Oak City Arts Photography will provide photography services focused on artists in Raleigh, NC. The company will specialize in headshots, performance shots, 3D art photography, and promoting clients through a website. This venture aims to reach artists - an underserved market. Risks include startup costs and equipment expenses. The business will be profitable by charging competitive rates that cover costs while building a portfolio and client base over three years before expanding services.

1. OAK CITY ARTS
PHOTOGRAPHY
Robbie Thomas

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Oak City Arts Photography
Abstract
I would like to start a Photography company that centers its work on fellow artists. There
is an overwhelming amount of photographers that focus on weddings and other events; thus, I
want to tap into an under-reached market. I want to focus on the needs of the artists who want to
gain popularity and credibility through beautiful representations of their art and personality.
Service Description
This agency will focus on the photography needs of artists and performers. The vision is
to use photography to display the work of artists and build their professional credibility. The four
main services Oak City Arts Photography will provide are headshots, performance shots, 3D Art
Photography, and a website to promote the work of its clients.
Every artist, musician and actor needs a good headshot. In fact, every professional in any
field should have a good headshot. Headshots show potential employers and clients who the
artist is, and first impressions are key. My goal with headshots is to display the artists’
professionalism and personality. I want to design each photoshoot around the specific artist,
enabling their personality to shine through the photo. Each Headshot photoshoot will include two
types of pictures. The first will be in business formal attire in front of a simple back drop. The
second will be more casual, taken outside of the studio with a natural or architectural
background. This picture will be used to show the personality and character of the artist.
Many artists don’t have an easy way to display their art online without the use of
photography. Too often I have seen beautiful art captured poorly. 3d artists and musicians should
not have to rely on themselves or their fans to take pictures of their art. I want to do this for

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them. This involves going to their studios or shows and capturing their work in its best light. For
3d artists, I will have a mobile studio with backdrops and lights for their work. I will strive to
capture the full detail and beauty of their art on camera. I will also take pictures of the artist
creating their art so their clients can see him or her at work. For musicians and other performers,
I will attend their performances with the permission of the venues to take quality performance
shots. I will sell the rights of these pictures to the artist so they can control exactly what they
want to display.
The last service I want to provide is a website that promotes all of my clients. I don’t
want my relationship with my clients to be simply providing them with pictures. I would like to
help promote them by providing a place were I can showcase their work through my pictures.
Each of my Clients will have page on my website with a short biography accompanying the
pictures I took for them.
As This venture grows I would like to expand its services. One particular service that I
would love to add is videography for artists. While this venture Is young, I will not offer this
service. Videography is a very different art form than photography. It requires a lot more editing,
time, and equipment. To do videography with the same quality that I do photography, I would
have to increase my startup costs by at least $3000. In addition, the extended editing time would
force me to triple my prices.
As soon the demand for my services exceeds what I can offer on my own, I plan to hire
another photographer to match this demand. Each additional photographer will start at an hourly
rate of $15 per hour, and will be responsible for conducting photoshoots and editing pictures. I
will schedule their work and match clients to the photographer that best meets the needs and
style of the artist. After I have hired two additional photographers, I will consider hiring a
Videographer. Offering videography services will require a new pricing model, more gear, and
extra software. I will not take this risk until the business is running smoothly and is profitable.

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Opportunity and Need
According to Entreprenurship.com; “Taking photographs of actors and models is a sector
of the photography industry that generates millions of dollars in revenues each year”1. My
business will take photographs of actors and models, but it will not be confined to just actors and
models. It will be for all artists. Raleigh is a great area for this career because it has a
$143.5 million arts industry with about 5,700 full time artists2. Arts in Raleigh are big, and are
getting even bigger. At the beginning of this year the city of Raleigh adopted a 10-year plan to
strengthen the arts culture in Raleigh3, which would naturally grow my client base.
Raleigh is home to an abundance of differing art forms. There are many live performance
venues, from small bars to the magnificent Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts. Raleigh
is also home to Fine Art organizations such as the NC Symphony, North Carolina Opera,
Carolina Ballet, and the NC Theater. All of these organizations are filled with excellent
performers who are potential clients for my company.
Raleigh has the most live music in the state of North Carolina.4 There are all sorts of
venues in the Raleigh area that fuel local performers, and local performers will in turn fuel my
business.
Target Market
Generally, my target market is artists. I believe that my services could be useful for all
artists. More specifically, my target market can be broken down into five categories: musicians,
dancers, actors, 3D artists, and designers.
For musicians, I will offer three main services — band pictures, individual headshots, and
performance pictures. Every band needs good pictures of the band itself. Quality band pictures
help connect the fans to the artist. It helps them put a face to their music. When I see low quality
band pictures, I subconsciously devalue the band. With quality band pictures, the band can show
their customers how serious they are. These pictures can be used in many scenarios including
1 http://www.entrepreneur.com/businessideas/actors-photo-portfolios
2 https://www.raleighnc.gov/parks/content/Arts/Articles/RaleighArts.html
3 https://www.raleighnc.gov/parks/content/ParksRec/Articles/Projects/ArtsPlan.html
4 http://www.themostnc.com

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album art, posters, flyers and web promotions. Another way musicians can connect with their
audiences is having individual headshots for every musician in the group. These would be
primarily for the band’s website or social media. With individual headshots, fans can get a better
sense of who is in the band and gain a greater appreciation for all of the band members. The final
service I will provide for musicians is performance pictures. These pictures will be used to show
what the band is like on stage. Most bands make most of their money from shows, so the best
thing they can do is to get people to go to their shows. My aim with performance pictures is to
encourage listeners to go to shows. These pictures will show why just listening to the album
shouldn’t be enough. My performance pictures will be used to bring audiences to the shows by
displaying the band at their best.
My pictures for dancers will be extremely similar to what I will do for musicians. From a
business perspective, dancers and musicians operate in a very similar fashion. They are both
performance artists who need shows to survive. My pictures will help them look more
professional to the people who would hire them.
For actors, I will focus primarily on Headshots. Headshots are extremely important for
actors. It is their most valuable marketing tool. When auditioning for parts, the first impression
casting directors have of actors is their headshot. If an actor does not have a good headshot, he
probably won’t get many good parts. I will also offer performance shots for performing actors
and actresses. These shots will give casting directors a better sense of what the performer is like
on stage.
I will offer designers and 3D artists the same services because their work is so similar. I
will bring my mobile studio to their studio to capture their art with proper lighting and
backdrops. I will also offer pictures of them creating their art which will help potential buyers
make the connection between the artist and the art.
These five categories I mentioned earlier will make up most of my clientele because they
have the greatest need for my services, but I will not restrict my business to these categories. My
venture will do work for every types of artist. If 2D artists, photographers, poets, or any other
form of artist wants my services; I will gladly work for them, and adjust my services to match
their needs.

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With all of my work, my aim is to use my skills to help my clients earn greater
credibility, so that they can be more successful in their endeavors.
Unique Benefits & Competitive Advantage
My company will aim to reach a largely unreached market. There are countless wedding
photographers and portrait photographers, but not enough photographers who focus on the needs
of other artists. It takes work to find a good photographer that specializes in arts photography.
While looking at the existing companies I could only find a small handful of professional
photographers with this focus. My hope is to fill this gap so that all artists in Raleigh will have
the tools they need for success.
Risks
As with any start up company, there is the risk of loosing money in the first few years.
Finding clients is not always easy. This business is funded solely based on my work, and if I
can’t find enough clients I will have to take a loss. I am combatting this risk by setting aside
$2000 for advertising in the first year of full time work. I am confident that if I am strategic with
this money, I will be able to find the clients I need.
With the $2000 advertising budget, I will use a mixed marketing strategy. First, I will
display Advertisements on Instagram and Facebook for $20 a day. These ads will only be shown
to people in the Raleigh area, and they will be primarily targeted at people who are interested in
the arts. In order to maximize my funds, I will run these advertisements in week long intervals.
Between each week of ads, I will have a week without them. I will show these advertisements for
6 weeks total, which will cost $840. Second, I will sponsor a Show at the North Raleigh Arts &
Creative Theater. Sponsoring a show will give my business a full-page advertisement in the
show’s program, the shows program will read "Show presented by Oak City Arts Photography”
on the cover, I will be given 12 tickets for the sponsored show, and there will be Oak City Arts
Photography Signage on theater doors This will cost $750. With the remaining $400, I will print
high quality posters and flyers and will put them in as many venues and galleries as possible.
Finally, I will market directly to a few artists whose art is displayed in public galleries by
providing the artists with sample watermarked pictures of their work.

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Another risk that I may face is conflicts over the legal rights of the pictures I take. In
order to avoid some lawsuits, I will hire a lawyer to write an extensive contract that I will have
each of my clients sign. I will also set aside some extra cash for any additional legal fees.
An important part of running a photography company is protecting the photography gear.
Because photographers have to travel with expensive cameras and lenses there is always a risk of
damage or theft of the equipment. I will purchase an insurance policy to cover all of my gear so
that in the event I lose all of my equipment, I will not have to take a significant loss.
Profitability
This business will have a relatively simple financial structure. I will have several fixed
costs up front, but they should decrease as the business matures. Most of my fixed costs will be
legal fees and gear. I will have a few insignificant variable costs, such as transportation costs.
My revenue will come solely from the work I do. Later in this section, I will go into more detail
about how my prices cover my expenses and leave room for profit.
The first two years of operation will be used for building my credibility, portfolio, initial
client base, and saving money. I will start by pooling clients from my existing network and
charging them a minimal price. All funds earned will go straight into the business, for covering
start up costs. During this time, I will charge 25-50 dollars per shoot, and by the end of the first
year I will increase these prices to 75-100 dollars per shoot. If I was willing to immediately make
this a full time business, I could turn those two years into six months, but I am a full time student
earning an entrepreneurship degree with two years left in my degree program. For this reason, I
am going to use these two years to build connections, a strong portfolio, and save money for the
full start up costs.
During the first two years, I will have a few fixed and variable costs. I already have most
of the gear that I need, but I still need a few more items to be be able to run this business
professionally.

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Here is a list of what I already have and what I need:
Have Value Need Cost
DSLR Camera $600 Camera Flash $330
2 Professional Lenses $400 Adobe Photoshop+ lightroom $120
MacBook Pro $1,600 Incorporation form $150
Tripod $50 Website $150
2 backup Drives $ 80 Basic Mobile Studio $170
Allowance for miscellaneous needs $300
Total $2730 Total $1220
This will be enough for me to get started with professional quality, but a more limited
client base. Once I have established a credible portfolio and have saved enough startup money, I
will expand my business by creating a home studio for headshots and investing in more
professional gear. My current camera is good but I will need a better one for consistently good
concert pictures. The same goes for my lenses. They do not capture enough light in most low
light situations.
To the the right are some of my foreseen fixed costs
for the Third Year of operation. This is one of the more
expensive years that the business will see. It is the year that
I will go full time, and the business will start to bring in
significant revenues.
My variable costs will be low, and are basically just
transportation expenses. Thus, I am going to assume $15 of
variable costs per photoshoot.
Once I graduate and am ready to go full time, I will
start using competitive fixed rates and I will buy all the
gear I need for going full time.
Item Cost
New Camera $1,200
New Lenses, $2,100
Home Studio Setup $1,000
Marketing $2,000
Insurance $300
Taxes $6,000
Legal Fees + Contracts $1,500
Miscellaneous $400
Total $14,500

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Below are the prices for my 3rd year of business:
I chose these price points because they are
competitive, but still a little lower than most
professional photographers’. This is a price
range where I can earn a living and pay for
expenses. These price points are loosely
based off of a $20 per hour wage. As I
improve as a photographer and gain
popularity, I will gradually increase my
prices according to the level of demand for
my work.
Here is a sample projected income statement for the 3rd year
To estimate revenues, I used this set of estimates:
2 Performance shots a week for 20 weeks (40 total)
4 headshots a week for 30 weeks (120 total)
1 Group shot a week for 20 weeks (20 total)
Conclusion
I am excited to see what the future holds for this company. I believe that it has a good
likelihood for success. Raleigh will be a great environment for this business. There is a strong
opportunity and need here, and a very high potential for success.
Service Duration Pictures Price
Headshots 1.5 Hr 5 Edited $175
Group Shots 2 Hr 10 Edited $250
Performances 3 Hr 20 Edited $450
3D Art 1 Hr 15 Edited $250
Add- Ons Add-on Price
Extra Edited Pictures $25 per
Extra Time $30 Per hour
Income Statement
Revenues $44,000
Cost of Revenues ($1050)
Gross Profit $42950
Operating Expenses
Marketing ($2000)
R&D ($4700)
Administrative ($7800)
Operating Income $28,450