Husbands and wives, brothers, sisters, parents and children all make up so many of today’s small businesses.  It’s not easy working with a relative, especially your spouse.  Your roles in the business need to be well defined. You need to identify each partner’s expertise and then you need to respect each others responsibilities. It’s not an easy task, but it can be so rewarding in the long run.

I asked Byron if he’d consider a few guest posts on the subject and I’m delighted he accepted the offer. Byron and Wendy should definitely be on your radar. Here’s the link to their blog. You need to add them to your network, just like I did! In fact, that’s one of the biggest benefits of shows like WPPI…meeting new photographers and sharing ideas about the business!

Expanding on our Ignite presentation this year at WPPI, I began looking for effective ways family members can begin to create that harmonious work environment between each other.  I believe there are simple steps you can take to create a better working environment for everyone and as an added benefit, create a stronger company in the process!  After further research, (i.e., taking a hard look into my own business relationship with my wife Wendy) and  interviewing other groups of family businesses, I came to the conclusion that the whole process centers around the idea of validation.

Validation is the key to a happy marriage, productive interpersonal communication and a happy life working with family members in general!  I think we all know that right up there with the need for love and belonging is our need, as humans, for self esteem and the desire for respect by/of others around us.  We can tell ourselves whatever we want but without validation from people around us we respect, (and unfortunately, sometimes don’t respect) we seem to be left in this limbo of always wondering, “are we good enough?   Doesn’t it feel great when someone sincerely says, “Wow, you really are an amazing photographer,” or “We had so much fun having you photograph our wedding!” or even “You made me/us feel special?”

So why aren’t we more vocal about this to others?  Why do we seem to hold back rather than give positive feedback?  We surely have much less trouble focusing on the problems and giving negative feedback don’t we?!  We say things like, “I can’t believe you put that image on our blog!” or “That’s way too much contrast” thereby condemning them in the process!  Are we afraid to pump people up too much for fear of them getting a “big” head?  Or are we scared that by saying, “Good job” or “I appreciate you” we’re saying to ourselves, “Maybe I’m not as good?”  As we all know, most of the time it’s a balancing game with our egos right?  Human’s are amazing creatures in that deep down we have such compassion for one another but none of this compassion can do any good when our egos are threatened.

Unfortunately it’s not easy to give love to others when we’re not feeling it ourselves, kinda takes the steam away from your motivation at times.  Now, if we add to this concept the much deeper emotional connection you have with family members, it’s easy to see why it doesn’t take much to create a problem.  Well, with that in mind, are you ready to begin?

Before we sit down and sing Kumbayah together, your company needs to create a list of goals that’s consistent with all family business members.  Think about the main results each of you wants your business to achieve and what’s the purpose for achieving each of these results?  We’ll call these our Strategic Objective (S.O.) and our Primary Aim’s (P.A.) for the company.  Some of our own Strategic Objectives dealt with revenue goals but others were about establishing set boundaries for work and personal time in our wedding photography business.  With our Primary Aim’s or purpose for wanting the Strategic Objective’s we’re even more specific and  along the lines of, “Become a memorable part of our clients entire wedding experience” and “Create a harmonious and peaceful working environment between us.”

So, sit down with your spouse, dad, etc and have each person list off their own S.O.’s and P.A.’s.  Then find 3 or 4 that are consistent ideas, (regarding both results and purpose) everyone can agree on.  Congratulations, you’ve now created the beginnings of a company culture!  A baseline has just been created that will allow you to always fall back on when issues arise, (like when your spouse drops that nice 85mm 1.4 prior to the wedding that day).  These two lists are what your company stands for (at least for now) and everyone in the company, for any issue that may arise, can now ask themselves, “Is how I’m handling this current situation consistent with our companies (S.O.) and (P.A.)?”  Many of you might find that you’ve done or said things in the past that go completely against the S.O. and P.A.  This is the way most of us run our businesses daily and let me be the first to tell you there’s a BETTER way!

In the next blog post I’ll get into ways we can start to positively validate each other!

Byron Roe

At WPPI a few weeks ago we bumped into Michele Celentano and her husband. Paul isn’t normally involved in photography, but he’s helping Michele orchestrate her new tour.   We had breakfast one morning with Leah Hoskins and her husband Phil of F.I.L.M. Leah had 13,000 flyers with her and Phil was along to help her with distribution at the show.  On another morning, over breakfast again, (Notice a food theme here?) I caught up to Greg and Brandi Schrader who were doing a WPPI Master Class on working with your spouse.

At Photographers Ignite, Byron and Wendy Roe did their presentation on getting through the challenges that come with working with your spouse. Walking by the Icelight booth, Jerry Ghionis was at one end and Melissa was at the other.  Here’s a couple where both are not only directly involved in the business, but are each outstanding presenters. In fact, they’re teaching independent of each other at Summer School in August.

So, I called Michele Celentano and asked, “What’s it like working with your husband?”  Once she stopped laughing, she answered,  “For a control freak like me it’s difficult. Paul is really helping me on the details I hate to do…The most difficult part is me letting somebody help me. It’s all work in progress and it just takes time.”

I’ll be the first to admit this is new turf for me as well. Sheila was able to take an early retirement at the end of last year and is now helping me in my business. Or, I guess I need to say, trying to help me. Just yesterday I blew it when she was working on something and asked me what I thought.  Instead of answering I just took over and did it. It wasn’t intentional, just seemed easier for me to just jump in.

It’s definitely work in progress, but here are some key things Sheila and I are realizing first hand:

• Shut up and listen. Don’t assume you know what your spouse is telling you until he/she has finished talking.
• Define your responsibilities. There’s not a lot of room for gray areas.
• The person who’s been running the business needs to delegate. It’s a skill set some of us have yet to learn.
• Take a break! My favorite part of the day has become stepping away from the business and having lunch with my wife.
• Don’t assume your spouse knows what you’re talking about just because he/she knows various aspects of your business and has been around when you were working on something.

The whole topic of working with your spouse has led to a new program we just added for this year’s Skip’s Summer School. The full program description will be up on the site this week, but here’s a brief summary.

There are more couples involved in photography today than at probably any other time in the almost 175 year history of photography. We’re going to do a program featuring Bob and Dawn Davis, Vicki and Jed Taufer and Kevin and Clare Kubota. All three couples are completely different, but they’ve been working together for years. It’s a great topic and relevant to so many of today’s small businesses, in and out of photography.

Working with your spouse is no easy task. Years ago at WPPI, in a panel program of women in photography, Vicki Taufer set the standard for the best comment yet,

It’s difficult when the shoulder you want to cry on is attached to the neck you want to ring!

See you at Summer School!

Well, today is March 2 and for most of you March is the last opportunity to get some very specific projects in place before business really picks up. So here’s a list of things to consider:

• Have you put together a promotional calendar for the rest of the year? For example, schedule one consumer promotion a quarter.  Remember, you don’t have to do this alone. Florists, limo companies, travel agencies etc. make great partners.
• What do you have in the pipeline for publicity about you and your business?
• How about a letter to all your past clients reminding them of your skill set? Maybe it’s time for a letter reminding them a family portrait is a terrific Mother’s Day or Father’s Day gift. Your best potential clients are those already in your data base.
• Prom time is fast approaching and in May just about every junior and senior is going to be heading to their high school prom. How about planting the seed for a prom portrait and working together with a dress shop, tux shop or limo company?
• Here’s one that’s just about house-cleaning: Are you using your own images in your stationery, for example, your note cards? It’s the perfect way to promote your own work.
• What programs e.g. workshops and seminars are you going to register for between now and the end of the year? It’s great you went to WPPI, IUSA, PMA@CES or your state convention, but what are you going to do to recharge your battery mid-year when you need it the most?  I’m involved in at least two programs, Skip’s Summer School and I’ll be on the road with JB Sallee in the fall. Kevin Kubota’s bootcamp is coming up in April. Sal Cincotta will be on the road. Check out your favorite photographers and see who’s on the road. This isn’t just about continuing to expand your skill set – this is about keeping your focus and networking!
• There are some terrific free seminars on line and you need to get yourself signed up. Nik is hosting a full series for the month of March. Creative Live always has something new coming up. Kelby Training has an ongoing series, along with programs from Xrite, Marathon Press and Adorama TV just to name a few.  But here’s the issue, you snooze, you lose! You’ve got to follow-up and participate.
• What are you doing to meet other photographers in your community? Personally I’m a big fan of SmugMug’s meetups, AKA Smugs. There are also local guilds and PPA chapters. Get involved and start building your local network.
• What are doing to be involved in your community? There are always things going on in photography and you need to be involved. You want your community to be good to you, so you’ve got to be good to your community.
• Is there new gear on the list you need, but don’t have the cash? Relax, it’s not the end of the world, start out by renting it and experimenting with that new lens NOW, while you have some time. Make sure you really need it, before you stress yourself out worrying about the cash! And don’t forget about leasing equipment instead of buying it outright! Here’s your chance to tie up somebody else’s assets without depleting yours.
• Have you met with your accountant? Your taxes are due soon, but don’t do this on your own! There are so many aspects of your business that are deductible and money spent with an expert is going to be coming back to you as you learn all the things you forgot that cost you money.
• Is your website all it should be? It’s too long a topic to go into it here, but there are six different posts over on GoingPro that talk about nothing but your website. March is a great time for cleaning up all your messes! I have yet to see a website that couldn’t be improved and here’s another plug for SmugMug! Yes, they’re a sponsor of some of my projects, but long before I started working with me I fell in love with what they do, the quality of their staff and their finished product. This is all about making your work look good, often better than you deserve! LOL

Okay, there are dozen different things to think about and any one of them could take you a few days to really address. You’ve got the passion for photography. Don’t let that passion get lost by missing all the opportunities to keep your battery charged, build your network, expand your skill set or just have fun!

“Fun” there’s that word again. It’s one of the most important aspects of being in business and it’s the first thing lost and buried when the flood gates open and the challenges with the economy and technology come rolling in.  It takes work to stay focused on fun and not let life get in the way!

Dale Carnegie is quoted as saying,

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.

Okay gang, time to go have some fun!

• If anybody tells me they had a pretty good year last year or sales were at least flat, the next sentence is always, “But I’ve never worked so hard in my life!”  That last sentence is usually accompanied by a four-letter expletive and a huge *sigh*!
• When exploring what activities meet the definition of “never worked so hard” it always relates to diversity in their business. They’ve started targeting some other photographic need in their community.

Another trend seems to be the younger the photographer or the less time somebody has been in business the more impatient they are to see results.  Their definition of success is just seeing business come through the door and that’s really my point this morning.

There are simply no shortcuts to success in any business today. Sure, there are stories of people who invent amazing products or concepts and skyrocket to the top instantly, but it’s not the norm. For most of us, it’s not going to happen overnight and while I hate to sound like my grandmother when I was kid, you just need to be patient, continue to work hard and trust your instincts.

The challenge with being successful is to first figure out your definition of success and second, stay focused and just keep doing the things you need to build your skill set and business.  If you wake up every morning looking for “success” as if it was a rare species of animal, you’ll never find it – in fact, you’ll scare it away!

A trip to Las Vegas in February isn’t just about WPPI anymore. It’s about adding new building blocks to your business and some of them are outside WPPI programming. For two years I’ve started every marketing presentation with the same statement.

Just because the media says it’s going to be a bad year, doesn’t mean it has to be!

That’s a big part of the GoingPro theme and Bootcamp. We started the project because there are so many aspiring photographers interested in going pro and missing the boat on the right way to get started. Frustrated, they jump into the market with lousy quality and low-ball pricing. Instead of building a business on a solid foundation, they try and build it on the word “professional”, having no understanding of the importance of how to sustain a business.

Well, it’s been two years since we started the GoingPro, which originally was just a book with Random House. Now it’s a blog with an estimated 50,000 followers and sixty-four podcasts, resulting in 120-150,000 downloads a month. Last but not least, it’s our second Bootcamp, an all day event helping you with everything, but photography.

George missed the last GoingPro Bootcamp, but we didn’t and neither did a 100+ aspiring and working professional photographers. He’s got another chance and so do you! With the combination of Michele Celentano, Scott Bourne and me we’ll help you with ideas on marketing, pricing, building your business, insurance, social media, community involvement and local networking, just to name a few. Most important of all, we’ll help you figure out how to promote yourself and your work so you can get your second customer.

Anybody can get their first customer. The trick of building a solid business is getting your second customer and even better, getting the first customer to come back a second time. You know how to focus your camera. Well, we’re going to help you focus on concepts like quality, value, integrity and the ability to exceed customer expectations. Those are the key attributes of any business that brings customers back!

And speaking of exceeding expectations – that’s just what we intend to do on February 18. It’s only $99 for the day. So, whether you’re just getting ready to take the plunge into the pro side of the business or you’ve been out there for a few years and need some help – we intend to exceed your expectations. 

See you in Vegas! Signing up for GoingPro Bootcamp is just a click away!

Living closer, we get to spend a lot more time together and there’s a never-ending stream of conversations about business. Today’s business meaning of words like trust, integrity, confidence and creativity have never changed, even though the way we communicate today has. Dad didn’t have Twitter, but he did have a telephone. He didn’t have a lot of conventions to network, but he did have time to meet people, talk to potential clients and a firm handshake. He didn’t have workshops to go to, but he did have books to read and ideas to share with his associates over lunch.

So, I hope you enjoy Pop’s encore performance. As you think about 2012 – everything he talks about is so relevant! Like he said to me so many years ago,

Just watch the left front fender!

Yesterday was my 88^th birthday.  I have been happily retired for many years, and unemployed for at least 15 of those. Now, out of the blue, comes our son, Skip, threatening me with employment! The pay he considers adequate is $.02 per word. So gathering together, my 50+ years in business experience, I thought this would be a good time to put my two cents in.

I am not a plagiarist, but I must quote my father who spent the last months of his life writing advice to his children:

 “Conduct your business in an upright manner and remember, the most important thing in one’s life is to be honest with one’s self. Maintain the high standard and dignity that your business requires. Do not go into deals hastily and be visible in your business as much of the time as is possible.  If you take time to play, do it away from your business, because your livelihood needs all the attention you can give to it.”

Early on, I concluded that the best testimonials came from my many friendly competitors.  We didn’t really compete with each other, in the true sense. True, we were in the same field of endeavor, but we all knew we were there to help each other. Happily, the “tough competition” fell by the wayside.  I remember giving Skip driving lessons and I told him, “Watch the left front fender…..the rest will take care of itself!”  I’ve found this is really true of everything in life.

An old axiom says “If you tell the truth, you never have to remember what you said.”  That is all part of reputation-building. I found that, sadly, in the field of real estate, truth is hard to come by for many. In our case, it was a major building block in the reputation which we enjoyed, and helped us to thwart the competition.

Goodwill is all of the above, plus a lot of caring for your clients as well as your competitors.  If life is a give-and-take situation, giving is the more important of the two.  The taking will come with time and be far more appreciative.  Just remember – you heard it here!  Ralph Cohen, Founder and Creator of Skip Cohen!

For most of you this is a down week. The Christmas orders are out and you’re hopefully finding time to just kick back, enjoy your family and here and there think about the new year.  Find some time this week to think about your business in terms of the services you offer.  Are there opportunities for add-on sales? Can you increase your average sales with add-on products and add-on value?

When I was at Polaroid, back when Polaroid was a Fortune 500 company,  I was involved in a series of consumer surveys for product development.  The surveys repeatedly showed that consumer satisfaction for a product dramatically increased with the number of accessories available.  As a result, when Polaroid launched the Spectra camera, it was a complete system.  There was a full line of accessories including self-timers, cable releases, albums, bags, table top tripods and even Cokin filters, just to name a few.

You’ll find the exact same philosophy with most of the major consumer purchases we make today, especially in consumer electronics.   Photography isn’t any different and if you’re only offering your clients an album and a few different options on print packages then you’re missing the boat.

Let’s beef up what you’re offering your clients starting with online hosting and slide shows.  (The crew as SmugMug is ready to help you completely change the look of your site and get your images in a presentation that screams, “I’m a professional!”) Then let’s move into all the hard goods available.  Albums of every color, shape and size are out there.  (We were just in Italy last month and were blown away by what Album Epoca has in their lineup!) One of a kind table top books like the Asukabook line give you another outstanding direction to offer clients a quality product that’s different.   Frames are an outstanding add-on sale.

A canvas print becomes an amazing enhancement for those one or two special images from a wedding, a portrait sitting or children’s shoot.  And, while it might not be for every client, purses, bags and backpacks with the kid’s pictures on them are outstanding add-ons from a children’s shoot.  How about the types of images you present?  Sure, there’s black and white and color, but how about the look of infrared, special effects and cross-processing? (Ever notice there are an infinite number of combinations of plug-ins you can use, thanks to Kubota Image Tools?) And there are hundreds of different things to print on, including metal, whether you’re doing it yourself or working with your lab.

And don’t laugh, take a look at novelty products.    There are some outstanding items out there, from mugs to mouse pads!   For those of you who are purists and hate the idea, I’m not saying you need to be out there selling coffee mugs with the bride and groom’s face on them, but what an incredible marketing tool.  What a way to make a great client laugh and remember how much fun they had at the engagement shoot with you, when you send them a matched set of coffee mugs with their pictures on them!

I’m tired of hearing photographers complain about “Uncle Harry” stealing business.  I’m not saying the Uncle Harrys of the world don’t create problems, but they don’t have access to the hundreds of products and companies that make up the professional photographic market.  As a professional photographer you’ve got virtual exclusivity when it comes to the broadest most diverse selection of add-on products from the finest group of manufacturers in the history of photography!

When you put it all together add-on sales create added perceived value and in the end create higher customer satisfaction and return business, but best of all, it helps add to your bottom line!

Okay, so that was written almost two years ago and the potential for add-on sales hasn’t changed.  If we’ve learned nothing else from MacDonalds, try their approach in your selling skills with every client and simply ask, “You want fries with that?”

We all do it, including yours truly. We want everything to be exactly right, so we wait and plan and make excuses why the idea isn’t fully baked yet.  My most favorite business quote is from Zig Ziglar and I’ve used it before:

If you wait for all the lights to be green you’ll never get started on your journey!

As 2012 approaches, you might be thinking about making some resolutions. I have a suggestion. Don’t forget the business resolutions! And while there are many you might make, here’s one I think you SHOULD make. Vow to stop planning, stop dreaming, stop waiting and start DOING!

I’d love for your New Year’s resolution to be: “I’m going to stop thinking I need one more lens, or one more class with _________ (fill in the blank) or one more marketing seminar or one more photo for my portfolio, or one more re-design of my logo. STOP! Stop using all these crutches to give yourself a reason to put off what you know in your heart you should be doing. Put down the remote, turn off the TV, get yourself up off the couch, step away from the computer, go take a shower, make yourself presentable, put on your best set of clothes and go out and knock on doors. Pound the pavement. Smile and dial. Go meet people. Go ask people to hire you. Go network. Go show your portfolio. Stop thinking about it, praying about it, planning to do it and just go actually EXECUTE. Go forth and ask for business – NOW. Not tomorrow. Not later this afternoon. DO IT NOW!

There’s no time like the present for a clean slate. Don’t worry about what you DON’T have, start counting the assets you DO have and put them to work asking for that next order. Find a prospect, turn them into a client, do the work they need and do it well, deliver it well and on time, thank them for the business, ask for a referral, follow up to see if they need more help and repeat.

How’s that for a resolution?

I’m rooting for you. Scott Bourne

We’re living in the age of instant gratification. We text, we tweet, we abbreviate. Our spelling has become absurd, phonetically attacking a conversation for the sole purpose of packing a full paragraph into just 140 characters. Photographers have become “togs” & sum things R gr8 2 reed others rn’t.

We eat on the run, multi-tasking and getting a little work done so we can justify stepping away from the biz at lunch time. MacDonalds has two lines for the drive-in window and we can order combo meals, making the decision-making process even faster when it comes to the barrage of possibilities for our low nutrition intake of garbage.

New photographers, sorry “togs” jump into the market thinking because they understand Photoshop they’re perfectly capable of being a professional photographer. They shoot with wild abandon with a mindset, “No problem. I’ll fix it later in Photoshop!” The truth is, no matter what your skill set, if it’s a lousy image there’s one fundamental rule of nature, “You can’t buff a turd!”

The reality is that you can’t Tweet quality. There are no shortcuts to creating outstanding images. There are no shortcuts to building a relationship with your clients. There are no shortcuts to great marketing. All of this leaves me with one sentiment – it’s time for many of you to just slow down!

If you’re one of those shortcut, overnight, buy a camera and just add Photoshop photographers, here’s where you’re missing some incredible opportunities:

• You’re doing yourself a huge disservice and leaving a lot of great revenue on the table. A great series of images shown to an excited client has the potential to create not only more sales from the original job, but additional sales as your client shows your work to their friends.
• You’re doing your client a disservice, but not “being all you can be”. Yeah, it’s the US Army’s slogan, but it’s so dead-on, for every profession. You can’t compromise on being the best at what you do. When you present images that exceed a client’s expectations the excitement and goodwill you’ll be a part of will take your pride and theirs to a completely new level.
• You’re slowly undermining the credibility of an entire industry. The other night on the local news was a consumer protection story where a woman wrote to the TV station for help getting her wedding images. Look, mistakes happen and there are always extenuating circumstances, but when what should be a quietly resolved customer service issue gets so out of control the local news media gets involved, the business entity just didn’t do their job!  Think about the number of people who watched the story and got a bad impression about professional photographers. Even worse, think about the credibility boost the story just gave to all the Uncle Harrys and all that gear they just bought!
• You’re making it harder to build your business than it has to be. Anybody can get their first customer. The trick is to get the second, third and fourth customers along with getting that first customer to come back. Being a successful photographer is about building trust with your clients.  When that trust is violated the entire model collapses. On the other hand, when you exceed a client’s expectations you’ve got a customer for life, not to mention one more member of your word-of-mouth publicity machine.

Okay, so let’s end this little rant this morning with a few suggestions. Slow it down and pay attention to the quality of your images and the quality of your relationships. Build your business one client at a time and treat every client as if they were the only person who was ever going to pay you for your skill set as a photographer.

Focus on being the very best photographer with a mindset that Rangefinder Magazine wants to do a story about you, but you told them to wait until you had the images you wanted!   And as always, NEVER compromise!

You’re part of an amazing industry and there’s help every step of the way, providing you respect and love the craft.  And trust me, if you respect the craft, there is no way to describe the return on your investment!