The killer D is debt.
According to a recent USA Today article, 2 years after seeing debt decrease and savings increase, the trend has reversed. In the US, credit card debt is up 368% from 2 years ago. While this may be good for your business in the short-run, it will be bad for you and your business in the long-run.
I have found that debt puts unbelievable amounts of stress on your business, life, family and marriage.
Debt stunts your ability to grow because you lack freedom. Debt ties you to areas of life and business that you may have moved past.
I have also seen that debt is unnecessary when creating and growing a photography business. A well-run photography studio (home-based or other-wise) should be able to turn profit almost from the beginning. Why?
A photographer’s overhead can be very low.
- You can run your business from your home.
- You can shoot entirely on location.
- Beyond a few necessities, your equipment costs are minimal.
- To start, you can do a majority if not all the work.
A photographer’s Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) is unbelievably low.
- Photography is a rare industry in that it’s costs of good are very low for the non-manufacturer.
- This DOES NOT give you the excuse to re-sell these products at a low price.
I also know there are photographers or those entering into photography with a high load of debt. For the above reasons, photography is a great tool to use to get out of debt. There is great potential to make a high profit, but you must be disciplined to use those profits to pay off debt.
I know the freedom that comes from being out of debt, and the hard work it takes to get there.
Tomorrow, I’ll share with you several strategies to getting out of debt, and tools you can use to get yourself into a better financial place.
Image courtesy of stock.xchng
Now available in The Collective Shop – spa Notes, a publication from Senior Portrait Artists between 2005 and 2008 featuring articles and information addressing trends, marketing, sales, lighting, background ideas and more. Best of all are the images and ideas your receive from each edition.
Each spa Notes is now out of print, but available in pdf format – perfect for reading on your iPad or digital reader.
[…] Yesterday, I shared that the US is beginning to go back to our old ways of increasing debt, and that no studio ever needs to be in debt (and showed why). Find that article here: Return of the Killer D. […]