Starting a traveling Pet Studio

Andy · March 20, 2006

OK pros, who's got some advice for this emailer? :ear

email wrote:

Let me summarize my business plan for you and if you have any tips or suggestions for me, that'd be great.

I'm starting a 'traveling' studio specializing in Pet Portraits (I'm a dog trainer.) My plan is to travel to client's houses or a location of their choice and take studio quality shots of their pets. I have all the basic equipment. strobes..backrounds/stands.. softboxes..etc. Then come home and put the images on smugmug for clients to order prints. (My husband is a programmer..so he's going to handle all the web-site stuff.) Since I don't have a storefront to support, I want to set prices so they are affordable to the average joe. (OK..maybe not the 'average' joe..but the middle-class joe..heehee) But I don't want to set them so low that it's not worth my time.

Do you have any suggestions on what to set my sitting fee at? I'm assuming the sitting fee is where I'm going to make the majority of my profit. Or is that not the case.? ANY ideas or tips you can give me on a pricing range would be tremendously helpful as I'm new to this 'taking pictures for money' business. It's always been just a hobby.

Andy · March 20, 2006

My first suggestion it to get this book:

http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/1097113

Read it, learn it, know it, use it

PossumCorner · March 20, 2006

There are some threads on this topic at the nwpphotoforum.com with some good pro advice on general pet photography issues including pricing.

Shay Stephens · March 20, 2006

Well, before anyone can offer advice on what to charge, you need to know how much does it cost you to travel to the farthest place in you proposed territory, how much time does it take to get there, how long does it take to setup, shoot and tear down, how long to edit and upload photos.

Add up all the time and place an hourly figure on it to see where you are at. Add in any overhead like insurance, equipment replacement, hosting fees, vehicle maintenance, advertising, rent, etc.

Now what figure do you reach? The price you set should be based on what it costs you and what you want to make at the end of the day. It is no use charging a price that will wind up costing you money to stay in "business". The trick is to make a profit. So charge a fee that guarantees you will make one on *each* job you take. Don't worry about making it affordable for the average joe, make sure it is profitable for *you*.

Andy wrote:

OK pros, who's got some advice for this emailer?

Soccrbabe · March 20, 2006

Big thanks Andy!

Andy wrote:

OK pros, who's got some advice for this emailer?

Many thanks Andy for all your help. This thread should be a great tool for what I'm looking for!

I can't wait for all the advice.

*big smugmug grin*
Carla

GerryDavid · March 28, 2006

Shay Stephens wrote:

Well, before anyone can offer advice on what to charge, you need to know how much does it cost you to travel to the farthest place in you proposed territory, how much time does it take to get there, how long does it take to setup, shoot and tear down, how long to edit and upload photos.

The way I would do it is first id check to see if its already being done, and go by thier prices and try to be competative.

I would probably charge a mileage fee, so much per mile to get there, to cover the cost of gas and my driving time, wear and tear on the car, etc.

Im not sure about how much for a sitting fee, if Id charge a sitting fee at all. Perhaps enough to make it worth your time to be there and shoot.

And then the cost of the prints, Im not even sure where id begin to charge for this.

And of course theres the factor of the gear depreciation, etc.

I probably wont over think it to much. Ill just go by what the others charge in town and try to be competative, and hope the profit margins will be good, hehe.

Shay Stephens · March 28, 2006

Beware

GerryDavid wrote:

I probably wont over think it to much. Ill just go by what the others charge in town and try to be competative, and hope the profit margins will be good, hehe.

That is the fast track to failure.

You are assuming that these other people have done the work for you, but what if they are just relying on what others are charging too? It's the blind leading the blind. Don't go into business without first sitting down and counting the cost. It's foolish to do otherwise.

GerryDavid · March 28, 2006

Shay Stephens wrote:

That is the fast track to failure.

You are assuming that these other people have done the work for you, but what if they are just relying on what others are charging too? It's the blind leading the blind. Don't go into business without first sitting down and counting the cost. It's foolish to do otherwise.

Well if your just starting out with out without a reputation, why would someone pay you more money than someone else in town that has been around for 20 years? :0)

I dont plan to start out full time either, but to do it on the side for a while, hoepfully buildin ga reputation over time, and hopefully a good one, hehe.

Im not a marketing/business expert *unfortonetly im at the other end of the scale, hehe*, but im thinking if you have to charge double what the competition is charging in town to stay in business, odds are you may not get alot of business. The trick is to find the magic prices that optimizes the profit and sales volume. 10 customers at $2000 profit each is great, but youd make a fair bit more money with 500 customers at $50 profit each.

cabbey · March 28, 2006

Shay Stephens wrote:

That is the fast track to failure.

You are assuming that these other people have done the work for you, but what if they are just relying on what others are charging too? It's the blind leading the blind. Don't go into business without first sitting down and counting the cost. It's foolish to do otherwise.

Not to mention that assumes they have the same costs, overhead, and expected-roi you do... for all you know, that competetion might be a retired grandfather with a city bus pass and an old school instamatic (polaroid) just trying to keep his afternoon's interesting. No wonder he can offer "prints while you wait" in his advert....

To the OP, just a suggested venue to get started and spread the word... head for the nearby dog shows with some samples of your work and business cards or flyers to give potential customers (or for that matter, have your mobile studio parked out in the parking lot).

cabbey · March 28, 2006

GerryDavid wrote:

10 customers at $2000 profit each is great, but youd make a fair bit more money with 500 customers at $50 profit each.

You made an extra $5000. But you also serviced 50x the number of clients. Do you have those kind of hours in your day? I mean seriously, assuming you're not sacraficing the quality of your work to churn out that volume, there is something akin to supply and demand economics at work here.

Assuming a 9-5, m-f schedule there are 160 work hours in a month. if those ten customers were all in one month, then let's say you spent an average of 16 hours on each (that includes the time to advertise and find the customers too, and manage the business) and effectively earned a rate of $12.50/hour. To service the higher volume lower profit customers, you spent 3.2 hours on each customer, on average, and earned effectively $15.63/hour. So either you massively cut back on the time spent per customer (which unless you're really good means lower quality) or you've sacraficed more hours to the job and taken them away from your friends, family, life, etc.

In any case, both ends of the extreme range of planning are likely a bad path... somewhere between the two is where you're likley to survive.
(which I think is what the book Andy recomended way back at the top would recomend.)

GerryDavid · March 28, 2006

cabbey wrote:

Assuming a 9-5, m-f schedule there are 160 work hours in a month. if those ten customers were all in one month, then let's say you spent an average of 16 hours on each (that includes the time to advertise and find the customers too, and manage the business) and effectively earned a rate of $12.50/hour. To service the higher volume lower profit customers, you spent 3.2 hours on each customer, on average, and earned effectively $15.63/hour. So either you massively cut back on the time spent per customer (which unless you're really good means lower quality) or you've sacraficed more hours to the job and taken them away from your friends, family, life, etc.

The numberes were just for an example. But using the figures you gave, say each customer was in for a portrait session. A descent portrait session can be an hour or less. You can get a ton of pictures for them to choose from in that hour, and still have taken your time to get them.

So your able to schedule in 160 customers in a month if you allow 1 hour for each. So if you only have the 10 customers and you still used the 1 hour for each of them, you have a ton of free time on your hands, doing nothing, waiting for other upper scale customers to come in to pay the super high rates, hehe. But you would have more free time to do other things.

Im not saying you shouldnt give it alot of deep thought, consider every angle, and you probably should, but im just saying if your starting out and your charging more than the rest of the market to meet the figures you calculated, I dont think business will go that well, hehe.

Soccrbabe · March 28, 2006

Pet Portraits
Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions.

Here in Spokane there are several "professional" studios...all of which I'm sure would come to your house to do a shoot. The issues I have with them (as I'm sure many do) is that they charge and arm and a leg to provide this service. Being a 'store-front' professional studio you have much more overhead than I do. And therefore have to charge more.

This venture for me is just a side business to earn some extra spending money and a way to work with the animals I love. I do not have a store front to support so my overhead would probably just consist of car maintenance and gas. The way I look at it is this.

"What would I PAY for someone to do this for ME?" Well.. I definately could NOT afford a pro outfit and good old places like 'Wal-you know who' and others of the like do not TAKE pets. So I'm kind of looking for a middle-class type client base. (Like myself) SO there's where MY traveling studio comes in.

I've come up with some ball-park figures and ideas. Let me know what ya'll think. There's several ways I could do this. (1) An 'ala-carte' kind of deal..and (2) a package deal.

(1) Ala Carte: Sitting Fee: $85 *this would include a 2 hr session in location of your choice--local area only* With Prints priced individually.

(2) Package deal Price: (I'm still debating over this number but would be something like) $175 *this would include a 2 hr session in location of your choice and would include a print package of say 1 8x10, 2 5x7, 4 3x5 and maybe some wallets. (using smugmug as my printing source)

That's where I'm at so far.
Hope that gives you more of an idea of where I'm coming from.

Thank you all again! I'm so glad Andy pointed me in this direction!
*peace to all*
Carla

GerryDavid · March 28, 2006

Soccrbabe wrote:

(2) Package deal Price: (I'm still debating over this number but would be something like) $175 *this would include a 2 hr session in location of your choice and would include a print package of say 1 8x10, 2 5x7, 4 3x5 and maybe some wallets. (using smugmug as my printing source)

Instead of fixed print sizes, you could offer x number of units. A unit would be like one 8x10, one 5x7 with wallets around it, or two 5x7's. Pretty much what ever fits on an 8x10 sheet. This way they get sizes they can use and dont have to toss away unneeded sizes. :0)

Soccrbabe · March 29, 2006

Pet Portraits
Gerry,
Yeah, that was my first idea. I wanted to do a 'the more units you buy..the greater the discount' kind of thing. But when I emailed smugmug regarding their print pricing set up. They said that their pricing system doesn't really work that way, so I had to come up with a different plan.

So I was back to square one. *groan* lol

Shay Stephens · March 29, 2006

You're doomed
You have no idea what this kind of work entails, and your posts show this. Don't even attempt it until you sit down and research what is needed time wise. Read and understand a "start your own business" book, multiple books would be better, especially any that deal with starting your own photography business.

This will give you a wake up call on the ways to calculate costs, both obvious and hidden, and at least give you a fighting chance at pricing yourself to make a profit. Otherwise, you are just going to waste your time and money on a failing business plan.

Speaking of which, those books will get you to make a business plan, one that deals with real world numbers and not pie-in-the-sky numbers plucked from ones fantasy.

Failure to heed these warnings will lead to failure, trust me, this is not something you can just wing.

GerryDavid wrote:

The numberes were just for an example. But using the figures you gave, say each customer was in for a portrait session. A descent portrait session can be an hour or less. You can get a ton of pictures for them to choose from in that hour, and still have taken your time to get them.

So your able to schedule in 160 customers in a month if you allow 1 hour for each. So if you only have the 10 customers and you still used the 1 hour for each of them, you have a ton of free time on your hands, doing nothing, waiting for other upper scale customers to come in to pay the super high rates, hehe. But you would have more free time to do other things.

Im not saying you shouldnt give it alot of deep thought, consider every angle, and you probably should, but im just saying if your starting out and your charging more than the rest of the market to meet the figures you calculated, I dont think business will go that well, hehe.

Soccrbabe · March 29, 2006

Shay..
That is why I'm here my friend.

To get all the help I can. (yes I do plan on checking out the book Andy reccomended.)

Seriously tho, this is not something I plan on doing as a full time job. I am just a Mom who loves her dogs and loves taking pictures so decided to put the two loves together.

Realistically, how much work would it really entail? Go out..(locally only) do a shoot.. come home..slap em on the pc, do some editing..set my prices and let Smugmug do the rest. I do not plan on doing major advertising so that cost is not an issue. As with my dog training business, I get as much as I need through word of mouth. But I figured with the Pet Portraits I could make more PER event as compared to the training sessions.

To get the word out initally I am signed up for an artist booth at a local event called PetFest coming up in June.

http://www.spokanepetfest.com/

:

Shay Stephens · March 29, 2006

Soccrbabe wrote:

Seriously tho, this is not something I plan on doing as a full time job. I am just a Mom who loves her dogs and loves taking pictures so decided to put the two loves together.

You are being dismissive and trivializing your task. Just because you plan on doing something part time does not mean it needs any less planning. Google this (why most businesses fail):
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=why+most+businesses+fail&btnG=Search

You will find a persistant theme, no or poor business plan. If you want to fail, then do what the failures do, and jump in blind with a wing and a prayer. But if you want to succeed, however modestly, then you have to do it right. You have to plan it out.

bham · March 29, 2006

I would definitely listen to the advice of Shay. You may say now that it is something fun and to make a few extra bucks, but soon you will be asking yourself why you are working so hard and getting very little reward ($$). Because you didn't have a plan that made your effort you put into it worth while. And then it will definitely seem like a bad job, that you are committed to and you will stop doing it. Also raising prices say 6 months into it, to replace your camera that failed that had to be replaced, may not sit well with customers who come to love your "affordable" prices. Yeah and some people love "affordable" prices when they buy something stolen, and they usually realize there is a risk when prices are that good. In the photography business it is, well they may not be in business in 3 months, then can I get another copy of that print that I loved so much, because I lost it.

Also realize that your time is worth something. You wouldn't start doing the same type of work you do 40 hours a week, on the weekends for $5 an hour would you? If you would, give me a call I need people to clean my house. (Not implying you clean houses but you get the point)

flyingpylon · March 29, 2006

There's lots of good advice in this thread, and you should certainly go into it with your eyes wide open, knowing the costs, etc. At the same time, it sounds like you'd just really enjoy doing it, you already have the equipment, and you already have a full time job. So why not initially approach it as a "serious hobby" instead of a full-blown business? Commit a year or so to learn the ropes, try different things, see what people will pay, see if it's worth it for you, and then if you still enjoy it and you think there's a viable market, ramp it up and go for it.

But my main point is to keep it fun while you learn, then make the decision about whether you want it to be a true business. A lot of people have found that starting a business is a great way to ruin a fun hobby. Not everything has to be measured in dollars and cents.

Starting a traveling Pet Studio

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