As a small business owner. continued education is crucial for my growing photography business. There are times when attending a big conference or convention just isn’t an option for me. But there are other ways to obtain a similar educational experience from home. While books and lectures can be helpful, I have found that online courses or videos are an extremely beneficial form of eduction. I’m sure there are many options for online courses, but here are a few of my favorite resources.

CreativeLIVE
CreativeLIVE is a great resource for online courses for business owners. One of the wonderful things about CreativeLIVE is that you can actually watch their video courses for free if you tune in while they are live. They’re online course programs are very reasonable priced though if you’re like me and like to refer to them often. They have everything from photography specific courses on lighting and creativity to more general courses on running your business or balancing work and life.

PhotoVision
One of the great things about PhotoVision is that it’s a subscription based video education program. You pay an annual or monthly fee and have access to hundreds of hours of education. You can stream the videos online or you can receive videos in the mail or you can get both online and video access. This video education program is specific to photographers and covers everything from newborn photography sessions to weddings. It has live shoots, how to run your business, how to do in person sales, figuring out your pricing structure and much much more. They cover a huge range of incredibly beneficial information for anyone running a photography studio.

Zach & Jody Gray
This is another photographer specific video option. Zach & Jody Gray are a well known and well respected husband and wife wedding photographer team. They have several videos available to photographers teaching how to get great images in camera, how to shoot with natural light and off camera lighting, and how to speed up your post production time. I have learned something from every single one of their videos and would recommend them to any photographer who’s seeking a more technical grasp of their craft.

These are just a few video courses that I myself use regularly for my education and I’m sure there are a myriad more! No matter what your preference is, further increasing your business knowledge is extremely vital to continuing to grow and evolve as a thriving business owner!