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.

Leon Tillman

Technology/Social Media has been the biggest challenge as an artist. Like the great Nina Simone, I seek to put out a message rather rather than gaining fame, Technology, especially social media has given society a platform to create an over-saturation of “artists.” Technology feeds the instant gratification bug and now shortcuts to producing masterful work are utilized by the masses. Likes and fame are now the focal point of today’s artist instead of speaking to people’s hearts and creating pieces that change the thinking of our world. Read more>>

Angelique Yvonne

I feel like one of the biggest challenges for profitability as a photographer is people not completely understanding the inherent value of photography. I feel like in this day and age people are so used to getting things quick and cheap. You have fast fashion and other merchandise on the internet where you can get a cheaper version of almost everything, and I feel like people also expect that within the art industry, as if it is also something to be quickly consumed. I often have people asking me to take photos for them, but when I give them my pricing they try to ask for more and pay less. People have this idea that photography is just pressing a button and they should be able to buy just as easily as clicking a button, but they don’t think about the immense amount of work and time an artist has put into perfecting their craft. They aren’t fully aware of the cost of materials either. As a film photographer, I find this to be a huge problem. Read more>>

Scott Arbital

Most companies in the design and marketing field rely on two-three main clients to pay their bills throughout the year. These clients will usually be on a retainer for various types of work such as social media, print design, web maintenance, etc. The issue with this type of business plan is that if one of those clients drops out, then your company takes a large it. I have seen this happen time and time again, but I can share one experience that really illustrated this challenge to me. Read more>>

Kye Bayne

In my opinion the biggest challenge is competition. Not competition in the sense that everyone is fighting to be the best but in the sense that as creatives we shouldn’t be fighting. From time to time there is gatekeeping of skills and information that if shared builds the entire community. As a result there are new super gifted artist that have no idea how to price their work. So being slightly intimidated they may charge far below their actual worth and that then brings down the value for everyone. It’s almost like Jay-Z performing at a birthday party for $200. If it happens often enough thats the new price ceiling. Read more>>

Jessica Otto

When it comes to profitability in embroidery, it greatly depends on what value you place on your time. When looking at supplies like fabric that is $6 a yard, thread that is 60 cents a skein, or a hoop that can range from $1 to $10 per item depending on quality, you think embroidery could easily be profitable! In relation to materials there is a great profit margin. Where the challenge of profitability in this industry comes from is time. When I started creating pet portraits I set the price at a point that I thought was fair for materials. Then I realized 25 hours into a detailed pet portrait that the commission paid me less than the minimum hourly wage of $7.25. I knew I had to change the value I placed on my time in this industry if I wanted to be truly profitable. And I always think of what I learned in my economics class, the law of supply and demand. So I am trying to find the price range that I feel values my time as well as a price that my customers think is fair. Read more>>

Tony Ferrari

This is a huge topic today for all of us in the industry. The rise of costs and labor are killing the restaurant business as well as other industries. We can only charge so much before people stop coming in at all. Some of the things we did to relieve some of the overhead was pass it on to the guests. -Merchant fees, we pay 4-5k per moth per location just to swipe a credit card so we added a 3% fee to all guests that use a credit card and it has helped so much in keeping cash flow consistent and profits a bit better. It also to the guest is only a couple cents rather then a couple thousand for us and or the business owner! Read more>>

Keith Sarich

As an advisor and consultant to the emerging Electric Vehicle Take Off and Landing (EVTOL) industry so many concerns and issues come up daily. Safety, economic and environmental impact, cost are just a few of the challenges that EVTOL faces. However EVTOL has the potential to literally turn the transportation system upside down. Read more>>

Molly Morrison

Looking at photography specifically, the biggest barrier I encountered in turning a profit is the time it takes to build out an inventory of gear and a network of studios, models, and co-collaborators. On the plus side, experimenting with photography has become a lot more accessible in LA with rental sites/grip houses where you can try different gear at a day rate instead of having to purchase inventory before you know how to use it. Read more>>

 Luis Murillo

For LMD in particular the challenge is to produce a set of Construction Documents as accurate and comprehensive as we believe it to be necessary for permitting and construction while making sure that the Architectural fees are sufficient not only to cover the necessary labor but to make our firm profitable. Potential clients are inevitably drawn toward professional practices that seem to offer a good service at a considerably lower price compared to LMD. We find ourselves trying to convince our potential clients about the value we bring to the table and how, while LMD might seem to be more expensive up front, at the end of the process, good design, coordination, and documentation, will translate in less costly projects Read more>>

Shirley Ju

i started my own show Shirley’s Temple, w/ a focus on mental health. at the beginning of Covid, my friend offered me a neon sign for $1K, & i knew i had to invest in myself from that point on. Trippie Redd, one of the biiggest artists in the new generation, was my second ever episode. i was lucky enough to find a livestream partner early on to help offset costs, but we parted ways after a few shoots. Read more>>

Kee May

Being in a creative industry is challenging for many reasons but the two that stick out to me would be that there are always so many different opinions because when it comes to creativity there is no “right” or “wrong” way to do something and the other being that with the constant rise in technology the cost of entry becomes lower and lower which means that almost anyone can get into the field with little to no experience. When you combine these two factors being profitable can be a challenge because there is always someone who sees the project differently and knows someone who will do it cheaper. Specifically when it comes to real estate photography and smart phones. Read more>>

Tracie Davis

I think it’s challenging at the moment because there are so many so called “creators” out there and a real lack of understanding of what it takes to create high end professional work. For a lot of small marketing teams their advertising money is going to social media and sometimes falling on very green social media managers who have never produced a real photoshoot before. That additional work is often falling on the photographer and the work gets harder if you don’t have a partner who is pulling their weight. It’s really a team effort to get beautiful work that is also useful for a brand and not enough marketing teams are really strategizing and investing in their social, even though it’s one of their main advertising platforms. There are so many social platforms right now and because of this, many brands are seeing quantity of imagery over quality as their strategy, which is not great for my industry, and I also don’t think it’s how you build a successful brand. Read more>>