Stay Focused - There is No Other Choice

We may be disappointed if we fail, but we are doomed if we don't try.
Beverly Sills

by Skip Cohen

It's the perfect quote for a common challenge I've been hearing a lot lately - apathy from small business owners who have decided to give up. They blame all the difficulties in their business on everything and everyone except the face in the mirror! Rather than accept the difficulties in business today, or even their own mistakes, it's always somebody else's fault.

I'm not suggesting that owning/running a business is easy, but as imaging artists the demand for capturing memories has never slowed down. In fact, the more bizarre and difficult the world is, the more important and poignant moments of love, friendship, celebration, and respect become. And in spite of everything that AI can do, it still takes an artist to tell the story!

Speaking of stories - here's a throwback sidebar. Going back to the late 80s, Stanley Sills was one of the key publishers in the photographic industry. At an industry dinner around 1988, my parents joined us at an ADL dinner in NYC. During the cocktail hour, I introduced my folks to a number of friends in the industry, including Stanley Sills.

My mother, when introduced to him, commented, "We have a friend in Cleveland, who's pretty famous, Beverly Sills. Do you know her?" Stanley smiled and said, "Yes, she's my sister!" My mother said something like, "We haven't seen her in a long time. I hope she's well." Then, Mom couldn't get away from him fast enough! My mother had been caught name-dropping. I don't think I ever heard her do it again. LOL

My mother didn't know Beverly Sills. And for those of you too young to know who she was: Beverly Sills was an American operatic soprano whose career peak was between the 1950s and 1970s. (Google) She had won a Grammy, an Emmy, and was a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1985, among other awards.

Back to the point of today's post - failure is not an option as long as you learn from your mistakes and change your course of action. But it's so true that you're doomed if you don't continue to try. So, when you get to those points where you just want to give up, use your network! Stop thinking you have to solve every problem by yourself.

We're an industry of people who care about each other and watch each other's backs. And while technology will never slow down, neither will the need for people to capture memories. Imaging artists are the magicians who turn intangible moments into tangible images people can hold and share for a lifetime. 

Most people give up just when they're about to achieve success.
They quit on the one yard line.
They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown.
Ross Perot

Wishing everybody a terrific weekend ahead!