Maximize your potential by thinking ahead. Work smarter, not harder. This is the time to put your thinking cap on. Take inventory of what you currently have. How many marketable photos do you currently have? Do your photos span more than one category? Break out paper and pen and write down basic facts about the current state of your stock photography. Using reference books such as Photographer’s Market and Writer’s Market, compile lists according to the following headlines:

1. Areas of expertise. These are the areas where you have special knowledge. It can be your field of work, a hobby, where your spouse works, etc.
2. Areas of interest. Things you are interested in and that you would be interested in photographing.
3. Photos you currently have and how they match up with your areas of expertise and interest.
4. Photography that is easily accessible to you. Work. Hobbies. Family. Friends. Local places of interest.

Basically you are taking a first inventory of what you have and what you can easily produce. Don’t worry about listing absolutely everything at this early stage. You are simply setting the stage for what is and what can be. In chapter three you will have laid the foundation for this, and right now you’re simply looking at what is currently marketable in your files.

Take action. Announce your plan to your family, relatives, colleagues and friends. Enlist their help, but fly solo if they attempt to dissuade you from your plan.

Clear out a room or a well-defined part of a room, and set up a desk, chair, lamp, computer, filing cabinet and telephone. You can find bargains on used furniture through local thrift shops, surplus auctions held regularly by your state, and local companies that sell secondhand furniture and office equipment. There is little point in spending lots of money on brand-new furniture and office equipment at this stage.

Name your work area. Tack a sign above the desk: “____________Stock Photo.”

Visit an office supply store and a photo equipment store in person or online and order the following supplies:

Scanner (if you still have film)

Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom or similar photo-editing software

Loupe for viewing slides (if you still have and use film)

Lightbox for viewing slides (if you still have and use film)

Personalized stationery

Mailing envelopes

Labels for mailings

Business checks

Business cards

Simplified bookkeeping system

Record-keeping system

Subscriptions to business and photography periodicals such as Photo District News, Shutterbug and Outdoor Photographer

This is where we’ll further develop the work you did during the first weekend. Determine your areas of strong marketing potential and your areas of poor marketing potential. Photomarketing is a business. Success comes when you eliminate the barriers and pitfalls that prevent you from succeeding. Discover your photomarketing strengths as described in chapter three.

Whether you have five hundred or five thousand:

Catalog your slides.

Catalog your digital files.

Build a photo database.

Organize your computer discs and CDs.

Reread “First Find Yourself” at the beginning of chapter three. Fine-tune your PS/A (see Figure 3-2 on pages 52-53).

Reread chapter two, “What Photos Sell and Re-Sell?”

Spend this weekend on the Web or in your local library, and compile your own Market List, a list of markets tailored to your photographic strengths. Refer to the directories list in chapter three. You are going further in depth on the work you’ve done during the first and third weekends.

Request photo guidelines from each of the markets that appeal to you. The vast majority of photo buyers will have guidelines available on their websites. Start a file for each potential photo buyer and make certain you familiarize yourself with their submission guidelines. If you don’t have what they are asking for, put them on a wait list and don’t contact them until you do. It is better to wait a while and make sure your initial submission is spot on for what they want and—equally important—how they want it.

Reread all of chapter three, “Finding Your Corner of the Stock Photography Market.” Fine-tune your Market List (see Figure 3-3 on pages 60-61).

All of your supplies are in. Your desk and work area are organized. Either in a notebook or on your computer, set up a simple record-keeping system to note what you send out, when, to whom and what sells. Use search engines to find individual websites and validate your Market List. Confirm spellings of names, make address corrections, and verify current contacts’ names. Make your first submission, either online or by mail.

Read chapter fourteen, “Working Smart.”

Read chapter sixteen, “Your Stock Photo Business: A Mini Tax Shelter.”

From here on out, make it a habit to work in your new home office on a routine basis. Work for one hour or ten hours, whatever fits your work style, lifestyle, and income projections. You’re setting the stage for the future, and having good habits from the beginning will make everything so much easier farther down the road.

Read your business and marketing periodicals, and expand your knowledge a little each day. Learn what others are doing; attend specialized workshops and seminars. Listen to business and marketing podcasts during your downtime (driving to and from work, in your digital darkroom and so on). Incorporate elements of such information as they apply to you.

You’re now on your way. Depending on the size of your stock file, you’ll have many published pictures (and deposited checks) to your credit by the time you’re ready to celebrate your first anniversary.