Wake Up and Smell the Future
Originally, I was going to write a Management column about the importance of making time to step back from the day-to-day operation of your dive store and engage in long-term, strategic thinking and planning. It’s an important topic — but not as important as one I stumbled across the other day.
It started at breakfast. I was seated at a table next to a couple who were having coffee with a distinguished-looking older gentleman. As it turns out, the couple was getting married, and the fellow they were talking to was going to be their wedding photographer.
It was quickly apparent that this fellow was a consummate professional, who drew from a lifetime of experience in photography. Being as I am someone who has to make a good part of his living from his photographic skills, I was hanging on to every word this guy said. It was good stuff.
Eventually, the topic of conversation turned to technology. The couple asked whether their photographer preferred to work in digital or film. The photo pro replied that, while there were some jobs that simply demanded digital, he preferred to work in film whenever possible. He spoke lovingly of the richness in color, texture and lighting that is, at the present time, only possible with film. And then came the real reason. He said, “Besides, I’m not really that good with computers.”
For some reason, that prompted the bride to ask about the degree to which the Internet had impacted the photographer’s business. He said, “Yes, tremendously. It used to be that I did most of my business in face-to-face meetings like the one we’re having now. These days, however, all my customers seem to want to do everything by e-mail.”
It struck me, at that point, how much this fellow was like a lot of dive store owners I know. If he could turn back time, this photographer would be just as happy to see things like the Internet, e-mail and cell phones disappear in the night — allowing him to go back to a time when his business was a lot more personal. Unfortunately, that is so not happening — to him, or to us.
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