Lessons

Lesson Info

Assembling a Team and Insourcing vs. Outsourcing

This is a great practical how to that we have coming out of skin this next segment this is how to create a system is I want to start off with you guys by talking about a book that was fundamental to me in how to create a system for my business is called the sure a lot of you guys have heard the myth heard of the how many guys have read it anyone here a couple people good that's awesome I love what michael gerber has to say and I think that what he's dunn is phenomenal in helping small business owners especially small businesses that aren't as business minded and I'm going to show you guys what he talks about and what he really goes into in the very first chapter the book is he tells a story about the entrepreneur and entrepreneur and where they're at when he meets them and he's met with hundreds of thousands of business owners and typically when he meets them it's at that point when they're frustrated or they're tired they're overworked they are in achieving as much success no longer d...

o they have that zeal that fire that passion they're frustrated they're burned out they can't figure out why they're not succeeding they can't figure out why they're not profitable they can't figure out why they're not growing and he meets him at this point and he started to pick up a pattern he started realized that that look at me, I'm already inserting photographers into it. You sort of realize that business owners, when they start a business, we are on fire. We're so excited, we have a passion. We have a purpose and usually start somewhere along the roads with us is photographers with realizing that we can do photography. Someone tells us we're good at photography or we have a moment where we show some of the picture and it deeply impacts them, or he realized how alive we feel we're out photographing, but somewhere we realize, oh, my gosh, this is what I have to be doing, and that happens all across the board with all sorts of different small businesses. And these small business owners have what he calls an entrepreneurial seizure kind dramatic, but it works. I like it. I'll go with it, but we don't know, but I know what he talks about because it's like that moment you're like, ok, I have to do this. Yes, I know I have to be a photographer. I know that I have to do this and so we go into business and this is where he really his statement really met me where I was at and it's the statement it talks about where we're at. And it's, the fatal assumption that small business owners make and the way he describes is that if you understand the technical work of a business, then you understand a business that does that technical work, in other words, broken down to photography. If you understand how to take pictures, you therefore understand how to run a business that takes pictures and they're two totally different things. How do you feel like they're two totally different things? Taking pictures is one thing running a business that takes pictures is totally different, and we make this big mistake thinking this fatal assumption, thinking that because we understand how to take the picture, obviously we know how to run the business that takes pictures I mean, naturally, right? But it couldn't be further from the truth. Now the good thing is that this happens in all industries, all small businesses, industries across the board where there's technicians and where there's entrepreneurs were not alone in this as photographers, but it still is so real and so applicable. When I read that almost fell off my chair, I was like, oh my god, that was me. I thought that by knowing how to take a picture, I therefore knew how to run a business that takes pictures, and they're totally different. And so what happens is we get so mired in taking pictures and we don't know how to run a business that take pictures that takes pictures and we just keep thinking that if we just keep taking pictures our business of taking pictures will do better and it doesn't always work sometimes it doesn't it doesn't we don't know why or why it isn't working but we understand that oh my gosh taking pictures and run a business that takes pictures are two totally different things and like I said I think that this michael gerber's commentary totally sums up our industry we love what we do and what we do is take pictures were photographers photography is in michael gerber's terms of technicians business you know people hire us to do something that a that is doing the technician does were technicians in essence and he describes that as a technician industry and so we do things we take pictures and we love what we do we're passionate about it but a business owner has to be more than that since photography is a technicians business and a business owner has to be more than a technician to succeed a business owner has to be an entrepreneur so business owner has to be more than technician businesses require entrepreneurs to succeed and we know this to be true case in point often times photographers with the best work are not the most successful in business nothing wrong with it doesn't mean anything about their work, but yet oftentimes we see that photographer the most amazing images aren't necessarily the big fancy names in the industry, they aren't necessarily the ones who a book of the biggest clients for the highest prices. So we know this to be true. We understand this concept, this idea, that photography that technicians business but there's more to it, there's more to it than just being a technician there's more to running a photography business than just being a good photographer there's a lot more to it, and this is why we go to these business workshops like this were like, wow, I'm sort of agree that there's more to running, start a business in photography, and I need to learn how to be better at business, and I think that fundamentally, what helps is to start by realizing that they're two different things and taking great pictures and run a great business that takes great pictures are two different things, and the great news is michael gerber goes on and explains he gives us a road map and he talks about the road map and I can tell you from experience that I've put that road map into play, and I'm going to share with you guys. A little bit about what michael gruber has to say but more about the road map that I've put into place that bombing photographers over the years that has allowed us to grow to change course as we've needed to and to focus on what we do best and enjoy our photography this will save you from burnout this will give you the freedom to shoot more and it will give you the freedom to stress less about all the other areas of your business and the secret really is that you can't do it alone and that's why we call that's why I call this segment your team and it starts by building in essence a bit of a manual for your company on that sounds kind of like, what are we automobile shop here? I mean, where we going with this? But let's look at the classic photographer timeline here and this will really help I think uncover what we're really looking at here. So the classic photographer time when we start a business right? So you know, I shared a little bit whether we start the business or that we started shooting, then decided that the business half towards we start a business and that's basically where this whole thing starts, you know, we got that quote, entrepreneurial seizure we got taken by the idea we have taken over by the idea that we have to be photographers and we have to do this and make this a part of our lives and so we start a business and we start we go out there we post on facebook we tell our friends we tell our family and we take on add whatever it is we start a business and we declare to the world that we are professional photographers at least that's our goal and then the next thing is that we way eventually we get busy you know is our business grows, we get busier and we get busy chloe's clients start coming in I mean this is just a natural progression of a with successful photographer business as client start to come in with that comes demands we have to fulfill with to fill their products and their orders we have to take care of their request we have toe I feel everything we're doing they start referring there friends we get even busier because they start telling more people and more people vehicles, more people and so we get busy and we get busy and we get really busy we we hit that point where we're really busy on and then we get overwhelmed you have been there, I've been there a lot we get super overwhelmed there's that moment we realized oh my gosh, I'm totally in over my head what if I'd done how am I going to do this how am I going to fulfill how making to shoot this many weddings? How am I gonna take care of this many orders? How may I answer this in the e mails? I can't even handle anymore, and I have kids and I have a family and I have another job and I have bills and I have I still have to hang out with my husband, my wife once in a while, I have a social life every once in a while, we get overwhelmed and we reached this point where we're really overwhelmed and I've been there so many times, it's not funny on, but, you know, we're at that point were like, what am I going to do? And so sometimes hopefully nobody quits, but sometimes you realize it's too much, maybe that's not, we're going to do, but, you know, what we do is you try to find a solution for that problem we try to figure out. Oh my gosh, what I'm going to do about this to solve that problem. I'm busy, I have a successful business, I'm overwhelmed, what am I going to do to take care of that? And so we hire someone where we work with someone and we outsource something, but we get help. We get help maybe we bring someone in to help us around the office and we send out our image is to have the matter today we have someone to the album design or we bring somebody on toa do our branding for us or to build our website instead of us doing everything whatever it is we get some help andre get help we feel we feel released for a second we're like okay, I can breathe again I could breathe again and go back to doing you know and we say things like I'm so glad I got that help now I could go back to loving what I do I go back to shooting and really enjoying it we can spend more time with our family we get little breathing room again until something happens they do something wrong they messed up they take off a client, they send the wrong images to the wrong person they do a blawg post but instead of posting that high res jay pick files that have been branded they post low res j peg photos that don't load properly and looked terrible on pixelated they you know instead of they never bother sending you over your timeline for your wedding and so you show up and you don't have a shot let's to dio whatever the list goes on we've all been there we've all had someone who was working with us that didn't phil, what we wanted, and so that becomes a huge issue, and so what do we do way fire him? We move on, we give up on that, we say, no, I cannot let them do that. I'm not when we say things like I'm losing control of my business and I care too much about my clients, I care too much about my quality to let them do that. I can't let them do that. Whatever it is, we move on and so we go back to being yourself. We go back to being busy really busy, and we also go back to being overwhelmed at times and very overwhelmed, and we get in this cycle where we've tried to get some help, but it didn't go exactly how he wanted it or maybe it's the cycle now we're back to where we're just being really busy or maybe we're at that point, we're really overwhelmed we're not willing to take that risk again, that leap of trusting somebody else and that's the cycle that we don't want to be in, we don't want to be not cycle that's where we get burned out that's what we get frustrated, that so we get bogged down that's what we don't feel inspired that's where we go to a wedding, there were like, I don't want to shoot this wedding today all I wanted today off my back's killing me I'm tired of doing all this we get way we get to that point and that just leaves us basically overworked it leaves us overwhelmed and not deeply happy at all and you guys know how I feel about having a business that makes you happy? You guys know how I feel about having a business that satisfies that fulfills what you are want to do in life, not the other way around and the solution for this the solution is actually a little simpler than we all think it is it's not trusting other people it's not letting go it's not taking on less clients it's not setting our standards lower it's just starting to think about our business like an entrepreneur would rather than how a technician would it's shifting our mindset is changing the way that we think about our business and instead of thinking about it like a photographer would we have to treat our business like a business owner? Would we have to think about it like an entrepreneur and that can fundamentally change everything we have to work on our business not in our business we have to work on the business and not in the business the technician gets up every morning the photographer and us gets up every morning and the photographer says what work has to be done the day what do I have to do what e mails don't have to send what plot post have to get up what you just have to go out to clients what orders have to be placed with photos she's got to be scheduled on and on and on what do I have to do? What vendors who have to meet with the clients have to meet with what pre wedding consul start to do what sales calls that to make and we just go in that pattern that's what the technician says the technician is working in the business and by the way you'll never have a shortage of things to do in your business you'll always have stuff to do that exists inside of your business and that's the problem with the entrepreneur gets up and asks how must the business work? How much the business work and the entrepreneur gets up and looks at the business and works on the business rather than working in the business. The entrepreneur gets up and says I'm a business owner and how can I make this business work on itself and I don't want to work in the business to the technician to the photographer and all of us the product at the end of the day is what we delivered to our client the product is what we give them to the entrepreneur to the business owner businesses, the product, the businesses what you create the businesses, what you build and what you manage in the business runs itself not literally, but that is the concept of the business owner and the way that we do that the way that we transition out of thinking like a technician like a do our like a photographer that just does and into a business owner on entrepreneur is by starting with a baseline of what we have to do in our business right now we're the only ones doing it and so we have to get all that out there and we have to make that as streamlined and as efficient as possible and that's where really our company manual comes in tow comes into play um, you see there's a lot of questions this point, so before I keep going on kind of kick it back to you guys, you see what people are talking about authority, any questions before I go over there, though, do you guys have any questions here in the audience? Were you guys thinking about that? Julie, I just so identify with being a technician, I think that is just so how I think. And so I'm really going to be listening to how we stretch from getting me out of the technician way of thinking to the entrepreneurial way of thinking, so I'm gonna ask you a question, let me ask you an honest question to be honest me, do you like doing the technician work means enjoy like the enjoy love exactly and that's the thing we love it like photography is awesome and we love it it's a lot of times we spent less time thinking, well, wait a second I love it and because I love it I should be doing it and it's it's hard sometimes to t get that mindset to change because a lot of people so I love x or I love why I love doing the block post I love playing of the slide show, but it doesn't make it right for us to do you know? So how many of you guys feel like you also you know, recognize that you kind of love many of the things you do in your business every day? Do you guys feel that way? Okay? Yeah, I just wanted knowledge because I totally feel aa lot of people have the same thing to say about that they they feel that I love it and so does that mean that I should be doing it? I feel like I should be doing it, but really, if you want to avoid some of the other things and here's the thing and I think this is where you're going to see where we're going just because we identify as a technician task doesn't mean you can't do it but understanding the hierarchy theory of technician entrepreneur photographer, business owner understanding where each one has its place, then you once you know the rules, you get to figure out which ones you want a break. So I understand there's freedom here don't don't feel like what we're doing is getting rid of all your taaffe, and you're never gets doing fun again. We're not doing that, but what we're doing is starting at the top and identifying what is photographer related and what his business owner related. And then once we set the ground rules weaken, break whatever we want, you might not want to break him anymore, but when it be great to know that you could break him down the road, if you needed to, and if you wanted to do it, you could, but you wouldn't have to if he didn't want to or if your if your business changed or if you get married and have kids, or if you need to move to different, you know, maybe just a philadelphia to virginia or whatever the situation is, your business is set up to support that rather than being stuck doing that. Any questions from the from the online audience? You know, we dio all right, so the first question is from some video, do you have any, uh, what do you think about outsourcing? Outsourcing in general well, I started a company that is considering outsourcing companies so I think I wouldn't be auto argue any differently about that you know it's been said for a long time do what you do best and outsource the rest now you know, I think that for me I always held on to everything for the first couple years my business always held on to it and I always kept all of it for myself and I didn't really get to a point right was willing to trust in outsourced solution until I had to and there was no there's no point there was a point of no return and I think that's a bad spot to go into an outsourcing partnership with anyone because you really have to look at whoever you outsource to as your partner and they're your partner that is fulfilling a certain thing that needs to get done your business and what really helped me understand it is when I realized that I specialize in photography you know as a business I'm in the business of photography and whoever I'm outsourcing that to they specialize in that thing that they do so if it's an album designer they specialize in album design they're better at night if I get out of the way and really acknowledge and really communicate what they delivered back to me it might not be exactly what I asked for but that doesn't make it worse and when I learned that outsourcing partners are really specialized partners, I think that helped me understand better the place that it had on my business and more importantly, how I could trust them and how it could work with them. So I support outsourcing. Obviously I'm a big fan of it, but I think it's, different than just looking at its outsourcing, get to look at as a partner, you have to understand it's, a specialized partners, somebody who does something, and they're predisposed to do it better than you are. How do you know when you're ready to hand things over to a partner like you know, all sorts of another company? Do you wait until you're completely overwhelmed and you have no other option? Or is it better to assess those goals ahead of time and delegate them to your partner before you become overwhelmed? It's much better do it ahead of time, it's much better to plan the business that you want and then go from there and make the choices need to make now. That doesn't mean that there's anything necessarily wrong with making decisions in the moment that need to be made for the sake of your business, for the sake of your health, but at the end of the day, if you treat them as a partner. And you treat them as influential important in your business. Why would you ever bring them on? Only the moment of desperation is that any way to treat a partner is any way they would treat a partner if you want to embrace what outsourcing really brings to the table, if you want, embrace the support, the specialization, the increase in what you're able to do with your time and what your business is able to provide. If you are, if you are about the mindset of that, then you want to do it in the best moment possible. When you're preparing when you're building, you want to build everything at that moment, because when you bring on a partner in a moment of panic, in a moment of being overwhelmed as we'll see here and as we've seen with the example already, if you bring on that person, you hire them in the moment that you're overwhelmed, you don't have time to properly train them, you don't have time to go back and forth. You don't have time to work with each other, to understand how you work, you don't have time to prepare what needs be prepared for them, and so that predisposes the situation to failure already, and I hear all the time I hear people say, I tried, she got better, I tried outsourcing danny. You know post production partner and I just didn't like the results and a lot of times I'll say oh you know hey when did you try and oh well I was eight what is deep and I was you know, I was fifteen weeks later on a couple weddings and I was like male that's a bummer you know and so it can come from that position a lot of times where were overwhelmed and that's when we turn to help and that's the situation that michael gerber presents to us is why do we turn to help were overwhelmed why don't we plan our business the way we wanted to play out and again here's the thing you can always plan and change you can change course but once you have that plan you have that ability you have the ability to go whatever direction you want to go you can go and if let's say that we're talking about outsourcing your album designed or outsourcing your images or we're outsourcing you know something that has to do with after he shot the event well if you design and prepare and plan for that you don't have to do it I'd recommend you do because obviously you plan for it and you think it's a good idea but you don't have to but if you don't plan to prepare for it then you don't really have much of an option when you're in it