A client approached us with a common problem. He had a very successful photography company but felt he was not doing as well as he had in the past. He also wanted to be more efficient, focusing on the kind of work that resulted in the highest return on his invested time.
Of course his artistic values could not be compromised. He was respected as a top notch photographer and wanted to ensure his customers continued to get the kind of work only he could produce. Lowering standards or stretching his time in the name of profit was not an option.
We set out to first determine what type of work returned the most value. Weddings, family portraits, commercial work, newspapers, etc. were all measured by dividing time and rate charged. We then added what the client enjoyed doing, including some of the activities that gave back to the community like teaching… and placed a value on that as well.
With a valuation on each activity we were able to rank them, sort them, and essentially play with them in order to find the right mix. As usual the data pointed out some surprising things like one didn’t pay as well but resulted in the most referrals thus eliminating advertising expense.
Organizing the business and coming up with a strategic plan to both grow and maintain artistic integrity, lowered his stress exponentially and allowed him to do even better work for his clients!