Tony Hoffer
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Upload & Sell: Off
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Tad Killian wrote:
Just asking Tony.
Good questions Tad... I'll attempt to answer them, granted I'm not anywhere close to a good source of experience on this issue.
Tad Killian wrote:
I don't think I could EVER let anyone have the final say on any of my photos.
Believe me when I say that I used to say the exact same thing. Heck, I taught a workshop about post-processing. The funny thing is that as our business has continued to grow, two things have become very evident:
1. Part of what has made us successful is how streamlined our workflow has become. I don't just mean fast, but also accurate in processing style. Because of that, it has become something that is actually pretty easy to teach, granted it has to be the right person. With that said, we're going to be operating on a trial basis. Not only will I always have the final say, if the styles don't match up then it won't continue. However, as we've been training and testing, it's becoming clear to me that having a dedicated editor has the potential to actually improve my results... Obviously I'm being vague about that part, but that's just how it's going to be for now 
2. If we continue to grow (which is the plan), then training/hiring (note I'm not saying outsourcing because we're doing it in house) has to be part of that process. We're just working too many hours for any reasonable person to be doing for a long period of time.
Tad Killian wrote:
Just asking Tony. Just asking. What if that newly trained person decides to leave after a month, three, or six? How much did it cost you to train her? How much will it cost you to retrain another person? Is this person paid hourly or per image? I'm just asking. This topic is HUGE right now because of the time of the year.
Well, to answer the cost question first, it's about a $300 initial investment for us which consists of buying extra hard drives and upgrading LR for the employee. The training portion took a grand total of about 2 hours. Again, it's pretty streamlined by now.
As far as if they leave, well that's just something we'll have to deal with. If so, I could have someone else retrained in a few weeks. Even if not (or if it doesn't work out at all) it's no different than what we've been doing. However, we chose our person VERY carefully. We wanted to have someone that could use part-time income but wasn't interested in a full-time gig (in this case a stay at home mom) as well as someone who was a great editor and knew a lot about photography but didn't have a desire to have their own business. Luckily for us we had a friend in that position and we're both planning to keep the arrangement for a while assuming it works as it appears it will.
Tad Killian wrote:
Also, I think it's important to note how someone defines "outsourcing PP". Cull, color correct, "take it to the next level"? All three, combination, or just one?
This was the biggest hang up for me as I've thought about this over the past few months/years. Even with having a great system in place, you're trusting someone else's eye. Well, I have no good answer for that. I'm still going to be editing quite a bit and my edits will still be the face of what people see and the basis for which the rest are edited. However, there was a point at which I just decided that if I never let someone else try it, I'd never know (and I know a lot of other photogs who do this successfully)... so I did.
So, after the first training, I gave them some images to test out what we had talked about.... and the results were as good or better than what we were delivering. I say that as someone who prides himself in his post-processing.
So, again I have no idea if/how this type of thing works long term. But as I've learned more about business (and having a life), I'm learning ways in which we can make ourselves better. In our case, I think that may be giving up something we're already strong at (post-processing) for the potential of being stronger (by having a dedicated editor) and concentrating on the areas where we are strongest (shooting). We'll see how it goes...
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