Innovate or Die

Last week I participated in a week long online seminar with creativeLIVE, a collaborative learning organization. It featured St. Louis wedding photographer, Sal Cincotta. The seminar was a powerful one. Everything from running a successful wedding photography business to capturing special moments on your wedding day. I emphasize the word 'business' because that's where I benefited the most. Not just, "ya, I own my own photography business..." but really - really understanding the ins-and-outs of my business. Consumer behavior, marketing, pricing, plans. GROSS INCOME (...which at the moment is pretty gross...), but that's beside the point. Before this seminar, I was operating my business in the dark hoping someone found me. I need to strengthen my marketing plan. I need to take my business seriously. 

I took a lot from this seminar. So much that I'm making changes to my plan - my business. I've evolved as a photographer over the past 3 months. I'm slowly finding my "niche." I'm seeing patterns in my work. Slowly but surely it's coming together. And as I learned recently, it's completely healthy to have my business plan grow every 3-6 months. It's all part of the process. Innovating. Evolving. If I stay put where I am today with the way I'm running my business, my business dies.

With 2013 right around the corner, I'm excited to go back to my first business plan and reevaluate it. Make appropriate changes. See how far I've come along and set my new goals for the new year. This is an exciting/anxious/nervous time of my life. But I know all the hard work will pay off. It always does.