Five things I learned in my first two years running a photography

If you’re thinking about starting your own photography business, or are just jumping into your first few months going full-time, this article is for you.

As I look back on my first couple years of committing to my photography business, I can acknowledge that I made a lot of mistakes. But I also learned a lot. Even as I write this article, it all seems like common sense now, but sometimes you have to go through things to understand them.

Here are five things I learned in my first two years in business as a freelance photographer.

1. It’s expensive

I knew it would be expensive to start out. But if you’re budgeting to start up your own business, try to be as thorough as possible. There’s office supplies, like calendars, printers and ink and computers. Next, there’s monthly payments varying from bank fees to accounting and post-processing software subscriptions. Don’t forget the annual lump sum payments for things like insurance, business licenses and website fees.

There’s incidentals for lunches on the go, gas for your car, fees to join various groups and networks. Printing and shipping are not cheap if you’re selling products. If you’re into learning (and you should be!), continued education in the form of schooling or workshops is another expense. And we haven’t even started on the photography gear yet! But you get the point — be financially aware and prepared.