by Joshua Hudson

One of the biggest weaknesses of any small business is in its willingness to adopt a “mullet strategy” in its business plan: they are all business up front and all party in the back. In many cases, small businesses (especially wedding photographers) create a professional website with a few great images and start operations.

What is missing in the mullet strategy is the depth of experience of the business of photography. Too many photographers are hobbyists who not only lack the depth of photographic experience, but lack the depth of business experience to provide a full service to their clients and themselves.

CLIENTS

“A good portfolio does not a professional photographer make.”

Shoot enough images, and you are bound to find 10, 20 or 30 images that will impress a potential client. However, first impressions are not what a photographer is hired for. They are hired to create a complete documentation of images with the consistent quality of those few images throughout the wedding.

A professional photographer should also have an expert understanding of his craft and his gear. While it is true that many photographers can shoot mediocre photos and pass them off as professional, it is once again part of the mullet strategy approach of “just make the sale with good enough.”

And good enough is the trend: Low end editing and presentation, poor quality control of products going out, and under delivering. If you want to test to see if you are using a mullet strategy with your clients then ask yourself, “are my prices set purposely below the competition so I can get clients?”

If the answer is yes, you are probably running your business like a movie set—it looks like a town, but it is really just a bunch of facades to look like one.

YOURSELF

“He who fails to plan, plans to fail”

The second part of a mullet strategy is more dangerous than short-sheeting your clients: it is short-sheeting yourself.

Do you have business insurance? Do you figure in your time accurately by adding in the hours of editing and marketing? Do you budget in your stationary, phone, electric, etc.? If you answered no to any of these—then you are DEFINITELY running a mullet strategy.

Running a business without business insurance can save $500-3,000 a year—until you have something go wrong. Then it may cost you $150,000-300,000 in legal fees and fines. Not hiding time spent editing for clients and marketing your business in your ledger is “cooking the books” so it only looks like you work 40% for your paycheck when your body and mind still pay 100% of the effort.

Many home-based wedding photographers consider their family phone and utilities to be free to their business. What business in the world would get that kind of break? Does Bob Nardelli plug in Chrysler into his house’s power grid? If he did, wouldn’t he charge the company for that electric bill? Of course he would.

These are part of the expenses of running a business. No one is getting richer by pushing one expense from business to personal. The time and resources are still be made. However, the mullet strategy dictates that as long as expenses are coming out of pocket instead of out of the business—they are free.

THE RESULT

“A man found a dollar in his pocket and thought he was a dollar richer than before: but it was his pocket and his dollar!” (Joshua Hudson- “The Foolishness of Photographers” 2001)

A business up front and party out back philosophy may get a small business some clients, but it is unsustainable for a long-term commitment. That $500 wedding done cheap was not all profit. There was a considerable amount of labor, resources, fuel, utilities, etc. that were just gifted away. In the end, the effort and expenditures almost NEVER balance with a profit. In some cases, even photographers who think they are doing well financially end up realizing that they work for less than minimum wage.

Instead of fixing the problem, they surge into more “mullet” philosophy. They cut insurance, marketing, quality printing, etc. The client ends up making up the difference for the photographer’s lack of profitability.

The solution is to seriously look at all expenses and the profitability of the business. Is the fun of photography worth the realistic profits of the market? Does the photographer have the business acumen and professional ability to create a self-sustaining business model? If the answer is no, then like the mullet—the business will disappear off the market.

With that being said—mullets are tricky creatures. Everyone knows they are horrible, and yet there are people out there that keep trying to bring them back. There are die-hards who defy convention and vow to keep the mullet alive regardless of how ridiculous they are. The choice is—are you a mullet head?