So, are you just a little bit more passionate about photography than the next guy? Does the thought of peering through a DSLR camera or the screen of a smartphone with decent photo-taking abilities give you apple-sized goosebumps and get your knees over-enthusiastically knocking together with excitement? Then this blog is for you.

However, what if you are inexperienced in the field and don’t even know where to start? Well, we got your back. Kindly read on to find out how to start a photography business with zero experience and the maximum possible chance of future success.

Start Small

Since your level of experience will not even fill a shrunken thimble, rather than rushing to rent stadium-sized office space and launch your business, it is most advisable that you start small and carefully learn the ropes. In case you were unaware, the photography business is a very complex one and grows ever more so in line with ceaseless and unending technical and technological advancements. Moreover, there’s no other way you can learn all there’s to learn than by taking things easy and getting yourself hired at either a big studio or by a one-man professional photographer.

While so employed be sure to soak up all the knowledge on hand, get lots of practical experience on the job, keep a beady eye on potential clients and work on your portfolio.

Write a Business Plan

Business plans are not merely well-ordered reams of paper that contain lots of difficult-to-pronounce words and high-sounding language. Instead, they help you to articulate your personal and business goals, objectives, intent and so on.

Your business plan should include such variables as the equipment you will need to purchase to get your photography business off the ground once you have started your studio. It should also include overheads like rent, transport, incidentals and what have you. You might feel like you are over-planning things, but it is far better that you plan for every eventuality and succeed than to do things by the seat of your pants and get knocked down when you least expect it.

Get Webbed

Well, if you are serious about photography, having a website of your own is a must. Such a website must look as sleek as possible and be layered with the thickest and cost-effective eye-candy available. More, it must reflect your goals, have your contact details, be adorned with the best shots in your portfolio and if possible fill it with the testimonials of satisfied customers.

Having a professional website confers all sorts of advantages, puts your face and work out there where people can easily see it and what’s more is not even expensive to build, run or maintain.

Always Be Polite

The world of photography is afflicted with cut-throat competition. With the enormous number of photographers struggling to get customers, it might be tempting for you to adopt unethical means to win clientele or push yourself on potential clients against all standards of good taste. It most often happens when photographers relentlessly bombard people’s emails, and or social media accounts with myriads of unsolicited pitches and what-not in the hopes of winning a contract. Instead, what they usually get is a backlash of revulsion and insult.

So, as a rule, if you do good work and that is what people want then they will sooner or later flock to you. If not, your aggressively pushing your services to them rather than letting them decide on their own if you are what they are looking for will do far more harm than good.

Get Patient

At the beginning of your photography career, you might be all gung-ho about it all and seem to be walking on water at times. However, as the weeks roll into months and you can barely afford the price of a loaf of bread it might get tempting to throw in the towel and seek out other apparently more lucrative career paths.

Well, it needs pointing out that even almighty Rome was not built in a day. So, think of your photography career as a work in progress from which you will reap the rewards after some fair amount of hard work, struggling, heartbreaks and hungry nights. Therefore, don’t expect overnight success and hang in when the going gets tough.

Photography is a rapidly evolving and rewarding career, but it is also an ultra-competitive and mightily challenging one. Succeeding at it requires experience, dedication and hard work. Also, the ability to tap into your inner creative genius.