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Part-time, Full-time, Employed, Partners?

Lesson 6 from: How to Start a Photography Business

Pye Jirsa

Part-time, Full-time, Employed, Partners?

Lesson 6 from: How to Start a Photography Business

Pye Jirsa

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Lesson Info

6. Part-time, Full-time, Employed, Partners?

Walk through the different options for running a photography business. Learn the pros and cons of working as a photographer part-time or full time. Dive into options for working with a partner.
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:

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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 Trailer
1

Class Introduction

13:12
2

Common Myths & Unknown Truths

11:42
3

The Road Ahead

13:03
4

Find Your Passion

06:06
5

The Lin & Jirsa Journey

13:54
6

Part-time, Full-time, Employed, Partners?

03:51
7

Stop Wasting Time & Money

06:07
8

Your 12 Week Roadmap

04:33
9

Great Plans Still Fail

06:01
10

Strategy Vs. Planning

04:16
11

Mind Mapping

07:25
12

Select a Focus

14:16
13

Competitor Research

09:34
14

S.W.O.T. Analysis

13:54
15

Strategy & Long Term Goals

03:50
16

Values, Vision & Mission

27:49
17

Effectively Managing Your Time

15:05
18

Artistic Development

07:30
19

Create Your Plan

13:12
20

What's Your Product

10:51
21

Luxury vs Consumer Products & Experiences

11:44
22

Quick Break for Econ 101

16:31
23

Your Target Market & Brand Message

21:25
24

What's in a Name

09:20
25

Your Client 'Why'

05:43
26

Crafting the Why Experience

24:17
27

Document the Client Experience

08:29
28

Business Administration Basics

27:03
29

Book Keeping Management

06:51
30

Create the Logo & Branding

07:04
31

Portfolio Design

15:11
32

Design Your Services & Packages

18:51
33

Pricing Fears & Myths

08:46
34

Three Pricing Methods

25:39
35

Package Pricing Psychology & Design

06:15
36

Psychology of Numbers

07:29
37

Pricing Q&A

23:51
38

Grass Roots Marketing

09:36
39

The Empty Party

07:03
40

Friends & Family Test Shoots

16:28
41

Join Groups

04:32
42

Second Shooting Etiquette

07:44
43

The Listing & Classified Hustle

14:10
44

Make Instagram Simple

13:55
45

Your Automated Pinterest Plan

08:01
46

Facebook Because You Must

07:37
47

Giveaway & Styled Shoots

12:17
48

Content Marketing & SEO

08:12
49

The Monster: SEO

07:26
50

Selecting Your Keywords

05:45
51

Testing Your Keywords

07:53
52

Grouping Main & Niche Goals

12:39
53

Your Content Road Map

11:47
54

Content Marketing Q&A

10:45
55

Inspiration to Keep Working

07:45
56

How to Craft Your Content

15:03
57

Internal Linking Basics

05:30
58

Back Link Building Basics

04:55
59

Link Value Factos

14:38
60

Measuring Link Value

04:24
61

Link Building Strategy & Plan

06:10
62

Link Building Plan: Vendors & Guest Writing

06:45
63

Link Building Plan: Features, Directories, Comments

03:11
64

Link Building: Shortcuts & One Simple Tool

14:44
65

What is Sales? Show Me!

12:58
66

Your First Massive Failure

05:17
67

The Sales Process

07:31
68

Your Second Massive Failure

05:23
69

Understand Buyer Psychology

10:00
70

Step 0: Building Rapport & Trust

15:14
71

Step 1: Identify Need or Want

15:39
72

Cognitive Dissonance

12:01
73

Steps 2 & 3: Value Proposition & The Solution

14:21
74

Step 4 : Close, Make the Ask

04:32
75

Step 5: Follow Up & Resolve Concerns

06:13
76

Family Photography Hot Seat

12:06
77

Business Example Hot Seat

15:52
78

Boudoir Photography Hot Seat

16:09
79

The Best Sales Person

07:45
80

Your Mindset, Vibrations & Frequency

06:56
81

Always Positive, Always Affirming

11:55
82

The Second Money & Dual Process

07:39
83

Chumming the Price Waters

03:57
84

Creating Want or Scarcity

09:54
85

Timeless Advice on Being Likable

11:53
86

Selling Over The Phone

10:59
87

Forbidden Words in Sales

11:40

Lesson 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

How to Launch a Photography Business Workbook
Experience Pricing Example

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!

Student Work

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