Business plan for a photo salon specializing in printing photographs for documents

How can a beginner open a photo salon from scratch? For creative and ideological people who are passionate about the art of photography, opening a salon can become a stable source of income. This interesting business has some nuances. What do you need to open a photo salon? This business can be combined with the rental of beautiful suits, for example.

There are many people who are interested in photography, but not everyone knows how to open an instant photography studio so that it prospers and makes a profit.

Profit

Photography for documents is always a popular service. It will be for you the basic basis of an instant photography studio, and the profit from your work will make it possible to expand the scope of services.

Is the business profitable? If we talk about profitability, then four photographs for a passport cost up to one hundred and fifty rubles, and your costs will be only one ruble (seventy kopecks for the cost of paper and thirty kopecks for the cost of ink).

The daily attendance of such salons is up to fifteen thousand people; you can calculate that with the smallest attendance, your income will be up to four thousand rubles, and when opening a salon in a walk-through location, up to thirty thousand rubles, taking into account a wide range of services.

Target audience and types of services

Thanks to passport offices, OVIR, applicants, you will always have a target audience. They will order photographs for passports of the Russian Federation and foreign passports, for military and student cards, as well as for passes, personal files, health records and identity cards and many other documents. Secrets of a successful photo salon:

1. You shouldn’t limit the scope of your photo salon to just document photography. Gradually expand the types of photographic services, depending on demand.
2. Print photos on photo paper from electronic media.
3. Make prints of photographs from customer films.
4. Create retro photos and restore old photos.
5. Make posters and print paintings.
6. Start making business cards, collages, vignettes or photos on a T-shirt or mugs.
7. Retouch photos, make ovals for monuments
8. Add the service of photocopying and printing of scanned publications.

Fantasize and make your fantasies come true, consider selling additional accessories. Set up a rack with albums and photo frames, different types of batteries and films, indicating the price for the product.

But if you want to engage in photography professionally, on a creative scale, then opening an instant photography studio will not be enough for you. Open a private photo studio or, at a minimum, your own photo studio. But in this situation, the studio room should have an area of ​​more than twenty square meters, and a height of at least three meters. You will need equipment for studio photography - full-length photography, portraits or artistic photographs.

Employees

Workers are also needed to open a photo studio. Photos for documents are taken by the operator, who accepts the order, processes the payment, and creates the photo. His work also includes printing and issuing photographs. Typically, an employee's salary per day is about 250 rubles. Depending on attendance, it may be higher.

If the operator is able to work with a graphics program, then he can temporarily replace a specialist who understands computer graphics. This can be done by the owner of the salon himself, but not for long, since he also needs to act on organizational issues.

The salon's attendance during the season can be up to 50 clients. At this time, it is necessary to increase the number of employees. And during the “stagnant” period, traffic capacity reaches up to 10 people, so you don’t need a lot of employees.

Registration of a photo salon

Step-by-step instructions for opening a salon include the following steps:

1. If your business is starting from scratch, you can register your business as a limited liability company (LLC). But registering a photo studio as an individual entrepreneur (IP) will give you the opportunity to choose a tax regime at your discretion: UTII, simplified tax system, or a new simplified form (from January 2013) patent. For small businesses, the patent form of taxation is the most profitable.
2. You must determine which codes you will use and indicate them to the tax office: field of activity in the field of photography - code 74.81, various types of services - code 74.8, trade in accessories and other retail goods - code 52.4, services not included in other groups - code 22.22.
3. Register your business with the Pension Fund.
4. Buy a cash register or the book “Accounting for Income and Expenses.”
5. The premises must meet all the requirements of the fire and consumer supervision services.
6. Study all the regulatory frameworks related to photographs for documents, especially for Russian passports and international passports: order No. 339 dated December 7, 2009, and changes in paragraph 34.3 dated September 2, 2011; order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs No. 785, Ministry of Foreign Affairs No. 14133, FSB No. 461 dated October 6, 2006.

Place about room decoration

For the success of your business, you need to choose the right location for your photo studio. It doesn’t matter if you open your studio providing photographic services in a residential area or in the city center, the main thing is that it is a walk-through location, for example, in a shopping center.

And if you locate a photo studio next to the passport office, OVIR, recruitment agency, or close to organizations that require photographs for documents, then your business will always be in demand. You can open an instant photography studio on an area of ​​up to ten square meters.

How to open a profitable and attractive photo salon for clients? The sign of your establishment should be beautiful and large so that it can be seen from afar. This will be the most effective advertising for your salon, since television and newspapers are ineffective for this purpose.

You won’t need to spend a lot of money on decorating the room; install several chairs, a mirror, a coat rack and a counter. You can purchase several ties and jackets and rent them out - this will be an additional profit. This service is good for urgent photo clients.

Look for ideas in everyday life

I started my first business in 2014.
At that time, I was still a fifth-year student at the Russian State Social University. I was just writing a thesis on the topic “Ethnic characteristics of the perception of a woman leader in Russian society,” which described in detail not just the phenomenon of a woman entrepreneur, but also her perception by the stronger half of humanity. I myself have always wanted to start my own business one day, but where to start? Neither I, nor my husband, nor our parents have ever had their own business. I didn’t know anything about free courses and trainings, I didn’t know how to use government support tools, I didn’t have start-up capital or a mentor. The turning point in my story was a banal episode: one day I decided to print my family photographs. In general, I love looking at paper photos; these are completely indescribable emotions for me. In my hometown of Novomoskovsk (Tula region), four years ago there was a monopolist in this area - a well-promoted print salon with a history and a chic location in the very center. But the quality of his services did not suit me, and then one day I came across a micro-shop where I could not only print photos, but also buy related consumables: photo paper, cartridges, ink. The modest interiors hid very high quality printing!

And so the idea came to me - to accept orders for photo printing on the Internet and issue them at an offline point. It was necessary to turn the idea into a real business quickly so as not to lose the fuse. I drew up my first business plan in my life and went with it to my godmother. It was she who became my first investor and lent me 100,000 rubles. for the purchase of equipment.

I paid special attention to choosing the location for our future point. In a city with a population of 140,000 people and a large number of competitors, it was necessary to open only in the center, in a place with good traffic. So we rented our premises in the DIVO shopping center, the first shopping center in our city. And now our digital photo printing and exclusive photo print studio FOTOSFERA was officially opened.

Equipment for document photos

Necessary equipment for document photography that will help you complete your order and approximate costs for it:

1. Digital camera – ten thousand rubles and above.
2. A powerful computer and additionally install the appropriate software for this - thirty thousand rubles and more.
3. Photo printer (inkjet, color) – five thousand rubles and more.
4. Tripod – from one and a half thousand rubles.
5. Cartridges (a thousand rubles and more), photo paper (three hundred rubles per hundred sheets).
6. New lighting fixtures - from three thousand rubles for one spotlight, or used ones - from a thousand rubles.

If you buy used equipment, your expenses will be forty thousand rubles.

Necessary equipment and initial investment

The list of equipment that will be needed for the job depends on the tasks assigned. Typically you need to purchase:

• computer;
• special software;
• digital camera;
• tripod;
• color printer;
• flashes;
• additional lighting equipment;
• furniture (mirror, chairs, table, hangers);
• Consumables;
• fiscal registrar.

At the beginning of the development of a photography business, it is irrational to attract additional employees, since taking photographs and providing some additional services does not take much time, so the owner himself can handle all the tasks. After the business gains momentum, you can hire a smart assistant, for example, a good photographer.

Initial costs at the stage of business formation for a large city will be as follows:

• repairs - 10,000 rubles;
• registration - 5,000 rubles;
• equipment - 80,000 rubles;
• furniture - 40,000 rubles;
• licensed programs - 15,000 rubles;
• advertising -5,000 rubles.

Total: 155,000 rubles.

Monthly costs:

• rental of premises - 20,000 rubles;
• materials for work - 10,000 rubles;
• other expenses - 5,000 rubles.

Total: 35,000 rubles.

If the average traffic of the point is 10 people per day and the average check size is 300 rubles, then the monthly revenue will be approximately 75,000 rubles, and the net profit will be 40,000 rubles.

Accordingly, if the level of income and expenses is stable and provided that there is no need to hire personnel and the owner will carry out all the work himself, the payback will occur in approximately 4 months.

Paper and software

Photos for documents are printed on paper with a density of one hundred and seventy grams per square meter. Privision (glossy) and Lomond (matte) photo paper has reasonable prices, and for A4 and A5 size reproductions, paper with a density of two hundred and thirty grams per square meter is recommended.

First, decide which lighting devices you would rather use - incandescent lamps (halogen spotlights) or with a flash. You can purchase outdated models of halogen lamps “Photon” with a power of five hundred watts and flashes of the Fil 106 and 107 models at flea markets or via the Internet, your cost will be a thousand rubles.

Branded lighting fixtures (Hensel, Multiblitz, Broncolor) will cost you twenty-five thousand rubles, you can buy Chinese products for three to six thousand rubles, or buy a REKAM LIGHT KIT for eight thousand rubles.

To process photographs efficiently and eliminate possible defects, Adobe Photoshop software is used. It is better to use licensed products (from ten thousand rubles), as law enforcement agencies are fighting pirated products.

There is a special program for photographic printing (AMS Software). It contains all forms of standard documents, in accordance with GOSTs. Any innovations or changes that occur in the future will be updated by the company free of charge.

Price list for services: Photo studio “Raspechatkin”

Prices valid from May 30, 2020.

*Prices may vary depending on changes in the price of materials. *Refunds for work related to applying images to photo ovals, photo plates, 3D ovals and watches (ceramic and metal) are not provided!

Recruitment

Photographs for documents can also be taken by a non-professional photographer. The main thing is to invite a specialist to set up the camera and regulate the light, and anyone with at least some knowledge of the basic functions of the camera can work in your studio.

At first, one person can handle the job. The operator will be able to correct and process the images after shooting. If he is not familiar with computer design, then a two-week course will help him fill this gap.

You can open an instant photography salon without hiring staff for the work; it’s easier for you to do the work personally. But over time, you will need a person on whom you can entrust all the current work, while you yourself will deal with the organizational and working aspects of the salon. As an organizer, you will solve problems with the tax office and replenish supplies.

Video: Video course: how can a beginner open a photo salon? Business Features

From May to October inclusive, instant photography salons work at full capacity, as photographs are required for documents for applicants entering educational institutions. If your photo studio is located near a university or college, then you will have a large influx of clients. In winter, you can survive thanks to additional services - making copies on a photocopier, laminating documents, selling accessories, etc.

Your business will pay off in at least six months, maximum in a year. The main thing is to have high traffic to the salon and low rent for the premises.

Expenses

The financial plan includes the main costs for implementing the desired project and an assessment of effectiveness. All expenses are conventionally divided into starting and regular. Start-up costs include the purchase of basic equipment, furniture, and room design. In total, this will be about 100,000 rubles.

Regular expenses include:

— rent of premises (15,000 rubles);

— salary (20,000 rubles);

— purchase of consumables (2000 rubles);

- other unforeseen expenses (5000 rubles).

Monthly expenses are about 42,000 rubles.