Belle Photos

What is business?

When you think about what business is, what comes to your mind? I’ve thought about the subject of business and this is my conclusion:

Business: the mechanism that makes the exchange of energy possible

So what does that mean?

If we break it down, doing business usually involves two parties. Each party has energy. Each party would like to exchange their energy in order to acquire some type of gain.

In terms of my photography business, a person will trade their 100 dollar bill (their energy) for my photograph (my energy). We want to exchange this energy so I can gain the 100 dollar bill, and they can gain a photograph. Now, we know that we want to exchange energy, but how does that happen? That’s where business comes in. Business is the mechanism that makes the exchange of energy possible.

Think of it like this: there’s a big river that divides two people. They both want to meet, but they can’t because of the water. Then, someone decides to build a bridge so the two can meet. The bridge is business. It allows for the two parties to come together and meet. Once they meet, they can exchange their energy.

If you own a business, what is your bridge? Here’s my business (bridge) in terms of photography:

- my website (this allows people to find my photographs 24/7)
- my telephone (people can call me to get more info on my photographs)
- my computer (something I need to archive, edit, and publish my photographs)
- my camera (this allows me to produce my photographs)
- my car (this allows me to get to the client to take the photograph)
- even my voice (allows me to communicate to the person what to do to get a photograph)

All of these things are bricks in my bridge. Each brick is used to make the bridge strong and easy to cross so people can get what they want. Without these bricks, it would be very difficult to exchange energy with people.

So, if you’re going to run a good business, you have to make sure that your bridge is well maintained, easy to get on, level, and safe. Likewise, if you want to do well in business, you have to make sure people can find you, that they can reach you by phone, email, that they can exchange their money easily to get what they want. All those things are a part of your business, or your bridge.

But the bridge is not the product. My photos are my energy; my photographs are my product. That’s what people are after; they want what I produce. But my product is not my business. My business helps me sell my product. The bridge is not what people are after, they want the product. But if you’re bridge is in dismal repair or difficult to cross, people aren’t ever going to find your product. The bridge is separate from the product. The bridge simply allows people access to the energy.

I think many people have got their product down, but they’re not sure about the business part, which is understandable. To me, if you’re going to do well, you have to have a superior product and a superior business. You have to produce something very well, but then you also have to make sure people can get to it and have access to it.

Good luck on building your own bridge.

What is Business? article by Daniel Vineyard - © 2007 Daniel Vineyard All rights reserved