to Make Your More Efficient

06:21
60

Get Business Insurance

03:55
61

Accounting Tools & Tips

04:20
62

Business Tax Tips

03:38
63

Scaling Your Prices Up

02:56
64

Use Conventions and Meet Ups to Grow Your Business

04:01
65

Case Study - Business Growth

11:04
66

Quiz - Chapter 7

Chapter 8: Selling Your Prints

67

Intro to the Selling Prints Section

00:56
68

Why Should You Sell Your Prints

02:18
69

Choose a Printer

02:59
70

How to Price Your Prints

05:33
71

Selling Your Prints Online

08:06
72

Selling Your Prints in Person

02:38
73

Wrapping up This Section

01:26
74

Quiz - Chapter 8

Chapter 9: Conclusion

75

Tips for Personal and Creative Well Being

04:38
76

Conclusion

01:45

Final Quiz

77

Final Quiz

Lesson Info

The Best Place to Find Your First Clients

So now you have your content, you have your examples, you're ready to show people what you have. How do you get your first clients to expand that content, Start practicing, Start making money. Who do you go to first? I go to the people that are closest to me first, that's my family and friends now I'm not going to charge them an arm and a leg. I'm not gonna like tell them that they owe me thousands of dollars to start shooting them, but I will see if they need shots. Family is a good place to start. As far as weddings go as far as engagements go. Maybe there's a newborn you can go talk to. Maybe they need a new profile photo for their, you know, for their website or for their business that they're running. This is a really good place because you know them, there's an open dialogue that you can start shooting with your friends and your family, your friends and friends of friends are really the next step. And that may include getting to them through social media, something like putting a...

post on facebook and say, hey, starting photography business out willing and ready to give discounts or we'll shoot for cheap stuff like that. And usually friends of friends will start re posting that Now cool aspect of this too is if you even get a couple of friends to pay you even like $50 to shoot a photo or a head shot or you know an engagement session. They'll then post that on Instagram or on Facebook and that will lead to potentially another client. So it's really about getting a snowball going with your friends and family. It's kind of the core part of starting it, you shoot for them, they expand their network, they expand their network, they expand network and soon, once you're past your family and friends, you're into paying clients that you don't know new people, you're out in the public and that's really how you kind of get it going. And that's really how the business structure works. Is it starts to work as word of mouth. You shoot for someone, someone asked, oh that photo looks great, who did that? I'm like, oh well I'll point you back to this person and so that's kind of how it works. But you have to start with the people that you already know and the people that uh they know and that's how you really get going. So using your inner circle is really what I've seen as the most successful way to start. Eventually, you'll be on yelp, you'll be on google search, you'll be out there in the world, you'll be going to trade shows, you'll be meeting new people, you'll be on instagram, but in order to get to that point, you need to create more and more content. You need to start somewhere that you already have a connection with. Now, I already have connections with friends, I already have, connections with friends with friends and that's really the best and easiest way that I've seen work as like a quick and successful way to get going.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

15 Tips: How Your Photography Business can be Adapted to Online Services
Start a Photography Business
Workbook
Worksheet

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