I got my accounting caught up for 2008 so I thought I would share with you some of the interesting numbers for last year. So you know, I didn't pay myself for 2008 so I could reinvest that money back into the business but I do plan on being able to finally pay myself SOMETHING in 2009.
So, to start with, my photography income went up 150% from 2007. Woohoo!
So, where did my revenue go!? Roughly 27% went towards my material costs for order fulfillment (prints, albums, packaging, etc).
And here's the breakdown of the other 73%:
(all of this data is stored in Quickbooks. I ran a Profit and Loss report, exported it to excel, selected the expenses section, and clicked in the pie chart button to create this fancy chart)
This makes it pretty easy to see where my big expenses are. Rent is the biggest at 20%. And considering my rent tripled in October from what it had been, I better sell a lot of pictures to keep it at that percentage. My new camera, lens, and misc other electronics/equipment was roughly another 22% of income. Training & Travel combined to about 15% (Secret Workshop and Learnfest made that totally worthwhile). The rest you can see is spent over little bits here and there.
What is also interesting is looking at 2007 vs 2008 numbers. For example, I sold way more gallery wrap canvases this year, so my spending on materials went up 637%!!!
For graphic design, I actually spent 50% less in 2008. I remember in 2007 buying ANY template I saw...I was addicted and just wanted them all. I streamlined in 2008 and also had some great stuff gifted to me so didn't have to make as much of an investment myself.
My marketing budget went up over 200% between 2007 and 2008. Not surprising at all considering all the marketing pieces I had printed and handed out last year. I would not be surprised if it went up again in 2009 since I have some pretty big goals, again.
I bought very little equipment in 2007. I already had my 5D so I'm not even sure what equipment I did buy in 2007. However, I did buy my 50mm 1.4 in 2008. And in my year end flurry to end the year I bought the 5D Mark II and 50mm 1.2L lens so my equipment budget increased 386%. Yikes! The good news is that while I'm considering one other lens, I'm not really thinking about adding much equipment to my arsenal in 2009.
Some goals for 2009? Double revenue again. Owner compensation! ;) Possibly bringing in another photographer to concentrate on tweens/teens/seniors. Increase minimum sales from each session. Have a larger average sale.
How did your 2008 compare to 2007? How detailed is your accounting? Are you afraid to look to carefully at it?
Just curious, how do you think you measured in terms of increasing your marketing budget and increased sales? I know that a lot of photographers use WOM and referrals, but did increasing your marketing help as well and can you estimate your ROI?
Posted by: Jus | January 11, 2009 at 11:35 PM
This just kind of blows my mind. I can only hope to get myself this together in the near future. Did you have any tips/suggestions for learning Quickbooks? Do you use it on a Mac? Congrats on your success.
Posted by: nicole | January 12, 2009 at 12:22 AM
Hi Nicole! I use the online version of quickbooks and it is not nearly as overwhelming as the desktop version. My mom has the desktop version and I was completely lost trying to help her with it. I do like the online version though...pretty easy to use. I am STRONGLY considering switching to a full studio management suite soon so I would not be using quickbooks anymore if I do.
Posted by: Jessica | January 15, 2009 at 09:22 AM
Jus, great question...I think it deserves a post all to itself. I'll think about it and get it online soon!
Posted by: Jessica | January 15, 2009 at 09:24 AM