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Role of a Mentor

So how to book more weddings? First of all, you gotta put in the work you've gotta have that ten thousand our rule are you familiar with that on the book out? Liar says that and it says that to get good in any industry it usually takes about four to five years okay to be top in your industry and that's forty hours a week gives you ten thousand hours so the whole theory is they did this study out liars did this study and a lot of people did. This study is that people who are doing very successful and doing something at a world class level put a minimum of ten thousand hours into their whatever it is. So what is ten thousand hours? Ten thousand hours is forty hours a week for four five years that's that's what it is right there some people don't have forty hours don't have five years, right? And so in my case I didn't have five years, so what you could do is this and this is often the case of an entrepreneur and this is probably the case with me and these two other people and joe, I know...

joel is an extremely hard worker, I think if there's one thing in common that our all this that you're going to hear that up are we work really hard it's easy for us to work twelve hours easy no problem and so what you can do is you need to work three years, twelve hours a day I'm laying it out there because that's all you that's all the money you've got this three years if you don't have three years then you need to get the highest quality mentoring as possible because you need all the short cuts you need to find that mentor you need to live right in his house somehow when he gets up in the morning you're right they're way you know? Okay and so you vel is this silver this is I'm throwing this out at you that's why I know for a fact a part timer will never be world class because you need this type of effort so there's no way that well to do their regular job also put twelve hours into their photography to get to the point where they're world class now this is thinking about couples right? I used to be jealous about couples is because they could split up this time and so they could get oh man, I got to do my blogging and facebooking and editing and then I look at these couples oh this guy specializes in adding and this ah man, I'm going up against that shoot and so that's why it's a little bit easier for couples to get started in this business but they get but then in the end we're going to find out that something becomes very difficult for them. But in the beginning, that's. Why? You see a lot of couples starting wedding photography because they could split it up and they could gain that extra time. Okay, so if you got three years, six hours a day, that sounds much manageable, right? With two people and so that's. Why so many couples make it it's because that's manageable you could actually still do that. You could actually almost have another full time job and maybe even manager family to. At that point, it was possible. So that's, the reason why you see a lot in our industry once a couple has a child, the u business is usually ended or changed at that point because the reason why is that one person handles the one and it usually turns out like this and I find out. And then this is not a hard press rule. But I always find that the woman ends up being the shooter all the time because she's the creative one, and then the guy usually ends up doing all the editing and all that back and work. And so the woman has a child, and a lot of I mean, they both have a child together, but when they have a child a lot of time I guess our culturally or whatever it seems like or maybe sometimes women's have a better knack at taking care of children, then it gets difficult and then it's in a bad situation on dh it's really gets really hard at that time, whereas the person who is one and develops the business on dh then they can go on and you can develop something and we'll talk about a little bit later. Where's me that's all I did was all me when my wife doesn't help me at all right? The only thing that she does and the only one thing I asked us to help her to book me my flights and sometimes he's not the greatest at that either because I don't care because she really takes care of our family and I can't live without her. She cooks my meals, I get breakfast, I get dinner, she cares about me, she takes care of our kids and that is that job is very difficult. That is more than twelve hours a day and so it's equitable, right? And so that's, what happens in that model works that way, but it's harder and that's just something to consider, and we'll talk a little bit about that later, okay, work smart with direction and intent, so just don't fill up these ten thousand hours with busy work and the example of this is in sports and then they would they somebody did this interview one time and they were doing this study on practicing with intent and they would have two examples there's two basketball players there's one basketball that's goingto practice his free throw shooting he comes in and goes, I'm going to do a thousand shots a day, you start shooting it and he has no idea if he's improving or gaining at all and then there's a guy like kobe bryant that comes in he comes in, he comes in with somebody catching balls for him so when he shoots it, that person runs out after the ball and gives it to him so he could it is mohr and then he's keeping record this one how many went in this one went to the left? This one went to the right and he's practicing with intent and that person will succeed because it's just not busy practice that's the same thing with us. Are we just going out and practicing? Are we getting these creative life videos, seeing what we need to do and going out and doing that practicing with intent so you just can't fill up those hours with busy work you have to have a goal to everything that you're doing everything that you're doing must have a goal let's have a purpose because you need to efficiently use your time okay here's another one find a mentor this is the way to get business this is going to help you because why a mentor gives you an inheritance? Don't we all like to receive an inheritance, right? Maybe some of them have have us have received already I haven't yet, but but that's what it's like it's giving you an inheritance a legacy right? And just give here a kiss I'm laying it out there for you this is how you do it you don't have to suffer the fifteen years that I went through I'm going to tell you how to do it just do this and it gives you short cuts and that's why I mentor is so important. So have you ever watched this movie called the final season? What it wass is about a small high school a small people the whole entire town was only five hundred people in the entire town and it had one hundred high school students okay? And from that they had on ly fourteen baseball players and from that they won nineteen iowa state champions from a small town like that. How did that happen? How do you get how do you beat the odds is like that that's incredible odds that's like one out of a thousand odds what was happening here? I love studying success that it is a true story so what it wass was they were passing down a legacy of success they found a success pattern and they were modeling it and they were producing results that's the exact thing that a mentor will do for you so the first thing when choosing a mentor you have to choose a mentor that has gone where you want to go because if they haven't gone where you want to go they have no idea how to pass the success strategy to you they may give you clues to it and it may work or may not so over winfrey says that a mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself a mentor is someone who allows you to know that no matter how dark the night in the morning joy will come the mentors someone who allows you to see the higher part of yourself when sometimes it becomes hidden in your own view nobody makes it alone nobody has it made it alone and I gotta share you one thing if I gotta summarized like I get a little bit emotional if I have to summarize one story that has made me the happiest this year was that I was mentoring this couple I was mentoring this friend of mine who was also married and in the beginning of the year said scott, I don't know if this is gonna happen right now we're doing it we're moving forward slowly but my wife is not too enthused about the progress of this and she's kind of wondering if I should continue she's going to pursue her professional career and I have a lot of doubts it's about whether this is going to move forward or not they're in that point and I was working with them every month and we're talking and hey you can do this and whatever and then I just again talk to them at the end of this year and he says scott and stiles it going right and it's like scott amazing thing happened the business is doing great and now my wife who is wanting to quit and go off and do her professional degree and get her ph d c's actually quitting that and helping me with my business because he sees so much promising in it now and so that things can change for you just like that overnight if you keep persisting and if you keep getting the short cuts the the things that the important information that will help you because sometimes a lot of times we are limited in what we know and that's the reason why our life plays like a broken record and we can't get out of that next level because our knowledge is limited so we need to get into somewhere we're somebody else knows something to help us do not be afraid to ask for help it will it will save you okay look at all these famous mentoring is that are out there and you think you see success you're going to see all these type of patterns of of people and that's why I want to bring you uh show you some of my students and give you hope that hey yes this could be done right and you go through all these um um things and but this is my one my favorite luke skywalker you know be well you know that's the one okay if you want to beat the odds learn from those who have walked in your shoes photographer has a slim chance to make it all full time I'm iris it's the hardest of almost all jobs good mentor brings maybe that adds down to one two ten so it's not a guarantee but I rather be it's one to a thousand and one to ten and and and that's your just lower in your odd so it's still something that you've it's upto us still okay do I mentor? Yes I have a passion for mentoring if you're ever interested in that andi I'm devoting my career to helping others and I love to mentor people maybe like not a lot maybe twelve a year or something like that because of my schedule and so far but if you're very interested in that you can contact me later of all sorts and we can have a discussion about that too okay, um, so why is learning from a mentor or a coach? The best way to learn that's. Great. Right? So I developed this theory and this theory here is this and this is achievement and how to get higher achievement. And I listed all the different types of wei tau learn. And this is the most common is called one way learning what is one way learning one way common one way learning is things that are from books and dvds and is just available. And it's al there and it's, easy to access. And you have this one way learning that everybody can have access to then and that will produce pretty much average. You want to be average? Do that if you want to get good. This is where you come in. Said you had a practice like heck get you ten thousand dollars. Ten thousand hours in and then from that ten thousand dollars, you get very good and then you start to get world class one way in fo and that's what I love about creative life. And this is why there's, a unique is because they give you this world class mostly one way, but if you get into the chat rooms, you've got some dialogue then. And whatever, but then this is maybe going into some workshops that maybe aren't so hands on, but you're getting really good information to help you take it up to that next level. Or maybe you go to some of these workshops and it's just once a year where it's not a constant one back and forth information that could get you to the to a pro level, right that could get you there. But really, if you want to get to that world class where everything comes together, where you're actually making ten thousand dollars a wedding, you've got to be world class that's when you need the two way exchange because there has to be an accountability back and forth, and that is going to give you the highest achievement possible. You need the two way exchange from the person who knows the most and that's gonna get you there. That's the cost passed, it does it's lower cost there and that's the reason why people don't do this because it is a little bit more expensive to go that route. But the payoff is huge, and sometimes this is only the only way to get you over those humps and that's why it's really, really important, okay, so my mentoring philosophy is this. What you have to do is you have to want you have to have a first observe what a world class photographer is, how he acts, how he talks to people all that you just need to see just you know how he dresses or what his personality is like whatever right you observe and learn strictly from a surprise you have to observe the rest for example, my daughter's really into basketball she's eight years old, but once a year I break the bank and I get really good seats and we go down almost down to court level and we watched I don't go to a laker game cause that's expensive, but I'll take her to a clipper game but I take her to a clipper game and I let percy the best basketball players in the world she's only eight years old but now guess what? She loves it and I'm so freaked me so much joy that every time I want to watch a laker day she is right there with me and she cheers louder than I do can you believe this? I'm telling her to be quiet, which is really where so she's totally into it but I want to give her that experience of seeing what it's like I'm letting her dream and I go to her we're sitting here and she has to being her little blankie too because sometimes she gets tired she brings a blankie, but then having the pot come and I go to her, how would you like to be playing here one day? Know that that'd be great think about it, you could be one day playing on that court to when that be amazing, I just throw that idea into her head right now I plant that seed and so you just have to observe, right? Then you have to take technical knowledge and you have to know that technical lodge, which is left lighting, posing, composition and you have to go back and forth and you have to see if you're doing this technical, these technical things correct? Like learning the piano, doing your scale, right, you scale and then maybe the panty years all know your ham position to slightly off you need to you need to change it a little bit, right? So you need feedback even on your technical development because you don't know if you're doing it wrong, just like engulf it's like if you do something wrong and developing bad habits, then it's going to follow through so you need that, and so you need to do it a lot because you need to know these technical things like it's the back of your hand because it's on ly at this point that you can be creative you cannot be creative when the pressure's on and you got one minute to post the pride, and you're still struggling on how to figure out what the light iss because you're not technically strong enough, and so what happens is, is when you're not technically strong enough, it holds you up and you can't release your creativity. And so you look at this and performances all the time in sports arena, right? Where the best players in the world, they somehow do this play that like, whoa, how did he do that? Throwing the ball behind the back are doing something amazing because on the spot he becomes creative and creates a solution because he has the technical down already that's where that ten thousand hours comes in, you need to get it like the back of the hand. And then with this experimentation, you need to judge that you need to get feedback on whether it's not working or not self evaluate of self evaluation and then continuous learning, continuing to learn and build upon that themselves. Then that person becomes the master and teaches somebody else that's where I want you to be. I want all of you to be up here and teaching others and that full circle so we can improve this industry, and so it has to be a nurturing in a mentoring process. Okay, so what are the characteristics of a ten k photographer? What do they look like? Well, they must have a signature style ok? They must have something that looks different about them they must have a consistent quality and be experienced and that's where experience comes through is you have you have consistent quality when you experienced that something good business model you're not ticking off customers and they actually like you and providing services for you a great turn around time that is huge if ever one thing that's going to destroy your wedding business is turnaround time so when I'm entering people and I'm asking them how things going for first thing asking what's your turnaround time like because I experience it firsthand haven't my turnaround time is terrible and I'm busy doing lectures and I'm doing this photography biz I mean my wedding business is non existent because it's just too bad at it, right? So that's keys turnaround time creating a great album design they need a five k when you get to that that's what joe has a very amazing album that's a luxury brand that is the louis vuitton purse right there get that album to be amazing that's gonna put you over the top you gotta be a be social you have have to have a good personality, you have to be good with people you have to have this commitment to excellence you have to be one of those on I'm sure there's tons out there when you get into a competitive competitive situation you just have to be the best and that's your call to do that and you feel it you've done it throughout your life whatever you're doing whatever you're whenever you're playing board games whenever you're going to school, whatever is that you are driven to be the best and that's what these people are they have it in them it's part of their makeup okay, so really to give you some hope is that a lot of times your one year one skill away from doubling your income and that was true with me and what it wass for me I got stuck at certain levels there was a point in two thousand six I was going great in two thousand five everything eyes booking clients left and right and whoever I I felt like I just had the freakin magic touch like I could do it I could do anything and I was just getting these clients in two thousand six rolled around and my first eight clients said no no no no no I'm like when it's depression almost have you ever felt like that right? What in the world is going on? Why can't I get to the dex? This is I was going so good and every single person said no to me I don't understand what's going on well happen to be in around two thousand six, the digital revolution started to turn around and now what happen was happening was there's a flood of photographers entering the market at this point and what happened here? I realized that my value well it's about two thousand dollars under what people were paying because of all this new competition so my what I charged people weren't willing to pay for it except if if they would give me two thousand dollars less than they would book me and that's I felt were what was happening to me and I was at that point where I needed to make some changes in my life and what I did was I realized that my pictures didn't glamorize the bride enough and I looked at my work and I was bored with it and so I would settle the one skill that I learned was learning how to glamorize the bride so I worked on that a lot and so by the end of the year I was able to make that transition work really hard and then the flow started happening again but it was one scale that was holding me back from from making that next level then another thing wass that help me was actually submitting into competitions like we're having a competition here on then submitting into national competitions I wanted to put myself against the very best in the world, and see how I would do. Could I be a master photographer? So I would submit these images and I would win awards, and so then I knew I had the confidence. It's that might imagery was justus good as anybody else's in the world. So with that fact, I could gain confidence and ask for higher prices and things of that nature, because I knew the called in my work was there. So it's, a good idea to submit your work, just to see where you're at, and then with that, I knew I had the quality. I knew I had the content. I just had to think like a tank, a wedding photographer, and allow myself to really own it, okay, to really feel comfortable doing that.