Photographers in Real-Time

My good buddy, Nick Vedros, sent this to me last week. It's a kick to watch for a few seconds, just to see what's being consumed in the US. If you click on the image you'll go right to the "Retail in Real-Time" site.

Now, here's why I wanted to share it with you in a blog post. What if we were building our own real-time site for photographers? What categories would be fun to capture?  Here's my list. Feel free to add to it.

On the positive side there are some really strong trends it would be fun to track:

• Photographers who deliver ahead of schedule.

• Clients who had an amazing experience with their photographer.

• People going to ShutterFest 2015...(had to put this in for my buddy Sal Cincotta. Registration is way ahead and going fast. It's already half full.)

• Sales by photographers who have expanded their product lines and services.

Sadly, there's a negative side, only listed here in the hopes that you make sure you don't become a statistic.

• Dollars spent to replace stolen or lost gear that wasn't covered by insurance, because the photographers thought their home policies covered them.

• Revenue lost because the photographer's pricing is too low.

• Lost business because the photographer was too slow in getting back to an interested client.

• Hours spent at the computer because your images weren't clean, "right out of the can".

The truth is, there's a lot of really good things going on with professional photographers. I'm hearing so many stories that support being headed in the right direction to build stronger businesses. But, what I got a kick out of was just wasting a minute and watching the counters roll. Sadly, between Sheila and me, I know we've contributed too much to the rolling total on MacDonalds fries and Starbucks Iced Mochas!

Happy Wednesday everybody!