Professional Photographers - It's Time to Shift Gears

If ours is truly an apocalyptic time, it may promise a new beginning rather than an end. We could not go on living with stale ideas. Certainly, we are faced with an extreme psychological test. The way to pass it is to accept the idea that life has rebelled and plunged us into such uncertainty because we have too long humiliated it. A season of change does not collapse civilization.
Federico Fellini
(Probably written at least 30 years ago.)

by Skip Cohen

​Stay with me on this, because it's a short post and might help you think differently about today's challenges in your business.

I live in one of the stupid states, Florida. Like most of you, Sheila and I have been self-quarantined for almost five months. And while we're still taking turns riding the emotional roller coaster of anxiety and frustration, we've adjusted. We miss friends and so many freedoms we took for granted, but at the same time, life has become more precious.

This industry, which I love dearly, has thrown all of us off balance. And while I'm regularly criticized for being the industry cheerleader, the reality is that we all have to deal with a new norm. It will be years before life gets back to what it was a few months ago, but that doesn't mean we can't grow our skills, and become stronger marketers than before the pandemic.

I'm hearing some great stories of artists becoming more diverse in their skill set, communicating with their clients more, and providing new products/services that fall within physical distancing guidelines and safety. Yesterday, Norma Grieve, a friend and photographer from the UK, shared the following comment about building relationships, after creating something new for their clients:

My business partner and daughter designed a page specifically to help eloping couples. It includes profiles of a number of other vendors. She contacted all the vendors to check on them and ask what services they would be offering as some restrictions ease. She had a phenomenal and heartwarming response from everyone with an unanticipated, reciprocally positive reaction to our business.

When I asked Norma for permission to share the idea above she wrote back: Skip. This really has put us into the minds of the vendors and raised our business in their eyes - that was not even considered by my daughter. She simply wanted to reach out and to keep our Let’s Elope page up-to-date-helpful.

Here's my point - if you let today's business challenges grind you down, they will. But, if you look for new ways to keep creating and fulfill the passion for the craft you had before the pandemic, you might be surprised at your ability to start gaining traction on rebuilding your business!