Part One: The Importance of Practice

This post is the first part of a mini-series about what you should be focusing on during your first year of photography business.

When you are starting a photography business, the best thing you can do for yourself is to practice. If you love photography you probably have a hard time putting your camera down anyways, so it shouldn't be too hard. 

It will take a long time to really know what you're doing and feel comfortable doing it. I know you just read that sentence and understood, but I want you to read it again. It will take a long time to really know what you're doing and feel comfortable doing it. I'm emphasizing this because that time in between where you know what you want and when you get it can feel like suffering. It feels like it's never going to come. But it does. It just takes practice. 

I cried the first time I ever watched this video, the man spoke directly to my heart and put me at ease. I never knew anyone else had felt the way I did everyday. Listen to the quote and be encouraged!

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

I share this with all of my friends who are starting out in photography. If you don't know what this guy is talking about, and you think your work is awesome all the time. Then you probably don't have the good taste he's referring to. It takes most of years for our work to match our taste.

This is a photo from the first family portrait session I ever did in 2009. They were mutual friends and since it was my first session I offered to do it for free. I was terrified and I had no idea how to pose them. Even though, in my mind, the pictures turned out horribly, the mother was still grateful and gave me a sweet present in return since it was around Christmas. Did I have good taste and know what I wanted in 2009? Absolutely. But without practice I had not gotten there. 

Fast forward about 9 months to another family photo session. It's worth mentioning also that in the first shoot I was using a Canon Rebel XT and a kit lens, and in this one I had purchased a 5D Mk II and a 24-70L f/2.8. More important than my upgrade in equipment though was the practice I had been doing throughout the year and the research I did on posing families. I memorized a few poses to be able to turn to during the shoot. These were also really close friends, practically family, so that helped create a natural flow.

I was a lot happier with this shoot, and I was proud to give them their photos. While I got some nice portraits of them I knew that I wanted to take more photos that were unique and different, something they couldn't get from anyone else. I was still disappointed at this point that my taste wasn't matching up with my work. 

This brings us to our session last fall in 2011, with my cousin and her beautiful family. After years of practicing I felt comfortable and confident going into this session. Together Charlie and I shot dozens of images that I would be proud to show anyone. And finally, I feel like my work is starting to catch up with my taste. 

You're never done improving, even after you start your business, even after you shoot dozens of sessions, even now, we will never stop getting better. With constant practice you will grow. Critique yourself, but don't be too harsh. Identify trends in your work that you like and that you want to see change, and then stay conscious of them while you are shooting.

As always, send any questions or comments my way.

Love,
Sara

Have Heart Photography

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What's your specialty?

When you are starting your own business in a saturated market, it can feel like you're never going to match up with other long-established businesses that are doing the same thing that you do.

The number one reason I believe small businesses fail comes down to two words: competitive differentiation. This is essentially what makes your business different from your competition. To have competitive differentiation you have to have a niche, a specialty.

If you were to ask someone why they buy coffee from Starbucks, they are likely to tell you that no matter where they go, they can count on their drink to taste consistent. That from Seattle to New York, and everywhere in between, your "two pump, stirred, no-whip, mocha" should taste the same. Starbucks designs their branding and stores to reflect this consistent, "coffee house" specialty. No matter where I'm at, the stores always look pretty much the same, all the way down to the barista's uniform.

By heavily marketing themselves as a consistent chain, Starbucks knows that they are shutting out the customers who prefer a more local, personal cafe. But Starbucks knows that you can't be everything. You have to choose your niche, and make it your identity. 

Businesses that lack a specialty are afraid to committing their identity to one thing in fear of losing money. These businesses remain vague, and people walking by aren't able to identify what the business is "about", so they move on.

I worked at a Starbucks store in a mall for years. Another coffee shop opened up on the other side of the mall, they sold coffee and smoothies and tea and juice and red bull and muffins and cake and sandwiches and panini's and salads. Even though they served so much food the interior didn't feel like a restaurant, it felt like a combination of a bookstore and a cafe, it had carpet and a fire place... it was weird. The identity of the business was vague. The ladies who worked their weren't experts in making coffee or panini's or salads, they had to do a little bit of everything. If I was in the mall and wanted a great sandwich and cup of coffee, I would go to Subway and Starbucks. If I wanted an okay sandwich and cup of coffee, I would go to this place.

I was not surprised last year when the cafe closed down. Their lack of identity, presence, and differentiation made them vague and undesirable.

When you're starting your business, you have to ask yourself, "What makes me different? What makes my business special? Why would people choose me instead of the competition?" Highlight the answers to these questions in your advertising and don't be afraid to cut out the area's of your business that don't.

To give a personal example, there is a fantastic photography studio in our area who is great at what they do. In the few years they've been open, they have had amazing success. If people are looking for studio photography, I don't have a problem highly recommending them, because that's not what Charlie and I do. To differentiate our business from theirs, I focused on what we do great, such as finding unique locations for every portrait session and including all the digital files in our packages, which is not something that every photography business offers.

Make a list of some things that you think your business is awesome at. It may be different from what your competition is doing, and that's okay. Don't shy away from something just because it's not the norm. Make another list of things you feel like you have been doing without even giving a lot of thought to, just because it's what everyone else is doing. Narrow down your speciality, and capitalize on it!

I want to hear your questions or fears about this, so please comment!

Love,
Sara

Have Heart Photography

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Welcome to my brand new blog

(This paragraph might seem a little vain, but please bare with me). Over the years I've felt called to entrepreneurship. I have always been a natural leader and planner. I'm not afraid to take risks, I'm not afraid to fail, and most importantly, I insist on succeeding. The latter is both a blessing and a curse, sometimes I don't know when to calm down and just be patient. I love managing everything. People, money, projects, it's just what I've always done. I also love learning about the ins and outs of marketing and advertising (no, they're not the same thing). Charlie and I will often go into a small business establishment and he'll have to listen to me breakdown all the ways the owner is failing to competitively differentiate their business. Again, sometimes this is a curse, like when Charlie just wants to eat his ice cream in peace.

Now I also have many things I'm not so good at, like doing my homework and taking tests. But I'm in school nonetheless. This is the logical side of my personality forcing myself to finish school because it's the smart thing to do, even though the other side of my brain is reminding me that school isn't for everyone. When it comes to learning about business or photography, however, you can't pull me away from the computer. I do a lot of reading and learning online, through other photographers and creative professionals, and I soak up everything like a sponge.

But overall, one of my favorite parts about owning my own business is learning personal lessons over time. The things that you can't teach someone from a book. There are deep, emotional struggles that come with not only owning your own business, but a creative business; one that is selling your art or your services to the world. Some businesses don't have a huge emotional aspect to them. "You want this candy bar?" "No, thanks." No hurt feelings.

So I have decided to start this blog to inspire other people who are starting a business, especially a creative one, or who are within their first few years. I will write about personal lessons I have learned so far, strategies that have succeeded and failed, marketing tactics I think are being overlooked, and how to succeed at being fearless, shameless, and insisting on yourself. The overall theme of my posts will be to insist on success. Insist on moving forward. No one is going to help you or hand anything to you, you must insist on succeeding.

So as I write, I want to hear from others. Please comment, ask questions, e-mail me. I want to connect with the other people out there who are walking the same path in life.

Love,
Sara

Have Heart Photography
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