Together we walked into a new year. We are tired and eager for the small reprieve that January brings to many of us. Our editing to-do list is finally smaller than the missing socks in our drawer. We have time for some year-end bookkeeping and tax prep with time to drink the whole cup of coffee before it gets cold. It’s time to relax, if not just a little.
I would like to inspire you to not take a break this January. Instead, I call you to action to transform your business unlike ever before by encouraging you to answer three questions.
New year, new business plan
We are mostly sole proprietors. We don’t have board meetings, quarterly reviews or one-on-ones with our bosses. We don’t get bonuses for a job well done. This lack of accountability puts our businesses at a sharp disadvantage. However, you can set your photography business apart by taking one simple action: checking in.
Imagine yourself checking into a hotel. You smile, greet the clerk, and assess the lobby. You notice the drapes are dated, but the floor has recently been replaced. When you get to your room, you drop your luggage and open the blinds to experience the view for the first time.
Now let’s go back, but this time check in with yourself. Take a walk through your business. Review how you greet your clients, and assess your space (work spaces, websites, points of contact). What do you see as strengths? Which elements represent your “old drapes”? When you look at your business with fresh, focused eyes just as you peer out the window of a hotel room, what do you see?
When I look back on the previous year, I revisit my excitement of exceeding my financial goal. For once, I felt like photography was more than a hobby; it was a bona fide business. I finally gave myself the permission to feel like the professional I am. I was ready to pull up my panty hose, put on high heels and call myself a pro. (Okay, so it was more like my LuluLemons and Nike’s, but who is counting.) I felt legit.
I recently decided I needed a business review. A meeting. A place to be held accountable. Yet the table was only set for one. Who do we, as photographers, go to for that accountability? With no manager, we have only ourselves. Sitting at that table in my sweatpants and hot coffee in hand, I googled business assessment questions. I was determined to have this meeting, even if it was only with myself. I may have met my financial goals, but I needed to be better and wanted to find the path to get there. Literally eight hours later I came to the place I am now. I emerged with a plan for the coming year by asking myself three questions.
The three hard questions
It’s time to hold yourself accountable. Self-reflection comes naturally for some, but not so much for others. No matter which camp you fall in, these questions will help guide you to a new beginning.
- Are you relevant? Will you be relevant five years from now? Ten? –Debra Kaye, innovation consultant and author
Well? Are you? This is a great question. How millennials shop today is very different than it was even two years ago. What does this mean to you? If Millennials aren’t already your largest client base, they will be. The article “Millennials: Double Trouble for Retail” (Forbes Magazine) details how malls are shutting their doors. Millennials shop from their pockets, they have every major retailor at their fingertips. They are the most likely to shop until they drop yet not ever make a purchase. They rely on reviews and web content. If you think this doesn’t affect you because you aren’t a brick and mortar business, you’re wrong. Knowing how your demographics shop is key to turning them into clients. If you don’t know where to look for your clients or how to reach them, you will never find them, and most importantly, they will never find you.
Gary Hamel, author and management consultant, rephrases the question as “Are we changing as fast as the world around us?”
Take a deep breath. Dig deep. Are you relevant? Will you still be relevant five years from now?
- How can we become the company that would put us out of business? –Danny Meyer, CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group
Weird question, right? Danny is asking us to think about putting ourselves out of business! Jerk. But it‘s a brilliant question for anyone who cares about their business and customers. How can the next eager beaver photographer put you out of business? Is it your lack of digital marketing skills? Lack of customer service? If you don’t know, ask your clients. Send out a survey and ask them where you fell short. No, really. Just ask. You cannot improve if you do not know what needs to be improved upon. Learn your weaknesses, and you will expose your strengths.
How can you improve right now? Get an updated photography critique by someone better than you. Learn a new technique or skill outside of your comfort zone. Teach yourself a new marketing strategy.
The goal is to get to know the real you, the flawed you. It will open doors you never even knew existed. If you become the business that could put you out of a job simply by exposing and correcting your shortcomings, you have nothing to worry about.
- What should we stop doing? —Peter Drucker, management expert and author
I recently ruffled some tail feathers with an article in which I espoused the view that we should do away with first birthday cake smash sessions. Some very talented photographers totally disagree, which is awesome because I need to refer my clients to great smash cake photogs. But for me, it’s something I’m saying goodbye to along with the feeling of being wrong for not wanting to do them. In addition, I am revamping a few marketing strategies and business methods.
What should you stop doing as a photography business? How much space would that create in your day or week for something more productive and effective? More importantly, how much space would that free in your mind if you removed the needless guilt and worry about things that don’t represent your brand?
You are a mover and shaker. You are a groundbreaker. You are an entrepreneur. Do your business a favor, and ask yourself these three questions to improve your business in the New Year. Be brave, and be brutally honest. After all, the boss isn’t going to write you up.
Sources:
- “ 100 Great Questions Every Entrepreneur Should Ask” INC. Magazine
- “Millennials: Double Trouble for Retail” Forbes Magazine
