Astute Advice for Young Creatives … From a Century Ago

Hoppamp233 was born in Munich in 1878 but moved to London when he was 22 taking a job in a bank In 1907 enamored with the relatively new field of photography he abandoned his job and opened a portrait studio where he began to photograph the rich and famous society women who were customers of his wife39s highend hat boutique on London39s Bond Street His fame and practice expanded rapidly and he developed a worldwide reputationHe ruthlessly experimented with photography techniques and even designed a 10quot x 8quot studio reflex camera so he did not have to bury his head under a black cloth when trying to put his subjects at ease in his studio Such was his commercial success that he was able to buy a 27room house to use as a studio on Cromwell Road quotThe artistic temperament requires room for expansionquot he wrote in Hundred Thousand Exposures The Success of a Photographer He was a prolific writer and giver of advice quotThe amateur with a few successes in exhibitions is more interested in delicate shades of black and white than the cost of running a studioamp8230 I remember a young man coming to ask my advice in regard to becoming a photographer and holding forth at great length about art and techniquequot he wrote quotI listened to him gravely and then said 39Yes that is all very well But do you know anything about bookkeeping39quotHoppamp233 elaborated quotNot that I wish to convey the impression that I regard photography purely as a business Heaven forbid But artists like other men must live and in order that they may do so it is essential for them to have both feet firmly on the ground The failure of so many gifted amateurs in professional photography is due in perhaps the majority of cases to a lack of business sensequotToday39s leaders in advertising agencies could well heed this advice For more than two decades business operations of ad agencies have been deteriorating driven by falling fees and expanding and more complicated scopes of work Few agencies have strategies beyond costreductions and downsizings to deal with business problemsRarely do you hear an agency CEO state that business operations need to be enhanced so that capabilities and creativity can thrive Rarely do you hear that falling salaries and increased employee turnover are threats that need to be dealt with seriouslyWhat you do hear is quotWe are investing in creativity so we can win new business and improve our growth ratesquotWhat rubbish Business operations need to be stabilized as a matter of priority Agencies need to restore leadership to their relationships and influence pricing and scopes so that their organizations can flourish once againThe current strategy of quotcopingquot with difficult and aggressive clients needs to cease Restoring business health ought to be the number one priority at most creative and media agenciesHoppamp233 would probably agree As he said quotYes creativity is all well and good But do you know anything about running a businessquotClick the social buttons to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Astute Advice for Young Creatives … From a Century Ago

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Michael Farmer

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