yourself. You and I appreciate fine photography. That's why we photograph. The people who pay us don't. That's why they are out buying photography. As a business you need to put your efforts into things appreciated by the people paying you. Learn to create great work, but not on client's time. You must be skilled at dealing with people and selling and promoting yourself. You need to be able to differentiate yourself from the millions of other photographers also trying to make a buck. SCORE is the golden key to everything. My background was technical. I have a degree in engineering. Luckily 10 - 15 years ago I veered off to the marketing and then the sales side of the digital imaging industry, so I gained experience in both. Marketing and sales are completely different. Marketing is promoting yourself to everyone and determining what products and services to offer. Sales is finding and closing individual deals. I got good in these areas, but still had zero knowledge of everything else involved in running a business. 15 years ago I took a class from the IRS about it, and it was so complicated I never tried again. I never took any business classes in college. I took classes in economics, but not business. Then I recalled some public service ads about SCORE, the Service Corps of Retired Executives. Supposedly they were retired guys who loved what they did in business so much that they volunteered seasoned business advice free for the