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Top Business Books For Photographers To Read Going Into 2012

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Every year I read dozens of books. And while I read a variety of different genres, business books tend to be one of the largest. As I was looking back over some of the books I’ve read this year, I decided to put together a small list of books that are perfect for finishing up 2011 with and getting ready to build a strong, successful business in 2012.

How To Market to People Not Like You
By Kelly McDonald
While most marketing gurus argue that you should develop a niched market and target them exclusively, this book will show you how to step outside that box and concentrate on core values rather than demographics. By looking at core values, you can find similar marketplaces in a variety of different places. If increasing your client base in 2012 is a top priority, this may be the book to help you think in different ways.

Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions
By Guy Kawasaki
I love how Kawasaki writes – story like format that is easy and fun to read. This is a quick read that will help you think of your business and your customers in new ways. Enchantment is the art of influence and persuasion, and how it transforms the relationships all around you. Understand how to change your goals through the use of enchantment and you will quickly get into the hearts and minds of people that could be your biggest fans.

Think: Straight Talk for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed Down World
By Lisa Bloom
While not technically a business book, this book is filled with information on why women are at the top of their game in education and career options, yet still struggle to get past the “looks” obsession. (Plus its a great read for the daughters in your life as well.) With today’s focus on celebrity media, plastic surgery and reality TV, the only way to move forward from here is to Think.

The Thank You Economy
By Gary Vaynerchuk
If you’ve noticed a change in the way people market their products and in the way they  buy, you’re not alone. Today’s world is controlled by a new set of communication rules. If you don’t understand the way people now make decisions, you’ll never succeed at business. This book is a great way to help you start out 2012 in a new way. While it won’t give you a detailed plan for using social media, it will provide a blueprint to why its the only way to succeed in the future.

The Personal MBA
By Josh Kaufman
This book starts with business fundamentals and works forward from there. With a unique look at concepts and skills, its an easy way to pick up the facts you need to succeed and put them into place immediately. It’s a book filled with complex principles written in an easy to read format. Perfect for the person that doesn’t have an MBA, yet really wants to succeed in business.

Evil Plans
By Hugh MacLeod
At first glance this may seem like a strange book to include in my Top Business Books list. It’s a book filled with cartoons. Yet look at its meaning and the message it delivers. This book is a manifesto on creativity, how to find it, and what to do with it to find success within your own small business. It’s a great book to pick up read one or two on a daily basis and really think about how to apply it to your own business model.

Real Time Marketing and PR
By David Meerman Scott
I’ve recommended his previous book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR before; in this follow up you’ll learn more practical steps to take your business into the future using online marketing strategies to your advantage. I love this book as it is filled with real world examples. Pick it up, open it up to any page, and you’ll learn something new you can directly apply to your business today.

If you’re looking at expanding your knowledge of operating a photography business, there are many options out there. While most are geared towards starting a business or becoming better at picture taking, here are a few that can help you understand and build a strong photography studio within the next few months.

The Photographers Blogging Book
30 Ways in 30 Days
Become a Top Wedding Photographer
What Do I Name My Photography Business?

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Hey Photographer – Are You A Storyteller?

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One of the things that set us apart from other photographers early on was our storytelling. We didn’t believe photography was all we had to offer. Instead, we chose to take it to a different level and offer storytelling through our albums. We regularly sold three to five albums to our clients, so I guess they loved it as well.

Storytelling involves many things. It involves thinking ahead of time about what you want to capture. It involves understanding what will happen and being there ready and in position before it does. It also involves being ready for the unexpected as well.

Dig Deeper: 7 Tips For Visual Storytelling

I ran across a great series of videos today by Ira Glass who hosts This American Life on Public Radio. He has a series of four videos in which he goes over his ideas on what it takes to be a storyteller – all are good and worth listening to.

But it’s a compilation video that really caught my eye. The way its written can be an inspiration to any creative artist. It may be just what you need as you begin planning for a New Year.

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

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Will You Regret Not Jumping Into A Full Time Photography Business?

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If you look back at your life so far, what do you regret?

I’m sure a few things pop into your head immediately.

Do you regret not finishing up your degree? Or maybe never going to school at all?

Do you wish you would have followed a different career path? Or chosen a different job?

I watched one of the top TED videos from 2011 today on regret, and I’ve included it here. It’s around 15 minutes in length, and I would highly recommend watching as it teaches a lot about how we look at ourselves.

One of the most interesting things Kathryn Schulz mentions is:

When we look back at our lives, there are many things we regret:

  • Education 33%
  • Career 22%
  • Romance15%
  • Parenting 10%
  • Self 5.47%
  • Leisure 2.55%

Yet financial regrets are even less.

We don’t wish we made more money and had more cash to buy bigger houses and cars. We want to take care of ourselves and the people around us; the ones that we love the most. We want to educate ourselves to feel fulfilled. We want a great career that we love and feel we are contributing to society.

We regret not taking chances that have could have done more to improve our lives. We regret not taking advantage of opportunities that come by.

So now is the time to think of what you have today, what opportunities are being presented to you, and what you will do that will affect the rest of your life.

Will you move forward with your goal of creating a successful full time professional photography business?

Or will you face regret at some point in the future?

Filed Under: Get Inspired Photography Tagged With: , , , ,

Perfect Gifts For The Photographer In Your Life

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When you’re a photographer, you wind up with gifts that are somehow always related to the business. And while you’re tree can only hold so many cameras and miniature photographers, there are some really cool things that you’ll be moving to the top of your wish list this year.

Phone Lenses

What’s the one thing missing from your camera phone? The ability to have multiple lenses for every situation. Not any more, thanks to this series of lenses, Choose from fisheye, macro/wide angle and telephoto lenses – or get the series and save, plus free shipping.

iPhone Lens Dial

Like the idea of different lenses for your iPhone, but don’t want to carry all of them with you? Check out the iPhone Lens Dial. Now their conveniently in place and ready for any situation.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Just For Fun Tagged With: , , , ,

What Makes A Photograph Breathtaking?

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Its easy to look through hundreds of pictures, and enjoy each one for what it offers. Then you open up a site with a photograph that makes you say … WOW!

There is a difference between 99 percent of the photographs out there, and the 1 percent that truly leaves you breathless. And while you may say that a breathtaking photograph is in the eye of the beholder, there may be things you can do to make your photographs truly breathtaking.

Head over to a site like The Big Picture. I visit there every once in awhile when I need inspiration. The photographs are unbelievable. But what makes them truly magical is the story they tell when you look at each subject all together.

And of course you can’t leave out a site like National Geographic. Their photography has been WOWing people for decades. And while the stories they tell are remarkable, it’s the photography that really penetrates your heart.

So how do you take a breathtaking photograph? I searched through other photographers sites to see what they have to say. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Taking Better Photographs Tagged With: , , ,

Want To Be A Better Photographer? Don’t Get Paid

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As a photographer, you want to create the best photographs possible, have your clients love them, pay you well, and refer you to enough people that you never have to “market” again.

That’s the epitome of a perfect business model. But as you are growing and building, something starts happening. You start questioning just about everything.

  • Am I good enough?
  • Will people like what I do?
  • Do I have something people are willing to pay for?
  • Should I really do this full time?
  • Can I become one of the best in my niche?
  • Will I succeed?

These are all great questions, and ones that are difficult to find the answers to.

But there is one way to gain immediate feedback.

Put yourself on display.

The Street Performer Mentality

Have you ever watched a street performer do what he does best? He knows how to work the crowd. He perfects his skills by practicing and doing it again and again. He tries it out in front of a crowd, and gains instant feedback. If a group doesn’t surround him and have interest in what he’s doing, he knows he needs to move into a new direction. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Get Inspired Photography Tagged With: , , , , , ,

What You Can Learn About Marketing From Steve Jobs

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Last night I ate a quick dinner and ran out the door. It was my first night of a new meditation class, and I was excited to get there. In our house, dinner means “no technology”, so we hadn’t yet heard the news. But that all changed two minutes after I jumped in the car. It was everywhere. The world was now missing a visionary and a genius.

Whether you love Apple or not, there is no denying Steve Jobs was a true genius. He saw way into the future, and had the ability to create great products that people didn’t just want, they obsessed over. They were passionate about. It was almost at a cult like status.

Yep, in many ways we were passionate from afar. We bought computers way before they were cool. We were one of the first photographers to design a website. And we progressed into PC because, well, that’s what we did. Then we bought another computer. And another. And software. And more software. And somewhere along the way, we really wanted to switch to Apple. But with multiple computers at any given time – 7 was our highest of working computers that we actually used, and the amount of software it took to run them, it would have been more than an expensive venture for us to switch. So we jumped into Apple products with everything else, starting with iPods. Today I absolutely love my iPad, and you’d never get it away from me. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Get Inspired Photography Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

5 Things A Virtual Photography Studio Can’t Live Without

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A couple of weeks ago, I announced that we were in transition phase, and were attempting to make our virtual office, well, more virtual. A lot has been happening over the past two weeks, and along the way we’ve discovered a few things we’ve transitioned into that we can’t imagine we ever lived without

Phone System

Yep, my original post a couple of weeks ago was all about Google Voice. We really love Google Voice and it allows us to be in the office no matter where we are or what phone we choose to use. But what we like even more is not needing a landline. No more phone bills with a ton of taxes and fees when we very rarely use it. Now everything is fed through Google Voice to one of our mobiles, or to our VoIP system (we use ooma). [Read more...]

Filed Under: Studio Equipment Tagged With: , , , , , ,

5 Big Ticket Items Photographers Pay For, Then Seldom Use

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Yesterday I announced that we had moved from our large suburban home, to an urban condo environment, decreasing our space down to one third of our large home size.

When you do that kind of downsizing, you really start looking at what you’ve put in the back rooms, in the closets, and in the garage, yet have seldom picked up since you purchased it. What’s even more distressing is the items you find in their original packaging. Did you really need it if you never even opened it?

While an occasional office supply is one thing, when it’s a big ticket item, it’s a whole different issue. Imagine what you could have done with that money if you hadn’t invested in that purchase?

As we were looking through things, listing items on Craigslist, and giving things away, we discovered 5 things that we invested in, yet seldom used.

Camera Doodads

If you’ve ever gone to a photography convention, you’ve probably fallen for the shiny object syndrome. When you walk up and down the aisles, caught up in all the sights and sounds projected straight towards you, it’s easy to fall for it. Companies promise miracles, and great tools, gadgets and doodads that will improve your photography, or help you run your business more efficiently.

So you invest in a doodad or two. Two becomes twenty. And so on. Pretty soon you have boxes in your spare closet full of shiny doodads, many unopened and untouched. [Read more...]

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10 Things You Have Heard As A Professional Photographer

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Chances are when you started thinking about becoming a professional photographer, you held the dream close inside for a while. I know we did. After all, it had been generations since any of our family had broken into the entrepreneurial world. What would they think? What would they say?

Well as chance would have it, they probably had a lot to say once you did tell them. I’m sure you heard it all. And I was reminded of some of the things family and friends said when we finally made our announcement this morning when I read through a great blog post, Things They Have No Right To Tell You. So I came up with some of my own.

Have you heard any of these?

I’ve never started a business before, but I can tell you it’s a very risky thing to do, especially in this economy.

Nobody makes a great living as a professional photographer; welcome to the world of being a starving artist.

I’ve never been a photographer before, but I have a ton of ways to help you build your business.

I really need professional photography. Would you be interested in spending a day photographing me, and I’ll give you some of my “product/service”?

I have a great charity – could you donate some of your services to help me out?

I’m in a tough spot right now, but I love your work. If you photograph me for free, I’ll tell all my friends about you – and I know “a lot” of people.

It takes money to make money – be prepared to spend a lot.

You have real talent; I know you’ll be successful.

Quit dreaming and get your head out of the clouds. Get a job like the rest of us.

I’ve tried that before, and I can promise you it doesn’t work.

What else have you heard?

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