Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hello everyone!

I`m a twenty-something about to get my undergraduate degree.  My family is convinced that I ought to get my Master`s, but I`m just as convinced that it would put me even deeper in debt with very little to show for it that I couldn`t get just by opening my eyes and ears, and reading a lot.

Anyhow, my dream is to start a photograph restoration business out of my home.  Of course, I have tons of "bright ideas" to go along with it, but who doesn`t at this stage?  Unfortunately, one of the many over-priced lessons I learned in college was that credit cards are a Bad Idea.  Add that to a pile of student loans, and I`m definitely paying for my bad decisions. But I`m determined not to let this stop me from planning for the future.  Time will pass whether I spend it moping around or making plans, so I figure I`m better off doing all the legwork and research that I can without a lot of funding, while I work toward paying down my debts.

Anyhow, just wanted to introduce myself and say hi!  I`ve already learned a lot just lurking and reading other people`s posts, so I`m looking forward to taking part in this great community.

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Chris Miller, a simple taco maker:
The Tiger Taco home in the U.S.A.
Tiger Tacos in Australia
Tiger Tacos in the United Kingdom

Hey TigerTaco,

Actually, my screen name is derived from my real name, which starts with the letter "M".  It`s become kind of a joke between me and my brother (very long story which probably isn`t as funny in the retelling), but it makes as good a screen name as any.  :)  I`ve never made the "em dash" connection, though.

I wanted to thank you for the words of encouragement!  I know it`s going to be tough for awhile, but I`m in the lucky situation of being single with relatively few responsibilities other than those of my own making.  I`m also lucky enough to be roommates with my brother, who is probably the most awesome cheerleading squad anyone could ask for.  So I`m trying to focus on the good points of my situation instead of getting down about the mistakes I`ve made.  Since my brother is about to start college, we`ve moved into an apartment and split the bills so that I can send the extra income to pay my debts, and he can send his extra income to pay his tuition, instead of going into debt like I did.  I`m glad that he`s learning from my mistakes, anyhow.

I`m sorry to hear about the death in your family.  I lost my grandmother to cancer awhile back.  It`s hard to lose a family member like that.  That`s pretty impressive about your grandfather`s business, though.  I don`t have anything nearly so massive in mind!

Anyhow, I`ll stop before this becomes a novel.  Thanks again for the warm welcome! 

Hi M---  I`ll echo Chris, and say hi and welcome to a fun community.

He`s right too, that you can get a regular job to cover your finances, and gradually begin to build the restoration business. Keep in mind that all business breaks out into two major categories: a product, or a service.

Your business will essentially be a service. But in the current economy, the main question is necessity.

Consider your own life and circumstances. Would YOU be interested in paying money to have some old photos restored? Yes, but perhaps not right at this moment. "I`d like to have my money situation more under control, then I`ll go about doing stuff like that." Maybe yes?

Same with everyone. They`re suddenly discovering the results of living on credit and debt. Now that the bill is coming due and nobody has the money to pay it, including the federal government, the word for the day is "cutting back."

Another aspect of having some steady income is that it`ll give you time to try different ideas for the photo business. You may believe you have it organized, but life has a way of showing you all sorts of interesting modifications to an idea. Having the bills paid would give you time (and room) to explore different business concepts.

The main thing is to stay focused on building your own business. We`re rapidly coming to the point where only people with their own business will have any sort of control over their own lives.

As I was reading this, it occurred to me that there`s another thing related to restoration. Product photography.

Lots of people are moving toward e-commerce, and pictures are critical to selling anything. And yet, many people don`t have the skills to edit or do much of anything with graphics. Restoration is pretty close to graphic editing, and you might find some great work in that arena.

If you`re working say, for a catalog company or you`re the online photo manager for a large company, you`d also be learning about copywriting, editing, and plenty about business and contracts, fees and rates as well. Y`know?

Thank you, Craig, for the great advice! 

Right now, I`m very aware that my plans are in the "pipe dream" phase.  But I try to take a step toward making them a reality every day.  Some days I even try for 3 or 4 steps. ;)

I currently have a very tolerable job working from home in what I suppose you would call desktop publishing.  My boss owns her own business and provides her services to Thompson publishers, working on electronic resources for textbooks.  It`s a great job, for now, but the idea of owning my own business, and taking full responsibility for my successes and failures, is very appealing to me.  But I do at least have a steady income.  And when the business is slow, and I don`t get as many hours as I like, I can put that extra time to work by doing research for the future of my business.  It`s an ideal situation to be in, really.  But then, my biggest fault is probably a little too much optimism.  XD 

I`m going to look into the possibility of getting into product photography.  I had also thought of trying to do what I suppose you`d call freelance work photographing weddings, etc.  No matter how slow times may be, I figured people still get married.

I`ve got a lot of ideas buzzing around in my head, though.  You should see my "notes" file.  It`s just a good thing I know how to keep organized when I need to, or it would be a train wreck. :)

Once again, thanks for the warm welcome!

Getting into the wedding photography field would be a bit of a problem. Right now, product photography is one niche, weddings is a whole other niche. But wedding photographers are highly organized, well marketed, and successful ones have a strong reputation.

You`d be jumping into a field that to you would be "something to do." Your competition would be with people who are strongly passionate, so you`d have an uphill battle.

The key problem, in my opinion, for photographers today is the "anyone can do it" mentality. With digital cameras, marketing, and the end of actual film, everyone believe that anyone can take excellent pictures.

Additionally, with the Web, more and more skilled photographers can display their work to a wide audience. So the problem becomes either to have a unique type of photographs, or to offer an unusual service.

If you offer photo restoration, the assumption is that people want to share and view the results. You could offer an entire package. You take the old hardcopy photos, fix them, but then put them into an electronic album of some sort. For example, "FlipAlbum."

Always remember that it isn`t what you can do. It`s what do other people want. :-)