I did it. I told people. Me doing the whole professional photography thing is out there.
So remember how I told you that at the beginning of the year I chose a word – a word that I could revisit again & again to keep me motivated & productive? “Do”
Well, I did & it was… the scariest sh*t, ever. Putting yourself out there for people to judge your art, judge your decision, & just judge judge judge is a frightening thing. But you know what happened right after I announced? A gigantic wave of support, love, excitement, shock, & awe crashed all over me via comments, texts, private messages, and can you believe it… actual phone calls!
How did I announce?
Well, I planned my announcement out. I actually called it my “launch”… sometimes I would say “going live”. I dreamt about it for months. I wanted to come out with a BANG! I have noticed that some of my friends online would start a business & the only way anyone ever found out about it was by them sending out an invite to “like” their business page on Facebook. I’m not knocking how other people decide to launch their businesses, but as a person looking in from the outside, it didn’t capture my interest & I know they are wanting my interest, my like, my support. I love personal. I enjoy when people are open, candid, & show their soul, especially when it comes to something that they are displaying a passion for. I want to know the “why” & the “how”.
I truly believe that if you put yourself out there & are calling for other’s attention, then you need to put some work into it. Especially nowadays when everyone is flooded with attention seeking stuff; commercials, ads, newsfeeds, more ads, articles, social media, etc. We are all on information overload & constantly being asked to “look at me!”. It is tough!! People’s attention span are getting smaller & smaller & it isn’t their fault. So we have to be aware of that & know that if we are asking for their precious attention, then we got to give them something worthy… something good.
My something worthy & good is simple. I get personal. My whole brand is built around being real, raw, emotive, & personal, so I am genuine to the bones. When I decided to launch, I decided I would do it by showing my friends, family, & casual online acquaintances, my soul. I decided to let them know I was scared, but excited; terrified, but proud. People like personal & enjoy following a journey, so that is exactly what I did & continue to do: I invited people to join me on my journey.
Getting personal is not the only way, obviously, so if that is not what you are all about, then I suggest writing down a few things to help you become aware of how you work… of how you want to sound.
Buy a journal & write everything out. Take it with you everywhere. I started to write & realized, wow, I haven’t written this much in so long. Dude, my handwriting sucks & my journal seemed all over the place. But it didn’t matter because it helped me document my thoughts, my ideas, & it was crucial for defining my path & my brand. Try to figure out what you would like your business language to sound like. Is your business a singular person or is it run by a team of people? How are you going to speak to your audience? What is your mission? What is your vision? What are you selling? I could come up with 20 more questions, but this should help you get on the right track. People like a consistent language; an identifiable one.
Start a website & work on it every day. There are many different ways to start a website. I purchased a domain through Google Domains, researched different website builders like, Squarespace, Wix, & WordPress, & got to work. You can hire someone to build one for you or you can go the route I went down & do it yourself. But let me warn you, you will pull your hair out from time to time so make sure you have a full head of hair before you do this.
Read a book. No seriously, get back to reading books. Especially if your day-to-day consists of conversation with young children. My vocabulary & grammar has gone to poop (mainly because all I hear is “doody butt”, “I farted hahahahaha”, “can you wipe my butt?”) & I have noticed that reading greatly improves my brainpower. Sure, go ahead & indulge in recreational reading, but try some productive reading, too. Friends have recommended some great motivational books like Big Magic, Originals, & You Are a Badass, so I will pay it forward & recommend these as well. So well written & incredibly motivational!
I’m not a business guru or anything of that sort so everything I mentioned above doesn’t come from a textbook, but it comes from my heart. It feels right & it is what I am doing so I thought I would share. I have no problem sharing how I do things because part of my mission is to help others push themselves! I understand there are people out there with hater mentalities, relishing in other people’s failure because it makes them feel better for whatever reason. I aim to push those people aside & open my arms to those who are looking for community, support, & encouragement. I am spreading the love & positivity so stay tuned for my next blogpost where I share even more!
