Making money with a camera is one of the simplest methods to supplement your income.
More people own cameras than radios, and photography is the world’s fastest-growing hobby. However, using a camera as a source of extra revenue is frequently disregarded!
With a bit of inventiveness, a flair for showmanship, and a dash of showmanship, the typical man, woman, or even youngster can easily make an extra $300 each week with his camera.
You don’t need one of the popular, more expensive cameras, or a slew of expensive attachments and equipment. In many cases, a Polaroid or other “off-the-shelf” camera will be sufficient. The only additional piece of equipment you might want to consider purchasing is a tripod for placing the camera in specific scenarios.
One of the simplest ideas is to go to a children’s clothes store in a crowded shopping mall or the children’s department at a large department store. Sell the manager or business owner on the concept of you setting up a section of the store or department and photographing the children of the shoppers. He can promote the idea that you’ll be at the store taking pictures for a special price during certain hours, such as Friday evenings and all day Saturdays, in his advertising, bringing in additional customers as a result of you.
For the background, you’ll need a sheet or plain piece of material or some form of imaginative set. However, you can easily construct or build this yourself. You should also have a visually appealing poster that highlights what you’re doing and the pricing you’re charging. Spend the money to get this sign manufactured by a professional unless you’re a commercial artist. The last item you’ll need is a two-part receipt or coupon.
A basic sheet of paper about 2 inches wide by 5 inches long can suffice. Draw lines on the left side for your consumers to fill in their name, phone number, and address. You may also want to give space for future efforts, such as the child’s name, age, and the number of children in the household, but keep it brief and straightforward.
On the right side of this coupon, include your company name, address, and phone number, as well as a brief description of the many types of photographic work you perform, and perhaps a business motto such as “Satisfaction Guaranteed or You Don’t Pay.”
Take the basic form of this idea to a quick print shop to add a touch of sophistication to this coupon. Tell them what you want, show them your outline, and have everything typeset. The coupon should then have a beautiful border around it and be printed on colorful paper. A “dollar note” hue of green is the greatest. If you want to add a touch of sophistication, have it printed on green, lightweight card stock. You should use a dotted line and perforations to separate the “information” side of this voucher from the “business card” side.
You should be able to fit six of these coupons on an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper or card stock if you layout them correctly. This means that the printer can print and cut 6,000 of them for the same price as circulars or flyers.
Shop around for the best price on printing, but it shouldn’t cost more than $60 for all 6,000 coupons and 1,000 sheets of paper or card material.
Now, when you take a person’s photo, whether it’s an “in-store” setup or out on the golf course, you give them one of your coupon receipts and tell them their prints will be ready in a couple of days. They fill out the information portion of the coupon and return it to you, keeping your “business card” piece of it.
When the prints are finished, call the customer to remind him—volunteer to deliver and collect them; mail them with a bill; or make arrangements with a business to store them until the individuals call for them and pay at that time.
Most retailers, golf courses, bowling alleys, and other retail merchants will gladly handle this aspect of it for you because it pulls customers back into their establishments and offers them with another sales opportunity.
By all means, include a promotional circular with each batch of images you give. This circular should explain how the customer may receive more prints, enlargements of his favorites, and information about all of the other photography services you provide.
For extra cash, return to the original “in-store” picture-capturing setup during nighttime shopping hours and on weekends. With a few merchandising promotional ideas, you may draw attention to your “in-store” setup and increase sales. The highlights of a few concepts that have worked effectively are provided in the following paragraphs. However, you should keep an eye out for extra promotional ideas that could be tailored to your new venture.
Dress a helper in a clown suit and photograph the children in his lap or with his arm around the children. Put a sandwich advertising board on an assistant and have him walk across the shopping mall advertising the fact that you’re taking pictures in a Kiddies Clothing store.
Promote a “Baby of the Year” contest in which you can photograph the newborns, display the photos on a “show board,” and provide $100 cash plus a merchandise prize in a large drawing at the end of the year.
Create a booth at the mall to promote “Instant Snapshots.” As a Roving Photographer, shoot candid images of shoppers and promote a “Shopper Of The Year” competition. Work with a clown to “attach himself” to the children and ask if they want their pictures made with him. Make a cheap and portable set, such as an airplane, a race vehicle, a bucking bronco, a hand-shaking moment with a famous person, or “balloon figures,” and photograph the individuals standing in or on it.
Go to the golf course and photograph the golfers as they tee off. Go to the bowling alleys and capture candid images of the bowlers in action. Do the same thing everywhere there is a sporting event. Always be ready to take team photos whenever the opportunity arises.
You could either follow or hire someone to follow a Little League team throughout the season, getting candid and action photographs. The best photos are then included in a photo album with the team’s name and year on the front. Each member of the squad should be able to purchase one of these albums.
On a Sunday afternoon, there’s also the thought of “simply” wandering through the park. You can snap candid and intriguing photographs of couples, children, and people in general while they are visiting relatives.
Keep an eye out for more baby announcements. Send promotional materials to new mothers and follow up with phone calls to set up photography sessions.
Keep an eye out for engagement announcements in the weekend papers. Send your sales literature to the brides-to-be, and then follow up with phone calls to book the wedding photography.
Set up a photo inventory service for homes and businesses. With this concept, you contact insurance companies to see if they will approve and endorse photographs you take of their policyholders’ household, personal, and commercial property in loss claims.
Most will, and from there, whether with the assistance of an insurance agent, the agency itself or on your own, contact property owners and sell them on the notion of you photographing the household goods they have insured. You take the photos—a visual inventory of everything they’re claiming or want to claim on an insurance policy—and then identify them, giving one set to the property owner and the other to his insurance agent or firm.
Picture inventory of household and personal items is still a new concept, but everywhere it’s been implemented, it’s proven to be a money-making machine for those prepared to get out and hustle.
If this concept appeals to you, you might want to look into a running franchise operation that provides you with a complete business manual, operations guidebook, and ongoing consultant services:
Morgantown, WV 26505, Photographic Inventory, PO Box 4046.
Once you’ve decided to use your camera to earn extra revenue, get out there and use it, start capturing photographs and give yourself the opportunity to build.
Give yourself the opportunity, and you’ll rapidly come up with hundreds of photography ideas, merchandising ideas for showcasing your services, and sales angles for expanding your revenues.
The key thing is to get started, no matter how modest, and start profiting from an idea that is still in its infancy. This is an idea that can generate fresh profit-generating innovations every day of the week. An idea that can be both enjoyable and financially lucrative for you!
You have an idea and a plan; the rest is up to you. Now that you’ve received the ball, go with it!
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