The paperwork and number-crunching of a photography business are a splash of cold water on wide-eyed new pros, but just as essential as creative talent.

If you think distributing calling cards and signing up clients is all there is to a photography business, you've failed before you even start. Many amateurs launch a pro career on a portfolio of contest-winning pictures, thinking that creative talent and techniques are enough to go by. Mark Floro, U.S.-trained and running a successful photo business himself, shows you the real world of paperwork, business plans, marketing, and number-crunching. See why budgeting money is more important than earning it, and how to determine if you've really, really earned back the cost of your equipment and training.

Who should attend

• Photographers intending to turn pro, or who just turned pro, in any field of photography.
• Existing professional photographers who never put a correct business workflow in place, going strictly on "shoot and collect" cycle.
• Business partners of photographers and their managers.

What will be covered

• Preparing a business plan
• Registering a business (corporate, single proprietorship, or partnership)
• Securing permits and licenses
• Preparing legal forms (contracts, quotations, bills and statements, model releases)
• Ethical practices (issuing receipts, paying taxes, using licensed software)
• Pricing your services and computing markups
• Determining hidden costs and actual profit
• Depreciation of equipment
• Marketing: different ways for different fields

Prerequisites

Photography/business background or training in any field not necessary, but a good start.

Speaker

Mark Floro studied photography in the United States, and the curriculum included a class on setting up and operating a photography business. His own career in photography, started when he returned to the country, is itself a case study in how to turn right-brained artists into left-brained businesmen. [Read Mark's bio]