Case Study Business Plans *

Conclusion

To conclude, there are lots of things I can take away from what I've learned about how these different businesses operate. While Northlight Images and Jon Gibbs Photography don't fit the exact niche I'm attempting to fit my business into, they can help me in a different way - business structure. Both of these businesses are set up as commissioned freelance business, with Jon Gibbs Photography especially being very low budget and set up entirely by him (whereas Northlight Images has the help of the business owner's wife). On the other hand, the National Centre for Writing matches the similar niche that I'm attempting to hit but has an entirely different business structure to what I'm aiming for - a non-profit huge organisation in comparison to my planned freelance commission business. By combining the takeaways of these three businesses, I can get some good ideas on how I should plan to run my own enterprise.

When looking at the plan I wrote up for the National Centre of Writing, I said that they utilised a wide range of social media sources that appeared to be quite successful with tens of thousands of followers on each. This is something to consider for my business, as my presence will be almost entirely online with the way I intend to run the business day-to-day (emails with clients to communicate, etc.) Therefore, marketing myself through online mediums that are widely used by younger audiences (my demographic) would be a good practice to emulate.

Looking towards Jon Gibbs Photography's business plan, more specifically at the finance section, I was able to see that his business had a number of different income sources, ranging from selling his prints as commissioned pieces of work to having people visit his gallery and buy the photos they see there. This is something else I can consider emulating, as having multiple different streams of income could help to keep me afloat if one of them fails or hits a sudden roadblock, such as Covid getting in the way. Additionally, in the resources section, I mentioned that Gibbs runs his business from his own home, which is something I'll be emulating as well. With an online commissions business such as mine, there'll be little need to get an entire office or working space other than a part of wherever I live. This will save me both money that can be spent on any other expenses I may incur as well as saving me time getting from home to work - as they'll be at the same place (this could encourage procrastination, but money is on the line so I imagine I'd be able to pick up the pace).

Finally, looking to Northlight Images for ideas, I found out that the company hired third-party accountants from a local business to assist them with documenting and sorting out their financial records. This is something I could consider as well, as I have little to no experience with financial records or finances in general, therefore making the assistance greatly important. Additionally, Northlight Images has two different blogs run by Keith Cooper (the owner), which is something I could potentially consider to act as additional marketing. It would allow me to show off more of my portfolio in an informal manner, which helps to promote the brand I wish (friendly, informal and welcoming).

To conclude, I can't look at any one of the businesses for inspiration on how I can run my business. Instead, by looking at bits and pieces of the three businesses, I can piece together different bits of advice that apply for my business (i.e. social media being good for an online business, working from home being good for a freelance business, etc.) and give myself the best start I can. From my case studies, I'll consider the possibility of working from a home office, using social media to market my business, utilising multiple sources of funding to keep myself afloat and hiring outside sources to assist me with areas I'm weaker with (such as financing).