Every mothballed battleship needs a dedicated maintenance crew to make sure that the guns still work, the boiler is swept out, and the plug is still in the bilges. Plus you need to rotate the rats. Photographic organisations - clubs, businesses, and studios - need to do the same if they are going to be laid up in ordinary for several months. Now is the time to go through your check list;
- Has everyone who owes you money paid it to you? If they are still dragging the chain get in touch with them and yank it smartly. It never does to be the last shy person in the line of creditors when the bottom of the money pot starts to appear. You may not be nice, but you might be paid.
- Does everyone know that you are still alive? I don't mean literally, though that is a thought...but do let everyone know you are still in business, albeit resting.
- Is this a time to make new contacts? It might not seem like it - what with a lot of business activity being racked back at present to fight the Wuhan Plague - but people now have time to read proposals and offers. They might have been too preoccupied before. Get your name into their mind while they are scrabbling about for occupation and it may stick when they can make use of it later.
- Can you make an arrangement with your creditors, as well as your debtors? It might seem like a financial daisy chain, but the fact that we are all in the same boat might make people more amenable to waiting for a payment that you are waiting for. Heaven forbid you do this in good times, but these aren't good times.
- Is your gear good? Or used to be good but has fallen into disrepair? Now is the time to put it in for thorough cleaning and maintenance. If you're not shooting for a few weeks you need not ride the technician with angst over the service time.
- Do you need new gear? Again, you may have to wait for it - the supply chain is disrupted - but ordering it now will get it to you faster than waiting until later.
- Do you need all your old gear? Consider trading or selling to streamline your outfit.
- Are your premises all they could be? You're there at home now so look critically at your studio, reception area, shooting room, etc. See if it would attract the sort of clientele that you want. If not, now is the new paint/paper/alligator pit time. Do it in prep for the return to business.
- Is your hard drive/slide file/negative wardrobe/print bin full to the brim with material that will never serve you or anyone ever again? Heave it.
- Have you got a logo? Have you got a brand? Have you got a good sign? Have you got a website? Have you got an accountant? Now's the time to do the things you promised yourself for years.
