Emily - Eternal Moments Photography
Emily's business, Eternal Moments Photography, has found a niche market in the highly competitive field of photography. She's a photographer at children's birthday parties and presents the developed photos in a keepsake album.
"I finished studying about 18 months ago and I wasn't getting anywhere in the industry. I needed to take photos to maintain and practice my skills. That's when I came up with the idea to take photos of children at their birthday party.
"I was asked to be the photographer at a friend's wedding. I was thinking about getting into wedding photography because I've got all the equipment for it, but there's so much competition and you've got to put in so much work to be competitive, especially when you're starting out.
"I'm not experienced like some of the 'big guys' around. So I thought about doing children's birthday parties instead."
Emily saw the opportunity to do something a little different and she ran with the business idea.
"Parents and families are often so busy putting at a birthday party for their kids that taking photos is not one of their priorities because there's so much to organise. They end up with about 100 photos of the cake and that's about it."
Emily did some research into her idea and found that no one else was specialising in photographing birthday parties.
She decided to put the Advanced Diploma of Photography she earned after 3 years of studying at the Photography Studies College to good use, together with her experiences working with a food photographer and a wedding photographer.
Emily enrolled in a Certificate IV course in Small Business Management course to help her put together a business plan.
"The financial side of things in the beginning is really hard... you put in a lot of effort and there's no money's coming in... waiting for the phone to ring... And it's hard finding enough time to do everything by myself and not having anyone around to ask."
Does she enjoy running her own business? Emily laughs.
"I guess so! Ask me in a couple of months... It's good because you get to do what you want to do and how you want to do it. It's hard because it's only you doing it and you have to set your own priorities. Sometimes it's hard finding motivation to get all the little things done, but I'm usually quite disciplined about that."
Emily found out about the NEIS (new window) program and used this federal government grant to kick-start her business. 'I did the NEIS program and it's great.'
She has some good advice for anyone who wants to start their own business.
"If you've got a good idea and believe it will succeed, do it! I recommend the same course that I did, business planning. Before, I never saw the importance of doing the business plan but I do now. It's also a great way to make a network of contacts and support."
Links
Eternal Moments Photography
This is Emily's business website. You learn more about Emily and her business here.
Business Licence Information Service (BLIS)
Emily found some really useful information about business licences and permits on this site.
IBISWorld
Emily found the industry sector overview information on this site really interesting. You can check out some facts about the size and growth opportunities of your industry here.
Local Council Websites
Emily made good use of her local council websites and sourced loads of demographic information and other secondary data. You can find your local council website on the Department of Infrastructure website.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
The ABS provided the original geographic and demographic data that Emily found useful on the local council websites.
