Couldn't I just do my own website??

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. 

When doing a re-brand, don't listen to your friends.

One of the first things we advise our clients to do at the beginning of a re-brand is to hibernate from your friends, family and colleagues until you emerge essentially fully transformed. Why?

Because people are funny.

People that love you and know you want you to succeed, but they don’t want you to change. They will give you well meaning, but ultimately bad advice that won’t help you one bit on your journey to level up your game and career.

A photography business re-brand requires a change. People don’t like change.

Re-branding requires a stripping down and re-building up. It’s really hard to do that with people that already know and love you. You will hold back. You will fall back on old well worn habits and patterns that got you here in the first place. You will not have a breakthrough that you need and deserve.

A re-brand requires a pivot. In some cases a small pivot measured in inches and nudges…but in other cases a huge, monumental lurch forward into a completely different direction.

Friends and family won’t give you the kick in the pants you will need to break through.

My niece is a competitive swimmer and she is showing some real natural ability in the sport. Her coaches know she has to break from her comfortable division where all her friends are in order to push through the next to the level. But of course her friends don’t want her to move up. They like her where she is. They love her of course, but don’t really want her to change. So they should not be consulted. Only her expert coaches have the objectivity to give her the best advice. Whether she takes it or not is up to her.

It’s the same for your photography business. 

Your clients opinions, and the advice from objective experts are the ONLY opinions that matter.

Two examples of past clients seeking advice in the wrong places:

1. I had a client that kept asking her husband and mother to choose the best photos to go on her website. They were not experts in her field, so they gave her bad advice. There is some trust involved when you a hire an expert - and ultimately, you are paying us to be in the room with you, so take our advice. 
2. I had another client who kept asking her photography owner friends to critique her website. This might not be the best idea because she was just entering the echo chamber where the same old advice and industry mistakes we’ve seen 1000 times goes round and round and nothing changes. 

This is a mistake I see over and over again. But the answer is easy. 

Set the bar ever higher. 

Leave your friends, family, and colleagues out of the mix.

Seek out the best advice from experts who will not just tell you what you want to hear.

It’s hard work to do a transformative re-brand. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. You are not everyone.

Finally - talk to your customers. They will “listen.” You will know the sound of them talking back to you too - it’s either Cha-Ching or crickets. 

So, are you ready for a re-brand?

Join for free here by signing up to be a member. You will receive the 8 day intro course “Am I ready to do a re-brand?” right off the bat. Plus have access to our member’s only resources pages full of free advice, action items, and web tutorials and finally one helpful email a week in our member newsletter. Let me in!

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Social Media Custom Designed Bundle

Are you struggling with canva and other templates that take a ton of time and don't even begin to make your brand stand out amid a sea of competitors? We take your existing brand and design targeted social media editable layered PSDs (photoshop documents) custom made for a variety of desired platforms. 

Together we pick and choose what platforms and templates make the most sense for the audience you are trying to reach. 

You can choose from:

Design Bundle - $750
Marketing Strategy & Design Bundle - $1250

The Marketing Bundle includes our popular 1 hour Marketing Boost session with a written marketing road map plan for your business + designs you will need for the plan.

Contact us to book your slot and be up and running with a brand new social media campaign & look that is all your own. 

Is your photography business ready for a rebrand?

"If you cannot clearly state what makes you unique, you have more work to do before you can effectively rebrand."

~ Hand Crafted HoneyBee

I 100% agree with this statement, but a minor adjustment:

If you don't know what makes you different, that is exactly why you should work with an expert branding firm on a rebrand.

I just finished reading the amazing journey story of the husband and wife visionaries behind HandCrafted HoneyBee. 

They slogged through some incoherent years thinking they were in one market, when all along they were really positioned in another without knowing it. Here are a couple more nuggets of honey wisdom from the duo:

"If I’m being totally honest, our attempt at design was all over the place. We werefailing to curate a single coherent identity. People didn’t know what we stood for or what they could expect from us. We were confusing people more often than we were connecting with them."

I actually wrote the word "WOW" (yes, in all caps) next to this next bombshell.

Especially after reading they had spent an entire year's salary with a design & marketing firm on their new brand:

"Purchase your freedom by hiring someone else to do it for you. We could focus on the parts of our business that absolutely required us, and leave the rest in the hands of experts. We gained back precious time to focus on making our business the best it could be, rather than wasting time over­working for “good enough.”  

Not much else to say here. If you take a look at their current branding, website & messaging (not to mention awesome products), you will see a vibrant, healthy, elegant brand eco-system doing the hard work of business engagement for them 24/7. The sky is the limit with this kind of dedication and vision.

This could be you and your photography business. 

One of my mantra's here at hoops is that how I WISH oh wish I had a 16 Hoops at my disposable 12 years ago when I started my wedding photography business. I would have very gladly, blissfully paid them a large sum to start my business. It would have saved me hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of headaches and missed opportunities.

Hand Crafted HoneyBees will likely say in 5, 10, 20 years from now that hiring a design firm to warp speed their business to where it is today was one of the best business decisions they ever made. 

So whether you know what makes you different, or if you are just curious to start on this journey...do yourself a favor and take their advice by spending your own precious time making your business the best it can be, and bring on an expert to help with the rest.

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

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

"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

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.

"I Need a New Website." Really? Why?

Story time!

I was recently talking to a struggling (and VERY talented) photographer, and I suggested that she consider our program.

One step of many in that program: She would work with us at 16 Hoops to redesign her website, along with constructing a system to handle clients, and planning a robust fall marketing campaign.

She said, “Oh, I don’t have time for that right now. I’ll just have my boyfriend [a web designer, apparently] fix my website this fall."

Right.

I’m gonna let you in on a little secret. 

Not everyone knows what a website's “true” function really is. Even some website designers don't really know the function of every website they put together.

Yikes--did I just say that out loud?

Oh yes, I did.

I’m not trying to knock designers. Stay with me here.

When you say, "I need a new website," what you are really saying is, “I have a problem that needs solving.” And sure, a new website might be part of solving that problem.

But when you just go and hire a designer (a friend, a neighbor, a referral, a Craigslister, or even a generalist firm) because you have declared that you need a new website (or a new logo), you are not even one step closer to solving the underlying problem.

And on top of it, just because you know someone who calls themselves a “website designer” does not in the least guarantee that that person will solve your problem.

Your website is more than a business card

How do we know that some brand-new websites don’t work?

It's not because they're ugly or weird. They are probably pleasant looking.

They include navigation, and header photos, and important-sounding statements like “We take you where you want to go.”

They may even have cool little videos and little “Subscribe!” buttons. 

They LOOK a whole lot like functional, helpful websites.

But despite the pretty packaging, clients are no better equipped to hire you than before they landed on your site. Your business is in no better shape, even after you've spent thousands of dollars on a new website. 

What a missed opportunity!

How do I know it's a missed opportunity?

Because your designer probably never asked you the right question in the first place.

The right question is: "What (expensive) problem are you trying to solve in your business?"

Your website (or whatever else in your brand ecosystem) should be built around that problem (or goal). Usually, if you're a pro photographer, your goal is to get more quality clients to contact and hire you.

It all boils down to what we keep talking about here at 16 Hoops: Expertise.

Your website needs to showcase your expertise, then tell your potential clients exactly what to do next.

I’ve seen many talented designers build websites that are just pretty online business cards. They look nice, but they don't bring you anywhere closer to improving your business or acquiring new clients.

In fact, having that cute business-card site may actually HARM your business. You'll think you've “solved” the problem because you took some action (and probably spent a lot of time and money).

But the problem is still there, bubbling under the surface, just waiting to explode...and now you're ignoring it.

Don't hire a carpenter when you need an architect

In the world of 16 Hoops, where expertise is the DNA of any strong business (ours included), hiring a web designer to redo your website without a clear goal in mind is akin to hiring a carpenter when what you really need is an architect.

Experts (architects) solve problems. Order-takers (carpenters) perform requested tasks.

So before you declare that your website is old and that "you need a new website," dig a little deeper.

Examine what makes you think you need a new site. Ask: "What problem would be solved by having a new website?"

Knowing the answer to this question will bring you closer to identifying the real issue and fixes. 

And once you have that established, you can hire that web designer...and give them a crystal-clear blueprint.

Problem solved.

3 Case Studies: The Wrong and RIGHT Ways to Design Your Branding and Website

I have had three huge lightbulb moments when it comes to the task of designing branding and websites for our clients here at 16 Hoops...

...which is why I can offer you these three case studies. Each starts with a wrong assumption about the photography business, and ends with a revelation.

Case Study #1

The first lightbulb moment happened about three years ago, when I started the journey toward founding 16 Hoops. Let’s call it Design Epiphany #1.

WRONG: A website is basically just a portfolio. You're a photographer, right? People are either going to like your work or not, and hire you--or not. What else is there to say?

RIGHT: Your success has almost nothing to do with your photos. A website uses copy, design, imagery, calls to action, and other subtle, well-placed cues meant to chat up your ideal client about your expertise. In design jargon, the way this process feels and looks to the client is called the User Experience, or UX.

Then, your site leads them into a funnel, taking them on a (short or long) pleasant journey of discovery. The funnel/journey ends in that client hiring you. 

Case Study #2

The second lightbulb went off while I was working with another designer on my own re-brand about six years ago. Design Epiphany #2.

WRONG: Your brand is just a logo. And your logo and website don’t have a ton to do with each other. A logo should just be basic and pretty, in a color that you like. And these elements only play a role somewhere on a header on your website, as a watermark, and maybe on a business card.

RIGHT: Your brand is so much more than a collection of design elements. I told my designer about my past, and what I loved, and why I became a photographer, and my field, and my location...and the list went on. She ended up creating the most perfect design that made sense for me, my clients, and my brand.

Turns out that your brand is a highly delicate and interconnected ecosystem. Every single piece of your brand works in tandem with the others. And good design feels like love. There is no way around it. Your brand and design are either eliciting warm fuzzies from your ideal client, or they're just sitting pretty.

Case Study #3

The third lightbulb went off during a project we took on our first year here at 16 Hoops. Design Epiphany #3.

WRONG: Good graphic designers make good website designers. Here at 16 Hoops, we learned that this was untrue the hard way: while working on an early project.

My role (creative director) is akin to the role of the architect in building a house. I am helping draft and oversee the design and construction of the dream house based on the client's true needs, their aesthetic, and their desires.

But instead of hiring separate experts for the carpentry (graphic design), electric (website developer), and plumbing (user experience) like I was supposed to--I just had one “carpenter” doing it all. Much like good carpenters do not always make good electricians (and vice versa), good graphic designers do not always make good website developers and user experience designers.

Learning this the hard way created a lot of frustration for all involved.

And what’s ironic about this, of course, is that this concept of “hire an expert” is one of our mantras here at 16 Hoops. It just took a misguided website design and a brave and honest client to make us see it and take our own darn advice.

RIGHT: User experience, website design, and graphic design are three separate and equally important jobs--all guided by the creative director, and all requiring different expertise to implement. The skills that make a great graphic designer are not the same skills as those that make a brilliant user experience designer.

Now all of our designers (and clients!) are much happier, too. 😃

Let’s recap the RIGHT ways to approach design

1. A website is not just a portfolio + nav bar. When done well, a website should be working 24/7 with your ideal client, creating a pleasant journey of discovery that leads them toward hiring you. 
2. Your brand is not just a logo. It’s a delicate, interconnected ecosystem that subtly elicits warm fuzzies from your ideal client when they rub up against it.
3. Don’t hire a carpenter when you need an electrician. If you want to stand out and achieve success, hire a firm with deep expertise in your field. One that considers every part of your brand and business, and can catapult you forward to bigger and better things.

Is Your Business Crushing It? If the Answer Is No...

Ask yourself this question to help you decide if it’s time for your business to invest in an outside strategy and design firm:

Is my combination of DIY workshops, advice, blog-reading, and "How To" PDF downloads helping me and my business crush it every day?

Here's the definition of "crushing it," courtesy of Urban Dictionary:

"Being in severe shape, looking good, being better than others, looking hot, feeling positive, having more than others, having relations with other attractive people, generally serving well"

And now, 16 Hoops' definition of "crushing it":

"You have a well-churned marketing machine and support system that differentiates your business, gives you financial freedom and happiness, allows you to stop competing on price, and lands you all the premium-paying clients you will ever need."

If you said, "Yes! I AM crushing it!" just now (and you probably did a little dance, too)...

...then you definitely DO NOT need an outside strategy and design firm. In fact, we'll probably be calling YOU as a case study. Well done.

Just in case you didn't answer "yes," though, pitch yourself these questions too:

• Do you find yourself competing with lesser brands for the same clients?
   
• Do you sometimes feel like like you're fumbling in the dark with your marketing, and wish you had a confident and lucrative POV?
   
• Are you wondering if you should rebrand entirely or just tweak your existing brand, but you don’t even know where to start?
   
• Do you know that you are a talented photographer, but just need help pulling it all together and breaking through whatever is holding you back?
   
• Do you suspect you could charge more, but have no idea how to start doing that?
   
• Are you tired of having a catch-all business (for example, “weddings-portraits-corporate-pets-boudoir-seniors-babies-families”), and instead only want to photograph things you love?
   
• Do you wonder how other photographers seem to get noticed all the time? (What are they doing that you're not?)
   
• Do you want to have a business you are proud of, financial freedom, and a lifestyle that allows you and your family to shine?
   
• Do you want someone to hold you accountable and cheer you on as you level up?

If you answered yes to any of these...you might be ready to check us out.

Advice is good, but action is better

For the record, just getting advice or consulting is good, too, and definitely better than doing nothing.

But if you want to take a truly transformative leap forward with your business, go the extra step and hire a highly specialized strategy and design firm.

Better yet, hire a firm that specializes in serving your industry. As far as we know, we're the only ones out there specializing in photography--which is exactly why we got started.

So, here are your last and most important questions: 

Are you ready for your busiest year ever? Are you ready to crush it?

Take the leap with us. There is no one who understands your struggles and dreams more than the folks at 16 Hoops. Together, we can crush it.

The Top 3 (Actually, 6) Reasons Your Business Must Have Systems

A signature system is a photographer's best friend.

Unique systems are critical. So critical, in fact, that we're going to say something that may surprise (even shock) you:

Systems play an equally—if not more—important role than even your own photography style in differentiating your business from all the others.

Why?

There are gobs of reasons, but here are the the top three: 

1. A signature system quietly delights every single client even while you are catching some Zs (it ensures your Zs, too)
2. A signature system makes sales and everyday operations easy-breezy for people who think they are not good at selling and business
3. Here’s the real kicker: A system will not only make success easier, it will practically ensure it

(Let’s have a quick yet honest side conversation on the selling thing. Photographers who actually like and excel at selling are either part Magical Unicorn, AKA extremely rare, or they ended up in the photography business by accident—an accident that they usually correct fairly quickly.

I’ve met many togs who occupy the latter niche, but I’ve only met one Magical Unicorn photographer worth her salt who also really enjoyed the sales process. She was a very rare diamond indeed. However, even she mostly lacked a formal system.)

But I’m not talking to her. I’m talking to you. 

You, the talented photographer who loves creating, and finds selling and systems awkward if not downright intimidating.

Without a signature, developed, documented (i.e. written-down) system that guides your business and every single client interaction, you will never make the leap from good to great. D'oh—there's reason #4.

Without your own unique system, you and your business are just another undifferentiated blip in the online universe. (Oops, that's reason #5…I'll stop now.)

It’s also very hard to retain and re-acquire raving client fans without a system. (Ack! There’s reason #6…somebody help me!)

Luckily, I've put together a quick quiz so you can see if you've got working systems--or if you need to buckle down and build some.

Ask yourself the following questions to see if you have a signature system in place

• Do all of your clients see you and your business as highly differentiated from other photographers? (Read: Are you doing things so drastically different from other photographers that World Photographer Magazine is planning to put you on the cover?)
   
• Are your ordering sessions easy-breezy and fun for you (and you alone), not to mention highly profitable?
   
• Do you know exactly what will happen when a prospect contacts you? Are you so comfortable in your knowledge of your clients that when a prospect contacts you, it’s an easy 1,2,3 and they hire you?
   
• Rather than just being in your head, are all your client workflows and processes documented in an easily accessible place that anyone can pick up and understand?
   
• When someone sees your image or your product with no logo attached, do they immediately know it’s yours? (That’s a sneaky one, isn’t it? But yes, systems can do this for you.)
   
• Do you have 1-3 key employees/associates who can refer to your manual and step in to run things for you on a dime?
   
• When a client returns to your studio for their next portrait, do they know exactly what will happen without being told?
   
• Do clients never ask you questions about your services, because they're all so readily laid out in plain English (and cool graphics), and the process is exactly the same every time?
   
• Do you command high premiums that your clients happily line up down the block to pay? (Again, this has almost nothing to do with your photos.)

If you answered "yes" (an honest yes) to all of these questions, congratulations to you on your storage unit full of neatly stacked $100 bills! Have a wonderful life. I'll see you on the cover of WPM next month.

If you answered "yes" to a few of these questions, you're most likely struggling and relying on luck or your amazing talent to get booked. Both of these options will eventually burn you out mentally and physically, if they haven’t already.

If you answered "no" to most of these questions…take heart. You're in good company. Most businesses (photography or otherwise) don’t have systems either. And that is why countless businesses wallow in mediocrity and struggle with low cash flow.

But there is a fix for this. Only the very best of best businesses are undertaking this fix.

You are here reading this, so you are one step closer to fixing your business, too.

In a word, the fix is: SYSTEMS.

So the final question is:

What are you waiting for?

I just told you the secret! 

Start building your systems and see how your business transforms (completely). We can help! 

When Marketing Goes Very, Very Wrong

Many photographers' marketing has already gone very wrong. And they may not even be aware of it.

Let me illustrate by telling you about a very stylish business card that I recently picked up from a photographer.

It was cool and well-designed, with Pinterest’s latest trendy icons. It had black with purple letters. It said: 

{Name of Person’s} Photography.

Lifestyle, Weddings, Destination Locations, Fashion, Pets, Boudoir.

Huh? 

Pets AND Boudoir? Oh, AND Weddings? AND Lifestyle?! (What is that, by the way?)

What’s the goal here? To snag a client who wants a lifestyle shoot of their wedding, featuring a fashionable pet in the Caribbean?

That's either HYPER specific (read: impossible), or this photographer doesn’t have a clue who her client really is. 

Any client that lands anywhere near this tog's attractive branding won’t have a clue what she does either. So they lump her in with everyone else who they can’t figure out, and hire the cheapest option.

It’s impossible NOT to have your marketing go very, very wrong with this kind of generalist foundation. 

Where do you even start with marketing when you are a “lifestyle-weddings-destination-fashion-pets-boudoir” photographer? This type of "one size fits all" positioning is why so many good photographers are still fumbling in the dark with their marketing and competing on price, despite their skill and their handsome branding. 

Now, what if you saw this instead? This is a client of ours.  

Lumina Little Stars: A Portrait & Album Journey of Baby's First Year

What did you picture in your head when you read that? 

Did you think of someone who might want to hire this person (perhaps a sister or friend who is pregnant)? 

Do you think the wrong client (let’s say a bride, or someone wanting pet portraits) could possibly wander onto this photographer's website by accident? 

Not a chance. 

Her target client is crystal-clear. And with clarity, everything else falls into place. 

Stellar marketing--meaning marketing that ends with the ideal high-paying client banging on your door 24/7--starts with positioning. 

Unless (and until) you START with airtight positioning, you are doing it very, very wrong.

Ask Not What Your Website Can Do for You...Wait, Actually, DO Ask It

Is every single part of your website talking directly with your ideal (AKA premium-paying) client?

A well-built website works like a magic funnel...

...a magic funnel at the end of which your ideal client is throwing money at you.

 And this funnel is working 24/7--even while you're sleeping. 

Your website is a living, breathing organism, and it's the best salesperson on your team. Every single comma, 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. Some Patient Zero photographer made these decisions in a template back in 2004 and everyone has blindly copied it ever since.

I think a unicorn loses its wings (or is that a Pegasus?) every time a photographer uses "Investment" in their nav bar. Let's move on.

Some togs' websites don't even mention where their business is located. Imagine that.

Time for a gut check.

Go to your desktop or laptop and open up your current website in a separate window.

Seriously. Right now. 

I'll wait.

Ok. Now start at the very beginning, like the song says.

Look at the top couple inches of your website and zoom in on every minute detail like an archaeologist.

Ask your website:

• What experience is my client having as they look at this?
• What is this image, word, widget, icon etc., doing to move the conversation with the reader forward?
• Is there a clear direction for the user to take? What's their next step?

If the answer to those question is nothing, or "not sure," keep asking and changing your site until you get to the right answer.

Avoid template temptation

For goodness' sake, please take our advice and nonchalantly (whistling, if you like) stroll right past those photographer template websites.

Templates may have worked circa 2005 when there were only 1,500 photographers on the whole dang Internet, but now there are over 1,500,000 of us worldwide! Imagine how cookie-cutter your website looks next to thousands of photography sites just like it.

The only people getting rich off template sites are the people making the templates.

With all these identical websites with no clear purpose, it's no wonder clients can't tell togs apart. It's no wonder they end up hiring your cheaper competitor down the block.

So strap your website into the hot seat.

Offer it a cup of fresh coffee, and make it spill all the beans.

Ask questions about every single page and part--and don't stop until your perfect client is banging down your door and throwing wads of cash at you!

This American Tog, Act Three: How Your Customer ACTS on Your Expertise

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

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

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.

Think Outside the Universe: 3 Strategies for Finding Your Ideal Market Niche

One of our bibles here at 16 Hoops is Benjamin and Rosamund Zander's book The Art of Possibility. The framework for the book is the concept of “It’s All Invented”.

These are words to live by if you want to break new ground with your creative business.

An illustration of It’s All Invented

The Zanders use the following story to illustrate their theory:

A shoe factory sends two marketing scouts to a region of Africa to study the prospects for expanding business.

One sends back a telegram saying:

SITUATION HOPELESS. NO ONE WEARS SHOES.

The other scout sends back this telegram:

GLORIOUS BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY. THEY HAVE NO SHOES.

This story is not just about the old, simple "half-full or half-empty” view of the world. It goes deeper than that.

It’s about inventing something new (and lucrative, natch) by zooming out and enlarging--breaking free of the old limiting framework that might be holding you back. 

The best way to do this is to look at your market and see what opportunities might be hiding in plain sight. There are three ways to do this.

1. REDEFINE: Plant that flag and dominate

Take an existing niche and claim a leadership position by nailing down your specific, targeted positioning. This is the least risky strategy for finding a niche--and if you're creative, the possibilities are endless.

For example:

Existing niche: Weddings.

Redefined niche: Hey! No one is doing "Same Sex Weddings in Small Coastal Inns".

Who is this strategy for? Someone who wants a chill lifestyle in a smaller market or saturated field. If done well, this can be the road to a very financially satisfying business, with a laid-back lifestyle to boot.

2. INVENT: Pays the bills (and how!)

Search your market for new opportunities. This is the strategy taken by our shoe scouts above. There's potentially less “cool” factor here, but this path is the most lucrative by far.

For example:

"Hey! No one is doing executive dating service portraits. I’ll do that.”

OR

“Hey! Children’s book authors (or chefs, or realtors--pick your passion) don’t have great headshots. I want to travel around the world doing this one thing."

Who is this strategy for? Someone in a larger market or someone with the willingness to move/travel who is ready to take the bull by the horns and build a highly profitable, lucrative business. The payoff for this kind of bold (if less emotionally exciting) approach can be ginormous.

3. CULTIVATE: Do what you love

Take a passion and turn it into a business. This is a bit riskier, but warm fuzzies are their own payoff.

For example:

“Hey! I want to only photograph rescued horses and their new owners.”

OR

 Preemies. Or vintage teacups. Or whatever makes your heart go pitter-patter.

Who is this for? Someone who values soul satisfaction over profit as a business model. Market and payoff may not be as huge as in #1 and #2, but you can turn your passion into a business.

These are all examples of essentially inventing or reinventing your business. 

What happens if you don't pick a niche?

You become the dime-a-dozen, dreaded, sales-driven photographer (ACK!), rather than the unique-snowflake, delightfully rich, market-driven photographer (YAY!).

Anyone can just answer the phone and let whoever is on the other end define the work. This is what's known as being "sales-driven". 

Define and own your market. Defining what you do takes bravery and lots of discipline. Photographers are far too often sales-driven rather than market-driven.

Here at 16 Hoops, we love it when we see a business owner get to this lightbulb moment. It's very exciting to help our clients uncover those hidden market opportunities and then build a formidable business around their expertise with powerful branding, messaging, and marketing.

Don’t just politely remove yourself and "think outside the box”. SMASH that old, boring box to smithereens and think instead outside the GIANT, BOUNDLESS, INFINITE UNIVERSE.

How to ApPEAL to Prospects with Cowbell Positioning

“I’ve got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell.”

Gene plays cowbell. Cowbell is the only cure for producer "The" Bruce Dickinson. 

Gene’s got it made in the shade with that airtight positioning.

Gene's owning his niche and singing it, or rather ringing it, loud and proud. And his target audience can’t get enough.

If that’s airtight positioning, what does leaky positioning look like?

Consider the slogan, “We build a world around your brand."

Sounds catchy. But does anyone know what this means? Does anyone actually need a world built around their brand? And do customers need that “brand world,” once it’s built?

Full confession: This is what the 16 Hoops website used to say. It’s what one of our consultants, Jonathan Stark, calls “soggy positioning”. You’ve probably guessed it already—“soggy" ain’t a compliment.

Jonathan told us that out of the hundreds of professional Facebook friends he has, there wasn’t one person he could think of off the top of his head who needed “a brand with a world built around it".

Positioning yourself means that you know the questions your target customer is asking, and your brand is publicly declaring the answers.

How can you recognize leaky positioning?

For starters, it’s...

• Undifferentiated: It does nothing to set your brand apart
• Interchangeable: It could apply to any of your competitor
• Aimless: It could potentially create a long, difficult road for your business

Here’s another example of leaky positioning: “Natural light photographer” as a description of your photography business.

I can think of no one in particular who needs a natural light photographer. Yet everyone wants a natural light photographer. 

You would think that because no one AND everyone needs this type of photography, that the positioning is OK. Maybe even good. Right?  

But instead of getting you more business, this type of positioning will just end up lumping you into the massive pile of other businesses that use this same position.

And that, my naturally well-lit friend, means disaster.

Now customers will consider you a commodity. They’ll be searching not for you or your brand, but for the lowest-priced “natural light photographer”.

So what’s the cure for leaky positioning and all its ills? More cowbell. AND airtight positioning.

Airtight positioning is the promised land that will transform your business.

You’ll know you’ve positioned yourself with no leaks if, after you tell someone what you do for a living, they immediately think of 3-20 people who could use your services.

Let’s go back to our "natural light photographer" example. Does anyone in particular pop into mind? Nah.

Now, instead, if you really want to explore a space with great positioning…you might say, “I do high-end portraits of families with their yachts on the coast of Florida.”

Cowbell.

How? Why?

Because the person to whom you just said this immediately thought of 3-20 people. Maybe they’re thinking of their Florida relatives, or that guy they met in the airport bar. Maybe they’re thinking of their old orthopedist.

And if you’ve done your homework and you live the right place, they are probably asking for your card (or several cards). I live in a coastal town in Maine, and I can think of at least 12 legit potential customers for this awesome new service.

People might not have even been thinking that "portraits of people on their yachts" was a thing. Now, not only do they know about it, but they suddenly want it, too.

Just like when Bruce Dickinson heard that cowbell. He suddenly wanted more. He didn’t even know cowbell could do that.

What comes after cowbell

What if you went one giant leap further into the promised land and followed up your positioning with spot-on branding, messaging, and marketing?

You’d have clients banging down your door to work with you. You’d need an extra few hands to grab all the money they were throwing.

But first things first.

Put your pants on like Bruce Dickinson—one leg at a time-—and make some money with great, airtight positioning.

I Couldn’t Have Done This Without You

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.)