Running Out Of Money

The leading cause of failure of startups is death, and death happens when you run out of money. As long as you have money, you're still in the game, and outlasting the competition is one of the hallmarks of bootstrapping.

— Craig Johnson, Silicon Valley corporate finance lawyer

Almost all the photography businesses that go out of business, go out very quietly. Nobody hears about them because they were not famous to hear about it in the first place. The vast majority of photographers who sell photos are hobbyists aka part timers. By conserving cash, you can still be a professional photographer.

Do you need:

• The fancy marketing campaign? or can a different campaign cheaper but more imaginative work?
• To send promo photos to everybody? or can you actually target better your promo photos?
• To do a general marketing campaign? or make it a much more targeted marketing campaign on a smaller theme?
• Do you need to buy this new expensive lens? or can you rent it?

The goals are:

• Keep working
• Keep making photos
• Keep existing customers
• Try to find new customers
• Don't run out of cash