New premises or not …..

I am in a dilemma this week as I have just been offered the chance to get some business premises at basically no cost – that’s right No cost. None at all not even costs to get there! Sounds great right? But here’s the thing, it’s 75 miles away from where I live making a 150 mile round trip every day (3 hours worth without factoring in the unpredictable weather and motorway in the middle). On top of that if I am going to work there then it’s an all or nothing thing – I have to take all of my kit, my computer, paperwork etc so I would be committed to being there at least 4 days a week so will be doing at least 600 miles a week. So, that’s the travel.

The office itself would make a great place to meet with clients, do back office stuff and present my portfolio and products but doesn’t lend itself to being any kind of studio so the time I could spend behind the camera there would be slightly limited.

This is turning into my pro’s and con’s list you know that don’t you….

So let’s do it this way

Pro’s

Con’s

No Cost Access to large database of people with money   Business address in city centre Place to ‘go to work’ rather than being at home so I can draw proper boundaries between homelife and worklife. Ability to network with other people in the same building for wedding and portrait work Chance to extend my catchment area to cover Manchester, Leeds and everything in between. Place to meet and greet clients Place to show off my portfolio and products. Gives an enhanced professional appearance

600 miles and 12 hours driving per week Impact on homelife due to tiredness and time away   Initial investment in furnishing the room which I just don’t have at the moment Starting to build the business up in a new place from scratch There’s no shop frontage so no real ‘presence’ in the city- will have to really ramp up the PR & Marketing.

It’s getting late and that’s all I can think of right now – I would love to know what you think – drop me a comment or two on here and/or answer my poll question. feel free to add any more Pro’s and Con’s that you can see. There are some other more personal factors influencing the decision as well but I figured I would keep this all business.

Will check in tomorrow to find out how we are doing!

Don’t forget to check out the new website and let me know what you think

www.hotcoffeephotography.com

A

New Website is up and running …

Well, after a long wait and lot’s of indecision I have finally got around to getting a professionally designed website built to show off my work and (hopefully) convert some more enquiries into business.

I have been working with the guys at Pixel Vector in Wetherby -  http://www.pixelvector.co.uk and they have come up with a great looking website that I think really reflects my style. They have given a few tweaks to my logo and made everything look really fresh.

The new website is http://www.hotcoffeephotography.com

I would love for you to take a few minutes to pay it a visit and give me some feedback – am particulary interested in hearing your opinions about it’s useability and whether you can find all of the information that you would need to persuade you to call me about your photography requirements. Also any comments you have on the actual photography would be well received as well!

Th eblog is being redesigned as we speak and I am going to start making daily entries on here – showcasing some of my work but also sharing my experience in photography, giving out some tips and tricks, off loading my troubles on an unsuspecting audience and generally getting things off my chest – although don’t get me started on X factor because then it will just turn into a fully fledged rant!

Speak to you all soon

So here I am in the Blogosphere ….

I suppose I should start with a little about myself and go from there. That’s how to do this Blogging thing, right? I’m sure i’ll get the hang of it in time. It would really help if I got some sleep too – it’s nearly 3 am and I thought I would be productive with my time rather than playing online poker for once!

Anyways, enough insomnia induced chatter here’s that bit about myself that I promised….

So, I lost my job as a Global Account Manager with a large telecoms firm in January, but I won £50k on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in the same month! This gave me the chance to follow my dream of being a full time photographer and still be able to pay the bills whilst getting my business off the ground.

From a standing start I have already taken on portrait assignments all over the North of England, worked at corporate and charity events nationally and have had wedding bookings as far afield as Scotland and Spain.  I’m particularly proud that a collection of my images has been used by one of the largest Architects practice in the world in a communication to all of their clients.

I am really excited about all of the avenues that are opening up for me and I believe that my success is due to the quality of my images Although most people tell me that they hate having their picture taken, I always insist that this is not because of how they look but because no one has taken a good picture of them yet. I want people to enjoy the experience of the shoot and then to fall in love with the pictures, and so far, everyone has.

My ultimate objective is to have a £100k turnover business within 3 years. At that time I will re evaluate and set myself other goals which will include taking on and training new photographers to expand the brand. The business plan is based around the wedding side of the business with the targets being 3 or 4 weddings in the first year, 8-10 in the second and then 30-40 in the third. In order to get to the people who will book those weddings I feel that it is important to get as many clients in front of the camera as possible. This means that I have to focus my attention on the portrait side of the business, getting my images on the walls of as many houses as I can.

I firmly believes that in times like these everyone should pull together to make things a success and I think this recession is a little bit like our WWII – (before you jump down my throat I am not belittling WWII so hear me out) In the war everyone had to pull together to survive, people had nothing but what they did have they shared. It’s a bit like that now – Everyone knows that everyone is in the shit so people seem to be more willing to swap ideas, share knowledge and generally help each other out than they did before. I am certainly seeing it in my business and would love to hear from you if you have noticed the same. I see the advent of Twitter, Facebook and Blogging as a reflection of that and I think that people are much more willing to enter into a relationship with someone with the minutest amount of common ground.

So that’s my first ever blog – please let me know what you think (I guess if you have got this far you must have found me – don’t know how you do that yet) and add me to your favourites and please suggest  other people who you think might be on the same wavelength as me.

I’ll add another instalment as soon as i get some sleep

Speak Soon

Allan

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