Sunday, May 27, 2012

10 Things Your Employees Won't Say - SmartMoney.com

10 Things Your Employees Won't Say - SmartMoney.com

Yes, There Are Social Networks Besides Facebook

Yes, There Are Social Networks Besides Facebook

Monday, May 21, 2012

Court won't reduce student's music download fine : Pantagraph.com | Central Illinois

Court won't reduce student's music download fine : Pantagraph.com | Central Illinois


Photographers should pay close attention to this case.  Although it has been turned down on appeals by the Supreme Court if it is reintroduced and overturned the ruling could have serious consequences for professional photographers.


The line from the article which is concerning is. "Tenenbaum argued that the U.S. Copyright Act is unconstitutional and that Congress did not intend the law to impose liability or damages when the copyright infringements amount to ``consumer copying.'"

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Saturday, January 28, 2012


To all of my Blog followers,

Today my father passed away after a seven month battle with pancreatic cancer.  He was the one who gave me my passion for business and set a standard of integrity and hard work for which I hope I can live up to in my life.  Thanks Dad, I love you always.

Stacey


Monday, January 23, 2012

Welcome to the shark tank!

So, you want to make a living at photography?

You have chosen an over-saturated, under appreciated market to try to make money in, so now how are you going to make it work?

With so many competitors and so little market you need to find a way to set yourself apart.

Who are you? 

What sets you apart from every other photographer?  What is your niche?  Have you established a brand identity?  These are questions you need to answer if you are going to survive in photography.

You also need to consider:

Are you priced appropriately and profitably?
Are you offering the right products to maximize sales?
Do you know your market and how to get the most from your client base?

Let us help! With our thirty-five years of industry experience

We can do a review of your profit and loss statements and provide you with a written summary of your revenue and expense lines.  We will also give you a written analysis of each line item and where modifications can be made to improve your cash flow and your bottom line.  We can help you create a profit and loss statement if you do not have one.

In addition, we will review your price lists to analyze profitability and suggest ways of increasing profits.  Often times this means restructuring and adjusting the way products are offered and does not necessarily mean prices need to be increased.

In this ultra-competitive market we can help you create an identity and product line which will set you apart from the masses. 

Managing your business finances can be tedious, overwhelming and frightening.  Making yourself stand out in the crowd can also be difficult. Let us help you build your business profitability and create a plan to set you apart from the competition.  

Save 50% on our Business Sustainability Package
Offer ends February 28, 2012

E-mail us at stacey@itsc123.com or call 208-595-4234 to learn how we can assist you.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Image files--to share or not to share


Ah, to sell or not to sell, that is the question.  When it comes to selling digital files of the images created it becomes quite a dilemma for many photographers.  There are probably as many schools of thought on this as there are professional photographers.  

As the photographic industry has transitioned from film to digital capture the consumer has become much more astute to the process involved in creating the final images sold to them.  Here a couple of suggestions to help photographers deal with this often times misunderstood process.

First, let’s consider the business side of this decision.  The fundamental question is the photographer’s profitability.  In other words what does the photographer need to make from each session to maintain the profit level they need to stay in business?

Understanding and knowing where the sales average needs to be on each job and pricing appropriately to achieve that average will assure you are profitable.  So now the question becomes how to make the image files available to our client once we have met our threshold of profitability.  Once it is met it probably begins to make sense, from a pure business perspective, to allow the client to purchase the image files. 

With this in mind, once the client has reached a certain investment level with the studio it may be alright to sell them the image files for an additional fee.  Creating additional incentives, bonuses and minimum order requirements are all ways to get the client to the purchase level the photographers needs them to be.

The photographer can also consider allowing the client to purchase reprints from them at a much reduced price once the minimum order requirement is met.  This way they are still on control of the quality of prints which are being made.

The client may decide it is simply easier and better for the photographer to maintain the files and get additional prints from them if and when the need arises.

Secondly, and more fundamental to most photographers is the idea of giving up control of their image files.  Losing creative control can be frightening and the products created outside of that control can put sub-par images on the street. 

This should be a decision made by each photographer as a reflection to their desire to maintain creative control and the overall mission and vision for their business.  Also, if the photographer wants to keep the image file it will require a system of file management, backup and storage.

Either way, consider only offering the image files which the client placed orders.  If they did not like an image well enough to purchase an image originally why would they want the image file?

In summary, set your prices and create a structure which assures your profitability.  Consider the pros and cons as they apply to your business and your desired ongoing relationship with the client and finally how you want to be perceived in your market area.

Monday, October 03, 2011

TrendWatch Video: What Can Small Businesses Make of the Economy? | Inc.com

TrendWatch Video: What Can Small Businesses Make of the Economy? | Inc.com

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Friday, August 05, 2011

You are invited to join our new Facebook Group

We have created a new Facebook group to offer additional information and help to the small business owner. Please join us at:

http://www.facebook.com/editgroup.php?gid=177846232284632&sk=members#!/home.php?sk=group_177846232284632¬if_t=group_r2j

What Is an Appropriate Casual Dress Code for the Summer? | Inc.com

What Is an Appropriate Casual Dress Code for the Summer? | Inc.com

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Putting money down a rat hole

Have you ever attended a seminar, convention on workshop and heard a great speaker. They filled you with great ideas about how to improve your business, get more customers, and make more money. You leave full of ideas and motivated to change.

Then you get back home and the notebook full of ideas and the marketing package you bought from the speaker gets thrown in a drawer and forgotten. Why, because you may not have any idea how to implement the ideas into you business.

Often it is because the speaker told you of their success but weren’t in a position to help you modify their ideas for your circumstances.

This is where we can help. We have worked with hundreds of small business owners to help them tailor a marketing program which works. We work one-on-one with you to learn about your business and your potential customers. From there we help you modify marketing ideas and strategies to attract your targeted clients.

We want to help you. Before you invest another dime in someone else’s marketing ideas only to toss them aside without putting them to use you need to call us. We will help you decide what marketing will be most beneficial for you and your business, create a plan for implementing the concepts and a process for reviewing how well they worked for you.

This year instead of investing in more ideas which get thrown in the drawer—call us—we will help you put together a plan which will address your business and maximize your success. Rather than buy a canned marketing program we will help you create your own customized plan. And we can do it for about what you would invest in the canned plan—contact us today.

To get started fill-out our online form or call us at 208-595-4234.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

What is your New Year's resolution

2011 brings about the opportunity to correct the things which are keeping us from full success in our business. What resolutions do you need to make? And more importantly, how are you going to successfully implement these changes? WE CAN HELP!

The current economy has had a major impact on all of us. The question becomes, what are we going to do about it? WE CAN HELP!

How? By offering you a FREE one hour telephone consultation! ... During this consultation we will discuss those things which are most concerning and are having the biggest impact on your business. We have thirty-one years of experience in small business and management. Let us put our experience to work for you!

During the phone consultation we will help you identify the specific areas where you need to direct attention and give you advice on how to get started. Some of the areas you may consider are:

Managing your business in a poor economy

Debt management

Creating marketing which works

Understanding the numbers

Profitable pricing structures

Time management

Or there may be something else?

This consultation is valued at $250 and is yours free with no further obligation. If you choose to continue to work with us we have a variety of consulting packages and services to assist you.

So, now is the time to get those tough questions asked and let us help you find solutions which will bring you more success in 2011 and the future.

What do you have to lose, an hour of your time? What do you have to gain? A more profitable and productive future for your business!

You must fill-out the web form to get started .
http://www.SpeSend.net/itsc.staceyf60/SurveyIniitalBusinessQuestionnaire/Survey.aspx

Please answer the questions fully so we can make the best use of our time on the phone.

Call us today at 208-595-4234

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Make 2011 Great!

Market Planning Retreat!

Its time to get away and get a plan

Spend an entire day one-on-one with Stacey and your staff. We will work with you to create a comprehensive twelve-month marketing plan tailored specifically for your business. Stacey will come to you, simply select a site away from you business location and we will be there to walk you through creating your plan....This package will include:

A review of your current marketing efforts prior to the retreat
Creation of an overall vision for your business
A calendar of promotional marketing
Creation of ongoing promotions
A time-line for implementation of your program
Selection of advertising methods for each promotion
Creation of ad copy and marketing material layouts
A system for reviewing the success of your marketing efforts
Work on specific needs you may have for implementing this program

Creating the proper environment for your annual planning is very important. We recommend you do this away from your place of business. Contact us for more information on how to make this time the most productive.

Bonus! You will receive one-hour of telephone follow-up and review of your plan per quarter for the next twelve months.

Retreat must be scheduled between January 5 and March 31, 2011.
All retreats must be booked by December 24, 2010.
Hurry; there are only a limited number of retreat dates still available.

Request more information http://www.spesend.net/ITSC.staceyf60/SurveyCurrentSpecials/Survey.aspxOr contact us today at info@inthespiritconsulting.com or by phone at 309-962-8143.
Cannot be combined with other offers

Monday, November 29, 2010

Cyber Monday Specials all week long

Offer #1

One Day Only—Wednesday, December 1

Financial Health Profile

So how is your business doing? Profitable? Able to meet payroll? Current with your bills? Paying yourself?

NOT SURE?

Let us help

We can do a review of your profit and loss statements and provide you with a written summary of your revenue and expense lines. We will also give you a written analysis of each line item and where modifications can be made to improve your cash flow and your bottom line.

We will do all of this for you for just $295*

*A current YTD and previous year P&L statement must be provided

Fees paid may be applied to a full consulting package

You don’t have to wait until the end of the year. We will work with your current year-to-date information, by doing it now you will have a jumpstart on 2011. Managing your business finances can be tedious, overwhelming and frightening. Let us help you get back on track and put you back in control of your business.

Contact us today at info@inthespiritconsulting.com or by phone at 208-595-4234

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Offer #2

We Can Help--Let Us Prove It

We are offering 45% off our 5-hour consulting package Time can be scheduled in one or multi-hour sessions. All time must be used within six-months.Fees paid may be applied to larger package.


Promotion ends December 3, 2010

Visit our website at inthespiritconsulting.com for full details. May not be combined with other offers. Total package must be pre-paid.


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Offer #3

50% off any of our consulting packages.

This is by far the best offer we have ever made and may not be repeated.

We will give you half off the regular price of any of our consulting packages. To take advantage of this special simply send us an e-mail before 6pm MST on Friday, December 3.

"Cyber Monday Offer" must appear in the subject line. Include your daytime phone number in the body of the message. We will then contact you to get started helping you maximize your business success. Send e-mail to stacey@inthespiritconsulting.com

Please note we will be doing follow-up calls so be sure to include a daytime phone number. We will also send you an e-mail confirmation that you have qualified for this offer.

Some restrictions apply. May not be combined with other offers

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Simply fill out this form

http://www.SpeSend.net/itsc.staceyf60/SurveyCurrentSpecials/Survey.aspx

or call 208-595-4234 to get started with any of the above.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

1000 Followers

We are pleased to announce we have surpassed one thousand followers on this blog. Thanks to everyone for your interest. Be sure to watch for more original content coming in the near future.