Can't Stop the Madness? At Least Slow it Down!

AI and stock images from Adobe

by Skip Cohen
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We're a week out from Labor Day, which pretty much marks the end of summer and kicks off the ramp-up for holiday seasonality in imaging. This isn't a new topic for me to write about, but my theme lately has been the importance of prepping for the uptick in business.

Sadly, too many of you are creating unnecessary roadblocks to your success in wrapping up 2024. Many of you had no idea if you made money last year until you did your taxes. What things could you be doing now that would set the stage for better accountability, increased brand awareness, and a stronger foundation for your business?

Check out these suggestions before you're into the height of the season, and business kicks into high gear.

1. ​It's time to analyze your time! Grab a coffee, sit down for an hour, and consider everything that takes up time during your day. My points below are more specific to activities in building a stronger business, but everything starts with how you use your time, and what people/projects cut into your availability. Once you've figured out where the biggest time draws are - it's time to delegate, cut back, or scratch the activity off your list. The key point is determining the relevance of the activity to your business and sanity.
2. Pricing: Nothing can destroy your business faster than not pricing your products the right way. You need to consider EVERYTHING in your costs. One of the saddest situations I see regularly are artists excited because the lab only charges $1.00 for a 5x7, and they charge the client $10! Look at ALL your costs, including your education, insurance, gear, software, hardware, etc. Everything you're doing to run your business needs to be included.
3. ​"That's good enough." Never compromise on quality. Not only do you owe your clients the very best, but you also owe yourself and your brand a never-ending stream of overachievement! There are so many stories from photographers who sadly learned that the portrait they took of a client was the last photograph ever taken of them. 
4. Buying gear: Before buying anything, make sure you really need it. There's no need to tie up cash flow over a piece of equipment you haven't tested yet. Look at rental programs and definitely consider leasing. Leasing lets you utilize somebody else's assets without depleting yours. Even better, if it's not the basics to get the job done, check with friends in your network. Often, somebody has a particularly exotic lens you want to check out, and if you've been friends, it's a great option to test before you make the investment. Also, I've heard a lot of stories over the years of photographers sharing the cost of expensive gear that isn't being used all the time.  And don't forget the benefits of sharing studio space!
5. Are you regularly checking your website? At least a half-dozen times over the last few years, I've checked out a photographer's website and had it freeze up. And when using the email template to let them know, there was no response! You should be checking your site every morning and on several different browsers. Make sure everything is loading the way it should. Then, get in the habit of checking your email responses from your contact page too - at least three times a day!
6. "I don't have time for another workshop:" Now and then, you're going to run out of time. I get it, but artists often throw in the towel for the wrong reasons. LIVE and online workshops are popping up all over, along with great conferences. If there's a workshop coming your way and it has the content you need to raise the bar on your skills as an artist/business owner, you can't afford NOT to be there.
7. Stop wasting time: It's the granddaddy of them all – I've seen photographers waste hours of their time and everybody else's, most often in Facebook forums! They get caught up in a social media riptide and refuse to let go of the principle of some moot point nobody honestly cares about. Remember, beauty is in the eyes of the checkbook holder - stop worrying about a troll's opinion in that forum you belong to!​

One of my favorite quotes is thanks to Shakespeare: "To thine own self be true." Nobody knows your capabilities better than you. And when you come up short on various skills, don't be afraid to ask for help from your network - that's why you have it!

“Time is free, but it's priceless.
You can't own it, but you can use it.
You can't keep it, but you can spend it.
Once you've lost it you can never get it back.”
Harvey MacKay