Alex's comments

Snuck in just under the bell, sold and purchased a home just recently and very happy it happened when it did and not two weeks later. Didn’t use an agent,.. Believe it or not just sold it on Craig’s list, and found my new home on my own,.. (saved 6% by doing that)

I may be interested, particularly interested if it covers any details about the patent filling process. I am pretty good at the idea generating part already,. I just feel a little lost at the paper work level.

As a digital photographer my backup strategy is extremely important, Its a simple scenario, If my machine went down (hard drive crash) and I had no backup I would lose years of work, work that simply can not be replaced, so I take backup fairly seriously.

My system is fairly simple,. 2nd hard drive in Box (not the OS hard drive) stores master files, that hard drive gets backed up to a large external USB drive once a week, there is also a secondary backup from the master files that runs once a month out to a large NAS drive, then once a year (or so) I burn all crucial new images onto DVD.

All paying jobs go through this same system but also once the job is done they go directly to DVD labled for that job.

All my little business doc's just go along for the ride with my photo files.

I think soon ill need to come up with an off site strategy as well. probably including DVD's or tapes in a bank vault somewhere.

I have recently heard something about fairly large businesses starting my space marketing campaigns,.. I decided that id rather focus on direct to client marketing for the time being, but I am keeping the my space idea in my back pocket as a possible add on to my web marketing direction,.. not sure it will help me much on the commercial side of my photography but thought it might help bring a bit more traffic into my gallery/web store once I have it up and running. However there are a dozen other things I should do first to bring in more traffic, so its definitely not on the top of my list.

Obviously it depends on what your selling, but if you have the time to do it right, I don't think it would hurt.

I am interested in seeing if anyone replies with a success story.

Alex AlexCphoto.com

Dan, if i make this a little smaller so that it does not break the interface,.. is the above allowed?

Alex

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no, no, no,.. =)

My point was simply that I believe in open honest communications. I mentioned your name only as part of the first paragraph where I spoke of how you made me think about where I stood.

My comment at the end about false fronts was directed towards others stating that some use or feel the need for false fronts to get ahead, I was simply stating that I don?t believe in such business practices for myself.

Alex =)

PS: doing a little test, if there is a bunch of garbble above my reply please disregard, Dan if I break something doing this I do apologize and promise to never do it again =)

Being one of the people who spilled there guts on that last thread and being relatively new to all this I had to take a long hard look at the point Rebecca brought up and ask myself if that level of caution was really needed in my line of business. To save you the details of my two day mental struggle with that question, I concluded that I feel absolutely comfortable talking about the details of how business is going with my piers in an open and public forum meant for open and public discussion. I do however respect that for some that amount of openness is perceived as detrimental, and in some cases actually is.

I will however be a "bit" more cautious on how I word some of my points and situations because everything I say here is public record, and does reflect on my business now and in the future. But while I may be a bit more ?PC? in my future posts, I will not change the fact that I am willing to talk about my situation openly and most importantly honestly.

I have always drawn the line at financial numbers in a public forum,.. that?s never appropriate.

I realize that a false front does wonders for some, I just can?t bring myself to be that way. I will be ok with myself if I fail for that reason alone. But I doubt that will be the case, so far honesty has treated me fairly well.

Alex =) AlexCphoto.com

I am a little frustrated about the comment that anyone in the communications field even graphic artists need to have perfect grammar otherwise they are not a professional communicator,.. (please correct me if i took you wrong)

There are many forms of communications, written, vocal, visual, tactile, and even olfactory. While one person may be an excellent writer he or she may not even know how to us a simple point a shoot camera, and while one person may be an excellent song writer, they may lack the skill to actually sing there own song. I think its unfair to say a graphic artist cant communicate through there field of visual communications if they can not also communicate perfectly through the written word. Just like it would be silly to judge a journalist through there ability to paint a still life.

Alex =)

Most of the amazing artists and other professionals I know, have one weakness or another. If I took them to task for each one id quickly be removing some very useful talent from my personal network. Plus it rarely effects there ability to do what there true skill is.

As for grammar, as long as that person is not my proof reader it's not a problem. I suffer with grammar problems myself so it would be silly of me to knock anyone else down for it.

I think everyone has different skills, some people can spell, punctuate, and structure sentences perfectly. But put an un balanced check book in front of them and without a calculator they are lost.

I think as a one man operation we push ourselves to fill all the needed roles within our company to save a dime or two. This pushes us into areas we may not be experts in, for me that?s writing profiles and marketing pieces.

I know it's important when marketing myself to at least look as intelligent as possible, So everything from my website, to mailers is going to go through a proof reader. This helps with the static marketing pieces. I don't feel odd about this false front in the least, every fortune 500 company iv ever worked for employs a proof reader in there marketing department. This is simply because very few individuals have perfect grammar. No marketing piece I know of ever went out without at least three sets of eyes on it and multiple rounds of revisions. and some of them still go out with errors even after all that.

Everyone has there strengths and there weakness, no man is an island jack...

The problem is the business model for a nature photographer is very different than one for a commercial photographer.

it is very unlikely that ill get nature/wildlife assignments through Biznik, because generally speaking if an art director wants a picture of a bufflehead duck they are going to go to a stock photo place and download one, they are not going to take on the expense of hiring on a photographer to go sit in a photo blind for multiple days in hopes of a perfect bufflehead duck shot.

for the nature wildlife aspect of my career its all up to me to produce package and sell my imagery as art, There really is not a large by request market for this stuff, not that there aren?t any but simply that they are far and few between.

So if I am only known as a nature photographer, sure it may get around that alex is a good nature photographer but I don't think that biznik will bring in work for that niche there is simply not enough work there to pay the bills let alone grow a self sustaining life style. that's not to say nature photography cant pay the bills, just that it relies very little on others to request the work before its done. its after the fact when its framed and some one says hey that would look nice on the wall,.. that's when it sells. And biznik may be able to help me with that. But that's very different than saying some one would be looking for a wildlife photographer to hire,.. that just does not happen that often.

But I am ok with that because I love it, I do it more for me than anyone else.

So that brings me to Commercial photography, something I am equally as good at but does have a much higher marketability. Sure its not my ultimate passion in life but I do love it and its capable of sustaining my family. So if people are going to be talking about me as a photographer on biznik I much rather be known as a Commercial photographer that also does some wildlife nature stuff. Being known as a good commercial photographer pays the bills and allows me to go on walk about every week feeding my nature photography addiction... it's a win win.

But I have to convince everyone that I am good, and that I really can do just about everything.

Ok maybe not everything, I constantly turn down wedding gigs, (yes I will forward those on to biznikers next time one pops up) I do need to focus a bit, like say I am a great garment photographer that can also do all sorts of other commercial product photography, like food and electronics, and on the side I do nature and wildlife stuff. But I think its very important to have that "all sorts of other photography" associated with your name, so that it does not limit the type of jobs coming in to only garment photography. Because quite frankly constantly steaming out wrinkles would drive me loopy if that was the only work I got. =)

One would say "those don't go together" (nature and commercial) I would say so what, that?s what I am good at. do they have to go together for me to be good at them both? No but I do have to treat them very differently and market them both very differently. That's the trick how do I get known for both, without becoming too diverse, or becoming overwhelmed, if I had the answer to that id be sipping margaritas in Maui right now. =)

My current strategy revolves around building both and seeing with one prospers first.

I realize I have a bit of growing to do before I can pull this off, and that I am making my own marketing more difficult with this stance, but I guess I have to try to do it my way first.

I am absolutely confident that nothing is impossible.

Maybe that?s foolish, but id rather be a foolish optimist, than a correct cynic =)

Any way thanks all for the topic it made me sit down and put what iv been thinking into words, looking forward to hearing others stories as well.

Alex AlexCphoto.com

Your question is not really one that can be served up easily, my prediction is I am going to spend the next hour typing and still only scratch the surface of everything that would define where I am at. But here goes. This will be a good exercise for me.

Am I surviving?, yes, but only due to my current 9-5 job. My business, Well that's one of those goals that has a long path ahead of it. I have had a handful of professional jobs this year but not enough to support the studio nor enough to work on my "needs list" beyond a few key items.

Mostly I am dumping money into equipment this year the plan is to have my marketing figured out by the time I can actually pull off anything requested of me,. no point in marketing that I can do XYZ photography when I don?t have XYZ equipment to be able to turn that request around quickly,.. yah rental but that can only be pushed so far.

Iv got the talent, I have a unique perspective of being an old web developer kowing the in's and out's of web photo/graphics needs, iv got some of the equipment, I am working on the marketing with the website and a few other things, I even have a mini studio set up, I can do a lot, but what I am missing is the word of mouth, the street rep,..

my added dilemma is that there are a hundred thousand photographers out there to compete against, who also have adequate talent, but another two hundred thousand that well, kind of suck, and quite frankly its some times hard for a client to tell before the project starts, so as often as a talented photographer gets a job two crappy photographers also find jobs. as a no name with no street rep my name is simply lost in the murky pool most times.

Most would tell me find my niche market and get really dam good at it,... then focus on marketing, marketing, marketing, well that?s the thing my niche, the thing I do best is wildlife and nature photography, which does not make the big bucks, I am also dam good at studio photography,.. which has the potential for big bucks but most are at least adequate at it so there is a lot of competition there.

Most would say ok, well then tighten it down further,. Get really good at jewelry photography, brand yourself as the king of jewelry and nothing more,.. but then I compare that to my current job and think well that would be dam boring just shooting the same thing over and over,.. no I want to be known as the guy who can do it all.. so that is a mind set dilemma that I really need to iron out and which I blame for most of my stalling with commercial photography at this point.

im not sure the niche market strategy is perfect for me,.. what i find over and over again is that i need name recogition,.. it does not need to be with anything more specific than "commertial photography", but it has to be there. so my current strategy leans more towards getting my work out there with my name attached to it. we will see how that goes for a time.

I just finished the web site, which has gone over well, I am working on getting it linked from all over,.. a slow arduous task, the web site is like a business card absolutely useless unless you hand it to some one looking for your services, what I need is a far more aggressive strategy,... I need to go after the clients I want, but I also need to be ready the second I get that haloed call back to respond and deliver in perfect order, I am working up to that, so for the time being its all a little slow, I am only taking on the jobs I know I can do, and I am doing work at about 50-60% market value and eating the cost of rentals. I guess it is growing, in the reguard that at least i have a few jobs, but its no where near able to sustain itself yet.

The hard part is you cant get the equipment without the jobs, but you cant do the jobs without the equipment, id put the cost of opening a photo studio up there with the cost of opening up a restaurant... the good equipment is dam expensive. Some of it can be rented, but not all of it. and there is something to be said about the familiarity of your own equipment that helps you perform at a high professional level.

I am considering using credit to speed things up but I guess my fear that the commercial photography pool is so big has me hesitant to get to far into debt. so its all growing ever so slowly each job buys a new piece of a equipment and opens the possibilities up a little more,.. in theory it should slowly increase until I figure it all out. For the time being I am ok with slow.

As for nature/wildlife, I am out there shooting every other weekend. I am bringing a collection together for sale in the next few months, both through my website and possible Sundays markets. I?m working on the web store technology, Thinking about a calendar with the Audubon society, and doing some Sunday market booth set up cost analysis type stuff.. And I am taking notes on all the locations I visit, considering doing paid expeditions photo workshops,.. but that?s a pipe dream for the moment.

And then there is the stock photography options,.. I need to look into that and see if that?s something I want,.. Its kind of parallel to processed food versus organic food for me,. Stock photography is generally cheaper and faster for the client but its also usually not the greatest of quality and its usually not exactly what the client was looking for. The sad part is clients have accepted it ?as is?, not getting exactly what they wanted but paying less for it. All the time killing off the quality photography business in the process. And stock photography does nothing for building your name. so I am just not sure I want to go there. But it is the way things are turning so I may just have to deal with it.

I regard stock photography companies like some people regard Wall-Mart, the big bad company that moves in and kills all the mom and pop stores,.. stock photography companies keep growing, and so does Wall-Mart what can one do other than vote with there dollar.

The funny thing is the stock photo companies would not exist without the two hundred thousand crappy photographers that constantly hand over there images,.. so really it is the photographers all shooting each other in the foot. But iv gone way off track now?.

But that?s ok I have only recently decided to turn my talents into a business, this will all take time, my current stand point is its to risky to go deep into debt until you know your on the right track,.. I am still trying to find my track I guess. But that?s cool, the way I look at it at least I know where my hold ups are. And until I do figure it all out at least I can do some work building my skills,..

As for Biznik, no business yet, but iv only been on for a few weeks so who knows, lots of interesting ideas to think about though.

I will say one thing, while I am in this mode of growing, you biznik folk can probably get some darn good deals out of me for your photographic needs. It costs absolutely nothing to ask some questions and talk out your needs with me.

Alex AlexCphoto.com

>>Sharing personal beliefs in business...?

The quick answer, only if it feels appropriate and you feel comfortable doing so with the client. But go into it knowing you could unexpectedly cross a boundary and offend a client. It?s important to stay "real" but there is also a time and a place for some things. While you and I may be nearly impervious to offense due to controversial topics, not everyone else is.

As for the Jesus fish thing,. It?s actually so you can make sure your supporting another person of your faith and not some pagan. Yes there are people out there like that.

As for the profile/avatar. I would like to second the multiple image thing, at least two images, a profile picture and a second place holder to show a company logo. It would be nice if the company logo image had a bit more resolution and loaded on top of the profile page and the profile picture stayed where it was. I think two would solve the company logo v?s Picture issue.

Part of the reason I think this would be beneficial is I noticed my Biznik Profile page ranks higher right now on Google than my personal website,... (when searching my name) which leaves me wanting to massage my profile page a bit more.

Alex www.AlexCphoto.com

I have found that IMEX is a usefull recourse for needs like this,..

http://www.govlink.org/hazwaste/business/imex/browse.cfm

good luck. Alex