Zenologue

No one can be in business for very long without encountering the phrase, “to write a business plan.” Usually, the sentence is formed in their own mind, preceded by the words, “I need…”

Business planning is important, and an actual documented business plan is a necessity. A lot of photographers and other small business owners know they need one, but are hesitant to start on it, often with the excuse that they are too busy running their business to stop and do it.

That’s like saying you’re too busy driving to think about where you’re actually going. Most people usually have an idea of their destination and how they plan to get there before starting the car. They might even have a map, courtesy of mapquest, or even a GPS unit to help guide them on the way, but it makes no sense to drive away in a car with no destination in mind.

Are We Too Scared To Plan?

I think the reason most people don’t have a business plan is that it sounds too abstract or complex to handle, or that they imagine it has to be full only with financial projections. But this needn’t be the case, and I would argue that a simple actual business plan is much better than no business plan at all.

I learned two things this week that really come together here…

One is that writing a business plan is not the correct way to approach it; one should think of it more as designing a plan for your business. It’s a subtle, but very effective difference in approach and it requires a different mindset and attitude that will produce a better result.

Secondly, as photographers, we need to wear a lot of hats in the course of running the business. We are often the CEO, the managers and the staff all rolled into one person. The problems start when we fail to tell the difference between the roles we need to play, or we mix up jobs completely by wearing the wrong hat for the role. Usually, this manifests itself as the photographer making CEO-style decisions while not wearing the CEO hat and therefore considering the implications of those decisions from the appropriate level. For example, buying all the latest photography gear because it’s nice to have without thinking of how it might actually serve the business.

Elephants Can Be Eaten One Piece At A Time:

So how can we make a suitable plan for our photography business? The answer is quite simple – we can break it down into sections starting from the top; the different hats we were you might say: 

• CEO – create the vision, philosophy and goals of the business
• Head of Sales & Marketing – Overall strategic planning of sales and marketing
• Head of Product Development – Overall strategic planning of products
• Head of Finances – Overall strategic oversight of financial planning
• Sales Manager – Oversees the tactics of sales
• Marketing Manager – Oversees the tactics of marketing
• Product Manager – Oversees the design and production of products
• Finance Manager – Oversees the functions of accounting
• Marketer – Broadcasts the company message and brand
• Sales person – conducts sales meetings with clients
• Photographer – Take photographs, edit, enhance images and produce final products

If we look at the above tasks in more detail we can safely conclude that there are four basic stages involved in the organization of the business: 

• Philosophy and Vision
• Strategy (i.e. the logic of how we will achieve our goals)
• Tactics (i.e. the tools and methods we use to implement our strategy)
• Implementation

When designing our business plan we can address these areas independently, making the whole process so much simpler to handle. As long as each level pays consideration to the levels above it, we ought to be able to conceive of a sound plan.

For example, the implementation level might include an option to offer CDs of copyright-released images to our clients. This would only be acceptable if the tactics to do so are available (i.e. the tools and the ability), there is a valid strategy for doing so (a solid reason in other words), and it fits in with the overall philosophy and vision of the business.

There also needs to be some kind of financial analysis and projection, but this can be kept to a necessary minimum in my opinion, especially if this part of a business plan is what’s keeping you from designing one in the first place.

Conclusion:

I know this has been a very simple article on a very complex field, but I do believe that, in order to be successful as a photographer, we need to tackle this issue head on. It’s not going to do us any good in the long run to avoid creating a business plan through confusion or fear. The intention of this post is to get you thinking about this in ways that are appropriate to you and your specific business. There is obviously a lot more to it than I’ve written here, but it would take many posts to cover everything in such detail.

There are plenty of great resources on the web, as well as books on the subject and I think that it makes it a lot easier to start off simply and take it one step at a time. So, I encourage you to take a few steps back for a while and try on those different hats while really thinking about the roles they represent. Start with the CEO and work your way down to the bottom, all the while ensuring that your company vision and philosophy are protected and well served.

business business, business plan, business planning, professional photographer