We all love winning. Getting started in this type of business can be rewarding and, at the same time, it can be exhausting. It won't always be easy or smooth sailing. There will be times when you struggle to find work, and during those times your passion will carry you through. Nothing is free in life, and success is no exception. You must work at it constantly. In the words of the famed entrepreneur Mark Cuban (who you might know from the hit television show "Shark Tank"), "Work like there is someone working 24 hours a day to take it away from you." Business is like a fine wine: It takes time to mature and cultivate, but the final result is a premium product from a top-shelf company. During the down times, I never stopped researching how to improve my business and become better at my craft. It was also during some of the not-so-easy times that I decided to develop a mission statement, revise my logo, re-write my business plan, and evaluate all the other seemingly minor aspects that make a business run more effectively.
If I had decided not to push myself to proactively market my business, I wouldn't be where I am. If I'd hung my head in discouragement and disgust instead of pushing through and persevering when business was hard to come by, I definitely wouldn't be writing this book! Don't expect clients to come flocking to you unless you are a well-known and firmly established photographer in your area. As your business grows, it won't be out of the ordinary for people to start directly contacting you for work. To get there, you have to be able to push when you feel like stopping, find opportunity in every near miss or failure, and market your company in a way that will propel you forward, learning from your mistakes and evolving as you go.
Getting clients to hire you is a formula that all professionals would like to unlock and inscribe on their memories. How can you increase your chances of winning while limiting your downside potential? Mark Cuban would say "It doesn't matter if the glass is half-empty or half-full. All that matters is that you are the one pouring the water." Let's talk about a few ways you can manage your odds and increase your wins.
First and foremost, you'll need a business plan. Writing a business plan will help orchestrate smooth and efficient operations. Make sure you conceptualize the details of all aspects of your company, so that you can balance your work and life effectively. This includes guarantees, model releases, contracts, terms of service agreements, a mission statement, and other details.
Great design and photography are extremely important to your success. You sell what you show. Having a strong portfolio with a cohesive brand, well-developed website, eye-catching logo design, and a strong understanding of the business will ultimately help you push your company in the right direction. All of these things, including your personality, technical skills, and marketing, play a vital role in winning jobs. I wish winning happened more often than not, but the truth is you can't please everyone. Explore your style of photography. There are plenty of clients that you'll meet that may not be a good fit for your style. You should be aware of trending styles, and focus on one that fits your personality. Your portfolio should reflect only your best work, and then you'll be able to start attracting clients and signing contracts.
Keeping the demand high and diversifying your offerings by advertising a select group of services and not making them constantly available will give you the ability to charge more for a premier product that you don't offer all the time. I currently have a special VIP package that includes the top four services I offer. I include many details in the description that give the impression of a great value. Little tricks like this will help you become a master of marketing your photography business. While referrals and positive reviews from others are nice, they're not enough to generate the business you need. As you start to grow, never rest on your laurels. Always keep your business plan diversified, not only when hiring team members, but when choosing the products and services you offer.
While services are important, your client relations need to be an ongoing aspect of your career. Thriving businesses have strong lines of communication. Keeping the lines of communication open with clients by email and phone is very important. Make sure to ask them how they prefer to communicate and honor their preference. If you have a client who isn't computer savvy or doesn't check their email frequently, don't risk them missing important information by emailing them when you could be calling. And don't expect one email to sufficiently capture the client's attention. How you respond to clients' questions and inquiries about your services will determine how successfully you will capture new business. Ask questions about their needs and listen more than you talk. Don't just ramble on about what you offer, or you might lose someone's interest. Uncover a need and propose a unique and attractive solution so that your prospects can make an informed decision.
Keep the lines of communication open, even after the event. Clients never want to feel forgotten, so be sure to keep them in the loop regarding the progress of their precious memories. Give them a call or compose an email after you know that the work you delivered meets their expectations. Ask for testimonials or reviews about their experience with your company and, if they're willing to oblige, make sure you get permission to use their feedback for your own marketing purposes.
It's important to educate clients about how your business operates. They should be aware of your terms of service, contractual language, fees you may charge, and how a typical session happens. Build a relationship with each client by being attentive to their needs and educating them, and you'll develop trust and rapport. You should make every effort to have a preliminary meeting with the client before taking any photos. This consultative approach will prepare them and make them feel comfortable because they'll know what to expect and they'll be more familiar with you.
Understanding what the client wants and being able to consistently deliver will keep your business in growth mode. Keep providing quality images that your client will fall in love with, and continue to exceed expectations. Stylizing photos that have been favorites in the past will continue to push your business forward by showing off examples of your best work and giving them a modern context. Deliver on the promises you make. Don't go back on your word, no matter the cost. Deliver images earlier than promised. Make sure the client has a full understanding of your workflow after you shoot their event or wedding. While you want to strive to deliver on time or early, you should never feel rushed to finesse your work and get it in the hands of the client. Make sure you give yourself ample time to realistically deliver quality results. Keep your organization skills up to par. This will help keep your processes on track and maintain a high customer satisfaction rating.
We all know perfection doesn't exist, but it's something to strive for. Shoot for the moon and you'll land amongst the stars (or aim high, miss high). Don't accept the status quo simply because the business can get overwhelming or difficult. Being an artist is about being creative, critical, and selective about how you present your work. You should be very proud of any work you choose to showcase. Many people will pay a premium for your service if they see that you strive to be the best and show off distinguished images that set you apart.
Managing yourself may sound easy, but things can unravel pretty quickly if you aren't on top of all of your tasks. Keeping a daily to do list that includes your priorities, tasks, visions, dreams, and goals will help you to stay focused. Create a workflow that you always follow so that your process is consistent. Number the steps of your workflow and be specific about when each step takes place. And never stop learning: Take the time to always study, plan, think, and reflect. Doing these things will help promote and push your business further than you thought possible.
Last but not least, understanding that you're only one person and you can't do it all on your own will help you continue to win. Someone else may have viable opinions and perspectives about your business that may not have occurred to you. It's always wise to remain open to new ideas and bring additional people onto your team to assist you. In past chapters we've discussed the importance of having a mastermind group of like-minded professionals to keep you motivated, on track, and evolving. Having the ability to network and collaborate with others who share the same passion can help make your business even more successful. Flexibility and willingness to change things you have already implemented are important, because your way may not always be the right way. Times change, trends change, and if you stay stuck in your process or familiar way of doing business, and you may be eclipsed. Momentum is the hardest thing to gain and the easiest thing to lose, and nothing ever grew to greatness stuck inside a comfort zone. Even with all of these practices integrated into your business model, you still may have hard times ahead. There is no guarantee or practice that will make you immune to struggle. But if you're resilient, resourceful, and adaptable, bouncing back and staying positive just might help you make the most out of any circumstance you encounter.
One major blow to my business was losing a contract over the quality of videography. It was a valuable lesson to learn. I poured so much time and effort into my photography that I neglected to bring the video portion of my business up to the same standard. This is when I realized that my business was growing faster than I originally projected. I was honest with myself and decided that I seriously needed to evaluate ways to improve the quality of the video portion of my business while maintaining the standard I set forth with my photography. I set a new goal for the year to completely focus on improving my skills as a videographer. My plans included investing in better equipment, training new videographers, learning new techniques, and understanding clients' needs and wants beyond just pictures. Because I didn't have a solid video portfolio, I ended up losing a $5,000 job. Even though I lost that large contract, I didn't let it bother me. What I gained was powerful, because I was motivated to improve and grow in ways that would ensure my success in growing that portion of my business from that point forward. So I dusted myself off and continued to push onward.
As it turns out, losing that contract was the best thing that could have happened to me. Early on, I was booking many small jobs just to fill the pipeline, but I was always eager to book bigger, higher-paying jobs. You see, just because you can take great photos doesn't mean you're automatically a professional photographer. Some of the most successful businesses don't have cream-of-the-crop photographers, and some of the top-rated professionals don't have a very successful business. It takes more than just raw skill to become successful. Your passion will help when you face dry spells and discouragement, but it will only take you so far. Success is a word whose meaning varies greatly from person to person. The definition of success is highly subjective, so don't hold a banner with the word "success" over your head all the time while you're growing your business. Just focus on loving what you do enough to nurture your desire to keep going, even when you feel like you're losing.
I wake up every day and ask myself, "Will I be happy doing what I am about to do today?" and that answer is usually yes. Whenever it isn't, I stop to reflect on what's wrong and try to understand what I need to do to fix it. I will never consider myself the best photographer or the biggest expert, since there is always so much to learn and improve. What I do relish and celebrate is being successful at learning the ropes of the business in one short year; building a reputable company with organic clientele; being able to manage my finances, accounting, and business practices; and hiring multiple individuals to expand and diversify my team. Doing all of these things involved some risk, but I believe that with risk comes reward.
If you were standing by my side through my first year, you'd see that it took thousands of dollars to make my company a thriving reality. Without the initial access to capital, I wouldn't have been able to procure the resources I needed to make my photos stand out from others and get a running start. Of course, you don't need to buy the same expensive lenses and bodies as the pros, but a general rule of thumb is to be sure your equipment stands up to the job and helps you win, all the time. Being smart with your money when you're first starting out will earn you a return on investment. Now, that's winning.
