OK: Been a while since Norm had one of his chapters.
This thread, would be nice to have people share a recent change to their business that helped them, or a problem they identified to help them solve a bigger problem.
My problem I identified, is the aged old one, scalability, and knowing when to say NO.
Knowing when to say no, is a tough one.
New England weather, was BAD, really bad, this spring, so many outdoor events were either called off, or moved. Having rescheduled events that a pre-investment was made is tough, because it might cause you to have more than one event in a time.
Or worse, a two day event turned into a one day event. Two different animals for marketing to the customers.
I learned it is sometimes better to step out, and not cover a makeup date, if you have conflict than not be able to do it right (the Chicken and the Pig story kind of).
The other side of this coin, is knowing how to gracefully exit a bad business venture, be it an event, or series of events. In my case when a previous photoG, had prices TOO LOW, and you have problems breaking into that market, even with Norm 101 advice.
Kind of like going to an outdoor event, when it is pouring rain, and you show up and can not shoot, when do you Punt (Pack Up N Takeoff).
Share your story or advice.
EJS
White Balance so easy, even our 5 year old can do it.- Melissa Strickland
My problem was similar to yours - scalability. I wasn't prepared to grow my business as fast as it grew on its own. I know this sounds strange, but I tripled my income in one year by adding a few more leagues. That's the good news. The bad news is that I was trying to do too much too soon, so I wasn't able to fully tap into the income potential of my customers. Instead of working the customers for that poster or trading cards, I'd settle for their $20 order and move on.
I also passed on shooting some tournaments and doing some onsite events because of some manning issues, so again I lost out. There was a LOT of potential there, but I wasn't prepared to take advantage of it. I should have had a scalable labor plan so that I didn't have to do so much by myself.
I'm now at the point where I'm taking a step back and making sure that I take care of my customers and don't become a cookie cutter photographer. I'm selling my printer so that I don't distract myself with the printing side of things and stay focused on the subject in the image.
I'm very interested in hearing what others have to say on this...
Spencer
White Balance so easy, even our 5 year old can do it.- Melissa Strickland
Yes, good topic Ed. Like Spencer I experienced a scalability problem shooting events. When I went digital in 1998 (DCS cameras), my first mistake was I THOUGHT that digital, combined with my IT experience, would make weekend event photography an easy side-income stream. It was too successful. Raising prices to control the growth drove too many customers away and then along came many competitors into the field that further eroded the market. It was ugly.
Another problem with printing on-site, for me, was not providing my customers with the best quality product; I needed to post-process anything shot indoors (i.e. gymnastics were all high iso) to make prints to my standards. So, I bailed out of the on-site print fulfillment and went to catalog sales (proof books) until the online payment tools became more robust and reliable. When I shoot an event now, a rare occurrence, sales are either online or via CD/DVD "proof books" and I can control the print output through labs of my choosing. The only work I have is shooting, post-processing and uploading...the labs do the rest.
This is a side-business that financially justifies me to have some really nice gear for my hobby which then leads to more private opportunities that starts the cycle again. I have a positive ROI and profit from my business-hobby. However, there's no way I'd leave my company to be a full-time pro photographer as I just do not see enough money in photography for the risk required in my market. The overall photography market has been upended due to digital. From my vantage point, the the public's perception towards pro photographers is that they are not as essential as they used to be (I think the public is wrong). We shall see.
White Balance so easy, even our 5 year old can do it.- Melissa Strickland
What changed in my business, well first I also learn to say NO. But the major thing is that I do not print on-site anymore. This used to be a selling point to get an event with organizers (I know sell them the variety of products I can produce), but what happened is that my sales increased A LOT. They increased because I can offer other print size that force customer to buy more (4 4x6 at 22,95$ instead of 1 8x10 at 15,95$) Also I do not need a "computer artist" anymore to print on-site. I also change the way I perceive customer comments (I was often taking them too personal). What also change is that I do less event and more computer work... Like a lot of you know it I have put in place an event photography viewing/proofing solution, this is more computer oriented stuff. I'm planning to get back in the T&I photo business in about a year (after my year round photo trip in South America [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]). I'm sure I'll be reading lot of good stuff here about T&I.
Out of topic: If any of you have recommendations for my photo trip to South America, I'm all ears [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]!
I think that for all of us, learning to say and how to say No is a critical part of our growth. It's one segment of the fears in business that we all face. Fear you say? I'm not afraid! Yeah, right! I'm afraid when I go to an event that I won't make enough money to get back home. Yeah, me. I'm afraid, but I still go because I know that my fear is unfounded. I'm afraid that today, suddenly, no one will buy our stuff. It's not going to happen, but that doesn't stop me from being afraid. I'm afraid that I will have more customers than we can take care of. I'm afraid that if I tell an event organizer No, I'll never work for them again. I have all kinds of fears. Some are real, some are imagined.
Recently we gave up a segment of our business to a friendly competitor. We had to do it because it was preventing us from growing in the direction I wanted to go but it was really hard to let go. Now I'm afraid that I won't be able to grow the way I thought we would. Confidence comes from facing our fears. Confidence comes with experience. Confidence comes when you overcome obstacles. Confidence comes with action and action cures fear. Fear is founded in ignorance while confidence is founded in knowledge.
White Balance so easy, even our 5 year old can do it.- Melissa Strickland
What do you do, if you show up, and the event coordinator, or Tournament director booked two photographers for an event.
To compound the problems, the Tournament director decides to wait to resolve the issue, until noon on the first Saturday of a tournament.
Both photographers have grounds to be angry at the tournament director, and the board who granted them access.
What do you do?
If there are multiple venues, and the tournament director punts, and does not wish to rid the tournament of one of the photographers, and give one venue to one photo company, and the other venue to the other photographer? Would you stay?
If you had 5 hours of work into the tournament onsite, for each staffer you have, Plus marketing material that was handed out, and relations starting to be built. What would you do?
My failure, was to make this an issue to not shoot until it is resolved, and pull the plug early.
The event organizer has fault because they invited two photographers.
I failed because I did not have a signed contract. (maybe that is a wake up call to have signed contracts for every event).
White Balance so easy, even our 5 year old can do it.- Melissa Strickland
Thanks for the incentive to get away from trying to understand Dreamweaver MX 2004. My head HURTS!
Anyway, what should you do?
Compete!
Quit worrying about who's at fault. Now is the time to go to school, either as the teacher or as a student. If you're already at the venue and set up and running, press on. Pull out your best stuff and if the other guy has a better set up, look and learn. If you've pulled into a venue and found out that there were to be two photographers, no matter who made the mistake, set up and go to work. Again, put out your best stuff and have a go. There are customers to be served and money to be made. Put on your best game face, act confident, welcome the other photographer to the event and perservere. When speaking with your customers, don't say anything negative about the other guy or the situation. Customers will shy away from a vendor who whines and cries about things. Let the other guy talk you down. It won't make him look good and you'll stand out for your professionalism.
After the event is over is the time to figure out what went wrong and who should have done what. Again, don't whine or cry about things, but make sure that the tournament director knows that you aren't happy. If it happens again, tell the sob that you'll never cover one of his events again and that you're going to let every event photographer you know just how deceitful he really is.
__________________ Norm Cabana
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White Balance so easy, even our 5 year old can do it.- Melissa Strickland
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