Well, lots of comments and i'll try to address them
This is a typical market town and this would be easier if I was in Stoke, Shrewsbury or Telford. There are 2 studio's in town currently, both are small, limited room and results are substandard but cheap so they are busy, but don't get the amount of repeat business that they should. We are talking blurry, badly lit and some awful PP in some cases. Oh, and shouting at customers in polish in case and threatening to throw them out because they asked to buy a cd of watermark free images... There is definetly a space for someone to come along and take over as a primary company here.
I shoot weddings mostly, it fits around my current day job and I do enjoy it but I do not actively advertise in any way, its all facebook and word of mouth. I get a few requests for portraits but I refuse to do them in house as there is never enough room and I can't stand giving poor quality results. I know if I was to push it that I would be able to generate leads, and not just for portraits/families/pets etc. I also take product shots for a couple of local companies, small items such as the ebay company selling cycling parts, on top of that, some editing for a couple of London clothes shops.
Equipment wise, I have some Lencarta lights, Nikon stobes, cloth backgrounds etc but would probably look at Vinyl in a full time studio. I definitely need to invest in props, more lights, triggers and modifiers.
I'd love a space large enough for cars or that can be split into 2 shooting areas, viewing rooms + editing space/office for myself. finding that space in town for a decent amount is the issue so would probably be calling on local contacts for a venue on the edge of town.
I work 24 hours a day with current shift pattern as well so no problems having to work any time of the day or night, week days or weekends.
The main aim would be to run it as my own studio, my name, my work on show, but have that offer to rent space out if needed. I don't think the majority of money would come in via others, but due to the current pricing of property around here and the willingness of the out of the country owners to let them stand empty instead of renting them out cheaper I think it would be attractive to others in the same boat as myself.
Regarding the teaching I have no qualifications in it and I would definitely look at developing course material and teaching plans before I even attempted it. I do have a couple of close friends at the local secondary school enquiring for me as they do photography there, but no experienced photographers.
The main reason for posting here was really to get advice and any feedback which you guys have really helped with. This is in the very early stages of planning and with a 2nd child on the way its not something I'll be jumping in to lightly.
