Building a business is not for the faint of heart. It takes a strong individual who has determination, drive and a plan. There’s a wealth of information available about how to catapult your growth as a business and below are three of our top tips that we recommend for building your photography business.
Create a Plan
Most small businesses won’t survive beyond five years. In fact, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 20% of businesses fail within the first year and by the 5th year 50% have faltered. While these are disappointing statistics, we believe it’s best to equip yourself with a plan to overcome the obstacles small businesses face. The key to many successful businesses is creating goals, business vision and a business plan with action items. When creating your business plan for the year, find a creative space and block out uninterrupted time to focus on where you want your business to go and how you’re going to get it there. And if necessary, bring in a mentor to help navigate the uncharted territory that comes with growing a business, especially as a first time entrepreneur. Once the big picture foundation is laid, it’s time to divide out quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily tasks to execute.
Create Multiple Streams of Revenue
Offering a product, form of education and a service allows multiple streams of revenue for one business entity. Most businesses have the service, and for APA we know it is photography. From here, you can expand your offerings by creating a product to supplement the service. For example, a photo album or e book to go with service purchases. Offering continuing education courses to other photographers opens up a monetizable form of education. These multiple streams of revenue do not have to happen at once but bundling them to fit your audience can bring increased value to your client base and additional opportunities for more referrals.
Create a Community
Our third business building tip is to engage in community. A community is how you can interact with customers and gain referrals. When you engage with community, your potential clients get to know and trust you, bringing so many benefits to your business. While increased sales from referrals within your community is always a goal, an online community can share social media posts and live streams to build connections and stay top of mind. You can also offer beta tests and get feedback on services and products from your local community before releasing it to a greater audience.