It’s with great pleasure that I introduce the next interview in our on-going series of interviews with successful entrepreneurs. Recently, Libby Nightingale was kind enough to take some time out of her tremendously busy schedule and answer a few questions about Chromasia Limited. What I just love about this profile is that it really shows how you can be successful doing something you are passionate about – I wish more people would explore these types of possibilities in their own lives.
I’ve also been lucky enough to profile her very talented husband, David for my site on Digital Photographers. You can check out my interview with David on Blog on Photoblogs.
PE: Tell us about Chromasia, it’s products and/or services.
Libby: Chromasia started as a photoblog four years ago. Chromasia.com is constantly evolving, and currently Chromasia Ltd sells prints, licenses images, and undertakes commissions; while its new sister company, Chromasia Training Ltd, runs post-processing training courses.
PE: What’s your role at Chromasia?
Libby: I am in charge of the legal stuff (tax, VAT, insurances); project management; planning; and the day to day running. Dave takes the photos (obviously) for the blog and for commissions; develops and maintains the website; runs the blog; and does the training. This also means he gets to travel the world, while I stay here – lol.
PE: What made you and Dave decide that you wanted to go out on your own and create your own business?
Libby: We never really set out to run a business. As I previously mentioned, Chromasia started as a blog, and we have been lucky enough to win lots of blog awards and be nominated as Time Magazine’s coolest photography site 2005, and The Financial Times 7th Most influential UK blog in 2007, all of which gave us lots of publicity and led to requests for prints and commissions. In 2006 we had to turn down a few large commercial commissions, as Dave couldn’t get time out of work (as a senior university lecturer in psychology). At the end of that year he was offered a redundancy package and we were asked to write a book (Baby photography Now), so we went for it!
PE: What do you find to be the hardest part about running your own business?
Libby: Most of our clients and contacts are overseas, so I hardly ever see real people anymore and most of my conversations are via email or IM. We also work from home, and with 6 children it can be chaotic some days!
PE: If you could give one piece of advice to young entrepreneurs, what would it be?
Libby: Learn as much as you can from those you admire, and try and get to know your audience/clients. The comments on our blog and forums have shaped Chromasia.
PE: How important is networking to the livelihood of your business?
Libby: Well the entire reason for our business is the blog, so online networking is vital. There are more online networks everyday, and I need to try and keep up with them.
Now that our youngest daughter is nearly a year old, I am starting to get out and network in the North West of England making local contacts, and I have been the guest speaker at a few events. It’s been great fun, and I’ve made some useful contacts.
PE: If you could change just one thing about the way in which you started your business what would it be?
Libby: If I had planned to start a business I would have enrolled on a business course first, as it’s been a very steep learning curve. I also wouldn’t have had babies 7 & 8 in the first couple of years of setting up! However, we’ve enjoyed overcoming obstacles together, and I think we make a pretty good team.
PE: I think that all entrepreneurs have a “Eureka” moment, a single moment in time where all their ideas just seem to come together. Could you tell us about your Eureka moment?
Libby: As I mentioned, we have been greatly influenced by our blog and forums and emails and comments they generate. I think Dave’s moment was when he truly felt that he could replace his university salary and pension with photography. Mine was setting up tutorial forums, which led to the online tutorials and regular classroom sessions. I also have another ‘great idea’ that I am working on at the moment, but I’m not saying anymore at this stage;-)
(PE: I can’t wait to see what this is! Let me know ahead of time, and we’ll do some press for you)
PE: I think that what people read provides others with quite a bit of insight into that person, and in turn that can tell them about how they run their business. With that in mind can I was what are you reading right now?
Libby: Ummm…..I don’t get much time for reading at the moment. I like history, and used to read before I went to sleep, but the light wakes the baby up so I’ve started listening to radio plays instead. The only books I read at the moment are work related; the current one is “I Avatar”.
PE: Can you tell us how you got your first customer?
Libby: Our first big customer was The Arts Council, England. A member of their board had been following the blog, and liked the street photography Dave was doing. When they needed a series of portraits showing ‘Culture and diversity in the North West’ they emailed us and asked if we accepted commissions. The portraits went well, and we were later engaged to cover the event.
PE: What events/venues have you found to be the most successful in attracting new business to Chromasia?
Libby: This is probably a disappointing answer, but we haven’t attended any events or venues. Over the last couple of months I’ve been asked to speak at some local business events and provide temporary exhibitions, where I have made some useful contacts and received a commission. We have also been asked to contribute work to exhibitions in London, Italy and The Netherlands.
I guess we get most coverage from articles published throughout Europe. We are often contacted by photography or art magazines and invited to be artist of the month. Usually this gives us up to six pages of coverage with photos and text, which is great. We have also been featured in a Chinese magazine, and a couple in the United Arab Emirates, but would be wonderful to be in an American or Canadian publication.
We haven’t done any marketing at all, but I am planning some for this year, which will hopefully include trips to Paris and Toronto in May/June.
PE: When you’re not running Chromasia, what do you like to do with your time?
Libby: With 6 children still at home its always busy here! We live in a 140 year old house that had been used as a hotel until we bought it, and I love spending time renovating it. I also enjoy breeding and showing Siamese cats. Most of all, I love it when the whole family can get away for a few days, and the children can run off their energy in the countryside (mind you, Dave still takes photos and we still get our emails, so we aren’t totally away – lol).
PE: Where do you see Chromasia in 3-5 years?
Libby: Hopefully, Dave will be off on more commercial commissions; the training side will still be growing, and we will be doing a couple of other things too. Our children are very much involved in everything we do, and the older ones are hoping to work with us in different roles. Most of all I hope we are all still enjoying it.
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