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The Power of Outsourcing

Written by Ron Dawson

In today's competitive market for your services, in order to stay sharp and productive, and really help your business grow and scale, you must realize that you can't do it all. Michael Gerber (author of "The E-Myth") as well as the "rich daddy" himself, Robert Kiyosaki (author of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad") both speak of the necessity to create systems in your business so that you can run your business, not the other way around. One way to do that is to outsource: hand over a key aspect of running your business to a third party provider.

One thing that makes me very jealous of my visual artist brethren in the pro photography world is the sheer number of resources at your disposal to outsource everything from color correction, to album design, to printing, to credit card collection. If all you love to do is take pictures, you could have an extremely successful practice where that' all you do (you personally) do. In my video world, so much of the identity and uniqueness of the product is tied up in the post production (the editing), that outsourcing it (which is by far the single most time-consuming aspect of my business) is not a good option (for most of my kin). Sure, I can hire employees and subcontractors, and I do. But, that means finding and training someone who can really edit an entire video in our signature style. Also, then you get into issues of payroll taxes, insurance, or hiring someone who is quite possibly also be a potential competitor. True outsourcing involves dealing with a third party whose sole function is to do that one service you need. There are no HR worries nor issues of a potential competitor having your work in his/her hand. It's a great solution to the small studio's needs.

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Ron Dawson
		About the author:
		Ron is president and executive producer of *Dare Dreamer Media* (formerly Cinematic Studios). Dare Dreamer Media (http://www.daredreamer.net/) is a boutique agency that specializes in the conception, production, and distribution of new media marketing campaigns based on film and video production. They have produced videos and campaigns for some of the top companies in the pro phtography industry, including Adobe, Kodak, Apple, Pictage, WPPI, and DataColor. Their most recent campaign has been The Longest Day online reality TV series (http://thelongestday.tv/) starring 24 of the countries top names in the business (including ProPhotoResource.com contributors Bambi Cantrell, David Jay, Jim Garner, Chris and Katie Humphreys, and Jasmine Star). Ron is also host and producer of the F-Stop Beyoond audio and video podcasts (http://fstopbeyond.tv/). Ron lives and works in the Atlanta Metro area with his wife and two kids. His favorite show is LOST.
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