03/03: Another call
Today I had another call. Somebody enquiring about wedding photography. This sounds promising. It sounds as though I'm on the right track. I might not put my signs back on my car since my advertising without them seems to be working really well. Mind, I have to get around to washing my car tomorrow. It's pretty grubby and the areas where the signs were are white, surrounded by lines of black.
Work went well today. It's very obvious how few customers are coming in judging by the speed with which the shelves can be tidied. Indeed, most places didn't need any tidying. I discovered some people are planning to leave with the general comment that they can get more money elsewhere. I think that's probably true. One fellow is going to work elsewhere for pretty well double what he's getting. That seems pretty worthwhile. Indeed, I'm looking, now that I've got my year of US work experience, to move on. Meanwhile I'm hoping the photography business takes off. It shows signs of a slow take-off.
The best thing I ever did was recognise what utter tripe is written in all the business advice books. I've ready plenty and they're all full of utter tripe. Mind, as one person said, there're a couple of chapters worth reading in each book but the rest is just padding and rubbish.
Meanwhile, the web stats seem to increase. I must confess I don't really know what good they are but it is interesting to watch them.
In addition to my comment on business books, I find that generally the internet is a singularly useless tool - other than for wasting time. From my website and internet advertising I have had maybe one or two enquiries and nothing serious. In fact I've had a ton of rubbish via online sources.
A website, in my opinion, is a handy product brochure. It's not worth wasting money on search engine optimisation or any of that crap. Interestingly, my Google adwords voucher did eventually get approved. I've been very specific about where it's advertised, which does cut down on the number of adverts but does target them better. In the few days that's been running, no hits - nothing. In the 2 weeks my Yellow Pages advert has been running, I've had one booking and one serious enquiry. The enquirer had indeed also viewed my website. Clearly I'm on the right track. Interestingly, TV advertising, business cards and vehicle advertising do absolutely nothing.
Work went well today. It's very obvious how few customers are coming in judging by the speed with which the shelves can be tidied. Indeed, most places didn't need any tidying. I discovered some people are planning to leave with the general comment that they can get more money elsewhere. I think that's probably true. One fellow is going to work elsewhere for pretty well double what he's getting. That seems pretty worthwhile. Indeed, I'm looking, now that I've got my year of US work experience, to move on. Meanwhile I'm hoping the photography business takes off. It shows signs of a slow take-off.
The best thing I ever did was recognise what utter tripe is written in all the business advice books. I've ready plenty and they're all full of utter tripe. Mind, as one person said, there're a couple of chapters worth reading in each book but the rest is just padding and rubbish.
Meanwhile, the web stats seem to increase. I must confess I don't really know what good they are but it is interesting to watch them.
In addition to my comment on business books, I find that generally the internet is a singularly useless tool - other than for wasting time. From my website and internet advertising I have had maybe one or two enquiries and nothing serious. In fact I've had a ton of rubbish via online sources.
A website, in my opinion, is a handy product brochure. It's not worth wasting money on search engine optimisation or any of that crap. Interestingly, my Google adwords voucher did eventually get approved. I've been very specific about where it's advertised, which does cut down on the number of adverts but does target them better. In the few days that's been running, no hits - nothing. In the 2 weeks my Yellow Pages advert has been running, I've had one booking and one serious enquiry. The enquirer had indeed also viewed my website. Clearly I'm on the right track. Interestingly, TV advertising, business cards and vehicle advertising do absolutely nothing.
