Hard to start a business

[debra roehn Profile Private messageWebsite]

I don't know what I am doing wrong. Everyone says that my work is terrific and I've had a few jobs but mostly from family and friends. (which I find hard to take money from). Now I am doing a job for a cousin for her daughter graduatin college. Its about 300 pictures and a lot of fixing of old photos. I love doing it but can't take money. Anyway thats not my problem. I got a web site, send out flyers, made up business cards and did shows for free just to get the word out. The other people on this web site seem to have such a steady flow of business. I wonder if it is because I live in NYC. Does anyone live in a big area like this? I can really use some input on how to generate more paying business.

Doing this kind of work is such a dream come true. If I can make just a little pocket money to help my growing family, it would be so rewarding. I was even thinking about going back to school for all of this digital stuff just to learn. I am not looking to make a huge amount of money, I just enjoy creating these shows. Family photos have always been a passion of mine....

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...
thanks
debbie

[dnavarrojr]

Debbie,

Like many people, I got PSG to do my own stuff, not to make money. After doing a few shows and showing them to family and friends, I started getting "feelers" to see if I would make one for them. At the time, I owned a small computer store and consulting business. One of my clients was a realtor that I occasionally fixed computers for.

He had created a powerpoint presentation for one of his higher end properties and he wanted me to get it to auto-play when a CD was inserted and play background music during the presentation. After messing with powerpoint for about an hour, I got frustrated and pulled apart his presentation, put everything into PSG and created an autorun disc. He loved it!

At that point, I decided that was my niche. Realtors. So I created a few sample shows and marketing materials specifically targeting Realtors and their needs. I did very well with it. And some of them had me do personal shows too.

To me, THAT is the key. Find a specific target market. A small niche market and OWN it.

Also, try making one or two free shows for "non-friends/family". For example, if you decide that real estate is your target market, go find a realtor and offer to make one show for free (preferably someone who works for a large brokerage) on the condition that you get to use that show as part of your marketing. The scattergun approach of trying to do all types of shows doesn't work (at least, it didn't work for me).

Here's my current story...

Up until last month I had a pretty decent job and ProShow was just a hobby. Then I got laid off and discovered that the utility companies wouldn't wait until I found another job to get their bills paid. So, I sold a couple of luxery items on eBay and bought PSP.

I looked into doing Real Estate shows again, but the market here is much different than it was in Florida. In Florida most homes were expensive and competition between realtors was harsh. They needed every edge they could find and that's where I came in. Here there are fewer realtors and the market is depressed. People don't move to Kansas unless they have to, not because they want to. I still have a few ideas for a Real Estate niche, but I'm busy with other things at the moment.

So, I did some research and discovered that there are some really awesome photographers here but only a couple of them offer their photos as slideshows. A friend of mine recently got married in Jamaica and they had a photographer, but not a videographer. I offered to make a video from their photos for free in exchange for using it as part of my marketing. Once I had that, I went a visited a few of the local photographers to offer my service. I gave them a price they could mark up and make a few bucks themselves and that I could live with. So far I've had a couple of bites.

I am within a very short driving distance of four major universities. To pick up a few small projects to put in my portfolio, I found a few student photographers and offered to make some videos of their stuff very cheaply. They supply the great photos and I give them something unique to show off in class. One of them has even asked me to do a show from photos of a birthday as a regular paid project.

I have other pans in the fire, so I'm not making a "living" from doing shows, but I'm hoping to get there by years end.

So... my "foot in the door" is doing shows for photographers who don't do them. From that, I'll slowly build things up.

[rebekahatheliah]

Debbie,

With my business I told my family and friends that I do one "pro-bono" job a year and have a seperate sheet set out that states what they are getting for "free". If you do not put a limit to it you will go broke doing friends and family and it will can happen very easily.

Have a small business is hard enough without everyone expecting something for nothing.

Finding you Niche is a great idea. Also figure out who your market will be.... income level. Are you wanting to target the average middle income leve family..... the less fortunate families..... or the ones with dispossible incomes.

The best tool that I got in the beginning was I attended a PPA convention... Professional Photographers Of America. WOW They had days, and days, or speakers who talked about how YOU could build your business. They gave you contact ideas...... where to get this or that..... how to use ........ who to contact...... etc.
I literally came home wrote out planns and notes for a week... without sleeping.!
Pumped up I was.

Good luck.... And remember.... your equipment, education, materials ...... YOU are not getting for free....... so Charge for your talent.... You are worth it!!!

[Tarafrost Profile Private messageWebsite]

I thought I'ld comment on the subject line "Hard to start a business".

Actually, I think it's really easy to start a business. Trivial almost.

What's hard is making it successful and viable.

[rebekahatheliah]

Good play on words.

[toad Profile Private message]

Hi dnavarrojr,
I was wondering if you had any demo videos of what you have done for realtors? I'd like to see how you put them together. I live in Colorado where the real estate market has been booming, that is, until recently. Now we have an area that is overbuilt and a surplus of mls listings available. I have viewed a few of the virtual tours that realtors have on their sites and they are a bit boring and think psp can do so much more for them. I know quite a few realtors where I live and think it could be a good niche to target.

[dnavarrojr]

I was wondering if you had any demo videos of what you have done for realtors?

I posted one of them... Lemme see if i can find the link... Here it is:

http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewsho ... alb=128142

Most of the others are stored on CD's or DVD's that I haven't accessed in years. If I run across them, I'll re-render them and post them.

--Dave

[toad Profile Private message]

Thank you that was very good and informative. It made me want to move to Florida.

[dnavarrojr]

Thank you that was very good and informative. It made me want to move to Florida.

You're too kind...

That was done in PSG v1.x about 4 years ago or so. I've mentioned this before, but all I did was stick a custom intro picture and final slide with contact info and left the rest the same. That was my "template". We offered output to business card CD's (the most popular), CDs, DVDs and VHS. For an additional fee, we would customize the show further if the client had their own pictures they wanted to include.

If I were doing it today, I'd include a custom watermark for the client (wasn't available back then).

[shoebox]

I would start with a web-site overhaul. Not to knock, but your site looks more like a hobbyist vs. a company/professional. If you can't design it get with a friend or family member that can do web-design.

As with any business, it is about appearance. How you look to the customer, if the look and feel is good, the rest will follow.

My 2cents...

[dnavarrojr]

Hi Eli,

Thanks for your honesty, I appreciate it. Funny thing is... I have let some local people that I know look at the site with the understanding that I'm still working on it. In every single case, they were impressed and in fact I've picked up 4 web design jobs, two from friends and two from friends of friends directly because of "how great" my site looks.

Now, I agree, my site doesn't look spectacular next to those of a lot of New York/Los Angeles glitz sites. But compared to the local talent in my part of the world, it's a step up.

One thing I've learned in all my years of doing computer work, everything is relative... What is only "so-so" in one part of the world is "fantastic" in another part of the world. I can't even come close to the talent of most of the people in this forum and most of my "shows" probably look amateurish to you. But, people still pay me to do shows for them because they can't do it themselves (they think) and because what I can do actually impresses them.

What is up there now is my 4th iteration. The previous 3 were all rejected by my truly harshest critics... my fiance' and my mother. They both like what I got now, so for now, it stays. Once I've caught up on my bills and I'm able to start investing back into the business, you can bet your sweet *ss I'm gonna contact a real graphics designer to discuss an overhaul (along the same theme).

In the meantime, I've gotta step back from other things and get some paid work done.

[shoebox]

Dave,
I was responding to Debbie's original post in the forum. Sorry if it seemed harsh, I'm just honest with my opinions as I hope others are with me.

BTW, Dave I like the whole Real-Estate signs hope it works out for you. Keep us posted.