A Business Plan is simply a structured way to increase the real chances of putting food on the table. A random transit through life, careening off the guardrails as we barrel down the highway toward the end of the road, is a good way to go hungry. Unfortunately, there are just enough lucky stiffs who actually do quite well with no plan whatsoever to make a lot of people think it can happen to them too. These are the same people who play the lottery.
Our business plan was to establish a core business by marketing to realtors, builders and hotels. This we have done. We've established a foothold and done some business with each group, and have developed a degree of brand recognition in the local housing/hotel industry. I confess, there's a little less there than I planned for, but between the economy and my still-growing understanding of where I fit, I suppose I could explain that.
The niche I hoped to fill was with wide-angle panoramas and 360° panoramic videos. I take pretty good still shots, but the panorama seemed an area where I could differentiate myself from other photographers.
The second part of the plan was to market on-site portrait services to families and groups, including churches and businesses. This has begun, albeit slowly, and I can see this growing to be a complementary income stream to the real estate work.
There are further parts of the plan too, but let's wait until later to discuss them.
I've pulled back the curtain on these "private" plans for one reason: when you see me nudging into areas beyond real estate, it's not a sign of a plan change - I'm in real estate photography for as long as I can see. That's my core business. However, I need to try to push into the other market areas that are in my business plan - it's that food-on-the-table thing. If I get fully booked for real estate, real estate gets my time. If there's extra time, though, I've got plans for other markets in addition.
