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Hi Angie,
Congrats on getting through the modules! Here’s some thoughts about getting a first client.
- Agree with Gladys’ advice about the Donald Miller/Storybrand resource and the word of mouth marketing. Think about how you’d likely trust a referral for a personal service like photo organizing from someone you knew rather than just a website. Tell everyone you know this is what you are doing!
- Be generous with sharing information – offering a free download on your website (also builds your email list if you are starting one), doing a presentation about dealing with printed photos at your local library, historical society, etc. Not sure how locked down the UK is still? You could do this via zoom if group gatherings aren’t happening. We have a free community presentation (complete with a recorded demo and reference guide) that you can add your contact info to and use for your own presentations. The more people see you as an expert about all things photo – even if you don’t feel like one, you know more than most people! – they’ll remember you and the value you gave them.
- Do you know anyone – person or even a business – celebrating a milestone coming up? 50th anniversary, 80th birthday, a graduation, 20 years in business, etc. Offer to do a photo book or video slideshow to commemorate. Milestone events can be an easy “in” to a conversation about your work.
- Are you on the member Facebook group? It’s got a bit more traffic than these Forums and this is definitely a question all of us have faced. Might be worth posting it there as well.
Good luck! Keep us posted!
Hi Kim,
Sounds like a great project! Here are some storage options from Archival Methods, one of our partners (I also work there). For clippings, I like to use the Side-loading Print Sleeves with a cardstock insert. The insert provides support and a place to write any caption/identifying info. Plus you can get another clipping in the sleeve on the opposite side if needed.
For the sleeves, the size that will work for you is probably Item #32-112, 14″ x 18″, so a little larger than you wanted. The inserts are Item #79-1418 and the same size. You could cut both down to the size you need, of course.
Then I’d stack them in an archival drop front box, either 1-1/2″ or 3″ deep depending on how many you have. Item #01-116 is a 14-1/2 x 18-3/4 x 1-1/2 and comes in black. Also comes in tan or gray. Item #01-036 is 14-1/2 x 18-1/2 x 3″ in tan; also comes in gray.
Are you digitizing the clippings before storing them? How are you cataloging them – collecting the digital files and/or making a spreadsheet? You’ll want to translate that to the labeling of either the clippings in their individual sleeves or at least at the box level.
One more tip – the Forum is not as heavily trafficked as the members-only Facebook page. If you’re on that, it’s not a bad idea to post a link to your Forum post and ask people to head on over to answer your question!
Hope this helps with the newspaper storage. Even in archival storage, they’ll still deteriorate! You’re just slowing it down 🙂
Kate
Kathy, I don’t collect a deposit to have them “reserve” space on my wait list; just collect it before we get started.
I love a good show & tell! I’m actually doing an outdoor, socially-distanced archival storage show & tell next month for a local historical society. BYO lawn chair 🙂
I often do presentations for historical societies for my work with Archival Methods. The focus is more on the storage aspect rather than photo organizing specifically, but I do mention that I am also a photo manager and I have gotten a number of leads from them, usually months later.
What makes these effective marketing tools (for AM, too!) is that I am speaking with people in person, I am showing samples of archival storage using real photos/objects, and I am giving away, both in my presentation and as a leave behind, valuable information.
How does this translate to a presentation when you don’t have an archival supply company to showcase? Cathi’s community presentation on printed photo organization is a great place to start, and bolstering that with samples of what to do with the originals after digitizing is impactful. Plus having a leave-behind – maybe a checklist you design, or a list of DIY resources.
I’ll also offer, on behalf of Archival Methods, to send anyone doing a community presentation a stack of our Family History Preservation Guides to give away. Here’s the online version.
Welcome, Ana! Glad you’ve found this group. You are correct, this is a “second act” for many of us after a life change like kids off to college! There is so much opportunity, and you are in a good area. There are a number of seasoned colleagues in the DC-Baltimore corridor whom you can tap into for outsourcing or advice. Search the directory, and don’t be shy about reaching out – we’ve all been there trying to figure out a business! Keep us posted–
Katherine,
I forgot to check the email notification for replies, so apologies for taking so long to respond! I started my business, The Photo Curator, in 2016 and was a member right from the start. Since then, I’ve grown it slowly (still just me, no employees), and added two other side gigs. I am the Project Manager for The Photo Managers, and work with Cathi on things like the Virtual Summit, the new website, email communications, etc. I am also the Marketing Coordinator for one of our partners, Archival Methods. They are located in my city, and I was a customer first and now help with marketing and am the liaison to The Photo Managers. So a few things going on, but they are all interrelated nicely.
I love talking archival storage, so if you ever have questions about storage for photographs (or objects! We often run into those in our clients’ collections, too!), drop me a line.
Let us know how your presentations go!
I’m scheduling an outdoor working session with a client in the next couple weeks; we’ve got some printed photos to go through. He’s got a covered porch with a large table so we’ll be on opposite ends.
I’ve been doing some porch drop-off/pickups, masked up and 6’ apart.
Great that you’ve already moved on to additional work from them! I can relate to getting distracted by interesting documents…I’ve got an ongoing (we’re in year 3 of digitizing) family archive project and am to the point that I am so familiar with the entire family through their correspondence and ephemera that I need my “fix” of the next set of documents to scan so I find out what happens next. 😆
It’s exciting when the client work starts to take off but you’re right to strategize how to handle multiple projects! I’m in the same boat as Adam, and am limiting how many I can realistically handle at once. I have notes in my project management system to start up with some new clients three months from now.
I use 17Hats as my project management platform, using it mainly to send proposals, contracts, and invoices. They do have a workflow function where you can set up workflow templates for different types of projects. Sometimes I make a totally custom workflow; depends on the complexity of the project . They are glorified to-do lists, but keep me organized as I know right where I left off on a project. I also use the notes function to keep track of all the details.
Lots of folks here use Dubsado too, but you can certainly replicate all this with Google Docs/Sheets for free! Both 17H and Dubsado usually have good discounts around Black Friday, just FYI.
Good luck with your return to work and getting some more clients!
Stacey, I use Squarespace and have been happy with it. I don’t ask a lot of my website so one of their templates was enough for my needs. When I go in to update every few months (or longer!) I don’t feel like I need to relearn anything to make some quick changes.
I had started with WordPress and at the time, it was a steep learning curve when I just wanted a simple site.
Welcome, Katherine! Great that you have this workshop to focus your learning as you jump into this new business. Remember that you already know more than most people who will attend, and don’t feel like you need to teach them everything at once! Even getting them to accomplish sorting a shoebox of photos (as Kathy noted in her reply) and making a plan for digitizing will be a great step in the right direction for the participants. Good luck!
Welcome, Shanna! I’m not too far away across the border in Rochester, NY. Last year, we held a regional meeting in Rochester and had folks from Ontario, New England, and NY gather for a day and a half of connecting with one of our Partners, having a photo organizer roundtable, and touring the George Eastman Museum. Hoping we can do a repeat, post-pandemic!
I love you business name and website! Good luck as you get started–
Welcome, Celina! Happy to hear that you’re finding The Photo Managers resources are fitting in with where you are now. Your work as a family manager fits right in with this…service-oriented and organized! Best wishes as you work on your certification.
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