Transitioning our business to HVP was a significant yet essential move for Pure Sports Images. Our previous workflow and photo production processes were riddled with inefficiencies, making it nearly impossible to scale our operations. The hurdles and frustrations of our business model left too much room for error.
We faced several challenges, including:
- Voice tagging and manually naming portrait files
- Photographers sending images through various platforms like WeTransfer, Google Drive, and Dropbox—often days after the shoot
- Waiting on team managers to provide team names
- Relying on clubs to distribute order envelopes or online order links
- Manually packing and printing each order, and sourcing our packing supplies
- Personally delivering club photos
This approach was unsustainable. It felt like our work season never ended, and we were on the brink of needing extra office staff to meet deadlines. On average, the entire process—from shoot date to delivery—took 6-8 weeks. We dreaded taking on new clients because we didn’t have the time to edit and process additional orders.
Initially, we contacted Glen with the idea that Netlife could help us automate image tagging and file naming. We thought that if we could streamline that one task, we could manage the rest. Little did we know that Netlife would completely transform how we operate.
Moving our operations to Netlife wasn’t an easy decision. We were determined to maintain control over our final product, and transitioning from manually editing each photo to relying on AI for extraction, editing, and team photo creation was daunting. One of our key concerns was allowing customers to edit their own photos—after all, “we are the photographers; we know which is the best photo!” But Glen’s mantra, “Will this stop a customer from buying the photo?” made us reconsider how we managed our time and where our efforts were best spent.
In our first year with Netlife, every one of our clients saw an average sales increase of 40% compared to previous years. By the second year, we saw an additional 10% increase in sales over year one. We also expanded our team by two photographers and took on 16 new clients, resulting in nearly $100,000 in additional gross revenue.
The feedback we receive from our clubs is phenomenal:
- “You are amazing.”
- “I can’t believe our photos are here already.”
- “The whole process was unbelievably easy.”
- “You guys are the best!”
- “These are the best photos I’ve ever had of my daughter.”
These are the types of messages we receive weekly. Our relationships with our clubs have improved, and we are confident they will continue to choose us year after year.
Feedback and revenue aside, the biggest advantage of partnering with Netlife has been the ability to achieve a sustainable work-life balance.
Instead of working 12-hour days, 7 days a week, during our 4-month work season, we now have weekends off. We have a clear end date for our work season and can operate our business remotely from a laptop. We no longer need to hire extra office staff. We feel supported by a partner who truly understands our industry, knows the challenges, and has helped us network with other photography companies.
We dont stress about losing clients, misplaced photos, competing companies, or our product offering. And with that confidence comes excitement about our growth, our products, and how we can now spend our time away from the office doing the more important things!
Pure Sport Images - Another happy sports volume photography business scaling to success.
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