Recall why you got into photography? It was more than likely … the photography. Nothing more.
Most of us have stories of seeing our first images come up in the fixer, or for those of you who have never shot and processed film, let's just go with the LCD on the back of your DSLR cameras.
Almost no one I have met says they serve people because the business excites them.
Fact is, you need to be able to do both. Like a well-oiled machine, you have to create images your clients will be thrilled with AND have a business system in place that brings in more clients. One feeds the other and on and on.
There does come a time, though, when you realize that you are better at one over the other. True, you can outsource some of the work, but the brunt of business development still rests on you.
Amber and Eric Langlois of RAW Photo Design, a company based in Danbury, Connecticut found themselves at a fork in the road. Their clients were thrilled with the images but dismayed at how slowly they responded to emails or phone calls. I know we have all been there. Life takes over and while we do our best to prioritize, some things start to slip through the cracks that are emerging.
Instead of abandoning ship (Eric writes in his blog about “throwing in the towel”, but I like the ship metaphor so stick with me on this one), the Danbury duo decided to connect with Carla Ten Eyck, a photographer and workshop leader in the Hartford area. While she gave them suggestions as they met on a weekly basis, Amber and Eric just felt like they were still dragging their feet.
The only obvious solution to Amber and Carla was to have Carla's studio take over the business aspects of RAW Photo Design. Imagine that! The Langlois' will retain creative control over their images – shooting and post-processing (which I imagine they should outsource too), but Carla's efficient studio will essentially run the business side of RAW Photo Design.
Here's my question for Carla – where do I sign up? This sounds like a win-win for the two studios, but also a huge win for Amber and Eric's clients.
Is this the future for over-worked one or two-person studios? Will this work for you? What concerns do you have about this new business model?
Read about this transition on Carla's blog here. Eric and Amber have also written about it here.
If you have questions about this new business relationship, please comment below.
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If anyone can do it, it’s Carla for sure! Congratulations to the both of them.