Are you in the parade or on the sidelines?

For years I've been commenting on the importance of being involved in the industry and saying, "You can be in the parade or on the sidelines and watch it go by!"  Little did I know that Mike Ditka had a similar quote...

"If you're not in the parade, you watch the parade. That's life."
Mike Ditka

This is a short and very to the point post this morning. Let's talk about how you can be in the parade. First, you need to define "parade", which might just be limited to your own local market.  For example, I've had a few blog posts go viral, which for our industry I define as anything over 5,000 reads. I don't have a dog who can skateboard and is going to get a million hits on YouTube. However, several NILMDTS posts went even higher than 5K, going over 10,000 reads. Within our "world", the photographic industry, that's an amazing number.

Let's get you into your own parade...

• Get involved in a non-profit in your community, so you can start building a reputation for giving back.
  
• Be consistent with posting on your blog - at least twice a week.
  
• Be helpful with the content you post.
  
• Join the local guild, camera club, etc. This is about getting time with your peers and working together with your competitors to strengthen your market.
  
• Attend as many workshops as you can to keep building your skill set.
  
• Never compromise on the quality of an image.
  
• Make Customer Service a significant part of your business.
  
• Attend as many of the regional and national photographic conventions as you can.
  
• Don't just build your network, but maintain it by staying in touch with the people in it.
  

It's all about building brand awareness and making yourself something more than just a photographer. Build your reputation on a solid foundation and pay attention to developing your skill set and you'll be in the parade instead of watching it go by!

PS - Those three images are from the DragonCon parade last September in Atlanta.