Category: business

Business Plans

I was recently asked about Business Plans.  Below is my response.

Business plans can come in any format. I actually delivered one as a rap one time! The important part is that it succinctly communicates the entrepreneur’s vision, and has some realistic numbers.

Sales projections (with a plan to hit them), economics of a unit, and a monthly break-even analysis are the calculations that are especially important to me when I look at a plan. None of that is rocket science, and some of it can feel more like creative writing at times!

Even though people use business plans to apply for funding, the process of writing a business plan forces every entrepreneur to answer a lot of questions, and the process of answering these questions is probably a lot more valuable than any funding that might be received.

I’ve used Business Plan Pro software before, and it was effective for me. Of course, the quality of plans made with software is highly variable – you only get out of them what you put into them. Here’s a link: paloalto.com/business_plan_software.

The Small Business Administration has some good links to help with writing a business plan: http://www.sba.gov/category/navigation-structure/starting-managing-business/starting-business/how-write-business-plan.

And SCORE, the Service Corps of Retired Executives, has some business plan templates that you can download and use for free: http://www.score.org/resources/business-plan-template-startup-business.

I’m not big on business planning these days. In the Army, they say that no plan survives contact with the enemy. This is often true in business, too. I’d rather have my students ship one unit, and figure out how a customer uses it. That’s when they learn their real value proposition, because we ultimately are making products and services for customers. But the process of planning has some validity, and checking for realistic numbers is the most valuable part of the process.

New post on another blog!

I haven’t put much time into blogging lately (sorry!), so I thought I’d let you guys know that I put up a more in-depth post on the Shinn Photo blog. It’s a behind-the-scenes write-up on a photo shoot I did about a month ago. Let me know if you like it, and if you want to see me continue writing such things!
Enjoy,
Andrew

Here’s the link: shinnphoto.com/blog/?p=317

Be a photographer, not a business person!

So, people ask me all the time, “What do I need to do to make money taking pictures?” I usually try to be very helpful, because I truly want everyone to succeed and do well. But it occurred to me the other day that maybe I shouldn’t encourage people to enter the portrait photography market. It’s not the only way to make money in photography, but it’s the one people usually ask me about.

I think, instead, that I should encourage people to sharpen their photography skills for pure enjoyment. I recently talked to a very successful, well-known, high-level photographer. I asked this person what his/her plan is for improving their photo skills. This person’s answer: “I don’t. I’m a business person, not a photographer.” That’s when it hit me that success for a photo studio is not about the quality of photos, but about the quality of the business that you can build around your photos. That’s not bad news for me; I enjoy running a business (most of the time).

But it is bad for my artistically-minded friends who would rather take cool pictures than play with spreadsheets. Here are some useful questions to ask if you’re thinking about doing portrait photography for money:

  • Do I have a good grasp of accounting?
  • Would I rather make art, or figure out merchandising strategy?
  • Do I like to sleep?
  • How strong are my computer skills? They’ll have to be well above average for portrait photography.
  • Am I any good at setting up systems for workflow, accounting, computer networks, business analysis, etc?

    • Now, setting up a business is not rocket science. Most people can do it with enough time and determination. But you should know, if you’re thinking about getting into portrait photography as a business, that you’re doing business, not just photography. Even if you’re working out of your home. It seems like something you can get into on a very small scale, but it won’t be like that for long. For a whole host of reasons that experience alone can explain, it’s far more complicated than you think. It’s more like setting up a manufacturing operation than opening a retail business.

    No, I haven’t given up on the idea of art, and yes, I do get to use nice camera equipment. But I just want to be totally honest and not encourage people to try something they may regret in the long term. Instead of opening a business, try making images that you love. Work hard on them. Learn all you can. Don’t feel like you have to be professional to be a great photographer. Just be a great photographer!

    Book Review: The Martha Rules

    Subtitle: 10 Essentials for Achieving Success as you Start, Build, or Manage a Business. Written and published in 2005 by Martha Stewart.

    The narrative for this book starts while Martha Stewart is in prison. She talks about some of the very determined ladies she met who wanted to get out of prison and start their own businesses. While in the clink, Martha wrote some business training for them that turned into this book.

    It’s interesting to read a business book written by a gracious, driven, vicious, visionary entrepreneur. Anyone who had model, stock broker, caterer, CEO, and felon on her resume makes for a good read.

    I found the business principles rather obvious and unsurprising, but no less solid for all that. She makes liberal use of examples from her constellation of business friends and associates. Case studies are always interesting to me. And, of course, she frequently referred to lessons from her own business experience.

    In the end, any of us can only speak from our own experience. And that’s what I found so limiting about reading Martha’s rules for business. They work very well if you’re building a company like Martha has built. But like every product Martha produces that has her name on it, ultimately it’s just Martha and some very nice window dressing.

    [Angry Rant] Keep Your Appointments!

    It’s 7:45 p.m., and I just got home from the studio. No, I wasn’t working late. I went to the studio to meet with a potential client (Julie) after she got off of work. Lisa wasn’t happy that I went to the studio after hours, but she understands that I need every client I can get right now.

    When I got to the studio, I prepared for Julie’s arrival. I set up a special slide show of senior guy photos (her son is the potential subject). I turned on the television and prepared the slide show for presentation. I ran the air conditioner. I cleaned the table and chair we were to use for the meeting. I made sure to get out a bottle of fresh, cold water for her and carefully centered it on a napkin. I turned on some smooth, soothing music so she would feel comfortable when she walked into the studio. I took notes from our previous phone conversation and started a special file for information about her son. I prepared questions about her son, his personality, his interests, and his unique personhood. Then I grabbed the latest issue of Photoshop Magazine and waited. I’d look up every 30 seconds from the article I was reading (about how to implant baseball stiches onto a bald-headed guy). But all I saw was condensation from Julie’s cold, unopened water dripping down past the napkin I’d laid out and re-soiling my clean glass table. After waiting for 35 minutes (that’s 70 glances at her bottle of comfort-turned bottle of offense) I locked the studio and walked to Julie’s place of work. She was gone. She’d either forgotten me or blown off our meeting. I was crushed. When I walked back into the studio, the soft piano music had turned to a doleful swing number. The combination of the music and my mood was dangerous. I felt like chaining my camera around my neck (with a 70-200mm lens!) and jumping off the nearest bridge.

    My mood volatility has a little more behind it than just one missed appointment. This happens probably 40% of the times I agree to meet with a potential client. I carefully set up and eagerly await their arrival, thinking about little else than how well I’ll serve them. Then they don’t show up, and I usually don’t even get the courtesy of a call to re-schedule or apologize. I’m not a hard guy to get ahold of. I get all of my e-mail on my cell phone, and promptly return calls and e-mails, especially to potential clients. I give out my business card wantonly, spreading it like kids on a playgroud spread germs.

    When you agree to meet with someone, keep your word. I lose so much respect for people when they show themselves unreliable or discourteous.

    [Rant over]

    Gallery show tomorrow night

    You’re all invited to a gallery show at 7 p.m. tomorrow night at the Shinn Photo studio (1651 10th Street in Reedley, CA).  I’ll be unveiling a new series of prints, exploring biblical text and quotes against scenes from nature.  A portion of the proceeds of any prints that sell tomorrow evening will go to MCC for world relief.

    New Photos!

    Family and Friends,
    If you’re still reading this (I don’t think you are, since there are no comments), you may be interested in knowing that I’ve posted a few new photos in the Galleries Section of www.shinnphoto.com. The new ones are in the Senior Portraits and Fun Stuff galleries.Enjoy,
    Andrew

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    Alternate Revenue Streams!

    Friends and family,I’m sort of proud (relieved, more like) to announce the opening of a new aspect of my business: Shinn Photography/sports.

    I started doing this because I’ve been taking sports pictures a little bit recently and fans have been approaching me about ways to buy the photos. Not wanting to miss an opportunity, I told them the photos would be online soon. So I worked all day today to create a new web site. That’s why I’m relieved. I’ve put probably 8,000 lines of code together, and it mostly works. The reason I’m not proud is that I’m not a great sports photographer. But my sports print prices are low, so I guess I’m still delivering a good value to consumers. And I’ve got to do something to make a little money and keep the business afloat, since this is the slow time of the year for wedding/portrait studios and I’m having a slow business start anyway. Ok, enough with the blabbering! You can see Shinn Photography/sports at http://sports.shinnphoto.com. Let me know what you think of the new site, too.

    Exhausted,

    Andrew

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