Archives for December 2011

With another year ending, the season slowing, and just a hint of a glimmer of free time on the horizon, now seems as good a time as any for some reflection. Where have I been, where am I going? How did the year go, and what can I do better next year?

It’s certainly been a year of ups and downs, with the economy, the industry, with vintage coming to a boil, with Mason Jar Manifestos, and a growing divide between the haves and the have-nots. But there’s another divide, too. It’s the ever-evolving transition from the old economy to the new. The old guard to the new. The old marketing to the new. And the fact that we have … Read more...

Here’s something I find useful quite frequently. When you present information, the first thing you show or discuss is going to be the anchor. For example, if I show you the most striking album first, all of the rest look crappy by comparison, even if they’re well done. On the other hand, if I show you the worst one first, people will still enjoy it. By nature, we tend evaluate relative to the first thing we see.

The same applies for pricing. Imagine I were to say an engagement session is $1,200, but if you do it on a weekday, I’ll make it $800. That $400 difference is now an incentive. It’s a benefit associated with weekday sessions. It’s not … Read more...

Enjoying what you do isn’t just a byproduct of success. It’s part and parcel to it. You’ve gotta ask yourself, “Am I having fun?” And if the answer is a mousy “yes,” a tentative “sometimes,” or a pensive “on occasion,” then take heed. Because if you’re not having enough of it, there’s a good chance you’re not getting where you want to go.

Fun is your body speaking to you. It is your gut telling you to keep at it. To stay the course, or, more aptly, that this is a course you can stay. It is directly connected to sustained energy, passion, commitment, and drive. Misery is the exact opposite. Your body telling you to put on the breaks. … Read more...

In common use perfect and flawless are largely synonymous. That to be perfect is to be flawless and vice versa. But if the two seem generally similar, I’m going to also suggest they are just as much opposites. Because, if it’s true that we are obsessed with our flaws in this age of plastic surgery, plastic retouching, and plastic people, then I think it equally true we are not spending enough time on being the most perfect version of ourselves. In finding the good, seeing it, and believing it. Or, to put it another way, even if perfect has no flaws, it doesn’t follow that something without flaws is perfect.

From dictionary.com:

per·fect   [adj., n. pur-fikt; v. per-fekt]
adjective
1. … Read more...

I once read when you shouldn’t follow the ball when you watch tennis. Watch the players. See how they move and what they do before the ball gets to them. It will tell you a world more about how they play the game. We all want to know where the ball goes, but what we need to figure out is what to do before getting to the ball in the first place.

They say you’ll go where you’re looking. But if you’re not getting where you want to go, stop looking at other people’s results. By nature, we see our own process, but others’ results. Look backwards. Unearth the process. Ask yourself what those you admire did differently. Find out … Read more...