18 Oct Getting Involved
Before I begin, I should say that while I am a professional photographer, I am not an expert at how everyone should run their business. I only know what my goals are and how things work for me when I implement them. Starting a business is scary, exciting, exhilarating, and frustrating all at the same time. I personally looked at running a business as something that I could do easily. I failed, initially, to calculate in how much of my time would be working with clients and running a business versus how little time (in the grand scheme of things) would actually be spent photographing children, babies, weddings, and engagements.
Now that I am over a year into this, my viewpoint has changed drastically and I actually enjoy the business side just as much as actually photographing everyone. It’s a huge challenge to me – something that is a little foreign and unknown, but I want to crack it and understand it completely. It’s something I want to conquer and know how to do extremely well.
… which is probably why I spend so much time reading business books, attending workshops, and going to events like the one I went to yesterday. Two of my good friends forwarded me an email and said, “We think you should go to this.” It was for women only. More specifically for female entrepreneurs who own small businesses. I didn’t even read the rest of the email (until later) before I signed up to attend.
I walked into the room on the 17th floor of the Hyatt a little intimidated. Sure I’m a business owner, but I’m just a speck of dust in comparison to all of the powerhouse women that exist in this world. I couldn’t muster the courage to join a table where women were already gabbing away. Instead, I decided to take a seat at an empty table and soon after was joined by another young lady. Our table quickly filled up with women who had been in business for merely a month to two and a half years to thirty five years. Our occupations were so widespread. It was fascinating to hear about their businesses and their journeys.
I think that’s when it hit me. I was there for a very specific reason. To be encouraged and built up. To be shown that with enough dedication, passion, heart, effort, and business sense, I could turn Magan’s Lens into something pretty darn incredible. I also realized this… andlisten up (especially if you’re a new business owner or want to be)…
Sometimes I get so caught up in networking with people in my own industry, I forget that other industries exist. Somehow, everything revolves around photography. Printers. Album makers. Other photographers. Wedding planners. Caterers. Bakers. Prop manufacturers. Don’t get me wrong – all of those things matter. Networking with other photographers matter. It’s a beautiful thing to have a support and referral system. However, ponder this. What can we do to branch out to help and assist those other industries? How can what I do better what someone else does? And furthermore, how can their experiences and knowledge help me grow? What advice can I share with them to make something easier/simpler/less strenuous for them?
So there I sat in our little conference room. All of this coming into full focus for me (I promise I don’t intend to use photography puns.) I had heard most of what the panel of speakers talked about yesterday. I had a pretty decent basis of information, but the biggest thing I realized is…I need to get out of my little bubble and figure out how I can volunteer and service other segments of my community.
To those of you that are already there and realized this: How do you serve and volunteer? How do you network with non-photographers? Please leave comments below! To those of you who are in need of doing this…let’s make it happen.
Now that I am over a year into this, my viewpoint has changed drastically and I actually enjoy the business side just as much as actually photographing everyone. It’s a huge challenge to me – something that is a little foreign and unknown, but I want to crack it and understand it completely. It’s something I want to conquer and know how to do extremely well.
… which is probably why I spend so much time reading business books, attending workshops, and going to events like the one I went to yesterday. Two of my good friends forwarded me an email and said, “We think you should go to this.” It was for women only. More specifically for female entrepreneurs who own small businesses. I didn’t even read the rest of the email (until later) before I signed up to attend.
I walked into the room on the 17th floor of the Hyatt a little intimidated. Sure I’m a business owner, but I’m just a speck of dust in comparison to all of the powerhouse women that exist in this world. I couldn’t muster the courage to join a table where women were already gabbing away. Instead, I decided to take a seat at an empty table and soon after was joined by another young lady. Our table quickly filled up with women who had been in business for merely a month to two and a half years to thirty five years. Our occupations were so widespread. It was fascinating to hear about their businesses and their journeys.
I think that’s when it hit me. I was there for a very specific reason. To be encouraged and built up. To be shown that with enough dedication, passion, heart, effort, and business sense, I could turn Magan’s Lens into something pretty darn incredible. I also realized this… andlisten up (especially if you’re a new business owner or want to be)…
Sometimes I get so caught up in networking with people in my own industry, I forget that other industries exist. Somehow, everything revolves around photography. Printers. Album makers. Other photographers. Wedding planners. Caterers. Bakers. Prop manufacturers. Don’t get me wrong – all of those things matter. Networking with other photographers matter. It’s a beautiful thing to have a support and referral system. However, ponder this. What can we do to branch out to help and assist those other industries? How can what I do better what someone else does? And furthermore, how can their experiences and knowledge help me grow? What advice can I share with them to make something easier/simpler/less strenuous for them?
So there I sat in our little conference room. All of this coming into full focus for me (I promise I don’t intend to use photography puns.) I had heard most of what the panel of speakers talked about yesterday. I had a pretty decent basis of information, but the biggest thing I realized is…I need to get out of my little bubble and figure out how I can volunteer and service other segments of my community.
To those of you that are already there and realized this: How do you serve and volunteer? How do you network with non-photographers? Please leave comments below! To those of you who are in need of doing this…let’s make it happen.
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