How much does starting a photography business cost? | Beaufort, SC photographer

Well that's a wrap, my first year in business is over. I opened up shop on May 6th, 2013. Over the last twelve months I have done a lot of things right and a lot of things wrong, and I'm here to share some of my wisdom and some of my "what was I thinking" moments from the first year in business. We're going to talk about money, what I charged, what I purchased, and hopefully some of you guys interested in this journey can learn from me!A photography business requires so much more than just taking pictures, that's just not enough to keep a business afloat. By nature, I am a marketer. I excel more in the business end of this job than I do in the artsy/creative department. I just do not have that creative gene, I enjoy taking pictures, but I am more in my element on the hidden side of my business.  It's a big part of why I have had the success that I've had, I've marketed and advertised and made a few smart choices in that realm.With smart choices comes stupid choices. Let's take a look at a spreadsheet from my first three months. I have not removed anything, this is exactly what this thing looks like on my computer.  In May, I was charging TWENTY DOLLARS FOR SESSIONS. And two for $15! Those are not deposits! That is me charging $15 and giving a disc. And I remember these nights, I was trying to teach myself Photoshop and I would spend about 20 hours total on each session, usually crying, looking at other people's great work who I admire (Sue Bryce and Meg Bitton were huge for me at this time), and I just couldn't get it there. I didn't think my time was worth anything because I didn't think my work was worth anything, so I charged dirt cheap prices because I had no self worth. In May I bought a pretty cheap lens and somehow I spent $9 on an SD card (I spend about $60 on those now, so I don't even know what kind I ended up with for $9). Also a $14 filter is junk. So basically everything I bought in May was stupid.You can see in June I got a LITTLE bit more proud (obviously not much) and I started charging $45. I bought a filter that was junk (I am now filter free), bought a few props, and some things I needed for my first newborn session. Oh and the cheapest blank CD's I could find. (I am now the pretty printed CD's with recycled sleeves and thank you stamps- super cute but not really necessary).July got really stupid. I decided to keep charging $45 for sessions and add a $15 deposit. I kept booking with people who wouldn't show up, no call or cancellation, just not show up, and so I thought if they spent $15 on a deposit they would actually show up. Many of them still never did, probably because it was only $15 so who cares. Why I didn't just invoice them for the full $45 I do not understand. Probably goes back to where I was in my head at that time with my work, I didn't think anyone would actually hand me $45 all at once just for me to take their pictures, and then sit at home with them on Photoshop and cry and eat nachos.July was my moment where I was realizing I was going in a really bad direction. My work was slowly improving because I was staying up every night studying (more crying, just the whole first six months imagine crying). My composition and my exposure and my simple editing was slowly improving, but there were things about my images that just weren't getting better that were out of my hands until I upgraded my equipment. There are so many parts to what makes an amazing image an amazing image: The photographer's eye, the photographer's choices she made in camera, and a big part is the equipment. There were certain things I wanted in my pictures that I just wasn't getting, and no mastery of the exposure triangle was going to get me there with the equipment I was using. So July was my month where I made the choice to go in big debt and just JUMP in, become licensed and "legit" and do it right if I was going to do it at all. If someone were to ask me my lessons learned from this point, this is what they would be:1) Go in debt and jump in in the very beginning. Do not start a business without doing this first. Do not try to start a business on a crappy entry level camera and a crappy lens. Just buy the good stuff and THEN learn the good stuff and THEN once you are consistently good with the good stuff, then you can start your business.2) First impressions are everything. First impressions take a long time to shake. The first impression of my business? I charge about $45 for a session with a disc, they aren't great, I'm using starter equipment that moms get for Christmas. And I'm attracting the wrong clients. I cannot even tell you how long that took to break.3) If you don't think your work is good enough, don't have a Facebook business page, don't have a Your Name Photography, don't watermark your images on your personal Facebook pages, you will HATE yourself later for jumping in too soon. Back to that first impression. This is the moment that all photographers who are established eyeroll at everyone who picks up a camera and says Firstname Lastname Photography. I did it before I was ready so I can't even hate on people that do it too. But a big lesson I learned was to just not do that. Come out when you're good, you're consistent, you're ready, come out then. Don't come out right when you have an idea to do this, secretly learn on your own through that stage.4) Don't charge anything. Build your portfolio on your own, with the people you choose, and the sessions you set up yourself. Don't try to make a little bit of money here and there, because you're going for the goal of lesson number three. Coming out with a photography business that's good, ready to charge proper prices, and can show some good work. You can find your pretty friends, your nieces and nephews, and learn with them. Don't charge clients $20 to learn with them. Don't charge a thing, and pick who YOU want to advertise. Another reason this is smart is because you're going to be terrible. You just don't need to take people's money when you're terrible.5) Keep track of everything for tax time. Everything. A stamp is an expense, write it down.So July I bought my current camera body, a Canon 6D. I decided not to go with the 5D Mark III because the reviews between the two, the Canon 6D was just SO close and less money. Got a desktop that had the RAM I needed to run Photoshop smoothly. Got a big IPS monitor. Invested more into newborn things I needed, learning later that it was my least favorite type of photography. I had the hopes of breaking even by the end of the year. At the end of July, I was currently in the hole by $2,653. This is the most I was ever in debt.August was a big turnaround. I started properly marketing my business, got a website and a host, started charging a little bit better, booking a little more, and spending a little less. August was the first month I brought in over $1,000 and that felt SO amazing! Since then, I've never had a month where I brought in less than that (some months I've made double, triple, and one four times that much!). My monthly expenses are normally the same, I have expenses for insurance, my website host, some of my marketing subscriptions, Facebook, I spend a lot of money at print labs and a lot of money on babysitting and gas.I broke even in October and was SO EXCITED!!!!! I did not expect that for a little while longer, so I was really really happy to finally not be in the hole. If you do not get out of your business debt within 5 months you're not doing it wrong, there are just a million different ways to get here. I was bare bare minimum exactly what I needed and no more. (One $1,500 camera, two lenses, minimal props, a computer with Photoshop. Boom.)In November once I broke even, I bought my 35 L lens (which is about $1500), in January I bought my 135 L lens (which is about $1,000 and much closer to the personal style that I'm figuring out is my own). In February I bought lights, softboxes, and 17 backdrops for my home studio which was about $1,000 (also something I'm learning that I love- indoor photography). Other than those three things, I have mostly just been managing small purchases (props for sessions, advertising costs, some other things that happen every single month).By the end of the year, I left 2013 making $2,423. It felt pretty crazy to look back on the last 8 months and realize all those nights, all that stress, all that time away from my family, and I had $2,400 to show for it (and honestly I don't even know where it was because there wasn't $2,400 sitting comfortably in a savings account!). It almost didn't seem worth it because I could made that in about 2 months as a paralegal, which is what I was doing before we moved to Beaufort. After I filed my taxes in January (and luckily not too much was taken out because much wasn't made), it almost seemed like a total waste of time to work that hard for that amount of money. But I knew it would get better!Here's what things look like now..  I have left my one year mark with $11,434. I am incredibly grateful. Nobody can live on that so I sure am grateful my husband had a job this whole year! But for how lots of photography first year profits go, this is a pretty good one. My taxes this year will not be as nice to me, but that's okay.I hope this peek into the financials gives some of those interested in photography a helpful insight! It's definitely not impossible. And although there are more expensive startup scenarios, as you can see mine wasn't that bad. It was spread out a little bit through the year, with the absolute essentials in the beginning, and some lens upgrades later on as more money came in. I am still adding on to my collection of gear and props every month (I have a big addiction with indoor backdrops- just added FROZEN!).Moral of my story, if you want to do it bad enough, you can do it. Accept being poor and being busy and being lost in technology and hating your work for a while, it does not last forever (I have these days, I think a lot of people will still have these days years later). Try not to be too hard on your work in the beginning. At the same time, don't ever be too satisfied with your work that you don't grow. Try not to compare yourself to the greats, this is not their first year. This is probably not their first five years. Save up enough cash to do it right from the getgo, and don't start your business when you're learning, start when you've got it down.I know this was lengthy, thanks for sticking with me those who made it to the end!! Here's to another year!