At this photography thing for 8 months....

[Raian-san]

Can we all just get along? :thumbup:

 

[Kbarredo]

Like I said how come you guys will tear a person apart when they ask about being professional in such a short time. Then sabrina asks after only 8 months and all of you take her side. Is it because you just hate me that much more that you go against your own natural attitude just to spite me. Think about it. All of you tore my friend apart, all of you tore the others apart but for some reason sabrina is off limits. Wow hypocracy here. Its funny that no one is answering that question.

I've been torn apart many times here! I got torn apart because I was doing a wedding and being "inexperienced". I just got torn apart because I asked about a certain focus mode. I get torn apart for stupid things but I'm not gonna cry about it. I take the good in with the bad. The "good" gives me the confidence and the "bad" gives me the drive to be better at what I do.

But if Im giving you the bad you just plain insult my pictures. I give you contructive criticism that others have said and im the a hole.

 

[pgriz]

Interesting thread. You get the good, the bad, the ugly. About par for the internet.

Sabrina, the business side is work – hard work. Just because you’re good at something, doesn’t mean you will succeed in business. Here are a few links that may give you some things to think about:
Why Small Businesses Fail: Top 7 Reasons Startups Fail And How To Avoid Failure

reasons Businesses Fail: 5 Reasons Why Start-up Businesses Fail

Business Failure - Business Failure Statistics - Starting a Small Business

Making money from an activity is very different from making a living from that activity. In the first, you cover the cost of doing something, and if you’ve got money left over, you’ve “made money”. In the second, you need to generate a steady cash flow (because you like to eat, live in a house, wear clothes, etc., and all of those create a steady outflow of funds, which you need to cover with a steady income), that covers the cost of doing the “something” AND pays the business for the overhead and the non-revenue generating activity (marketing, prospecting, book-keeping, customer followup, supplier/vendor followup, etc.).

As the third link says, the usual reasons for business failure are: 1) weak general management, 2) weak financial management and 3) weak marketing capabilities.

For small business, the “general management” usually covers skills such as managing your commitments (calendar/todo list), having a routine by which all the essential elements are done EACH DAY (bank statements downloaded, calendar updated, mail opened/sorted/answered, phone calls responded to, filing done, etc.), managing your prospects, clients (recording all the important contact info, making schedules, delivering on commitments, meeting client expectations) and doing the same thing for your suppliers/vendors and networking group.

The financial management should be part of your business plan, and always involves having a clear monthly budget for revenues, expenses, and investment items. There are two types of expenses – job-related, and overhead related. These need to be tracked separately and the overhead expenses must be clearly identified and actively managed. In general, the business mantra is Revenues less job/project costs gives you the gross margin, less overhead gives you the net margin. The important question to ask, is how many jobs/projects do you have to do each month at your usual gross margin, to cover all the overhead? That sets your minimum sales target for the month. Another reality of small business is that just because you sold something, doesn’t mean you can take it to the bank until you collect and managing your policies of deposits/collections will often determine your success or failure.

The final category is marketing management, and that covers identifying your target market, learning how to effectively reach the people who will pay your prices, and at the same time how to beat off the competition. In general, the more of a niche your occupy, the fewer competitors you have, but also the smaller a slice of the overall market you have. Qualifying prospective customers into the 20% that will likely buy and the 80% that will waste your time, is an important survival skill.

When you reach the stage of wanting to hire someone, like BJ is planning/doing, then you’ll find another truism of management: unless you hire the right person, give them the right training and ongoing supervision, and focus their efforts within a system that you manage/control, you’ll be adding to your headaches instead of lessening them.

I am really happy that you are motivated and are progressing in your chosen field, but when you make the transition to business-person, your chosen field may diminish to as little as 20% of your daily working hours. The rest of the time, you’ll be running the business. That’s just the nature of the beast.

 

[SabrinaO]

Are you reading the same thread?? I said nothing about your photos UNTIL you started flaming mines about how my work is mediocre and you would never pay. I said nothing about your work. Then I decided to take a look at your work since you seemed to be so critical of mines then I was shocked that your work isn't good at all. So who are you to judge?

 

[vtf]

ibtl
What happened to my smiley faces?

 

[SabrinaO]

Interesting thread. You get the good, the bad, the ugly. About par for the internet.

Sabrina, the business side is work – hard work. Just because you’re good at something, doesn’t mean you will succeed in business. Here are a few links that may give you some things to think about:
Why Small Businesses Fail: Top 7 Reasons Startups Fail And How To Avoid Failure

reasons Businesses Fail: 5 Reasons Why Start-up Businesses Fail

Business Failure - Business Failure Statistics - Starting a Small Business

Making money from an activity is very different from making a living from that activity. In the first, you cover the cost of doing something, and if you’ve got money left over, you’ve “made money”. In the second, you need to generate a steady cash flow (because you like to eat, live in a house, wear clothes, etc., and all of those create a steady outflow of funds, which you need to cover with a steady income), that covers the cost of doing the “something” AND pays the business for the overhead and the non-revenue generating activity (marketing, prospecting, book-keeping, customer followup, supplier/vendor followup, etc.).

As the third link says, the usual reasons for business failure are: 1) weak general management, 2) weak financial management and 3) weak marketing capabilities.

For small business, the “general management” usually covers skills such as managing your commitments (calendar/todo list), having a routine by which all the essential elements are done EACH DAY (bank statements downloaded, calendar updated, mail opened/sorted/answered, phone calls responded to, filing done, etc.), managing your prospects, clients (recording all the important contact info, making schedules, delivering on commitments, meeting client expectations) and doing the same thing for your suppliers/vendors and networking group.

The financial management should be part of your business plan, and always involves having a clear monthly budget for revenues, expenses, and investment items. There are two types of expenses – job-related, and overhead related. These need to be tracked separately and the overhead expenses must be clearly identified and actively managed. In general, the business mantra is Revenues less job/project costs gives you the gross margin, less overhead gives you the net margin. The important question to ask, is how many jobs/projects do you have to do each month at your usual gross margin, to cover all the overhead? That sets your minimum sales target for the month. Another reality of small business is that just because you sold something, doesn’t mean you can take it to the bank until you collect and managing your policies of deposits/collections will often determine your success or failure.

The final category is marketing management, and that covers identifying your target market, learning how to effectively reach the people who will pay your prices, and at the same time how to beat off the competition. In general, the more of a niche your occupy, the fewer competitors you have, but also the smaller a slice of the overall market you have. Qualifying prospective customers into the 20% that will likely buy and the 80% that will waste your time, is an important survival skill.

When you reach the stage of wanting to hire someone, like BJ is planning/doing, then you’ll find another truism of management: unless you hire the right person, give them the right training and ongoing supervision, and focus their efforts within a system that you manage/control, you’ll be adding to your headaches instead of lessening them.

I am really happy that you are motivated and are progressing in your chosen field, but when you make the transition to business-person, your chosen field may diminish to as little as 20% of your daily working hours. The rest of the time, you’ll be running the business. That’s just the nature of the beast.

Thanks for the read and the links pgriz. I think I need to sit down and re-evaulate my approach to starting/running a business.

 

[Ron Evers]

Well, I made it through all 10 pages & my wife said "make your own popcorn".

 

[SabrinaO]

Like I said how come you guys will tear a person apart when they ask about being professional in such a short time. Then sabrina asks after only 8 months and all of you take her side. Is it because you just hate me that much more that you go against your own natural attitude just to spite me. Think about it. All of you tore my friend apart, all of you tore the others apart but for some reason sabrina is off limits. Wow hypocracy here. Its funny that no one is answering that question.

I've been torn apart many times here! I got torn apart because I was doing a wedding and being "inexperienced". I just got torn apart because I asked about a certain focus mode. I get torn apart for stupid things but I'm not gonna cry about it. I take the good in with the bad. The "good" gives me the confidence and the "bad" gives me the drive to be better at what I do.

But if Im giving you the bad you just plain insult my pictures. I give you contructive criticism that others have said and im the a hole.

Constructive criticism? How is telling me my work is mediocre and bad, you wouldn't pay and that im "not ready" constructive? Between this thread and others.... im starting to think you are not all there upstairs. Yes you said my lighting is flat. SO TELL ME HOW THAT CAN BE FIXED. You say that I should work on my posing. OK...so ive been waiting since THIS MORNING on your secret ways on "posing small children. TEll me please. I would really like, or NEED to know. I am waiting on your responses.....

 

[cuezombies]

OP, I think you're talking to a couple of walls here; you'd have more to gain from adding both of them to your ignore list than from continuing the "debate". Sometimes there's just nothing you can do to stop people from making fools of themselves in public.

I've had my camera for a couple of months now and have a world of things to learn, so I haven't got a lot of advice to pass on- I lurk more than anything- but there has been a lot of fabulous advice given on this thread and I hate to see it overpowered by a lot of crazy back and forth!

 

[mrpink]

Ohh this sounds like a contest!!

Guys it time to whip it out and measure up!

I see yours stops at 10, guess I will just have to give an estimation....





p!nK

 

[Ryan L]

I see yours stops at 10, guess I will just have to give an estimation....

p!nK

Lmao!! It was shrinkage I tell you! I was in the pool!!

 

[o hey tyler]

Ever notice how bitter and tyler always defend each other. I guess husband and wife always do have each others backs.

Ever notice how you post any thread you want in the beginners forum regardless of its relevancy to photography or even beginning photography?

Ever notice how you whine about everything?

Ever notice how you give business advice without actually having a business?

Ever notice how you lack basic spelling and grammatical skills when typing?

Do you?

 

[iNick]

I never said a word about my work. This isn't about me it's about you being a jerk on every thread you write on. But I honesty don't care what you think about my work.

 

[pgriz]

Well, I made it through all 10 pages & my wife said "make your own popcorn".

Ah, but Ron, think about millions of manhours were spent developing the hardware and the code to make the internet what it is, and the billions of dollars it took to make the infrastructure investments, just so we can exchange our deeply-considered thoughts in the global common place. Surely those who participate in this modern miracle will maintain the gravitas of the possibilities presented to us. Or not. But it does have the benefit of parading in front of us the whole array of human interaction, from the informed and thought-provoking to the ridiculous and idiotic. What do you take on your popcorn?

 

[subscuck]

Ever notice how bitter and tyler always defend each other. I guess husband and wife always do have each others backs.

Ever notice how you post any thread you want in the beginners forum regardless of its relevancy to photography or even beginning photography?

Ever notice how you whine about everything?

Ever notice how you give business advice without actually having a business?

Ever notice how you lack basic spelling and grammatical skills when typing?

Do you?

Bingo.