Must Haves in Starting Your Real Estate Photography Editing Business

Starting your own real estate photography business is an exciting prospect. Not only will you be starting off a career that’s fulfilling but also going through a job that you feel happy to do every single day. Something that most people must realize is that starting a real estate photography business entails just as hard of a work that other businesses. It requires setting up of different operational structures, capital expenditures, and client-based expenses such as advertising. Cameras and other photo editing equipment are also on this list as these will be at the core of delivering those neat photos.
Table of Contents
The Things You will Need
To get you rolling, consider doing a step-by-step approach that involves three stages. The first being planning, the second being procuring and the third is executing. Under each phase, significant milestones must be achieved in order to ensure that all bases are covered for your upcoming real estate photography business.
Phase 1: Planning
- Conceptualize your brand
Think of it as packaging yourself and your services. Every real estate photography business will come out as unique and distinguishable from another through its identity. Think about how your passion can manifest in people’s perception and create a brand that speaks to you and your would-be clients.
- Create a budget
Money is one of the most important aspects of planning. It will cost to build the business and will cost to produce enhanced images using photo editing equipment. When constructing the budget, it is helpful to tag the cost items as one-time costs and recurring costs. This will help you imagine how much you will need at certain points in time. One-time costs may be investments such as buying your gear or establishing promotional materials while recurring costs are those that are incurred regularly. These may include monthly subscription costs for editing software, electricity costs, and other utilities used to produce enhanced images
- Come up with a pricing plan
Pricing plans help you during conversations with potential clients. It will be essential for most real estate photography businesses to show visibility on how much they are charging for their services. This helps clients determine which photographer to hire because money is one of the more common determinants of decision making. Perhaps think of creating packages or different tiers of pricing depending on the depth of editing clients are looking for or maybe on the basis of volume of photos.
Phase 2: Procuring
- Take time to search for the right camera gear
Having the right set of photo editing equipment begins with the hardware. While the process of shopping for a camera, flash, tripod, lens, and carry bag is exciting, try to control yourself with sticking to a budget and scrutinizing the specifications to know if they are what you really need. A camera that has all the features, bells, and whistles may seem like the first choice since it is advanced and all. But ask yourself the question if you really need to spend on those added features. Beginning your real estate photography business may not necessarily require such complexities as part of your photo editing equipment at the beginning and saving that chunk of money by buying smartly can go a long way.
- Buy a computer that works for you
Whether it is a laptop or a desktop you are after, the truth is, these are just as essential as the camera when it comes to selecting your photo editing equipment. The vast choices of computers out there can drive you crazy with all the models, specifications, capacities, and the list goes on. Laptops might be better choices if you wish to take your real estate photography business mobile and work remotely from different locations. Just make sure to check out those that have high RAMS and hard disk spaces so you don’t end up filling your laptop to the brim and ending up being clueless on what to do next.
- Find the right software subscription
There are tons to choose from out there. Adobe would normally be the weapon of choice of most photographers out there but feel free to explore other software such as Luminar and GIMP who both can perform as well as Adobe and some might even be free. What you need to consider though, for real estate photo editing is that certain software was built to cater heavily to the real estate photography business. This means that there are features and tools within the software that were built to conveniently allow power users of realty editor to execute commands quickly. Perhaps consider reading up on reviews and recommendations to help you make your choice.
Phase 3: Executing
- Go out there and advertise!
The branding and construction of your pricing list will spring into action as you now try to gain clients. Perhaps offer such promotional services such as samples so people can see your working style before they commit. This shows a mutual sense of trust between both parties and it will even give you a chance to showcase what you can do. Do be afraid as well to try for small to medium or even big real estate companies. Each will have their own needs and if you are able to meet those especially the deadlines then you may be in for a surprise.
- Continue learning as you go
Limiting yourself to what you know now can sometimes hinder you from doing more. Confidence is key when you know you can learn the ins and outs of the business as you go through this journey. Keep an open mind as you accept more orders. Some might be challenging and tight when it comes to time frames but always remember there are ways to get by without cutting corners and perhaps think about automation or outsourcing as ways to alleviate the pressure of doing it all by yourself.
Conclusion
There you have it! Putting up a real estate photography business might seem like a chore, but the learning process starts on the day you decide to take on the challenge. Make sure that you have all bases covered, including all monetary considerations so you can go on and start making your passion your business.
Relevant Quick Links:
- Real Estate Photo Editing
- Real Estate Image Editing
- Knowledge Base
- You Should Read This - How to Start Real Estate Photo Editing Business
- How Real Estate Photo Retouching Helps Save Money for Your Business