content studio Archives

The Big New Idea: over a month in

So, just over a month ago, Copper Boom Studio went live. We had a brilliant first month. I’ve been kind of blown away. Thank you to everyone who has supported, shared, and booked in with us. You’re amazing.

I’ve been thinking about how to update. About how to be honest about the struggles, as well as grateful about the progress. And, somewhere, optimistic about the future.

So let me start by saying this: it’s been really busy. Busier than I anticipated. There have been 12 hour days, weekends worked instead of played, and late, exhausted nights. Partly because I’m also running Christmas Support throughout August, and partly because so much of Copper Boom still hinges on me personally.

There’s a huge learning curve, which also adds to the tiredness and challenges. It’s hard learning new things! In the last six weeks, we’ve taken photos of balloons, mirrors, textiles, tea and much more. Things I’ve never had to style or shoot or plan before. We’ve been learning about how much time we need, the sorts of props and equipment we need. We’ve been working on lighting options and layouts. It’s all come up.

Plus, I’m training my assistant and other freelancers to write. This is a longer process than I remember! And it requires plenty of editing and teaching time from me.

It’s also been incredibly rewarding. I’m so proud of the photographs we’ve taken and the things we’ve written. I’m amazed that the business has broken even straight away. I love working with a team, and I’m excited about so much potential for the future.

But.

I’m thinking about balance. I’m thinking about why Copper Boom felt important to me. I’m thinking about going bigger or keeping things small.

It wasn’t my aim to create a second full time job for myself. Which is kind of where we’re at so far.

So I’m already working on the plan from here.

Some things aren’t working, and there are some things that need improving. There are things that are working great, and I don’t want to stop that from going forward.

Here are some examples:

Some products (or their set ups) take much longer than others (e.g. mirrors, balloons). We need a second pricing level for more complex products.
Booking full days of photography is much more reliable for my margins (paying photographers and stylist), but it doesn’t allow for accessibility of just sending in one product. I want to build in more full days, but make sure we’re always open to tiny businesses and start ups.
Lots of people have booked in photography with us, and then added copywriting and/or upload later. I want to make it easier to book in the full package at first.
We’ve been booking into photography days, but that doesn’t give us much margin for error if we do need more time to get a shot right. I’m going to shift to booking into a week (unless booking a full day) so that we can be more efficient.

And then there are big questions, which I hadn’t imagined considering yet:

When can we move into premises? Is that the right decision? What does the financial commitment of that do to the business?
Who do I need in the business? I currently have a full time assistant, plus freelance photographer, stylist and additional assistant. But it already feels like I need more in order to move back to my mentoring and main focus.
How can I get cash injected into the business to set up the next phase? Currently considering bank loans, crowd funding and potentially family support.
Is now the right time to build the business further? How long could I maintain at the current levels?
Is it right to build it bigger in general? Is that what I want? Will the effort and dedication and commitment and risk be worth it?
What about the other services I want to introduce? Marketing, social media, blog writing… Where do they fit in?

So. Lots to think about, right? I feel like, finally, after seven years, I understand in my own life what it’s like to deal with being over-capacity so quickly. And what it’s like to have to depend on other people.

I hope, as ever, that it’s helpful to read about my experiences, my thought processes, my outlook. And it feels important to say that mentoring, retreats and workshops are still the biggest part of my personal plan.

I’ve just got to figure out this thing first…

PS Would you be interested in investing in Copper Boom through a crowd funding campaign? How do you feel about the studio in general? Are you planning to use it? Would you be interested in our marketing and blog writing services? Feedback is so valuable to me while I contemplate all these questions.

The Big New Idea: creative hibernation

This time last week, it finally hit home after weeks of anguish and confusion: I need to actively put myself in creative hibernation.

I’d kind of told myself that I wouldn’t be taking on new clients or actively promoting my mentoring services while I set up my content studio here in Cambridge. Well, somehow I still managed to have new clients to call, pieces of work to do, and plenty of non-studio stuff to do. I had told myself this, but I hadn’t really put anything in place to enable me to carry it out.

Then, I was in a spin, because a couple of mentoring clients, for their own different reasons, have paused or reduced their mentoring time with me. A coincidence, and something I know is all about them (because I know them and their businesses well), and yet, because I was relying on income from my current mentoring clients to sustain me during these building months, it hit me hard.

Here’s my thought process: Do I change course and start advertising my mentoring services? I’m pretty sure I need the cash, and I can probably handle the additional hours. [Insert breakdown here.]

Even the thought of taking on more work, investing in new clients, and thinking about quick-win money making threw me into some dark, deep layers. Because it would break me, and I’d feel badly about launching something new that didn’t have my careful thought behind it.

Just adding more workload is something I’ve inherited from other people – it’s not my natural way of working, and I know it doesn’t cultivate my best work. But the messages are so pervasive in the work culture. We compete with busy-ness. We hold our worth by how tired we are. Well, it really doesn’t work for me.

Adding more work would also be self-sabotage, which my fear of success is really invested in! The truth is that I’d delay setting up something new because I needed to make money now, and I’d keep doing that for 70 years, probably.

Here’s what has really helped me to stay committed to the content studio: accountability to other people (our trial photoshoot is booked for this weekend) and investing in the branding. I don’t want to lose the money or time or goodwill I’ve already invested in those two things, and I know that if I pulled out of either now, I would lose momentum, which would be twice as hard to get back later.

After some serious(ly helpful) conversations with my coach and others, it became obvious that I had to re-commit myself. Let me be clear: NOT EASY! I am still reining in the negative voices and the fears. I’m giving them a little space to be heard, but mostly trying to turn the volume down. That allows my true values to show through. The ones that believe in quality, thoughtfulness, creativity and courage.

Thinking about who I really am, how I like to work, and how this is a temporary situation helped me to decide to put myself in creative hibernation.

So what does creative hibernation look like?

An out-of-office on my emails, telling people I’m not available for new clients or projects until August
Proactive emails to people telling them I can’t work on certain things
Making a list of the things / people I am available for
Actively pursuing all things content studio as my main activity
Allowing myself to dive into the work, for extended periods of time
Giving myself a stricter bedtime (10pm) so that I don’t get exhausted

Giving this period of setting something up a name has really helped. I find it easier to tell people, “I’m in creative hibernation right now.” And let that do the talking. There’s no decision about whether to do a piece of work or not – I’ve already decided what I’m doing and not doing.

And I continue to develop my ability to trust. Trusting that this period of creative hibernation (aka struggle, blind faith, deep commitment and investment) will pay off. That clients won’t forget that I offer mentoring, and that I’m really good at it. That this is temporary.

It feels so much better to be able to turn my attention to writing the stuff that needs writing, organise the stuff that needs to happen, and developing relationships with the people who are going to help.

Oh, and photoshoot this weekend! I mean, that’s going to be fun to share…

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The Big New Idea: the cat's out of the bag…

So, after a couple of blog posts about my Big New Idea, I believe the time has come to let the cat out of the bag and tell you a bit more about what I’m actually doing.

Here’s the elevator pitch:

I’m starting a content studio to provide designer-makers with high quality product images, descriptions, tags/search terms and even product upload to various platforms. Content created for you, based on what I know works to sell products online.

I want to be able to say: “Send us your products, and we’ll make them look good, sound fabulous, and get them on the internet.”

It’s an extension of the product descriptions and product upload I’ve already been doing, but with photography thrown into the mix. And built with a talented team, so that we can offer consistent turnaround times as well as consistently excellent work.

This is the basis of the studio, but I hope to extend to offer other marketing content, like social media management, blog writing, newsletter templates and things like wholesale catalogues. The things that not everyone can fit into their schedule, but can boost business immensely.

The studio will benefit from my experience and expertise, and I’m already starting to work with copywriters and photographers to share my knowledge and establish the format that works. But, ultimately, the studio will be directed by me and run by a brilliant team. (Which means it’s a huge exercise in collaboration and delegation and trust, but more on that another time…)

I honestly cannot WAIT to get this going, and right now I’m planning a trial shoot with the initial team to get a feel for what it’s like for all of us to work together on this. Exciting times!

So right now I’m thinking about:

Getting products for the trial shoot (I’ll be asking existing clients if they want a free shoot, and I’ll need a variety of product types)
Props and backgrounds
Processes for future shoots
Using my new studio space for the shoot (read: needing to tidy up)
Getting the website underway so that I’ve got somewhere to put the test shots when they’re done
Pre-launch registration for anyone interested in the new studio
Branding

On that last point, I’ve contacted a few designers about working together, and after a few days, I’ve only had one response – and it was one of high enthusiasm. The branding of this new business is a place of conflict for me, and one that has taken up a lot of thinking time. I know a lot of designers and I love working with them, but for some reason I’m called to work with someone fresh and new. Not sure why, but I’m going with it!

It feels slightly terrifying to put this “out there” – I’m nervous! This is a big deal, and there are definitely moments of asking myself: “Are you sure?” No, I’m not sure, because certainty is a myth. But I have some pretty good information that tells me people are interested in this service. And I have a whole load of enthusiasm for it!

Keeping my fingers crossed while I press “publish”…

So what does creative hibernation look like?

Enter The Forge