The Cost of Doing Business

The Cost of Doing Business

This short post is to give some wedding photographers / wedding suppliers a little insight into what they should be thinking about in terms of pricing their work.  It's not an exhaustive commercial post, more of a little insight into running a business.  It's geared towards photographers ('cos I am one) but all you need to do is add / remove the bits that are relevant to your business. The Cost of Doing Business -  is the money you must spend each month (or each year) whether you have any photography or not. Basically, it's the expenses you undertake to run a business.  This is REGARDLESS of whether you have a part time job or not.  You need to cover these expenses.  What tends to happen is that people who work part time use one of the two salaries to supplement the hobby; which means you are actually working for less than you think. Target Income - This is how much you want to make from your business. So if you work full time and want a salary of £48,000 that's what you put in.  This is essentially what profit you want to make from the business.  It should be enough to cover your personal non-business living expenses. Other Income - Other income from your photography job; Newborn Photography, Commercial Photography for example. Part Time Job - Does what it says on the tin.  If you work part time this is where you put in your annual salary.  This is DEDUCTED from your Income + Expenses at the bottom of the spreadsheet to show that your part time job can subsidise lower prices per job. Billable Days - These are the days you can work on your photography business AND earn money.  It may vary, but please be sensible.  Wedding photographers could, in theory, work 365 days a year.  Many work on less than 40 weddings per year.  (Be sensible here, a Baby Shoot isn't a full day's work; it's about half a day for example.) Expenses - Your business expenses.  What you need to pay to run a business Annual Expenses - This is what you need to pay to run your business WITHOUT making a profit. Income + Expenses - This is what you need to make per year to make a profit. Each Job You Need To Make - Pretty self-explanatory really.  This is what you should be charging to cover your expenses and make your Target Income.  For a wedding photographer, this is what you should be charging PER WEDDING.  If you are not charging this you are making a loss. The calculator which you can download lets you play around with the numbers and shows you what you need to earn on average each month per photography job just to stay in business. This is one of the reasons why Wedding Photography can be so expensive - and I've talked a little bit more about this in this blog post This calculator is also applicable to  other business.  You can add items to The Cost of Doing Business Calculator as I'm sure I've not put in a complete list. Click here to download the Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet - The Cost of Doing Business

Blogs for Clients

Take better photographs on honeymoon Real Reviews on Google Wedding Traditions Do I need to bother with wedding insurance? How to plan a wedding

A few UK Wedding Reception Venues I photograph at

Speech House, Forest of Dean York Marriott, York Ardencote Manor Hotel, Warwickshire The Greenway Hotel, Cheltenham Allerton Castle Wedding Reception Venue, North Yorkshire