I found this thread on a local photo forum, and thought it was a great example of what NOT to do:
Do you think you can just build a photo studio, and people will magically start showing up? Nope. Do you think you need to pound the pavement and tell EVERYONE about your business? Yup. If you are planning to have a studio space, you should start drumming up business before and during the building/renovating/moving in process. Otherwise, you may have a month or more of just sitting inside your nice, big, empty studio space…
Always plan ahead, because a self-employed photographer needs to find his next paycheck. It won’t just come walking out of the corn field, like in the movie Field of Dreams. That’s why it was a movie.