INSOMNIA

INSOMNIA

It’s Thursday. I usually blog on Tuesday, but its Thursday. I’m suffering from insomnia. So you’d think that would give me plenty of time to blog. You’d think.

I’m suffering from stress insomnia. How do I know it’s stress? I’m breaking out like a 16 year old and I’m a far distance from 16. A cold sore is trying to break through. If you ever wondered why you got a cold sore, it’s stress. And I’m ultra-hyper, like the Energizer bunny on crack. That’s how I know it’s stress.

This all started about a week ago while planning a marketing blitz for the studio. Too much to do and, it seems, never enough time. Now understand, a marketing blitz consists of updating all the marketing materials and creating new ventures into name recognition. All needing to be done in a matter of two weeks. Now, don’t get me wrong, I work great on deadline. But this deadline was devised during one of those occasional lulls that turned into several jobs. So it’s like having three additional jobs. Not that I’m complaining; I love the work and I love what I do, but when it comes to my marketing materials, they have to be beyond perfect because what you see from me is the sample work of what I do for you.

So it’s been a matter of how to overcome the insomnia. I learned long ago there’s no way to fight insomnia. So I ride with it. I either read or I sit in the studio and work. The problem with this is that the work has to be double and triple checked beyond the normal double and triple check because even though I’m awake, I’m often dead tired.

I really don’t mind riding it out. I just check the work the next day when I’m refreshed. What do I mind about riding it out is not being able to fall asleep until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning and having to get up at 6am to meet the demands of the day. And because of this weird schedule, it allows me plenty of time to get everything else done that I can’t seem to get done because I’m…dead tired.

This then adds more stress to the already present insomnia stress.

It will end soon; in a week or so. Until then, I ride. And in the meantime, if anyone has any suggestions on how to de-energize the cracked out bunny, please let me know.

BUSINESS MARKETING 101?

Or maybe I should title this TALK TO ME, PLEASE.

This post is a bit off the beaten path of my normal posting. No pictures, no art. It's business.

Lately, it seems that the whole idea behind marketing has been e-marketing. It's crammed down my throat every day, every minute, every second. I go to networking groups, where my intention is to get to know you and your business, while I hope your intentions are to get to know me and my business, but instead I'm basically told the only way I'm going to get business is through e-marketing. Facebook; LinkedIn; Google; Flicker; Picasso; and now, Google+. I have to write blog posts and articles and post them online and cram my name into every web directory that will let me so I can be number one on the all impressive Google search (I don't even use Google to search). I'm supposed to register on Google places and get recommendations on Yelp and every other site that serves the same purpose.

You know, if I had time to do all of this, I wouldn't have time to do any work.

Here's my point, if there is a point to be made. Today was organization day for me. Cleaning out my computer files, backing up, all that good in house stuff that must be done, and while browsing through my client files, it occurred to me that not a single one of them came from my website, my Facebook page or my blog. They all came because I introduced myself and started a conversation or through a referral. Amazing! Good old fashioned marketing.

What every happened to that? Good old fashioned marketing. What ever happened to people talking to people?

The gripe about all of this is when I'm making business decisions, I want to know who I'm making that decision with. I'm not going to get any sort of feel from deciding to use your services based on a website, Facebook page, etc. And while I do grasp the idea that the media out there on the internet is simply an introduction, it's never enough. Now I have to set up an appointment with you to see if you can provide the services I need. Then I have to find others in your industry and set another appointment, do cost comparisons, and there's that all important personal touch that's part of every business transaction. So let me ask you, do I spend all my precious time bogged down with appointment after appointment, or do I call a business associate or two and ask them if they know someone they'd recommend for the job? You better bet it's the latter.

Seriously, what ever happened to the art of communication? (Ah, there's my third title for this post.) I really hope it's not dead. While I do believe that the internet serves a purpose for business, it's an aid to marketing, not a solution.

I don't need to know how to e-market. My clients take themselves seriously and they take their business decisions seriously and without communication...personally, I'd have to rethink my business tactics.

Is it just me? Does the business world still market itself via human contact? Is e-marketing the do all, end all of the business marketing?

I'd really love to hear some input on this.

I'D RATHER BE SHOOTING

I apologize. I've been neglectful of the blog. I've been trapped in the underworld of the business world. Do you have any idea how many synonyms there are for underworld? Take a look -

Abaddon, Gehenna, Hades, abyss, affliction, agony, anguish, blazes, bottomless pit, difficulty, everlasting fire, fire and brimstone, grave, hell-fire, infernal regions, inferno, limbo, lower world, misery, nether world, nightmare, ordeal, pandemonium, perdition, pit, place of torment, purgatory, suffering, torment, trial, underworld, wretchedness  (Thank you dictionary.com)

Yeah, that's where I've been. Quite honestly, I'd rather be shooting.

So let me explain. I've come to the conclusion that the underworld of the business world is marketing. Which is an odd thing to say for someone who bases her business on marketing. I love the whole marketing concept. It's fascinating to work an idea into reality. I love/hate Magpi Studio marketing. What can I tell you.

When I work with a client, marketing is a piece by piece concept. It's broken down into steps. And because I do photography and design, I'm not doing the broad end marketing that I have to do with the studio. This so called marketing for the studio at the moment is consisting of brochures, rack cards, updating the website (and trust me, e-marketing is not my favorite thing), creating a newsletter (oh, and if you'd like to sign up, please do so - just click here), getting a month to month marketing plan together, networking and who knows what else.

Now, you'd think I would have done all of this already. Yeah, you'd think. But running the studio part time didn't require as much work as when you rely on it for your next paycheck.

The worst of this has been the website. It's taken on a new design and I've added ArtLease and Animal Love Pet Photography (so yea, the Animal Gallery is back). The website, it's a time monster that hangs out at my desk. There's photo editing and formatting and PayPal buttons to make and insert and all the links to link, and then there are all those links to check and with the photos, everything has got to link properly. If you've been to my site, you may be able to tell I make all my thumbnails by hand (I don't use a program that makes those mini thumbnails that you can't tell what you might be looking at), carefully cropping so you can see what's in it without viewing the entire photo and make your choice as to whether you want to go further or not. I consider it a perk, but who knows. I just know that I hate when I go to a photog's site and there's this teeny, tiny little 1/4" box that's nothing but a blur. Frustrates me. But I digress.

Anyway, I had about 60 photos in the WIP (work in progress) file that needed all that attention. And it's not just editing and formatting, it's naming and file naming and centering and getting it at the right place - and yeah, I probably go the long way around this as I'm not a website making type person.

But, the updated website is viewable, lots of new photos, so go take a look and let me know if my efforts were worthwhile.

Thank you all for your patience in my absence. I have now ascended from the underworld.

And since I wasn't allowed to take photos while I was there - there are very strict regulations in the underworld of the business world - NO PHOTOGRAPHY! - I'll share with you the marketing piece I developed for ArtLease while I was there.

THAT 80/20 THING

I came across an article the other day about becoming a successful artist. It was the 80/20 thing and why artists often fail at business. The 80/20 thing means you're supposed to spend 80% of your time on business (marketing, networking, etc) and 20% on art (you know, the fun side of all of this). My business manager has been telling me this for years. I know the 80/20 thing, but there are times it just doesn't fall into place. This week was a perfect time.

This week was more like a 20/80 thing. But I guess it's really a matter of how you look at it. The week went something like this:

Tuesday - One hour networking event; afterward, three hours roaming Fredericksburg capturing its charm.

Paddle Boat at City Dock - Fredericksburg, VA

Physick Garden behind Hugh Mercer's Apothecary Shop - Fredericksburg, VA

Thursday - Two hour networking event (that offered a great opportunity for photography while networking).

Home grown plants at the Market at Courthouse Village

Scratching it off the bucket list - the inside of a hot air balloon

Harry Wilson (of Harry & Larry & Buck) on the vibraphone

Friday - Look 3 Festival of the Photograph in Charlottesville (and while I missed the ticket sale before it sold out, I did find time to take a shot or two).

Outside cafe in Charlottesville, VA

So all in all, since the photos go in the portfolio and the majority are for sale, and since two of these shoots were associated with networking events, maybe it was an 80/20 week.

NAMASTE

I recently spent some time at Studio D Yoga in Richmond, VA working with owner Debbie Segebart to create a business portrait for her marketing campaign. From start to finish, it was a calming experience.

Walking into Studio D Yoga, the moment I crossed over the threshold, a peace settled within. Debbie's studio is filled with warming colors and exotic scents (peppermint that day - I learned it has a calming affect) that relieve any trace of anxiety or frustration clinging from the negative remnants of the outside world. I knew immediately the image I wanted to capture.

Debbie has a beautiful, sly grin, which maybe comes from knowing the world of inner peace, and this was the look we needed. From a marketing angle, Debbie's business portrait needed to relay confidence and calm with a bit of fun tied in. We accomplished this with a variety of angles.

Okay, admittedly, the mug shot style shot was for an ID badge (Debbie provides yoga therapy for Tucker Psychiatric Clinic), but I really liked the look of this image.

Thanks to Debbie of Studio D Yoga for the peaceful day.