The Future

As promised, here is my long awaited "look to the future" post. As I said earlier things have been going very well, I feel as if I am making progress, I am learning A TON, about business, photography and myself. Overall I am very happy with every step that I have taken. I am also extremely excited about what lies ahead, I have had a lot of fun learning and beginning to build this business. It has reinforced the fact that I know I want to own my own business, I want to be self-employed. I want to create my own good fortune, I want to be accountable to myself and I want to do things my way. Those things are so appealing to me, whether it is a photography business, buying real estate, or any other business that I (and Jess, and Fitzy, and whoever) can think of.

As far as the photography goes I believe that the future is looking very bright. I have two more weddings for sure this year, and I know of a few senior pictures that I will be able to do. More importantly I am starting to get a handle on my workflow, especially after the wedding. As you can imagine having to take 2000 pictures and turn them into albums can be time consuming, but the more efficient those things get, the better my business will run. We are very excited about going to Las Vegas for the WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International) convention in March. There is going to be a wealth of knowledge there, we will have the opportunity to interact with other photographers, and learn what some of the new trends are in the industry. Plus its a business trip, so thats cool.

Jess and I have decided that it is time for a new website, a professional one, that will have much more visual appeal, and hopefully draw in more clients. I hope that it will be up and running in about a month.

I have been reading a great book entitled "Marketing without Advertising." It discusses how traditional advertising is a waste of money for small businesses, it talks about ways to make your business better, and in turn make your customers happier.

There are still many things that I need to work on. One of the most difficult things has been to change my mindset from a typical 9-5 mentality. It is at times hard to stay motivated, there have been some days where I watched more TV than I should have, or maybe my lunch "break" was a bit longer than it needed to be. There have definitely been unproductive days, but the majority of my time has been spent working towards a goal. I am beginning to get more comfortable on the phone, and calling people from a "leads" list. It is one of the jobs that ends up getting postponed longer than it should.

It has been interesting because I definitely need to have a long-term focus, a five year plan, but at the same time I need to stay focused on my everyday activities. It is the first "job" where I feel that my talents are being utilized, and that I'm not just another body. All things considered I am very happy with where I am, I am very happy with where I am going, and I am excited everyday.