Pet Phtography

[Richard DeYoung]

My dogs grooming salon asked me if I would be interested in photogaphing pets that they groom. Since I have some good pet photos I took them into them and they loved them. How to do business?
1] Charge a sitting fee and so much per digital photo depending on size and paper?
2} Have a photo day whereby interested grooming customers bring their pets to be photo'd.
Any other thoughts?
I live about 1 mile from the groomers so I can pop over fairly easily.

[CaptainTom]

You have a good opportunity presented to you.
This is a business venture, and as such you need to get your business ducks in a row.

You will need a sales tax ID number. (you need to charge sales tax, or you'll soon be in hot water)
You will need a DBA to establish a seperate bank account for your business activities. Never mix personal accounts with business money.
You may need some liability insurance to cover your mistakes. ( A dog keels over dead after you fired a flash, or a cat runs rampant and injures a kid after you fire your flash). Not your fault, but a potential liability issue.

All of this sounds like a PiTa, but is worth the small effort to get it right.

All of your options re: what to do at the salon, sound feasible. Plan ahead how you will deliver the goods, and set your prices now. Once you've established a price, it's really hard to sell the same product for MORE. You can always lower the price if you need to.

[kenw]

Originally Posted by CaptainTom

....
You may need some liability insurance to cover your mistakes. ( A dog keels over dead after you fired a flash, or a cat runs rampant and injures a kid after you fire your flash). Not your fault, but a potential liability issue.

.....

see? we all learned something here: don't use flash!

seriously, good points, Cap'n.

[bondarnes]

Originally Posted by CaptainTom

You may need some liability insurance to cover your mistakes. ( A dog keels over dead after you fired a flash, or a cat runs rampant and injures a kid after you fire your flash). Not your fault, but a potential liability issue.

I wasn't aware that cats needed to be groomed. I thought they did that themselves, cheap bastids.

[CaptainTom]

Originally Posted by bondarnes

I wasn't aware that cats needed to be groomed. I thought they did that themselves, cheap bastids.

Thinking more along the lines of PetSmart where there are animals all over the place. Not to mention all the pets they have there.

[toverman]

It's a little late for it this year, but some people go all gooey over photos of their pets with Santa.