Has anyone else heard the phrase “jack of all trades, master of none?”
I needn’t remind you that the economy stinks. For everyone. You can tell by the flood of free and buy-one-get-one offers in your inbox. Whenever this happens “they” start saying that diversification is the way to stay alive. Then the economy picks up and “they” say that niche marketing is the way to get rich.
Humor me with a little thought experiment. I am no Einstein, but together we can muddle through. If there is a finite amount of money consumers are spending on photography, and an infinite number of photographers, then competition is fierce. The value of photography drops. If you go from doing 1 type of photography to doing 4 types of photography chances are you are going to do your specialty less well, and the new types you have added at a lower level of quality than your previous 1 specialty. You have just taken the devalued commodity (photography) and made yourself LESS good at it, devaluing yourself further. If we all get on board and devalue ourselves we might actually be able to eliminate photography completely as an art form and an industry. It will be like Hollywood where everyone has a script and no one is buying, because the studios have figured out that they can make stuff up and people will buy it whether it is good or not, because they have become conditioned to consume. Uncle Bob will win the day and we will all be broke and miserable.
OR we could ride it out. Keep doing what we ROCK at. Spend the downtime getting better at photography, not better at finding new equipment. If we all agree to stay on our own sides of the street we can keep our own yards neat and tidy and not have to feel as though we are begging for work. Granted this is supposition, not fact. It is just a thought experiment. I am not an economist. Photography is not a commodity. You probably won’t be only 25% as good at your new “specialties.”
BUT you will probably like your fellow photographers better if they aren’t taking people’s money to do poorly what you would have done well, and vise versa, and we can all come out the other side, happier, better at our jobs, and ready to go when things do get better.
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4 Comments at "Diversification or Spreading Yourself Too Thin"
Great post — thanks! Once I realized that weddings are my “thing” and what I enjoy doing the most (in addition to being the most financially rewarding) and that my dislike for family portraits was going to stand in the way of me doing a good job, it made sense to pass them on portrait to other, more capable and enthusiastic photographers.
Sure, taking the time in a down economy to perfect your ‘specialty’ instead of spreading yourself thin with any other area of income sounds great…
until the mailman brings the mortgage, credit card bills, preschool tuition, etc etc.
Photographers are far from being the only ones hit in this economy, and I know of many professionals that are doing any and everything they can to stay afloat. Even many blue-collar workers in my neighborhood, with normally solid, well paying union jobs are struggling, defaulting, and trying any other new way to find income.
That all being said, I completely agree that working on your specialty when the rare moments allow is incredibly important. To use Seth Godin’s term, to be ‘remarkable’ is more necessary than ever in this desperate business environment.
How I plan to deal with the threat of Uncle Bob’s? Push the technology in my field in areas uncomfortable to most, to stay far enough ahead of what any consumer can do.
Back when the economy was going gangbusters, I had four profitable businesses, three of which were; weddings, portraits and commercial photography. I did all three well and had the staff to keep all the balls in the air successfully. I say, if you have the clients and the infrastructure, take the work and cash the checks.
Another thought process is to define your style and then allow that to cross the genres of photography. I shoot my weddings, portraits and commercial clients in my style. This allows me other markets and I feel that I can still do “my thing.” I also find that most of my clients cross-promote me in their referrals because I let them know that I also do other things. So a wedding client can turn into a commercial client and a portrait client.
Just another view.
Edward
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