Module 2
The Business Model
Pricing, positioning, expenses, seasonality and the decisions that determine whether the first year works.
11 lessons · 22 minutes
These lessons were recorded in 2023 and reviewed in 2026. The method holds up; specific gear, prices and software menus have moved on since. Where a lesson names a camera body or a price, treat it as an example rather than a current recommendation.
- Introduction — The Business ModelAn overview of the business model module and what you'll learn about setting up your RE photography business.1 min
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Transcript of the recorded lesson. Recorded 2023, reviewed 2026.
In this section of the course we're going to go over the business model for real estate photography. The business model for real estate photography is quite simple. It's a matter of getting customers, shooting the homes, and collecting payments. Now there's a lot of variables to unpack with each of those items and we'll go over those in different sections of the course. Now in this section we're going to discuss how to price your services appropriately, how to survive your first year, business seasonality, as well as other business information you'll need to get your business off the ground. Now when it comes to the topic of setting up your business, everybody's situation is different.
We recommend consulting a tax advisor and an attorney to make sure that you set up the appropriate business structure that makes the most sense for you. I will share my experience and what I did, but I won't be giving legal advice in regards to what you should do. Alright guys, while I'm excited to share with you a lot about the business model of real estate photography, let's get started.
- Pricing Your ServicesHow to price your real estate photography services competitively while remaining profitable.3 min
- Know Your Market: Market ResearchHow to research your local market to find opportunity and set realistic expectations for your business.2 min
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Transcript of the recorded lesson. Recorded 2023, reviewed 2026.
In this video we're gonna go over the importance of doing market research. I've talked a little about market research in previous videos, but I wanna reemphasize the importance of knowing your market. You should spend time looking up popular real estate media companies in your area, find out what they're charging, what products they offer, their level of service, and what kind of feedback they're getting from their customers. The more you know about other media companies in your area, the more you can learn how to attract and acquire new customers to your business. It could be anything from the pricing being too high or too low, or the customer experience being bad.
The best way to identify the most popular real estate media companies in your market is to do a simple Google search for real estate photography. From there, see who has a lot of Google reviews and engagement on social media. You can even join different social media groups for real estate agents. Oftentimes people will ask for recommendations for real estate photography in these groups so you can find out what companies people are recommending. Overall, make sure you're spending an adequate amount of time to understand what your market is charging for real estate media services. If you end up charging more than other popular companies and your products and services are not superior,
it's gonna be difficult to attract and retain new customers. It is important to make sure that you set appropriate pricing from the beginning because as you start building a customer base, you don't wanna shock them with price hikes because you accidentally set your pricing too low. It is a better customer experience to set appropriate pricing from the beginning. There may also be a product that popular media companies offer in your area that we don't discuss in this course. You may wanna consider adding those products to make for an easier customer transition to your business. All right guys, that's it for this video. If you guys have any additional questions, feel free to reach out. We'll see you guys on the next one.
- Business Name & Business TypeChoosing a business name and deciding between LLC, sole proprietorship, and other business structures.2 min
- Business PerceptionHow agents perceive your business and how to shape that perception to win more clients.2 min
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Transcript of the recorded lesson. Recorded 2023, reviewed 2026.
In this video I want to talk about business perception. You can spend all the time in the world creating an awesome name and awesome products with great pricing but the way your business is going to be perceived in the marketplace is the extent of the execution of your customer experience. Make sure that you set out a clear vision for your business, know what you stand for and what things are non-negotiables. Being able to deliver a great experience to your customers from start to finish is going to be the best way to impact how your business is perceived. You won't be able to hide from this perception as it will show up in reviews, customer feedback,
and customer referrals. You want to empathize with your customers when problems come up, fix issues as soon as possible, and even issue refunds when appropriate. At the end of the day, your customer referrals are going to be your best, cheapest, and easiest way to grow your business. So make sure to take care of your customers even if that means refunding a short term job for long term success. When customers talk to others about your business, they're not going to talk about your name or products you offer, they're going to talk about the experience they had. Here at Lister Pros, the majority of our new customers come from existing customer
referrals. We get those referrals by providing quality products and a great customer experience. Now you will likely come across a customer from time to time that is not the right fit for your business. These are few and far between, but we do not tolerate the mistreating of our people, and when dealing with unreasonable people, sometimes the best answer is to choose not to do business with them. At the end of the day, your business perception is something that is within your control. Make sure you set the right standards and vision, and work with individuals committed to delivering a great customer experience. That's it for this video. If you guys have any additional questions, feel free to reach out. We'll see you guys on the next one.
- Competitive AdvantagesFinding and building your unique competitive advantage in a crowded market.2 min
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Transcript of the recorded lesson. Recorded 2023, reviewed 2026.
In this video we're going to talk about competitive advantages. Once you're done researching and understanding your market, you need to identify those competitive advantages that are going to attract potential customers to you. Here at Lister Pros we focus on speed, efficiency, and service. We also do small things to add value to our customers that they can't get from other companies. We have shows and podcasts that we offer for free to agents to help promote themselves and their listings. These shows are property pros and real estate pros. It's important to figure out your competitive advantage and what makes you different from other companies in your area.
You don't necessarily have to do all the things that we do, but you have to understand what your company does differently and how that attracts customers. When we started we noticed it was pretty common for companies to have banners on their websites that would say, we're completely booked for the next three days. In my opinion this leads to a terrible customer experience. This is why we do everything we can to provide same day delivery on most of our products and if a customer's order is put in by 5 p.m. for next day service, we will be there even if I have to go myself to meet customer demand, which happens usually once every six
months or so. Overall, figure out what makes you different and stand by it and be sure that everyone on your team is living that same vision. Well that's going to do it for this video. Reach out if you guys have any questions. We'll see you guys on the next one.
- How to Survive Your First YearFinancial planning, expectations, and survival strategies for year one in RE photography.2 min
- Seasonality of the BusinessUnderstanding seasonal patterns in real estate and planning your business around them.2 min
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Transcript of the recorded lesson. Recorded 2023, reviewed 2026.
In this video we're going to talk about the seasonality of the real estate media business. When I started Lister Pros I hit the ground running January 2014. Come August of that same year I hired my very first employee and when October, November and December came around we experienced a dramatic decrease in business that I wasn't expecting. I made significantly less than my employee during the month of December. I was not prepared for the seasonality of this business. In this chart you can see our business monthly trend. You can see how the business starts to taper downward in October, then more in November and then when December hits we produce about half what we normally do.
Knowing the seasonality of the business will help you plan accordingly. You may want to plan for bigger business expenses when there's a lot more revenue coming in. Planning ahead and knowing what activities you can have your team focus on during the slower portion of the year is also important. We focus a lot on training our team during the slower times of the year. Your business won't drop to zero but there will definitely be a significant drop during the end of the year for most US markets. Be sure that you are taking care of your team and that they are getting the hours they need. Here at Lister Pros we come up with different projects that we have our team focus
on to stay productive. For example the creation of this exact course. You may find that some team members like to reduce hours for the holidays and some may want or need more hours for the holidays so it's important to accommodate the needs of your team members. Now the seasonality I am referring to is for the main markets in which we operate. No matter where you live there will likely be some sort of seasonality whether it's the holidays or whether related. Be sure to check new listing trends in your area because that will show you when peak and low volume listing seasons are. That's going to do it for this video. Reach out if you have any additional questions and we'll see you guys on the next one.
- Keep Your Expenses as Low as PossibleWhy you don't need a physical office and how to keep overhead minimal as you build.3 min
- Other Services to Increase Your RevenueAdditional services you can offer alongside photography to increase revenue per client.2 min
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Transcript of the recorded lesson. Recorded 2023, reviewed 2026.
In this video I'm going to go over some other services you may want to consider offering in your business in order to maximize your revenue. Now the additional services that I'm referring to are video, aerial, and virtual tour services. We don't recommend offering these services out of the gate if you're brand new to real estate photography. We recommend focusing on real estate photography and mastering that skill set first. Once you have a good grasp on the photography, that's when you want to consider adding additional services to your customer offering. By offering these additional services you'll be able to add more value to your customers
while at the same time increasing your revenue per job and revenue in general. If I had to choose an order in which to start offering these services I would probably recommend virtual tours first because it's really easy to learn. I would then recommend getting your part 107 license and offering aerial services. Finally, I would learn video services. I recommend learning video last because there is a learning curve to mastering the shooting and the editing of real estate videos. This is the order that I recommend but feel free to add the additional services based on your skill set and knowledge. Be sure to make sure that you have the photography skill mastered before you start
adding more onto your plate. You can also check out some of our other courses where we go more in depth on those additional services. That's going to do it for this video. Reach out if you have any questions. We'll see you guys on the next one.
- Summary — The Business ModelKey takeaways and action items from the business model module.1 min
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Transcript of the recorded lesson. Recorded 2023, reviewed 2026.
Guys so in this section we went over how to price your services, how to do market research, setting up your business, how to survive your first year and more. Now your homework for this section is going to be to research five real estate photography companies in your area. Break down their pricing structure as well as evaluate the services that they offer. This will help you to know where your pricing needs to be in your particular area to be competitive. As well as give you some ideas to how you may entice some of their customers to start using your services. Make sure you don't skip this homework assignment as it is super important.
Make sure to download the PDF document to help you go through this homework assignment. That's going to do it for this section. Reach out if you have any questions. We'll see you guys on the next one.