Our new blog focus

Posted by emeraldeye on

We are bringing back the blog.

We previously stopped blogging because we felt that we were doubling up with our facebook page. We always post our images and video’s there, so there seemed no reason to blog. We have decided however to take a different tact with our blog, and focus more on the business aspect, a behind the scenes look at what we do. We feel this will benefit the photography community, and add value to those that are pursuing a photography career. We’ve found that even several of our previous clients and future clients who have come to us for their photography (ie Wedding Photography), themselves have a passion for the art, and have started to pursue photography either as a business or as a hobby. In fact many of our previous clients have attended our photography courses or have even become associate shooters for Emerald Eye Photography. Because of this we feel that we have a lot to give when it comes to photography advice, particularly business advise. And with the new addition to our family throwing a whole new aspect into the mix of juggling family life and business life, we’d love to share what we know, what we’ve learnt with you all.

So stay tuned to this blog, subscribe, send us questions and we will respond openly and honestly. We trust this openness will be a great blessing to so many of you.

Focusing on your what sets you apart

Posted by emeraldeye on

The other day when I was in Brighton for a business meeting, I decided to take a chance and also pop in and visit a photography studio of a photographer I’d gotten to know on the phone and on the internet, but hadn’t yet met in person. I was also keen to check out their new studio.

Fortunately he had a few spare moments and showed Jazzy and I around and we chatted about our businesses, where we are both at, what we are doing now, were doing in the past and how things have changed. One common thread continued to show up, that was of streamlining our businesses to allow others (whether it be subcontractors or employees) to take on areas of the job that either we don’t quite like, or we don’t need to hold on to in order to differentiate our business.

This is an important aspect of growing your business beyond your individual single capacity. However in doing so it’s also important not to outsource what makes your business unique, and “you”.

Over the past couple of years we have put a lot of effort into training others in areas that we have wanted to pass on but not “let go of completely”. You see it’s important that when you do outsource, that the work that others do on your behalf still represents “you”. It needs to meet your standard and that’s tough. Most of us have very high standards, and many of us a quite possibly perfectionists.

Let me tell you, it was hard to pass on wedding editing work to others. But we have found that this is one area that has allowed us to continue to grow our business, and build, and is an area that we can replicate ourselves in by solid training and introduction to our editing style and particular “Emerald Eye” presets that we provide our editors. This has also allowed me to continue running the business with a young baby without completely losing the plot!

However at this stage in our business there are areas that we would not even consider outsourcing, this includes our wedding VideoStory productions, our initial selection of images for facebook (which we often do extra special custom edits on) and our Wedding Album Designs. These are points of difference in our business. With our graphic design experience, our wedding albums have a unique look and feel. And not to mention I love designing them. Our VideoStories are also very unique to Emerald Eye, and the emotion that we manage to portray, the reflection of the day, is again an aspect that differentiates our business from the next wedding photographer’s business.

Perhaps 2012 is a time for you to focus in a bit, widen your aperture and pass on those blurry parts of your business that don’t need to be “you”. Bring into focus the “you” in your business and increase it’s effectiveness. You will gain more enjoyment, greater productivity and greater insight for the future.

GASP that’s Crazy

Posted by emeraldeye on

Many of you may have read about the shocking email response and subsequent statement from GASP, a retail store in Chapel Street, Melbourne, in response to a customer complaint. The full article published in the Herald Sun can be read by clicking here: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/fashion/customer-complaint-email-and-response-by-gasp-clothing-goes-viral/story-e6frf8o6-1226151874005

When I read this I immediately checked myself, my business and my customer service. This email response from the area manager is just so unbelievably rude and bigotry against class. She talks down to the customer as though they are not “good enough”, “stylish enough” or “rich enough” to even walk through their doors.

Its every businesses right to have a target market, and market to that target. I have no problems with the concept of GASP marketing to a higher end cliental. But if they think turning away the everyday “middle class” customer will make them more “exclusive” and therefore more “attractive” to the high end fashion conscious in Australia, they are very sadly disillusioned!

But lets dig deeper? What do we do as photographers or businesses owners when someone sends us that price hunting email. All they want to know is how cheaply we can do it, and they don’t seem to value what we have to offer? Perhaps we are tempted to write an email back stating just how qualified and talented we are and why are they wasting their time trying to get a discount. Or perhaps we just want to trash the email as soon as it hits our inbox? Or perhaps we soften up too much, and start discounting left, right and centre, only to realize later that they are the most difficult customers we’ve ever had and they have no value for our product, because we’ve devalued it ourselves so much by our giving into discounting.

Most of us would realise after years of running a business that none of the above are appropriate, (apparently GASP think they are above appropriateness) and that Word of Mouth and good customer experiences are vital for business growth.

To ensure we don’t make a GASP mistake, consider the following when dealing with customers:

The customer is always right, even when you know they’re wrong

Go out of your way to fix even a small mistake to ensure continued good will

Have options for those that are not your target market, either by recommending them to other trusted businesses or having some options built in to your own offerings.

Answer client complaints in person or in phone if you feel they are complex, as email can be misinterpreted.

Treat everyone as Kings and Queens, forget class, don’t be a bigot. (That goes both ways, celebrities, the rich, still like to be treated with respect, but they also want you to be down to earth, and not so awestruck by their status that you yourself start acting like someone else.)

Don’t discount down to keep a customer. They won’t value your work as much, and will expect more. Allow them to find someone else that fits their budget and assist them by offering recommendations.

It will be very interesting now that this GASP email has gone viral, what happens to the company…

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Organising the Stresses

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Well now I have a little one, my life is no longer one big organised, calendarised diary. Before Jazzlyn, I prided myself on the detail on my calendar. Every aspect of my life was categorised and colour coded. I had reminders reminding me of an upcoming reminder. I put everything in, and everything was synced, from my phone to online google, to my ipad to thunderbird.

Well I still have a calendar, and it’s still colour coded, and I still have reminders popping up. However there are many more under the category of “personal”, that relate to bringing up my little girl.

So I haven’t thrown my organised schedule out the window since having Jazzlyn, on the contrary I’m thankful for it. I may not be as detailed now, but the important dates and times are still listed, my tasks get scheduled in, and I can tick them off as I complete them. I know now more than ever that  its important to be organised to stay on top of things. Sometimes when I’m stressed and things keep piling up, I find that the best thing to do is get it all down into my calendar, to list when I’m going to deal with certain things. Once I’ve put everything there, I’m freed up. It even works well to do this before praying, because you gain more focus, and are able to spend more time hearing from God and less time getting distracted by all those things you know you need to do.

And when it comes to looking after a family when running a business, there’s no way I’d remember everything if just left in my head. Though I may be a little more pedantic than most with my calendar (sometimes with shared calendars, when people don’t captilise I go into their entry and amend it because I like the calendar to look nice), I do recommend that having a reliable calendar system, that is backed up or synced. This is crucial in order to stay on top of work and remember appointments that could well be forgotten in the business of the day.

Getting organised really does decrease stress. I recommend it.

 

 

Successfully Busy? Marketing for Real

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When it comes to our businesses, I’m sure we all want to look super successful. And often times we might think that by looking busy it means we look successful?

In the early days of Emerald Eye Photography I know I would post just about everything we were doing online, on our blog, on our facebook. In fact, on taking up this blog again, I read back on my posts from 2006 – 2008, the early days of us going full time, establishing a shop studio. I noticed a few things.

  • Often to look busy, and consequently, successful, I posted personal projects as though they were commissioned jobs.
  • I wrote about the mundane, and posted shoots that while valuable to the client, were ultimately boring for the reader
  • I didn’t write much about my everyday life, a little, but not a lot. Perhaps once again to look – busy?

Don’t get me wrong, we were actually reasonably busy, but there was a lot of other amazing things taking place in our lives that were also restraining full business growth, so I’m quite sure I padded it out with the mundane.

If I go back even further to when we actually first started shooting weddings, I remember talking about unpaid jobs as though they were paid, just to “look” more successful. Taking a camera to friends weddings and shooting (not as the paid photographer, but as a guest) and then using the photos as examples of our work. If I was the actual paid photographer back then I would have been quietly frustrated with someone doing that.

So how should we market ourselves, isn’t marketing about pushing the product, getting the name out there? Does this type of marketing really work?

I believe that true success comes gradually, and that it speaks for itself. I also believe that the best marketing is being real.

Our business at the moment is quite clearly toned down for the time being because of our new little baby. Of course this does not mean we are “less successful, because we choose to be less busy”. Here on this blog I’m choosing to share the ‘real’ with you, in the hope that you don’t make some of the mistakes we made early on. We have truely found that clients, people, appreciate openess and honesty, and that these character traits are by far some of the best ‘marketing strategies’ you have.

Take a look at your business, and make a choice – To be Real.

Thanks to Dane Sanders who wrote: Fast Track Photographer. He focuses on this aspect and his journey in this book and it’s well worth purchasing a copy, it will change your business for the better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Juggling Baby and Business

Posted by emeraldeye on

As most of you will know, we recently had our first child. Our gorgeous little 3 month old, Jazzlyn, is such a blessing. We love spending every moment with her, and of course as new babies do, she demands most of our time. How do we juggle family life and business life successfully? Well we are still working through a lot of these hurdles and will share more in coming weeks.

I personally, as full time mum, and full time business operator (Stuart works a full time job, and I look after the business), have found that running a successful business with a young baby is hard work. “Duh!” all you mums out there are saying. Perhaps I thought she’d sleep more during the day? Perhaps I thought I’d have more time? But though Jazzlyn certainly dominates my days, the biggest change I found is that I WANT her to. My life before Jazzlyn found me certainly more passionate about our business. I could get stuck into projects for hours on end, sometimes not moving from the computer or from what I was doing to even get lunch. Now I struggle to get to the computer at all during the day. My emails go into “action” folders, and sometimes are not responded to for several days! I used to respond on the spot. My editing takes place later into the night, once Jazzy is fast asleep. We have been blessed with a child that sleeps remarkably well at night though, often going down for sleep around 8pm and not waking up until 6 or 7am. So I need to make the most of those evenings, but by then… I’m exhausted! But our Photography business is still something I’m passionate about. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love it. So lately I’ve been working through what I can do, refocusing some of our energies on types of photography that can be done without neglecting Jazzlyn, and projecting for the future.

In a couple of weeks we photograph our first long wedding since having Jazzlyn. We’ll be shooting for at least 10 hours. The longest I’ve been without her so far has been around 2 hours, so this will certainly be a challenge. But we have everything in place and I’m confident that it will all work out well. My parents are booked in to babysit for the day – and they are looking forward to it, Jazzlyn being their first and only Grandchild. We’ve got the feeding part of it sorted for the day, me pumping and Jazzlyn being fed some expressed milk and some formula.  Because she is BF mostly but topped up at night with FF, it gives us the flexibility to FF (Forumla Feed) when we are apart.

I’m also concentrating more of my energies on newborn and baby shoots that can take place in the studio mid week, with Jazzlyn either watching in the studio or sleeping. This gives us the flexibility of continuing with shoots, without needing to arrange for baby sitting. I really feel it’s important to spend as much time as possible with my daughter, particularly in the early months/years, so I want to find as many avenues of shooting/working as possible that enable me to keep Jazzlyn with me. She’s been quite good during the recent shoots that we’ve done, and has been quite a hit with the clients who can’t get enough of her little smiles.

I’m sure that our business will continue to evolve and change in coming months as we settle in with our new addition. And I look forward to sharing the joys, the challenges, and the changes with you here in the hope that many of you may benefit, if you have a young family, or if you are starting one and are also building your photography business. Let’s share this journey together.