February business review

Just going to take a few minutes to look back over the last month here...I’m not sure what the expected financial “break even” point is for a fledgling photographic business, especially a part time one, but I’m certainly not there yet. Cycle 61 Photography’s business plan in the early stages of development, and at this point my photographic activity is primarily to be involved with everything I can. February’s progress report and upcoming events, after the jump.

Total photographic income for February is $60.00, which was my “thank you” for shooting the wedding last week. Please note again that this was a personal job, and this is not going to be my normal rate… Also, no stock sales as yet but I'm not in a hurry, I have 99 images online at PhotoShelter now and I know that stock is a numbers game as much as anything. My goal for this is to double my collection to 200 images live by the end of March.

Expenses, mostly mileage on the car and purchasing “The Moment it Clicks”, a new 4gb memory card, the LumiQuest softbox, some rechargeable batteries, and a parking ticket, were considerably more. (Can I count my parking ticket?) I also need to start factoring in the cost of the data plan for my cell phone and a few other items.

I've been leaning on my landlord to sign the permission to operate a business from my residence, apparently his lawyer advised him he should raise my rent if he lets me base my business here. I'm trying to explain that my business basically fits in my backpack, and the city just won't let me use a PO Box or I'd pay the $39 and be done with all this hassle.

I’m shooting senior portraits for my cousin this weekend, along with (possibly) a group shot of the “12th Night” cast. Next weekend is a regional tournament for a bunch of the local elementary schools, I’ll be shooting events for two of the teams. I shot this last year as well, and produced a book for the parents through Blurb, which sold out immediately at $20/copy. The Saturday after that is the meeting of our Bay Area DPR photography group, and I’ll be working as an assistant and behind-the-scenes shooter on a professional fashion shoot in San Francisco that afternoon.

I also finally finished the post work for the wedding I shot last week, the gallery is online and ready to go!