Photographers: The one thing you need before opening for business

There are lots of obvious things you need before you can start a photography business. And as much as this seems like a hobby that you can make money through as you learn, it’s not really that simple if you want to establish an honest-to-goodness business. I mean, how many people open restaurants before they can actually cook everything on the menu? Would you expect a meal the chef was practicing for the first time?

So before I tell you the number one thing you need before you should start charging for your services, let’s get something out of the way: it’s obvious that you need a camera. And editing software. And all of those other things. But I interact with so many people through my blog and on forums who have these things and think they’re ready to print a business card and start shoving cash in their camera bag. To which I say “wooooah there partner. You need one more thing before you start handing out that business card.” And what is that one thing?

Consistency

You shouldn’t be calling yourself an in-business photographer, you shouldn’t be trading for money and you certainly shouldn’t be accepting responsibility for someone’s once-in-a-lifetime events {think: wedding} if you don’t have a handle on consistency. That is, you should be able to consistently produce the same caliber of work over and over again. Your work shouldn’t be spray-and-pray. No lucky shots here. Just good, honest blood, sweat and tears to learn your trade so that when you get hired to do a job, you can confidently walk into that job and produce the product your client is hiring you to produce.

A hard truth for some to hear, but I wish I knew this in the beginning.