Photographers, Try to Put Yourself out of Business Now!

You bought a camera, lenses, and gear that you're not convinced was essential. Many photographers feel that's all you need and the clients come walking in through your door. You've been fooled because the majority of your success depends on the business aspect of your operation. Let's do an exercise that better prepares you for success.

This exercise will show you an easy method to staying relevant in business and always evolving. It's about doing it regularly and staying on top of it. At the start of my career, I worked closely with Madonna. Now in hindsight, I see this as a form of exercise she practiced routinely to remain a successful artist decade after decade.

This exercise has 4 major components that will help you with your success and worth investing an hour of your time every 6 months to have more success. The video goes into full detail on how you can do the activity yourself. 

1. Live in your competitor's shoes, and for this exercise see your business from the outside in. That's always a strong skill to have. Once you see your business from their POV, it's easier to be critical of the services you offer. Then from the POV of your competitor, put YOUR photography business out of business. 

2. Set time apart to analyze the suggested changes or ways your competitor can put you out of business. This is a necessary step that takes time away from your phone or any distractions. The video gives you great detail about how to do this but it takes only one-hour total. It's a brainstorming session that is worth every minute of your time. Once you analyze the ideas, you start to group them together.

3. Prioritize the necessary changes each season and the value of each policy change. You have to look and see what's reasonable and what is smart for your path to success. What makes sense for you? What is considered profitable and worthy, and what's just a pipe dream?

4. Schedule another session to keep updating your business. Staying on a regular schedule will give you the edge over your competition. For my own business, I do this every 6 months and it's always scheduled out.

The full video goes into great detail on how you can do this, even today! Watch and see your business grow just by trying to put yourself out of business every now and then.