Last month, we introduced the Ask an Agent column, written by Lisa Pritchard of the Lisa Pritchard Agency, which represents photographers such as Julian Calverley, Iain Crockart, Nick Daly, Rob Murray and Jenny Nordquist. She is back this month with a new question to answer:

‘’I left college four years ago and have been assisting since then, how do I make the leap into being a full-time commercial photographer?’’

The truth is, it might not be so much a leap, as a rather slow and very gradual creep. One thing’s for sure, you won’t finish assisting on the Friday and start your career as a fully fledged commercial photographer on the Monday. Commercial photography is an extremely competitive industry - but don’t let that put you off! If you work hard at gaining experience and knowledge, are passionate, committed, talented and focused - there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be a great success.

Lisa Pritchard © Laura Pannack, winner of World Press Photo 2009 Portraits Singles.

Hopefully you’ll have used your time at college and whilst assisting to do a lot of mental and practical preparation. The last few years was the time to gather information and form a plan. A time to build your contacts and your confidence and attract some recognition. By this stage you should have a good idea of what sort of photography you want to specialise in. You will have developed a body of strong and consistent personal work , acknowledging feedback from peers and industry professionals.

If you’re cunning you might have shot a couple of commissions, even if they were for your mate and not paid for. Ideally, you’ll have been highly proactive, entering awards, perhaps having an exhibition of your personal work. You should have identified your client wish list and swotted up on their industry.

Now you need a concrete plan of attack. If you’ve ever read anything about how to set up a business, you will be advised to prepare a business plan. Before you reach for your mouse to scroll down to something more interesting, stay with me. A business plan is actually a very useful tool, it clears your head and gets you focused. I’ve prepared a sample business plan based on fictitious character Penelope Pentax!

Penelope Pentax - Commercial Photographer’s Business Plan.

1) What’s your Mission Statement?
Penelope Pentax shoots natural looking portraits on location for commercial clients worldwide. She is competitively priced and always delivers on time and in budget, in a friendly professional manner.

2) What’s your Product?
Penelope specialises in portraits of people of all ages on location. She works digitally and her images have a very relaxed, snap shot feel - whether of ‘real ‘ people or models.

3) Who are your Customers?/What’s the Market?
Commercial clients and some editorial, particularly in house magazines.. Potentially any communications agency- e.g advertising , design, branding, digital and also direct clients including charities. Not necessarily limited to the UK.

4) What’s your Marketing Plan? (the more specific the better, it really gets you thinking)
+To have a professionally designed identity, which will then be incorporated on website, portfolio, etc etc etc
+To develop a targeted e-mailing list of xxx potential clients who will receive regular updates of news and work.
+To have x appointments a week with potential clients , and to revisit them with new work.

5) Who’s the Management Team?
+Penelope Pentax - After leaving college 4 years ago, Penelope has been assisting commercial photographers, building up a portfolio of work and developing a recognisable, signature style. She is beginning to get interest from potential clients.
+Peter Pentax- Penelope’s brother is a location scout and helps find location when required. She will share his home office and therefore office costs.

Penelope will employ a freelance assistant and work with a producer when necessary. She is looking into stock and print sales and commercial management and may acquire representation in these areas.

6) Financial plan- (Penelope will include a neat little table with some realistic figures)
+What are your start up costs? Mostly promotional materials as she has the basics in place- camera , laptop , mobile phone. Shares office with brother. Other equipment can be borrowed until 2nd year of trading.
+What are your monthly overheads and operating costs (business and personal outgoings. ) ?
+How many days work do you need to do to survive/whats your break even point?

Penelope needs to work x amount of days to earn enough money to cover her overheads. She will supplement her income from her own photography with assisting , and helping her brother with location scouting. In her 2nd year of trading she will be receiving income from her stock and prints sales.

How much money do you think you’ll make (or lose) – also known as Profit and Loss forecast - in your, 1st, 2nd and 3rd years?

And there we have it , Penelope Pentax’s masterplan.

It’s worth having a look online at longer versions, this is just an abridged version and bit of fun to get you thinking about how, exactly, you are going to make a living by taking pictures.

So, to recap, if all the basics are in place , you now need to concentrate on planning and building your business. In very obvious and simple terms, you basically need to get enough clients and enough regular work to earn a living from so you don't need to assist anymore, and there's no shame in assisting whilst you establish yourself. It's slowly, slowly catch monkey until you achieve your goal. In fact, you’ll probably find this transition so gradual and so natural that it will be difficult to determine actually when your metamorphosis did occur.

Tune in on Thursday 25 March for Lisa's third column. You can send your questions at bjp.news@bjphoto.co.uk. Visit lisapritchard.com.