The first day of WPPI Leah and I could’ve left fulfilled ready to jump start positive changes for our business but we still had five more days left!!  The energy at WPPI is simply amazing.  One of the most important things we learned at Business Institute was to right down your goals, and share them with another person so it makes you accountable to achieve those goals.  I am sharing my goals with you today so I am held accountable.  Eee… scary!

1. Get a Business License. – When I was first starting my business I talked to a few accountants about getting a license and they each had a different answer and a different reasoning behind them all.  One said not to worry about a license till I make over $14,000 a year.  Another said to get one but he wanted to charge me an arm, a leg, and my head, to set everything up.  I wasn’t sure how sincere he was about me and about the money.  The last one almost killed me for not having one yet.  After listening to Silvana Frammartino at WPPI I decided I needed to get one, and her reasoning wasn’t about the money it was about being honest.  It seems so easy to reason why we don’t need a biz license.  “I only make so much…” “I’m only doing this for fun on the side…” blah blah blah.  I know I’ll be more blessed with being honest with my dealings than if I justified it all the time.

CHECK!

2. Get a Professional Website or Blog. – Blogger has been great for me for where I was in my business but I know I’m not going anywhere with blogger as my only site.  Prospective clients need to be wowed!  I was purposefully waiting for WPPI to see what my choices are and to learn more about SEO.
(More about my Prophoto blog soon!)

CHECK!

3.  Refine my branding and logo. – I still have yet to find who I am logo-wise.  Again my logo was good for now but I know I need to make it more fresh and clean.  I’m working on this one and I’m almost done!

4.  Perfect my pricing. – I learned SO much at WPPI about pricing and incorporating albums with everything.  Great advice: Shoot for the albums and SELL the albums!  Michael Warshall a VERY successful photographer said when asked about pricing, “Well how much are you worth?”  You are worth how much you price.  This was very hard for me because I don’t live in a big town and although I know how much I’m worth it’s hard for me to think that people will pay that much around here.  Again perfecting pricing!

5.  Skills & Technical. – I’m a firm believer that you should know your equipment inside and out.  I want to perfect lighting!

6. Charity. – Shoot to help others.  Nuff said!

7. Shoot for myself. – We shoot for others so much that we often forget to take time for our own art.  If we keep shooting for others and never take time for ourselves we’ll start resenting the thing we fell in love with.  I don’t want that!

This is all that I can share now and it makes me realize how much more I still need to achieve.  Have you been writing down your goals and sharing them with others?  If not I STRONGLY encourage you to do so and don’t share your goals with just your spouse.  Share them with people who will hold you accountable… in a good way of course.