First Year Small Business Expenses: What I'd Pay For Again as a Vancouver Pet Photographer
- Brooke Arseneau
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Brooke's Photography | Equine, canine and branding photographer serving Vancouver and the Lower Mainland
Your first year in business is one long guessing game. Nobody hands you a manual. You just start spending money on things that feel important and hope some of it pays off.
More than a year in and I can look back and actually tell you what was worth it and what wasn't for my small business based in Vancouver. So if you're a Vancouver entrepreneur, a woman building something of your own, a photographer, or a pet business owner trying to figure out where your money should go, here's what worked and what didn't for Brookes Photography.
Small Business Expenses I Would Spend Money On Again:
Email Marketing Platform - If you want the most seamless, beautiful way to run an email list, Flodesk is it. Although I chose not to renew my subscription after one year, I loved this platform and the second I start seeing real connection or sales coming from my list, I'll be back on a paid platform, Flodesk or otherwise.
The reason I chose not to renew with Flodesk is that it's expensive, especially since it is in US dollar and I was not seeing the ROI I needed from my list to justify the expense. I have since moved over to the free, non automated version on Wix, and it works but I do miss the ease and aesthetics of Flodesk.
An accountant. I was on the fence about this one. I even tried doing my own taxes through H&R Block's online system, and it told me I'd owe money, in a year I was actually operating at a deficit. That didn't seem right and I was a little upset I wasted my time trying to file my own taxes.
Once I handed it over to an accountant, she got me a return big enough to cover her fee and then some. If you're a small business owner second guessing whether you can do your taxes yourself, my suggestion is to get a second opinion before you file.
A one hour coaching call with another pet photographer. Early on I was completely stuck on pricing. There's not a lot out there that actually breaks it down, and I was spinning my wheels trying to figure it out on my own. One call with someone who had already done it gave me a real place to start, and I've since built it into something of my own from the baseline she gave me. She even spent more time with me than what I paid for. I'd book another call like that in a heartbeat.
Remember you don't have to do this alone! It can be scary to spend money as a new business owner but coaching - with the right coach can be one of the best investments you ever spend money on.
Product samples. If you're a product based business, your clients need to be able to see and feel or try what they're actually paying for. For me, that means having wall art samples on hand, acrylic, metal, canvas, the real thing in front of them, so they can make an educated decision. There's no substitute for letting a client hold the product in their hands. If that's something that applies to your business, it's worth the investment.
Web domain, professional email, and BC Registry. If you want to start off on the right foot, you need to own your name. Registering with BC Registry, locking down your domain, and having a professional email address is what makes a business feel legitimate, to your clients and to yourself.
Small Business Expenses I Would not Spend Money On Again:
Google Ads. This one cost me valuable time and money. Ads aren't simple to create, and if you're not already pulling in clients organically, they're not going to fix that for you. Ads are a booster, not a starting point. Get your organic traffic working first, then let ads amplify what's already working.
Self guided training courses. This might be a personal thing, but the courses I bought, even the ones that had real value in them, I still haven't finished. Between working full time and building a business on the side, there just wasn't time to sit down and work through a course properly.
Maybe once I'm more established and can focus solely on the business, that changes. But in the building phase, my time was better spent elsewhere.
A paid AI subscription. I use the free version of Claude, and I've spent real time training it on my business, my brand, how I speak and write, and what I value. For where I'm at right now, the free plan does the job. If I ever feel like I've outgrown it, I'll upgrade. But for now, there was no need to pay for something the free version already handles.
What this Taught Me
None of this is about right or wrong choices. It's about knowing where you are in your business and spending accordingly. Some of these tools will make sense for you right now. Others might make sense a year from now, or not at all. That's the part nobody tells you when you're starting out, that it's less about finding the perfect list of tools and more about learning what your business actually needs, when it needs it.
If you're building something of your own here in Vancouver or the Lower Mainland, I'd love to hear what's made your list.
If your a pet business looking for professional branding images let's talk about what a session could look like for you.
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