Simple photography business part 2: Be an intentional student
With the ever-growing mountain of photography resources, online classes, workshops, courses, books, Ebooks, webinars, podcasts, conferences, and blogs, it is easy to spend a lot of time (and money) educating yourself instead of actually implementing what you’ve learned so far.
Things to consider:
1. How can you keep tabs on all the info you learned that you *know* will still be valuable in the future?
Maybe keep a folder on your computer or on your Google Drive where you collect wisdoms from different webinars, books, podcasts etc in sub-folders like "website", "email marketing", "portfolio building", "client communication" etc. This way all of the information is in one place, and you can access the info that is appropriate for what you're working on.
2. What is the action/habit?
As you've consumed any kind of information, try to think of 1-3 key things that you will start implementing. If you're not implementing what you learned, you might as well have spent the time working on your business instead of consuming information.
How often do you do it, when do you do it, how will you keep yourself accountable?
3. Do you hold onto materials (freebie downloads, course materials) incase of "someday" – even if you didn't find value in them at the time you acquired them?
Not only do all these things take up space or time, but education that doesn’t relate to our situation simply clutters up our mind with the quiet whisper of “You still haven’t gotten to this…”
4. What phase of business are you in, what is most important for you to know *right now*?
Only participate in/listen to/buy education that relates to things you want to be learning and implementingat this point.
5. Does this photography group add to my life?
Don’t be a member of all the photography groups “just because” – make sure that you are being intentional about which groups you join. You can also turn off notifications and news feed visibility for individual groups, if you want to stay in them but don’t want to be bombarded by posts every day.
Getting yourself into groups that aren't filled with peers, and that are instead filled with potential customers – now that might be a better use of your Facebook group time.
6. Do I admire this person, and the way they do business/make art?
If what someone is doing resonates with you, they are probably a good teacher. If their methods feel too forced for you, it might not be a good fit – and you don't have to join the course-train just because others are doing it.
When you get clear on what information brings you value, you will free up your cluttered mind, as well as your valuable time and money, for other things.