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So, I spoke at TEDxIrvine

Posted on December 23, 2011 by in Thoughts

I was pretty stoked to be asked to present at TEDx. I hope you like it!

White glove service.. What does that even mean?

Posted on March 5, 2011 by in Thoughts, Uniqueness

We love our clients. We love having deep and meaningful relationships with them too. Really!  We don’t do the mass-market, high-volume thing. We tried it; and it was horrible. It was horrible for our clients, and it was horrible for us. (Wow, there’s a lot of “horrible” going on in this blog post already, and I’m still in the first paragraph! LOL) So, since we found that we hated doing websites in bulk, we focused on service. What we found, is that almost no one else was doing it. No one else took the time to ask the one question that everyone should have asked.

Tell me what your website should do?

Seriously.

We’ve spoken to thousands of photographers and business owners. We kept hearing the same things over and over again; they were unhappy with their experience with big-box websites, they were disappointed by the meat-market mentality of template sites, and they were overwhelmed by how much work goes into making a really amazing site. So, we decided to so something about it.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been experimenting; we’ve offered a free 45-minute website evaluation. We spoke to a lot of people. We became consultants; and people loved it.

We realized that in order to be successful, it’s not about being the cheapest. It’s about the type of white-glove service we can offer. And, when we offer white-glove service to our clients, we understand what they need for their business to succeed. Once we understand what they need, we can create the perfect site: for them! We’ll spend the time to make it right. We’ll spend the time to make it perfect.

This commitment to service allows us to do things differently. We can hire the best artists, we can attract the best programmers, we can offer the best value-added services. Frankly, we can do the things that no one else in our industry does; really go out of our way to ensure that our clients in the way they deserve to be treated.

So, contact us; we’ll show you that we’re different. We’re better.

Putting the Horse Before the Cart

Posted on February 16, 2011 by in Business Advice, Money, Thoughts

I hear this a lot. Photographers tell me they bought all this cool gear. L series glass, expensive bodies, flashes (lots of them), and all sorts of other post-production work-flow gadgets and gizmos. I drool slightly when I hear about it; I’m a big tech nerd after all! I love really great toys; and I adore good quality, pro level products.

But, almost without fail I’m told a follow-up story of woe. They can’t afford to market themselves properly because they’ve just spent $10,000 or so on camera equipment. That same camera equipment that’s now essentially lying idle because they have no work.

As a business owner myself, I understand the need for solid equipment. It makes my life easier, and helps me do my job more efficiently. In the case of a photographer, no camera means that you have no job.

What’s a photographer to do?

I’ve spoken to hundreds of photographers; and probably an equal number of their clients. The one thing that all photographers say is important when taking a great photo? Great gear. But, what do the brides say? Aren’t the brides the most important metric of what makes a photo ‘good’?

Brides, by and large, say that their favorite photo is the one with the people they love in it. Really. It’s not the technical perfection of the photo. It’s not the color balance. It’s not the contrast or bokeh. Their favorite photo is the one with Uncle George. The same Uncle who they haven’t seen in 15 years. Yeah, the photo that’s all fuzzy and green-tinted. The same photo that you were just about to delete. That’s their favorite!

Brides don’t care about photography. They care about people.

Consider for a moment another course of action. Instead of buying $10,000 of equipment up-front; rent it. Rent the equipment when you get a job. Use the other $9,700 you just saved on equipment purchases and spend some of it on a website; on advertising; on making yourself visible. You’ll always be able to buy the equipment you want–but, when you’re first getting started in the photography industry, don’t rush out and buy ‘stuff’. Buy something that will help you afford the ‘stuff’ you really want.

The benefit is obvious. Your brides get great photos that you’re happy to show off (renting lets you get great gear, at an affordable price). You get a way to market yourself with a website. As a result, you get found by brides, and you can earn an actual living. Yeah, you may not own all that great gear right away; but, does it really matter?

Uniqueness

Posted on February 15, 2011 by in Business Advice, Thoughts, Uniqueness

Uniqueness is important. It what makes you notice that one thing isn’t like the others.

It’s like Canon vs Nikon. Flickr vs Picassa. Google vs Bing.

Sure, competing products might do something similar, but there’s always something that’s unique about them. Flickr? Community. Picassa? A crazy good computer program to manage your photos. The list goes on and on.

So, what makes your business different? Why are you different than all the other unique photographers out there? What makes you special?

If you don’t have a good answer to those questions, it’s time to think about it.

When everyone is super…

Ok, my kids like The Incredibles. So do I. My absolute favorite line is when Syndrome, the main antagonist of the story, says

…[E]veryone can be superheroes! Everyone can be super! And when everyone’s super, [laughs maniacally] no-one will be.

Everyone clamors and jockeys for position; all claiming “uniqueness”. But, everyone goes and runs the same blogs. The same advertisements. The same facebook posts. Individuality is lost. Uniqueness is lost.

Our [insert website template brand here] is unique!

Sure it is. It’s unique and special. Just like everyone else’s.

The words on the blog might be different, but that damask pattern that’s your background? Yawn. But SURELY your photo of the Bride and Groom in the tall grass with a small solar flare erupting from between their lips as they kiss.. That’s unique, right? Right!?! (Pretend I’m saying the word “right” in the same way Syndrome said “no-one will be”. The effect should be about right.)

If you want to stand out from the crowd, you need something different. You need something… You.

Younique.

Humans are social. We like people (well, we probably don’t like everyone, but, just hang with me for a moment). We like interesting things. It’s why we watch YouTube videos of people doing interesting things. It’s why we read books, watch movies, TV, and more. So, ask yourself.. How is your online presence being unique and interesting?

So, here’s my thought. Be yourself. Show me why you’re different than other photographers. Tell me about your family. Tell me about you. Quit being so afraid to not offend anyone because, frankly, you’re boring everyone.