01603 629 739 enquire@barrettandcoe.co.uk

Business Start Up

Photography seems to be one of the most attractive activities for budding entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, being a good photographer will not guarantee financial success. It is necessary to fully understand what is needed to operate a profitable business.

Locally you will find lots of help out there starting with your Chamber of Commerce, which will give advice regarding helpful initiatives in your area.

There are many pitfalls, the most important one being your price list, and what you charge for your services. Looking at other photographers price lists is not a good idea. They maybe going bankrupt!

For example, if you want to earn £20,000 a year, that is roughly £11 per hour, but you cannot be taking photographs 8 hours a day 5 days a week! So your hourly rate has to be much higher.

Typically a photographer will spend:
40% of the week marketing and creating business.
20% of the week on admin
20% selling
20% taking photographs

So this means you could be actually taking photographs for only eight hours a week, which would increase the hourly rate to £50. BUT you have also got to pay for telephone, car, lab bills, insurance, maybe rent, rates, electricity etc. etc. typically these overheads and processing charges will take 70% of the money you earn.
So, to clear £20,000 the hourly rate will have to be near to £150 depending on your overheads.

Many people lose lots of money starting a business because they don’t understand the economics.  If you don’t have the business skills be sure to seek professional help. Starting a business should come with a health warning!

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Andrew Coe

Andrew Coe is great grandson of Albert Edward Coe who founded the Coe photography businesses 150 years ago. He is recognised as one of the leading teachers of wedding and portrait photography in the UK having been commissioned by City & Guilds to write the first module for the Higher National NVQ Diploma in Portrait in this field. He has also been commissioned to give seminars in New York, Las Vegas, Madrid, Cologne and many other international venues. He owns the franchise for the largest group of wedding and portrait studios in the UK which has photography contracts with many national retailers and other major brand names. He founded the first chain of one hour mini labs in the UK (all with wedding and portrait studios attached), the largest advertising and commercial studio in East Anglia, a leading professional colour lab and has trained more people to become full time photographers than anyone else in the UK.

Andrew Coe is great grandson of Albert Edward Coe who founded the Coe photography businesses 150 years ago. He is recognised as one of the leading teachers of wedding and portrait photography in the UK having been commissioned by City & Guilds to write the first module for the Higher National NVQ Diploma in Portrait in this field. He has also been commissioned to give seminars in New York, Las Vegas, Madrid, Cologne and many other international venues. He owns the franchise for the largest group of wedding and portrait studios in the UK which has photography contracts with many national retailers and other major brand names. He founded the first chain of one hour mini labs in the UK (all with wedding and portrait studios attached), the largest advertising and commercial studio in East Anglia, a leading professional colour lab and has trained more people to become full time photographers than anyone else in the UK.

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