Side note...I watch this Law school chick on Youtube, she talks about Law School, and everything that goes with it. I discovered her sometime last week, and I watched all her videos because I am uber curious about Law school. Well at the start of every video she says "Yeah I know its been awhile, I've been really busy." Needless to say this became really annoying video after video. It made me feel like it was bothering her to make these videos. As if I was a burden on her of some sort.
Well Anyways...I do not want to make people feel like that if they read my blog, or if they happen to fall upon it in a few months, and end up reading a few at a time.
I wanted to write this one about the steps Ive taken so far with starting my business. I think ... at least I think I've come a far amount in this process. About 2 Years ago I told my mom about how I wanted to sell my photos...and it went from there. I than planned out and wrote down what exactly I wanted to accomplish: AKA a Business Plan! I pretty much made a timeline of where I saw my business going. I actually sat down with my sister and we wrote it out around a year and a half ago.
From there I knew a website had to go up. I kinda let that stew for a lil while I did another contract on the cruise ship. All the while kept taking photos, editing, and figuring out my logo. I feel like the Logo was a tough hurtle. I am super happy with it now, and every time I look at it I feel just as happy as when I first finished it.
One thing I went through was hiring people to do work for me that I thought I couldn't do myself. My website, logo, and the writing that was going to go on my website. Well what I realize...Im too picky to hire people. I figure if I didn't know how to do something I was going to learn. I just built a website I'm very happy with. I remember literally drawing it out, each page on small sheets of paper every day for a couple weeks. re-hashing how I thought the site should look. The writing I needed my sister to do. I'm not very good at writing my own Bio/about me page. I know my sister was better with words than I was. A good tip though for people starting a business...know your strengths and weaknesses, hire people and seek help if needed.
My website...done as you may know now...my next step??
Well I plan to enter art festivals. I have to figure out my booth(another big hurtle for me), and supplies I need. I also have to register my business, trademark my logo, and business name. I have to get a Tax ID Number, and get my business account in order. Yeah, Some of you may be thinking I kinda Should have done my banking first, but I wanted my website out first. I wanted my name out there first.
If anyone is wondering about this booth, or may have never been to an art festival here a few images. (not mine)
I realize how doing all of this is, but it doesn't stop me at all. Its what I wanna do. Luckily I'm a barista now, I think If ...well I don't think..I KNOW that if I had a set job right now I would have no time to do anything like I'm doing now. I had barely enough time to sleep let alone time to do photo editing, design business cards, websites, make lists, drawing out my booth design, and do paperwork. No way!! It wouldn't happen.
Now, I made my list of supplies needed, and the list of the next "to-do's," and I am on my way. I think I should be ready by next summer. Which I think might be a little ambitious. lol, but that's me!!
I don't have a fancy business degree...sometimes I wish I did only because I'd like the knowledge, but don't let little pieces of paper stop you in what you wanna do.
With all of this, Ive been getting a lot of new ideas for photography. Just when I think that maybe my creativity runs dry i think of some new video I wanna do, or some new project with pictures I wanna do. That's what I love about being an artist. I actually am going to dive into some portraits. Which when I thought of the idea I was a bit surprised at myself, portraits...at least studio portraits are not really my thing.
Here's to New Ideas!! :-)
