The Evolution of Business

In 2007, I decided to change careers and enrolled in the New England School of Photography with the goal of becoming a professional photographer.  I spent two hard (expensive) years learning the craft and technique of photography; how to make excellent pictures, how to work with varying light situations, how to maximize the features on today’s newest cameras.  In 2009, I graduated with a Certificate in Professional Photography and launched my own business.

Next month, I will have been in business as a commercial photographer for 3 years.  I am not even close to being “established” but in the 5 years since I set out on this path, I have finally begun to envision what the future of my business looks like.

Yesterday, I met with my fabulous counselor at SCORE, an arm of the Small Business Administration.  Every month he and I sit down and go over numbers, solve problems, make a plan for the next month.  Since I began meeting with him last fall, my business has definitely grown.  But yesterday I sat down and said, “I want my business to grow more, and I don’t know how.”  He looked me in the eye and said, “It’s time that you learn how to sell.”

The way I see it, for the first two years I was in business as a photographer, I was in school learning editorial and wedding photography, dabbling in photojournalism and discovering my passion for visual storytelling.  Then I graduated from school and spent a year just figuring out how to be a professional photographer.  I made a website and business cards; I learned how to work with clients, price jobs, deliver products.  I held a couple of part-time jobs and I cried a lot and was always nervous about the future.  In my second year of business, I built upon these foundations of business-ownership.  I upgraded to a new and better website and blog.  I built up my presence on social media sites.  I developed a brand and a logo.  I created accounting systems.  I learned about Search Engine Optimization.  I networked like a crazy person and built a list of prospective clients.  I started producing a monthly email newsletter that I send to over 125 people.  I made more money and bought new equipment.  I learned how to describe my business: editorial and event photography serving families, restaurants, non-profit groups, universities and small businesses in New England.

Now, I am entering my 5th year of business and as my counselor told me yesterday, it is time to learn how to sell.  Creating a system for selling and learning how to sell confidently is a brand new challenge for me; I am starting at ground zero.  The first thing I am going to do is analyze my workflow and my time management, to find out how I can work more efficiently and make time for direct selling.   Then, of course, I will learn just how to make those cold calls and actually see results.  How not to go into a selling situation assuming I will be rejected, but how to anticipate the clients’ needs ahead of time and communicate, confidently, that I can fulfill their photographic and communications needs.

It’s been 5 years and I am finally able to see a glimpse of my business’s trajectory.  The fear that I am going to fail is much less prominent in my mind today; it has been replaced by a new confidence that my business will continue to grow.  I see many challenges ahead – selling is absolutely terrifying, actually – but in looking back I can see that challenges can be surmounted and overcome.  There is a lesson in here about faith, but I am not a good enough writer to break that down here without it sounding incredibly cheesy.  So use your imaginations.

Tomorrow, I will go to my 10-year college reunion.  I never would have guessed the rollercoaster that would bring me here, to being in business for myself and building a career out of my passion for photography.  With incredible clarity I can all of a sudden see my successes and failures – and all of those yet to come – and know that I am doing alright.  Thanks to everyone who has supported me so far in this journey.

Onward!