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Business Outlook
Small and Home Business Owners
Speak Out
Susan Miller
The Astrology Zone
http://www.astrologyzone.com
Books by Sign
http://tw.bookmark.com
Q: How, if at all, has your business and industry changed in the last 5 to 10 years?
My business has changed enormously in the past five - ten years. I run two businesses--one, a photo business, representing top, ace photographers based here and in England for advertising photography purposes. Second, I am a writer for Self, McCall's, New Woman Australia and I created my own web site called Astrology ZoneŽ that I license to Disney for the GO Network. It started at Pathfinder (Time Warner) in December 1995 and I moved the site--GO has an exclusive.
Ten years ago, I had computers and was on e-mail but in 1990, it was just beginning. I wasn't able to communicate with anyone because I was one of the few I knew who was "hooked up" and who loved the Internet. I was still an agent for commercial photographers, but not yet a writer. I only had a desktop, and only a beeper, no cell phone ten years ago! (Now we have three cell phones and a beeper for the office, four laptops and one mother ship desk top, all in the house.....now eight phone lines, with a phone placed comfortably everywhere...an ISDN now too.)
My life would change in 1992 when due to a very serious illness I had to be bed-ridden for a year. I began writing by 1994, so my whole life changed. Computers allow us all to be far more productive. Today, my photographers have web sites; we send digital files through normal phone lines quickly. We work globally too--no need for the ad agency creatives to travel to us to be on set. We can correct anything instantly or make small changes--whatever they would like us to do, we do. I represent mainly photographers based in London, all ace photographers who get upwards of $10,000 a day plus expenses for advertising.
Some things that have changed are not good...stock photography is on the rise, but it is the poison they put in the well...many photographers will die financially as a result. Buying stock is like buying a rented wedding dress. Assignment photography is more imaginative and creative, buying stock is more passive. Clients love it because it works well with "committee" approval and lowers risk, but it also lowers creativity in many cases. So there is the good and bad side...you can't go against a tidal wave...you must give the market what it wants....I have stayed in custom photography however, by going heavily into automotive photography. That cannot be bought by stock--the cars are new.
I find the way I work on my website, Astrology Zone, very modern. I (write 25,000 words a month for the site in one long document. My manuscript for Astrology Zone
(www.astrologyzone.com) is edited by my former Self Magazine editor, Kerry Eielson who now lives in Anchorage, Alaska (she is working on a screenplay up there), then it bounces back to a second editor in New York, Andrea Meyer. Then it gets sent electronically to my former editor who is also in New York in the Time Life building, Soozy Goldfarb (who is Warner Books webmaster and who reads it again as a freelance editor). Soozy is a genius with code and she places hyperlink codes in the copy. Then the manuscript goes to Silicon Valley to GO Network in Sunnyvale, CA. I hire all three editors, so they are part of my team.
Can you imagine that kind of fast turn around five years ago (all within days)? Even with Fed Ex, all that would have taken too much time.
Q: What do you think the prospects are for small and home businesses for the next 5 to 10 years? Will they grow and flourish? Or will the Internet or other forces force small businesses out of business?
I think [the Internet] is fantastic for small businesses...even big businesses....workers can work at home...much more productively because we can all concentrate better without so many meetings and people to stop by to interrupt the day. We can be connected at the speed of light! We can make special plans to come for meetings...I love working home and have since 1983!
Will we be disconnected socially? No way.....We can have lunches and dinners with clients, plan our time more effectively....travel when the spirit moves us....Small entrepreneurs have access to same information that only big companies used to have years ago....The key is having a good data base of suppliers to draw on and link together to create your own top notch team ....joining clubs and professional groups to stay aware of trends. (And reading trade journals...) small entrepreneurs have to advertise and promote...the new convergence is very democratic in that it is not exclusive but inclusive...all are invited...success belongs to those with the skills and vision necessary to make their dreams tangible.
Friends ask, why not get office space? Ugh! No way--I have a beautiful apartment on the 29th floor, overlooking all of Manhattan....I put fresh flowers and plants everywhere....white couch....glass desk....white phones, Oriental rug....can you imagine that in a office? I have a separate room, very comfortable, with wall to wall carpeting with a white desk, Xerox machine, fax....books, light for one other staff member...sometimes we burn a lovely aroma therapy candle in one room or the other...no fluorescent lights. It is peaceful, beautiful....Beauty helps to support good work....no time wasted commuting. I work all the time, around the clock, and love every moment. (Yes, I have children, two daughters..I am divorced, I care for the kids, which is why I started the business at home to begin with..that is a whole other story! I have an ex who would not support them, not with one dollar, as amazing as that sounds.)
The internet will HELP businesses....information is power....wireless will help us work anywhere, even in hotels or little bistros. (Sometimes I work in a cafe to get some sunshine. and I encourage my staff to do the same on their laptops.) The bank and credit cards (even Fed Ex) help us see our information on line...all, time savers. The entrepreneur has to save time, get more done in 24 hours than the average office person and keep an eye to costs. Today and in the future, all this gets easier, quicker and with less wasted time.
Susan Miller is an internationally known astrologer, author and
columnist. She authored the upcoming book, Planets and Possibilities, to be released in February 2001 by Warner Books. Her previous book, The
Astrology Book of Days (Warner Books, 1996) is a sellout. Susan Miller is a regular contributor to both Self and McCall's Magazines.
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