What's the deal with those 16 Hoops?
After thinking hard about what I wanted to bring to my space, what kind of knowledge I wanted to share and how I wanted to share it, I formed 16 Hoops: a strategic design and branding firm for photographers.
What’s the deal with those hoops, and why are there 16 of them?
This is by far our most frequently asked question. It's kinda a long story. But that’s the point. It’s all about orbits—or rather, choosing the orbit that makes sense for you on a cosmic level.
The answer dives into Deep Space territory (psst: “Deep Space” is one of our blog categories—check it out when you want to exercise your brain).
Let's begin by starting up the way-back time machine (thank you Josh and Chuck from Stuff You Should Know).
First Destination: New Mexico
Status: Childhood’s End
I’ve always been fascinated with space, philosophy, and history. The cosmic hum in the Land of Enchantment is for reals. It got into my soul, deeply. This white girl left New Mexico, but New Mexico and its painted high desert culture never left this girl.
Second Destination: Breckenridge, Colorado
Status: The Art of the Chameleon
I’d just graduated film school at Ithaca College and was working for a wedding and portrait master, assisting on very high-end celebrity weddings. This is where I learned the art of the chameleon. I didn't want to be noticed—I wanted to be quietly snapping away behind the magic safety of my camera. It was a defense mechanism for my introverted creative soul.
Third Destination: York, Maine
Status: Success Has Its Downside
I knew I wanted to create things for people (while, ahem, getting paid) from my unique vision of the world, but I always assumed no one would care for or want my Western-desert, geeky, deep-space brand of "being". So I quietly started my wedding photography business with little or no thought to who and why. Just stumbled into it. I called it Geneve Hoffman Photography (GHP).
Side note: Using my name is one of the biggest regrets of my career. But we learn. Read on, intrepid time traveler.
My wedding and portrait business soared to new levels. But ironically, it was when my business and career was at its apex that I hit my lowest point personally. I was deeply unsatisfied.
One big bright spot in this era that is worth mentioning: I hired the very talented Erin Flett to do my new sun- and orbit-inspired logo for GHP. I showed her some artwork of orbiting sun circles from my childhood home in New Mexico, and told her the theory of my photography: I see the light from the ancient Big Bang traveling through the universe, down through orbits and our own sun. That same neverending light reflects on my clients here on Earth and allows them to shine. Then, that same light (or my interpretation of it) travels through my lens and back out into the universe. And it begins again.
I’ve always known the power of great design—whether it is airport architecture, an iPhone, a Picasso, or a logo. Great design feels like love. You can't put it into words. It's just a warm, enveloping feeling. I knew after that logo design, and how Erin was able to translate my thoughts so perfectly into the artwork I was looking for, that something had begun to change in my path.
Fourth Destination: Cocooned...
Status: Chameleon Turns Butterfly
Winter 2013 to spring 2015 was my 2-year long hibernation period. I was sick for about 18 months, and I turned away from everything I knew in order to heal.
My illness became a metaphor for another kind of sickness that I personally knew was infecting my business. I was also seeing and hearing it from all my other photographer friends and in the industry as a whole.
Right around that time, my colleague Anne Schmidt introduced Todd and Jamie Reichman to our 200-member photographers’ group here in Maine. Listening to Todd's podcast series that winter of 2013 changed my career and led me on a path to reevaluate the entire photography industry as I knew it. I could see we were both searching.
I hired some consultants outside the photo industry. I did the excruciatingly hard work of starting a new business "the right way”. And then, I emerged from my deep space hibernation in the fall of 2015 knowing exactly what to do.
Final Destination: Right here, right now
Status: The Business I Always Wanted
After thinking hard about what I wanted to bring to my space, what kind of knowledge I wanted to share and how I wanted to share it, I formed 16 Hoops: a strategic design and branding firm for photographers.
So what does all this have to do with the name 16 Hoops? EVERYTHING.
I knew I wanted to rework Erin Flett’s original logo for me, and hone it for this new business—and I needed a name to end all names, because I know after my deep space sabbatical that this is the last business I ever want to run.
So I went to the place that gave me so much inspiration in my creative life (even in film school). I opened up my American Indian Myths & Legends book. I turned to the story of the creation myth in the ancient pueblo people, hoping something would pop off the page.
Literally the first page I opened up was the story of how the Great Sun used 16 hoops (or orbits) to create the "Earth". The hoop is a very sacred symbol for native cultures.
The Earth origin story was the perfect metaphor for what we are trying to do here at 16 Hoops. I believe in terraforming for our clients, creating an ecosystem of positioning around their brands that not only sustains them and their own customers, but allows them to soar.
The secret of memorable branding
I took my childhood in New Mexico, my lifelong love of design, my geeky passion for history and cosmology, and mashed it all up in the name 16 Hoops.
Amazing branding is about taking all your experiences, combining them, and spitting it all back into the universe in a way that appeals directly to the people you want to reach. It's either real and meaningful or it's not.
And your branding doesn’t have to be some Level 5 Geek story about universe origins. It can be romantic and pretty, or simple and clean, or anything in between.
But above all, you can't fake it.
Everything you do in your life is what makes you "you". When done well, branding and messaging can only be about you.
Think your branding isn’t working? Do the logo swap test. If your logo could be used for any other business, go back to the drawing board.
My hope is that the 16 Hoops origin story will mean something to you as a creative business owner. I think you deserve branding that makes you pump your fist in the air when you see it or say it. That’s part of why I started 16 Hoops. Don't accept anything less.
And know this: It's a weird and wonderful journey to get there.
Links and Resources
Can Your Brand Pass the Logo Test?
American Indian Myths and Legends
Todd Reichman’s website, A Man To Fish
Josh & Chuck: Stuff You Should Know Podcast
You are not everyone. Prove it.
To move your photography business substantially forward requires innovation. Innovation requires DEEP WORK. Get off the hamster wheel and grow your photography business.
Here is the typical photography career:
Stumble into it because you take great photos (degree not required, but bonus).
Get lucky by having friends hire you first, then slowly widening to a larger audience.
Sit by the phone (or email).
Send out an email template. get hired (or wait).
I’m oversimplifying to a degree, but this is essentially how it works and has worked for a long, long time.
How do I know?
That was my wedding career from circa 2003 to 2016. I never had to work to get clients. I did styled shoots that got wild publicity, I did the occasional wedding show and networked loosely with planners, florists, venues, and DJ’s that I liked.
But most of my success came from “FIRST. BEST.” I entered first and best and held that well over for over a decade.
That’s it.
This old business model won’t work now for any photographer, including me.
FIRST doesn’t exist with 150,000+ professional full time photographers. These are people who call themselves Professional Photographer on their tax returns - imagine how many in your own market do not. And everyone is good (best) now.
Take a look around at the sea of photographers all doing the same thing and expecting different results.
So why do talented, smart photographers still do this and hope for different results?
It’s because they/we are distracted by small tasks that constantly interrupt the REAL & DEEP WORK we should be doing.
This new economy requires, no demands, innovation.
If you don’t innovate your photography business model, you will fail.
Sounds scary. But it’s meant to be an exciting call to action rather than a doomsday cry.
How do you innovate? With DEEP WORK.
I’m sure a few of you have seen Cal Newport’s TED talk on this subject (check out another article on this...). But don’t watch it (distraction!). His book Deep Work is far more engaging. Get this book.
The first step toward doing deep work is simple.
Set three GIANT goals for your business.
Determine what work must be done to reach these goals.
Eliminate all or most of everything else.
Let’s break it down.
1. Set 3 Giant Goals
These are not small goals. Small goals will not innovate your business model. These 3 goals should make your heart skip a beat. One possible set of 3 goals for a hypothetical mid-size town photographer could be…
Move my family to a larger OR more lucrative market (see what I mean…heart skip a beat!).
Re-brand as a luxury brand.
Gross $200K next year.
Some other goals could be...
Stop all advertising and do in person networking only.
Make the switch to luxury IPS.
Become a freelance photojournalist with National Geographic.
Start a magazine for photographers.
Photograph only what I love and am good at.
Focus on high end Jewish weddings.
2. Determine what work must be done to reach these goals
Using our hypothetical photographer who decides to move above. Here is some DEEP WORK that could be done...
Dive deep into Luxury Brands around the world. What do they say, what do they feel like, how do they market? What kinds of products do they create?
Study high end luxury markets around the country (Scarsdale NY, Rhinebeck, Maclean VA, West Palm Beach FL, Rolling Hills CA, Belle Mead TN, Darien CT, Scottsdale AZ, Cary NC, Newport Beach CA, Wellesley MA etc…). Which two or three could be potential new homes for you?
Get a loan or save enough to make the move and open up a studio.
Start photographing work for your portfolio that will start to build this kind of higher end clientele (you don’t need to wait until you move to do this).
Take a course on IPS for the luxury market.
3. Eliminate everything else.
This part should be easy, hypothetically.
Stop photographing anything that doesn’t move you toward this goal.
Stop the endless tweaking of your brand and website. You can’t tweak a broken system. It requires destruction and evolution.
Stop spending any time on social media or other distractions that doesn’t move you toward this goal.
Stop…stop…stop…ANYTHING that doesn’t move you toward this.
When you start thinking and acting this way amazing change can happen. It takes work and some internal re-wiring of old bad habits that bore deep tracks in your psyche. But it can be done.
Or you can just keep doing what you have always done and expecting different results. Ahem. How’s that working for ya?
It’s time to get off the distraction hamster wheel. Be bold. Do the DEEP WORK required - if for not other reason than NO ONE ELSE IS DOING IT - WHY NOT BE THE ONE WHO DOES.
It’s the only way to stand out in a sea of look alike photographers all doing the same thing.
You are not everyone. Prove it.
Think Different: The Case for NOT Using the Word "Investment" in Your Navigation Bar
The word “investment” sounds better than “pricing,” right? It must!
But in reality, it allows every photographer out there who is intimidated by or finds unpleasant the fact they have to actually sell their products and run a business to procrastinate even further.
Okay, look.
I've got nothing against the word "investment". We use it here in context all the time at 16 Hoops.
I don’t even have anything against the togs who use it in their site menus and nav bars.
However, I do have a bone to pick with the fact that EVERY SINGLE photographer website template out there blindly uses the word "investment" in exactly the same way because of some Patient Zero site design from 2004.
Do you think Apple looked at how Microsoft did its nav bar before they launched? No, they went back to the drawing board and said “Think different."
The word “investment” in the navigation bar is the poster child for mediocrity. It’s the most common “symptom" I see of a larger problem in the photography industry. And here at 16 Hoops, we're railing against that problem.
We're railing against blindly following the lemmings off the cliff.
I’m all for using language (copy) in a compelling way. The word “investment” sounds better than “pricing,” right? It must!
But in reality, it allows every photographer out there who is intimidated by or finds unpleasant the fact they have to actually sell their products and run a business to procrastinate even further.
Does Apple use the word “investment” as some secret way of saying “This is a good idea”?
NO. They very simply state what a product costs after showing off all its abilities.
Apple doesn't have to legitimize a product's price by sneakily calling it “an investment," and neither do you.
That is the systemic crisis our industry is facing right now. Too many photographers look (and present themselves as) exactly the same.
Ergo, too many photographers compete for all the same clients. Ergo, too many photographers (epidemic levels) compete on price and commoditize our amazing industry and talents. (iPhones aren't helping…but I have ideas on how the iPhone is THE BEST thing that ever happened to our industry.)
And using the same words, the same logos, the same structures, the same website templates ain’t helping us at all.
Think Different. Really examine what your website is doing for your business. And start by re-thinking the word “investment".
The Year of Purposeful Marketing
Time to make 2018 the Year of Purposeful Marketing. The goal?
No more stabbing in the dark at random social media platforms hoping and praying someone will notice you. Instead an airtight marketing plan that will zero in on your ideal client like a heat seeking missile.
As we all wave a fond farewell to 2017, we should also be slamming the door on random marketing for good.
If you forgot how to avoid random marketing in general, read our primer article on When Marketing Goes Very, Very Wrong.
Instead, let’s make 2019 the Year of Purposeful Marketing.
No more stabbing in the dark at random social media platforms hoping and praying someone will notice you.
Instead an airtight marketing plan that will zero in on your ideal client like a heat seeking missile.
But first, we need to wipe the slate clean. New Year’s are built for this kind of delicious creative destruction. Get out a blank sheet of paper.
Step One.
Make sure you have ONE lucrative expertise that talks to ONE client in your market. Shed that old 2018 “generalist” skin, and become a highly sought after 2019 “specialist.” This is called positioning.
Step Two.
Re-examine how and where you engage with your high paying premium clients (logo, website, copy etc). Are you speaking their language? This is called branding.
Step Three.
Set a goal and a budget, then build a campaign. Refine, repeat. Refine, repeat. I highly recommend enlisting the help of an expert marketing team to start. This is called marketing.
Step Four.
Make sure that once your ideal client finds you, you know exactly how to repeatedly land, engage and quietly delight them. This is called systems.
Step Five.
2019 = Best. Year. Ever.
Let’s take a closer look at some possible questions to be asking yourself for the marketing bit, or Step Three from above.
How do you reach clients? Pretty basic right?
Should you use email? twitter? facebook? instagram? print ads? posters? direct mail? video ads? youtube? networking? smoke signals?
It’s impossible to say "yes, yes, yes and yes” unless you know with unwavering certainty 100% who your high paying premium customer **actually** is.
Everyone is trying to find that millennial sweet spot - but it’s more than likely that your customer is actually NOT a millennial. Especially if you are a high end portrait photographer.
Millennials spent a wad on their wedding recently, and are probably broke. The last thing they want to spend a ton of money on is an expensive portrait session.
SO, it begs the question - are you wasting your time on instagram if it’s actually GenXer’s you should be trying to reach? Shouldn’t you rather be spending your entire marketing budget on a robust Facebook ad campaign or a large magazine print ad campaign then? Do you even have a budget?
These are all questions you (or better yet, your marketing team) should be asking and answering before you even open up one social media account.
Start to ask yourself questions like these so you can tear down whatever was holding you back in 2018 and build something new and exciting for 2019.
So here is your first and best checklist re-cap as we dive into 2019 (your most amazing business year ever!):
What is your unique area of expertise? Figure this out, and your marketing will start to magically fall into place. Be tough on your business! Make the very, very, very hard decision to be a sole expert in one lucrative thing. It’s the most game changing business decision you will ever make.
How does your unique expertise walk and talk in the world to engage your ideal client?
Once you have positioning and branding nailed, write down your sales goals (monthly? yearly? quarterly?) and build a targeted sales campaign. Refine, repeat.
Spend the time to build your own signature system (simple is always better) to turn clients into raving fans.
Enjoy your work and have a reliable pipeline of high paying clients year round! Like I said, Best Year Ever!
This all sounds like a lot, huh?
Maybe 2019 should start with a gift to your business.
The gift of our 3 week Private Roadmapping session. At the end of it you will have the an actionable foundation for all the steps above. Whether you choose to move forward with our partner design team, or on your own - you will def be on the way to your best year ever.
Tell us your dreams for 2019! I know we can achieve them together.
16 Hoops + Inspire Photography Retreats
Inspire Photo Retreat's mission is to foster & maintain a supportive community where photographers are encouraged & empowered to grow in their lives and businesses through innovative curriculum in the areas of Craft, Vision & Business.
Inspire Photography Retreat
My good friend Enna Grazier started Inspire with her husband Matt Grazier as the "un-conference" for photographers. As visionaries in this industry, they saw a need for a more intimate and less intimidating workshop style retreat.
I have watched it grow year after year into the inviting and invigorating 225 person event that it is today. I've also personally attended two of them in two different New England towns.
“The Inspire Mission: To foster & maintain a supportive community where photographers are encouraged & empowered to grow in their lives and businesses through innovative curriculum in the areas of Craft, Vision & Business.”
16 Hoops has the amazing opportunity to sponsor the 2017 Inspire Photography Retreats. Mary, our designer, invented some fun notebooks for each photographer too. We hope everyone enjoys them, and the retreat.
It starts February 27 and will be held this year at The Hyatt Regency in Newport Rhode Island. Get all the details HERE!
Watch the fun unfold on their Instagram feed too.
#inspirephotoretreats
Couldn't I just do my own website??
Asking "couldn't I just do this website on my own" is similar to when a client asks you "couldn't I just take a photo of my kids on my iphone?"
I got this question from a client recently and we both agreed it would make an interesting quickie article. So here goes verbatim.
After viewing a recent website build we did, that looked deceptively simple and elegant, she asked:
“Couldn’t I just go and do this website by myself?"
Here is the answer I gave:
"It’s the same as someone who says to you, talented photographer:
“Couldn’t I just take my own photos of my kids? I mean, I have an iPhone?”
Could you well meaning photographer technically get a squarespace template and spend 100’s of hours DIYing yourself to something 1/2 way decent?
Maybe.
And could you well meaning mom shoot hundreds of photos of your kids and get one that is frame worthy (that you won’t be in, by the way)?
Maybe.
But, if you hire a branding expert they will know:
- how and where to place headlines and calls to actions
- where to place compelling imagery for maximum impact
- how to weave your story in a way that delightfully leads the client to contacting you
- how to do all this while you get to enjoy the work you love
Then you are 100% guaranteed a great website and brand that is landing you business 24/7.
And by the same token, if you hire an expert family photographer they will know:
- how to pose everyone for most flattering and memorable outcome
- how to find or create the best light
- how to tell your story with you in it
- how to capture those unseen moments
- how to turn it all into a once in a lifetime album that you will have forever
Then you are 100% guaranteed to have a treasured heirloom."
So next time you hear yourself answering this question for your own customers, think about how this advice scales to your own business as well.
Why are creative professionals afraid of deep expertise in one thing? Podcast interview with 16 Hoops by Matt Hanna
Matt Hanna of Thought Mixing Bowl is one of those original thinkers in the creative world that is putting his money where his mouth is. He is not just talking about making change, but actually creating change. His latest project is a compact yet engaging podcast called One Question. I, Geneve Hoffman, had the honor of being featured with my one question.
I bet you can sort of guess what my one question might be about, especially if you have been hanging around the positioning area of our articles section. Turns out, I'm kinda single minded (in a good way).
My One Question Podcast interview by Matt Hanna
SO head on over and take a listen.
Check out some of the other questions too - another question that caught my attention was the one with a graphic designer named Kathleen Murray whose question is "How do you shake creative guilt?"
5 Reasons Your Template Website Is Hurting Your Business
We all dread that moment when a well-meaning client shows us a Pinterest board of "inspiration" for their photo shoot or wedding. We all know that, if it's on a board, it's been done ad nauseum already. Do you want your website to evoke something that's been "done" already?
Here is the truth about photography template websites: whether you're a startup, or a seasoned pro who wants to level up your online presence, you might want to consider avoiding them altogether.
Why are photography templates potentially hurting your biz? Well, five reasons, for starters.
1. Templates make you look like a beginner.
Every photographer out there remembers the very exciting moment when they launched their first website. It was probably a very adequate template site, in hindsight. You probably spent hundreds of hours DIYing the heck out of it, but it worked reasonably well back when you were:
- On a budget
- Underpricing and undervaluing your work
- Competing with all the other similar photographers in your area
- Still trying to figure out what your business stood for
But then, one day, you realized:
- You care about your business and want your website and brand to reflect that care
- You want your website and brand to stand out
- You can't transform your business while sticking to your old ways
- Your needs have grown--you are no longer a beginner
2. Templates are basically Pinterest boards.
We all dread that moment when a well-meaning client shows us a Pinterest board of "inspiration" for their photo shoot or wedding. We all know that, if it's on a board, it's been done ad nauseum already. Do you want your website to evoke something that's been "done" already?
I once saw a lovely little template that was used for 1,085 photographers' sites. One Thousand Eighty-Five. That company is out of business now for better or for worse.
Just like it's not possible to create authentic, original images based on a Pinterest board, it's not possible for that pretty little template to convert your niche, ideal, high-paying client.
3. Templates are "one size fits all".
Whereas a custom site is designed and built with YOU and your business in mind, templates come with built-in issues and limitations.
This is especially true with home pages and blog pages.
Templates are literally "one size fits all". They are like those insanely popular jeans that somehow never seem to fit you just right. As pretty and tempting as they might be, templates are never going to take your business where you want it to go (especially you reading this - I know you want something more).
4. Templates are unintelligent.
Templates don't know your customer.
They know "a customer". Who is this mystery customer? Who knows?!
That's why, even if it gives your business a boost at first--eventually, a template website won't work.
Our ENTIRE point here at 16 Hoops is to get you, talented photographer, thinking about your very unique area of expertise. A template undoes all this work entirely.
These days, clients quite literally cannot tell photographers apart--and part of the problem is that everyone is using the same templates. So the race to the bottom continues.
5. Templates emphasize bells and whistles over important functions.
Bells and whistles like 13 pages of "info," slideshows, client logins, and endless contact form fields are, by design, meant to distract.
They distract your client from the single job of hiring you. You do not need to pour the entire contents of your business into your website. Your ideal high-paying client doesn't care at this point (or ever, frankly) about all this stuff. Your website is meant to convert that visitor into a client. PERIOD.
Bells and whistles can also create a catch-22 of sorts--because not only do you not need the stuff on those site templates, but those very bells and whistles are taking up space where actual useful, delightful things, such as compelling, action-oriented copy, could live.
OK, now you know why you shouldn't use a template website.
But what does a custom site or brand really *REALLY* do for you and your bottom line?
It helps your visitors transform from a casual, "stumbling upon you" audience to your dedicated fans, to premium-paying clients willing to throw wads of cash at your business. A custom site and brand is not an expense--it's an investment. (DOH! There's that verboten word, "investment". In a business-to-business context (B2B), the word is perfectly justified. In a business-to-customer (B2C) context--like portrait and wedding photography--it's misused and has lost all meaning.)
Whether you are a super-duper savvy beginner (yay for you!!!!) or a seasoned pro ready to transform your existing business (exciting!), now is the time to stand out.
Actually, 12 months ago was the time. Don't wait. We have a 16-week business transformation program, designed specifically for togs in your position, starting in January of every year.
Take the first step toward transforming your business. Stop tinkering and reserve your spot now.
I'm About to Give You a Million Dollars for Your Business
There are a couple of caveats: You have to invest your million in your business. You can’t just pay yourself more. And you have to spend it all in one year.
What would you do?
"What would you do if a patron client gave you a million dollars, and said you could do anything you wanted with your business?”
I play this theoretical game with all my clients at 16 Hoops.
There are a couple of caveats: You have to invest your million in your business. You can’t just pay yourself more. And you have to spend it all in one year.
What would you do?
I've had clients tell me they would write a book, travel, or open up a gallery. Nothing wrong with those answers--they usually come from a gut reaction.
But I think I need to ask, instead: "What game-changing things would you do with that money?"
Your answer might be different.
I know exactly what I would do. And it has almost nothing to do with buying a swanky new studio downtown, or traveling--because as fun as those things are, they aren't really game-changers.
Instead, I would research and build a completely new way of doing business in the photography industry. I would hire think tanks and designers and emerge like a butterfly in a year with a revolutionary business model.
David Baker, one of my favorite thinkers, posed this very question on his blog the other day, and our answers were pretty much the same.
You might not have a million dollars burning a hole in your business account, but what you can do right now (and it costs a lot less) is:
- Take the time to do a very deep dive into your own airtight positioning. Find that lucrative position that no one else can hold, and claim it.
- Build a signature system around that position.
The rest will fall into place.
You can start rolling the ball in the right direction. It’s hard work, but that is 100% why you should be doing it. If it was easy, everyone would have already done it, and we wouldn't be having this million-dollar conversation.
The iPhone Is the BEST Thing That Ever Happened to Pro Photographers
Instead of struggling against reality (and complaining)--which strengthens your old, bad habits--lean into reality instead.
Don't concentrate on how things "should be." Instead, be open like a vessel to a new framework of possibility.
Ahh, the iPhone.
Like the digital camera before it…like the point-and-shoot before that…like the SLR before that…the iPhone is forcing pro photographers to adapt.
Why is this a very good thing--like, maybe the best? Let's explore.
First, let's zoom out a bit and look at two palpable signs of how the industry as a whole is pushing back on new technology like iPhones (and age-old problems like when togs get to eat at a wedding...).
1. Grumbly blogs about "Things Photographers Hate"
One sure sign of resisting adaptability and growth that I see a lot on photography blogs is the ubiquitous "10 Reasons Photographers Hate XYZ" list. These lists are entertaining for sure, and all of us are, of course, shaking our heads vigorously while reading them.
I recently read one with a title akin to "Top 10 Things That Photographers Can't Stand". It's a great example.
#3 on the list goes along the lines of: "People using iPhones at weddings or a portrait shoot".
Yeah, I hated that too.
Until one day I didn't. I sat back for a moment, threw off my old hamster-wheel thought processes, and re-analyzed the whole scenario.
To illustrate the epiphany I had in that moment, I wrote "A Tale of Two Weddings" for Seacoast Weddings Magazine. It shines a light on the harmony that can come from two perspectives of the modern wedding: one shot on an iPhone, the other shot by a pro.
2. Righteous complaints about what the pro photographer "deserves"
Just the other day, another well-written photography blog landed in my inbox. It's essentially another "Top 10" type recap of the (decades-old) perennial complaints that photographers have.
Tip #1 was along the lines of "Caterer, PLEASE feed us when the bride and groom eat!"
I have another viewpoint on this issue (and I mentioned it in the comments section on that blog, too…). About five years ago, I had a complete 180 epiphany moment about this issue. I started simply bringing my own food to weddings.
In literally five minutes, I changed my whole 15+ year struggle with this one timing/scheduling issue. Why oh why are photographers still waiting around for the caterers to feed them (and, more importantly, complaining about it)? It's the definition of Old-School Madness.
But as entertaining--and perhaps even true--as these articles are, they do something unfortunate.
They allow photographers to form a false sense of security and righteousness, despite the reality they are facing. Articles like this allow them to dig their heels into their old habits, hole up in their bear caves, and justify preparing for an un-winnable war.
This habit of entrenchment stifles the "pivot and adapt" capability that successful people cultivate.
This old attitude doesn't allow a business the possibility to cross over that next threshold into the room full of ideal, high-paying clients waiting there.
Are you seeing a pattern here? A pattern of habits and complaints?
iPhones are the new reality.
Taking control of your own schedule, hunger, and comfort at a wedding or event is the new reality.
New ways of navigating a website are the new reality.
In their book The Art of Possibility, Benjamin and Rosalind Zander call this "The Way Things Are".
Instead of struggling against reality (and complaining)--which strengthens your old, bad habits--lean into reality instead.
Don't concentrate on how things "should be". Instead, be open, like a vessel, to a new framework of possibility.
Even better, create an entirely new storyline. One where you grab hold of all these new realities and spin them into a positive. Unless and until you can embrace and thrive within the new realities around you, you will find yourself in a tailspin.
I've only scratched the surface of how iPhones are a new kind of camera and present a new (and exciting!) reality. Don’t be like Kodak and die a slow death while bemoaning the new technology. Don’t be left behind by the iPhone craze. iPhones are here to stay. (In fact, Bon Appetit just did an entire issue with an iPhone.)
And this is very excellent and exciting news to the photographers smart and brave enough to pivot and try something different.
It doesn't mean you need to grab hold of every new and shiny object du jour…but once something has permeated an entire culture for the better, you want to be there first, not last (or never).
Ready to test out these new and exciting waters? Start with your own airtight positioning.
Or go even further and set up a 30-minute free consultation with us. Could be a game-changer.
P.S. For the record, I have great respect for both the writers of those "Top 10" articles I reference above--in fact, I subscribe to one of them. I just see it from a slightly different angle.
This American Tog, Act Three: How Your Customer ACTS on Your Expertise
We've read a million and one high-falutin' and even confusing definitions of marketing. But we here at 16 Hoops only have one way to explain marketing. It cuts to the chase nicely.
Our theme this series is "Business and The Survival of the Fittest". Find Ep. 1 here and Ep. 2 here.
We've arrived at Act Three of our show: "You ARE good. You LOOK good. Now ACT good."
- In Act One, we talked about how Expertise is the DNA or backbone of your photography business.
- In Act Two, we explained that branding is the expression of this expertise.
- Now, in Act 3, we make the claim that it's not enough to claim and express expertise. You have to walk the walk.
All this expertise and branding needs to lead to a profitable business, otherwise it's just another pretty face.
That is where marketing comes into play.
We've read a million and one high-falutin' and even confusing definitions of marketing. But we here at 16 Hoops only have one way to explain marketing. It cuts to the chase nicely.
Marketing = Messaging that creates a steady pipeline of high-paying, ideal clients.
Powerful marketing works like a funnel. A magic funnel, at the end of which your ideal client is throwing money at you.
Your messaging tools
You can get your message out there any number of ways.
Most of the time, businesses message potential customers using tools and channels like social media, SEO, email, blogs, etc. They create their own content, and also pay for advertising. They rely on both words and visuals.
Websites (and by association copy and visuals) are BY FAR the most underused and abused tools in photographers' ditty bags.
A website, when built well, will be working that magic funnel 24/7--even while you are sleeping. It's a living, breathing organism and it's the best salesperson on your team. Every single word and visual should be chatting up your ideal client and asking for their business the second they land on your page.
But instead of tapping into this potential, most photographers throw up a gallery (oh, good, you ARE a photographer. CHECK!), call their pricing page the ubiquitous "Investment," post a tab called "Information" in the nav, and call it a day.
I won't get into a teardown of photographers' sites here. We'll save that for another week.
But I will say: it's time for a revolution in websites. If that intrigues you, head over to our Survey, and let's chat.
A recap of This American Tog
Act One: Expertise is the foundational DNA of your business. When defined effectively, It's uniquely you. It can't be duplicated. It's difficult to mine--not just anyone can do it. But once you do the hard work (which, by the way, NO ONE except you is doing) it's transformative for your business.
Act Two: Branding is the expression of your expertise. When done effectively, it will speak directly to your ideal customer and bypass everyone else. Those perfect customers will be attracted to you like bears to honey.
Act Three: Marketing is what brings it all together in a message that resonates with your ideal customer. It takes your expertise, your branding, and takes it out onto the open road, full throttle, like a funnel to your ideal client.
Put them all together, and you, my friend, have a lethal, unstoppable business. It's the survival of the fittest. You have just become the top of the food chain.
We're 16 Hoops. Back next week with more stories from This American Tog.
This American Tog, Act Two: How the Customer "Sees" Your Expertise
The best businesses do the hard work to first uncover their own expertise, and then build a brand that expresses that expertise perfectly to their ideal customer. Effective branding is like a pheromone to your perfect customer. They are drawn to it instinctively, like bears to honey.
Welcome back. Our theme for this series is "Business and The Survival of the Fittest". If you missed Ep. 1, be sure to check it out here.
We've arrived at Act Two of our show. Act two: "Blue Eyes vs. Brown, or: How Customers "See" Your Expertise".
In Act One, we talked about how it's the culmination of thousands of unique, individual experiences that make up who you are. These experiences are the DNA of your expertise--meaning that who you are makes you the expert.
Expertise = the DNA, or the terra firma on which your entire business is built.
In Act Two, we are going to expand the biology metaphor, if you will.
Big B, little b
Ring any bells from high school science class?
BB (big B) or bb (little b) refers to your genotype, DNA, or genetic makeup. It's the stuff you inherited from your parents, but can't see.
Brown eyes (BB) or blue eyes (bb) is how scientists refer to your phenotype, or how your genotype is physically expressed. And no, you won't be tested on this later. It's just the unique way we view expertise at 16 Hoops (link to checklist).
Let's put this all in plain language. If you have two parents with blue eyes, it's genetically impossible for you to have children with brown eyes. But, as my cousin Jenny proves, you can be born with blue eyes to two parents with brown eyes. Your blue eyes or brown eyes are how your DNA expresses itself.
(See--I told you that Mrs. Bresnick's words are burned into my memory!)
What on earth does all this have to do with your business? Still with us?
Expertise = DNA, or genotype.
Branding = Eye color, or phenotype.
Branding is how your expertise is expressed to your customers. It's how your expertise "looks."
Logos, marks, colors, feeling, design, style. Brown eyes, blue eyes, BB, bb.
The best businesses do the hard work to first uncover their own expertise, and then build a brand that expresses that expertise perfectly to their ideal customer.
Effective branding is like a pheromone to your perfect customer. They are drawn to it instinctively, like bears to honey.
Random branding is forgettable
Bad or random branding creates an echo chamber around your business. You might as well be talking to yourself.
Your potential customers are just going to pass you by or not see you at all.
Or worse, your potential customers won't be able to distinguish you and your pretty template logo from every other pretty template-logo photography business out there.
And so they hire the cheapest pretty template-logo photography business they can find--because, after all, what's the difference? They all look the same. If you're one ant in a seething pile, how can anyone be expected to notice you?
This is how the race to the bottom continues in our industry.
If you are tired of competing on price, do the very, very hard work to position yourself as an expert and express it TO YOUR PERFECT CLIENT through impactful branding.
The path to the profitable, easy-to-manage business of your dreams is to ignore everyone else and target your ideal client. You do this by first establishing expertise, then expressing it through compelling branding.
Coming up next week is Act Three: "You ARE good. You LOOK good. Now ACT good."
This American Tog, Act One: Expertise
Saying you are a photographer is like saying you are a human. Anyone with a homo sapiens brain and a pulse is a human. Ergo, anyone with a camera and a business card is a photographer.
Quick note--this series an homage to This American Life, and it's way more fun if you picture Ira Glass reading this to you. ;)
Hey everybody, 16 Hoops here. It's This American Tog. Each week, we have a theme and different stories on that theme. Today on our program, we look at "Business and Survival of the Fittest".
Act One: DNA (the stuff upon which everything else in your business is built)
(cue quirky music)
We are all individually the sum of our 100% unique life experiences.
We are all also literally the sum of our human DNA handed down over millennia.
We are, each of us, wonderfully complicated.
And it just so happens that this is a helpful way to think about your business, too. The "special snowflake" combination of all the best parts of your work, expressed in the perfect way and working together out in the universe, make up the key to ultimate success and fulfillment--both for you and your customers.
How? We'll show you in three acts.
From WTOG, York, Maine, it's This American Tog and we're 16 Hoops. Stay with us.
Your DNA: What makes you you
Do you have a favorite teacher or class or moment that you will never forget? Something you were taught so expertly that all these years (or decades) later, you find it's still teaching you something?
For yours truly, the classes I'll never forget were high school biology and biology II with Mrs. Bresnick. Those are the only high school notes (and thoughts, frankly) that I have kept to this day. Her classes stirred something deep in my then almost-fully-formed 16-year-old brain.
I was and still am fascinated by mitochondria, Mendel's gene experiments with fruit flies, Darwin and the Galapagos.
It was a like a magic carpet ride into the distant past of our human collective. It helped me understand what makes each individual human different and distinct.
That class, and my fascination with its topics, along with every other experience I had before and have had since, are what make up the person I am today.
Now, I bring all of my continuing, ever-growing knowledge, fascination, and experience to 16 Hoops and my customers in subtle ways that--statistically speaking--can't be duplicated.
To put this into business terms, your special-snowflake collection of experiences forms what we're going to call "expertise". Expertise is the DNA of your business. It's the sum of your unique parts.
By nature, DNA can't be all-purpose
Your personal genetic makeup is unique (well, unless you're an identical twin). No one can imitate it. No one can duplicate it and pretend to be you.
Your experience and stories are what make up your expertise--and no one can imitate those, either.
So, the natural question for togs is, of course...
Does Being a Professional Photographer = Expertise?
Not so much, as it turns out.
Saying you are a photographer is like saying you are a human. Anyone with a homo sapiens brain and a pulse is a human. Ergo, anyone with a camera and a business card is a photographer.
You need to say what kind of photographer you are. What kind of human you are (one who likes rock music and hates strawberry yogurt and cares deeply about animal welfare, for example). Otherwise, you're just a faceless, unidentifiable chromosome in the shallow end of the gene pool.
Swim over to the deep end
To take it a little bit further, let's compare someone who claims to be a doctor to someone who claims to be a photographer.
If Joe Next Door has a busted kneecap, should he just go to Craigslist and hire anyone who claims to be a "doctor"? No. Absolutely not.
He wants (needs!) a doctor with experience, who knows how to solve his unique problem, and even more, who plays a part in the healing process.
If your potential customer has a newborn and wants baby pictures, should she just go to Craigslist and pick any old "photographer?" No.
She wants (needs!) a photographer with experience, who knows how to work with babies uniquely, and even better, who can perfectly capture their tiny world.
If your customer is looking for a tog on Craigslist, she's basically throwing a dart at the "senior portrait-family-weddings-newborn-maternity-pets-reunions-events-boudoir-corporate" photographer.
She's stepping into the murky gene pool of one-size-fits-all togs--where getting something truly unique and special for her newborn is practically impossible, because too many togs try to do it all. They try to duplicate the DNA of everyone around them, to build expertise in too many different fields, and the end result is that they have shallow experience in a bunch of fields and deep experience in none.
Makes no sense, right? But, by not digging into their DNA, by not exploring their own personal expertise--photographers are forcing customers to gamble on them.
It's one of those lose-lose scenarios.
Now, picture instead that--because of your unique combination of talents and interests--you have photographed almost nothing but newborns for five years. You have true expertise in this niche. On top of that, you have brought all your years of exploring the world in your own unique way to each and every session.
You understand intimately how to pose them, interact with them, and portray their tiny, pure worlds in a way that no one could ever be able to duplicate--especially, ahem, by just looking at your photos on a Pinterest baby-picture board. And your ecstatic customer will pay a premium for this gift.
That is the promised land of true expertise. That is your 1-in-a-100-billion DNA, which no one else can duplicate. It only happens when you start differentiating yourself--swimming out of the shallow, crowded waters and into the deep end.
Cure yourself of clone thinking
Why, then, do photographers act like clones of each other? When instead they could have been dominating a market by simply tapping into their own unique DNA? It's because they never asked for help from another expert who is hard-wired to help them do this.
Oh, and the Internet (especially Pinterest) doesn't help. It's even MORE reason to do the work it takes to diverge from the pack.
The bold (not to mention profitable) decision to plant your flag deep into your own expert terra firma will completely transform your business forever.
Coming up next week
Act Two: Blue Eyes vs. Brown, or: How Customers Will "See" Your Expertise".
For WTOG, this is 16 Hoops. We'll see you next week.
I Couldn’t Have Done This Without You
I just HAD to know why what I was doing didn’t work as well as I wanted to. What was I doing wrong? After meditating and researching and thinking about it for almost 18 months, I found the answer.
We all want things: a stronger body, or to work out more. To eat healthier, or less. A better relationship. More time with family. A better business, more boundaries, less work, more income and so on...
We know we want these things. We really want them. We keep saying we want them, we read books and articles and inspirational quotes on Facebook about wanting them. We even know how to get them.
But we don't take any steps toward actually getting the things we want.
Great googly-moogly, why not? If we want something so bad, and we know how to do it--why don't we just get over ourselves and do it? Allow me to explain.
Hello, endless cycle of rotting veggies
Let's take a hypothetical situation like "eating healthier" as an example. We all want to do this to live better. We all know that we can just go and buy a cookbook called "super healthy eating" and follow the steps (that should be easy--it's all written right there) and voila, we are eating healthy.
But what really happens?
We get all motivated, we buy the book, we clean the fridge and stock up on veggies and mushrooms (is that a veggie?), we throw out the secret chocolate stash--and then, like magic, we are suddenly eating healthy! It's the answer to all our prayers!
And it lasts for maybe two days. Max.
We slowly but surely creep back to our bad habits. We are maybe even worse off than before--because at least beforehand, we were happy and ignorant in our chocolate-induced nirvana. But now we know what we should be doing, because we have that book staring at us.
So now we’re not only feeling less than good (from bingeing on chocolate again), but we’re anxious and maybe even guilty. Because now we also know what we should be doing about it, and we know we’re not doing it.
It's not a good way to feel.
From broccoli to your business plan
Now let's look at how this works in your business.
You know what could be better in your business. We all do. You may even know how to improve your business. So you go through the same cycle: You get motivated and buy a $149 PDF or take a $249 workshop that tells you how to do it all! “If I just buy this resource and do what this person did, I can do it too!” you tell yourself.
Maybe you even stocked up on neat little notebooks with a bird on them. You title them things like "Awesome Photography Business Plan 2015." You buy templates, and diagrams, and maybe a course or a seminar, or you attend a conference on how to make your business more profitable. And suddenly you have a plan!
Then, like magic, your business is suddenly working like a charm! It's the answer to all your prayers!
And it lasts for maybe 2 days. Max.
Are you seeing a pattern here?
This is what I did for almost my entire career as a photographer. I slowly but surely built a profitable business over about 13 years all by myself (small pat on my back for that--and one for you, too, if that’s where you are!).
BUT I always knew that something wasn't working quite right. Even though I had success and paid my mortgage and vacationed--and my business even grew every year--I knew I wasn't coming close to the potential that my business could unleash. I wanted to wow every single client, achieve TRUE financial freedom, and I wanted to work less while doing it.
I kept thinking, “If I just buy this next smart book or follow this next smart person’s blog, I'll finally make it happen. I already have a pretty darn good business, but if I just do this next thing, I'll have an AMAZING business.”
You know the rest of this story, because it's probably happening to you right now. You are SO close to having that (insert thing you desire).
“If I just do this next thing…”
Here’s how to stop the cycle
Take heart. I found the answer, and you can too. I took time off from my career (well, it helped that I was sick for about 5 months in 2014--this is an effective, yet unpleasant way to step back) and I intensely researched the topic of stagnation in business.
I just HAD to know why what I was doing didn’t work as well as I wanted to. What was I doing wrong? After meditating and researching and thinking about it for almost 18 months, I found the answer.
Are you ready? Here is is…drumroll, please…WAIT for it...
I asked for help.
More than asked, I researched, sought out, and then finally paid for help. Personal, professional help. I stopped trying to find free information and DIY kits and the next greatest thing (the equivalent of our $18 cookbooks on eating healthy in the earlier example). I put my money where my mouth was and hired two business consultants and two employees.
It was scary. It was exhilarating. And best of all, it's working.
The key is accountability. Let's say that again: ACCOUNTABILITY. It is the secret key to every single issue you are struggling with.
Want to run more or work out more? Join a running club or hire a personal trainer. Want to REALLY eat better? Hire a holistic health coach.
Unless you’re Lance Armstrong, you can’t move mountains on your own. And heck, you think Lance Armstrong won the Tour De France 7 times (drug controversy aside in the name of a darn good metaphor, if you please) because he read a book about cycling? NO! He hired a team of coaches.
I bet there were plenty of mornings he wanted to just go back to bed instead of getting up and cycling 500 miles--but he was accountable to the people around him, so he did the work, and achieved his goals. Finally. And then again, six more times.
The fact that I am now accountable to my team, on a daily or weekly basis, was the missing puzzle piece. The missing piece was ME. I had to get out of my own way.
I couldn't have created 16 Hoops without my brain trust and team. It's the same for you. I can't believe it took me this long, but now that I am achieving things I tried over and over again in the past and failed at, I know I’m in a new world and I can never (and don't want to) go back.
I am so stinkin' excited about 2016--to infinity and beyond!
When you really and truly decide to take the bull by the horns and make your business better, you need to hire someone (ahem, like the 16 Hoops program, just saying) to help you. It's really that simple. It's an investment, not an expense (more on the distinction between these later) that will pay for itself many times over.
And PS. About that chocolate thing: I also hired a certified chocolate consultant! (No, not really--but I did, for the first time in my life, hire a personal trainer and meet with her every Monday to work out so that I can eat all the chocolate I want for the rest of my life.)
3 Photography Business Truths You Must Learn
The problem I keep seeing over and over again with this industry is the complete lack of actual expertise in the photography market, despite more “experts” than ever before.
Some of you will be nodding your head furiously while you read this—yay!
Some of you will be wondering what the heck I am talking about. That's OK.
I am pointing my piercing eye of Sauron at all of you.
Truth #1: Owning a wildly successful photography business has almost nothing to do with photography.
There, I said it. Whew. Now that we have that out of the way, we can have a real conversation that isn't bogged down by f-stops and bokeh. Don't get me wrong, my bokeh’s as good as the next guy’s, but I made a conscious decision to leave all that behind when I started 16 Hoops.
Being a good photographer is a given.
Anyone who doesn't already have a good portfolio has no business running a photography business (pun intended). Ergo, photography has (almost) nothing to do with running a successful photography business.
Make sense?
Here, together, we are terraforming a new world for photographers—a world in which paying your rent or mortgage doesn’t depend on someone’s pet project (or pet portrait).
Embracing Truth #1 will help you make the most dramatic transformation of your career.
I believe this. SO much, in fact, that I challenge you right now at this very minute, to stop reading about/talking about/researching photography. At some point, you will realize (as I did) that you are not a photographer. You’re a business owner. Luckily, owning a photography business happens to be one of the best jobs out there.
Together, we will shift you into a new way of thinking that helps you manage all aspects of your business—not just the point-and-shoot parts.
Truth #2: If you don't position yourself, you will fail.
Sounds dramatic, doesn't it? Good. It's meant to be.
The problem I keep seeing over and over again with this industry is the complete lack of actual expertise in the photography market, despite more “experts” than ever before.
Positioning is the practice of setting yourself apart from your competition. You need to show clients not just that your work is good, but that you have something special to offer—otherwise, you might just get lost in the noise.
Bad positioning is why good photographers can't charge what they are worth. It's why there’s someone down the street who is charging less and undercutting your lowest rates (for now). But don't worry: someone else will come along right behind that hog and charge even less. So the race to the bottom continues.
Why does this happen? It's because customers can't tell the difference between all of us. We all look 100% the same. We all have the same pinterest inspired templates, the same logos. We’re all using the same gear; we’re all donning the same hip leather bags (OK, I'm not gonna lie, those are kind of cool). We’re all shooting the same family portraits, posed casually in glowing fields at dusk (chunky jewelry? check), the same babies in cute knit hats all snuggled up on fur…should I go on?
That, my friend, is the opposite of positioning. That is lumping. You've been lumped. It’s no wonder clients can’t differentiate you.
Don't feel bad, though. Realizing you’re part of a non-positioned lump is totally normal. I know, because I've analyzed hundreds of photographers’ websites—including those who are successful—and even if they are positioned, they have no idea how to communicate that position.
And even if they are saying it, they are not using language their target audience will act on.
But without positioning and the hard work it takes, running a photography business can be a boring, confusing, sad state of affairs. And, given long enough, the struggle can be a path to failure and going back to your day job.
OK, you know you need to position yourself. So what does that mean? What does positioning look like?
Positioning means finding what’s unique or different about your business and making sure that difference comes through crystal-clear in everything you create.
It also means knowing exactly who you serve. Who’s your target market? Why do you want to serve these people? What do they expect from you, and how can you surpass those expectations to create loyal repeat clients?
Your positioning might look like this, in statement form:
“[COMPANY NAME] works with restaurants that want to bring more guests through their doors without relying on stock photos. [COMPANY NAME] produces mouthwatering food photography and showcases each establishment’s welcoming, relaxing atmosphere. Clients benefit from a complete visual library to use throughout their marketing efforts."
Super specific, right?
Proper positioning is hard at first, but we have our ways (for full effect, say that last bit with a German accent). Once you nail down who you serve and why you’re different (read: better), you should be able to name your price in the market.
You’ll gain incredible clarity and focus as a business—and then the sky is the limit. It’s pretty exciting territory, and it’s within your reach.
Truth #3: It's impossible to take your business to "that" level without professional help.
A logo from Fiverr and a Squarespace account does not an excellent business make. But hey, I get totally get it. You’re a photographer. You are not a copywriter or brand designer or ad agency—why pay more than $5 for a logo? Right?
Wrong. You saw that coming, didn't ya?
Let's revisit truth #1: you’re a business owner. What do real businesses do? They hire other experts to do all this stuff so they can rock their own expertise. Do you see doctors or lawyers or Coca-Cola or Nike trying to design their own logos or run awe-inducing ad campaigns? Heck no.
If you want to take your business to the next level, take charge as an expert in your own field, and make the hard decisions required. Bring in professional help. Even if you think you have a designer’s eye (which you probably do!), you STILL 100% need to hire another expert to help you get to that next level.
Just as you bring an expert perspective to your work, the folks you hire to help with your design and branding will bring their own fresh spin to your business. They can see your business from a perspective you can’t—simply because they’re not you.
I've learned over the past 18 months that it's really, really hard to do this next-step branding by yourself. Even branding experts hire other branding experts when they want to climb over that next summit.
Why do the Mad Men Ogilvy & Mathers of the world exist? To get this stuff done: the real stuff of building an amazing business so you can lead the life you want. 16 Hoops is the Mad Men for photographers. Let's do this.
PS. The fact that you’re even reading this…
…means you’re one step closer than the guy down the road. If all of this were easy, everyone would be a branding expert with a well-positioned business. But it’s not, and they’re not.
I challenge you to be daring and take that bold step where not many other togs have gone before—into the blue ocean waters of unbeatable positioning. And then cast a line to your raving fans and watch them hop right into your boat.