I am in the process of opening a small portrait studio in the INSHOPS belfast.

It will be named MAJIKPIXELS and should be opening on the 6th of october.

I will be available for modelling work at a cost of £30ph

good luck with the studio.

Good luck with your new business.  I hope everything works out for you.

Have you sat down and worked out the cost of doing business? 

Pick the wage you need to earning to live, add on the costs of the business, rent, rates, equipment and maintenance, insurance etc. Divide it by the number of days you expect to work in the year (100 being the average for photographers). That is your day rate, the minimum you need to get by. If you don't, you'll starve, or simply go out of business. 

Here's a sample from the NPPA in the US.. 

http://www.nppa.org/professional_development/business_practices/cdb/cdbcalc.cfm

Sean, are you sure it's only 100 days? I read somewhere else that it's 101! Oh well, let's not fall out over a day

But seriously though, you raise a valid and indeed very important point. Of course, now I can just hear people saying "What? Photographers only work 100 days a year!" Well, actually, they work a lot more than that and photography isn't a way to just have one long holiday every year. The 100 days worked simply refers to 800 billable hours (8 hour day x 100 days), with the billable being the important bit. Photographers don't directly bill clients for book keeping, sales, marketing and all the other work that goes on behind the scenes in order to keep a business afloat and which will easily fill the remainng days.

Best of luck with the studio.

- Thorsten.