Free to Succeed Tour, 101 in 1001 and Catchup!

I have so much blog-catchup to do, it's ridiculous! :) I have a list of things to blog sitting on my desk, and since it's so long, I'm going to put 2 of them at least together. I did want to give an update on the Free to Succeed Tour first though!



I went last Wednesday, August 6 down to the Sheraton near LAX. What an awesome experience! David Jay never ceases to amaze me, and kudos to him and his team for making the actual presentation of the material so enjoyable also.

So many of us spend HOURS upon HOURS doing editing, business related stuff, and generally sitting in front of our computers all day long. It's nice to not only reminded to CHOOSE freedom from that, but to be shown HOW to do that, without sacrificing your business, your social life, your family, or yourself to the job! Most of us got into this business because we wanted to take amazing photos and loved the glamorous thought of it all - we didn't necessarily want to spend 40+ hours a week just editing a single wedding.



After DJ took us through some basic changes to make to our workflow using various software programs (like the love of my life, Lightroom), it was the fashionably fierce Jasmine Star's turn to talk about branding.



I have to say, I think Jasmine's presentation challenged me at least as much as DJ's. Branding has been a veritable nightmare project for me and has taken more time than I thought to get the majority of my business presence in line with my message. Jasmine challenged us to really work on finding who we are, what we like and WHY we like it so that we can apply that to our companies. She also encouraged us to really think about what our individual assets and liabilities our business-wise. You can bet a post is coming soon on that... But above all, she encouraged us to K.I.R : Keep It Real. ;)

At the end of the night, I was totally amused when I saw a particular scene unfolding in the back of the room. I knew Becker was there - I saw him come in not long after I sat down, but I didn't expect him to totally hi-jack the crowd to show off his [b] school stuff. Lol.



He and DJ are good friends and actually, the [b] school is one of my addictions, so I thought it was actually kinda cool, but it made for an amusing picture.

So, this little tour date actually factors in to my 101 in 1001 list too! :) I'm WAY behind in updating my blog on it, so I'm putting a whole bunch of them in this blog. Here we go!

#1 - Print & hang recent photos in my client proofing area - DONE!



I printed out several photos, had them mounted on gator board, and put up shelving so I can rotate photos based on the client when they come in (wedding, portrait, kids, etc.). :)

#11 - Attend 2 major photography workshops - CHECK! I can officially add the Free to Succeed Tour to my previous workshop from earlier this year - Missional Photography lead by Dane Sanders, Mike Colon and Jessica Claire down at RHU. Woot!

#18 - Finalize & Implement my branding - CHECK! After figuring out MY style, going couture, redoing my website, jumping on the "life. styled" wagon, settling on a color scheme, getting new photos, redoing stationary, getting new lables and packaging, new business cards, making over my blog and printroom sites, and finally USING all of that, I can finally say that my branding is done (for now) and is in the implementation stages!

#23 - Scout for local locations - DONE! Having lived up here for a while now, I've scouted venues, and found some really cool shooting locations (like Bridgeport, Mentryville, Placerita Canyon, etc). I feel pretty good about my options. :)

#25 - Market specifically to the SCV - CHECK! I have taken out a few ads already, and have begun working with local publications as well. I also offer discount to SCV residents (or those who want to visit me up here!). I'm still undecided on the SCV Photographer's Association.

#29 - Get the client TV internet capable - CHECK! I actually used this feature at an album design session last week! It rocks!

#31 - Organize my office necessities - DONE DONE DONE! I was super excited to get this one done. I begged and pleaded with my album designer (and most likely future Studio Manager) until she came up and helped me tackle The Beast. I can now proudly say I actually know where everything is, it's organized, labeled and in proper locations. :)

#52 - Shoot the cover of a magazine - DONE. This one is way cool for me. Not only have I been able to shoot the cover for the SFV News Magazine, I am their official cover shooter - so I get to do this every month! Woot!

#53 - Figure out how to post videos to my blog - CHECK. As some of you have seen recently, I have been posting videos already so this one is no surprise.

#73 - Contribute to the marketing and photography for my church - DONE. Actually, I'm doing this for 2 churches - mine (His Way Community) and my parents church (West Valley Christian Center).

#79 - Be referred to as a "Lovecat" by another photographer - DONE. Technically. I was talking about my List with my friend and fabulous photographer Jessica Verma and she decided that she'd just call me a Lovecat so I could knock it off my list. Unfortunately, she hasn't read Tim Sanders' book, so I'm not sure I should count this one... lol.

#84 - Shoot at 1,000 Steps Beach - CHECK. I actually did this not that long ago for a family portrait shoot. ;) It was GORGEOUS and I definitely intend to use it again.

And last, but not least of my updates to the List:

#90 - Get canvas prints made - CHECK & DONE. I actually did this a while ago too, but hadn't taken a picture to show anyone. My clients and friends who have visited have already been looking at this for a while. :)



So see, I'm not a total slacker on the List. I'm just a total slacker about blogging about it. That's all for now though. More blogs coming your way this week! Including 2 weddings.

~B