DO you need a business degree to have a phpotography shop?

Answer 1

You don't need any degree. After all Bill Gates doesn't have a degree either. A degree has nothing to do with the success or failure of your photography shop. Your skills as a photographer and customer service will be the upmost importance to your customers.

Answer 2

You do not need a degree in business for one main reason. Business Degrees tell you how to work in a large business environment, not a small business environment.

That being said, I would suggest a course in accounting and marketing, and perhaps finance, which can get had at a community college.

I operated a small business for 30 years and once tried an MBA. I had not problems with grades, all As and Bs, but the content did not speak to my needs. They could tell me how to solve a problem for IBM or Microsoft, but they could not, for instance, tell me how to get money to grow my business. I was only told that you do it the same way. I then asked "does the president of Coca Cola have to put his wife's jewelry up for collateral to get loans?"

The courses that I found most useful were accounting, finance, and marketing (even though I worked in Marketing). Accounting will tell you what you are making, what you are losing, what things cost and suggest what you should sell your services for.

You have to consider the cost of rent, how much it cost to heat and cool the office, how to amortize your equipment, and how to cost out the repairs tha cameras need a couple of times a year for a professional. Finance gives you important formulas and some idea of how to get capital when you need it (i.e. to jump to a new camera, buying equipment for the studio, etc.). If you can find a course on marketing for small businesses, take that. You do not need about 85% of what they teach in a course loaded for large business. If you do not want to take marketing, that is OK, but you need to know break even points, which will be learned in accounting, so that you willl not undersell your skills and your work

You can quickly get a program to do your accounting, but the experience of doing it by hand will drive into your mind the concepts in a much better way.

I would suggest that you occupy your school time taking courses in art, art history, photography and other classes that will give you a concept on how to frame pictures. 99% of photography is between your ears. If you do not have a sound idea on how to frame a picture, your pictures will not sell. Art works are framed also, that is why I suggest art history. You will see the differences between Rembrandt and Boticelli (for instance) to see how lighting is involved in a good picture. Photography is a visual art and it takes a good trained mind.

Answer 3

This is a drum that I tend to beat so bear with me. No, you do not need a MBA to have a photo business. But you do need some basic business skills in order to be a success.

NUMBER 1 and the most important.....Know what your cost of doing business is! Now that may sound simple but it is vital to know how much money it will cost you to travel, create, process, mail, advertise, insure, repair, rent, eat....ect....all those things have a direct impact on your bottom line. I know a lot of very creative photographers who make beautiful images but worry about making the rent at the first of the month. These are the people who drive 275 miles to shoot four hours for a newspaper that pays $175. You will go hungry real quick.

You need to know how to protect your work. Copyright law and filing procedures are critical in making sure that your work remains your work. Editorial Photographers is a great site to learn how this is done with great links to business oriented questions and answers.

You have to know your market. What are other people charging for similar work? What area is being under served and how you can fill the need?

You need to learn how to negotiate. This is a biggie! The first offer may be too low...can you get it higher....if not...can you do it for less (What is your cost of doing business?). You need to know when to walk away from a bad deal. I know it's hard sometimes to say no to money but sometimes you just have to...that's business.

Good Luck

Answer 4

No, you do not need a degree. You should however make sure that you meet with your tax advisor to discuss that end of the business. For example in the State of New York photographers are required to charge Sales Tax for their services, where as in California they are not. So just make sure you talk to an accountant to make sure you're doing all your filings correctly and you should be okay.

You will get photography jobs based on the quality of your work. So go for it!

Answer 5

you do not have to have a business degree, but some knowledge of business is good to have and use..the more important is knowing how to do the photography and how to use equipment etc.........many people run business with out a college degree and do just fine....

Answer 6

As I used to have a one hour photo lab. You don't need a degree in buisness but it would help. Marketing would be another good one to have. All you really "need" is a vendors license and the willingness to spend a lot of time working.

Good luck

Answer 7

No. But I would assume you would need a photography liscense and apply for a entrepanuer ship liscense or somthing

Answer 8

No, just a business license from your city gov't.

Answer 9

nope. let's open one.

Answer 10

N O -