My take is;
1)
when a photographer doing photography as business,
only less than 20% of his/her working hours is shooting,
80% of his/her working hours is doing admin work, marketing, selling and etc.
if his/her just like to shoot all day long, best is get himself / herself hired as a freelancer, so he/she don't have to do most of the non photography chores.
2)
in a photography business
photographer should pay himself first, and his "salary" is an "expenses" to the business, is not an "earning"
the "gross profit" is "sale" minus "cost of goods".
the "net profit" is "gross profit" minus all the "expenses"
as a business owner, he is taking a "salary" and entitle to the "net profit" from his business. since he own the business, making efforts and taking risk for the business.
and usually the "net profit" is about 20% to 30% of the "gross sale".
so in another word, photographer (business owner) want to make $1000 "net profit" per month, he need to make a gross sale of $3300 to $5000 per month.
and if the business is not making profits, he still able to take a salary.