Making Success Look Easy
June/13/2009 Fascinating Folks
Summary only available when permalinks are enabled.
Last week Marathon published an article I wrote for their blog. It’s about Ed and Linda Pedi, whom I met at the New England Institute of Professional Photography (NEIPP), where I taught in April. Ed gave an evening program on marketing, management, and sales, and I was really impressed. What Ed had to say was good, solid nuts-and-bolts strategies, and they are the kind of activities that have kept Ed’s studio from faltering during these doom-and-gloom economic times. I believe you’ll find it well worth reading for the business information alone, but you’ll also get a look at one of the most attractive and functional indoor and outdoor studios I’ve seen. So here’s a sample of the feature and a link to the blog:
It’s not likely that anything as mundane as an uncertain economy will get Ed Pedi down. In fact the recession has yet to make a dent in the successful studio portrait business that he and his wife Linda operate in North Andover, Massachusetts. Ed’s practical outlook on business has a lot to do with his success: “Yes, some people are having a hard time,” he acknowledges, “but not everyone is. So do a little more marketing, and you’ll reach more of the people who are doing O.K.” Another of Ed’s key business principles is: “I do whatever it takes to keep my clients happy.” This is an attitude that he comes by quite naturally because his infectious personality and good humor make it obvious to clients that he genuinely loves what he does.
Ed’s enthusiasm and love of photography began at age twelve, when he received a camera as a gift from his parents. He continued making pictures throughout his 25-year career as a government employee, hardly dreaming that it would be possible to enjoy photography as a career. “Everyone thought I would be crazy to give up a government job,” he recalls, but when he began attending photography classes, photographing some weddings on weekends, and finally tearing down a wall between two rooms in his home to create a camera room, his confidence began to build. In 1992, Ed and Linda took a leap of faith by opening a full-time business in their home. It didn’t take him long to discover that his passion was photographing children and families, and that yes . . . he definitely could make a GOOD living from photography. Then in 2005, Linda left her insurance career to join the studio full time.
A Beautiful Studio— Indoors and Out
Today the studio is housed in a spacious addition to the home that doubled its size. Linda and Ed have furnished it to showcase their decorative portraiture and to convey a family-type atmosphere, which helps to give children a sense of security and to impress adults with their professionalism. The versatile camera room allows Ed to photograph expectant mothers, newborns, toddlers, first communions, and high school seniors, in addition to children and families.
To read the rest of this feature, click here and scroll down to June 8.