I’m glad those little areas exist. Today I wanted to talk about the fact that yes, as photographers, we seem to bully each other a lot in this industry. I don’t like the bullying that happens in photography, but I think a lot of the insecurities of photographers go deeper than that. In some ways I think we bring our own confidences down and bully ourselves into thinking we aren’t good enough.

To me it’s the photography memes I see. Memes are those little photos or icons that get shared and passed around on the internet. They have funny pictures, hilarious sayings, and sometimes they’re serious too! I think sometimes memes are meant to be funny, but they can spread a little bit of insecurity and negativity too. That funny meme about forgetting to take your lens cap off? I do that all the time! It’s funny, but when I see others posting it, I wonder if for the newbie it makes them feel stupid because they’ve done it. Even in the smallest ways we can spread that sort of negativity and not even realize it.

Sometimes I see stuff like this and I just don’t see that it adds anything positive to our industry. I also wonder, what would my clients think if I started to share this on my Facebook where they could see it? That’s not to say that what these memes are saying I disagree with. A lot of the times I agree with them, and think they could be funny. But, for the amateur who is trying and trying and already not getting help or support from others in the industry these small little things add up to a big negative feeling.

I just figure, I’m not here to judge why anyone wants to be a photographer. I don’t want to discourage anyone from trying anything, like photography. Sure, there are lots of things to know to turn it into a business. It does cost money, but if someone wants to try? Who am I to say otherwise?

I believe that when I die I want to know that I tried everything I ever wanted. I chased after every dream and that I failed at a few. I want no regrets. Sometimes stuff like these memes makes me not want to try things. I worry about pulling out my iPhone at a wedding and being judged for taking a cute Instagram of my clients. What if there’s a photographer out there who really loves taking school portraits and that’s what they’re passionate about? The reason you don’t see me sharing this kind of stuff is that it’s not what I want to put out there into the industry. I want to put out positivity. I welcome anyone who wants to try to be a photographer to give it a try. Rather than worrying about what everyone else is doing or newbies in the industry I just focus on my own business and what I can do to make my business better. If someone had told me in the beginning that I shouldn’t even bother because I have zero experience, a crappy camera, and don’t know what I’m doing I would have shut down and I would be in a completely different place in my life and probably not as happy. I had no experience, a crappy camera and had no idea what I was doing or what I was getting into when I decided to start a business. It was on a whim, it wasn’t a calculated thought. I had a nice camera and I liked taking photos with it so I figured why not try it? I did work really hard, I educated myself, I learned, I made mistakes, and I still am making them sometimes. Memes like this when I was a newbie made me worry about asking any other photographer for help. I’d just become the next meme subject if I didn’t know what ISO was. So I kept to myself and didn’t ask for help and it was a really hard journey. I actually only 2 weeks ago asked my very first question of another photographer. That’s how hard it can be coming into this industry. Only 5 years in and I only just now feel confident enough to ask, or maybe I didn’t find the right part of the community until now. I don’t think we should have to feel like that.

Another big part of why I don’t post stuff like this is that although sometimes I think these memes are true, I don’t want to make my clients feel guilty. I don’t want my family to feel guilty. I don’t want to make other people feel bad by throwing it out there that I work hard or that my nice camera isn’t the only skill I have. I’m not here to rub stuff like this in other people’s faces. I want to take photos of my clients because I love it and if my family, society, my friends doesn’t get it – that’s fine. I don’t want a bride to see me post this on my Facebook and wonder, “Wow, does she really think everyone else thinks that much about her?”

Or how about this? Doesn’t this just make you want to work with a photographer? I hope this is not what we’re all like. But this is what we’re portraying ourselves as in the industry for everyone to see.

Why do we do this to ourselves? I’m all for great sarcasm, but at some point it becomes negativity. We bully ourselves when we make fun of the stuff we do. We are our biggest critics. So many photographers are already unconfident with what they do, intimidated by others, and insecure. If we start putting positivity into what we do, encouraging each other, helping each other we might all feel a little less insecure.

Building confidence in what we do has to start with ourselves and the how we represent ourselves to the world. We can’t be beating up on ourselves all the time. Making self-depreciated comments is belittling and undervaluing yourself. Honor yourself and your abilities. What you have to put out in the world is something worth respecting and it starts with you. We are these awesome human beings. We have one life to live.

We use self depreciation like this to defend our sense of ‘self.’ When we take it and we put it out there for others to see not only are we destroying our own sense of self in a small way, but also the sense of self in others who may see what we put out there.

The bottom line is that we are good enough. You are good enough to try anything you want and you shouldn’t let anyone or anything discourage you from doing so. We all have things of value to offer to each other and the world.

I saw this quote somewhere online, but couldn’t find the source. “You are perfect, exactly as you are; there is no need to change anything except the thoughts that you aren’t good enough.’ By changing your own thoughts, maybe you can change the thoughts of someone else.

Awesomesauce Store – Become a Member

In my head I’ve seen beautiful images on Pinterest and thought, ‘I would love to do a shoot with that!’ But somehow my brain gets in the way and says, ‘Well, hopefully you’ll get a client like that someday.’

I’ve seen a movement and been inspired by others to do my own dream photo shoot, the one I’ve always wanted, that looks exactly the way I want. Why do I have to wait to get a client like that? I’m sure my clients would be interested, I just need to show them what I’m capable of.

So…I’m planning. I’ve been picking up vintage dresses all week, props and other things to use in this shoot this summer. I’ve got models lined up and well there’s really only one thing missing…

One-thousand paper cranes…

You can check out my inspiration board on Pinterest >here<. I came across this image of wedding tables and chairs and above them are hanging paper cranes. I love it and I love the meaning and stories that come with paper cranes and Japan. When I saw that image in Pinterest I went to click on it and the link led me nowhere – just a page with a picture. I had to do the research and see what inspired this styled wedding.

There are lots of myths and legends around paper cranes and Japan – specifically around one-thousand. One thousand paper cranes are traditionally given as a wedding gift in Japan from the father to the couple. He is wishing one thousand years of good luck and prosperity on the couple. There are lots of other things that surround the idea of one thousand cranes, good luck, health, wellness, and more. In Japan the crane is considered a very holy creature who lives for one thousand years. That is why one thousand are made – one for each year of the crane’s life.

So, in the end I’m planning this shoot and the one impossible thing I have to do is make 1000 cranes! I’d love your help. If everyone who reads this makes one crane and sends it in I can incorporate all of you into the shoot. What do I have to give in return? Not much aside from the good luck that making cranes can bring. But, I will make a list of every person who sends me a crane and link to them from Photography Awesomesauce (we have great SEO ). Supposedly making one thousand paper cranes can help your dreams/wishes come true and in this case it would help mine, literally.

So here’s what you’ve got to do. I need your cranes sent by May 31st so I can string them together and use them in June.

1. Make a paper crane. You can make and send as many as you like. Use either white, light yellow, or light pink paper. Here are some instructions on how to make a paper crane. The paper square you start out with must be 3 inches by 3 inches. It’s okay if your crane isn’t perfect!

2. When your crane is finished write your photography wish on the wing. 

3. Send it to my studio! You can flatten the crane (see step 12 above) and easily slip it in an envelope.
Carrie Swails Photography
7595 W. 66th Ave. Suite 200
Arvada, CO. 80003

When the photo shoot is done it’s something I’d love to get published online (we talked about publishing earlier this week). I’d love to be able to give credit to all of you and link to a page where all of you and your websites are listed in the publication. Maybe one crane from everyone will help all our photography wishes and dreams come true?

I would love to encourage you all to set up a Pinterest board and start designing and planning a shoot just for you, exactly the way you want, nothing can be more inspiring and great at getting you into your photography again.

Thanks for listening and helping (if you chose to). I so appreciate each and every one of you and your involvement in our community.

Awesomesauce Store – Become a Member – Carrie Swails Photography

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>Read more of her personal stories on her blog<
>Check out her website<

While I careened at a full gallop across a lush field on my pony, I screamed my head off, knowing that the end of this situation would end in pain. This was supposed to be an easy ride, because I had been bucked off the day before and Charlie was supposed to be a breeze. But as Charlie went faster and faster, with me clutching his mane in fear, I realized this was going to end badly. Sure enough, he came up on a fence that he realized he didn’t want to jump, so he spun to the right.

I flew to the left.

I landed on a cement road along the barbed wire fence, slamming my head so hard my helmet had shattered in the back. If I hadn’t been wearing that helmet, I’d be dead right now or vegetable in a hospital.

This is how I lived my life,: quickly, fearful and usually, I hurt myself. I always got back on the horse, but I kept the same mindset, the same fearful attitude. Eventually, the fear became so intense that in January this year, I dreaded riding. Every Wednesday, I would get a pit in my stomach, churning fear settling into my gut.  Finally, my best friend and riding instructor yelled at me, after I couldn’t even get our smallest pony into a canter, because I was terrified I’d fall off.

“Jenna, you can’t be afraid of falling off. You’re going to fall off. It’s going to hurt. But you should love riding enough that you do it anyway, regardless of risk. Either you make this canter happen or stop riding.” 

She’s my best friend for a reason. I swallowed my fear and damnit, I made that tiny pony canter. I shattered through months of built up fear, through sheer determination and frankly, I didn’t want to feel or look like a damn pansy. After I got off , I contemplated what this moment in time meant for me. I realized that this is what 2013 was going to present to me, whether I wanted it to or not. 2013 has been one of the hardest years ever, throwing curveball after curveball. I had a boyfriend dump me, I got laryngitis on the weekend I had a three day expo and a wedding, I started doing school full time with my business full time and I’m in debt up to my eyeballs. Yet, I knew that living in fear of the unknown was not how I wanted to function anymore.

I wanted to be honest. With everyone. About everything. I wanted to go balls to the wall, tell you about me and risk judgment by anonymous strangers. See, horses weren’t the only thing I was terrified about, it was/is people in general. I grew up abused, socially awkward and too weird for others to tolerate. As a result, I turned into an outwardly happy adult who told you nothing, nadda, zilch, about myself. I realized that this is probably why I have so few good friends, because I just don’t want to be hurt over and over again. Then I realized that I’m not alone. I’m not that damn special in this world, so if I felt isolated and afraid of the world, others probably did too.

So at the beginning of March, I wrote a blog about myself, where I told the whole world that my father had abused me as a child and that he was in prison. I told them I’ve been in jail, even if it was for the most ridiculous reason. And I was frightened out of my  mind. Terror settled in my stomach for two days after I posted that blog, the urge to just take it down so unbelievably strong. But I feel I have too much to offer, too much compassion to share, to be another one of those photographers who shows you nothing but their highlight reel of butterflies and rainbows.

You know what happened after that blog? Nothing. Nobody came to me and said, “oh my word, thank you Jenna for telling the world you’ve been abused. I was raped too and you’ve given me the hope I’ll be a millionaire one day and perhaps have a circus of dancing dogs.” On the other end, no one noticeably judged me for it either, although I’m sure it happened in closed chat rooms and texts. And that’s okay because that wasn’t the point. Living authentically has nothing to do with notoriety. Living authentically is alllllll about you, baby. Let me tell you the personal outcome of telling the world I had been raped.

I am happy.

It’s simple: if you open up to the world for yourself and with no ulterior motives, you will become happy. A switch had flipped for me. Suddenly, I dealt with stress better, I no longer feel like I need a man to make me happy and I have even stopped dating for a while, when before, I went on two a week.  I go out more, I reach out to people more frequently and hell, I relax more often. I had been heavily drinking but suddenly I didn’t feel the need to have a drink every single day.

I think when I decided to say, “Screw you, I’m sharing myself, whether you like me or not!!!!!” I think I realized I can be comfortable with who I am. Haters gonna hate, might as well give them a juicy topic to complain about!

My weirdness is still here in all of its glory, but I smile bigger when I dance in a grocery store. My dog and I have more educated conversations (just kidding, he isn’t educated). I’m not terrified if someone judges me for being raped, for going to jail, for having a GED or for being a freakin WEIRDO. But if sharing myself with people helps even just one person take the leap into living authentically, then awesome. I want to help people, to help this world become a better place, because you deserve more than surface Facebook updates and “what’s up” texts.

I know I’m not special. My story is far from original. So if I can do it without repercussion, you can too. You won’t lose as much as you think. Just try it this week. Write one blog about you, for you. Don’t think about who will read it, because remember, that isn’t the point.

By the way, I ride every Wednesday with a smile now. I have no fear of falling anymore.

At the convention there was a lot of talk about why we are here and what we do. Are we here being photographers so someday we can become that famous one? Sometimes we get really wrapped up in photography being all about ourselves and we forget that it’s about our clients.

One of the speakers at United, >Mary Marantz<, talked about why she was a photographer. She talked about ‘personality marketing,’ something I’ve been pushing and teaching to you guys about for a long time. She talked about how personality marketing has become the new commodity – how we’re all putting ourselves out there and marketing our personalities. Personality is the new commodity – we’re all doing it. She said even she herself does it. I know I do it too. I use my personality to attract the type of brides that I want in my business and that’s okay. But it’s also important to know that the personality of a photographer is not enduring over time. The photos are enduring. We can all push and market ourselves and our personalities, but we need to remember why we are here – to produce beautiful images and memories for our clients. That is what is enduring.

After her speech about personality marketing it made me realize that I may be going about marketing myself and making it all about me. I’m not enduring. After my client’s wedding is done I’m no longer in the picture and my photos are. It reminded me that I can’t make my business about me, myself and I. I want to bring it back to my clients. Sure…I can use my personality to ensure that I’m a good match for my clients. I can be funny and charming on social media, but I need to make sure it’s about my clients and that I’m providing them with a wonderful experience and the best photos possible of their weddings, babies and any other major life events. The photos we create are the most important part of our job. Our clients are the most important part, not us. I left the speech feeling selfish and different and wanting to focus on different things in my business.

She asked the crowd what the most important photo was to us and took some answers from others. It was weird because I thought the most important and memorable photo to me would be a wedding photo of my husband and I, but the very first photo that showed up in my brain was a photo of my grandparents. It’s this funny photo.

My mom has albums of photos of my brother and I growing up and the photos are not the most professional, they’re fun memories of our lives. When I first moved out of the house at 19 I remember I wanted to take a photo of my grandma and grandpa with me. My grandpa passed away years before. I remember that my mom wasn’t home when I went through the photo album and snagged a funny photo of the two of them. I never really paid much attention to what was happening in the photo, but I loved it because my grandpa – a rather quiet man was laughing with my grandma at the kitchen table. It’s the same kitchen table my grandma still has today and I love that kitchen, their house, and the smell of it all. I have so many fond memories of summers there.

It’s a small 4×6 photo and I put it in a glittery star and moon frame that I’ve had since middle school. I was that stylish when I moved out. The frame is kind of stupid and the photo in it is funny and yellowed. Like I said, I never really knew why they were laughing in the photo and I didn’t pay much attention.

It wasn’t until years later when my mom was over at my house that I learned what this photo was all about. I can’t remember where I was living at the time that she told me the story behind that photo. Apparently a button on my grandma’s blouse had come undone or she was really hot, I can’t quite remember, but her undergarments were peeking out the top and my grandparents were laughing about it at the kitchen table. Someone took a photo of that because it was so funny at the time. I’m glad I know the story behind that photo.

I’ve questioned for the last couple weeks why that was the photo that came to my mind when Mary Marantz asked us what the most important photo was to us. I mean, I have no control over my brain, why is that photo the one that popped up the minute she asked that question? I took that photo on a whim because it was one candid photo of my grandparents both smiling. She asked us why the photos we thought were the most important were the ones that made us want to be a photographer.

That photo of my grandparents and that memory of them laughing in the kitchen is something that has gone and passed. I don’t even know if I was in the kitchen when that happened, or if I was old enough at the time the photo was taken to know why they were laughing. My grandma will be 94 years old this year and my grandpa has been gone for a very long time. My grandma, the healthiest person I know, is now finally starting to have health issues and these years are some of the most important that I be a part of her life before it’s too late. Even though I was young when my grandpa passed I know what he looked like and sounded like when he did laugh. As I write these words, sitting in the back row of an airplane I can hear my grandma laughing and saying “oh go on.”

I guess that photo is the most important photo to be because it defines why photos are important. It’s a little blurry, aged, yellow, and slightly over exposed. But it is PERFECT.

I’m a photographer because I want to celebrate life, which is too short. I hope that even my imperfect images can remind my clients of the same things this one photo reminds me of. Thanks Mary Marantz for putting my mind and business back on the right track and reminding me of the most important things in life.

So, why are you a photographer?

Awesomesauce Store & Carrie Swails Photography

It’s so easy to get all wrapped up in the things that we do for business and forget all the people who helped and are still helping us get there. When I was asked last week who sacrificed for me to be a photographer I knew the two people who sacrificed the most.

Long before I was a photographer and back when I thought being a professional ballerina was the path my life would take my mom made a lot of sacrifices. Dance was something I did for fun and I was never as serious about it as the other girls on my competitive team. Despite my lack of amazing talent and just wanting to be there for fun, it was my mom who got a job just to pay for all the fees associated with being on my competition team. She sacrificed driving me to dance class and practice 5 or 6 times a week. She sacrificed driving me around to competitions and conventions on the weekends. She sacrificed a lot of time and money just so I could have fun. I was 10 and she knew I’d never be a famous ballerina.

When I first said I wanted to do this photography thing she jumped on board and supported me financially and emotionally so I could give this thing a go. So who sacrificed for me to be sitting here and writing this to you? My mom. How can you thank someone who does whatever they can to let you try out your dreams? My mom has always sacrificed for me to be able to try whatever I felt like I feel like I have to succeed. Her sacrifices are my motivation. I’m proud to say I have a mom who stands behind me whether it’s something I wanted to try for fun like dance, or whether it’s something I’m serious about doing. Not everyone is as lucky as I am.

My mom still provides that emotional support needed when running a business. When you’re a business owner sometimes you’re alone. I’m the kind of person who likes to process problems by myself, but I still like to have an ear to rant to and my mom is the best person in the world. She’s listened to years of my struggles and accomplishments with my business. Thanks mom.

When I first started my business I was also working full-time. The amount of hours that I spent sitting at my computer editing photos, networking, and just trying to work on any aspect of business that I could was obscene. Which brings me to the other important person in my life who also sacrificed a lot for me to be here, my husband Nick. This poor guy would come home to me working all the time. There was always a “just a minute and let me answer this email” and then I’d be there for hours. That’s why I’m much more in tune to time management these days. I try to do all my work when he’s at work and be available when he’s available, and I don’t just mean free with my time, I mean mentally available. He sacrificed a lot with me the first couple years. We sacrificed dates and fun all so I could be here now running a successful business. I am so thankful for him and lucky to have a husband who supports whatever I want to do, even if it might be frustrating at times.

Whenever I have a new idea or a stupid one my husband sits by and confirms why I think my ideas are the best and supports my efforts and assures me it’s all okay when I fail.

So I ask you, who sacrificed for you in order for you to be a photographer? Take some time to thank them and let them know you love them. I know I wouldn’t have been able to do this on hard work alone. I wouldn’t be here without my mom and my Nick.

Awesomesauce Store & Carrie Swails Photography

While I was in southern California I was blessed with many opportunities to work with a number of photographers some new, some industry leaders and some just regulars. I was also lucky enough to have this amazing opportunity that wasn’t at all photography related.

I’ve been a long time listener to an internet radio show called >The Pretty Good Podcast<. A Podcast is essentially talk radio that is accessible online. You can find The Pretty Good Podcast on iTunes. I listen to it every day and when I first started to listen to it I was going through a rough time with my day job and that was right when I first started to become a photographer, so in a way it’s sort of significant that the world turned around and Gina Grad and Randy Wang invited me to be a guest on the podcast while I was out at the Showit United photography conference. So one morning I woke up at the butt-crack of dawn and drove down from Santa Barbara into LA.

I have to say that after listening to The Pretty Good Podcast for years on a daily basis you start to feel like you know the hosts, Gina and Randy. Here I was driving down there and my stomach was doing flip flops thinking about how much I knew about them and they know nothing about me. What if I was a bad guest? Would it be weird? Would I say some dorky things on the show?

Everything went off without a hitch and they were the most friendly people in the world. The producer of the show, Elijah, is also a bit of a camera buff and the first thing I did when I arrived was take out my camera equipment and lenses and let him play with them the entire show.

I’m posting and sharing the link with you all here because being a guest on a show was kind of like something I could check off my ‘bucket list.’ I’m proud and honored I got to be there and be a part of the show that got me through a tough time in life. You can listen to the show >here< or find it on iTunes. Please be aware that the show is not PG rated. I do talk about some personal things and beliefs. It’s who I am and I’m proud of that person, even if that person might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

Gina, Randy, and Elijah if you stumble across my blog post just know how wonderful it was for you to let me be on the show and thank you for inviting me into your home Randy! You guys are awesome and I have always thought you were, but meeting you in person finally confirmed that! Thanks for a wonderful opportunity that was seriously one of the highlights of my year!

I can’t wait to do it again next time!

The Showit United photography conference last week was a little bit like summer camp. You know the feeling when your parents send you off and you don’t know anyone at summer camp, but you make the absolute best friends while you are there. There’s something about a community at a summer camp that will always stick with you and give you wonderful memories even after the years have gone by since summer camp.

The Showit conference was like that. I went knowing no one, not knowing what I would learn, and not fully understanding how changed I would be when I left. We live in a cruel industry where on a daily basis over the internet all we see and hear is photographers putting each other down. How it’s possible for any of us to truly feel inspired when everything about being a photographer seems to be against you is truly beyond me. The Showit United conference is put on by www.showitfast.com, my favorite software company, and yet they are so much more. They’ve worked hard not only to develop this amazing software we can use to run our websites and online galleries, but they’ve put even more into the world than that – they’ve worked hard to develop the type of photography community that we’ve all dreamed of.

I had the absolute pleasure of learning from many talented and wonderful photographers at this conference. No, they are not the industry ‘celebrities,’ they are our industry leaders. My absolute favorite speech was the one made by Mary Marantz of >Justin & Mary< Did I plan on crying at this conference? Um…definitely not, but hey when you’re feeling so inspired that you’re brought to tears that can’t be a bad thing right?

Mary really touched on some topics in her speech that I loved. It’s been days since I heard it and I cannot stop thinking about it. She said, “We wear busy like a badge of honor.” And we so do. We get caught up in what the photography industry defines as success and forget what defines success on a personal level for us. We get caught up in Facebook likes, who is speaking at WPPI, who has the most awesome workshops, how much we’re getting paid, who has photographed more weddings then who.

All of this social media almost makes us get caught up in these checklists of what we need to do to be a successful photographer and it never seems to be enough. We keep wanting more and more and can’t be happy with what we already have. We hear someone say how many sessions they have to photograph this week, or how many more sessions they have to edit. We put it out there for everyone to see and we wear busy like a badge of honor.

Mary talked about how being too busy being a photographer has held her back in some ways and made her miss out on moments that she can never get back. We get caught up in being busy and sometimes we think that the busier we are the more successful we will be.

When we’re on our deathbeds we won’t care about how many Facebook likes we have, or that photographer who had 10 photo sessions in a week, or whose photos are better than whose. We should care about what type of industry we are leaving behind. Mary said, “Don’t be a success at an industry – be significant.” I couldn’t agree more. Speaking at huge conventions, booking huge expensive weddings, and all that isn’t significant – it really doesn’t matter at the end of the day. What matters is that time you spend with your kids, your family, your spouse and living a life full of things that really matter. It’s better to fail at the things that matter than to succeed at the things that don’t. I think that means that sometimes we all sacrifice to become more successful photographers and we shouldn’t be sacrificing our important relationships with others for business – or we’ll live a life of regret.

Don’t wear busy like a badge of honor. Live a life with no regrets.

Regret is a way to mourn your own life, while you are in it. – Mary Marantz

Awesomesauce Store & Carrie Swails Photography

1. Know your own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to your business. What is your weakness? What are you not good at? Whatever your weaknesses are find a way to change them (or delegate) so they’re no longer your weakness.

2. A lot of business owners forget to look at their business through their customer’s eyes. Sometimes as photographers we set up our business model the way we think our customers should want it, even if our customers don’t want it that way. Step out of the mindset of what we think our customers should want and pay attention to what they do actually want.

3. Time is everything. Time is money, time is life, time is freedom, time is what being an entrepreneur is all about. Figuring out how to balance your business time so you can maximize profits by making more and working less is crucial.

4. If you don’t like the industry standards for your business – change them and make your own rules.

5. Define yourself by what you are going to say ‘no’ to.

6. Be an official business and do things the right way. Don’t cut corners, ignore taxes and ignore business licenses. You’ll pay for it later.

7. Surround yourself with colleagues who can inspire you to do better and bigger things.

8. Find a niche for your photography type and stick to it!

9. Customers like clear and simple information. Complex policies, rules, strategies, pricing and information will be a turn off.

10. Answer email once a day. Answering your emails as they come in will distract you from being truly focused on your work, will make you less productive, and will give your customers the impression that you are always available and always working.

11. To start getting the kind of quality clients you desire, make sure your brand reflects the type of people you want to photograph. Only share work in your portfolio of the types of people, situations, and styles of photography that you want to do most. Putting that out there will attract clients who are interested in the same things you are.

12. At some point in your business you have to stop preparing to start a business. You can read and train as much as you want, but you need to just get out there and do it.

13. Keep educating yourself as trends change, customers change, and technology changes. A well-educated business owner in tune with the latest information will be able to harness their new knowledge and use it to their advantage.

14. There are going to be lots of mistakes and failures along the way. Accept them, learn from them, and move on.

15. Thank your clients.

16. Everything takes time. Don’t expect to always see an immediate response to a new marketing strategy.

17. Remember that not everyone checks and answers their emails as often as you do, give them some time.

18. Always exceed your clients’ expectations of you.

19. Let go of the things that aren’t working for you. Even if they work for someone else or it sounds like a fantastic idea – not everything works for everyone.

20. Spend time on the business – not just in it.

If you’re interested in doing a one-on-one photography business mentoring session with me please click >here< I only have a limited amount of spots per month and they do fill up!

Awesomesauce Store & Carrie Swails Photography

What what? You want to hear me be a dork and tell you how I became a photographer? It’s not that special, but here goes…

Awesomesauce Store & Carrie Swails Photography

Hello everyone from San Francisco (you may not know that I normally write to you from Denver)!

I’m sitting in the airport this morning waiting for my layover for my flight to China. I had all these great plans that I would sit here and do my usual Wednesday video blog post, but with the intercom going off every few minutes I realized it wasn’t the best situation for that sort of thing!

But hey…next week’s video blog post will come to you straight from China! 

Anyway I was going to video blog to all of you about how long it takes to build clients and a profit with your business, but I’m going to save that for another time. It’s so much easier to talk about it, even if I look like a dork, than it is to write about it. 

So instead I’m going to reiterate the importance of setting goals for your business and share what mine are for the year. You can laugh and judge my business goals all you want, but I know most of you won’t. 

The are two important aspects of setting business goals that I think are the most important. One is to chose goals that are actually attainable. They should pose a little challenge, but they shouldn’t be so sky high that you’ll never reach them. The other is to set goals over a broader range of time. So instead of making a weekly goal for how many sessions  you shoot, make a yearly goal. That way when you have some down time with your business you don’t get into a rut feeling like you aren’t successful because you aren’t booking. It’s so much better for you and your business to look at the whole picture instead of small parts.

Another important part of setting goals is looking at them at the end of the year to see what you accomplished. Even if you did not reach your goal, if you came even close to it you are still looking at a success! Setting personal goals for your business is the only TRUE way for you to measure how successful your business actually is instead of comparing it to someone else’s. If you reach some goals and only get close to some others that’s still amazing and huge growth. It’s something to look back on and feel really proud of. Not everyone’s photography business is going to be the same and if we spend a lot of time comparing ourselves to what other photographers are doing than we’re measuring our success by something that might be unattainable.

So here are my goals for 2013! I hope that sharing where my business weaknesses are can help you feel more confident. I’m by no means perfect at everything and I have a lot of things that I really want to improve on this year! I think it’s important for newer photographers to see that no matter how far along we all are in our businesses that we’re always growing and always needing to work on things and do them better. We all have strengths and weaknesses with what we’re good at. 

1. Book 25 Weddings. (I always use the word ‘book’ vs. ‘shoot’ because booking a client is a success and it shouldn’t be a failure to my business if their relationship doesn’t work out).

2. Get better at delivering client gifts. I’ve talked about how I like to surprise clients with a 16×20 canvas of their photo session from www.cgproprints.com, but I really want to try and be more consistent about doing this within a certain time frame and for every single client. I also want to expand the ‘client gifts’ idea to offer a little booking gift for my wedding clients as soon as they book. I’m hoping when I return from China I can check out some options for wedding planners to give to the bride as a welcome gift.

3. Print off business receipts once a week. My business has been growing a little faster than I can handle and top that off with Photography Awesomesauce here with you guys I’m terrible at filing sometimes. The last year I’ve been trying to file papers once per month, but even that has been becoming overwhelming to save it all up until then. My goal this year is to file weekly or biweekly so not everything is as built up as it is on a monthly basis. To accomplish this I’m going to make sure I set aside some time every week just to do this.

4. Read at least one business related book per month. This is a goal I’m so pumped about that I decided to share it with you and I started a book club for anyone and everyone that would like to join in on this goal. I had recently heard at the end of 2012 that the most successful business owners in the world read anywhere from 1-2 books related to business per month and the statistic for small business owners is less than one book a year. When I sat down and looked at that relationship I decided it was time to buckle down and read. It’s such an easy and affordable way to groom the entrepreneur in you and learn some great things about being a business owner. You can join our business book club by going >here< on Facebook and asking to join. As soon as I’m available I’ll confirm your request to join and you can jump in at any time with any of the books you like.

5. Book 2 birth photography sessions this year. Birth photography is something I fell in love with, but I find it’s difficult to book (especially for me with weddings). Births are something I generally only book in the off season so it limits my availability, but it’s something I want to practice more and learn more about.

6. Book 10 newborn sessions. Okay, I’m definitely not the best newborn photographer in the world, but shooting newborns is something I’ve been building on. I photographed 5 last year and I don’t think 10 is unreasonable. I’m getting some great training tips from my awesome friend, Summer, at >Summer Michelle Photography< hopefully I’ll be able to take the tips I learn from her and become a better newborn photographer (because I’m definitely not very good at it yet), and be able to offer to photograph a few more newborns than usual.

7. Book 5 family photo sessions. I have to be honest, these are sometimes my least favorite things to photograph. Even though I specialize in weddings I still want to practice family photography so I can provide you guys with tips and tricks that can help you become better.

8. Book 5 boudoir sessions. I love doing Boudoir. Some years I do a bunch and some years I do very little, so this is a very medium goal for me and I don’t know where it will go, but I know I’ll be happy however it turns out.

9. Track Client Workflow. So those great workflow sheets in the >Business Organizing Bundle< that a lot of you guys have purchased? They’re amazing and I love the idea of using them, but in practice I’m not very good at it. I’ve already set up a section in my business binder this year that should help me accomplish utilizing this tool much better so I can remember where I’m at with all my current clients.

10. Blog at least 4 days a week on my >Carrie Swails Photography Blog< Last year I had this same goal and I failed at it when I started spending all my time blogging here for all of you! This year I’m determined to keep up on my blogging skills and I’ve already done really well. Regular blogging will increase my search engine optimization so when a client is searching Google to find a photographer it’s more likely that my name will show up higher in their search results. The higher I am in their search results the more likely they are to click on my website and book with me. If you want to learn more about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) I developed a little guide for those interested in utilizing this tool. >SEO Guide< I definitely need to spend some time blogging so I can improve my SEO.

I really hope to hear and see what your goals are for your business this year and I hope we can all continue to grow with each other on our business goals!!

A couple reminders…

I added 5 more spots to the >Get Legit Workshop< this month. They’re going to fill up fast so if you’re interested grab a spot. February’s workshop will fill quickly too.

There won’t be any live online classes while I’m gone. These are usually held on Wednesday evenings. The next one will be January 23rd and it’s a class all about learning to price packages, prints, products and more. >Register<

 Photography Awesomesauce & Carrie Swails Photography

1. Lightroom 4 Becoming a quicker editer and learning how to batch process in Lightroom can save time and money for photographers.

2. An awesome camera bag from Kelley Moore, Epiphanie, Shootsac (my personal fav), or Cheeky Lime.

3. B&H gift card Need I say more? You can let your fav photographer pick out something they really want or need.

4. Photography Awesomesauce Giftcard – just had to throw this in there.

5. Zach Prez’s Photography Web Marketing ebook set to boost the marketing of your awesome business.

6. Scott Kelby’s The Digital Photography Book series. I love these books because they’re almost like quick little “look books.” They’re divided up into chapters, but each chapter has little photo samples and recipes for you to try.

7. Anything from Pose Me Baby for newborn photographers.

8. Hello! A camera lens mug! Because I guarantee the people at Starbucks are going to wonder what the heck all those buttons are for on the side of your mug.

9. Bamboo solar phone charger. I put this here because I really want one. My iPhone is always running out of juice, especially on the road and sometimes there aren’t enough chargers in the car to share.

10. Photojojo.com giftcard. I love this place, they have tons of little affordable gifts and gadgets for your special photographer.

11. An Expodisc for the best white balance ever. This is a great little tool.

12. A starter prime lens. The 50mm f1.8 for either Canon or Nikon is a great fixed focal length and portrait lens for any photographer looking to move away from their kit lenses. This lens runs about $100 for either the Canon or Nikon version.

13. Online photography classes from Creativelive.com are a great way for portrait and wedding photographers to learn some tricks of the trade. They can download a video course and watch it whenever they want.

14. A copy of Jasmine Star’s Exposed magazine. This is the story of a photographer who built a successful business with nothing and no experience.

15. An amazing new camera…hello my dream gift!

I am writing to you this morning from bed with all 3 of my dogs snuggled in the covers with me. I’m sure some of you think this is gross, but when I’m sick I’m a pathetic soul who generally no one wants to deal with, so I consider myself lucky to have dogs who want to be around my booger-infested self.

It’s been a long time since I was sick and what I realized is that it’s probably my body’s way of telling me I need to take a ‘chill pill.’ I have to be honest when I way that it’s rare I actually take a day off working because I LOVE it so much. I love blogging here to you and I love photographing my clients. Looking back I can see that from pretty much April this year until last Friday I have been going and going and going without much thought to myself or taking an extended break.The last couple weeks I’ve been feeling it though. I’ve been so bombarded with sessions lately that I haven’t even had a moment to think, I was bound to work too hard and for my body to say, ‘THAT’S ENOUGH!”

So here I am writing to you to tell you photographers not to let your body make the decision for you when you’ve worked too hard. Although I don’t feel stressed at all, and am still in love with what I do, it’s super important to take a break now and then.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, if you celebrate here in the US. And if you aren’t here, then I hope you simply had a great weekend. Blog posts this week may be sketchy as I sit in bed and recover.

Some Notes…

Tonight was going to be our November online live FREE Q&A class tonight. Unfortunately I’ve lost my voice so that class has been rescheduled to Friday evening. I hope to see you all there. >Register Here<

As of right now the class on Wednesday about ‘Becoming a Success at In-Peson Print Sales’ is still a go! >Register Here<

Also today is the very last day to hit up our Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale on digital download items in the >store< and even mentoring sessions. I know many of you have expressed a desire to book a mentoring session and right now they’re 25% off.

I’m seeing up this weekly photo challenge for anyone who would like to join us and participate in sharing photos, taking them every week and practicing our skills so our 2013 season is even more awesome. This challenge is also a great way to keep your business pages on Facebook busy with new photos, even if they aren’t of clients!

So what do you need to do?

1. Join our Facebook Group >here<
2. Follow the schedule below for weekly photos until the spring.
3. Share photos in our Facebook group, on your Facebook business page, and blog them! Hellooooo marketing!

Please know our Facebook group is a place for friendliness, respect, and awesome people. My hope is photographers of all levels will join in, participate, encourage and inspire each other.

If you miss a week – that’s totally okay, there’s no pressure! But there will be prizes at the end for those who do make the effort to participate every week!
This is only 20 weeks into the first week of April so just think about how EASY it will be to take 20 photos.

Schedule
* This is a “due by” schedule. I set it up so our new themes start on Fridays so you can get out and photograph over the weekend and have time to edit during the week.
November 23rd – Thankful
November 30 – Trees
December 7 – Weather (can be snow, rain, sunshine, whatever happens in your neck of the woods)
December 14 – Someone close to you
December 21 – The Holidays
December 28 – Your babies (kids, pets, sentimental items…)
January 4 – New beginnings
January 11 – Food
January 18 – A Portrait of Anyone
January 25 – Words
February 1 – Routine
February 8 – Love
February 15 – Your Favorite Thing
February 22 – The Sky
March 1 – Black and White (for our black and white photos)
March 8 – Travel (can be anywhere, your spring break, a 20 minute drive into the country…)
March 15 – Green
March 22 – Animals
March 29 – The First Signs of Spring
April 5 –  Memories

I’m looking forward to having all of you join me!

“Hello!

Soooo… tomorrow I’m turning 30. 

I read your e-mails everyday and not only aspire to have an awesome photography business some day, but am so awesomely impressed by how you give your knowledge to others. You have already had a profound impact on my life and we’ve never met. That is amazing to me.  You touch people so profoundly. I aspire to impact people in that positively awesome way that you do.

So, although you inspire me with all of your followers, I’m hoping you might be able to personally inspire me… I sent this message to several of my friends and family members this evening. I’m hoping you can contribute. I’m getting a lot of ‘go skydiving’ that I can’t say will actually make it onto the list, but I know that whatever you suggest will likely touch my heart and inspire me to live this year is a very great way. Thank you already for all that you do. ”