Under-Do Your Competition: Focus. Style. Confidence

Not typically what you hear, right? But it's really brilliant and I need to share it with you. What I won't be sharing with you is this humidity. I thought walking into the bathroom after Jose's hot showers would prepare me for Texas again, but by the looks of my misty face... not so much.

So back to this brilliant concept. It was all from the Freedom PASS Tour I attended in Phoenix last month which was slap-your-dog good (cause really, when is slapping your momma ever good?). Promise Tangeman's presentation is the one I'll be sharing with you -- you can thank my awesome note-taking skills later.

There's 3 points to break down:

// Focus
// Style
// Confidence

// FOCUS: Back to the whole "under-do your competition."

(a) IDENTIFY YOUR STRENGTHS. Focus on what's important and let clutter go. And by strengths -- be specific and not use things like "I'm creative." For example, I would say a couple of my strengths are styling and story telling. So how can I capitalize on this? How can I display this in my business? Outfit Chronicles. Nothing to do with photography, right? Wrong. I want people to understand my style, connect with it, and be able to trust in my abilities. This will transfer itself into my photography and it will also tell my potential clients what to expect. Ask yourself these q's:

-What are you most confident in?
-What are you most passionate about?
-What do you want to do MORE of? (or heck, what do you want to do LESS of? If you don't want to photograph families, then don't post families on your site. Focus.)

(b) KNOW YOUR TARGET MARKET. Speak each other's language. Describe them. Create a profile for them. What do they do? What are their values? Promise gave us Sarah Rhoads' target market: "People that highly value artistic expression." So try taking that statement and fitting it to your own business. People that ________________.

// STYLE. 1.) Create a personal profile. Write anything and everything about you. 2.) Check your laundry -- no, seriously... check your laundry. What visually represents you? Colors? Is there a consistent theme? Use 3 words to define your fashion style.

--- I'm not going to lie, defining my fashion style (versus my photography style) is so difficult. This was the trickiest question to answer during the interview I had on Monday. Jose says I'm an "emotional" dresser. Emotional and feminine. Hysterical. Unfortunately, that's why I can't exactly articulate it -- because I DO open my closet and pick an outfit based on my mood which can range from feeling spunky, flirty, or simple. But I suppose that can be interpreted as story telling too. With my clothes :) ---

I digress.

// CONFIDENCE. Display your confidence in your business. How do your strengths and style currently play out on a day to day basis?

-Are you displaying that confidence in your website? How can you do this exactly? Let's look at Jasmine Star's website. Her strength is her writing. Promise designed her website and incorporated this strength throughout her entire site with an editorial flair. Did you get that? Editorial flair. Jasmine is speaking a specific language to her target audience by the style of her website.

Brilliant. And that was Promise's presentation. Now sit down and answer those questions for your business model.

Now you'll have to excuse me.



I have an amazing grandma who is waiting on me to get off this "thing" and spend time with her. Not to mention the U.S. vs. France game that is playing in every TV in this house. I love being home ;) Hope this has helped those of you pursuing photography or any small business!