2015 - The year in review
It’s that time of year again. The Christmas chaos is over, and it’s time to take stock of the year & look forward to survival in 2016. This has been the most challenging year since I started out as a freelancer back in 2006. This time last year, I had the daunting task of essentially starting from scratch after shutting the studio, saying farewell to a big client which supplied the vast majority of my work, and trying to cut my enormous costs which had built up in the course of running a fashion product business. It’s not been easy, and I’m heading towards running a hefty financial loss for the first time in my career due to having a gigantic tax bill to pay – courtesy of a good previous financial year’s results, an accountants error in my previous 2 tax returns, and the system of “on account” payments, which force self employed people to pay half of next-years expected bill up front (based on the previous years finances). To put it into perspective, my January tax bill is more than I’ve actually paid myself during the last 12 months.
My kit has been stripped down to minimum, I’ve closed the self-storage unit that was milking me dry, I’m debt free for the first time in 10 years, & all insurances have been re-examined and payments reduced. I’ve got rid of the website domains that I’d bought and never used, sold off my army of mannequins, and consolidated my telecoms requirements into a single device. My iPhone 6s plus is a bloody marvel. I can use it to manage my diary, shoot video and images for the blog, sort out shoot times with Lightrac and my pro-weather apps, reply to emails, play music while on a job, control all my cameras using the Fuji Wifi function or Camranger device, and occasionally make telephone calls!
That’s my expenses sorted. The next thing is to quickly get my income back to where it was. This is the hard part! The architecture and interiors market is jam packed with operators at all levels of competence, and seems to be dominated by those who are determined to work for suicidal prices. For people looking to enter the industry shooting real-estate with one of the agencies supplying imagery to the leading estate agents, expect to be paid £30 per job – that’s £30 for travelling to and from the property, shooting professional quality imagery using pro level DSLR equipment and lighting, converting the raw files, completing a floor plan, and uploading to the agency within an hour of completion. I’ve kicked these agencies into touch now, preferring to market myself to top-end agencies and interior designers directly. I have no idea how it’s possible to sustain a business on these rates. Luckily, I’ve secured regular high-end work with a North East chain of firms, and my days are pretty much full most of the year. It’s going to be a hectic 2016.
So what’s in store for 2016 then? Two more regular clients would be a definite first thing to work towards. A re-branding is in the pipeline. A couple of personal projects would be nice, and a proper holiday (like a normal person) would be cool. We’ll see.
Although it’s been a testing year, I’d rather be skint and happy, than rich and miserable. I’m still grateful for every day. It’s a privilege doing what I do, and I won’t forget it.
Be sure to have a great 2016, and keep an eye out for the mass of posts coming in the new year!
