Being a Photographer is Only a Tiny Part of Running a Photography Studio

It is so easy to dream about becoming a newborn photographer and imagine it is all about cuddling babies. And honestly, that part is as wonderful as it sounds.

There is no other job quite like it. You get all the joy of being close to newborns without any of the harder responsibilities that come with healthcare or childcare. The world of newborn photography is just the good bits. Stroking a tiny head as a baby drifts off to sleep. Getting lost in a newborn's gaze for a few quiet moments. That small warm weight against you as you hand them back to mum at the end of the session.

I love every bit of that. It is one of the great privileges of my working life.

But if you want to build a successful newborn photography studio, being good at photographing babies is only a small part of what is required. And the sooner you understand that, the better positioned you will be to actually thrive.

Your Real Job Description

If I sat down and wrote an honest job description for what I actually do, it would be a long list. Social media manager. Accountant. Stock controller. Editor. Tech support. Financial planner. Cleaner. Laundry. Personal assistant. Web designer. Copywriter. Client liaison. Marketing manager. Photographer.

The photography is in there. But it is one item on a very long list.

Yes you can outsource some of these things and sometimes that is absolutely the right decision. But outsourcing costs money and everything you pay someone else to do reduces your profit at the end of the year. More importantly, even if you do outsource certain tasks you still need to understand them well enough to know whether they are being done correctly and whether they are serving your business.

You do not need to be an expert in every area. But you need to know what applies to your business and understand it well enough to make good decisions.

Get Training in the Areas That Matter

Getting advice and training across all these areas will make an enormous difference to how your business performs. The photographers who struggle are almost always the ones who are excellent at the photography and have given very little thought to the business around it. The photographers who thrive are the ones who take both equally seriously.

This is something I cover across a series of posts because each area deserves its own proper attention. You can find them all linked below as they are published. Think of this post as the introduction and each one that follows as a deeper look at one specific part of running a photography studio well.

Your Finances Are Your Responsibility

One thing I want to say clearly before we go any further.

Your business bank account must be completely separate from your personal finances from the very beginning. Not eventually. From day one. Your business money is not family money and it should never be treated as such.

I have never asked my partner for permission to spend money on a lens, a course or any other investment in my business. And neither should you.

This is the first in a series of posts covering what it actually takes to run a successful newborn photography studio. Each post goes deeper into one specific area of the business. Links will be added here as each post is published.

If you are at the stage where you are thinking seriously about building a newborn photography business and you would like to talk through what that actually looks like in practice, a Fika Session might be exactly what you need. It is a 45 minute one to one Zoom call where we can talk through whatever is most relevant to you right now, whether that is pricing, workflows, getting your first clients or anything else on that long job description list. No agenda, just an honest conversation.