The Big S Word: Sharing

The big S word.  Sharing.  You know what's funny?  I bet a majority of us that decided to pursue photography professionally never REALLY had an idea of how much sharing we would have to do.  And I'm not talking about sharing photos, I'm talking about sharing a vision, ideas, an identity, and sometimes... it involves vulnerability.  Right?  I mean, that is ultimately what we need for our brand to authentically represent us.

I believe so.  I'd love for someone to look at my Imaginale logo and immediately associate thoughts with it because of everything I have shared with them.  The part I work at everyday is the TYPES of thoughts people have when they look at my logo.  What Imaginale represents -- which is built by my messages, my clients' experience, and consistency.  Sharing.  And for those of you that have been afraid to share, let me share snippets from Chris Hilicki's book to give you an idea of the impact sharing can have.

Your Brand = An Instant Message

"You have an image that serves as an instant message for all who look to you for help, for knowledge, for inspiration.  Those around you use your image the way we use shorthand.  It quickly encodes what lies beneath and takes time to understand."

1) What feelings do you want your presence to evoke?  Your images to evoke?
2) How were you designed to live and what does that look like?
3) How was your company designed to be and what does that look like?
4) WHAT WERE YOU CREATED FOR?

"A brand is brought to life by the personality of the product or service the brand stands for.  And these things don't have personalities in and of themselves.  People do."

It's scary, right?  A business built so strongly on your image.  But the thing is, it's built around the truth of who YOU are.  So don't let that be scary.  Maybe your journey right now is to embrace who you are.  To dig and start discovering who exactly you are.

"Only when you truly know who you are will you know who you can become."

And to be honest, that is probably one of the hardest parts of this journey.  Many can teach you how to use the camera, but to start understanding (and to some, accepting) who we are -- that takes so much time.  But I promise that by sharing -- it will bring you closer.  And mind you, not just sharing anything -- but sharing the truth of who you are.  I'll leave you with these last snippets from Hilicki:

"Many organizations and companies hide their stories, waiting until they feel they have a story that will impress their customers.  [They] think they have to wait for measurable success before sharing and building their brand when the opposite is true.  Share your story correctly and the success will come.

Before using emotion to tell your story, you must know what the facts of your story really are.  The story doesn't start with emotion -- it is merely expressed emotionally.  The starting point is the truth."