by Skip Cohen It's Sunday morning, and if you've followed me for even the shortest time, you already know I'm about to jump the tracks from anything related to business! This is when I just let my fingers, heart and mind wander over the keyboard until something triggers a topic. This morning, I was looking through past purchases from Adobe Stock, and the one above hit me hard. A few recent challenges have left me living the same day twice and then some. And while I realize it's time to break the cycle, it's easier said than done. So, I went off searching for "life is too short" quotes, and Dr. Seuss came through! Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So, love the people who treat you right, forgive the ones who don't and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said it would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it. Dr. Seuss There's nothing more I want to add to this little gem except... Take the time to let those you love the most know their importance to you. Put all your regrets in a shoebox and kick it under the bed - let them live with the dust bunnies! Most important of all - everything does happen for a reason, which isn't always obvious. Accept the challenges and savor the changes in your life that make each day unique, and if the same day seems to repeat itself, then it's time to put up a detour sign and take a new route. Wishing everybody a perfect day ahead, jam-packed with smiles that give you that stupid Alfred E. Neuman "What, me worry?" look. Life is simply too short for anything else. Happy Sunday...or Monday if you're on the other side of the world.
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by Skip Cohen It's November 3, and you're down to the wire to have an impact on this year's holiday seasonality. If you have some things you're doing already, then you can stop reading. However, I'm betting many of you have a minimal amount going on and are waiting for the Marketing Fairy to sprinkle magical business dust on your doorstep. Sorry, I couldn't resist the image on the right. But if you want to meet the real Marketing Fairy, just look in the mirror. You're the only one who can find the magical fairy dust to create more excitement this holiday season. And if you're stash of ideas is running low, here are some places to start...
Last but not least, use social media to get the word out. Your blog, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (X), and even a great personalized-looking email blast have the potential to remind people of your expertise. MAKE SOME NOISE! There's still time to have an impact, but if you wait much longer, you'll be at the airport when your ship comes in! And if you're stuck for ideas, you know where to find me. by Skip Cohen For six years I wrote for Shutter Magazine. Each article was accompanied by a short video highlighting the topic. The fun of the video really was in the theme that always followed my article. And the more absurd I could be, the more likely readers would remember what I said. This particular video was for an article I wrote in 2014. It was all about your greatest marketing tool - building relationships. From pounding the pavement and knocking on doors, to partnerships and community involvement, Scott Stratten says it best, "Stop Marketing and Start Engaging!" While Unmarketing certainly isn't a new publication, it's an outstanding book. It's well worth a trip to Amazon to add it to you business library. Just click on the cover shot to the right. Meanwhile, think about every aspect of your business where you can touch a past or potential client. From how quickly you respond to questions on your website, to keeping in touch with past customers to working with other vendors, and being helpful on your blog - every contact is an opportunity to build a stronger relationship. Happy Throwback Thursday! Images copyright Mike Moats. All rights reserved. by Skip Cohen Since Tamron Recipes started, the analogy between great chefs and photographers has never slowed down on being appropriate. And, just like fine chefs have specialties in different cuisines, so do artists. Today, we're headed in a different direction from many of our past guests. Chef Mike Moats joins us for this month, and he's sharing one of my favorite cuisines - macro/closeup. With each image he captures and shares, Mike's passion for the craft takes us beyond just an interesting photograph - he's all about fine art, storytelling, and sharing a look at a part of the world most of us walk by. The name of his company/website, Tiny Landscapes, says it all. Put a camera in his hands and his favorite Tamron lens, and he'll take you on a journey into a world you missed...because you didn't look close enough! I first "met" Mike many years ago through Tamron's Image Master program. He's no stranger to sharing his work here at SCU. But even more impressive than his images is his love for the craft and education. INGREDIENTS
In today's short podcast, Mike talks about his favorite Tamron lenses, the Tamron 18-400 mm with his Nikon and the 18-300mm with his Fuji X-T30. While many artists might not think about this focal length for closeup work, Mike explains how Tamron's technology has given him the best tool for the images he loves most to capture. From online support to his live workshops throughout the year, Mike never slows down on helping photographers raise the bar on the quality of their work. His Macro Photo Club may be one of the best educational investments with a minimal one-time cost to join for a lifetime membership and access to over 270 helpful videos. Click on any of Mike's three images featured in this month's post to visit his website. And make sure you check out his galleries.
This is what I like about photographs. They're proof that once, even if just for a heartbeat, everything was perfect.* Jodi Picoult by Skip Cohen It's Halloween and what would have been my Dad's 101st birthday. But my post isn't sad, and it's not about missing him. Into his nineties, when he passed away, I used to say how lucky I was to be my age and still have my Dad around, plus enjoying all our time together. He had all his faculties right down to the wire. What today's post is about is the value of photographs. Many of you, as a result of the stress and challenges in building your skillset and business, have forgotten the treasure you provide to every client - your ability to capture their memories! Before writing today's post, I took a short walk down Throwback Lane. Old photographs of my Dad brought him back to me, even if just for a few minutes. The memories, and in turn, the stories I shared with my wife, made me smile. I could hear his laugh in the back of my mind, and one story led to another as each photo brought another memory to the surface. Here's my point - as a professional photographer, you're a magician. You can stop time. You capture intangible memories, and turn them into tangible moments that people can hold in their hands for a lifetime! That's an incredible responsibility, and it's all coming out of the trust each client puts in your skills. As we go into the 2023 holiday season, never compromise on the quality of your work. Deliver the very best to every client. Make yourself habit-forming and exceed expectations with every click of the shutter! And, oh yeah...Happy Birthday Pop - sure do miss you! *I know I've promised numerous times in the past to stop using this quote, but there isn't one better when it comes to describing the value of photographs! If you want to catch more fish, use more hooks! George Allen by Skip Cohen Every year around this time I start a series of reminders of things you should be doing to capitalize on seasonality. Today's post is modified from the SCU archives, but the point is still the same. While business has great potential all year long, it's the November/December seasonality that offers you the most potential. This was originally the seventh post in my get-ready-for-seasonality series two years ago. However, the reality is there isn't any single key to success. But there is a winning combination of publicity, products, and promotion. As we head into the close of 2023, besides all the other aspects of marketing I've been writing about, you need to be creating awareness. What good is working so hard to create the best images of your life if nobody knows who you are? Too many of you think of publicity as awareness outside your control. It's time to kill the myth. Thanks to social media and communication technology - EVERY business can control and contribute to their own awareness.
Stop waiting for that knock at your door from a reporter who wants to do a feature profile story about you and your business. Those opportunities will come, but you have to build your own awareness first! The bottom line is simple: "use more hooks!" by Skip Cohen It's Sunday, and I never write about business and marketing, but instead, I like to run amuck on just about any other topic. This morning, I started by looking at images and illustrations I've bought over the years from Adobe Stock. The first image was the one above, followed by the image below. As kids, our imaginations ran wild. We'd lie on the grass and look at the clouds, finding all kinds of hidden critters. We'd build spaceships out of refrigerator boxes, forts out of blankets draped over the dining room table, and entire scenes of great battles with a bag of army men. There was no limit to what could be accomplished in creating our own virtual world - and we did it without one single electronic device. But we got older and lazier - why create a virtual event in our mind when we could do it on the computer? And we stopped lying in the grass because of fire ants and pesticides. And refrigerator boxes for spaceships and clubhouses - NOT - If we get a large appliance delivered, the box is immediately taken away by the delivery company for recycling. But that old line about "you can never go back" just isn't true. When it comes to your imagination and daydreaming, you can always turn back the clock. All that creativity is still there, screaming for an opportunity to be cut loose. The challenge is silencing the day-in-day-out noise, keeping stress at a distance, and allowing yourself to waste a little time and ponder some of the "what-ifs" in your life.
If you need to build a spaceship out of a cardboard box - go for it! Who's stopping you? We're all victims of our own sense of propriety - we're grown-ups and supposed to act like it. Whatever happened to the spirit of Peter Pan, who lived in each of us? We said we'd never grow up, but we gave in. We sold out - Now it's time to turn back the clock a little. And there's my point - take the time to daydream. Find a way to block out all the noise, lock up all the stress, and start staring at the clouds. If necessary, build a fort or, better yet, a castle with a wide moat - pull up the drawbridge and don't let anything interrupt your creative spirit. Wishing you a day ahead with time to let your spirit fly and daydream a little. Challenge all the daily paradigms and let your creativity juices flow. Life doesn't always have to get in the way of our dreams. Take the time to appreciate the people you love the most. Go for those long therapeutic hugs I always write about and, in the process, share some of those dreams you need to get back to chasing. Happy Sunday...or Monday on the other side of the world! The business of life is the acquisition of memories! "Mr. Carson" Downton Abbey by Skip Cohen
It's Friday and I'm keeping it light - As you head into the weekend, take a minute here and there and create a special memory. If there's one thing we all realize as we get older, it's simply that life is too short. That means - stop wasting time on things that don't matter. Focus on your business when you need to, but don't forget about the face in the mirror, your family and friends. The image with today's post is a perfect example. It was captured on a sunset cruise. We recently went to Hilton Head for a few days - not because we needed a vacation, but because we wanted to catch up to friends who were there. Considering the laughs, fun and the memories we "acquired." we could have been anywhere! Wishing everybody a terrific weekend ahead and time to appreciate the things most important in your life. by Skip Cohen Hump Day thoughts are short ideas to help raise the bar on your success, especially during this upcoming holiday season. Most of you, at one time or another, have been involved in a brainstorming exercise. Most often for me, it happened in marketing meetings in my Polaroid days and later at Hasselblad USA. The whole idea is based on a small group of people doing a brain dump of ideas/solutions related to some aspect of business. There were no rules - just talking slow enough for somebody to write down the ideas - back then on a whiteboard. There was no such thing as a bad idea. The fun began once the ideas were compiled - how to enhance, combine, or boil them down into an actionable program. Here's my point - if you're stuck for promotional ideas for this holiday season or ways to kick off the new year, take the time and start writing down ideas. Don't think anything through initially - just write them down. Give yourself an hour or two in an environment without interruptions. And if you need a little help, bring in a family member, associate, or friend who knows a little about your business. You might be surprised by what comes out of a bit of brainstorming! All it takes is one idea to grow into something to impact your business. Two heads are definitely better than one and by brainstorming as a team and sourcing ideas from each other,
you have a better chance of coming up with a strategy that will allow your business to overcome a setback or challenge. Richard Branson by Skip Cohen
You've only got sixty days to make a difference in your business. And while some of the things I will suggest are definitely last-minute rushes – they can still have an impact!
This post is longer than usual and only begins to cover a few building blocks to make this year's holiday season the best. Remember, everything you do now also helps with a strong foundation for the upcoming new year. And if you're stuck for ideas - you know where to find me! Intro by Skip Cohen It's Marketing Monday, and wandering through the SCU archives, I found one of my favorite guest posts by my good buddy, Scott Bourne. As 2023 seasonality starts to ramp up, have you built a reputation for being unique? If not, then what you're offering is a commodity - the same thing everybody else promotes! And to Scott's point: You've got to be unique - not just in terms of technique and quality, but your ability to build relationships with your clients. Walt Disney may have said it best: To be successful you must be unique, you must be so different that if people want what you have, they must come to you to get it. by Scott Bourne I've written lots and lots and lots about selling photography. The other day someone asked me, to forget the books and long blog posts and seminars I've taught and sum up the key to successful photography marketing in three words or less. I am proud to say I was able to do it in two. Uniqueness and Value Those are the two words I want you to concentrate on when you're trying to build your photography business. These are the ONLY things that matter when it comes to marketing. Not your logo, or which award you've won, or which association you join, but whether or not your photography company is unique and offers real value. Ask yourself... Is what you do unique? Is it something that people want and need? Is your photography truly valuable?
If you answer "No" to either question then you are going to have an extremely difficult time surviving, let alone thriving in the photography business. Because at the end of the day, if you aren't unique you are a commodity. And if you're a commodity, then you will get your butt beaten working long hours for VERY little money. If your products aren't valuable, then no matter what price you charge, you'll always struggle. A car with no engine is not a good deal for the average person. The average person can't build an engine, install it and drive away. So no matter how low the price, the car with no engine has no value. You have to find ways to bring value to your clients. If you do that, then price isn't an issue. And price is what this post is really about. You see, if you are unique, you can charge a higher price - but only if somebody wants the unique thing you have. If you are NOT unique, then you will always be competing on price. If you are on the other hand, valuable, but not unique, nobody will see the value. This is an ethereal concept but try to dig into it. Make a list of how you are truly different from your competitors. Then make a list of how you bring value to your customers. What's your USP (unique selling point?) What's your value proposition? (How does your product match up with the needs, beliefs, feelings and desires of your prospects.) When you can answer these questions, you can move forward and thrive. Almost everything will work if you unplug it for a few minutes...including you. Anne Lamott by Skip Cohen
It's Reflections time, and as usual, I never focus on business and marketing topics. However, today's post is closer to a business necessity - taking a break. We spent last week in Hilton Head, SC, with friends, and except for United Airlines challenges, it was a pretty sweet week. As I put the collage of highlight photos together this morning, I was reminded of those first back-to-school "What I did on my summer vacation" projects. As we got older, we were expected to be more astute about our time off. I'm unsure when those assignments stopped, but I know I was NEVER astute. Well, here I am decades later, and my ability to be astute couldn't be more on target. It's a simple observation - What good is working as hard as we all do if we don't take time off to smell the roses? Sheila and I rationalize a lot - because we live in a vacation destination. There's not as much need to get away. Watching a beautiful sunset over the water, we'll often look at each other and say, "Hey, it's not our last night!" We both feel blessed to live where we do, but we need to get away more - plus, my camera or phone seems only to come out when we are out of town. Then there's the challenge of finding time with great friends - too often, life gets in the way. Here's my point: Take the time off whether you need it or not. It doesn't have to be a bucket list vacation, just time with people you care about in a different environment. And remember to capture a few memory-making shots or videos along the way. Wishing you a Sunday to make some memories. Capture them with your phone or camera so you can stop time and look back in the future. Go for those long therapeutic hugs with the people you love the most, and simply cherish time - because there's never enough of it. And to our friends Wendy and Chip - what a kick to get away with you guys! Happy Sunday...or Monday on the other side of the world. Image copyright Cindy Harter Sims. All rights reserved. by Skip Cohen When you've been blogging for a long time another aspect of Throwback Thursday is digging through your archives and "mining" for older posts. As I wandered through my archives this image from Cindy Harter Sims came up. It's one of my favorites from the "Why?" series which featured the works of over 125 artists. So, the original post below was in 2016 and the first post featuring Cindy's story was 2013. Today, she's one of the most accomplished professional photographers in the industry. Five minutes with Cindy and you feel like you've known her your whole life! Happy Throwback Thursday! "Why?" is about images, artists and backstories. It's about artists who need to be on your radar.
I'm betting many of you don't know Cindy Harter Sims. She's not typically on the speaking circuit, but she's always at the key conventions. Besides having become an outstanding artist, what I enjoy most about Cindy is her focus on building her skill set. She never slows down! Cindy was the music teacher in a Georgia school for many years and decided she wanted to be a professional photographer. She took classes, practiced for endless hours, and then in 2011, after five years of saving and planning, opened her studio. She's never strayed from building her skill set and in the process has worked with some of the finest artists and educators in our industry. Cindy is all about quality - in her images, business, relationships with clients, the community and her friends. Check out Cindy's 2013 guest post on how she got started. In regards to the portrait above, in an IM she wrote to me: "I get pretty emotionally attached to my work. This print is my whole heart. I have been feeling the urge to make a portrait of my father for a while...I wanted to recreate that scene as if to live it once more." To see more of Cindy's work, just click on her image. If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together. African Proverb by Skip Cohen Over the years, I've written and talked a lot about establishing a networking luncheon meeting in your community. It's the perfect way to build relationships with other vendors and, in turn, create more business. This is relationship building at its very best. Let's use a wedding photographer as an example, simply because it's so easy to understand the other vendors.
All of you have the same target audience: bridal clients. Getting to know each other and building relationships is vital to building your brand and, in turn, a more robust business. Speaking of relationship-building - pick up a copy of Scott Stratten's book Unmarketing. It's an easy read and outstanding for planting the seeds of ideas to help you build a stronger business. The subtitle says it all... "Stop Marketing, Start Engaging." Nothing will help build a stronger business better than relationship building. And as I've written in the past, partnerships also reduce your cost and expand your reach. A networking luncheon, pulled together by you, supports the leadership position you want to establish and is almost unlimited in the potential for new ideas to work together in your community. Happy Hump Day! Twenty years from now, you'll be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. Mark Twain I'm proud to be a contributor to the Marathon Press blog, along with a number of other members of the imaging community. I shared this post a while back, and it's so relevant. It's a quick post starting with the hope that you let that quote from Mark Twain sink in a little. It makes sense to take time here and there to ponder and think about things you want to do to grow your business and your skill set as an artist. This is where it might be time to build your business bucket list! I love the concept, but so many of us have it all in our heads rather than written down. When you write things down, they become more real. We all have things we hope to do someday, but we rarely consider business goals beyond growing the business, increasing revenue, etc. So, regardless of how absurd or extravagant ideas might seem today, writing them down moves them out of "wish" mode and closer to reality. On the personal side of "no regrets," my old buddy Duncan MacNab told us a week before he passed away, "I have no regrets. I did it all when I was younger." Life is too short - don't wait to chase your dreams. Go for it! Kick back a little and think about things you want to do to build your business and expand your creativity. There are no rules and no guidelines: explore, dream, and discover. Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude. Zig Ziglar by Skip Cohen
A few years back, I started a series of reminders to help you set the stage for holiday seasonality. I'm bringing back a few of my favorites. My goal is to help you build a better foundation to finish 2023 with great sales. There's one ingredient that tops the list and sets the stage for EVERYTHING you do in marketing, brand-building, and promotion - your ATTITUDE! When I was in junior high, the basketball coach had a sign in his office, much like the Zig Ziglar quote above: Winning is 80% motivation and only 20% skill! Seasonality is already ramping up. But there's still time to capture and create more business for 2023; it all starts with your attitude. Here are some things to consider:
I'm not minimizing how tricky business is these days. However, with the renewed sense of family that came out of the pandemic, you have so many opportunities to capture more business. Remember, you can't create images that tug at people's heartstrings if your own heart isn't in it! And, if you're overwhelmed and don't know what you can still do, you know where to find me! by Skip Cohen I've been MIA on Sunday Morning Reflections for the last couple of Sundays. The challenge was nothing major, just life getting in the way. I suppose it's good to be so busy your regular routine gets interrupted. On the other hand, SMR has always been a labor of love, and as I sat here trying to get started this morning, I started thinking about my dreams and aspirations. There's something that happens to your dreams as you get older - you become more selective. It's a lifeboat drill to see which dreams are still on point and those that need to be retired. While this might sound a little sad, it's not because your dreams aren't achievable, they just become more in focus. It's like pruning the roses I'm trying to grow - cutting back old growth creates the energy and path for new flowers. And here's my point - stay focused on your dreams. Modify them as needed, but don't let them go. Nothing is unachievable. It's just the timing that changes. Patience becomes a more significant resource, and those dreams that are still out of reach become more defined. The longer you keep them in focus, the more alternative routes you'll find to get there. So, I'll continue to live by my mantra... I do it because I can. I can because I want to. I want to because you told me I couldn't! Wishing you a day ahead that allows you time to focus on a dream or two. Go for those eleven-second hugs I've always written about with the people who mean the most to you. They're the ones who will help you achieve your dreams.
Happy Sunday...or Monday on the other side of the world. by Skip Cohen I catch up with a lot of photographers every day, both directly and in the various forums, primarily on Facebook. In addition, I recently did a 90-minute presentation at the online Hair of the Dog Summit. Looking at so many of the questions I've seen being asked, so many artists seem to be caught in analysis paralysis. Too many of you seem caught up in so many different aspects of your business that you've stalled on making decisions. Eventually, you'll miss the opportunities, spending so much time overthinking your goals that the potential for success evaporates. It's like freezer burn on that bag of shrimp I forgot about that was frozen for far too long. Sure, they were still edible, but they're sure weren't as good. Stop overthinking ideas you know in your heart are right. And don't "should" on yourself if they don't work out as good as you had hoped. When something is underwhelming, step back, take a long look at what you did, and then revise your game plan. The bottom line? Stop overthinking! I'm not suggesting you attack your business without a plan; just recognize when you no longer need more opinions or time to ponder. Many years ago, I heard my good buddy Matthew Jordan Smith tell a story about his images when he first started. He'd share his work with everybody to get their opinion until he finally realized he had to listen to his own heart. He had to decide for himself what made a great photograph. It wasn't only about his technique, but understanding and building a relationship with each client. We're getting down to the wire on implementing creative programs for the holiday season. Don't let time pass you by because of analysis paralysis. You know how to focus your camera - now it's time to focus on your business and your target audience. You only regret the things you don't do!
Author Unknown by Skip Cohen I know I shared parts of this throwback many years ago, but not much of the backstory. It's such a classic. I was president of Hasselblad USA from 1987 - 1999, and early in 1988, we got a call from Cubby Broccoli's studio. They were looking for gear that "Q" could use to build a unique gun for James Bond in License to Kill. With help from Carl Claesson, then Hasselblad USA's Service Manager, and Don Snyder, Camera Repair Supervisor, we donated a beyond-repair camera body, magazine, and prism finder. "Q" had what he needed, adding other photographic gear to create the gun. If I remember correctly, the barrel or stock was a carbon-fiber Gitzo tripod leg. But my favorite part of this throwback story came just after the film had been released. At a Hasselblad press conference in NYC, introducing whatever was the newest camera at the time, we chose to kick off the event and showed the gun, then on loan to us. It took every ounce of control I had not to laugh as I seriously announced Hasselblad's entrance into military weapons and being awarded a government contract. Taking the A-12 magazine off the camera, I showed it was loaded with six large caliber high-velocity rounds. I was doing great until I made eye contact with my good buddy, Bob Panarella. Sitting right in front of him was one of the journalists furiously taking notes. That was it - I cracked, along with Bob and most of the audience. You can find anything on YouTube. With almost no effort, I found the clip from the film where "Q" shows Bond the new weapon. (The Hasselblad gun comes out around 1:30.) Happy Throwback Thursday! by Skip Cohen
I started this "Hump Day" series just for the fun of it. I'm not looking to share anything complex but to give you something to consider that you might have missed or forgotten about. As I've written about before, Sheila and I share something inspirational, every morning after breakfast. Yesterday's reading from Emily Silva was so on point: "In silence, we can hear our intuition speak. But it can be difficult to find silence in the age of hyperconnectivity. We must find the time to unplug and create silence at least once a day...A change happens when we learn to access stillness...In stillness we find our balance." Most of us get so busy we rarely search out silence until the damage from the "noise" in our lives is already well underway. Find a moment today and kick back and chill. Walk away from everything and appreciate the silence. This is one of the shortest posts I've ever shared, but there's nothing more that needs to be said. Happy Hump Day! |
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