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Subject Topic: Adding Employees To 360 Virtuals Post Reply Post New Topic
Message posted by pixelator on August-08-2008 at 3:51pm
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pixelator
Standard Member
Standard Member
United States
April-21-2005
502 Posts
Hey Guys,

Well I'm not sure if this is going to work or not but thought I would leave it for the experts to see if I'm heading in the right direction.

As many of you know the U.S economy is pretty much in the toilet right now. Two weeks before Christmas my wifes company informed her that they would no longer need her services after the month of May. My wife over her 10 years there, went from starting at the bottom to managing nearly 20 people. When May came around the doors closed and my wife has now grown to like staying at home with our 18 month old daughter.

So here we are now in August and her severance package last till the end of January. She has informed me that I could do so much more business with her selling my services. Do any of you guys have any one other than yourself working with or for you?

Once we added up the potential of what she could sale and with what I could keep up with, it makes pretty good sense really. So while she is still getting paid over the next few months we thought we would give it a try. I'll keep you guys posted with results.

The only form of advertising that I now have is my website. I am ranked third on google with a search of "charlotte virtual tours". Let's face it, would you rather purchase my virtual tour service from my site or from my wife

Thanks for looking and any feedback or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

pixel

Message posted by Vince on August-08-2008 at 5:16pm
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Vince
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Gold Member

August-13-2007
194 Posts
My wife works with me, and it is very helpful in allowing me to handle the "creative" side, while she takes care of the "business" side. She takes care of all the bookkeeping, keeping me (opps, she just interrupted my typing, shouting from the other room to make sure I had written an appointment in for Aug 21st, I hadn't ) really, not a joke, that just happened, and without her help I would be lost.

Message posted by WideEyes on August-08-2008 at 5:42pm
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WideEyes
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Denmark
April-15-2005
57 Posts

Well....... let's see....

To be able to be in this business you have to be a.....:

- Photographer
- Computer graphic artist
- A Sales Man
- Good at accounting
.... and so much more....

Let's face it. It is hard beeing good at everything. So if your wife believe she can sell virtual tours so you can focus og taking the pictures and building the tours?? What's keeping you from doing it? Go for it. Give it a try.

Now comming back to your question. Yes I know a couple business owners who do not do everything them self.

1) mike from http://www.newspin360.net/ 
He's most of all a sales man. He also takes the pictures, but have someone else process them and build the tours for him.

2) Steve at http://www.vizmark.co.za/ 

I personally believe that the biggest challenge for most of us is that we aren't sales men. You have to be to survive in this business. So if your wife is up for the challenge you'll have a great advantage.

BEst of luck to you

Regards

Morten

p.s. you should also start a blog about it :)


Message posted by Thatone1785 on August-10-2008 at 1:09pm
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Thatone1785
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Gold Member
United States
June-10-2006
154 Posts
Pixel,

You nailed this one right on the nose yourself... People want to do business with people, not a website and not a corporate entity. If your wife can sell, let her do it.

My best advice is this. You need to make sure your pricing is high enough to pay for an employee. Do the math - If your wife works for you for a year and you grow to depend on her for your business, you need to make sure that you can afford to hire someone to work in her place should things change down the road.

When I started doing tours and floor plans for the real estate industry, I set my pricing too low. The pricing was great for me until I needed to hire help. So just think for the future!

Message posted by pixelator on August-11-2008 at 8:51am
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pixelator
Standard Member
Standard Member
United States
April-21-2005
502 Posts
Thanks for the feedback guys

I think we are going to go for it! She really enjoys her time at home with the little one. Not to mention that day care cost of $900.00 per month will now be eliminated. We are also going to be downsizing a bit with our home. We plan to cut our mortgage by $100,000.00 just in the case she sells absolutely nothing. We decided to pursue the route of for sale by owner just to see if we get any bites. Just finished the tours and the site over the weekend. I still have one tour to do of the back yard but hope to achieve that this evening. I was going to place it in the gallery but I'll just add a link here for your viewing. My windows done o.k except the living and dining areas are a bit blown.

So if you are looking for a home just outside Charlotte in Fort Mill SC I'll be happy to sell you mine

View Tour

Great idea Morton on starting a blog about the process of a husband and wife photography team!

Message posted by Thatone1785 on August-11-2008 at 11:29am
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Thatone1785
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Gold Member
United States
June-10-2006
154 Posts
How are you doing the mirror at the bottom?

Message posted by realtor jerry on August-11-2008 at 11:47am
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realtor jerry
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Platinum Member
Platinum Member
United States
April-22-2007
880 Posts

Here is a link to a tutorial for the mirror ball from each scene. http://www.panohead.net/howto.asp?p=p5

Here is a link on how to make a mirror ball from any image. http://brilliantdays.com/how-to-create-amazing-circles/

Hope this helps.



-------------
Nikon D300, D3s, Nikon 10.5 lens, RingT105N+Footplate+MrotatorTCPs, Giottos MT9261 Tripod, Manfrotto 410 Jr geared head.

If you know the "secret" then everyday is a good day!

Message posted by Thatone1785 on August-11-2008 at 12:04pm
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Thatone1785
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Gold Member
United States
June-10-2006
154 Posts
Thanks Realtor Jerry!

Message posted by 360texas on August-11-2008 at 12:26pm
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360texas
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Forum Moderator
United States
June-12-2002
2240 Posts
Hi Pixelator,  do you still have your day job in the aircraft industry ?

-------------
/s/
Dave
Forum Moderator for
EasyPano - Panoweaver
Pano2VR


Visit 360texas.com

Message posted by 360texas on August-11-2008 at 12:33pm
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360texas
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Forum Moderator
Forum Moderator
United States
June-12-2002
2240 Posts

Hi, Pixelator,

Just was looking at your pricing page and milage rates

"360 Virtuals requires a deposit that is based on the location of the tour to be shot and is due at the time of the shoot."   Is this to pay for transport expenses?

If you are a business and report business income as 'Self Employment' then you probably already know that the IRS allows business milage at about  48 +/- cents per mile that can be written off as expense.  Just keep a project odometer reading out/ back.

Of course you have to have income before you can write it off as expense.



-------------
/s/
Dave
Forum Moderator for
EasyPano - Panoweaver
Pano2VR


Visit 360texas.com

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