Hi everyone, I just joined this forum (lurking for a while though). My name is Corin, I'm a college student, and part-time freelance photographer.

Lately I've been finding making money from photography very difficult. I've taken a few pics that sold thru the local store, and covered local events with the newspaper. But most of it is very hard work, and after all my costs, I'm only making less than $5-10 an hour.

So I figure if I can't make much freelancing, maybe I can find some business related to photography. I tried printing my own postcards and calenders, but I found those industries had too much supply and too little demand. Now I'm considering giving greeting cards a shot.

Does anyone have any other photo-ideas I could try out? My budget is almost non-existent, but I could probably use credit cards for a quick loan. I dont really mind what kind of business, as long as its related to photography, I'd be willing to give it a shot.

Not sure if this will help you or not, but this is what I found.

I'd recommend attending kids athletic events.Introduce yourself to parents and take action photos of their kids.Post them on a website,of course giving everyone a business card with the address,and have them copyrighted so no one can download them.You'd be amazed at how parents will purchase photos of their kids.
The thing that has always stayed with my dad was a saying one of my old baseball coaches told all the parents at the end of a game."You're children will only be this age ONCE.Enjoy it."Use that as a motivator.Hell,I'm 35 and dad's telling me this about my own kids.
Also,have you thought about talking to business' to see if they'd like professional photos of their service or products?Most everyone has a website these days and good photos are a must.

To be honest I'd like to get away from pure freelancing, and look at ways of building a business instead. So instead of doing a single job for a specific pay, I'd like to try selling some products or services related to photography.

not sure where your living... but if your in LA, miami or NY. talk to magazine companies and try to be a paparrazi. some make good money

It can be hard to make it a a shooter and it will depend on what kind of photographer you want to be. Advertising, journalistic, commercial shooting weddings, fine art... all challenging. The difference between a hundred and ten grand a day is your name and you will need time and a business plan to get there.

I would highly recommend an apprenticeship with an established photographer or studio. This will give you a safe place to learn while collecting a paycheck and developing you style and skill. You can shoot what you want in you spare time and work towards your own business.

I have seen a lot of photographers fail when things get hard. What will you do when you don't get a job for a month? From personal experience, I have taken the profit from when business is great and invested it into commercial real estate, buying the studio instead of renting. And then another so you can then rent it out to other shooters.

This has worked well, provided income in hard times and a wise investment for future retirement.

But first things first. You need a web site, portfolio, business card and a plan. All are simple to pull together. Good luck