[MJB DIGITAL]

And would you be brave enough to get a loan to start a photography business?

Just curious.










c'mon...do it.

[soccerjoe5]

I'm doing photography now full-time, and I'm partnering up with my co-shooter and we're putting up a corporation for our studio and plan to build it to a full agency of photographers and videographers. We're buying a full Canon system (gasp!) this month, and hopefully incorporate (need to save up money) before the year ends

I try to avoid loans in general, unless it's on a project basis. Like for our equipment, we had a big project lined up, made our projections and estimates on how much we'd make, and loaned a certain amount of money that's within the money we'd make. We presented it and got our loan. After the project we paid off the loan. Now we're getting our gear.

[MRRiley]

Yes I do and that (a loan) is in my plans next summer. I just opened my e-commerce site on zenfolio and will be building the galleries over the next few weeks (right now the only gallery up is the one from my recent motorcycle racing shoot). Basically I am going to use zenfolio to evaluate the potential of making real money at this. If it works out I will be taking out a small business loan.

Mike

[palmor]

I just opened my e-commerce site on zenfolio ....

Mike

I did the same (open an account on Zenfolio). If things work out I do plan on making a more personalized Website that links to my Zenfolio site but for now it is just the Zen.

As to the OP's question. I don't plan on changing professions so personally I wouldn't take out a loan to buy any more gear. What I have is enough to get me started. What I hope is that I make enough just to fund any future gear purchases, and if it takes a while so be it .



John

[George Lama]

A few years ago my wife and I took out a micro-loan (under $6000) from our bank to finance some equipment purchases we needed to get our photography and design business going. We could have asked for much more and really gone in headfirst, but I am glad we didn't considering how the economy has been for the past year.

Since that initial loan, everything else we've purchased as we can afford it and only putting a minimal amount on the credit card so we can pay it within months.

Because of this we've been able to take it slow, grow our customer base, and upgrade equipment without worrying about whether we're making enough to pay back the bank.

[cwood]

For me renting makes much more sense than doing a loan. I can rent a special lens for $30 instead of buying it for $1000. I can rent commercial studio space for CHEAP compared to setting up my own. If any of those things become suitably necessary for my business I would only do it with Cash-on-hand.

I didn't ask how much it cost to set up but this is the studio space I rent. Needless to say it cost a couple of bucks to set up and maintain with large square footage.