There is a reality t.v. show that I don’t get to watch as often as I would like, but everytime I catch an episode I am hooked. It’s called, The Amazing Race and it is just that – an amazing race around the world between multiple sets of couples of various relationships and from all walks of life. I love the show because I am a competitor by nature. One of my favorite things about this show is the excitement of a favorite team ovecoming the dreaded “roadblock”. Roadblocks are set up so that as a front running team apporaches it, they can assign it to a another team that might be a threat and closely behind them. The team that has been roadblocked can either choose to do the roadblock and keep moving on and maybe even win that leg of the race if they are good enough or take a four hour penalty in the race.
So what does this have to do with anything? I think there comes a time in every business, but especially the photography industry, when you reach a business roadblock. You are cruising along and everything is going great – your business is growing, your booking sessions, you’ve bought most of your equipment and your style is finally starting to settle. Dreams are beginning to feel reachable, the five year plan almost checked off the list, you are so close you can almost taste it!!! BUT, you are drowning from things-to- do lists, your organized lists are now disorganized, and you stay up until 2:00 am most nights to try to stay afloat and meet client deadlines only to wake up and feel that drowning sensation all over again in the morning. You’ve been roadblocked. Its the part of your journey where you need to make one of two decisions: Will you stop at the roadblock, do the challenging things to get around it and allow your business to move forward? Or will you ignore the roadblock and keep going doing the same things in hopes that something will change?
This year I have hit my roadblock. I started this business a little over three years ago with a 5 year plan. I set my goals pretty low at the time because, to be honest, I had no clue how much effort it took being an entrepreneur. I assumed being a photographer meant taking pictures and editing them, but it means SO MUCH MORE. It means networking, marketing, cultivating relationships, developing systems that work, phasing out systems that don’t work, time management, having an online presence, making an experience that will last and not something that is inconsistent, budgeting, working at the dreaded pricing game so that you can actually produce an income after paying for business expenses out the wazoo, and…So. Much. More. I always get a good kick out of people who think we “just take pictures with a really nice camera”. Ummm…right? I can list a handful of photographers who have incredible stories about business building and have been been roadblocked at some point and made crucial decisions to make them who they are today. Check out Katelyn James, Laura Gordon, Rachel Vanoven, Tiffany Farley, and Erin Tole to name a few. I am sure I can safely assume that all of them have come to a point in their early career where they knew they needed to make a change to make the business grow.
So over the summer, as I could sense the roadblock coming, I decided to hire a designer as my first step to make a change. I wanted to make a brand that matched who I was. Something that fit my personality, my beliefs, and my passion. But as I suspected, the busy season approached quickly and I was overwhelmed with so much client-facing work, that I had to put these changes off. While all the designing was chugging along slowly in the background (because of my crazy schedule) I continued staying up every night until 1 or 2:00am trying to stay up to date with my workflow. My process was just failing. My roles as a mother and wife – failing. I put the blog and even Facebook on the back burner as a way to relieve some pressure, but those two things are my main sources of marketing! Still, I had something big in the works and so I just kept telling myself that.
So now that the slow season is moving in, I get to start launching everything I am doing to make my business so stinkin’ awesome for 2014. And I am starting with my new ProPhoto blog today! :-) Wahoo!! Some more exciting things on this list of big changes for 2014 are below. Pssst, you also get a sneak peek of my new logo (above). ;-)
New easier to use ProPhoto Blog launching today!! :-)
New “Love Multiplied” brand launching in December with a whole new client experience!
Admistrative/Marketing assistant hired
Established daytime work hours for 2014 in place- with a hired nanny working part time while I work from home, but still get to take breaks and love on my littles
blogging schedule in the works with consistent session features and personal posts
new computer being purchase before the close of 2013
As you can see, a lot of HUGE changes are in the works! I’m excited about all of these changes.
With Love,
Stacy
Stacy Hart is a Delaware Wedding Photographer and specializes in Love Multiplied Sessions: Family, Newborn, and Wedding Photography sessions. She is based in Delaware and is available for travel.
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