No More Tears Over Spilt Milk

I am acutely aware that I have not updated my blogsite since November 2009 but an article in small business section of The Sunday Times (18th April 2010) helped me come to terms with a situation I had been dealing with for quite a while...

The article entitled "Failure - it's the million dollar MBA" was very apt in my situation. Having to close a business down is probably one of the most painful things I have ever done in my lifetime (to date anyway). Anyone who knows me; friends, relatives and even customers will understand the passion with which I ran my business and those closest to me will have seen the real agony I shared with them and the support they had to provide day and night.

The fact is that in March this year, I was forced to close down my beloved company PhotoArtistry. The details are not relevant now but what is supremely important; and a point that was highlighted in the article '...think about what you have learnt. You may have lost a business but you have gained a lot of knowledge...' resonates deeply with me.

I'd like to share the highlights because I feel there are many who will have some empathy with my situation and doubtless many who will judge me. I cannot help the latter and can only thank the former but anyway here goes...

• Take the time to mourn the loss of your business. It was your dream and now it has gone, it is healthy to grieve that.

• Reconnect with the network of people you know, both business and personal. You may find a lot of warmth and support.

• Analyse in detail what went wrong so you can avoid making the same mistake next time.

• Don't get obsessed with finding someone to blame. It is pointless and destructive.

• Think about what you have learnt. You may have lost a business but you have gained a lot of knowledge

I do feel quite privileged in that PhotoArtistry may have died as a company and whilst she was critically ill, I did all I could and spared no expense to save her but eventually the life support was pulled and she passed away peacefully. However her demise was not due to a lack of customers and so out of her ashes came a new birth; a new daughter we have christened anneherbert.com. AnneHerbert has all the good qualities, creativity, energy, passion and intentions of her mother and is wiser - a lot wiser from the lessons she learned at the feet of her dying mother. I feel very privileged indeed.

I had to tell this story as I felt unable to move on unless I did. We have to accept the mistakes we make and ultimately the buck stops with us. Now it is time to move on.
anne :-)

Just Digitally Yours!

PhotoArtistry played host recently to the fun loving Northampton based Just Digital Photography Club .
This is how it happened; Dawn Rogers, the chairman of the club wrote to us after reading the article in Digital Photo Magazine where we won the Gold Award for being one of the best canvas printing companies in the industry. Well as we were local, Dawn wrote to ask if we wouldn't mind awfully coming round to one of their club meetings to share a bit about our company and our products. We thought we could do a little better than that after all we have the space to accomodate about 100 people in our gallery so we invited them over for a party.
25 members of the club turned up and we had a merry time talking about the company and the products and learning more from the photographers own mouth (in a manner of speaking) about their printing requirements.
Do read more about Just Digital on their website, they do get up to some real fun activities and if you are part of a camera club and want to visit us for a little party, please get in touch and we'll arrange it.

And the winner is...

I am so so proud to announce PhotoArtistry has been given the prestigious Digital Photo magazine Gold Award for being best canvas printer in the industry. The magazine provided a glowing write up about the quality of the product; the top notch construction of our frames, the skillful wrapped-round canvas, the neat and tidy corners, crisp and neutral colours all of which made you feel you had a high end quality product.

It's great to be included in reviews of this nature as it certainly keeps us on our toes. Now that we have won it, we intend to hang on to it and will continue to improve on our products and services. We are all very proud - well done the team. It's well earned and well deserved.

Digital Photo is a market leading photography magazine which has an audited monthly circulation of 68,687 and a massive national readership figure of 365,000 making it the number 1 selling photographic magazine in the market.