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Once Upon A Time In A Photography Studio Far, Far Away …

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Don’t you just love a good story?

When you read a great story, it has to have certain things in place.

A great beginning, middle and end. If any of those pieces drag on, aren’t well thought out, or are left to chance, you end up wanting more. It may be an “okay” story, but it will never be great.

Conflict and resolution. There is always something in the story that the main character has to deal with or fight off. Even in a great Disney movie for kids, there will always be a reason the main character has to look within to discover more about him or herself.

A lot of detail. This is Alex. Alex was a recent high school graduate, looking forward to a bright future. Both of these sentences introduce you to Alex. But one begins painting a much more detailed picture. You can start to see who Alex is. You know how old he is and potentially the direction he is heading in life.

As human beings, we care about the story. No one exists in life without a story. That’s why you see stories wherever you go.

Think about the Olympics. Michael Phelps is a household name because they tell his story over and over again. In his third Olympic run, he beat the long time record of total medals held when he swam to his 22nd win. We all rooted for him because we knew his story, have watched him win time after time, and are right there with him as the announcers scream in excitement as he touched the side.

Think about what you read or watch every day. If you have a favorite show, it’s because you are into the story. The Voice, for example, allows us a peek into every day lives of people trying to find that one lucky break. Before every one of the contestants gets up on stage to sing, we spend a few moments learning about who they really are. They grew up bullied. They were different in high school. They’ve been singing in small town bars for years looking for the “big break”. Their mom’s died of cancer. They spent their last dime on a plane ticket for this audition. Whatever the story, you are pulled in and are right there with them, rooting them on and hoping they do well.

It’s because that’s how we are wired. That’s how humans make connections and move around in this world. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Get Clients Tagged With: , , , ,

Workflow Resource – Give Image Finder A Try

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On any given day, do you have a gazillion things running past you, and just as many windows opened up on your computer? I know I do.

So when you start in on a new client, or have someone call up with questions on images, your mind quickly scrambles to come up with where the image files are located and how to find them quickly.

You may want to try Fundy Image Finder – a brand new tool that makes finding and pulling images quick and easy. Its not a sophisticated program; just a simple workflow utility to help photographers pull images for print and album orders in the most efficient way possible.

(And best of all, its 100% free – so you have to go download it now!)

What it is

A simple tool for quickly finding a batch of images.

Why it rocks

Ever have a print or album order with a list of images you have to find?  We’ve made the job of finding them fast and snappy!  Image Finder was designed to do one very specific task, and do it well.  Like the name of the product, it finds images.  That’s it.

How it works

Cut and paste a list of image files into the finder window, and hit go.  It will search a folder and/or subfolders for the images and bring them up in the queue.  From there, you can open the files up in Photoshop or quickly create copies for editing.  That’s it!  It just takes a simple step in your workflow and makes it lightning fast. Watch this video to see just how fast it is.

How much is it?

Brace yourself.  It’s FREE.  Yeah, how cool is that?  Fundy Software is all about making the Photographer’s workflow faster and easier.  This was such a simple tool to develop we were amazed nobody had made it yet, so we busted it out and are making it available completely free.

Grab your copy of it here.

Filed Under: Production Resources Tagged With: , , , , ,

8 Ways To Know If You Are Meant To Be A Business Owner

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You’ve been dreaming of the day you’ll become a successful business owner. But do you really have what it takes? Are you really cut out for the entrepreneur path? Can you be taught the skills necessary to run a successful business – or is it something you’re born with?

A recent study reported on Inc says that if business students take as least two core entrepreneurship classes, that is enough to positively influence them into starting up a business later in life.

And while the study was conducted by analyzing students attending college and going for a business degree, I think the same applies to people in general contemplating a business, who decide to pursue a few classes to throw the odds into their favor.

Entrepreneurs are not born; they are taught. And the more desire you have in becoming a business owner, the greater your chances of success. Here are 8 ways you’ll know if the entrepreneur road is for you.

1. Your goal is to have a photography studio that brings in a full time income. I love the story Roy Disney told reporters on the opening of Epcot in Florida. They asked Roy if he was sad that Walt didn’t live to see the opening of his dream. Roy replied not at all: because Walt visualized the whole thing before the first shovel of dirt was turned. In order to meet your goal, you have to see your goal first.

2. You can discipline yourself. Can you easily set goals for yourself and accomplish them on schedule? When you don’t have a boss telling you what to do, you have to prioritize and make sure things get done.

3. You hate working for someone else. Yes, I know; the majority of people probably fall into this category. But if you dig deep down inside and ask yourself, “do I enjoy working for others?” you may be surprised at the answer. Some people truly like the normalcy of having a desk, co-workers, and a boss in the corner office. They like having a paycheck and benefits. And they really don’t want to have to make decisions and face problems that effect their well being every day. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Start A Photo Business Tagged With: , , , , ,

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...]

Filed Under: Six Figure Photographer Tagged With: , , , ,

3 Tips For Getting Your Photography Studio In The News

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News is changing. When was the last time you actually picked up a hard copy newspaper? And statistics show the younger you are, the less chance of that actually occurring.

Just because the method for getting the news is changing doesn’t mean the necessity for news events is changing. In fact “news” articles are needed more than ever. We no longer have one newspaper for one community. There are dozens of tools and resources that write up and look for news related content on a daily basis.

Yet if I were to ask you what you are doing to attract the attention of editors and writers for these sources, I bet your answer would be “Ummm…”

Let’s break it down, and look at ways you can start growing your business by using publicity, and find resources that will make your job even easier.

1. Know your budget.

Don’t you hate it when the first question out of a potential customer’s mouth is “How much for an 8×10?” Yet that same question is relevant in every industry.

Before you move forward and look for resources in the public relations industry, you have to know your budget. Can you afford to hire a publicity firm? Can you hire people to write press releases for you? How about hiring a virtual assistant to send things to editors and writers on a regular basis – and to keep you on track every month?

The only way to determine how much work you can have done for you is to determine how much you can spend.

You can also talk with more than one person in the industry, and get a better feeling for what is possible. Just because you can’t afford it now doesn’t mean you won’t be able to in the future. Learn what things are, discover the lingo within the industry, and research costs. Then put together a plan of things to do over the coming months.

When you are researching ideas, look for: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Publicity Tagged With: , , ,

5 Work At Home Habits To Avoid – Are You Guilty?

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Ahhh, the thought of working at home can be ever so appealing. In fact that’s why a lot of people go into business for themselves. What could be better than staying at home, earning money while you’re there, AND getting a few things done around the house as well?

However, working at home brings its own set of unique challenges. And in many cases, if you fall into the “work at home” trap, it can quickly cause you to lose productivity, and actually prevent you from creating a successful business.

Here are the top five habits I see that can stop you from building the business of your dreams.

1. Establishing work hours

Your home. It’s easy to slip into the office any time you choose. If the phone rings at 6 am, why not answer it? Production time at 2am when you can’t sleep – why not?

Working at home starts out with the best intentions. It’s easy to head out to lunch with friends, and shop during a mid morning when crowds aren’t as fierce. Yet if you don’t treat your business like a business, and set up normal hours built around what you need to get done, you’ll quickly get overwhelmed.

Do what’s best for you. If you are productive from 9pm to midnight after everyone else is asleep, by all means put that into your schedule. The key is to create hours that you can stick with day after day.
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Filed Under: Production Tagged With: , , , ,

Starting Up A Photography Business Is Like Riding A Roller Coaster

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I’m definitely thinking 2009 will be the year of the entrepreneur.

Back in roller coaster 2December, I wrote a post The Return Of The Entrepreneurs. And now just a couple of months later, I’m amazed at the number of emails from people truly wanting to take that next step, and open up their own studio.

Because I’ve been answering so many questions about starting up a photography business lately, I decided some of my thoughts would make a perfect post.

image source gypbrc.co.uk

My start into my own business
Back in the early 90’s, Andrew and I had a dream of owning our own studio, and earning our living through the studio. We both had full time jobs, and worked at the business on nights and on weekends. The jobs we did for the money. The photography we did because we loved it.

Obviously we started where most photographers do. We loved it. We’re passionate about it. And had dreams of it becoming our careers. We both come from 9 to 5 parents, so we were never exposed to the entrepreneurial lifestyle. We had no idea what we were doing, and took each step completely blind.

Our first big step was having Andrew go full time. After being downsized three times from three separate positions in three separate industries, we knew it was time. So we opened up a small studio, and took on every type of client that called.

But I still held on to my full time job. Corporate, 9 to 5, with a ton of travel.

Then along came my daughter. We chose not to do day care, and she became a studio baby. Because we were focused on weddings at that point, most of the people work came on the weekends, with occasional client meetings during the week. (And we even wondered if you could use your child as a tax writeoff because bride-to-be’s loved it that a father was caring for his daughter during the week while I was at work. We booked many clients because of it – and just kidding about the tax writeoff!)

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Start A Photo Business Tagged With: , , ,

Photography Studio – Going Out Of Business

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How long can a photography studio stay in business if it isn’t making any money?

I came across a photography site today in which the photographer had listed prices. I won’t use names – but I guarantee you can find prices like this on many, many different sites.

Event fee $300, includes photographer and assistant for 3 hours of time, plus a DVD with images. Additional hours available as needed.

So let’s do a few calculations.

$300 for 3 hours of work – that’s $100 an hour

Let’s assume an hour each before and after the event getting organized – down to $60 an hour

Let’s assume 3 hours of meeting time to book the client and to deliver the DVD and final products – down to $37.50 per hour

Let’s assume 2 hours of production time, transferring raw images to computer, editing and burning DVD – down to $30 per hour

Normal business expenses:

  • Vehicle
  • Gas at $4 per gallon – depends on the distance of the event
  • Camera equipment costs
  • Costs of brochures, business cards, paper, envelopes, advertising – everything to bring in the clients
  • Rent
  • Office supplies
  • Phone expenses
  • Utilities

Okay, with all of those expenses to add up, I’ll be conservative and say it costs about $30 per hour – which means we’re now down to $0

Oh, and did I mention that there are two people at the event – which means you have to pay that second person per hour – I guess we’re now into the negative.

And does this person really have a chance of making a huge additional sale? They are giving away the DVD, so I think chances are pretty low.

Becoming a professional photographer means you have to make money. You have to give yourself a profit, and pay yourself for your expertise.

If you don’t, you’ll be hanging that Out Of Business sign very soon.

What can you do? Charge what you’re worth, and charge to run a profitable business. One of the reasons our studio became a Six Figure success in under two years is because we charged what we were worth for our services. We made sure our expenses were completely covered – including our own salaries – and made a healthy profit on top of it all.

It doesn’t take luck to become a Six Figure Photographer. It takes business planning. What are you doing to guarantee your success?

Filed Under: Blog, Studio Set Up Tagged With: , ,

Photography Business – Too Much Competition?

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There’s something to be said for being the best in your field. It can get bring in business all the time. And it will keep you profitable for years to come.

I hear from photographers all the time who are searching for a way to compete with the many other photographers in their niche. “What can I do to separate myself from the pack, and make good money doing what I love?”

Create a new “pack”! When you create a new pack, you’re the instant leader.

While that may sound good in writing, how do you go about it in real life?

Let me share an example. A few years ago, I was sitting with a group of mom’s at the private school my daughter attended. All were complaining about the quality of work from the average school photographer that took the children’s photo year after year. They all had a deep desire to have something better – a higher quality product that they would be happy to purchase and display. We found a very lucrative niche.

Become a Six Figure Photographer

We created a program that allowed us to go in and provide quality portraits of a child within their private school setting using the surrounding areas as our backdrop. We would spend 20-30 minutes with each child, and photograph him or her in unique settings all over the campus. Each child received a small keepsake photo album containing approximately 24 of the best images – this was theirs to keep as a part of the sitting. Of course they could order extras. Of course we had packages that contained a variety of photographs and sizes. And the best part was the multiple requests we had for family portraits, based off working with the children and providing quality portraits.

Keep in mind this works well with private schools, that don’t have a huge population. Doing 30-40 children can keep you busy for a couple of weeks. The families understood the difference in this type of photography, and were willing to pay a lot more than standard school portrait prices. But they also received quality, and were happy to connect with a good, reputable photographer.

So, instead of sticking with the standard niches, try and create a new twist to an old way of doing business. What are you doing now? How can you give it a twist, and find a whole new market ready and willing to spend their money with you?  – Become a Six Figure Photographer

Filed Under: Blog, Business Tagged With: , ,

Photography and Facebook – A Great Combination

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Has your photography business hit a slump? Are your sales down from last year? Or, are you ready to move to the next level. Enter the Facebook social arena. Facebook and photography can exist with great complimentary connections. Here is a fan page that we put together on Facebook to introduce one of our services. – Facebook sample page – take a look and if you are not a member, register at no cost and explore this next generation of marketing.

Filed Under: Blog, Online Marketing Tagged With: , , , ,
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