Vendor meals.

Need I say more?

It even sounds insulting. Like you’re some sort second class citizen.

“Oh, go down to the dungeon and eat with the slaves, will you? And in 5 minutes, as soon as you sit down and take your first bite, we’ll spring a toast on you, and let the staff take away the scraps you were planning to gnaw on before you get back.”

It seems like the better the place, the worse the meal.

I can’t count how many times I’ve been sent to the back of some dodgy kitchen or dusty basement. My favorite is when the sour scent of surfaces wiped with old rags permeates the room meal.

And I admit it. … Read more...

When I was a little kid, I LOVED Razzles. I mean, come on. It starts as a candy and ends as a gum. How do you not like that?

So, when I came across a pack for the first time in I-don’t-even-know-how-long at gas station down the street, I couldn’t resist. Never mind that fact that it was coated with dust and looked like it hadn’t been touched since 1992.

They were Razzles!

Excitedly, I tore open the pack and popped about five into my mouth at once. You know. Because gluttony.

And as I chewed and chewed, waiting for my childhood memories to wash over me, I realized that Razzles feel an awful lot like sweet chalk that turns … Read more...

If you’re a wedding photographer, it’s a one-day-a-week job, where you get to show up, take pictures, do what you love, and get paid ridiculous amounts. It’s a crazy sweet gig, with an industry full of whiney people who don’t appreciate what it’s like to have a real job.

At least that’s what a lot of clients think.

Clients, mind you, who have never dealt with a micro-managing MOB, drunk and high groomsmen, snot-nosed venue managers, domineering planners, and a tightly coordinated day that unravels more by the minute until it all piles into the portrait-session from hell in middle of high noon on a cloudless day.

But that’s the job.

And that’s the perception.

And no one ever said … Read more...

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
—Soren Kierkegaard

If you run a business long enough, at some point, someone will tell you how you need to find your unique selling proposition. Maybe they’ll call it a value proposition. Maybe they’ll just tell you to find your special snowflake-y-ness in this big, melting puddle of snowflakes.

Whatever it is, it’s inevitable.

And it sounds pretty good, right?

It’s the idea that if you can own your little spot in the universe and set up shop there, just like the pioneers who settled into the plains, you too, can live off the land we know as the marketplace.

So you put pencil to paper, and … Read more...

Things not to ask your dad: Do you think I have what it takes to make it in life?

So, of course, on one very vulnerable day as a teen, I asked just that.

I think he relished the opportunity to finally share some of his wisdom.

He stared at the floor pensively, lips pursed. After a long, pregnant pause, he took a sip of his tea and looked up at me. “You can succeed at anything you put your mind to.”

Phew. Very diplomatic, but, OK. I can live with that.

He took another sip of his tea. “But I’m not sure if you really will…you don’t stick with things.”

Thanks Dad.

Of course, he was right. By nature, … Read more...