Have you ever had a friend look at a business and randomly throw out numbers that made it seem like that business owner must be making serious bank? We’ve experienced that many times, and know from conversations with operators and owners in those industries that their real profitability is often far, far less. The reason is often that there are unique challenges to profitability in almost every industry and so we wanted to create a space for entrepreneurs from across industries and markets to discuss the challenges to profitability in their industries.
Holly Davis | High School Senior Photographer
Portrait photographers are a dime a dozen these days. Anyone can pull up their neighborhood Facebook group and literally watch as photographers squabble over who is the cheapest to get the job. There is little mention of skill, experience or anything else, astounding! With photography there is a relatively low-cost of entry, readily accessible equipment, heaps of free education online and the technology has advanced so far that the required skill set of today’s portrait photographer is even debatable, too. Read more>>
Lauren Hughes SCHNEIDEWIND | Entrepreneur and Luxury Realtor
What a great question and one that I ask myself on a daily basis. The world is changing right now, everything is moving at a much faster pace than prior generations. The rules we used to follow are becoming more and more out of sync with this new globalized business model. As a smaller business owner, it is getting harder and harder to compete with mega corporations. I have to accept that I will never be the cost leader in any of my businesses. In my real estate business, Luxury Colorado Lifestyle, I am competing with online giants that reduce their prices to less than a 1/3 traditional real estate transaction cost. I will never be able to compete on cost, which is Okay. Read more>>
Sandy Clark Photographer | Photographer
The biggest challenge to profitability in my industry as a photographer is the usage of mobile phones — selfies in particular — for business headshots, portraits, and model portfolios. Read more>>
Annye Grande | Ceo + Creative Director @ etoile
Although I don’t believe this is unique to our industry, maintaining gross margins while respecting intentional target retail price points is a discipline that is challenging especially at this stage of our business when we have not yet hit the economies of scales higher volume will bring us down the road. Putting aside the usual challenges of fluctuating labor costs, shipping costs Read more>>
Margaret Bryant | Fun and whimsical pet photographer. Teacher, speaker, author, and animal lover.
Too many people getting into the pet photography business fail to realize it is a business and it is much more than taking pretty pictures of dogs. People getting into the business don’t know about figuring their cost of goods, pricing for profit, and managing their expenses. Read more>>
Chris Blumenshine | Photographer
Biggest challenge has been the development of smartphones. They’re a technological marvel able to capture images that can be used for print easily. What is the major source of media consumption today? Smartphones. Read more>>