I was going thru some files on my hard drive and found some old stuff I had, some with links to DPC threads and so of course I went looking to see what it was all about.
Wow, what changes in 3 years is amazing. Knowledge, growth, experience all add up to a very different business, and perhaps mindset, than I had 3 years ago.
Some of the thread participants are gone from here too, or very inactive. I guess that means their businesses are doing well, too well maybe, or perhaps they outgrew DPC?  KevinRiggs wewillexplore (whom I knew as mavrik)
Some of those old threads
//www.dpchallenge.com/forum.php?action=read&FORUM_THREAD_ID=326740
//www.dpchallenge.com/forum.php?action=read&FORUM_THREAD_ID=325315
Ahh, the old days...
2006 Goals:
$15,000 in gross income (a rather lofty goal i think, but attainable)
Shoot 5 weddings , some maybe even paid :)
50 senior portraits (average of $300 per - on the low side for this area)
$4,000 in pet portraits (should be do-able based on 2005's results)
try some little league or similar sports shooting
try some alternate business models (more on this later if you want)
try some lifestyle shots (horses most likely, have a lead on that for spring)
Learn about stock and begin shooting for that (stock is a 2007 goal)
Attend a live seminar of some kind
Make a printed portfolio
Make 2 wedding albums from my shots of last year to show prospective brides
Technically, I need to learn to get it right in the camera 99% of the time. PS can fix alot, but I won't have the time to do it that way. I am getting better at this. It is my biggest weakness (i think anyway)
The new goals
2009 Goals:
$100,000 in gross income (so far I'm ahead of that for this year)
Shoot 18 weddings -have 12 booked, already shot 2 this year
50 senior portraits (shot 28 last year) at an average of $700 per (did $596 last year). Shot 3 so far this year (way up from last year at this point). Doing a prom show this weekend, got 3 reps, maybe 4 for the upcoming year so 50 seniors seems doable IF I can hire help.
Sports Leagues - shoot 5 (shot 3 last year). Size matters and that's tougher to gauge. Shooting the local college's cheerleaders tomorrow - but there's only 10 of them. Have done a 600 member soccer league and booked a league I wanted, my local baseball group, about 300 kids.
Not actively pursuing kids and babies this year (although I've shot 2 this year and booked one for next week)
Going to expand some in the family portrait area now that I have a studio that accomodate groups.
2006: make 2 wedding albums. Jan'y 09 - make 5 wedding albums for clients. Man, times change!
Biggest weakness now is lack of time to get everything done. So i've got a part time editor/assistant and will be interviewing a sales and marketing person next week. I do very little advertising and plan to try and change that this year to bring in the seniors - the prom show will help that, as well as reps and some other advertising I have planned. I just need the time to do it!
Biggest change has been my new studio that is about to have it's grand opening. Spend last fall remodeling and this winter getting it outfitted and while it's being used 3 or 4 times a week it's not 'ready' - last night I was putting up muslin tracks, cabinet doors, hanging samples, pissing with the computer (again).
//www.dpchallenge.com/forum.php?action=read&FORUM_THREAD_ID=368066 talks about 'school'...again, man how things change! I had just got a 30D - they were new then, and got to play with a 1D2mk2, back when 16mp was a big deal LOL.
I will again be attending a PPA class this March https://www.triangleinstitute.org/default.htm and taking Michael Redfords class https://www.triangleinstitute.org/speakers/redford.htm. I've heard him speak a couple of times and I always learn alot. His studio does a tad over $2 million in sales so there's a lot he knows I need to learn. I'm looking forward to coming back with 100 ideas to implement - and as usual, not enough time!
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