subject: Start A Digital Photography Business [print this page] With the right photography business plan, and your ability to get around town with a not-fancy digital camera and a 100 foot tape measure you have can have a job or even a business taking digital pictures and making measurements for national lenders, leasing companies, and insurance companies.
These fininacial services companies get customers and write new business all across the country. These companies do not have permanent full time employees for this digital photo identification task. One reason is that it would be too expensive to maintain such a huge labor force. There are 43,000 zip codes that need to be covered in the US alone. National insurance companies are in the same situation. They insure millions of cars, boats, and buildings almost everywhere, and they do it with relatively few offices in any given State.
Every financial transaction requires the proper documentation. That almost always includes digital photos of the property and often includes measurements if the financed or leased item is a building or other form of real estate. These national companies get the digital photos and documentation they need by using independent, local photographers.
You can have your own digital photography business by becoming a local representative for one or more of the 100s of national companies that need digital photo documentation of all different kinds of private property they finance or insure in your area. Most often these national companies do not do the local hiring themselves. They use other specialized companies who set up these local digital photograpers. The first step in your photography business plan is to have up to date contact information for the companies that hire these local representatives, and have a good idea of how to present yourself and give them the comfort that you know what you're doing.
The going rate per assignment for most of these digital photgraphy assignments is from $25 - $100 depending on the complexity and size of the job and the kind and number of items to be documented. The work itself is not hard and almost anybody could do it. The digital photos are not going to be used as artwork and you do not need any special training or unusual photographic abilities. The people paying for the work just want clear, descriptive photos that accurately portray the condition of the financed or leased items.
