It's in the detail – Italy is full of a myriad small details away from the obvious architectural and scenic imagery: drinking fountain spout (Norcia, Umbria); theater mask (Ostia Antica, Rome), door knocker (Orvieto, Umbria)
As a freelancer you learn, of necessity, to become a juggler able to keep seven balls aloft simultaneously. Unfortunately, two of those ‘orbiting spheroids’ often begin to feel they are an integral part of your anatomy – freelancers everywhere will know exactly what I mean.
After a few years as a freelancer you realize that, as far as a ‘steady’ job goes, you are now unemployable because your independence is too important to you. In order to survive, the name of the game becomes the seizing of opportunities. Maybe you have given some thought to running your own specialist tours as part of the portfolio of activities? Read on to discover if it is a viable course for you.
First stumble…
From the number of advertisements in specialist photography and natural history magazines a surprising number of people seem to think that leading tours abroad is a “breeze”. You honor people with your presence and expertise and then get a free holiday into the bargain. Mistake number one.
After leading over dozens of tours for “name” companies (and often being let down by in-house administration) I decided that I wanted to do better. So, I scrutinized every brochure I could find – examining them with minute care.
With the advent of travel review sites (e.g. TripAdviser) anyone running trips must accept that they are putting themselves on the line in a very public manner. It is not just a case of constructing an advertisement and booking the tickets for there is a minefield of rules and regulations that may seem petty but could spell ruination for you if things went awry.
For example, in Europe, a 1992 EC ruling has made it necessary for any small operator to have bonding. The sums involved would buy a small house (or at least keep you in champagne for life) and it is a ruling that seems to legislate against small organizations. However, I have found it possible to run tours safely with support from a larger well-established agency for a commission levied per person booking.
There's nothing quite like a decorated cathedral front for lens testing – the 'Duomo' in Orvieto, our local city
Then trip…
If you run a night class at a local college, belong to a local photographic society, have a good on-line presence or just have a group of like-minded friends then your local travel agent can put together a package for you. Even with a free place for you, the leader, this approach can offer distinctly advantageous prices at group rates. The client payment is made directly to the agent and the group is fully covered by the agent’s bonding if they also book flights through them. However, play safe and make sure that you, the leader and any co-workers, carry adequate personal liability insurance and that clients either take the insurance policy offered by the agent or have one of their own as a booking condition.
Flushed with success of this trial run, you might wish to expand and make a healthier profit in successive years. For this you will need a bigger list of clients from whom to draw and getting that might entail advertising or capitalizing on any “street cred” you might have through writing books, articles or giving talks.
There are also practical decisions such as whether to rent a minibus and drive the group yourself, or hire a driver plus vehicle locally. Within the EC and other countries there are very strict rules governing this and, without a PSV license, you might find the size of the group allowed too small to give a good margin for a profit. Indeed, local legislation designed to protect the vested interests of taxi drivers might make it impossible for you to drive the group yourself. And then there are some countries where you just would not want to do the driving yourself and need a local familiar with the driving habits.
If you feel that you can get a group together then talk to an accredited agent who might be prepared to cooperate. Agents do not have to provide large sums up front to secure plane tickets and accommodation – whereas you, as an individual, might have to. Do the sums carefully – numbers matter and if one person drops out you can find group rates change. Your profit rises steadily as the number of clients increases but then, if you need to hire another vehicle they drop… only picking up again with a few extra clients.
Things to do on a rainy day…it is important, even for nature photographers, to have places to escape – a Sicilian mosaic (Piazza Armerina)
Now fall!
With low numbers you run the risk of becoming a charity almost paying for the holiday of others – which was, I hope, not your original idea. Get estimates for different numbers of clients, so that you can decide upon a minimum number which makes it worth your while and, at the same time with a cost that is reasonable for your clients.
Legislation in most countries demands that you give adequate notice (often eight weeks) if a tour is at risk of cancellation. Be open and honest with your clients and tell them things are in the balance to find out what they would like to do.
I began running my own tours with trips to Cyprus because I had lived there for three years (1978-81) and my involvement with numerous local projects had given me good contacts and a thorough knowledge of the ‘country off the beaten track’, sufficient to enable me to write and illustrate guidebooks and a flora. Through that continuing association I knew a leading travel agent who specialized in the island and was able to hire 4-wheel drive vehicles locally: the hoteliers I already knew, and friends helped out.
Local Goodwill
I always look for ways to put something back into the local community – as an operator you do something positive by working with local guides, small hotels and other accommodation: and other avenues open up through reciprocal goodwill. Your clients benefit hugely from their vicarious experience of this – it isn't just altruism: everyone wins. I have tended to work in places such as Cyprus (where I lived) and Italy (now my home) because they are places I have explored, speak the languages and can bring something special through contacts made.
When you have a large enough clientele people will ask you what you can offer for next year – a good sign, especially when their current trip has not ended. With the trips further afield there are many organizations working with local guides whose expertise can be tapped. They will handle all ground arrangements for you and free you up to do what you do best – be the instructor, photo-guru and provide cohesion for the party.
No rest
If you see leading tours primarily as a way of getting a free holiday, then think again: clients will recognize it and travel with you just the once. You are going to be busy from dawn until very late keeping folk happy. Never forget that they have paid – it is their hard-earned holiday. Remember, too that this is no time for standing on dignity, you have to be completely accessible and ready to hoist bags when the occasion demands. And when, as often happens with me, someone asks the name of the same plant, for the fiftieth time, I smile and say “it’s not an easy one to remember”.
Poppies and weeds of fallow ground are a must do subject on our early summer trips – we turned down a track in the Abruzzo mountains to find a riot of color: serendipity is a good friend to us. Next year the same field could well be bare.
From year to year, things can change – a brilliant field of poppies one year will, like as not, not appear the next year: that wonderful roadside orchid site can succumb to a road widening scheme. To reduce potential problems we spend several days in the country before clients arrive and, more often than not, a day or more after. This is when I'm free to explore for next year and also to make use of opportunities for bread-and-butter travel shots, natural history pictures and materials for articles and lectures, all useful sidelines. The reality is that, on tour, you will have little time to indulge your photography.
You have to decide exactly what you are going to provide for what you charged, consistent with a reasonable profit. And, moreover, you must be very careful not to promise things that you cannot deliver in any promotional literature. For instance, make it clear that you will do everything in your power to see as much as possible, but reserve the right to change the order of the itinerary and to fine-tune to suit current conditions. That way you can optimize the client experience – of course, you may get one or two who moan that they haven't seen all they expected but other people will soon put them right, without you having to say a word..
“Plagiarize, let no-one elses’ work evade yer eyes” (Tom Lehrer…Lobachevsky)
In the natural history world there are too many operators chasing the same clients. Your clients will pick and choose where they want to go and will travel with others, too – various, clients of mine have often been approached by another company to supply my detailed itinerary. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but it niggles. You just have to be better – not necessarily cheaper, for you will not get the ‘rack-rates’ big companies might. But you can provide better tuition, choose great local places to eat and an-all-round level of care: discerning clients will pay for that. Living in Italy for the past ten years and more we have a vast network of contacts speak the language and know how things operate!
The successful tour or course demands attractive venues where there is something to see every day – and don't, in your excitement, show all the specials on day one. It is easy to get carried away.
Accommodation
Places to stay should be clean and comfortable but never need be luxurious, unless that is a selling point for you. People who go on specialist tours involving aspects of nature or exploration are usually people who appreciate some direct involvement with the country, its people and its cuisine. With smaller family run hotels you quickly become firm friends and, when you visit, the welcome you get makes clients feel they are friends too. Hoteliers have told us time and again that they really like the kind of people we bring and they go out of their way to show it through little extras…Check out whether there is a communal room (away from other guests) for evening talks or gatherings, before or after dinner
We search to find traditional family-run accomodation – this is a renovated farmhouse Puglian style in Italy's far south with the conical “trulli' roof.
Meals
You can book hotels on a half-board basis breakfast and dinner in the hotel with lunch out or book on a bed and breakfast basis and use a tour manager to arrange meals and local eateries at group rates. If a small restaurant knows what to buy in for a group they will often offer something to a fixed price – we get great value this way, much different from the à la carte prices (wine included)
Letting people shop for their own food at lunch takes up valuable photographic time, so we provide wholesome salads, cheeses, prosciuttos, salamis, fruit and freshly baked bread bought early in the morning. My partner Lois makes picnics like no-one else and this is a central part of many of our days – nothing beats a spread in a place with a fabulous view high in the mountains, beside a stream or near an ancient ruin…forty winks in the sun (aka siesta) and then back to work!
Walking and mobility
A moderate amount of walking can be an essential element in those trips we lead where flowers and nature are central. We need to get off the beaten track and take only small groups–maximum of a dozen (and preferably less) to minimize impact on the environment. I have watched in horror at the damage to plants done by larger groups (not ours) where everyone gets off the bus, tramples around and troops obediently back on again when the whistle blows. In all promotional accounts we carefully state the fitness level needed and ask people to contact us directly if in doubt: with small groups we can be accommodating if prepared. Remember, whatever you state people see just what they want to. With one company we had made it clear that people should be able to carry their gear for a mile or so in high mountains along trails… hearts sank when two clients arrived, one was in a wheelchair and the other on crutches. That company lied to fill the trip: the problem was ours to solve. By careful deployment of vehicles we managed and as well as accommodating the needs of the less mobile we had to avoid impinging on younger, much fitter clients. Many of our regular flower trips are gentle in their requirements and we make sure that everyone gets to see the things they want.
However well we know a trip we travel several days before to check things out: trails can change. The path above the Lago di Ritorto, Nr Madonna di Campiglio, Dolomites, Italy
A choice: to fly solo or not?
So, what is it to be, to work alone, set up with a partner or work with an established company who want you for your expertise? Be honest with yourself–as a freelancer you will almost certainly be very good at working with people, taking direction, working to a brief, liaising with editors. But just how good are you these days working for, singing that ol’ company song and chanting the mantra? Some companies can begin to absorb you, and suddenly you are back to salaried employment, doomed to perpetuate the company ethic and toe the company line.
There are distinct advantages to working with an established company, not least of which can be the filling of tours if they have a good brochure and large mailing list. Working with an efficient travel organization enables you to forget about ticketing and all those niggling things that might detract from other aspects of your freelance work. The disadvantage is that you sacrifice independence, control and make much less.
Too often, in an association with one company, I set aside weeks, a year in advance, only to find that the trip was pulled at the last minute. As any freelance will know it is not easy to find something at short notice to fill the gap in cash flow. The numbers would certainly have been profitable for me, but not, presumably for a company with large overheads. I want the freedom to decide whether or not to run so I reverted to running my own tours and have not looked back.
As mentioned, we work through an agency, use their booking form and come under their bonding arrangements: in Italy we talk directly with the hotels; elsewhere (France, Greece, Crete for example) they do that and can book flights which is their expertise, not ours. We design the tours work to fill them and keep the punters happy.
If you begin to be successful you inevitably grow and suddenly you are a tour operator and not a photographer: several times I have taken conscious action to limit the number of tours even when it meant reducing income. I like variety but I am a photographer first and foremost.
Picnics utilising local produce are a feature of our trips, much appreciated by clients – Lois is a true master of conjuring up amazing things to eat from the back of a minbus
Working with a manager
The bottom line is that another pair of hands is extremely useful – problems shared. I always work with my partner Lois – in fact, we met when I was running a series of botanical tours and she was the manager the company sent. She provides astounding midday picnics and is great at the logistics with the pair of minibuses we use. Her patience and general unflappability is legendary and when some clients are less mobile than others (or just tired and niggly) she gets them to the next meeting point and makes sure they miss nothing. It is a team…not only do I get to do what I do best but it makes me seem a lot better than I am!
Business partners
My first foray into leading my own tours began very well with a fellow photographer whom I had known and worked with for some time. He was prepared to take unacceptable risks with clients and (their money) and seemed unable to imagine the consequences. It did not last. I am now working both with Lois where we have bespoke natural history tours and a modest but loyal clientele and locally with a superb photographer, Patrick Nicholas, who has run Camera Etrusca for many years in central Italy, taking people off the beaten track. Patrick’s background is in glamour, advertising and landscape work and thus we offer a different, but complementary and overlapping, skill set. We get on and are not in competition – it is surprising how often petty niggles and rivalries can enter and poison a potentially good venture. Whatever you decide, and however good your friendship, get everything in writing first!
Wild Tulips in the White Mountains of Crete where, in 1974 as a research student, I realised my life would have to lie elsewhere: I still never tire of going back there and sharing those places with others who will appreciate them as I do and did
Promotion & Evolution
Advertising
Where, when and to what extent – the vexed questions. Even if you have a good database of contacts, you can soon run out of potential clients and need to bring in others. So where exactly do you advertise? You never know whether an advert will prove worthwhile and there can be some surprises. Things have changed and now through the internet with blogs, Facebook and so on you can reach a lot of people. I write a great deal and provide free copy for friends who run on-line magazines that spread the word and generate interest.
In the past I relied mostly on UK clients with some US, Australian and other Anglophone clients…the growing Asian economies produce numerous requests as people get interested in photography. Italy is a ‘must’ destination possessing over 90% of all the art in Christendom (so they say) and thus ripe (we hope) for expansion as are nearby countries in continental Europe
When I started out I was lucky enough to get free mentions in a couple of photo magazines having written various articles for them over the years: there was also an article in a national newspaper. The photo magazines just provided a few fruitless enquiries: the newspaper (with a middle class readership) a dozen bookings.
Specialist journals are a good bet, only if their readership includes those with the wherewithal to afford your tours. Local publicity can be effective–especially if you're known for your work and you can build up a coterie of loyal followers who look forward to the next year’s trips before the end of the current one (if you're doing your job properly).
Beware of offers of ‘free promotion’ on a quid pro quo basis for your images and text. In these economically difficult times many photographic magazines are run by small numbers of people and low budgets and standard practice is to tell you there is no budget at all. However, they can offer you space and publicity. Experience has shown me (and others) that a very small proportion of the readership of such magazines will want to afford your trips. Free space and publicity don't taste great even with a generous helping of tomato ketchup!
We cost tours on an 8 to 10 people (or pax ) basis to create a reasonable return and be manageable. Courses and workshops worked from home can run on far fewer – even one’s and two’s – and not leave you out of pocket. In practice I have run a trip alone with four and sliced profit margins. It was worth it to not let people down: a happy client will tell a handful of friends; if they are irked they will tell anyone who will listen!
The best form of advertising with specialist tours is word-of-mouth: if you provide what people want then will happen and you just cannot rush it: your name has to out there long enough to become familiar. With the advent of the Internet a veritable trumpet is provided for broadcasting positive (and also adverse) comments.
We have learned to see things where others might merely look…here are faces in ancient olive trees, southern Italy, converted to monochrome. It is great fun to help others improve their vision for their excitement is palpable and they see opportunities everywhere.
Trouble on my mind
And what of undesirables and the legendary blacklists some companies hold? In all the tours I have led, there have been very few people whose company I would have preferred not to share. On very rare occasions you can remind yourself you are with people for only a short time and being paid for the purpose.
If you genuinely like people then tours, though exhausting, are great fun – lots of different people, many opinions but everyone with a common interest enjoying the things you do well. It is important to create an atmosphere where no one feels intimidated because they might be a ‘novice’. I have always found a real camaraderie quickly develops with knowledge being shared readily and our clients are friends.
Leaders must learn to admit “ignorance” readily but be prepared to find out – it is less painful in the end. This is a bit like being a schoolteacher – if you pretend to be the ‘font of all wisdom’ kids have an uncanny knack of being able to find the chinks in your suit of armour and exploit them mercilessly.
Changing with the times: independence of younger clients / needs of older clients.
I worked first with groups as a ‘guest lecturer’ with a company that ran botanical and archeological trips. The clientele was mixed in age though weighted towards the senior end. A straw poll of friends (who also run trips and have many years of experience) suggests that group numbers are down – both because of the prevailing economic uncertainty and also because the availability of cheap air travel has meant many people have become far more independent. They will often ask to meet you at the airport and tag a few days on before and after.
Travelling with a group of strangers is not something that everyone relishes – even if they find later that their misgivings were inappropriate and that they had a great time. We have long been offering shorter trips and course – from a day to a long weekend – on a made to measure basis for people who want to come to Italy and get some serious photography under their belts. A partner might not have the same level of interest but can survive a few days! Living in an area of amazing old hill towns that are both scenically beautiful and also have all sorts of nooks and crannies provides a ready-made canvass on which to build a trip. For those with a love for flowers we know the mountain meadows and poppy displays to drive anyone wild…and as cooks ourselves we know superb reasonable restaurants.
We offer throughly researched trips and an unrivalled knowledge of flower-filled places in Italy where all sorts of small things – birds and butterflies abound. Many clients have come to us through the books and articles we have written on aspects of the flora, fauna and photography in the Mediterranean region. However, as explorers by nature, with a passion for archaeology and as practising cooks we also have other sides of our chosen land to offer.
What is your angle – what makes you stand out from the potential competition?
I get back to the UK a couple of times per year and always make for the magazine racks in stores…I am inevitably disappointed by the low level of photography, repetitive writing (lots of re-cycled stuff) and generally uninspiring feel. What amazes me is the pages of expensive adverts for trips and courses and that fact that, from one year to the next there are comparatively few of the same companies in evidence. Can it be that many see this as a source of income, pay a great deal to launch and never get the numbers…how on earth do unknowns survive? After all, this is a specialist area, holidays are not cheap and the numbers are split by there being far too many players.
- Do you already have a name – through books, articles, an internet presence, courses you have offered. Use it
- Can you offer specialist knowledge – take it as read that to be a photographer is not enough: there are many of those all excellent BUT do you have an edge with landscape, architecture, nature…
- Guides – Are you visiting areas with which you have intimate acquaintance? If not then make sure you have a tried and tested guide who knows what photographers want… some guides try to impose their ideas on your group and that leads to problems!
- Can you evolve – we live in changing times and you will need to. We have moved to smaller groups and shorter times… packages that can be bolted on to another holiday, for example.
We now offer far more 1-3 day workshops and short courses to a variety of photographic demands: you have to have a through (and continually up-dated) knowledge of what there is to see around you – Italy is great for this with a never-ending supply of hilltowns and ancient monuments, many hardly known. Things that in other countries would be national monuments are just left, barely maintianed because there is such an embrassment of riches and very little money to care for them. Away from the main sites (Pompeii, Rome, Florence…) you escape the crowds.
Roman Restaurant Syndrome
Far better than any advertising will be word of mouth recommendation after you have run a few trips. So why the title Roman Restaurant syndrome? Well, Rome is a truly amazing city for its history and its architecture but the over-pricing and poor service, in some of the tourist hot spots, make it a 'rip-off' for many. They are not going to see you again and do not care if you complain about being overcharged…
So start modestly, work hard and never forget that your guests have paid…it is not a free holiday and don’t expect them to be honored at the privilege of being allowed to travel with you. Hard to believe, I know, but there are a few leaders out there that believe that they can walk on water… they are neither to be admired nor emulated!
© Paul Harcourt Davies 2013