- This topic is empty.
High Street V Home Studio
-
Hi Guys,its being a while since ive been on so i trust everybody is well. Its being playing on my mind a lot recently about moving the business back to a studio set up in my home.
In the last 6 years i ran a studio based in a city center location and have had its fair share of ups & downs but have somehow always kept the head up & kept smiling even though at times it felt that there may have been easier ways of making a few bob :) So with the downturn in the economy Studio sessions pretty much have been hit very hard and have dropped significantly over the years,albeit my customer base have stayed loyal but the average spend has dropped.Its not for a want of trying as i have spent a small fortune on advertising & promotions to attract new & potential customers.In the last few years i have retrained and become more & more progressive in my Wedding Photography side of the business and thank god its building & building along with other areas of the business. My dilemma so to speak is basing myself in a High St/City Center location is now cost effective with a new revision on rates & rent from the council & landlords.Along with all the usual costs of light,heat,staff etc its making no sense to be based there anymore because about 60/70% of my work is based on location now,however the fear i have if i decided to base myself from home is the impact it will have on how visible the business will become. So im wondering has anybody else on here being or restructured their business like this & whats the pro’s & cons.
It’s not an easy call for sure. if you live in the city or in a residential location near the city centre/High street then it may not affect your moving back home. If you live in a rural area like I do then you are at a distinct disadvantage. With no footfall outside your door and fewer eyes looking at your window, business will certainly drop. The saving on commercial rent may offset that loss though. I am now 30 years in business and I can honestly say that if I were starting now I would be wiped out in the first year. (I am also looking at retiring and selling my home, the studio & equipment and moving to a smaller house as we are now back where we started – as Arthur Daly says myself and “her indoors”). This is my next project over the coming few years. Anyway ….. I suggest you make two very honest lists for yourself. One, list the advantages and (most of all) the disadvantages of moving home. Put estimated costings and savings against this. Do the same for staying where you are and again, costs and savings added. Be realistic and totally honest and do not let the heart rule your head. Consider also that customers are loyal to a point but will move for the least little thing …….. loyalty is hard earned and even harder maintained and convenience has a big weighting when it comes to loyalty. Consider that when you close your high street premises that most people see it as a closure – gone out of business – could not keep going – not good enough to last etc etc. You know how people think the worst. Anyway one can get easily forgotten. I just add this point because in the early 90’s when this happened in the UK so many of the guys who left the High Street just went out of business as their profile diminished. Possibly nowadays with on-line being a new direction this impact may not apply.
Hope this is of some help.
Thanks for your advice Gerry,v.much appreciated. Whats does give me some hope is i do know of some new guys starting out again working from home & they have built a strong online presence without the need of an actual studio so pretty much work from an office,however as you quite rightly said if i decided to move the biggest fear is that people think i may have gone out of business and think the worst and not pick up the phone or visit the website etc.
What my heart thinks & what my account says are two very different things lol :)
Thanks BenRockabillyslim wrote:
What my heart thinks & what my account says are two very different things lol :)
Thanks BenBen, how true that is for all of us. I pretty much work from the position that you are thinking about and nowadays
think that a High Street presence would be most beneficial but accounts say NO!. Its a difficult decision for sure
and I know you are probably beating yourself up right now trying to decide. If it does not work one will be asking the
question “What if?”. Well in life there is no “What if?”. Best of luck with the decision.Maybe it’ll be good idea to look for a business partner/ investor./ stakeholders?
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
