Today I did not get any of my goals accomplished. But what I did accomplish was important. Much of my morning I spent analyzing and evaluating different companies I value to see how they are achieving and communicating their message to their clients. I also tweaked a few things on my website and called my client to see if he was satisfied with the pictures I gave him on CD.The rest of my day I worked at the chicken farm. These last 5 hours I spent mentoring a mid-teenager who is struggling with pretty much you name it. I wouldn't trade that for anything.Sooooooo, tomorrow I am going to tackle these goals head-on (yeah, the ones I wrote out yesterday to get done today) with a bit of down-South attitude..."Just git 'er done!"Goals:- Contact clients about booking their senior portrait sessions
- Contact potential bride client
- Select 6 take-aways as finals
During AWANA tonight I was asked if I could book another senior portrait session. I love it when that happens!
Earlier this afternoon, I finally backed up my external hard drive to my second one. I'm thinking I should invest in a couple more just in case. I've had my one for a while and you never know when technology will fail. I'd rather be covered.
I was able to meet with my client today and hand him his CD of his senior portrait session. Which reminds me...I should do a follow up on what his thoughts are about them.
Lately I've been browsing quite a few photography websites and blogs looking at their style and technique. Some have bold color edit jobs while others have more of a serene, almost depressing look to them. I like some of both. Sometimes I just can't make up my mind about how I want to edit the coloring of my pictures. Sometimes I just want to do it all! So, basically I pumped up about what I'm going to find out later on about my style bent and branding when I group and categorize everything I've been adding to my inspirations board!
Tomorrow my goals are:
- Contact clients about booking their senior portrait sessions
- Contact potential bride client
- Select 6 take-aways as finals
Christina suggested that I switch over to blogger because they automatically email my followers every time I write a new post, unlike xanga. If you'd like to see what I've posted the last few weeks, then hop on over to my old blog! :)
Ah, the beauty of freshness and starting over anew.
Today I feel just plain good. I love the feeling of getting assignments done.
In college, I typically completed my assignments the day they were handed out. But this last week I allowed myself wait until the very last minute to get the tougher assignments done...right before my skype call with Christina. Big mistake. Now I know what not to do this next week. Here's a taste of what my dream business profile looks like:
- While I’m single, my business would provide more than enough income so that I’d only need to do it whenever I wanted to.
- If I did get married, my business would not be the main income of the family, but rather something extra that we could vacation or have fun outings with.
- Freelance photography would provide a flexible schedule so that I could travel globally shooting for various mission organizations. Or I could simply accomplish two of my lifelong goals: traveling through every state and setting foot on every continent.
- Every trip that I go on would more than pay for itself.
- I’d like what I charge to be both affordable for my clients, but profitable for myself as well, instead of seeming to lose money for the hours that are put in. My clients appreciate it when they receive a CD of high-resolution pictures, but I’d also like them to order high-quality prints through a website that gives me a percentage of the sales. I would make $50+ average per hour of work that I do (including shooting, editing, preparation, travel time, etc.).
- My brand would be immediately recognizable.
- I would post every session to my business blog with a story about them to add another personal touch.
- My website would be updated once every couple months or so.
- Blog header would have a new photo each month that would match the theme of the month.
- I would edit quickly and efficiently in Lightroom with the same excellence I’ve learned in Photoshop.
- About 8 bookings a month. That’s 96 bookings a year. Perhaps 20 of those bookings would be weddings. Also, a few of those 96 bookings would be commercial business/college campus shoots throughout the year. Most of my bookings would be done through word of mouth because of how much they love my work.
- My CDs/DVDs would have a cool official label consisting of one of the photos that was taken during that shoot, instead of just fancy sharpie marker work.
- I would have a few different themed square brochures made out of quality cardstock. They would include portrait or wedding samples and their packages in an easy to understand format.
- I would have a consistent second shooter working with me at weddings whose style and technique is dependable.
- I would own two Canon EOS 1D bodies (or some other sweet ones that allow high ISO with no noise, like the infamous Canon 7D), and a few more lenses, such as the 70-200mm IS 2.8 L and 24-70mm 2.8 L.
My goals for tomorrow are:- Burn CD of Senior Portrait Session and personally hand it to my client
- Backup my main external hard drive to my second hard drive
- Write down 5 words that I think completely describe myself as a person.
Just now I was flipping through one of my old photography books, Learning to See Creatively by Bryan Peterson, when I came across... Some Advice for the Aspiring Professional
- Do what you do--and do it well--and you'll have plenty of competition.
- Do what you do--and do it better than most--and you'll command an audience.
- Do what you do--and do it better than anyone else--and you'll have the world at your doorstep.
