Money to start a photography business? The success of any business in the world depends on multiple factors from choosing the right niche, making a winning business plan, and better investment decisions to hiring a great team.
Accurately calculating the initial business cost is also one of the key factors to make any business successful. A similar set of rules is good to go for starting a photography business.
Therefore, in this multi-skilling photography blog, we will figure out the actual amount of money takes to start a photography business.
Defining the cost of doing business
Before calculating the actual cost of starting a photography business let’s define this calculation itself. In professional business language, this phenomenon is known as Cost of Doing Business (CODB).
It is the total of all the expenditures that are going to be incurred in the photography business. It will include all the business expenses including starting an office expenditure along with routine running expenses of a business. It will also include the living cost of the business owner as he has to survive out of this business if he is doing it full time.
Upfront cost of starting a photography business
As a beginner photographer, you must have to invest in the mandatory equipment. It will be a one-time investment as well as a repeated expense. A basic photography studio with a professional sense needs a camera in the first place.
The cost of a basic Kodak camera to a middle-level Canon ranges from $149 to $474 on Amazon. Similarly, the average price of a basic-level photography studio toolkit lies in the range of $49 to 150$ on, the e-commerce giant, Amazon.
Remember that, event photographers or nature photographers cannot perform well in basic-level equipment. They must have to go for high-quality instruments for extraordinary results.
Moving forward, along with any camera, a photographer must use camera lenses. A basic-level camera lens can cost around $1000 depending on the photography genre. Additionally, a memory card along with external backup drives are also the repetitive need of this profession.
These can cost around $ 100 each. Moreover, you must invest in an Adobe Photoshop subscription license for editing purposes. It can cost you $ 37.99 per month subscription basis.
So, up until now, if you calculate all the input costs, it stands at around $ 1436 with basic-level equipment to start a photography business from zero. There are some common-use machines and accessories that also need to have before jumping into the photography business.
For instance, a basic computer with a decent bandwidth and storage space is required to store and edit large photography files. Likewise, a darkroom for film photography will also stand in demand, if you are a film photographer.
Ongoing cost of a photography business
Besides the initial upfront cost of starting a photography business, there is also a running cost of this business like other costs. The actual worth of this running cost is subject to change with time and country. Therefore, here we will discuss only types of this cost under their relevant heads.
◈ Instrument life-support
Under this head, continuous care of cameras and other studio equipment is included.
◈ Rental fee of studio and Mortgage dues
There is a regular fee of rent and mortgage payments for your studio space. Moreover, the insurance fee is also part of this monthly dues.
◈ Conveyance expenses
If you have chosen any outdoor photography niche such as nature photography or sports photography as your career path, you must calculate regular transportation expenses in your running business cost.
◈ Managerial expenses
Different service payments such as internet, electricity, and phone calls are part of this type of ongoing expense.
◈ Payment of taxes
Like all other businesses, the photography business is also subject to income and sales tax on a quarterly and yearly basis.
◈ Advertising and promotions
Digital marketing, print marketing, promotional discounts along with expense of keeping your photography website can be part of this head. Cost of doing business (CODB) assists biding photographers in concentrating on the exact amount of money that will cost them to start this business.
It gives them a clear road map and deciding power to kick off this business or not. Moreover, it can allow them to resonate with the potential income of this business on day by day and monthly scale.
The purpose of this piece of writing is to give a clear-cut picture to future photography business owners of how much money they need in hand to start this business. Therefore, calculating how much money it takes to start a photography business is a valuable activity.
