Article from Professional Photographer
February, 2000
Written by Leslie Hunt

The Lucrative Photographer
Mark D. Till's New Book is an Uncompromising
Guide to Fulfillment and Profitability

By the time the Tills opened their studio in Natick, Massachusetts, Mark had spent the first 10 years of his adulthood in auditing and risk management for banks throughout New England. He also used his degree in business administration to help small business owners with financial planning. His interest in photography was always present, and indeed Till shot professionally all along as a photographer's assistant. When the last bank he worked for failed, the path seemed clear.

The businessman-cum-photographer came to an immediate quandary: "From the beginning, the logic behind how photographers ran their businesses escaped me," he said. "I went from an environment where everything had a budget and a business plan to an industry where this concept was virtually unheard of."

Moreover, when the ex-risk management executive went looking for industry and market data to formulate his own plan, he found precious little information geared specifically for photographers. (It didn't stop him from reading an astonishing number of astute business books of all kinds, which he generously cites throughout The Lucrative Photographer.)

Till developed the "Survey on Photographic Business Practices," the first of its kind in some time, to round up the data he needed. The respondents confirmed Till's supposition that most studio owners could benefit from 1) having a clear business focus, 2) defining a specialty, 3) developing a lucrative pricing structure, 4) implementing a marketing plan, and 5) managing to have more time for themselves and their families. (The survey is ongoing. To participate or to obtain the results of Till's survey to date, visit his Web site at www.marktill.com; or call 508-655-9595.)

Among the data Till gathered, which is summarized in The Lucrative Photographer, are some startling statistics. For example:

• only 12 percent or the respondents who owned their own business were female;
• studio location was split almost half and half between home studios (52 percent) and commercial/retail locations (42 percent);
• 53 percent said their computer of choice was a Windows system, compared to 27 percent who use Macintosh systems, which Till found surprising (Macs are the favorites of graphics pros): but more surprising still was that 13 percent or the respondents did not use computers at all;
• on average, income from sole-proprietorship studios represented only 56 percent of the family's income:
• based on a 50-hour work week. the average hourly wage for owners was $10.50!

True Love
The majority of the photographers Till surveyed said they went into the business of photography for the love or it. What purer, more fulfilling reason could there be for pursuing a career? Heads up, all you artists: You do not have suffer for your art. The Lucrative Photographer is a well organized guide to making your creativity pay off not just in satisfaction, but in income and peace of mind. Till presents the nuts and bolts - with worksheets, exercises, and projects - as well as the philosophy and the reasoning behind the business practices he discusses. For example, the sincere altruism you express in your community turns out to be sound business, as the author makes quite clear.

The book opens with a guide for evaluating the life you truly wish to lead. How much time do you want to devote to your family and outside interests? How much time do you squander on jobs and clients who will never be profitable? How much time do you invest in your own education? Not having enough time to enjoy life or to explore your creativity at the studio is among the most common problems photographers cite. It doesn't have to be that way!

The Lucrative Photographer includes chapters on distinguishing yourself from your competition, becoming indispensable to your clients, marketing and sales, and protecting your assets (including legal considerations, secure computing, and financial planning), and how to buy and sell a studio.

Among the most frequent requests we receive at PPA headquarters is for pricing guidelines tailored to photographic studios. Few businesses are willing to divulge the specifics. What price art? Till demystifies the issue in the chapter, "Develop a Lucrative Pricing Strategy." "No, there's not a magic formula," he writes, but he shows you how to arrive at a formula that's right for your situation. "On a basic level, price is based on your desired profit. However, logical pricing is not always the smartest practice. It is important for us as photographers to understand not only the mathematics of pricing, but also the psychology of pricing, as well." It's in there.

If you find yourself wanting to read more about any of the subjects Till covers, your research has been simplified with the author's inclusion of a comprehensive bibliography of the books he has read to augment his own extensive experience, as well as the "Survey of Photographers' Business Practices."

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