I’ll admit it. I had a bad week so far. I lost over $4,000 in bookings due to canceled events over the next month. Other photographers and certainly other small business owners have had it worse than me. I don’t have any employees or dependent children to support. I have seen social media posts by other photographers who are already contemplating bankruptcy or posting ads to sell their equipment.
In my prior industry, I remember times when our owners wanted to close or sell the business, but within a few short years, fortune and circumstance made for record profits. The key is to plan, not panic. Accordingly, I’m launching a new (for me) Ambassador program on April 1st. Under that program, I’m going to provide a few people with the opportunity to make money by recommending and referring my studio services to their friends/coworkers/family. We all have friends and acquaintances who are pregnant, engaged, need a headshot, have a new baby, or who just should be getting photos of their family. When things get back to normal the company you work for may need to hire employees and they will need headshots for the company website.
The saying goes that you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet. The Corona scare has broken many of our business models. My Ambassador program is tomorrow’s omelet, taking the broken pieces of my current business situation to create a menu to feed my income in the near future. What’s your plan?