Do photographers need to go to school to succeed? Would photography business coaching be a good investment for you? While there are talented portrait photographers without a formal education, photography coaching could enhance your career if you want to pursue photography professionally.
Whether you’re considering starting a photography business or taking your current business to the next level, photography coaching can help you reach your goals.
Is Photography Business For Me?
Photography business school is for:
- Stay-at-home moms with a passion for photography who want to make an income
- Professionals who are thinking about making a significant career change
- Photographers needing guidance to start a business
- New photography business owners who are looking for help growing their business
If you fall into any of the above categories (or a variation), then photography coaching is for you.
Why Photography Business Coaching?
1. Structured Curriculum
There is much information to learn from books, blogs, and online videos. But with proper guidance and structure, you will know what information to pay attention to and what won’t help you reach the goals you have set for your business. There are many different options for photography education, including certification courses, personal coaching sessions, and photographer-led workshops.
Enrolling in photography business Coaching will give you a chance to ask professional, working photographers questions and coaching specific to your business to provide you with feedback. You will also have an environment to help you learn. You will have dedicated time to focus on your craft, other students to talk to, and assignments with critiques to help you improve.
2. Learn From Pros
Who’s better to learn the ins and outs of starting a photography business than professional photographers who have seen and done it all before you? With photography coaching, you’ll get real-world advice and guidance from photographers with impressive credentials.
For example, you might find Sarah Petty, a professional photographer generating six figures consistently with decades of experience, thousands of clients, and a New York Times bestselling book, coaching you on your photography business.
3. Expand Your Community
As a photographer, you know that the job often involves working alone in your home or office, editing, answering emails, and marketing your business. It can get lonely. Even when you have supportive family and friends, no one will understand the finer details that go into a creative career as well as other photographers.
With photography business coaching, not only will you learn and develop skills to help your business thrive, but you’ll also meet lots of like-minded photographers and expand your community. Having a group of like-minded professional photographers to turn to for encouragement, guidance, and understanding is vital. The people you meet in photography business coaching will become friends with whom you can share new images, compare course notes, and get advice on equipment purchases and client management. Having a solid network of other photographers also means you always have someone to collaborate on projects with. Collaboration can inspire you and help you to grow.
What Will You Learn?
Photography business coaching is about more than just refining your photography skills. As a member, you will learn how to start and sustain a thriving photography business. Some of the most important things you’ll learn include how to price your sessions and products and marketing your photography business.
- Pricing
As a photography business owner, one of the most essential skills you’ll learn is how to price your services. After all, you’re running a business, not a hobby, and your business needs to make a profit.
New photographers often need help figuring out where to start with this. With photography business coaching, you’ll learn how to price your photography sessions, prints, and products and how to present pricing to clients to demonstrate you’re worth what you charge. - Marketing
People need to know who you are so that you can book clients and sell your photography services. Marketing skills are vital for any small business owner. From social media tips, logo and website design, client communications and extras, learning how to market your photography business will be the foundation for future success.
Artistic talent and having an eye for what makes a great image are essential when it comes to becoming a professional photographer. However, that’s just the beginning. You can develop everything else you need to start and run a successful photography business in photography business classes. Whether you’re just getting started or finding yourself stuck when creating a great marketing strategy or how to set up your sales process, you’ll be sure to find mentorship or coaching that’s right for you.
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While formal education is not a must for becoming a skilled portrait photographer, enrolling in a photography business mentorship can help you achieve your goals of starting or growing your photography business. Check out this infographic to learn about the advantages of photography business coaching.
