5 Ideas to make your photography business recession proof.
If you read the news recently, you know we’re up for a hard time. And it doesn’t matter where you live, this recession will hit us globally. I’m sure there are some places where it will be not that bad, and others will get hit harder. I also don’t want to think negatively about the future, but I love what I’m doing, and I’m playing the infinite game. So I rather be prepared then go broke. Hopefully this article gives you some ideas on how to tackle the future
Quick overview: I’m living and operate my content production business in Austria. We’re currently hit with high energy prices, lack of products and services — which leads to a more growing inflation. The sentiment is pretty negative right now. A lot of big corporations don’t give an outlook any more, because they have no idea how bad it can get. You can see individual stocks crashing every other day. From personal talks, I know a few companies who are halting their production lines or planning to. This feels terrible. I don’t know what will happen, but as the times change, I have to take some actions to act accordingly.
- Diversify income streams
As I already wrote in my “… what I learned in my 5 years of self-employment”, diversifying clients is pretty important. I’m currently working for companies in retail, chemical and mechanical industry and also tourism. To set up my company even broader, I want to expand into the energy sector. My income streams are currently 99% dependent on clients. To mix this up a bit, I thought to give the stock footage market a try. There are platforms like artgrid.io, shutterstock.com or filmsupply.com where you can sell your footage. In my slow days, I just head out and shoot stock footage for myself and for others. We will see how this will turn out.
Other ideas here are: Start blogging, build a YouTube Channel, sell Presets on your website, give coachings, etc.
- Strengthen bonds with clients
Besides communicating regularly, it’s time to go the extra mile. Since I know my clients very well, I can see where they have some weaknesses or what they can do better. For those small problems, I will host some short free workshops to help them out. I already did 2–3 sessions and those worked very well. So I definitely roll them out to more business partners to add some value for them. This is also a great time to get them to know better and to have some fun. If you’re looking for something more exciting, you can do sports activities together.
- Having fun
So this may sound silly to you, but hear me out. We’re in the service sector, we provide a photography or video production service to our clients. This means we have to communicate a lot, and that’s where you can make a difference. The more quality and life you’ll get in your interactions with your business partners, the better it will get. Have lunch, go for a coffee, do a bike ride or go for a hike. It’s way more work to get new clients, then to take care of your recent partners. Having fun while working or afterwards is better for everyone. The times are looking tough enough, so better have a good time in the present.
- Adding new services
As a content creator, the possibilities right now are crazy: Photography, Videography, 360° content creation, drone flying, FPV drone flying, Timelapse creation, and so on. The devices and the possibilities to create new and awesome content grows year by year. So it’s time to think about adding new services to your portfolio. Right now, I’m adding FPV drone flying to my portfolio, where I spent lots of hours in the simulator and outside to learn it. As soon as you think you have a new service which you can provide value, it’s time to talk to your existing customers and get it out there.
- Financial responsibility
Let’s keep this short. Get out of debt, save some money, so that you can live for at least 6 months without income. But for some, this may come too late, with the rising costs it gets harder by the day to save some bucks. If you’re having a hard time, think about all your spending, like subscription plans, insurances, car, etc. and re-evaluate what you really need and cancel the other stuff, or downsize if possible.
Conclusio
Never let a crisis go to waste. You can stick your head in to earth, or you can make the best out of it and see chances where others can't. What I wrote here is nothing new, but all in all it can be a good reminder, to value the people who provide us with work. Without them, we can work at Wendy’s. Let’s diversify our income streams, have a good time with our clients, add some new services and save some bucks along the way. If you have something to add, I would like to hear it in the comments or send me a message.
If you like what you’re reading, please subscribe, this would help a lot. More work & presets can be found on my homepage: www.chrisperkles.at
