Many people dream of being a professional photographer but just how do you get started? We take a look at how to get started in creating a professional photography business that has all the ingredients of success.

EVERY business needs a plan

No matter what the business, it needs a plan. This means that as well as photography skills, you need business skills too.

Here’s a snapshot of what a business plan should contain;

A business plan is the projected route of your business to success and for any new business, having a detailed plan is essential (but no guarantee of success!).

Your photography specialism

A professional photographer offers a particular service such as landscape photography, wedding photography, portraits and so on.

The professional photography market is a crowded and competitive place but that doesn’t mean that with vision, commitment and talent you can’t make an impact and have a successful business.

By offering a specialism, you are appealing to a niche market and for you, that means understanding your customer demographic.

What is ‘customer demographic’?

Customers demographic is an overview of who your customers are – their age, gender, income, occupation, wants and needs etc.

Build your portfolio

Getting a start in a creative industry can be tough, especially if you don’t have anything to show potential clients.

With photography, building a portfolio is a stepping stone to getting your first commission. By building a portfolio, both in print and online, you show potential customers you do have the photographic talent to deliver what they want.

Marketing

Every business needs customers – and a constant stream of both new and returning customers – and a steady flow of cash through the business.

When you start a business, deciding what to spend your limited budget on can be problematic. But with your business plan and your customer demographic defined, you are in a stronger position to create a marketing campaign that hits the right people.

Research what opportunities there are to push your business in front of the right people. As well as online marketing such as social media, pay per click ads so that customers find your website and so on, consider offline marketing tools too, such as booking a stand at a wedding fayre.

Expand your skills – photography and business

You will need your business head to push your business forward and into a successful arena, just as you will need strong photography skills.

How to Start Your Own Photography Business

Stick with it!

Starting and running your own business is a big step. If your dream is to become a professional photographer, here’s the good news – it can be done! – but here’s the tough lesson: you need to be committed, focused and passionate about what you do and what you can offer.

Is it your dream? How will you make it a reality?
If you want to become a childminder, you’ll need to know how to go about setting up your business. Find out the basics of how to become a childminder with our great blog. You can also learn more from our childcare courses.
Being a childminder is a fulfilling career choice. If its something that appeals to you, you may be considering becoming a self-employed childminder, offering to look after children in your own home.

Your local authority

You will need to see what measures your local authority has in place to register childminders in your county. Every authority has a ‘family services’ section, although it may be called something different from one county to another. There may also be different requirements in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland too.

Get your paperwork in order

Running your own business usually means some kind of background paperwork that needs to be completed and kept up to date and being a childminder is no different! Online business courses are a great way to introduce yourself to a new skillset.

There are certain key things that you have to have in place before you can formally register with OFSTED. You’ll need to check who inspects childminders if you don’t live in England.

You will need to complete;

How to Set up a Childminding Business

Register with the inspectorate body

In England, you will need to register with OFSTED as a childminder. This is process checks through your paperwork, documentation and whether you provide the stimulating, safe and nurturing environment that young children and babies need in their early years.

There is a growing emphasis on the quality of early years childcare provision as it has been proven with academic studies and research that the better quality learning in these early, formative years, the smaller the gap between children’s learning later in life.

In Wales, it is PACEY who are responsible for inspecting childminders. In Scotland is it the Care Inspectorate and in Northern Ireland, it is the Early Years’ Service. Check their websites for their current requirements.

Get insured

Once you have completed your application to OFSTED or the equivalent body, and successfully passed your inspection, you will be issued with a certificate. This is an important piece of paper, confirming to parents and caregivers that the provision you offer is safe and of the highest quality.

It also shows that you have in place all the necessary measures and basic qualifications such as first aid.

What you now need to do before you open your doors and welcome children into your home, is public liability insurance. This protects you against paying out potentially expensive claims should something happen whilst a child is in your care.

Stay up to date

Being a childminder can be full-on. After a busy day, you will need to stay on top of your paperwork because you could have a drop-in inspection at any time.

We have produced an in-depth guide to anyone considering becoming a childminder. You can find out how to become a childminder. You can also find out more about the skills and qualifications that are useful for childminders by taking a look at our growing range of childminding courses.

Within your professional field, you can become a specialist, offering childcare services with a specific slant to them such as provision for children with disabilities and more.

Being a childminder is a fantastic career choice and one that parents and caregivers rely on heavily. Is it something you plan on doing? Enrol on a childminding course to test the waters.

For some students, the mid-August A Level results have been either a celebration or a time of disappointment. With the late-August announcement of GCSE results also imminent, the focus is once again thrown onto how students are taught, how they learn, and how students revise, along with exam techniques.

There is no magic formula – passing any exam, including an A Level, is about reading widely around your subject, understanding the question being asked, answering the question, revising well and putting in plenty of effort and time.

And so this guide is for you! We have hints and tips on everything from revision techniques to essential exam techniques, all of which are great for when you are facing your A level exams early next year.

Stay on Track with Your Course
Any A Level course is a significant step up from its GCSE level. These are not a qualification that can be picked up within a few weeks of the exam (although some students seem to pull this off, this is not recommended!).

For any A Level student, a prime piece of advice would be to stay on track with your course. For people doing online A Levels as long distance and home learners, this can be difficult without a schedule of classes and field trips to attend. This means that you need to create a timetable.

 

Tip – why not create a long-term timetable, similar to those found in school or college terms? Create a timetable for a 6 or 8-week block, or create one that fits with the broad modules and topics of your chosen A Level.

Tip – vary your reading with textbooks (you can buy second-hand textbooks online for a few pence!), journals, online journals and other authoritative websites. Make use of your commute time by reading a few pages from course notes or textbooks downloaded on your e-reader.

  1. BEFORE you start a topic, ask yourself key questions:
    1. What do you already know about the topic?
    2. What do you need to know?
  2. AFTER you have completed the topic, ask yourself the same questions again:
    1. What do you know about the topic now?
    2. What else do you need to know – and how can you find these answers?

Tip – produce your own summary sheet whilst the topic is fresh in your mind. This helps to jog your memory when it comes to revising each topic.

Revision Techniques
Most A Levels consist of a course spanning several weeks and an examination, sometimes two, at the end of the course. Thus, it is imperative that you use a variety of revision techniques to make sure you recap all the topics covered prior to the exam.

  1. Make a revision plan

woman sat on grass drawing on a notebookBefore we plunge headlong into revision techniques, the first step is to make a revision schedule for the coming weeks. A Level exams and courses are comprehensive, and so you will need to start recapping and revising course content several weeks before your exam date:

 

  1. Get everything together

You have likely noticed during your course that the more organised you are, the easier your work seems to flow. This is certainly true when it comes to revision.

If you only have half an hour between work and picking up the kids, spending half of this time searching for sticky notes and a stapler is wasting valuable time. So, before you start revising, tidy your workspace, gather all your learning tools – now you’re ready for revision techniques.

  1. Topic by topic

Consult your topic ‘end notes’ that you created when you finished each topic in order tojob your memory. Create a mini-schedule for each topic to ensure that you get through everything that you need to.

Revision is not just reading notes – it is about questioning the information you have in front of you and how you can apply it to exam questions. Your revision needs to be active and upbeat. There are times when you need to practice writing (see Point 5), but chanting rhymes, having sticky notes around the house, flip cards for key points etc. are all valuable learning tools.

  1. Revision tools and techniques

There are many ways that people revise. Some may suit you while others may not. Why not try some from the list below and see what works for you:

 

  1. Practice A level exam questions

It is essential that you not only know what you are facing in the upcoming A Level exam, but you also know the format, what you need to do and the time you have to do it in.

Importantly, you also need to practice exam questions.

Juggling distance learning and work can seem like a daunting task, as it involves taking on yet another commitment in your already busy life. But you understand that in order to grab the promotion you want or to make a desired career change, you need to upskill. This means that you need to get essential qualifications under your belt.

Distance learning is a way to get these qualifications without having to give up work or find time on the evening, week after week to attend a college course. That said, juggling a distance learning alongside work can be tough. How have other students accomplished successfully balancing these two?

Time
The biggest issue for many students, including those that study part-time, full-time, as well as by distance, is time – or more precisely, a lack of it.

When you work full or part time, you instantly lose many hours each week of possible study time. Combine this with other commitments, and you might be left feeling that you literally have no time left to study.

Making time may mean looking at some of these commitments and taking a step back – but when giving up work or dropping hours is not a possibility, what are your options?

As with all qualifications, there will be intense periods of study as well as times where you can relax a little more. Even though you may create a schedule of study for the week, don’t berate yourself if you don’t manage to follow it exactly – life happens from time to time!

Build in ‘spill over’ periods in your study timetable so that if you don’t get a chance to study for an hour at the specified time, you could carve out some time on another day.

Distractions & Procrastination
Distractions are everywhere – what one student finds annoying, another will enjoy. For example, do you prefer peace and quiet when you work, or do you like listening to music?

It is important to identify what could potentially distract you, and then take positive steps to avoid these factors.

Distraction is one thing, procrastinating is another – this is where you are so overwhelmed that you choose not to face the assignment at all. It might feel easier to watch a TV programme than it is to work, read through course notes or prepare for a test.

Eventually, you slip so far behind that it becomes (in your mind) impossible to catch up, and so your course (and its potentially career-changing qualifications) slip through your fingers.

The secret to success for any distance learning course, regardless of topic or level, is to maintain regular ‘contact’, whether that is reading a textbook or a related journal, reading through course materials or similar. Keep pushing your course to the front of your mind, keep it within reach, and learn to identify distractions when you are procrastinating.

Study Space
At work you will no doubt have a space that you work from. It could be a workbench or a drawing board, a reception desk or a desk in a large open-plan office – this is your space, and you should make it your own.

This could be something as simple as arranging your desk or personalising it with a photo of your family. All of these small elements combine to make it a place where you feel comfortable to complete your daily tasks.

Your study space should be the same. It doesn’t have to be a grand, large space – the current trend is to create a study nook (i.e. under the stairs) that utilises a small amount of space but does so in a very practical way. It should be comfortable, a place where you can work on your course without interruption for an hour or two per week.

Support
Employers want to hire well-rounded staff that possess a range of skills and qualifications. The better equipped and skilled their workforce, the better shape their business will be in to compete in a competitive market place.

Many employers will offer support to employees that they know are undergoing courses, so it is well worth chatting with your human resources department or reading through the staff manual.

Real Life
As well as paying course fees and/or offering study time, employers will often allow you to use work as a practical element for your coursework or assignments.

For example, a teaching assistant studying for the Higher Level Teaching Assistant qualification may need to use the classroom setting as the basis of a project. This could mean facilitating small group work or delivering a pre-planned session. They may need to be assessed in this role as proof that they can deliver a lesson or facilitate small group work. In this case, the classroom teacher will act as an informal assessor, offering feedback that will prove valuable when completing the course.

Using real life and workplace experiences is a critical part of vocational qualifications, and a good form of support from an employer. This is a great way to achieve balance when studying for a qualification whilst working.

Use experiences past and present to add depth to your course and to your learning.

Be Organised
It is Monday morning and you have a full week of work ahead, full of extra pressures as well as commitments in your family life. To top it all off, you have an assignment that you need to complete in order to move on to the next topic.

Getting and staying organised is critical to balance and success when learning from home. Being organised means thinking ahead, understanding what needs to shift to the back burner, and what needs to come to the fore.

This includes prioritising topics and activities that need to be completed in order for you to successfully stay on track and complete your course.

It is inevitable that at certain times your course will need to take a back seat, giving way to work commitments (and vice versa).

Don’t Cram
When you sign up for a distance learning course it can be tempting to bask in the glory of trying something new – meanwhile, letting all of your coursework fall by the wayside. You need to assign value to your course and the qualification it offers you, as well as to the learning process itself.

This means staying with your course and not leaving assignments to the last minute – just say no to cramming! This is not good for your stress level, and it won’ts get you the desired results.

Try to arrange your work and studying responsibilities so that they are in harmony. Look at your work and study calendars and try to dovetail them together. For example, don’t try and complete a major assignment that requires many hours of study and reading into the same week you are involved in a big project at work.

Take Time for Yourself
In amongst all this work and study is YOU! You mustn’t forget that you need to take some time out for your own peace of mind. Just like you have a day or two off from work, you should have a day or two off from studying.

Enjoy the fresh air, go to the gym, go to Zumba class, enjoy a walk up a mountain, meet a friend for afternoon tea, or enjoy an afternoon watching a classic film on TV – any activity that makes you feel good is a great way of restoring work and study balance!

What hints and tips do you want to share with your fellow learners? Email us your ideas!