The 10 Things I would Do If I Restarted my Business From Scratch

This week we're talking about the 10 things I would do if I had to start my photography business completely from scratch. From the gear I would (and wouldn't) buy to the skills I'd focus on, the content I'd create, and how much it would cost, I'm breaking down exactly how I'd approach building a photography business from the ground up. Whether you're just getting started or are in your first few years of business, this episode is packed with practical advice and the lessons I've learned along the way. If you've ever wondered what I'd do differently knowing what I know now, this episode's for you!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back to another episode of Get the Picture. I'm Tori Elizabeth. I'm a full-time wedding and travel photographer based in Arizona and Southern California and your host. I hope you're all having a wonderful day. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see that Luma got a haircut. Luma, come show the come show the people. Come here. Here's the haircut. She is not having it. Well, today is probably gonna be a little bit of a shorter episode, but I'm really excited for what we're talking about. Um, I'm just gonna go right into it. I'm like, I just published my first podcast episode like a few hours ago, and I'm already getting stats of like you guys downloading it and stuff. So I'm like kind of wired right now. I'm just like so excited and excited for this. I've been waiting to do this for so long, so I'm just excited that it's finally happening and like you guys are excited about it. Like one of my brides tagged me in her story, like a photo of her listening to her podcast, listening to my podcast on her way home from work. Um, and then I had other people already commenting on YouTube. I mean, you guys are just great, like it's literally making me so happy. I want to cry. I am so excited, and so we're just gonna get right into it today because I just I can't contain myself. We're just gonna go for it. So today we are talking about 10 things I would invest in if I was starting over my photography business from scratch. So, what I would do if I was starting my business from scratch, and we're gonna break it up into 10 different things. The first five are things I would buy, the last five are things I would do. Number one, I would make sure I have a solid camera lens setup with two SD card slots. So I would not be if I was trying to do, you know, like if I knew I wanted to do this full-time already, and like I wasn't like testing it out, trying to like feel it out first, and I just knew I was already gonna go full time, I would just already go ahead and get a camera with two SD card slots, especially if I was trying to shoot weddings. So that would be like a Canon R6, or uh I think the Canon RP has two SD card slots if you need a little bit of a cheaper one. And then I know the Sony A7 III and four are really good, which they're a little bit cheaper than the Canon cameras. So if I were starting over, I probably would go Sony because Sony a lot of people like the colors better, they're pretty comparable. Um, they're a little bit cheaper, they're they're pretty similar and they're cheaper. And so I would probably go the Sony route, especially, you know, Sony was the first mirrorless, like the first camera brand to release mirrorless cameras. So I feel like I feel like as far as mirrorless cameras, I probably would just go Sony. I feel like they have always known when they're doing it. Do I think Canon's gonna pass up Sony? Yes, but we're I to start over, I probably would just go with Sony, to be honest. Um, so I would probably go get the Sony A7 III. Now I I've never personally used it, that's just what I've heard a lot of other people recommend. And so that's what I would get. And I would get a cheap 50 millimeter, just like the I know for Canon it's like 200 bucks, just the RF 1.850 millimeter. I don't know, I'm assuming it's like a little bit cheaper, maybe like 150 or something for Sony. But I would get the cheap 50 millimeters, so I have something that can go down to a lower aperture. Or if I was immediately trying to go right into weddings, I would get a 24 to 70, I think. That hasn't always been my advice. I used to recommend just like going for a cheaper lens in the beginning. I think you could go either way. I think you could go with a kit lens and get something cheaper. Like I started on a kit lens on my Rebel, and then even when I switched to my R6, I still shot on a kit lens. So I I like the idea of shooting on a kit lens for a while first before getting something with a low F-stop because I feel like it teaches you to, it teaches you how to take a good photo. I mean it forces you to use like the way you frame your shot and like your environment to take a good photo instead of just oh my lens goes to a low F-stop, now it's blurry in the background, that makes a good photo because that's not what makes a good photo. And so I do like that I learned on a kit lens. I think that has impacted my photography. And so if you're someone who's already on a budget, I would say you could go that route too and get a kit lens. I I don't think you could really go wrong either way. I think if you're trying to get into portraits, um, or maybe you already know how to shoot manual, I would get like a 50 millimeter. But if you need something a little bit cheaper, I think a kit lens is a good option. So I see the pros and cons to both. And so I would get one of those two or both, and uh probably the cheapest mirrorless camera with two SD card slots that I could get. So that would be the first thing that I get. I would make sure that I have a good camera setup. If you already have a Canon Rebel or like something similar, I just feel like most people get like a Canon Rebel as their first camera. If you already have something like that and it's not in your budget or you're not sure if you want to fully go full time yet, or like how serious you're gonna be about photography, I would just skip step one and do steps two through ten. And I feel like it will be almost as effective. You just are gonna be a little bit limited by your gear. But again, if you don't know for sure that you want to go full time or like how serious you're gonna be about this, and you just kind of want to try it out. Maybe you recently had a baby and you have a camera and you're like, oh, I just like want something to do, like just kind of try it on the side, like that would be like a just use the canon rebel. You don't need to go get a home mirrorless camera, so yeah. But for everyone else, I would recommend starting off with something with two SD card slots for sure. And then number two, I would get at least 10 SD cards. This is just kind of a random number I picked, like the 10 is good enough. If you're shooting dual, I mean that's only enough for five, assuming that you're not doubling up on shoots. That's enough for five different shoots. So that should give you enough time at the beginning to get the shoots out, deliver them, clear the SD card, and then reuse them. Um, and if you're a beginner and you don't know you need more than one or two SD cards, you can't reuse SD cards for that long until they become like in danger of corrupting. I think it's recommended that you switch them out every two years, is what I'm trying to do. And you also will fill them up. So if you're doing like, let's say you're doing five shoots a week at one point, you need more than just two SD cards. Like, what are you gonna use for your last three shoots? You need options. So I would go ahead and just get 10 SD cards. They don't need to be the super fast ones, they can be cheaper ones at the beginning. Totally not a big deal, but I would make sure I had like a good amount so that I'm not running out of those. That's number two. Number three, I would get two batteries. I would make sure I had two batteries. And in case you're someone who has thought about or seen people get the off-brand camera batteries, I will just tell you right now, do not do it. I have shot with people who are using off-brand batteries while I'm using full batteries, and they'll go through like three of them, like three of their batteries when I go through one. I've never used off-brand batteries, I've just seen people use them, and they, I mean, they just don't last long enough. So if unless I mean, I don't know, like I just feel like you're gonna need more of the cheaper batteries, and then you're gonna end up spending the same amount or more, so you might as well just get the good stuff. So I recommend getting two like name brand camera batteries for whatever your camera is. That's number three. Number four is I would get a phone mount. I wish I did this sooner. I did do it pretty soon into my business, but I wish I had gotten it right at the beginning. I wish I had gotten my phone mount that went on top of my camera. So it's like a hot shoe phone mount. It goes in your hot shoe, and then your phone, if you're watching on YouTube, I'm like, this is my camera, this is my phone, it goes on top of it. And so I could go to my video screen and I could press record and I could take videos while I'm shooting. And so I could be getting content for Instagram while I'm shooting because I remember it being so hard to make content at the beginning and so hard to remember to pull my phone out and get behind the scenes because I was already just trying to remember doing poses. I couldn't even remember three poses to do for my session. So it was like, how am I supposed to remember to pull my phone out and get behind the scenes? And I would remember at the end of the session and just get like one really bad like panning video of the location after the sun had set, and that was it. So I would get a phone amount for my camera for behind the scenes right away. And if you guys need one, I actually have it linked in my Amazon storefront. My Amazon storefront is linked in both my podcast Instagram and my normal Instagram bios. Like I have all my links linked there. So if you go to my Amazon storefront, go to like cameras uh or like photographer stuff and then like camera accessories. I think it's on sale for less than $10 right now, the one I use. I think it's like $9.70 or something like that. Like it's literally so cheap. Even buy two of them if you want. I don't know. Just I've gone through two ever. They last a pretty long time as long as you take care of them, um, which I don't always, so that's kind of why I've gone through multiple. I'll probably have to buy a third one soon, but they're so cheap and yeah, they're so worth it. So that is really what helped me grow my Instagram to about like four or five K was all the behind the scenes I was getting from the phone mount. I still use it now. I have the meta glasses now, so I can use my glasses to get behind the scenes, but I still use my phone mount because I like having iPhone videos. So such a good investment. That is number um four. That is, I would get that in a heartbeat, not even a question. I think everyone should have one. Number five, I would invest in presets. If you have heard people say, like, oh, you don't need presets, I mean to each their own, but I strongly disagree. If you don't have a good preset yet, invest in one. There are, I mean, there are so many good. If you go on Instagram and like your search bar and just search like photography presets, a lot of big accounts will start popping up. Um, for like I'll list a few. There's Ashlyn Stott, she has great presets. Dawn Charles, hers are classic, of course. Um, I know Cassidy Lynn sells presets. Um I honestly don't know a ton. Shelby Lane. I love Shelby Lane, her presets are great. There are a lot of great photographers out there selling presets. I would avoid going like the dirty boots, messy hair route. I would go with like a photographer that has a more modern, I don't know if modern, but like a more true to color, true to life, like specialized kind of look. I feel like those like muddy presets are something that I really wanted to gravitate toward when I first started, but they're not very timeless. So I would go for something a little bit more timeless, but obviously just pick something that you know aligns with your style and aligns with the type of photography you like. You can always switch your style. It is hard to do, but you always can switch. So I would invest in some good presets. Those are gonna be around a hundred to two hundred dollars, depending on which presets. Oh, Annie I Ring, she sells presets too. Hers are really good. So I would invest in good presets for those first five steps, the first five things I would invest in, somewhere between two to four thousand dollars. I know that's kind of a big range, but it kind of depends on which camera you go with, which type of lens you go with, which camera brand. But somewhere, you know, if you spend, let's say you go two and a half grand and you get like a Sony camera and a kit lens or something like that, you can start your photography business for around two and a half grand. That's really not that much if you think about it. Like if you think about how long that camera is gonna last you before you need to replace it and like how long you're gonna use these presets for and stuff like that, like that's really not that much. If you need a good way to get a camera, if you're on a budget, but like you want a mirrorless camera or you need something with two SD card slots, there is the you know, not sponsored, but the Best Buy credit card allows you to do no interest if and like you can pay it back within 12 months. So if you get the credit card, you can buy a camera, and then as long as you pay it back and meet the monthly payments within 12 months, and you know, you don't go over that and pay it back all within 12 months, then there's no interest. So the catch is if you do go over 12 months, it's like 30% interest or something like insane. So as long as you make sure you pay it back within 12 months, it's fine. So that's how I would recommend doing it if you need like a mirrorless camera or two SD card slots and you don't have it in cash right now. But yeah, for how you know profitable a photography business can be when you do it the right way and work really hard and put everything you have into it, a few thousand dollars to kind of get started is really not bad. And like I said, if you don't have that in the budget, like it's really not in the budget to get a camera with two SD card slots. You can obviously just stick with whatever camera you're already shooting on, whether it's a Canon Rebel or you have like a Canon 5D or 7D or something like that. Um, you can always start with something that's not like a pro-mirrorless camera and still do great. It's not the camera that takes great photos, it's the photographer, like we all know that. So just saying though, if I was starting from scratch, like knowing where I wanted to go with it and knowing that I already wanted to be serious about it, those are the things I would invest in. Okay, so those first five things were things that I would buy. The next five are things that I would do and how I would what I would do to get my business to where I wanted it to be or like get my business going if I were to have started over. Number six is I would do 10 free shoots before I even charge a penny. I would do 10 shoots in whatever niche I think I'm wanting to get into. And if I don't know what I'm wanting to get into, I would just guess. So, right from the beginning, I kind of always knew that I wanted to do couples. So if I was starting over, I would ask my sister and her husband to model for me in their wedding dress and suit. I would ask my best friend and her husband to model for me for a couple session. I would do a couple session on the beach when I visit my parents in California. I would do a couple session in North Carolina when I go on vacation, just for free. I'm just like finding random people, finding friends of friends, friends of family, whoever. I would ask my old friend from high school to model for me for like a portrait session. I would offer a free senior session for someone. I would do a newborn session and you know, so maybe I would do mostly couples, but I would throw in a few other things to experiment with. But I would do 10 free sessions before I ever charged anything. And then what you're gonna do with those sessions is you're gonna edit them in your new preset as quickly as possible. Make sure you're shooting in raw so that your preset works. And then you're gonna deliver the photos, you're gonna um, you know, deliver them quickly, and then you're gonna have all these photos. And so then what you're gonna do next is you're gonna make an Instagram. And then you're when you deliver the photos. I guess you should kind of do these in the reverse order, make an Instagram, then start doing shoots. But when you deliver the photos, you're asking these people who you've done free shoots for to tag you on Instagram, to tag your photography account. And that is like, you know, you've done something for free for them. That's like the least they can do for you is tag you. So they're gonna be inclined to want to do something for you, and that's gonna be tag you on Instagram. So you want them tagging your account and you want to be posting your photos from all these free shoots on your account. Like this is your free marketing. Make sure these people are all okay with like you posting their photos, obviously, because that's like the entire point. Then after those 10 free shoots, you can start charging. Charge whatever you feel comfortable charging and what you feel like you would pay for your photos, but you shouldn't really be charging too much. You're still just trying to get experience and you're trying to book as many shoots as possible. So, in order to book as many shoots as possible, you need to be charging a pretty low rate since you're a beginner. So then number seven is you've made your Instagram and I put maybe TikTok. I generally recommend sticking with just one platform. I think I talked about that in the episode prior to this one, but I recommend just sticking with one social media platform first, kind of mastering it, learning it in and out, and then adding a second one. But at the same time, I do wish I started my TikTok sooner. And so I feel like me personally, I do feel like I would have been able to handle two because you kind of I would just put the same thing on both. So as long as social media isn't like incredibly overwhelming to you, I would probably start an Instagram and a TikTok right from the beginning and grow them together and tag them, you know, tag one of them in one bio and the other one in another bio, you know, try to grow them together because there are like different audiences on both platforms. But if you're someone who already struggles with social media and you feel like you can barely post once a week on Instagram, just don't even bother with TikTok, just stick with Instagram. So that's kind of person to person. And then number eight, I would post every other day um minimum. So, like minimum three posts a week. You need to be posting a lot. Momentum really matters a lot at the beginning. That's something I've learned through all my different endeavors and projects in my business, is that momentum really is the most important. Once you lose your momentum, like things start to drop off. So that's why most of you notice I'm kind of going hard with my podcast episodes right at the beginning. I am batching a ton of them because we're about to go on a trip to the East Coast, like a big family camping trip, which is gonna be so fun. And I'll have to tell you guys all about it and show you photos. But I'm making sure to batch everything so that I can keep that momentum going and keep posting podcast episodes while we're on the East Coast. So if you want it, you're gonna make it happen. It's hard, it's not convenient, like we talked about in the last episode. Like social media is hard, but it's worth it and it's exponential. So you need that like boost, that extra momentum right at the beginning. So I would be posting every other day minimum. Every day if you can, or like five times a week is is like pretty ideal, five to six times a week. Number nine, I would put my face online. And I waited too long to do that, and I just wish I hadn't, because the second I started doing that, I mean, maybe not the second, but maybe the minute I started doing that. No, really, like once I started doing that, I started to grow so much. People really do. I had someone ask me this recently, and I have yet to answer their question. They asked me in one of my question boxes, like, does it actually matter? Or like, does it actually impact bookings when you show your face or like impact people wanting to book you? Like, yes, it does. People feel like they know you. Photography is so personal. We don't want to just book someone we don't know. They don't even know what you look like. Like, how are they gonna know who they're booking? Like, they need to see you, they need to know your personality, they need to know that they'll click with you. The only way that they're gonna know that is if you show your personality, show your face, talk to the camera. So I would just do that right from the beginning if I was starting over, so that it was never like a hurdle I had to get over, and it was just always a part of my business and my brand. And then number 10 is this is kind of the other optional one. Number one is optional if you don't have the budget for a camera, and number 10 is optional if you don't have this in your budget, or maybe aren't sure how serious you're about to be about photography and you're just kind of testing it out. Is I would invest in a good workshop or a content day. There are a lot of really good photographers that put on great workshops and great content days, and I know there's a lot of conversation about content days right now in the industry, but personally I think they're great. I think they can be done in a bad way and can be marketed in like a fake way and be done. I know there are like people who are scammy, and I know that there are people that you know try to pretend that it wasn't a content day and it was a real wedding, like that's not okay. Um, but I think content days are great and I would have invested in a good one sooner, um, just like right from the beginning, because that's not something I ever really did at the beginning. I personally am planning a workshop in San Diego if anyone would want to go. Um, I think I I anticipate the tickets selling out pretty quickly. I am not quite sure how many I'm gonna sell yet. That's I'm kind of still ironing out the details, but I am planning one for San Diego. So if there are any like beginner photographers, I would only recommend, you know, it's not gonna be like super cheap, so I would only recommend investing in it if you're like serious about photography and you really want to get into weddings, especially travel weddings, this would be a good one for you. So there's my little teaser for my content day. That's totally not why I put it in here, but I am gonna be releasing the details for that soon, and I probably will post it to my podcast Instagram first. So if you're interested and you're not following me on my podcast Instagram, go follow it. It's get the picture dot pod. It's actually tagged in my Instagram bio, so you can just go click on that. So I would follow there, follow me there if you're interested in my same. Diego content day so that you can hear about it first because I am gonna have applications, and the sooner you apply, the higher chance that you'll get accepted, obviously. So those are the 10 things I would do if I were to start my photography business from scratch. I would, I'm gonna go over them really quickly. I would get a mirrorless camera with two SD card slots and a good lens. I would, number two, I would get at least 10 SD cards. Uh three, I would get two batteries. Number four, I would get that phone mount. Literally, if you don't have one, you have no excuse. It's like less than $10. It's like nine something. It's linked in my Amazon storefront. It's so cheap, it works for any camera, any hot shoe. So go click on the link in my bio to my um Amazon storefront and go buy that. And then I would get good presets. Six, I would do 10 free shoots and then start charging a little bit. Seven, I would make an Instagram and maybe TikTok if I think I can handle two. And again, just post the same thing to both. Eight, I would post every other day. Nine, I would put my face online right from the beginning and just make it part of my brand. And ten, I would invest in a good workshop or a content day. This is so fun. I hope this helps someone out there. I know I have a lot of beginner photographers following me. I've gained a ton of traction recently with a lot of educational posts. So I know I have a lot of newer photographers who have recently found my page. So I hope this helps someone out there be able to kind of shortcut the things that I, you know, I wish I had known at the beginning. I wish someone had been able to tell me. So hopefully this helps one of you out there or a few of you know where to put your time, energy, and money right at the beginning. And if you guys have any questions for this episode, I would love if you would leave me a comment on YouTube. So if you just DM me, I probably won't be able to get to you. I get a lot of DMs. I'm not able to just like answer all of them. It would take way too long. So if you want to leave comments on YouTube, then they're kind of all in one place for me, and I can just go through and do answers. And if they're like a big answer, I can do a future podcast episode on it. So if you have questions, go over to my YouTube. It's at Tori Elizabeth Photo. Just like all of my other socials, my Instagram, my TikTok, Pinterest are all at Tori Elizabeth Photo. My podcast Instagram is now up. And like I said, it's gethepicture.pod. It's just on Instagram. I don't have a TikTok account for it. I'm just keeping it all together on TikTok because, like I said, that's easier. Like I said, my Amazon storefront is linked in my podcast and my normal Instagram bios. And my website is Tori Elizabeth Photography.com. Elizabeth is with an S for Tori Elizabeth Photography and for Tori Elizabeth Photo. You guys are the best. I hope you have a great rest of your day, and I will see you next time. Bye.