Lessons

Lesson Info

Preparing for Future Opportunities

I'm going to just give them out for winfrey quote anyone that knows me knows on sunday I'm a super soul sunday girl my husband said to me this morning guess what honey we get the own the own network in our hotel let go and he goes since we have two rooms he's like we'll be in one room and you could just lame that tomorrow watch oprah like no one wants to argue over with me um eva is usually like mama I watch oprah with you I believe in luck is preparation meeting opportunity if you haven't been prepared when the opportunity came along you wouldn't have been lucky do you know how many times I talked to a photographer and they said yeah I was at the doctor's and they mentioned that I could probably do display but haven't really to my website haven't updated my whips I have no printed material yeah I don't think it's gonna work out so what were you doing when no one was calling you just feeling sorry for yourself we're creating anything weren't shooting anything you weren't doing any mode...

l calls you weren't making yourself a cute little calendar for gifts for family and friends because you're telling the world that you love what you do and so everyth thing you give and everything you share house is gorgeous images on it at christmas time we weren't giving beautiful key chains of beautiful necklaces when you're with your images you're just screwing around feeling sorry for yourself whenever the phone is not ringing I'm creating I'm preparing myself for my future opportunity I've prepared myself for opportunities I don't even know that are coming yet how's that because I feel like I'm just getting started I feel like I'm forty three and I'm just getting into my groove twenties discovering yourself figuring out who you are finding a ba way thirties okay I got a boy I want some kids now I gotta figure out this mom thing that's going to take a while that's going to take years ke forties I got the mom thing I got my boy was now man I had my kids and I'm very proud of I have a business now now I'm getting busy all that I was just preparing me for what I'm yet to dio so I want all of you to be preparing yourself for opportunities that you don't even know where coming what did I say yesterday what do they want you to create as a killing me what you can't see so you're already creating what you can't see now let's prepare us for the opportunities that we don't even know we're coming you need essential marketing items I'm gonna did you hear that social media accounts pick your poison facebook twitter linkedin in pinterest instagram they all have different purposes pinterest is just pretty I cannae you know instagram to me is a little bit more personal that's kind of where I post my personal stuff cause it's just easy with the kids you know linked in professional network a lot of my professional clients are on there we'll tell you an interesting story about lincoln I completely just joined lincoln for the purpose of joining lincoln I knew nothing about linked in my husband's ellington guy but he's more in the corporate sector and I just I don't really just but remember I said it prepared for the opportunities they don't know we're coming so I went on linked in and I said I'm gonna be prepared I'm gonna quit my profile I'm gonna link I'm gonna make sure it's linked to all my media accounts so that way and I blogged it automatically goes on linkedin when I post on facebook it automatically propagates unlinked in I have a social media work for that I'm going to show you so you take an hour and you linc all of your accounts to propagate so when you're creating a blob post your little spiders just go out and do it for you you don't have to do it so my little spiders air out they're propagating and linked in I mean I don't I go in there like once every blue moon three years ago I was doing an expo I should covers for parenting magazine and one of my my contract I have to do expose and she's a cute kid contest nothing glamorous about it I'm like on a pavement outside of a hospital they're doing an expo they're like and I hear you're too tense make it happen I'm like yeah sure we have plugs you know and so I'm like a white seamless that's like if we're not waiting it down it's flying across the the parking lot this is three years ago this isn't this is still my life and so they're like hanna you have a hundred fifty kids that you have to shoot in four hours we're going to pick one of those people one of those kids to be on the cover of the contest now everyone knows him a fast shooter no problem I bring crew with me so we know how to wrangle I can shoot I got that we've got a line of kids behind me no problem and backdrops flying everywhere one problem we can do this I shoot shoot shoot what I did was my booth was strict strictly pregnancy anymore why I'm outside of a hospital ah labor and delivery hospital no one needs to see family at the beach right now which is very important because every time I go to an expo and I see another photographer they've got wedding beach dog children baby pregnancy what happens when you go in there I mean yeah I guess it's all good now you go into a booth and you're pregnant and it's on ly pregnancy and newborn are you going to stay there are you gonna go to crazy land now if you're not pregnant or you're not a newborn and you really don't know what you want you will go to crazy land and figure it out right I must say that I thought it was crazy I'm just saying it's a little overwhelming and I've done it so I'm speaking from experience and so no I was purely pregnancy newborn if I'm missing a beach client that's that's my focus today today my focus is pregnancy newborn tomorrow if I'm not a family expo I will just focus on family labor and delivery head obi people come over and chat with me blade baba we're working on a brand new wing for our labor and delivery and we think we could maybe work with you to get board approval to hang photos in our hospital wing would you be interested yeah now I was prepared for this opportunity that I didn't even know was going to come by my booth right why was apparent I had marketing material I have printed material we have little accordion books that when people picked up they're like what are those we had books that when people pick up they were like oh wow they khun touch and they can feel these books so they're doing all of that at my booth and okay card exchange three years it was a year of giving them my work samples of my work meaning meanings just things didn't happen one day I handed her a cd of images this was I think almost two years ago and I never heard from her again okay I move on you mean that's not gonna happen I move on guess what she's been following me the whole time and linked in out of the blue a month ago a month ago or a month ago a month or so ago we're in l a I get iron infusions where my husband are watching my tar that car that got towed because we parked next to the sign that said don't park after four and I'm like no I wasnt getting infusion of cedar santa and I'm like we got a car back and I remember some of myself that was how my week started you ever have those days were like let's stop for a monday just paid a million dollars paid three hundred bucks for my car then got a three hundred dollar ticket I was fun and got injected by needles happy monday and I remember that tuesday morning waking up going I can choose how to change this week I can go to the studio and bitch all morning about my week yesterday my day yesterday and just be like a sourpuss and pour me and whatever or I can go nope done we got our car everything's fine I'm healthy car is fine let's move on to hours later I get a call from this hospital and I've been following your work on linkedin do you remember me we've been talking for years about hospital display I have board approval they want you to take over the entire labor and delivery wing are you ready I'm ready I am ready you need to be everywhere all the time and allows social media to simply be an extension of your marketing efforts I do not on ly rely on facebook for advertising I'm gonna ask you where you're advertising told you you're in the hot seat and you were going to tell me where you advertise here we go you got you got you know you should do is just lay that microphone on your lap and you lay your microphone on your love because good you can get it because I told you we're working today and I'm gonna call you they're like why did I sign up for the scores okay good where you advertising face and I've lived okay good an instagram is here but the website is it's ah it's a south state advertising right it's not continually moving so I feel like that that should be a staple so we're gonna go I hope you will include your website but I'm I want something more than a website but definitely you need that because believe it or not I've had people that same on facebook and they don't have a website that's shocking facebook of course um I have a website in the mortar mouth uh facebook by website and then I mean I tried to get into a lot of groups especially being military again to a lot of the military groups and so I'm constantly kind of plugging my stuff and the groups and then I also like to network with other professional people so when I'm a star today give you yes facebook but I also have like the eye candy materials that I do you do I do with material yes real quick do you printed material computer printed way and answer the question as it has the question do you have printed material printed not printed but ready to be printed so no that would be you know like when I asked my son if he's done his homework well I've done I know okay yes thank you um primarily word of mouth and facebook and I do have printed material and then I send out gifts to my clients that I figure my word of mouth and they want to brag about their mentions your fault why don't you printed material I'm gonna be hard on ashley because she's been being mentored by me some a little mama bear right now because I really don't have an excuse it is haven't printed it yet honesty honesty carrie carrie you well around here ana I told you guys not of one's on facebook we talked about that you need teo you need to be prepared I mean look I am my resource list I list gosh I feel like over twenty five different types of resource is I use many different labs I tell photographers sign up with all of the professional labs and there you'll see him in my resource list signed up with the professional lab because with the professional lab does is they give you incentives to be a customer right we should learn from that don't leave incentives to be a customer like a free by ten or a free campus or half off of your first canvas you've got to start somewhere I look back at some of the things I printed years ago and it's wow I'm pretty that wow I gave that yeah okay but it got me work and that was my best work at the time I feel like we're was waiting for the perfect image right uh when they asked me to pick work for the walls here I'm like you might as well kill me now because I can't think of anything good enough to hang on the work on a creative live set it was a struggle and I said to my producer you pick you pick because and then she picked him like no so you have to bounce that idea off of somebody you say hey goto a friend or a family you know and say I want to print something for a brochure are postcard let me let me give you five images you pick which is the one that's most drawn to you what the big brands do before they bring a product into the market and how do they test it I'm sorry they have focus groups have focus groups where is your focus group have win you ready family you ladies just need to keep those mike's hand right she is asking you questions right now I am I told them you better just sit up there is no slouch in today sit up stand up and be counted we're gonna do this we're going to do this it's my last day here I'm bringing it I have nothing to lose right they brought me here for a reason I can mark it I can market I can mark it I want you to know who I am and what I have to offer and if I have to myself is that tell myself that I'm worthy and I am good enough to do that then I am worthy and I'm good enough to do that and you are too okay your first step in marketing is actually be prepared for that opportunity the door's not gonna open unless you're ready to receive it so when you tell yourself I don't have la why you're dating I can't find the guy why why because I'm still talking to my ex not gonna happen you know that story if you're eleven another the door's not gonna open you just know it sing every it's in everything I can't lose way as you're eating chips okay stop eating chips let's start there you know what I mean it's really not that hard but it's mind over matter right you know you got to get rid of the fear that sits way in the bottom of your belly and tells you you suck you're not good enough you're not worthy your mother left you blah blah blah blah blah I can sit here and go why wasn't I good enough for my biological mother to keep me it has nothing to do with me right you say you're not good enough why you weren't thin enough you weren't pretty enough I wasn't pretty in school I asked my family I was not pretty I was not cute people thought I was a boy I had big lips brown skin I was puerto rican but I wasn't fluid in spanish I was in an all white school I had a white mother and a hispanic dad come on I got it all and you can sit there and sit in the belly of your fear and cry or you can go up a little bit more and say I believe deep in my heart that I'm here for a reason and I'm doing something that I have to do from the core of my being and get it up in your head and let's get to work okay people freeze when a new opportunity comes their way oh wait you want me to hang my working the whole b I've been wanting that for like a year but I don't have anything good to hang in the work we got sweet are you paying or I'm paying I have no money I'm totally broke I'm totally broke so wait if I don't know where they ask if if you're paying and I'm paying because I am no money it's awake now I have no money should I not get the display should I ask them if they're paying I'm not paying but wait I have a really shot lately because I really no one's calling me anthony model calls you don't know how to get models but wow they would love my work in their office wow go back and you're shooting your shooting you're shooting your shooting you know what I was shooting when my husband's traveling all the time you know I learned to use my mackerel ins flowers he's to bring me flowers all the time and ask you can ask my husband I'd be like okay this is what the flower looks like in the middle of the room that's the flower looks like over by the window that's what it looks like when I'm over there and that's what it looks like as a macro and I was sharing these images again and submitting my flower images for competition and one of his colleagues was decorating her office and I'll never forget the email that I got can I buy some of your your hand colored flower images to decorate my office what was I doing what was I doing and what else what was I doing and what else what was it doing that have two d'oh that I was born to dio the photography it was even with a live subject but I was still doing it okay always be prepared and do not say no people no I don't see it now mike my assistance laugh because someone would come in and be like oh my gosh I'm so part of a mom's group and with so many pregnant moms that are friends that are friends and they're talking and I'm my mind's going and I was like yeah and they're like you know maybe you know if you want to give me your business card like well you know what I really should do I should give you these little tiny bags that you can hand off to them and maybe have like some coupon cards in there and some little treats and some samples you're going to get many of those you want yeah that would be so cool great next week good nice doesn't go do you have those no we ain't gonna get him and I'm no idea but it'll come it'll come and and my sisters will continue to be like oh my gosh didn't you say that do we have that and so they know now they answer was only says the phone and they're like that sure I'm quite certain let me yeah I'll confirm with anna you will if I hear an assistant say no how hath no fury there's noone in and they know they're not asking me to climb mount everest tomorrow they're asking the past on discussed our friends and family they're asking to display work in a hospital this isn't open heart surgery open heart surgeons are they prepared yeah it's a photography when business is slow you create your own work that reflects your style you edit the images right away and create marketing materials even if it's one thing one thing give me one thing let today we're going to do a business card he have just one thing you could start with a necklace by planet jill you know you know how many times warren sprouts and we're checking out you have a necklace I love your necklace where did you get eva goes my mom is a photographer of top photographer do you want photos taken this's last year she was seven and the woman goes oh you know I didn't before but I think I might now the's air my children marketing for me I'm just buying blueberries and they know they know I have taught them you step forward you have I have something to give you would you like it evan I was sharing this story this isn't before at six he was in my studio and people would come in and he'd say would you like to buy my mama's work and he will beg o yeah maybe maybe make photos taken and and when he ran out of my bloody studio with a dollar in his hand and I'm like where'd you get the dollar and he had been drawing in waters during pallotti's and my instructor asked if she could buy his work and he said okay and he went back and got his dollar and he sold it to her he didn't say well it's not quite ready yet I need to do a couple more renditions maybe color it oh I don't know if I don't know if it's good enough for you to buy he's I get a dollar