Struggle, Dream and Believe - with a little help from Matthew Jordan Smith

The design of Matthew Jordan Smith's site completely matches his personality, his relationships and the way he's built his business. This is all about integrity, simplicity and never compromising on the quality of your images.

Part of this post is from a guest post my good buddy, Matthew Jordan Smith wrote a couple of years ago. I ran across it recently and having just spent time with him at WPPI, it got me thinking about Matthew's secret to success. You know, the one that everybody thinks icons had, to get them where they are today. LOL

There are no secrets - at least none that Matthew hasn't shared over and over again. Success is all about hard work, passion, integrity, your skill set, passion, networking, marketing and oh yeah, passion! You can't build a business and create images that tug at people's hearts if your heart's not in it. If you've met Matthew then you already know his passion for imaging - his heart is definitely in EVERYTHING he does, including his friendships.

Matthew's website is a prime example of how he does business. In fact, it was several years ago I was picking on him because his website didn't come close to representing who he was or how great his images were. I introduced him to the crew from SmugMug and they built his site. What he has today was a cooperative effort between designers and client. He didn't just sit back and let them build something, but participated each step of the way.

I've heard Matthew speak several times and I'm always in awe of his humility and his ability to hit home on so many different issues totally outside photography. His most recent project "Future Presidents" is all about dreams, in this case the aspirations of kids to someday become president.

I hope you get as much out of these next few paragraphs from Matthew as I did. Even when life gets in the way, nothing should ever trump your dreams.
 
This morning I am excited for the future.  Dreaming is important, but to dream alone is not enough. We must act!  I absolutely believe that the universe should test us to see how badly we want our dreams.

I start my day by being thankful for my health first and for my struggles and my success.  I am thankful for my dreams and being able to share my thoughts on dreaming big with the world.  Success does not come overnight and it's not supposed to.  There is a price for everything and sometimes that price is your struggle.  Once you understand that your struggles are payment for your success you accept it easier and sometimes with a smile.

This morning my step-son woke up upset over a small problem.  To him it was a huge problem and he couldn't see past it.  I explained to him that in life things rarely go as planned, but when you come across a problem you must not lose time being angry, but put your energy into finding a solution.  He left for school with a different attitude and I was happy to have shared this lesson that we all must be cognizant of as we face life's challenges.

Always Dream Big! Matthew Jordan Smith