As the wedding season is ending and as all of our years are winding down, it’s important to take some time and focus back on our business!!
Today’s tips and tricks blog is about one of our favorite topics… business!! 
It’s important to be skilled at your craft but we like to say, 95% percent of running a successful photography business is not about photography… it’s about business!
So, can anyone guess what the top two emerging technologies in the world are today? The answer is……
…cell phones (4 billion sold in 2009. Yes, BILLION!) and digital cameras (which includes the DSLR pro cameras).
So, guess how many brand new photographers are out there shooting weddings, families, babies and so on? TONS!! With a sea of new photographers flooding the market, launching their new websites and starting businesses left and right, how in the world do YOU stand out from the crowd and what can you do that makes you different? If you think that you can simply create a great product (like really nice images) and offer them at a competitive price, and do a really good job for you clients, then your business will probably be over before it begins.
So what can we do to stand out and be different? Let’s read a few quotes from best-selling author Seth Godin:
“The opposite of remarkable is ‘very good.’ Are you making ‘very good’ stuff? If so, how fast can you stop!”
“Services that are worth talking about get talked about.”
“If your business is remarkable, it’s likely that some people won’t like you. That’s part of the definition of remarkable. Nobody gets unanimous praise – ever. The best the timid can hope for is to be unnoticed. Criticism comes to those who stand out.”
WOW! Seth is saying that with this much competition out there, you can’t simply do something that is really good in business, but rather, you have to ONLY do things that are remarkable. Stop wasting time on a decent blog, turning your images around in a decent time, offering your clients decent products and decent service. You must only, to the best of your ability, give your clients something that is truly remarkable. So, what exactly is that? That is what you have to figure out.
The rocks you see above are one of the best known icons of Kangaroo island in Australia. People come from all over the world to see these rocks. Know why? Is it because they look like rocks that you see in your back yard? No, it is because they are truly remarkable.
If every photographer does X in their business, then you should probably do Y. Get me? If every photographer never gets photos to wedding planners after the wedding, then you should ALWAYS get photos to the wedding planner after the wedding. If every photographer treats their clients like clients, then you should treat them like family. Find out what the norm is and do the exact opposite, even if some other people don’t seem to like everything that you do. Do that, and that will make your business truly remarkable.
