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From Finance to Photography
Well, many of you who know me may well be puzzled by what has happened over the last few weeks.
Unfortunately, after trading for 5 years, we are in the process of closing Alliance & General as although we are still getting plenty of referrals and enquiries, the lack of lenders and the strict underwriting criteria has made obtaining finance for our customers more difficult.
Having networked extensively over the last few years, I obviously know a lot of business people, so I contacted a few to ask them to keep their ears open. A number of opportunities have arisen, but one in particular interested me more than any other.
Barkers Photographic have been in existence since 1921 starting with a studio in Lowestoft and taking pictures on the seafront in Great Yarmouth.. I have known John Barker for the last 4 years and I am pleased to announce that I am going in as General Manager of Barkers.
Bakers (and its sister company) UK Photos, have four main aspects to its business as follows:
Retail: There is a shop in Gorleston High Street which sells all type of photographic equipment from cameras through to digital frames as well as offering one hour processing of prints.
Photo Studio: The shop also feeds into the Photo Studio, which is situated a few doors down the road. We can offer a variety of shoots from babies through to families as well as animals.
Photo Lab: We are also a professional lab, printing photographs for a variety of professional photographers nationally. We are UK resellers of Digital Darkroom which is used by 1 in 3 professional photographers in America.
Event Photography: From sporting events though to black tie dinners, we cover most gatherings. For sporting events we can cover action shots as well as presentation ceremonies. We travel all over the country – in the last month we have been from the Isle of Wight through to Blackpool. For Ladies nights and similar events, we will take pictures on site and have them ready to view within an hour.
So why, with a background in finance, would I go into photography?
A Rose by any other name…….
I give you Sir Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman of Marks & Spencers (a personal role model). Starting off his career as a management trainee, he has run companies from Argos through to Marks & Spencers. Okay, I don’t earn a multi million pound salary, but what links these companies are not their customer base, but the processes behind the business, from staffing through to systems.
Most business leaders don’t require a great knowledge of the industry – this can be learnt on the job. What they do need is to understand how to motivate staff, how to gain more customers and how to make businesses profitable.
The sector is an irrelevance – it is the potential that interests me - and there is plenty at Barkers.
I will be updating this site when I can, so if you are interested in what is happening at Barkers, check back when you can.
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