We talk about building a creative business that is more than ‘just’ the creative artist owner.  Paul created his business as a portrait photographer after gaining a degree in industrial design followed by a PHD in neural computing, and an early career as a business consultant. He fell in love with the design way of thinking early in his career as a way of merging his love of creativity with a way of earning a living.

This podcast takes us on a journey to understand the way Paul created his business to build his brand based on a love of photography and an eye for great portrait photographs. He carries the mantra of “think like a business act like an artist” as a way of maintaining his art while building the brand. His intend at the beginning was to build a business that could be sold. He knew that the ‘product’ was him. And that lead to a realisation that in building the business he was the ‘pinchpoint.

He realised early on that people weren’t buying into the brand… they were buying into him… as an artist. In building the value of his business most ‘artists’ struggle with building extensions to their brand because the value is in the artist. He has created books (Mastering Portrait Photography - https://amzn.to/2JN7h6S) and, off the back of that a course ‘Mastering Portrait Photography’ (https://masteringportraitphotography.com) that provides training for portrait photographers. He hosts his own podcast ‘Mastering Portrait Photography’ (https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts) – which has grown to be ‘almost bigger than the course’. 

Purpose is the thing that brings a tear to your eye and fully engages you in every sense in your business.

We talk about how to create an amazing experience and how to ‘evoke’ a memory of the time through his photographic talent. Paul knows that people come to him ‘to feel great’.

In the same way Raymond Blanc describes himself as ‘just a cook’ Paul, with all his success still says he’s ‘just a photographer’.

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