opinions on photography franchise????

[nvrl8]

I want to keep doing what I am doing, but also heard about this franchising business called TSS Photography. I searched for 3 hours on the internet through pages and pages and can't find anything negative. I figured this is a good spot to ask...have any of you heard about them, own a franchise from them, or have any advice? Any comments appreciated. A link to their website is www.tssphotography.com (http://www.tssphotography.com)

[MJPhotos24]

It looks like a good company, I've never heard of it but seen similar ones. Really I think the question is can you do what they offer on your own and do you want to? The biggest thing seems to be "buying territory" but really couldn't you just approach schools/leagues yourself promoting your business to try and shoot for them?

I've thought of joining a company that's big out here (there's no territory fee, they just seem to be the big dogs in this part of the state) but every time it comes down to I could make more on my own, set my own times/schedule, and only shoot for those I want to. Now I have a busy schedule away from photography so that's why I like that.

Through Exposure Manager as the company I get products through I can offer pretty much anything any other company can. They are for event photographers only, so it's a great asset to have them as my printer...not to mention the amazing quality.

To check them out you can visit...
http://www.exposuremanager.com/aff/mikejanesphotography

If they don't have the product I can just use another company like I do currently. So, all in all I think you could do the business on your own without TSS. It just might be a bit more work on your end, but probably well worth it in the end.

[sam walker]

i think my father did it the right way as a commercial photograher. He joined a big studio and got to know the good clients. He left,stole the clients was sued then settled cheap.He made a mint with film over 50 years and never had to share with a franchise. He had a partner that he split all expenses and profits with. Both busy guys who lived comfortably from the studio.
Sam

[nvrl8]

I will check out that website you are talking about. Thanks for the perspectives! And you are right. The good part about the franchise is that you just upload the pictures, they do all the work and send you the packages back all sorted and ready to deliver. You're right though...with just a little more work on my end I could save quite a bit of money. Thanks so much for taking all that time to respond to my questions...I learn so much here!!

[waterdawg]

nvrl8, we (wife and i) own a franchise (embroidery) and we would not do it again. we are doing pretty well, but after 2 years we pretty much knew everything we needed to know to run our business. of course, we will still be paying royalties for the next 7 years, and i can't remember the last time i had to ask corporate for any support/info. with franchises, at least ours, it seems you pay a large franchise fee for training/marketing/opening support, and then after about 1-2 years, the only thing you need the franchisor for is to siphon money from your account for royalties. my brother in law owns a sports bar/brew house/restaurant franchise and he is in the same boat as us. he is just waiting for his contract to expire and than open his own restaurant. with any franchise have an attorney look at the contract. they are usually 1 sided, slanted toward the franchisor. the biggest issue will be a non compete clause should you close your doors early (for whatever reason) and try and do something in the same industry.
i also have been using exposure manager for my "hobby" of surf photography. i am really surprised how well my photos have sold, and the support and ease, as well as products available to sell with exposure manager.
feel free to contact me personally if you would like to discuss the franchise system in greater detail.
thanks,
chuck.
www.watershotz.com (http://www.watershotz.com)

[MJPhotos24]

I will check out that website you are talking about. Thanks for the perspectives! And you are right. The good part about the franchise is that you just upload the pictures, they do all the work and send you the packages back all sorted and ready to deliver. You're right though...with just a little more work on my end I could save quite a bit of money. Thanks so much for taking all that time to respond to my questions...I learn so much here!!

Yes - the backend work of editing photos, uploading, then packaging can wear on you a bit but really it's not to bad once you find a system that works. Editing takes the most time as I'm sure we all know, trying to go through each to make sure they're "perfect"...but uploading and packaging isn't bad. Uploading to Exposure Manager using FTP is pretty easy, I create a private folder to buy them at cost. The printer EM uses is out of Texas I believe (?) and amazing quality, they have a person check and color correct it instead of just running the printer on auto, and they arrive quick! Other products are very good to, haven't had a complaint yet. A lot of parents have gone out of there way to tell me how good the stuff was, so obviously happy with them.

You may not need any of this info but thought I'd share anyways, just in case anyone needed place to get supplies for a franchise of there own :)

For clear plastic bags - www.bagsunlimited.com (http://www.bagsunlimited.com) - free shipping on EVERYTHING. I buy 5x7 and 8x10 plastic bags for matte photos which fits all the packages I offer (90% are 5x7 and wallet prints). I also buy the smaller "DO NOT BEND" yellow stickers from there since I've had to mail out my packages directly to parents because the leagues scheduled photos late.

For the mailers, white stiff cardboard mailers are the best. I think I got those through Reliable (not sure the site) because they were the cheapest I could find.

To print mailing labels, the DYMO LabelWriter 330 Turbo is AWSOME! www.dymo.com (http://www.dymo.com) . It's cheap and doesn't use ink, I've printed about a thousand and haven't had to do any maintenance to it at all.

A lot of leagues want plaques for sponsors, I make the league buy them - though next year probably just up my package prices so they dont have to. www.wrightplaque.com (http://www.wrightplaque.com) I suggest calling Bob (that 800 number) instead of emailing as sometimes it dont get through for some reason. It's a small business a guy about an hour away from me runs and he does an excellent job and extremely friendly. League commissioner this year said it was the best plaques he's ever seen for the sponsors.

As for marketing to new leagues/schools I haven't done any yet really, and if anyone wants to share what they give them to land the business I wouldn't mind readin it or seeing examples :) I shot for a parent at one game doing action shots and the next season I had 3 out of 4 leagues in town asking me to do all shots (portraits/action) along with High School teams just on word of mouth. That 4th league I hear will be coming around next year, they're NOT happy with products from the other guy and parents complained they didn't get me to do them....yay for those parents! :p

Ok, I'm writing to much...

[dmwierz]

I want to keep doing what I am doing, but also heard about this franchising business called TSS Photography. I searched for 3 hours on the internet through pages and pages and can't find anything negative. I figured this is a good spot to ask...have any of you heard about them, own a franchise from them, or have any advice? Any comments appreciated. A link to their website is www.tssphotography.com (http://www.tssphotography.com)

NVR,

I have limited experience with TSS, formerly known as The Sports Section, FWIW. I shot as a sub-cnotract photographer for a couple who owns the TSS franchise in SW Chicago last year and earlier this year before I moved to S. FL., and I found their business model to be workable, but not necessarily unique. The particular people I worked with were good folks, and they both had other incomes, but I think they were looking to move to photography as their primary source of $$$.

From what I observed, TSS provided a reasonable amount of "Corporate" intervention, and this could be a good or bad thing.

For example, this was the ONLY group for whom I needed to have a background check run before they would let me shoot kids (whether this was required by the orgnizations for whom they shoot, or as a Marketing Tool provided by TSS, or lastly, and most likely, to protect TSS and the franchisee in case they sent a fellon out to photograph kids and something bad happened).

Other types of "support" were dress codes and associated logowear, regional sales meetings, national conventions, formalized training (for T&I and action), etc., all of which can be really helpful and is important in brand-building and quality control.

I also have experience with a few other youth sporting photography businesses, as there are quite a few out there, most notably ASPN: (http://www.aspn.com) (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/%28http://www.aspn.com%29).

Both the TSS and the ASPN folks have discussed with me, the opportunity to buy into their system. In the end, it comes down to the value of what you are getting in return for your franchise fee and percentage of the take they get. Certainly, with all the tools available (several of which are mentioed above), one could do all of this on your own. The brand name recognition of these companies is minimal, although ASPN has desinged their logo to look very similar to ESPN (which hasn't escped some level of scrutiny, BTW). I have actually seen several instances of the "Corporate Folks" interference being obstrusive and getting in the way, and considering the fact that many franchisees are considering franchising as a way of getting away from "Corporate America", and getting out on their own, have found this ironic, at best, and annoying in general.

Any good franchise company should encourage you to talk with existing franchisees, and besides, you should do this on your own.

Between this forum, and a few others online (and a TON of books on the subject of franchising), I am 100% certain you could find out everything you need to start your own Youth Sports Photography business, and then the question comes down to: Why do I need them, and what am I getting for my money I give to them? Some franchises can offer a TON of value in return (how to run nthe business side of things, for example, which is a challenge for many in this business since mostly we like to shoot, not count), and other back-end BUSINESS assistance. There is a thin line, though, and this line is VERY subjective, where Corporpate's assistance crosses over into meddling. and this has been the most glaring deficiency I have seen with every last one of the "franchising" opportunities out there (for this or any other business).

In the end, what level of handholding (and I don't mean this in a bad way, because it's an honest question you need to ask yourself) do you need, and in which specific areas, and can this organization provide what you need?

Ironically, of the 10 or so companies for whom I have shot in the past, all but a couple of them are/were run by people who had NEVER photographed youth sports prior to either starting their own photography business or buying into a franchise or distributorship (unfortunately for their customers, and fortunately for the competition). They just saw an opportunity and went for it. Heck, most of them weren't even photographers at all before this.

I'd prefer to have a mastery of the technical aspects of photography BEFORE selling my stuff to customers, but that's just me.

If you do a Google search on "Youth Sports Photography" in your geographic region, you'll probably see that there is a lot of scholck out there.

BTW, most of the local companies for whom I shot were NOT francisees, but a couple of them were formed by former franchisees who, like the post above, realized they didn't need the "Mother Ship" to make a living, and that the value of what they were tithing to Corporate wasn't worth it to them.

Hope this helps,

Dennis
http://www.pbase.com/dmwierz45/sports_shots

[nvrl8]

Thanks so much again, for taking the time to write all of this. It really, really helps. I have a lot to think about. I do think that with the right equipment (less than the franchise fee of 12-19,000) I could have everything I need and do it myself. I have to do some more thinking. Thanks so much. I knew I could count on you guys!!!