I’ve over promised and under-delivered

I haven’t blogged in a year

I had half of my staff leave to start their own individual businesses last year. It was like a punch in the kidneys even though I wished them all the best.

Every week I get mail asking for jobs/training/intern/work experience etc

It sounds selfish, but I no longer feel inclined to pay people, teach them and then watch them approach our clients and offer them cheaper services. It’s not as malicious as it sounds, but in this age of facebook, everyone is friends with everyone and know if bla bla from “Annielyn Images” is “out on their own – wish me luck! woohoo!”

As we are all nice people and friends, we honestly hope they succeed, but in the world of business this is not a nice thing.

(So, if you are looking for employment from us, don’t be offended when we say no, it’s not you, we’re just trying to find a way to help aspiring photographers that is a win for you and us, without you having to pay us for workshops etc. We enjoy teaching and helping, but we have to make sure we’re not shooting ourselves in the foot either. This goes for internet forums as well )

Our business is stronger than ever, but in the real world (not the world where everyone is super awesome) these things still matter, even if there is nothing that can be done about it.

For twelve months we struggled with trying to decide whether to employ more people or handle it ourselves. We believe now that we have found the partners we have been looking for, but in that interim our clients asked us if their albums would be ready in the normal time and we said yes – they weren’t.

Then there were clients that came back after a year or two with no contact, finalised their albums and asked if they would be ready in the normal time (amongst our normal schedule) – we said yes, they weren’t.

Now I send my retouching to professional retouchers, it costs me more money, but gives back my time. The downside is that if something is ‘needed’ I don’t stay up till 3am to get it done. I’m now at the mercy of my external partner’s business runnings. It means I have to be more organised – this I can do, but it’s a work in progress LOL

We’re not the only business in the world to have had this problem, I’m simply publicly outing myself on this blog. It’s part of a change for me where I make my blog more interesting LOL And to make myself accountable to all of you.

Now I love photography again, and don’t feel sick about the workload (I don’t even do a lot of post-processing, but every minute on the computer fills me with dread). I’m excited again, and I can’t wait to be a better business owner.

We provide the best products and services in the business, I believe that.

If I didn’t then I should try something else. We provide awesome photos at an awesome price point. Maybe someone does brighter photos, or uses textures, or more flare (little joke to our latest couple, Emma and Harry)

Maybe someone does cheaper photos, but I believe that our’s are simply striking, natural and fashionable photos of people looking their absolute best at a brilliant price point. I believe that we offer some of the best bonuses and savings for those wishing to buy more than their original packages.

I believe that we make people look their best without having to resort to Photoshop plastic surgery. The sort of surgery that I would be offended by if someone did it to me as the only thing they could do to make me look good.

We are constantly adding new products and services to stay ahead of the market (not simply keep up) – of course we have teething problems doing this, like everyone from the local newsagent to Microsoft does.

There are things for me to fix, like I said, I’ve over promised and under delivered. I apologise to those who this has affected, it’s not everyone, but even one person is too many.

The picture above is Helen and Damien, whose wedding I will post soon

More to come (to borrow from Joe McNally)

PS I couldn’t even remember my blog password to post this LOL