Build a Photography Business in 24 Hours

Ever consider setting up shop and selling your photos? What's holding you back? Maybe you think it will take too much time, too much effort, too much money, or maybe you just don't know where to start. Well, I'm here to tell you, it's not hard, or expensive — and I'll show you how. I'm talking about establishing yourself as a real business, ready to sell photos and take money through an online storefront.

I've been putting it off for some time now, but I finally bit the bullet and did it. You can see my new photo gallery at Auer PhotoWorks. It took me more than one day to do it, but if you were determined it wouldn't be impossible. Most of your time spent will be doing research on the various aspects of the business. The actual establishment of your business is pretty straight forward and a lot of things can be done in parallel.

I'll give you the recipe for starting your own photography business, and here are your main ingredients:

  1. Photographs
  2. Gallery Software
  3. Hosting Company
  4. Domain Name
  5. Trade Name
  6. Bank
  7. $500

Optional (suggested) items:

  1. Merchant Account
  2. Accounting
  3. Marketing

Over the next several days, I'll take an in-depth look at each of these items in order to give you a better understanding of what is needed. Each post will contain the resources you'll need to get started on that particular item in the lists above. I considered writing it all into one post, but it turned out way too big — so I'll string it out.

If you've got your thoughts together on this and you're determined to do it, you could probably pull it off in one day. I took my time and stretched it out over a week, but I like to do a lot of research before I spend money on things. I spent about $500 in total, and I'm ready to make sales. Again, you can see my gallery at AuerPhotoWorks.com or BrianAuer.com… and tell your friends.

Photo of the Day…

Manhattan Panorama

Photo by Brian Auer
06/28/06 New York, NY
Manhattan Panorama
8891 x 2000 pixels — 9 Images Stitched
Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D
Konica Minolta AF DT 18-200
150mm equiv * f/9 * 1/90s * ISO100