Lessons

Lesson Info

Style and Purpose

style and purpose the two very much intertwined and I think you guys can see this now who you are reflects in your purpose and brand okay all these things intertwine purpose we talked about this a lot in the last class a little bit of a little bit of this will be reviewed for some of you have watched the last class but purpose really comes down to why the heck do you do what you do okay why do you get out of bed every morning and why does your business exist and why should anyone else in the world care those air deep questions but if you answer them your brand is gonna be more authentic your style is going to get more defined and your business is going to thrive on its uniqueness no one else can copy it and people are gonna want to come to you for you and you will be happier because you'll be making things that are truly you susan and I were are no was it christa what lunch today we were talking about leaving our day jobs yeah it was krista and everything it was both chris dances and w...

e're not leaving our day jobs and how we left our day jobs become photographers and susan said something what did you say susan you said something along the lines of people are scared they're afraid but the worst mistake you can make is not leaving your day job because you're gonna end up being more the miserable in the long run you saying people think it's easier to stay safe but in the end it's really not easier you know it takes a lot bigger toll on you in the long run because it's not you and you know it but once you are true to your authentic self and obviously I'm not advocating just leaving your business if you're not prepared you know your job if you're not prepared to do it you have to have the financial pieces in place I'm saying be responsible but once you actually do it and you jump off the cliff you're like yes I'm going to do what I really love to do then all of a sudden your heart opens up your free and you're happy whether you're making money or not because it doesn't matter anymore you're true to you and people stay in their corporate jobs because they think its safe when really if they knew any better it's more miserable it's not safer because it's not you great companies out there they think act and communicate differently and simon cynic and his ted talks talked about the golden circle okay what you do how you do it and why you do it as a company okay what do we do we're photographers wait take pictures how do we do that camera why do we do it yeah okay great people pay us ho dear most businesses think like you guys just thought ok we made great computers simple design innovative technology beautifully toe look at beautiful to look at one of my one okay the great businesses in the world who have their purpose and their brand very well defined and live and die by their sense of authentic self say things like this we challenge the status quo we advanced human thought we dare to think different we do that was simple design innovative technology and beautiful technique and we happen to make great computers one by one they think from the inward out not the outward in creative live is one of those companies okay and it's so obvious when you come into this environment and see the people working here and how happy they are and how willing they are to do any job and the message that they exude to the world about education wanna watch you know I mean it's just it's it's we happen to put on this great show that teaches you you know they're great businesses think differently so how does that apply to a newborn business it starts with your purpose okay we believe being a parent is the greatest reason toe live we cherish family love we challenge that recorded heritage gives self esteem to every child we do that with creative design organic understated fine art aesthetic enduring quality and an emotional experience we happen to take pictures wanna buy one to see where I'm coming from when you have a sense of purpose a strong authentic style itself and a brand that communicates all this people are just gonna want this is us two people don't buy what you do they buy why you do it and I'm such a believer in this simon cynic it's so true and what you do simply proves what you believe and so customers who believe the same thing as you are going to want to be with you how you do it shows why you are unique okay people don't buy what you do they buy what you believe simple is that so step back look at your big picture in the last class I know I am referring to last class a lot I hate to do that because I feel bad but we talked and we talked about but this is the last segment with stephen but you have all these technical parts of your business that we're really prominent the last class this one's more about creativity but these are all ways to kind of set the parameters for your business to get it growing and moving in the right direction right stephen so purpose encompasses all of these well your style and brand takes that even further style and brand intertwined with purpose which functions to meld all these other things together does that make sense so everything is intertwined that's why it's really hard for me to say okay start here go here go here go here go here you'll be fine linearly it's not a linear thing at all but I think you also understand while I'm at it why I am advocating style and brandon purpose first I understand that part of yourself as a business then get the technical parts in line because if you get the technical parts in line first and you don't really know what your style and brand our and your purpose you're just going to economists mash all over the place and you'll be confused and I know a lot of you are so you're going all right when we had the business card thing last night were a dinner and everybody put up their business card we looked at their logo on their branding and we kind of did a little critiques and things and some of you have it fairly well defined and some of you are just like oh I'm just not sure where to go or what to do and it looks that way so I strongly encourage you to step back take a look at your big picture really define that sense of authentic self and who you want to be is an artist how you want your work to to move forward and then infuse that with why you do with you do why you do this why should people care why do you get out of bed in the morning and why do I care if you get out of bed in the morning okay then you take the technical aspects of it the pricing model the products you're going to carry how you're going to conduct business your account I mean all those things just that's the that's the technical part okay that will actually come a lot easier once you get your style and authentic self defined are there any questions before we move on to the top ten are there any questions how are you guys doing in the studio they're great for story the last segment of the day I'm like western exclude the brain I'm sorry they're all overwhelmed looking um we do have a question though I think that kind of happened to dinner that several of us were talking about how when we're watching julia working with mothers and she was telling him no talking to him about this moments never gonna happen again treasure would be there for it probably about half of us were crying the other half are trying not teo and it was you can't cry channel crime I told you every cry one of those kind of group ah ha moment that kind of that's all like why that why is so important because when we saw you communicate your white to her even if it's not the same as our why it's still touched us the same way because we could feel that it was your why yeah and it was just such a message to us of why that why it's so important because when you feel it then you can make other people feel it even if it's not theirs yeah and it's so important to be authentic in that because it is you're not authentic than I don't know it they'll know it and each one of your wives may be very different and that's so awesome that's the way it should be but when you concur communicate to that issue your clients with integrity truly believing it you're going to be doing work that is going to just explode you're gonna be doing work you never dreamed was possible I was very nervous about that shoot yesterday I was scared I wasn't going to do it but I just said ok jules your professional you have an authentic self just be true to who you are and it will be okay and it turned out to be a lovely thing and it was fine and I created work there was like how I didn't know I could do that I kind of surprised myself yesterday I was like oh my god I did it it's you guys have all done that you know what it's like it's a really cool feeling can you imagine feeling that every single time you shoot I would not be nice oh I just wish I could just help you all find it I have a question from online this is from puffin photography who the question is can you come back tomorrow please that's awesome thank you that's me that's actually huge compliment thank you very much that's very cool any more questions you guys comments remarks thoughts I know you're a little overwhelmed right now way we're talking about chris and I were saying you know when you say are there any questions like this kind of information it just takes time to soak in and you know just really making your own before you can turn around and then come up with a question after you thought it through so it isn't really q and a time top would you say I'm sorry but you sanjay on that subject you're you mentioned earlier that you were tired and this couple phrases popped into my head so kind of a it's well just say it so when you said that the first thing that came into my head was tired but inspired and confused but confident overwhelmed but optimistic and I think about all those and how unselfishly you've been able to give your knowledge and how exponentially hard and more confusing and overwhelming and just difficult all this would be I guess at the end the two terms of come to mine is thankful and grateful for doing way thank you don't you have to get thank you camera off thank you sweet friend you get a big hug when this is done I really appreciate that anyone that doesn't buy this course if they're gonna be a newborn photographer is insane he should have himself hey that's awesome well it's it hopefully I guess the goal is to just hopefully it's enough information that you want to re watch it again you know that that's the cool thing and it's cool that it is recorded thank goodness can you imagine if they just put it on air live and then we never got to see it again yeah yeah even though we've been in the studio audience for three days and I'm frantically taking notes I'm like case soon as I get home we're going to re watch the second I'm gonna rewatch the segment on like we've been here the whole time but a lot of information and it's you know what a lot of it is because some of you are more along the road of finding your authentic self and others and this goes through for the live audience of the online audience as well and so you're all in kind of a different place and so you're trying to relate all this information to this far off distant ideal that you want to get to and that is an overwhelming step by step process and I and I know the left brain side of us as photographers wants the step by step approach you know okay if I go up this step and go up that step I'll finally get to the where I'm supposed to go it's not like that and the minute you are okay with that and let that soak in and that it is a circle that you have to grab all these points off of in order to get in the middle and pop up you'll you'll be a lot more okay with the process you'll understand that it is a process and that it comes over time and I know you want answers right away and I wish I could just give those to you unfortunately I can't all I can do is help you see the process and what small steps you can take on each point in the circle to help you define that area so that it and with the hopes that it will all come together for you does that make sense so it's not a linear thing and you know I'm still discovering my creative self in artistic style and I know it'll change is this going to be a lifelong thing it's very heartfelt and it's very deep in your heart and it can be extremely painful and it could be extremely joyful at the same time but that's part of living your life to the fullest and I want you guys to live your life and hence create the art that you were born to create you know you were born to be photographers I mean you all know it that's why you're doing it that's why you're here that's why you're watching now you just need to take that to the point words not only are you photographer but you're creating art from here every time that's what's gonna make you happy and once you start doing that from your tour authentic self and with the belief system that is true to yourself people are going to buy what you believe and because you're creating art that shows that belief it's going to be unique and you'll have a business that nobody can touch do you see it do you see what I'm talking about and I know it seems overwhelming it's an enormous amount of work and I'm not going to kid you it's a it's a boat load of work it is not easy to start a business it is the hardest job you will ever love but it sure beats the pants off of sitting in a corporate desk your whole life working for somebody else so you have a choice to make do you want to work your butt off to steer the ship the direction you want it to go or do you want to be on someone else's shipholding in or and let it take you where it takes you yet steady steady works a steady job and it feeds the bills and it pays the money and you know there is a lot of people out there who have extreme responsibility and they need that or but let me tell you when you get a break and you have to stop pushing there is a little tugboat over here that's calling your name on it that wants you to steer it so just get off that ship for a second steer for a little while come back build up your muscles make sure you can go on your own out here and then once you can see ya wouldn't wanna be oh okay I left corporate america tv news and I am so happy I did you and I had this we have the same conversation this morning it is the most glorious thing and and you know you got to do it responsibly build the muscles on the or you know make sure you can you can steer your own ship but it's the most glorious thing and if that ship was made by you and the sailing and waters you want to sail oh heaven you wouldn't want to take a vacation like I don't want to be one of notification for I love what doing what ideo every morning I get up to work at eight a m and it's awesome awesome sauce I'm happy to go to work and I work my fanny off really hard and I don't care I'm actually look forward to mondays it's fantastic I want you to be the same way too ok any comments questions concerns before we move on to the final topic here I have a question here this is from jen for me and who can't this came in earlier during the last segment but she's talking about style so saved it okay um jen says it's a branding question she's in a husband and wife team and they both have different styles so what do you think about a couple coming to terms with their brand when they have different styles interesting question that happens a lot in wedding photography and yeah very interesting question oh gosh what would I do I'm not sure I can answer that one yeah that would be an option that's kind of what my first thought ella you're kind of right in the hit the nail on the head she said two lines like in my studio we have the platinum lining the gems line tiffany shoots the gems line I shoot the platinum line they're two different photographers are two different style so you could easily do that but have it under the same umbrella brand I certainly wouldn't have two businesses or to separate logo there to separate you know you'd want to keep it under the same umbrella because essentially you are married but I would definitely try to define two lines I think that would be the first plan of attack and see how that works I mean allie kind of hit hit the nail on the head there that's least but I would try but um yeah I think that's the best answer I would have at this point