I love helping out photographers just getting started. On a daily basis, I get questions from other photographers about improving their images, running their businesses and determining their pricing. Being only 25, I am just getting started myself and have a lot to learn. As a young commercial photographer, I also know there are many photographers out there that are doing this much better than I am. I did not attend a photo college but instead I started learning this business by calling, emailing, assisting and visiting seasoned photographers and asking their advice. Rarely did I pull out my portfolio and push photos in front of them. I was seeking their advice so I just shut my mouth, and opened my ears.

The biggest piece of advice I can give you if you want to be a successful photographer is

“be a better businessperson than you are a photographer.”

This sounds counter intuitive, but if you want to make a living from photography, its essential.

Here are some other helpful guidelines for running a photography business:

• Value your images and your services correctly; never let the fact that you love what you are doing or the length of time you have been doing it dictate how much you think you should get paid to do it.
• Understand the value of a thorough and competitive estimate; it’s not necessarily a good thing to have the lowest bid on an estimate. Use a professional estimating program such as Blinkbid. Find a photo consultant to look over your estimates and check your pricing. They are  there to protect you.
• Open the line of communication with other photographers in your area to ensure your pricing is in-line. The worst thing you can do is roll into town and start under pricing the competition. This ruins everyone’s hope of having a long profitable career. Join your local ASMP chapter.
• Do not over-promise but ALWAYS over-deliver to your clients.
• Look at every job as an opportunity and never overlook a job you think would be too small or not worth your time. Some jobs lead to bigger jobs (I call these jobs with “LEGS”) and many of the images you take in these smaller jobs can be used as portfolio images.
• When it comes to clients, long-term working relationships pay dividends, short-term relationships pay electric bills. So, don’t be a jerk and treat everyone with respect.
• Over-delivering and developing long-term working relationships means happy clients and happy clients will pass your name along. Marketing has its place but word-of-mouth goes a long way and is essential to growing your client list. And its free.
• Social networking is a must because it is how this generation gets its information, especially many of the art directors, clients, agencies that you are trying to reach. Force yourself to update your blog, Twitter, Facebook and other social network presences as often as possible.

A few people/organizations I have received invaluable advice from in the past few years:

Bill Frakes
Vincent Laforet
Jim Richardson
Jodi Cobb
David Alan Harvey
Tommy Thompson
Suzanne Sease – Photo consultant
National Geographic Magazine photo staff
The Roanoke Times photo staff also including Seth Gitner and Josh Meltzer
Members of ASMPCV
JMU Photography Staff
JMU’s SMAD program
NPPA
Members of VNPA

And if you are looking for a more in depth resource to better understand the business of commercial photography, I highly recommend Suzanne Sease’s “The Photographer’s Survival Guide: How to Build and Grow a Successful Business.”