Rolled Out On: 11/30/2004 3:22 PM

Adam - Thinking about tacking them to the outside of the mb anyway. Not targeted but it is my neighborhood and I know there are boatloads of kids. (1 boatload = 2.375 shitloads)

EWG - He frightens me in the same way some people have a fear of clowns. Not sure I can take the trauma of buying a product associated with him.

Kevin - Tampa & Brandon primarily. Most anything within 30 miles of my house.

Alex - filled it out. Was informed I was too White (I don't claim being hispanic), too male, too enabled, too unethnic, and too bad. It's nice to know I was still available for some other VA bennies though none of them had anything to do with starting a business.

Rolled Out On: 11/30/2004 6:42 PM

I think an effective marketing technique might be:
1) go to playgrounds and snap unposed shots of various kids
2) send the picture to the parents, saying "Nice kid. It'd be a shame if anything happened to him. Send $75 if you ever want to see him again."
3) Explain to the police you meant the $75 as a sitting fee to see more pictures of the child in different poses.

Rolled Out On: 11/30/2004 7:24 PM

Actually, one thing I know I need to do is get a t-shirt made so that when I am on location people know what I'm doing and it's free advertisement (so to speak)

So I need to figure out what to put on the back. I came up with a few thoughts:

Only UGLY Kids go to Sears
Ask me about shooting your children
Your kid ain't pretty, but I can help

For some reason my wife doesn't like them. I'm just chalking it up to her being all hormonal from the pregnancy.

Rolled Out On: 12/1/2004 7:59 AM

Networking. It's ALL about networking.

Meet some wedding planners, put your cards at Wedding-related stores, hook up with an event planner, or see what high schools need promo photos.

Most importantly, when business is slow, CUT YOUR RATES! The benefit--if you do it with the right people--is that it gives you a chance to be seen, get your name out and establish a reputation with the career-making people who can get you gigs.

Rolled Out On: 12/1/2004 10:39 AM

How about putting your business in Mrs. Marbles name? Govt slobbers all over small woman-owned businesses. Wedding shows start coming up in Jan-Feb, I don't know what they charge for a table but that could get business.

Rolled Out On: 12/1/2004 11:12 AM

As a quick note, I actually only shoot weddings as a second camera or, as my company's name suggest, as a Hired Lens. Since this is not my primary source of income (read - I have a full time job) the amount of effort involved in interviewing brides & grooms and wedding shows etc is too much to handle. Rarely do I shoot the entire wedding from the bride getting ready to last dance solo and if I do, it's as a subcontractor. I don't have the resources nor time to put together the wedding albums either. Prints I can handle, books, nope.

I also do not have a studio. My lighting rig consists of 2 camera-mounted flashes and several reflectors. This is why I focus on photojournalistic photography as it allows me to get a style that doesn't require massive investments in lights. As business picks up, I might get some lights, but I still wouldn't have an actual studio.

Rolled Out On: 12/1/2004 11:38 AM

You make me very happy I didn't try to start my photography business as planned when I lived in Hawaii.

My idea was that for something between $50-$100 I'd take pictures of you in your muscle shirt (guys), you in your bikini (girls), or with your car/kid (doting parental types) in various locations of scenic beauty. I had a good eye for composing shots, and would have started cheap (barely covering materials) at first to gain experience, hoping to eventually get to the point of being able to make a living from it, probably splitting time with doing weddings as a singer/guitarist.

Fortunately, I decided to stay in the military....

Rolled Out On: 12/1/2004 12:30 PM

Nathan, you make me happy I never decided to become a stripper named 'Candy', but that's probably not relevent to the conversation.

Just thought you might want to know that, though.

Rolled Out On: 12/3/2004 7:23 AM

All I can tell you, SaaM is that I wish you the best! I've been tinkering with the idea of doing the same thing you're doing now as I love digital photography - I primarily shoot nature and surfing (not that we've had good surf lately even with the advent of 4 major 'canes here in our state!)

Have you logged onto www.dpchallenge.com? It's a fun site and really does challenge you. Contests are fun for a while (I've been away for a few months - may try to get involved again after the first of the year) and while they don't pay, I felt that they taught me a lot.

Rolled Out On: 11/30/2004 12:39 PM

I have no expertise with this, but since you have experience photographing kids and animals, what about putting some of those Xmas flyer up at the local vets or places where parents take their kids for all those extracurricular activities like playgroups reading hour and such?

A picture of your adorable little one in an elf hat would make me want to take my kids to get a photo...if I had them, that is. :-)

And I would definitely follow the K.I.S.S. principle -- Keep it simple, stupid. Short and sweet with contact info clearly printed out and without a lot of clutter and text. People are overwhelmed with info (not to mention their kids) so the easier, the better.

There's my three cents (the extra one is for the tip jar. ;-)

Rolled Out On: 11/30/2004 12:48 PM

This was my original flyer I designed. A good friend on mine took one look at it and said "Nice, but too many words. If I've got my kids in tow, ain't no way I've got time to read that". So I shortened it up quite a bit.

I'm doing my daughter's picture this week. The good thing is I'm 100% digital, so I can take the picture, touch it up, send it to the father in law, and have the flyers the next day.

My pricing is reasonable, but a lot of people have a hard time with the $75 sitting fee when they get more photos for less at Sears. Granted I'm doing the whole child photography because of so many horror stories from my friends about taking their kids to the mall. And my pictures are classic, one of a kinds. Not the standard backdrop crap you get at a studio.

Rolled Out On: 11/30/2004 1:21 PM

If you want to find out if you're eligible for any government money this might be a good place to check, if you have the patience to fill out a rather long questionnaire:

http://www.govbenefits.gov/govbenefits/startQuestionnaire.jhtml

Rolled Out On: 11/30/2004 2:27 PM

The ? guy on TV might be FOS, but for $70 or so, it's worth a shot. And he's got a 90-day money back guarantee. Worst case, you copy the book (or at least the relevant parts for you) and send it back.

Here's the website: http://www.mlesko.com

Rolled Out On: 11/30/2004 2:38 PM

I would avoid stuffing flyers into peoples mailbox, not only is it a federal offense it's not very targeted. The vet idea was much better. You could also try to partner with some day cares. Maybe provide a stack of business cards.

Rolled Out On: 11/30/2004 3:13 PM

What's the normal service area?