Growing Pains... Money and All That Stuff

Hi everyone! Welcome back :) Sorry for the delayed post, there was some crazy stuff this weekend and I didn't have time to get this out by Sunday like I would have preferred... But anyway, here we are! 

Last week I was talking about how growth usually takes the form of failing at something before finding ways in which to excel. Or, as the saying goes: 

 

Dude, suckin’ at something is the first step to being sorta good at something.

-Jake, the dog

 

This week, the area I have been addressing is how for a business to grow, more often than not there is money that needs to be spent. It can be on lots of things, and the biggest thing that is new for me is investing in customer acquisition, or finding new customers. It's not as easy as messaging someone and being like, "Hey! Do you need some pictures taken?" Or, rather, it CAN be that easy, but it isn't always.

There is something I have been using off and on for the last couple years called Thumbtack. It basically matches customers with local professionals to get tasks completed. So, people go on this site, say "I need a ___ photographer" and the site sends out a notification to photographers in the area saying "so-and-so needs a ____ photographer". Then up to five photographers send a quote and the customer picks who to work with. Pretty easy, right?

That's what I thought. Things I didn't take into account:

  1. The sheer number of requests there are
  2. The number of qualified people sending quotes
  3. Coming at each new client with a fresh set of eyes
  4. Assuming positive intent sometimes being difficult
  5. Trusting complete strangers
  6. Navigating legal situations with contracts
  7. People canceling at the very last minute

I have been able to work through many of these with minor roadblocks, and in fact we just finished a wedding! The images have just been delivered to the clients and they really liked them. :)

Thanks for bearing with me and this longer "wall of text" post. You all are the best!

Humble Beginnings; Before and After Some Tough Lessons

We've all been bad at stuff. 

We've all been less than stellar at something that we desperately wanted to be better at, and we have all longed for it to be an instantaneous overnight transition. I wish that it was that easy to become better at things.  If that were the case, I would be the best at kayaking across all of the world and the greatest bubble gum bubble blower the planet has ever seen. 

Alas, it takes dedication, time, practice, and mistakes - yes, mistakes - to learn what you actually want and how you want to get there. 

For me, the thing I have always wanted to be awesome at is photography. To this day, I know there are at least 42 things that I can do to improve, but it is also important to look back and see how far you have progressed. Without reflection there can be no comparison... Not only that, but it should be YOU you compare yourself to. I think it is extremely helpful to look to others that are skilled in an area to see what makes them great. In terms of growth, I feel that it is essential that you are your own measuring stick. In this way, you are most relevantly and accurately logging how much you have changed, developed, and progressed.

“When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, and he looks you crooked in the eye and he asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol’ Jack Burton always says at a time like that: “Have ya paid your dues, Jack?” “Yessir, the check is in the mail.””
— Jack Burton, 'Big Trouble in Little China'

This is tough for me to do. I am going to post some of my very first photos, right next to a similar photo that I feel shows how I have grown in an area. I invite you all to leave your thoughts in the comments below; were the first photos better? Am I trying too hard to make things look better? I appreciate any words you've got and I don't get offended easily. ...That is not an invitation to try and offend me, though. ;) 

 

Right off the bat, things that come to mind:

  • I am not afraid to get closer to my subjects; whether that be a light, a face, or a mountain.
  • Overall the "after" photos are brighter (except for one).
  • Things seem much more composed and thought out

It takes a lot to admit that you could be better at something, but that is where improvement begins. We have to be willing to say "I am not as good at this as I could be". Once that happens, I think that growth happens more quickly than we would want it to. Remember to ask for help, and remember that there are people in your life that want you to develop and level up your skills. If I can help, please tell me so I can assist in getting you to your next level as so many have done for me. :) 

Thoughts?

My First Destination Wedding - December!

 

Well, kinda. 

a few years ago, I was lucky enough to shoot the wedding of my good friend Greg and his awesome wife Kristin. That was in Pullman, WA, definitely a drive and a half. I was already wanting to find a reason to go and visit a bunch of my friends that were going to college over there, so it seemed like too grand a coincidence to pass up. 

 

That was one of my first weddings I ever shot; I was so exhausted at the end... didn't have a second shooter. 😅😣 This time it's going to be SO MUCH EASIER! My friend Tyler is going to help me out!! It's gonna be dope. He is a cool dude. 

On coincidences - now I am shooting Kristin's brother's wedding! He reached out to me with a wonderful email asking if I'd like to shoot his, too. It feels nice knowing that someone likes your work so much that they want you to do your thing for them as well. Here's the link to my wedding work, in case you are interested. 

We had our consultation call a couple of days ago and it was a ton of fun. More goofy stuff than I anticipated; but hey, that means that we got along pretty well :) Afterwards, Tyler and I hung out and talked shop about workflow, we went over CRM (customer relationship management) software and I showed him around how my brain works with that kind of stuff. I use one called HubSpot, and if you are in need of one you should totally use it. It's legit free. Anyone that knows me at all knows I will avoid paying money for something if I can find a way to do so, haha. Pretty official, and I felt so excited to be doing something I am so passionate about! We are really excited to see where this goes. 

I am still looking for a second shooter to come with me for the reception (it's on a different day), so if you know of anyone that would like to tag along to get some photos for their portfolio and have a bit of a road trip with me, send them my way :) 

I want to start getting more and more dedicated to working on my photography things every day, and one day hope that it could be my full time gig. I know that there are risks of getting burned out, but I want to see how it might feel to do this stuff for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Right now, I am doing things on my days off from my day job,

 If you have done photography part or full time, what are some of the things you did to elevate yourself to the next level in terms of commitment? I would love to read about it in the comments :) Or, if you have words of advice even if you didn't do photography things for work, what did you do to take your hobby and turn into something more? I feel like I am heading down the right path but would love to see a mile marker along the way. Speaking of which, I miss hiking; I want spring to get here already, hehe. :)

Thanks for reading, and if you haven't already, make sure to subscribe to get updates about my newest posts as soon as they come out!

Love you all! <3 Here is my cat. Have a wonderful week!

I was asked to join a Fall photo contest; WUT. Here's my entry!

Man, things are getting kinda crazy. Here's the latest update from dis guy. 🤘💪

If you asked me 5 years ago if I thought I'd have people reaching out to me to contribute a picture I took to a contest for business exposure, I'd have giggled a little and said, "that'd be pretty rad but no, not a chance". 

IT HAPPENED. And I could not have done it without the support and love of my friends, family, and fans. I have fans! 🙏 ✌️🎉

Anyways, here's the picture I submitted.

I didn't know there was going to be a watermark needed, so I added the one we use for our Broken Pixel Photography stuff. Nothing wrong with a little bit of cross brand fusion.&nbsp;

I didn't know there was going to be a watermark needed, so I added the one we use for our Broken Pixel Photography stuff. Nothing wrong with a little bit of cross brand fusion. 

My friend and her pup were so great on this shoot! When I messaged her asking if I could use this photo, she was super excited about it. Just look at that freaking puppy. I think that I took at least 10,000,233 photos. 

I had some trouble with editing out some of the highlights, but overall I am super happy with how it turned out. I didn't want to over saturate at risk of making it look manufactured. Aside from brightening up a bit of things and your standard resize/cropping/straightening, this image is largely unedited. *coolface*

I did have some runner ups in terms of other shots to submit; Here are a couple that I really liked, but were barely edged out by the one above:

 

anyone ever submit a photo for a contest before? This was my first one (hopefully more to come!) and I'd love to hear about your experience! 

See you guys next week!

It is time for this blog to come alive.

First off, hi! 

Dudes/Dude-ettes; it has been crazy-busy up in here. So many adventures, so many fun experiences and meeting lots of great people! I'm going to start writing a lot here, so you should all read it. Sounds easy enough, right? 

There is a subscribe button on this page (right above where it says "featured posts"), and if you get signed up you'll receive an email when (and ONLY then) I post a new entry.  No spam, no one has time for spam. Unless I have to open a can to get at it. 

Then I have time for Spam.

When you press the button, a fun message pops up; I'll be curious to see what your answer is. (post in the comments!)

Still unsure on frequency for posting... how much is too much for you guys? 

Answer in the comments below. :)

Wanna tag along?