Getting Started. "Many will come, but few are chosen." Will you be one of the chosen? Since 1981, when I published the first edition of this book, many photographers have benefited by it, and write to tell me they are now well-established in the editorial stock photography field. What's their secret? Why have they been chosen?

Throughout this book, I emphasize the importance of analyzing your personal photographic marketing strength/areas and then determining which markets need your kind of pictures. These invaluable assessments alone are an insurance policy against failure when you get started in your photo-marketing operation. Taking the time to pinpoint your PMS/A and research a sound Market List is fundamental to the success of your operation. If you skip this process or give it only short shrift, your photo-marketing prospects will be shaky.

Should you start today? My answer is yes, if you start by mapping out your PMS/A and Market List - then set aside four weekends to physically set up your operation. That's right - in just four weekends, you can put yourself in business. We'll explore how to move step-by-step through those weekends in the "Four-Weekend Action Plan," but first let's take a look at a dozen roadblocks that may be standing in the way of getting started.

I've listed in Table 4-1 the twelve most common reasons people give as to why they haven't plunged into their photo-marketing operations. To the right are references to where in the book each point is discussed and either solved or dissolved as a problem. If you've found any of the reasons mentioned in table 4-1 to be roadblocks along your own route, now is the time to break through them and launch your starting strategy.

Most people have an aversion to starting things. Did you ever not start preparing a recipe because you weren't sure if you had all the ingredients? Did you ever not start work on a project because you weren't sure you would be able to find one of the necessary tools when you were halfway through it? Or weren't sure what you'd need? Most of us procrastinate.

Well, you're lucky. You don't have to wait any longer to fire up your photo-marketing enterprise. Why not? Because the Four-Weekend Action Plan contains all the ingredients, all the tools, all the know-how you need to propel yourself into the field of photomarketing.

Your resolve will require some understanding on the part of your family and friends. Announce to your family that you are going to take the next four weekends to establish yourself in the business of marketing your photographs. Now here's a paradox: As soon as you make your announcement, your loved ones will find every imaginable reason to distract you for the next four weekends. ("Johnny has a choir concert." "We're scheduled to play cards at the Howards'." "Mary has a Little League tournament.") After all, they like you so much, they don't want to see you invest yourself in something that they believe might not work out, and secondly, they don't want to see you engrossed in something they are not part of. At this point, you are most vulnerable to being talked out of the Four-Weekend Action Plan. Visualize your goals and hold firm.

If you can, turn your loved ones' reservations into an advantage by recruiting their help in some of the routine tasks needed to set up your office and record-keeping systems. Remember, though, that you are running the show. Your blueprint is in Table 4-2.

Don't fall into the trap of over-preparing: "One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, four to get ready, five to get ready, etc...." You are about to begin a long and adventurous journey. You must begin by taking the first step. The photo-marketing enterprise you are about to embark on is going to take endurance. You are going to experience setbacks. You will no doubt encounter some trying times of reassessment. If your desire is strong, none of this will faze you. Welcome to a magnificent obsession with this profession!

Take action. Announce your plan to 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 partition off part of one, and set up a desk, chair, lamp, computer, scanner, filing cabinet and FAX when possible. (Consult the Yellow Pages for used-furniture bargains.) Tack a sign above your desk, "____________ Photo Illustrations."

Order your supplies: Magnifying glass (loupe), Personalized stationery, Mailing envelopes, Plastic sleeves, Labels, Slide view, files, Rubber stamps, Business checks, Simplified bookkeeping system, Recordkeeping system, Subscriptions to business periodicals.

Determine your areas of strong marketing potential and areas of poor marketing potential. Photo marketing is a business. Success comes when you eliminate the barriers and pitfalls that prevent you from succeeding (failure avoidance). Discover your personal photo-marketing strengths (who you are photographically).

Whether you have 500 or 5,000 images: Catalog your slides (transparencies). Catalog your prints (B&W and color). Organize your computer disks.

Reread "First, Find Yourself," at the beginning of Chapter 3. Fine-tune your PMS/A (Figure 3-2).

Reread Chapter 2, "What Pictures Sell and Resell?"

Why compete with an army or photographers in the commercial stock photography area when you possess channels of knowledge, and access to select areas, that specific photobuyers are already looking for? Spend the weekend in your local library and compile your own Market List -- a list of markets tailored to your photographic strengths. Take along the directories list in Chapter 3. Request photo guidelines from each of the markets on your list.

Reread all of Chapter 3, "Finding Your Corner of the Market." Fine-tune your Market List (Figure 3-3).

All of your supplies are in. Set up a simple recordkeeping system (nothing elaborate) to note what you send out, to whom, and what sells. Validate your Market List. Confirm spellings. Make address corrections. Verify current contacts' names. Mail out your first shipments.

Read Chapter 14, "Working Smart."

Read Chapter 16, "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 daily basis, for one hour or ten hours, whatever fits your work style, life-style, and income projections.

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 cassette tapes in your downtime (driving to and from work, in the darkroom, etc.). Incorporate elements of such information as they apply to you.

You are 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.

Breaking through the roadblocks. "Put 20% to the Problem and 80% to the Solution."

JUST STARTING OUT? You'll benefit by our "STARTER KIT" - a cornucopia of helpful samples and examples of good marketing tools for the stock photographer. For more information: http://www.photosource.com/101/kit4.html

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