alright, so we are continuing a series here called The Photography Business
Restart where you learn all the steps to setting up your photography business without the stress
and the overwhelm and the headache. because I think this can be kind of an overwhelming process.
while there are a lot of steps i want to help guide you along the way so in the last video
i talked about naming your photography business and some considerations as well as a resource for
checking availability of that name be sure to go back and watch that we also covered your services
getting started with some pricing or even your starting prices and how to establish that as a
photographer and we also went over how to think about or start thinking about your target audience
because we're going to build upon that as we go here today so in this video i want to talk to you
about two aspects of the visibility of your new business as a photographer so we're gonna go over
website and portfolio then we're gonna get into a little bit of legalities and things you need
to be thinking about that are the legal side of your business which isn't super fun but is super
important and we want to make sure that you're set up legally so that you have a business that can
stick around and that you are not caught in any sticky situations so the number one thing that i
think you need to set up after you do the previous steps that we talked about is get a website i do
still have people asking me is a website still relevant as a photographer and as a business owner
and my answer to you is yes instagram is awesome facebook is awesome tick tock is awesome youtube
is awesome there's so many other places that we're going to get free visibility as photographers but
we need a home base we need a place to come back to that we can always send traffic to
that's going to be very truly your home base for your business so you need a website and last week
we talked about naming your business and getting that domain name this week i want to talk to you
about the importance of that website and when i say website i'm also implying a blog or a place
that you can post consistent content that you own so it's your place your domain and it's your zone
that you get to fully customize and make your own so as your business grows and as your brand grows
you're going to be able to have that home base that you have full control over regardless of what
these social media platforms are doing now i use and love show it that's my website platform but i
actually have another great option for you that's an all-in-one software that i'm gonna
link down below so a couple of other options i'm going to have in the description section for
links for websites that i know and trust builders that i have had lots of my students use and if
you're inside of my facebook group photo boss you can also ask what other people use and just get
a good idea of what might work for you as well so be sure that you're inside of the photoboss
facebook group as well so it's my personal opinion that when you're first starting out you should not
get professionally branded unless you have a lot of money to invest in something like this because
it's very likely that your brand is going to evolve and change over time and that
brand might not stay with you so if you spend thousands of dollars on a custom branded website
it's very likely you will rebrand in a very brief time like in a couple of years you could
be in a completely different place so it's my recommendation that you start out with a very
clean and simple template that you customize and make your own i think your pictures are what's
the most important part of this because you are a photographer after all so making sure
that your images are what's shining and making sure that you're being clear about things like
search engine optimization titling and have strong navigation for your site are more important to me
than something that's just very beautifully branded that might not stand the test of time
i don't know if that's an unpopular opinion or not but i just don't think most photographers starting
out need professionally branded thousand dollar websites i think a really strong template can be a
perfect place to start so i'm going to link a few of my favorite template shops down below as well
so obviously you're going to need portfolio to put on your website you're going to use this
across social media as well and we'll get to that in a later video but i think first and foremost
having a strong portfolio is a really big piece of the puzzle in your booking abilities and honestly
it's just gonna make your marketing a lot easier because there's almost nothing more difficult as
a marketer than trying to book something you can't show and that's exactly what i see photographers
trying to do they want to book weddings for example but they might not have many weddings
in their portfolio now i know this is like a catch-22 moment of which comes first do i get
the booking or how am i going to get the portfolio without booking now this becomes your job as the
photographer and as the business owner to really put on your business cap and say all right
i have got to get the portfolio to showcase what i'm capable of now this is going to make you a
better photographer because you're going to get the experience but you also need to be able to
show what you want to book nine times out of ten or it's going to be so difficult to book
so a couple ways to get portfolio if you haven't been able to get whatever it is that you're trying
to photograph whether it's babies families seniors weddings anything like that you do
need to get some portfolio under your belt to properly showcase what you're capable of so i
recommend doing free shoots or swaps with anybody like friends and family another photographer or a
stylized shoot so you can do a blending of these two things in a stylized shoot i actually have a
whole series here on my channel about how to plan and execute a styled shoot so that everybody's
happy all the vendors are happy and you get the portfolio that you desire for your business so
if you're interested in the wedding world and you want to get your feet wet with a stylized shoot
i will link that entire series down below as well another way that you can get portfolio is what's
called like a shootout or these retreats that are like hybrid learning retreats they are put on
all the time by different educators and someone else will plan a stylized shoot or will have a
model and allow photographers to come in you know usually there's a set amount of photographers
that can come in and they learn by you know seeing what the other photographers are doing
and then they get to have a few minutes to shoot on their own so it's an opportunity for you to
gain portfolio show what you're capable of now side note i think it's really important
to disclose what's a real wedding and what's not because a stylized shoot is not a real wedding
but it is an image that you took and that's valid and that's fair and we all have to start somewhere
but it's important that you don't put that out into the world as if it's a real wedding when it
absolutely is not so let's always be honest about where the portfolio came from and whether or not
it was a legitimate wedding or not now another side note if you shoot a friend for free i don't
think you have to say it's free work when you share that portfolio because a portrait session
is a portrait session there's no such thing as like a fake portrait session versus a real one
like the wedding world i think there's a bit of a discrepancy there there's such a thing as a
mock wedding versus a real wedding day portraits you're totally fine to photograph people for free
and then share that portfolio without saying hey i did this for free now before i move on i want to
mention there is a free guide that goes along with the series that has lots of check boxes for you to
go through and make sure that you've crossed your t's you've dotted your eyes in your photography
business so that you're setting yourself up to be profitable and sustainably profitable so i go over
lots of little details like getting your google business listing set up and things you might not
have thought about so far and this is one of those areas where i have a few more ideas for how you
can gain portfolio inside of that guide now that we're talking about shooting and gaining portfolio
this actually naturally leads into the third point of this video which is the legalities i have a
couple of things that i want to make you aware of as you're gaining portfolio whether this is paid
or unpaid and that is to always use a contract you want to make sure you're using a contract even if
no money is being exchanged you can always make sure that you're using a model release and even in
a contract where you're not getting paid you can clearly define what the images will be used for
so i know that this could be kind of a sticky area where you think you were clear with someone that
you were going to use images in your portfolio but by the time you edit those images they tell you
i don't feel comfortable with you sharing these on your website and then you're sitting there just
wondering what went wrong i gave you free images you're not letting me use them i feel like we've
all been in a variation of this kind of situation and it's so frustrating for both parties honestly
so contracts make it so that both sides have clearly explained their expectations and honestly
protect both people from feeling taken advantage of or getting into some kind of legal dispute so
always use a contract if you're looking for contracts i will have some links down below
on contract websites that i trust places that you can find contracts included in bundles and
some resources that i have for you in my shop as well one other thing you're going to want to think
about as you start shooting more and creating more images as a photographer is liability insurance
because if someone gets hurt by tripping over your light at a wedding reception that is going to come
back to you or could come back to you personally whether or not you're an llc or a sole proprietor
this is completely irregardless of that i think you need to be thinking about liability insurance
so i will give you guys some trusted websites that can give you some information about this
so you can take that next step and i think that's just the next part in really stepping
into this role of business owner and professional in your photography business all right so we have
gone over lots of good stuff here today and there's even more in the guide below so be
sure you grab that again i'm gonna have lots of different resources mentioned in the description
section below so be sure to check that out for more ways to gain portfolio to set prices and
make sure that you're taking this next step in your business in a calculated and strategic way
so that it's not just a giant mess i don't want you to be overwhelmed i don't want it to be messy
and i'm here to streamline it with you so be sure you're subscribed because we have more
videos coming up in this series thank you so much for watching and i'll see you next time
you