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Are You In A Dying Industry?

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Have you ever watched the Amazing Race? The concept is simple. Take 12 teams of two, and have them race around the world as they accomplish different tasks along the way. Then at the end of each leg of the race, you eliminate the team that comes in last place. The winner wins a prize of $1 million, and the honor or being first in the Amazing Race.

As the teams race, they end up in some pretty incredible places. And they also have to do tasks that directly relate to the area they are in to experience the lifestyle and the culture of the people around them. This season they had to do a search and rescue at the top of the mountain, looking for a “dummy” under piles of snow. And they enjoyed heading under water looking for buried treasure amongst a sea full of mermaids.

If you watch the show, it’s easy to be captivated by the race, and end up with a desire to travel beyond the typical tourist attractions. So of course there are many people that would love to experience their own “amazing race”.

Enter Nextpedition.

Nextpedition is a custom made mystery trip based on your travel sign. You uncover your travel sign by taking an online quiz, which walks you through a series of questions to determine what your preferences are. Do you like visiting museums? Or hiking in a rain forest?

Once you’ve determined your interests, you can select your level of enjoyment – three four or five start accommodations. You can also choose where you want to travel – US or Europe. Then they put together a mystery package, and you’re soon on your way.

Over the last few years, the travel industry has taken a huge hit. Most travel agencies no longer exist, thanks to the tools of the online world. Who needs a traditional travel agent when you can search and get exactly what you are looking for online?

But if you tweak the old concept, and come up with a new twist, you can create an amazing new opportunity. American Express through so, and created Nextpedition.

Why did it work so well? It’s all about the experience. Head over and watch some of the videos. They all talk about the experience, and how they could have never have achieved the same results themselves by walking around the city. What made their trips special was having insider tips, guides and opportunities as they traveled from place to place.

Okay, how does this apply to photography?

One of the top debates in the photography realm is whether you can still make a great living at photography, or if it’s a dying industry.

Photography in its old format is dead. You can’t revive the way photography used to be – digital and the Internet changed that forever. People now like to experience things for themselves. They have their iPhone on them all the time, and can post photos and videos from every location in the world instantly on to Facebook, Flickr and YouTube.

But you can change the experience. If the travel industry can, so can the photography industry. You’re not just a photographer; you’re a visual storyteller.

What sites have you found that have revived a dying industry? What photographers do you know who are changing things up, and making it big in the new economy?

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10 Signs You Are On The Road To Success

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How do you know if your business is on the right track, and is heading towards success?

1. You have a profit at the end of the year

The first and easiest sign of a successful business is taking in more revenue then you’ve spent on expenses. If your business shows any profit, you know you’ve achieved the first skill required for growing a successful business.

2. You receive referrals from a past client

When someone sends a referral to you, you know your products, services and customer service have reached a level of appreciation by your clients. They think enough of you to put their trust in sending family and friends your way.

3. You receive referrals from vendors

The majority of our new wedding clients didn’t come from brides and grooms, they came from wedding planners and reception sites. While a bride has a certain level of expectation, multiple that tenfold within the industry. When you get this first vendor referral, nurture the relationships like it is gold – they can be great referral partners for life. [Read more...]

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How To Attract Affluent Customers And Make Your Photography Fit Their Lifestyle

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Are you a portrait photographer? Wedding photographer? Commercial photographer?

Who are you targeting, the people that are barely squeaking by, trying to pay the mortgage, or trying to cover the next payroll?

Times are tough right now, but not for everyone. 22 percent of American households have more than 55 percent of all earned income. This means that one out of every five households controls more than half of America’s wealth.

And while it’s easy to get sucked into the notion that people aren’t spending, the truth is these one in five are spending – and they are spending a lot! They are just being more cautious about what they buy, making sure they get the best deal possible for their money.

If the sheer numbers of people spending money hasn’t convinced you on why this target market is so important right now, here are 5 more reasons to push you to start marketing your products to this audience.

1. It takes less energy and less sales to meet your goals.

If your goal is to make $100,000 this year, you can do so in a variety of ways. You can sell 100,000 people something for $1, or you can sell 1 person something for $100,000, or somewhere in between.

That sounds basic, yet so many people don’t look at sales this way. They choose price then try to retrofit customers into their packages. Isn’t it easier to get 10 customers to spend $10,000, and target people that can truly afford this, then to hope you can find 100 brides at $1,000?

2. The affluent aren’t affected by the ups and downs.

When people reach a certain level of affluence, they rely less on one income source, and more on multiple sources. If one drops off or goes away, they have others that keep them stable while they replace it with something else. While they still may be cautious about spending, they know they can always afford what they truly want and love. [Read more...]

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How To Make Your Small Photography Business Seem Bigger

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When our business started growing by leaps and bounds, we made a conscious decision to stay small – Andrew, myself, an office manager, and two part time assistants – yet look like we were a very large photography studio that could take on clients anywhere in the world.

Guess what? It worked.

It doesn’t matter if your business is in a large office building, or run out of the basement in your home, there are certain things you can do to give it the large business appearance. Along with the comfy feeling of being a small time studio.

Brand Yourself For Mass Appeal

Your brand is your window into the world. Just because your current client lives 10 miles from your studio doesn’t mean she won’t be mailing photographs and sharing your information with a friend that lives 1,000 miles away. Especially in today’s world, there are no boundaries when it comes to promotion. We’ve had clients in Germany plan a long distance wedding and choose us as their photographer by viewing our online portfolios and making decisions through email – that’s a long way from Colorado.

Start out by looking at the name of your photography business and your tagline. What do they really say about you as a photographer? Does it say we stay local, or does it say we are willing to travel anywhere? When we were in the process of doubling our business, we changed our logo by deleting “Denver” from our tagline, and adding “Worldwide” instead. From that point on our business grew exponentially. Not only did we have a different attitude, our clients did as well. We received many phone calls asking if we had offices in different regions of the world – and they were always surprised to learn how small our employee base really was. [Read more...]

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Why You Should Strive To Be Unrecognizable In Five Years

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Take a few moments, sit back, and think back over your life. What have you done? Who have you been?

Hopefully you see some drastic differences along your path. (Okay, if you’re 15, it may be a bit harder to recognize yet.)

When I look back over my journey, I see many things.

  • High school
  • College
  • Masters program
  • Job in a retail store
  • Job in a bank
  • Job with the government
  • First business
  • Second business
  • Third business
  • Writer
  • Author
  • Speaker
  • Consultant
  • Traveler
  • Daughter
  • Sister
  • Wife
  • Mother
  • Friend

The list could go on and on. Mainly because I’ve made big changes to my life, and never was comfortable with staying in one place. I’ve always been a student of change, and when things get a bit too comfortable, I throw in the towel and try something new.

Today I read an amazing article by Julien Smith – I’ve actually read it three times so far. I highly suggest you take a minute or two and read it too. He touches on so many things, and brought up so many ideas, I could go on for a long time. [Read more...]

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The Photographers Guide To Handling Business Growth

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This post is Day 26 of 30 Ways In 30 Days To Redesign Your Life With Photography. This series seeks to provide you with practical steps to get you from wherever you are today, to exactly where you want to be – this year! If your goal has always been to take your photography to a whole new level, hang on and start enjoying a new lifestyle you’ve always dreamed of.

You’ve done everything right. You’ve created your goals, and are on target to put everything into place. You’ve produced a marketing campaign that’s bringing in a steady stream of clients. You’re bringing in enough income that photography is your full time career. Everything seems to be going as planned. Now what?

How do you handle the growth you are experiencing? How do you keep up with it all, and keep your head above water? Its fun at the moment, but the last thing you want to have happen is to feel like you are in over your head. Overwhelm is not something you choose to experience again.

Before you get to that point, lets look at the most common ways a business owner can become overwhelmed, and what you can do about it today.

Lack of cash

One of the most significant reasons a business fails is they simply run out of cash. Demand is high, yet your outlay is not keeping up with the demand. This can happen easily in the photography field, especially when your booking rate is high one season, and your production rate is high in a different season.

As wedding photographers, we saw that all the time. Our heavy booking season came during the first few months of the year; and our production season cam in the last half of the year.

Instead of looking at your bank account during the heavy intake times, and spending accordingly, you need to take into account final production as well. In general, you will quickly learn how much it takes to fulfill an order. Open up a savings account, and deposit that much into savings for every client that comes through your door. Only move the funds when final production is in place, and you are completing orders.

This can also work for other areas, like marketing campaigns and advertising budgets. Use a simple spreadsheet to track each of your expenses, and budget your incoming funds accordingly. Many finance programs also have capabilities of tracking funds in different ways. Only move funds back into your checking account when you are ready to spend on a specific item. [Read more...]

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Convincing Your Spouse And Family To Support Your Photography Dreams

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This post is Day 23 of 30 Ways In 30 Days To Redesign Your Life With Photography. This series seeks to provide you with practical steps to get you from wherever you are today, to exactly where you want to be – this year! If your goal has always been to take your photography to a whole new level, hang on and start enjoying a new lifestyle you’ve always dreamed of.

You’ve been dreaming of the day you tell your JOB goodbye, and work at photography full time to support your lifestyle. And while your dreams are real – you live, breathe and dream them every day – you tend to keep your dreams to yourself. Will your family support your decisions? Will your spouse accept your new goals?

One of the most difficult situations you can deal with is to start out in the entrepreneurial life, especially when no one around you has done it before.

“It’s too risky.”

“You’ll lose your benefits.”

“How will you survive without a paycheck?”

We heard them all when we made the break back in the 90’s.

Yet now, you have more support then ever behind you with the current economy. Does anyone truly believe a JOB is less risky at the moment? Will the JOB even be there one year from now? Even with all of that behind you, there are still things you can do to gain confidence, and to showcase your skills to those around you.

Set Up Your Plan

In many ways, the reason people throw negative questions at you is because they simply don’t understand what you are doing. They’ve always worked, relied on a JOB, and worried about salaries and benefits. Maybe they’ve shared their misery stories with you, and enjoy the same in return. What if they lose what they have in common?

With a little bit of planning, you can answer their questions.

“How are you going to make money?” they may say. You can respond by describing your plans to photograph 15 baby portraits each month, and how that will equal what you are currently making at your JOB.

“What about benefits?” they might ask. You can rely on things like COBRA for a while until your income is stable and you can take on a policy for your business.

It’s easy to anticipate what they might ask, because the questions become pretty standard and routine. By having an answer ready, it shows that you have thought it all out. It shows you are ready to take on the responsibility of a business, and do whatever it takes to make it work.

It also helps build your own confidence because you do know the answers. You can rely on yourself, no matter what.

Show Them What You Do

Chances are they know you love photography – you are the one that shows up with a camera to every family event. So show them along the way what you are doing and what you are planning. Instead of handing out family images, bring over a few photographs you took to use as samples. Or share with them the new brochure you just received from the printer.

When we first started our business, I would hand my mom several copies of my brochure. She would mail them to my grandmothers to show what we were up to. She started getting excited by what we were accomplishing, and it didn’t take her very long to realize we had potential. And she loved sharing it with the rest of the family. She quickly became one of our biggest fans.

We also held open houses in our studio once a year, and would invite the family. If your studio is in a commercial location, as ours was for a number of years, family usually didn’t make it through the doors. So invite them in. Show them your recent awards. Share with them your new presentation. Show them your sample albums.

You’ll quickly find their ideas and opinions change.

It’s Not Just The Family, Its My Spouse

“It’s not my family I’m concerned with, its my spouse. He just doesn’t understand how important this is to me. If I quit my job, we won’t be able to afford the car he wants, or take our annual summer vacation this year. He’s not willing to give all of that up so I can go down this new road.”

I understand. When you don’t have immediate support in your daily life, what are you supposed to do?

Realize everyone changes in different ways.

Are your JOBS really as secure as he thinks? Is there a chance one or both of you will be let go, or have a decrease in salary or benefits over the next year?

If he really stops to think about it, he should realize that nothing is safe any more. The only safety net you have is if you create it yourself. Show him with the numbers how you can quickly get back on track, and make what you currently are making in salary. Also show him how quickly you can go beyond today’s salary, and make a whole lot more.

Then take it slow. Don’t start out full time, start out part time. Share the successes along the way.

Also share with him stories of other photographers around you that are doing what you want to do, and are making a good living at it.

Bring him with you to a convention or two so he can see what other photographers are up to. WPPI is coming up February 17th in Las Vegas, and its very reasonably priced. Chances are he won’t turn down a trip to Las Vegas. You can spend some quality time together AND learn amazing things that will help you grow your business. He may even get a little excited when he sees the potential – and its hard not to as you wonder through the trade show floor, and see some of the successes other photographers are having.

Be Patient

It can be a big decision to go into business for yourself. While its something you’ve always dreamed of doing, those around you haven’t shared that dream. They “like” working for a living, and can’t see it any other way.

I once had a long conversation with an acquaintance who couldn’t understand why I liked owning my own business. She didn’t understand how to come up with ideas. She didn’t have a passion for trying something new, and expanding waaayyyyy beyond your comfort level. She just wanted security. She wanted a paycheck on Friday, no change in her life, and no added stress.

If they don’t “get it”, you can’t make them “get it” in one sitting. You can’t describe your passion and have them instantly get excited for you. They are uncomfortable because you are changing the way they’ve always thought, and they aren’t happy about it.

But that doesn’t mean you have to give up your dreams. Just realize that they won’t be your support system as you move forward. That doesn’t mean you have to ignore them, or quit visiting them on a regular basis. It simply means you don’t discuss your plans with them. If they ask questions, keep it short and sweet. Tell them a little about your successes, share a photograph or two, and move on to a different subject.

They may open up about your choices, and they may not. But if you listen to them and argue your point with them, you’ll both leave feeling frustrated.

Instead, find someone you can share with, and that does support you. They will help you build towards the future, and be there to share your failures and successes, and help you build on what you learn.

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Building A Photography Business With 10 Streams Of Income part 2

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Yesterday we started exploring the concept of multiple streams of income within the business of photography. While looking at a list of 10 places to make income from may look easy (or for some people overwhelming), listing the 10 streams is a whole lot easier than actually getting each to make you an income.

But in many aspects, it’s that way with anything in life. The idea behind multiple streams of income is you put one income source into play, and then move onto the next.

So from a traditional standpoint, you head out and find a job that will give you a full time income. Then you head to work 40 hours every week, and on Friday you come home with a paycheck. That’s your first stream of income. From there you invest in stocks that provide dividend income one a quarter. There’s your second stream of income. Then you save and purchase your first rental property. There’s your third stream of income. And so on.

Even in the most traditional sense you spend time getting one stream in place before you move onto the next. You can change and modify each stream along the way. But you have to spend focused time on each stream when you are building the foundation and getting it into place.

The same applies when you are building different streams of income from your photography business. If your goal is to become a wedding photographer, put all your effort into that for the year. Visit every wedding coordinator and reception venue in your state/local area. Advertise in local magazines/newspapers/bridal guides. Participate in community events around the wedding industry. Showcase your expertise by writing articles for the bridal guides. Build up your web portfolio, and spend time becoming the best wedding photographer you can be. Then when you are recognized as a wedding photographer, and have everything in place for quality clients and referrals coming in regularly, move on to the next phase.

Then let your coordinators and reception venues know you do more than weddings – you have an entire event platform for everything from parties to corporate functions. Expand your marketing to meeting planners, and showcase your work in different manners. Build a new web presence just for your events. Market it as event photography. Build it up to a successful event business that’s bringing in just the right amount of client work to work hand in hand with your wedding business.

Then move on. While some of your clientele will never cross over between your niches – a bride may never use your corporate event side – it is nice to let them know your new lines. Newsletters are a great tool to open up your clients’ eyes to what your potential is. They won’t know unless you tell them. Yet don’t make it a regular part of your promotion – you don’t want to overwhelm your client base. A generic mailing two to four times a year may do the trick.

By the time you get into smaller areas of your business – training for instance – you’ll have a large audience that loves you and is willing to buy from you, and will be interested in what you are doing. For example, you may end up with a 2,000 people on your mailing list just through your weddings, events and portrait work after a couple of years in business. So you decide to have a Saturday class on taking better digital photographs, and understanding a digital camera better. With a class size of 25-50, and a mailing to your 2,000 people, you should quickly be able to fill up your class. And have a waiting list for the next time around.

Hopefully you’re starting to see the big picture – how each of these streams will ultimately fit together. The key to them all is building up your client list, and continue to market to them again and again. You can’t rely on one method – email doesn’t work perfectly, nor does snail mail, or even social sites. You have to touch people in a variety of ways, and reach out to them in a way they rely on, and wish to receive information.

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Building A Photography Business With 10 Streams Of Income

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Have you ever heard of the concept “multiple streams of income”? I first learned of the concept through one of my long time mentors, Robert Allen.

Multiple streams of income simply means having several income sources from different means, so that you never have to rely on one source to supply you with all of your funding. If one source dries up, you’ll have others in place to ensure you are never completely without revenue or income coming in.

So if you work full time, your paycheck would be one income source. If you have a rental property, that would be another revenue source. If you have dividends coming in regularly from a stock, that would be another source. And so on.

We’ve been living the “multiple streams of income” lifestyle for quite awhile now, and in today’s society, it really is hard to live any other way. But I also like to place “multiple streams of income” within as many revenue sources as possible as well. So for a photography business, how many different revenue sources can you have coming in that are totally unrelated to one another, and can be worked to each provide a small part of your revenue.

Here’s an idea on building a photography business with 10 streams of income.

1. Weddings
With your wedding photography, you market to both brides and potential referral partners, such as wedding coordinators and reception sites.

2. Events
Event photography can range from corporate events and parties, to bar/bat mitzvahs, to birthday parties and special occasions. Continue building referral partners from your wedding business, and concentrate on finding meeting planners as well as wedding coordinators.

3. Portraits
I’ve lumped everything into portraits, but you can break out into children, famiy, engagement/couples, business or pet portraiture. Each can become its on niche, depending on how you market your business.

4. Baby Plan
Baby plans work well because there are babies born every day of the year. They will only be little once, so it mandatory you capture them at specific points in time.

5. Education
Expand beyond bringing in clients, and start teaching your expertise. Love Photoshop? Start up a class. How about building a business, or marketing a business? Start up a class. I’ve been teaching at the Arapahoe Community College here in Denver for years, and I love the interaction between my students and me.

6. Training
Why not teach your clients how to use their digital cameras better? Or bring them in for a fun craft project involving their portrait experience? Great add-on sale with a portrait experience.

7. Affiliate
Many different product and service businesses offer partnership opportunities where you make a commission if you bring in a sale. While it may not be much, every little bit helps. And if you end up bringing in $100 from two different partnerships every month, it quickly becomes a pretty significant part of your monthly revenue.

8. Product Line
Ever wandered into a bookstore and found a book that made you think, “I could have done that”. You can. Our first book, “Being A Bride” was based on a book I found at the Pottery Barn called “Santa Claus”. In addition to gift books, you can also create a variety of items: calendars, greeting cards, journals, and artwork.

9. Stock/Microstock
As you are shooting an event or a portrait, why not spend a little extra time creating stock images? Microstock may not pay well per image, but add it up over time with a bunch of different images selling well, and you’ll quickly have a very effective stream of income.

10. Fine Art
Have you ever visited an art show or a gallery? They have 10 to 20 fine art pieces for sale – not hundreds or even dozens. If you work at capturing a few top notch images, you can approach galleries, or travel to your favorite cities and participate in an art fair.

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7 Wealth Strategies For Photographers

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I talk a lot about starting and growing a photography business because I know that’s where the bulk of people reading this blog are. But what about when you achieve success? What happens when you have your first six figure year? How do you truly achieve wealth as a photographer? Take a look at these 7 steps – and use them as a guideline as you grow your business from wherever you currently are.

1. Change the structure of your business. Many photography studios are sole proprietors simply out of ease. But when you reach a certain level of business, it may make more sense to change the structure. Corporations and limited liability companies give you added protection and added benefits – check with your accountant and/or lawyer for advice.

2. Make sure you are covered by insurance policies. Do you have adequate business insurance to cover you in case of a lawsuit? Are you covered from long term liability in case you are injured? The more successful you are, the more you need to make sure you are covered from life’s unexpected moments.

3. Increasing your structure. As a single photographer, there are only two ways for you to increase your profits: add more staff to help you bring in more clients, or charge more for every client. Only you can decide what’s the best method for growth.

4. Plan for a rainy day. The one thing that sets more small business owners back is not planning for the future. Instead of spending your profits on new equipment, or taking it in the form of a paycheck, consider saving a portion every month as well. Think of long term growth, and save for big ticket items down the road.

5. Diversify. When we were earning a healthy six figure income from 25 weddings a year, we didn’t stop there. We began opening up other business ventures. We started a book publishing company and produced a couple of books. We started a marketing firm to help small business owners with their marketing. And we made personal investments along the way. The phrase “don’t put your eggs in one basket” rings true.

6. Create a family plan. Depending on where you are in life, your goals change. A newly married couple has hopes of family, roots and stability. A couple with children in college may decide to spread out and enjoy new options, such as traveling. While it may be hard to look far into the future, plan along the way. If you have a two year old, what would you like them to see before they turn 12? How about the age of 22? Set your goals accordingly.

7. Grow your list of advisors. Being wealthy isn’t about doing things alone – its about getting the best advice from people you can trust. If you don’t have an accountant, find one. No lawyer? Get one. A marketing expert? A necessity. The more you can rely on to do their job, the better you can be at yours.

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