Business plans…don’t think you’ll need one for your photography business?  Think again.  No matter how small a business is, no matter if you are going to self-fund your start-up, no matter if you will be working from home on nights and weekends, you still need a business plan.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is like a roadmap.  It’s a chance for you to put down in ink your goals and add little steps that will aid you in attaining your goals.  This is important because success doesn’t just pop out from thin air.  You can’t just snap your fingers and wake up to be an owner of a successful business.  Success takes time and a business plan breaks down all the necessary things you must do in order to attain your goal.  It slaps you in the face, makes you look into a mirror and asks you if you are serious about this.  It also keeps you in check and tells you to your face that no, you will not be making $5 million in net profits in your first year…that perhaps you will be in the red because of all the materials/equipment/loans you will need to purchase as you start your business.

This is what a business plan will do for you.  This is what it has done for me and ever since I started my business plan, I have a clear step by step instruction of what I need to do.  Creating a plan has aided me in setting up a course of action.  Sitting on a couch and saying “I should start my business” is not really productive,  however, creating and writing down a plan starts the ball rolling.

What a business plan is not.

It’s not an end-all and be-all.  Once it is written, it is not written in stone.  I believe that is one of the fears of creating a business plan.  People, including myself, thought that once you write out a plan that you have to stick with it for all eternity.  This is false…don’t believe the hype.  What people fail to understand is that a business plan evolves as you and your business evolve.  What this means is that you can change it up anytime you want.  I’ve changed mine quite a few times and that was just in one day.  This is the point of the business plan…it helps you think of your business in other ways, in ways you’ve never thought of before, or ways that you didn’t want to go before and it forces you to think of your business as a business from a business point of view.  It helps you develop your weak areas and strengthens your strong areas.

How do I start?

Great question and I was stuck on this for a while. Alas!…Google is your friend. What helped me was having examples, and not just generic examples, but actual examples from other companies…and not just other companies but companies in my field.   Therefore, my search led me to this:

http://www.bplans.com/sample_business_plans.cfm

I just copied and pasted into my own document and edited those fields which I was familiar with such as my marketing plan, my goals for the year, and how I wanted to fund my startup.  Seeing the other areas and the example that they’ve written gave me much to think about.  For instance, it made me think about my costs.  Let’s face it, nobody wants to think of costs…people would rather think about profits.  So this led me into researching and calculating my costs and what I need to make in order to break even…which is also great because this eventually led to coming up with a CODB, Cost of Doing Business…which helped me in determining my creative fees.  My point here is that by doing the business plan, it forced me into action, to figure out a necessary item in running any business…the CODB.

And like I said, it is not set in stone.  Once I’ve gotten certain areas of the marketing done, I took it off the business plan.  As new ideas popped into my head, I added it into the business plan.  I remember my long term goals changed quite a bit and each time it did, I updated it in my business plan.

So go ahead, create that business plan and keep moving forward.  Keep updating it, keep improving upon it, keep developing it…the only thing it’ll do is help you in the long run.

I had a photoshoot this past Saturday with Kim, massage therapist and owner of Navitus Massage.  She’s not your typical masseuse, she also does energy work.  Kim brings a sense of peace and tranquility whenever you’re around her and I wanted to capture that for these headshots.  If you ever get a chance to get a massage from her, do so…do not hesitate.  She said it best, “…massage is an excellent tool for connecting more deeply with soul, mind and body.”

Kim is the most positive and radiant being in this world, which makes my job all that much easier.  No matter how I pointed my camera or what settings I have on it, the picture would come out looking fantastic.  The following pics are the best of the best that I really love.  The rest can be seen on my main website.

Wow…I am definitely pooped after a whole week of shooting. For anyone that doesn’t know, I was the official event photographer for DOMAINfest Global 2010 Conference that was held at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica. It was a 3-day conference with networking parties at night, a couple of which were at The Getty and The Playboy Mansion.

The Fairmont Miramar Hotel is a very awesome and beautiful hotel. As the event photographer, I was able to roam about the facilities and shoot to my heart’s content without any security guys asking if I was a terrorist (I’m sure every photographer knows what I’m talking about). The hotel did a very nice job with the confence, including the exhibit hall, session hall, breakfast and lunches (which was held outside around their enourmous fig tree), plus all their polite and courteous staff.

The first party was held on the hotel grounds and the did a fabulous job. They transformed the room where breakfast and lunch were into something very much like a classy dance club.

The second nights party was at The Getty.  They had food and a couple of the galleries were open for us.  It was just a very classy night.

And the last party…wow!  This was at the Playboy Mansion.  *sigh* …the curse of being a photographer.  Beautiful mansion, beautiful food, and of course beautiful people.  I’m not just talking about just the models and playmates when I say beautiful people but the domainers, sponsors, and attendees of DOMAINfest.  These people are a happy and fun bunch.  Everyone has this positive energy flowing and it’s just great fun taking pictures of and hanging out with them.

I used my Nikon D700, an SB-24 flash, and rented 2 lenses for the entire event. The lenses I rented were the Nikon 14-24 f2.8 and the Nikon 70-200 f2.8. Having shot events before, I knew I needed a wide angle for shooting individuals in crowded spaces (exhibit hall) as well as trying to capture the entire breadth of a room (session hall). For getting closeups of people interacting with each other, speakers and panelists, and the keynoter of the event (which was Tony Hsieh, CEO of zappos.com), I chose to go with the 70-200. Both these lenses are fast and sharp…only thing is the 70-200 lens is one heavy sucka! If you are going to be using this lens and are hand holding it like I did, make sure to invest in a wrist brace.

I know, where are the pictures right??  They are coming, I promise.  I’m a photographer and it’s in my blood to scrutinize each picture I take…and I took alot!  Follow me on Twitter to keep updated on my blog.

Here’s to a wonderful week of DOMAINfest!  Can’t wait til next year!

During downtime and in-between client projects, it’s important to keep motivated and keep shooting.  Thus, personal projects.  For me, it’s developing my documentary skills.  FocusedOut.com came about because I wanted to document a place that I think is being forgotten…Chinatown.  Sure, it’s filled with tourist every weekend but aside from the Chinatown that tourists see, I wanted to document the real Chinatown, the zero generation that call this place their home, the history that’s currently being lost.

This will be an ongoing series for I don’t know how long.  I also want to practice being more intimate with my documentary subjects…so check that site often.  You can also signup to be emailed of any updates.  Feel free to leave me any feedback and comments.

http://www.focusedout.com

The redesign of my logo…DONE!
The redesign of my business cards…DONE!
The redesign of my site…DONE!

Thanks Jen for all your help!  Go check out the website if you haven’t yet:

MarvinYan.com Website

Up next…

• marketing.
• portfolio building.
• networking.
• accounting software.