But before I get into that, I got an Instagram message from someone who wanted to know if I wanted to grow [hey.. that rhymes.. know.. grow..] my social media following. Well.. no. I mean… it’s nice when people follow me. But I want to grow my business and it’s not social media. I can see where it would be easy to lose track and confuse the two. I mean, unless your business IS primarily social media, why would that be the goal? I want my social to grow because I’m rocking my business. Not the other way around.
But I digress. Motivational videos. It seems that most or all of them talk about setting goals… long term and short term. Long term, I want to be the best headshot photographer in the Southeast. Short term, I want to be able to pay the rent on the studio. Somewhere in the middle is a bigger studio that has big south-facing windows for natural light. I love the space I’m in now. But I like to imagine it as the kind of space that Apple started out in. Nothing flashy at all. Some may use words like “gloomy”. But with lots of magic happening inside. Still, I’d like something a little more upscale someday. The best headshot photographer in the southeast should have nice digs.
Many of these obscenely successful and wealthy people stress the importance of seeing your goals. Visualizing them in detail. You have to know what you want. I know Peter hurley did this. He was shooting out of his apartment and could literally see the building he wanted to move into. A few years later, the opportunity came to him.
I found myself looking for the ideal space yesterday. Can I afford it? Well, as one of those multi-millionaires said, it’s not about if I can afford it but how can I afford it. I think the next step is breaking that “how” down into smaller pieces. I need to get more clients. Where do I find those clients? What do I need to do to reach them? What further skills do I need to “wow” them? Now.. for my realtor friends out there, don’t start dialing the phone quite yet. I haven’t answered any of the other questions yet. I’ll reach out to you when it’s time. But now I know what I’m working toward. I have a goal and the next studio is going to be gorgeous.
The other, more immediate, goal I’ve been working toward is getting this Peter Hurley Associate status. For him to attach his name to your work, it has to be on point. So the vetting process of your portfolio is pretty stringent according to Peter. I’m still working on it. The last time I got reviewed, I went in with 30+ photos and 8 were accepted. I need 15. Now, 8 is quite good. But it’s not 15. So I’ve been adding more headshots and I shoot them. I’m back up to 28 or so. The only thing that worries me at this point is that it’s not unheard of for Peter to approve a photo in one review and trash it in the next. That may sound random and kinda unfair but.. it’s his name, his program and his sandbox. That’s life. All you can do is the best you can do. But through this process, people reach a level of awesome and that’s the whole goal.
I had a couple of really good shoots over the past week. People loved their photos and that’s a win all around. Next week is going to be awesome.. and a chance to move closer to moving into that new, amazing space. ;-)
- Chris
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