Friends in photography,
Got no business? Then, you need a business plan.
Maybe you had one ten, or twenty years ago.
Or, you’re just starting out.
You need a business plan. And then you need to implement.
More on implementation in a second.
Setting up your business, getting a logo, legal permit with city hall, zoning, letterheads, website, flakebook page, rental space, equipment, fancy price lists, getting everything perfect….etc etc is not a business plan.
Don’t confuse it, and trivial activity with implementation.
A business plan is a vision of where you will be in five years. Or three, matters not.
Pick one.
And run with it.
Decide how much you want to make. Decide who your market is.
Decide how you will pursue said market. This “how” will be your marketing by the way.
Know that, master it and learn. Become a marketing ninja.
And push, push hard to become to “go to studio” in your area.
Make mistakes. The more, the better. But learn. Mistakes are tuition fees.
You can only pay those fees if you act and take risks.
Five years. Or three. Pick one.
If you tried, and 8 months later you failed, it’s your fault.
You may have been impatient. Or, perhaps they don’t really
like your product. Or, ghast, they don’t like you.
It happens. Suck it up and learn.
Nowadays, in my honest, not oh so humble yet accurate opinion, it is far, far more important to master publicity and your brand than ever before.
This means word of mouth, all the way up to big media publicity.
Call it branding if you like. But don’t delegate that job to your designer
or ad agency.
What do they know or care about your vision. Your passions. Your future.
An insurance company needs head shots. Who they gonna call?
Who’s top of mind?
Example….One of the key players, or the office manager, at that company has a nephew, a friend, bro-in-law who fancies themselves a “photographer”.
And they use that person for their “professional” shots.
……they end up with crap….
This is what we’re up against. They didn’t call you because you’re off the radar.
Don’t be a little whiney bitch and complain about it. Do something!
Never, ever, never, never, never rest on your laurels, hands under your legs, sitting passively while this happens. Grow a pair.
It’s your duty. Success is your duty. You need to know how to push hard.
And as they say at the barn….”Put on your big girl panties and get back on the horse.”
Act like you have they’re business before they even NEED you.
So they call YOU.
Act. Know it. Be it. Own the brand.
Your brand.
So when they need you, blammmo.
RRRrrinnngg.
Still stuck? I can help.
Already a member? Cool. Very cool….then you know about the mastermind meeting.
Plus, one of my fave presentations on publicity, for photographers.
Yours in photography and success,
Robert Provencher
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