“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.”

—Shunryi Suzuki

 

This is a time of many and a time of much.

An age of greedy abundance and pervasive emptiness.

Images flit in and out of the stream, our attention spans whittled to nothing more than the flick of a screen.

Scan. Double tap. Move on.

And in this media-saturated torrent, if you want to stand out, then now more than ever, you have to create pictures that say who you are. Not the ones that looks good. Not the ones that impress people. Ones that say This is me.

Because though approaches may vary the problem is always same. In every … Read more...

Why do people hire you? This is everything.

Why do you do what you do? This is more.

It’s almost common convention to say business wins over art.

And while I make no bones that business matters and matters a lot, I still consider the notion to be, in simplest terms, BS.

What is true is the more you enter the massive middle, where sameness dominates and differentiation dissipates, the more business becomes not just the best tool, but the only tool. In the massive middle need is baked in. Demand is strong, but supply is stronger, so success means business strategy.

But who the hell wants to be stuck in the massive middle?

The more personal the work becomes, … Read more...

How do you survive?

How do you live instead of making a living in an oversaturated, high-volume world built on uninterrupted interruption?

If the answer is simple, the execution is not.

Survival in the here and now isn’t about value. It’s about distinction, because distinction drives value.

In a market with high demand and limited supply, everyone has distinction. But in a market where supply is extensive, distinction is put out to pasture, and nearly everyone becomes part of the hungry, massive middle. And the massive middle is exactly where businesses go to die.

Strategist Blair Enns says, “It is expertise and expertise alone that will…allow us to deal with our clients and prospects from a position of power.”

But … Read more...

Things have a way of hitting you when you’re not expecting it.

It’s not always the good stuff. But sometimes, just sometimes, it is. I got this email about a week back, and I was tickled:

Putting in motion your tips from your current sales series…..
Already I have gotten WAY better responses!!!!
Normally I give a price right out the gate because that is their first question; then it’s just crickets. I never hear back from them. This time, I was very interested, asked a lot of questions, and she instantly got excited and wanted to book before hearing a price!

THANK YOU! For all your hard work and sharing with the world!

XOXO
~Cassandra

I so love hearing … Read more...

How much does it hurt?

Sometimes, too much. Often, more than I want to admit. Most times, more than I expected.

I just wrapped up a presentation at Camp Go Away last week. Of course, I use the term presentation lightly, given that I was hobbling together the pieces up to the very last minute. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Camp Go Away is a small, back-to-the-basics shindig put together by the wonderful and talented Chellise and Michael of Chellise Michael Photography, and you can count me in as a fan. If you’re looking for a get together that smells like a warm fire in a cool morning breeze (quite literally, in fact) and oozes with heart, this … Read more...