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