As always, I’m working on some fantastic new material for Ground Glass. I’ve been sidelined by some crazy sort of illness for awhile, but things will be up and running again soon.
In the meantime, Jenika McDavitt is having a sale today and tomorrow (May 24, 25) on her fantastic ebook How to Build an Absolutely Irresistible Photography Website. Normally $159, it’s only $119 right now.
If you’re thinking about creating a new site and want to dig into the key business and brand considerations, this guide is chock full of great advice and exercises to keep you on target. It also comes with an interview from yours truly, as I deconstruct what went into the redesign of my own website for 5 West Studios. Great stuff!
I spend a lot of time stuck in my own head. I imagine most of us do. After all, where else are you gonna go? But here’s the real problem in all of it: most of the voices in our heads aren’t even our own. As we look around and try to figure out what works, what doesn’t, and where we’re supposed to go with it, we borrow and borrow and borrow, until we’re stuck with a cluttered jumble of ideas so dense we just can’t sift through it.
Here’s a simple little get-out-of-jail-free card I keep in the back of my brain when I really just can’t get free.
Good exists. Great does not.
There is a very real definition for good. You just need to look at everything that’s being done in whatever field you’re in and pick a spot on the curve right around the upper middle. It’s not that hard to figure out. The iPhone was great. The iPhone 5 is good. Good is the decoded version of great. Or to put it another way, it’s great without the innovation. If you want to make something good, just look, identify, and replicate. Then wash, rinse, and repeat.
Great, on the other hand, never exists. Great is ahead of the curve. It’s always new and different. Great requires stepping out on a ledge. So if you’re finding yourself stuck in a corner, full of doubt, shackled by all those voices telling you what’s good and right and proper, remember, that this feeling of insecurity is part and parcel to the act of pushing to be your best.
At the end of Working Girl (yes…we’re going back to the 80′s), there’s a story of an 18-wheeler stuck in a tunnel. None of the emergency crew can figure out how to dislodge the truck – it’s jammed in too tight – until a little boy comes along and asks “Why not just let some air out of the tires?”
Greatness doesn’t need brilliance. It doesn’t need brain power or talent or exceptional skill. It is, of course, aided by these things. But before any of that, great comes in a much simpler package. The voices you hear are the voices of yesterday telling what you need to do to solve your problems. But if you’re stuck in second gear, you need to turn it around and go the other way. Instead of identifying solutions, be like the little boy looking at the truck, and focus on finding the problem you need to solve.
Get ready for back-to-back fun for the next two weeks! First, I’m introducing a brand new subject – pricing psychology – this Thursday. Then, I’m doing a rework of my webinar from last month next Thursday. Don’t miss out! Signing up is easy. Just put in your name and email in the form on the homepage, and you’ll receive the link on the day of the Webinar!
Getting past NO. Pricing psychology for photography studios
Time: 2:00 pm EST on Thursday, 4/18
How Purpose Powers Possibility: Creating a functional mission statement
Time: 2:00 pm EST on Thursday, 4/25