Lessons
Lesson Info
Two Types of Entrepreneurs
Great marketing plus average skill, is way better than great skill and poor marketing. 'Cause let's face it right now, right now there is somebody half as skilled as you killing it, making way more money than you. Even me. I guarantee you, that is in any case that there's always somebody that doesn't have the skill that you have but they're making twice as much as you. So that just tells you how important marketing is. And so let's start off with a little Scott Robert fable, okay? So, there's Mr. Beaver, okay? And he's friends with Mr. Mule. And both of them get invited to a wedding. And they wanna go to this wedding 'cause they're best friends with this couple right here, and they've got a little bit of a problem. The wedding is actually in four days, but it's a five day trip. So there's Mr. Mule, Mr. Mule's like, "Uh, dude, come on, get on my back let's go. "We need to go now! "We can make up time on the road but we gotta go right now. "Let's go." Then Mr. Beaver's like, "You know wh...
at, it's taken me a whole week "just to prepare three days of food of us, "and there's no restaurants along the way, "let's just wait and see if we can plan a better solution." So what would you do? Are you on this side, to wait, or are you on this side, "Let's get going?" Show me some hands, who's like Mr. Mule in saying, "Let's just do it dude, let's improvise on the road. "I don't care, we'll eat some berries, "I'll kill a rabbit a we got food, let's go." Anybody like that, more like that? Oh, everybody, well okay. Anybody like the beaver, a little bit more calculating. "Hey, dude, we could die! "I mean, I know this is a great wedding, "but I don't wanna die on the road. "Let's be sensible about things." Anybody like Mr. Beaver out there? Also you? (laughing) You're both. So what I've noticed during the course of the year, that there actually two types of entrepreneurs that are out there. Let's break that down a little bit. We've got the intrepid, which I call, it's kind of the mule, and the organizer, which is like the beaver. And I want you to see what side you identify with most. The mule is more fearless, just gonna go out there and do it. Whereas the organizer is a planner. I'm gonna make sure I do it right, and have everything a little bit more organized. The intrepid is a risk taker, doesn't mind improvising on the spot to get it done. And where the organizer's a little bit more calculated, wants to make sure that everything goes off right, and that... Nothing goes on without a problem, and try to reduce as much chaos as possible. Learn on the job, this person's more like, "You know what, "I'm just more of a doer, I don't know, "I'm just gonna go out there "and if I make a mistake, oh well." And then there's more the researcher. Who wants to... "Just one more Creative Live class "before I start my business." (laughs) I'll say 10 more. And so they're just like, "You know I just wanna make sure, "lemme do some more research." Or if they're buying a camera, they'll take six months. But they love that research. Finding everything, what is the best buy, what is the best situation? Whatever, they're researching it. This ones a little bit more independent. Maybe they're the person, they have no problem going to the movies by themselves. Like, "Oh yeah, all the time, I don't care. "I'll sit by myself, whatever, I'm just going by myself." Then there's the other person who's an advice seeker. Wants to make sure that they're having the right moves, and "Let me just talk to the experts, "because they know everything." Then one is results focused, and the other is brand orientated. And what I mean by that, the results focus guy says, "You know what, I'm making $100,000 this year, "I don't care what I do. "If I gotta... "Sell my moms house or whatever, I'll do it!" Whatever it takes to make that goal that they have in mind, they'll do it. If they're doing family sessions, weddings, whatever, they're doing it all. "I just need to make this money, and that's the bottom line. "I got kids to feed, I've got mouths depending on me, "and it need to make this nut." Whereas the brand orientated guy person might go, "Well you know what, I would rather make $75,000 a year, "but make sure it's consistent with who I am, "how I look, and where I'm going." And a little bit more planned. So, who do you guys relate to most? Who sees them as more as the intrepid, kind of go for it person, anybody? About half the class. Okay, who sees themselves a little bit more of an organizer? Alright, you're both. (Scott laughs) Well guess what I've learned over the years? Oh, here's another one, high profit opportunities and financially conservatives. This is more risk taking with business, and this is a little bit more conservative, same thing. But guess what? Really, to be successful, you gotta be both. But you need to identify, see I need to identify myself. What do you think I am? Organizer. Thank you! No, I'm not, I'm terrible at that. I'm more of this person, like, "Let's just go, let's just make it. "Hey I got family I gotta feed, let's just do it." But I've learned for me to grow as a business person, and to go forward and have a successful business, I had to adopt a lot of these things on this side. My natural tendency is this, but I needed to really do this. Now, if you're on this side, then you've gotta start doing some of this stuff. But you really need both of these. And that's when I mentor people I kinda say, "Oh, okay, they're a this, or they're a that." And I kinda tell them the benefits of the other side, and how that can help them. Because in business you really need to tackle it all.
Ratings and Reviews
Laura K.
Scott Robert Lim is one of my all-time favorite instructors. He is humble, honest, engaging, funny, and down-to-earth. Most importantly, he truly cares about his students' success. You can tell he truly wants to help less experienced photographers to grow their business and their skill sets. He is brutally honest in a good/helpful way. In this short class, he provides numerous "nuggets" of information - specific things to think about when analyzing where you stand/where you want to go....things you may be doing that are holding you back...and specific and actionable suggestions for getting out there and drumming up new clients/work. His beliefs/values/ideas all resonate with me. Glad he is still teaching at Creative Live. Hope to see more classes from him in the years to come.
Margaret Lovell
Scott is one of my favorite instructors. Very engaging, and you know how much he loves what he does. He's enthusiastic. My biggest issue is in marketing myself better, which is why I signed up for this course. I'm glad that I did. The material was on point, concise, and Scott provides many actionable tips that can be used right away. I highly recommend this course.
Kaela Comontofski
Great class! First time hearing Scott Robert Lim speak and I really enjoyed his personality and presentation. He was concise but covered a wide range of topics and gave helpful examples. He was knowledgable and although some things I already knew it was said in a way that sparked ideas and excited me to try new approaches.