I love surveys and statistics. I love discovering how people are thinking, what matters most to them, and what drives them for the future.

So a few days I found a new survey tool and decided to give it a try – and thanks to the dozens of you who have participated so far (yes, you can still add your ideas if you have two minutes to spare).

So let’s go over a couple of the survey results.

Is taking a great picture more of an accident for you, or can you take an image knowing you’ve got a great image every time? A lot of that comes down to lighting, and knowing exactly what to do in every situation. And it looks like a ton of photographers struggle with that on a daily basis.

From a business standpoint, tied for first place is “bring in more customers” and “learn more about marketing”, followed by “start up my business”. Photography is a great business to be in – there’s so much potential! And honestly I can’t think of a more fun profession to be in. It’s something you can jump in at any time, build your skills, and then modify as you move along.

Andrew and I started out as general photographers, moved into high end wedding photography, created a coaching/mentoring/marketing firm to help photographers grow their own businesses, and now see ourselves moving into fine art photography in the coming years. We have friends who moved from generalists, to weddings, to high school seniors, and are now very successful as baby photographers.

What’s your passion? As long as its photography, you have a lifetime career and opportunity.

Thanks for the results – you’ve inspired a ton of new posts coming to you in the months ahead.

What are you doing with your photography this year? Are you enjoying shooting for fun? Or are you looking at turning it into an income stream? Take this two minute survey, and let us know what you’re doing in 2009.

Thanks for your input – we appreciate it. We’ll update you on the results here in the next few days.

Last week I ran a photography survey to find out what your biggest concerns were for building your business this year. Thanks for your answers.

I thought I’d let you in on the answers so far – so you can find out if other’s are facing the same issues as you.

1. What is the biggest thing you need help with right now?

Your biggest challenge is to find more clients – this is the definite clear winner. Next in line is to learn more about running the business.

2. If you were to invest in training during 2008, where would you most likely spend your money?

The big winner here is to learn more about marketing a photography business, leading almost 50 percent over the next highest task of learning more about photo manipulation.

3. What’s your biggest challenge in 2008?

Again the clear winner here is learning how to create a steady stream of income.

Thanks so much – I see a trend here. Though I know from talking with many of you that  marketing your business and building up a strong clientele base is your toughest challenge, I really enjoy hearing directly from you how you’re currently feeling about your business. Your answers to my 4th question – What question would you ask a successful business coach right now? – has also provided me with a lot of insight.

Watch my future posts to answer some of your most pressing issues. Thanks!