The One Thing Most Schools Get Wrong.

In my last post  I talked about how I am changing the way I teach and set up classes. Instead of one class now I teach in week long modules. 

There are a few other things I am changing. In most educational institutions the success of the student is primarily put on the student. 

The thought is the idea is that the student is  personally responsible for his/her success. I agree with that but I also feel that this can idea can lead to a flawed system where teachers have reason to slack off. 

There are new guidelines that I have writing and one of them is that the teachers at SLC photoschool are just as responsible for the students success are the students are. 

One of the requirements for teachers is to be in constant contact with the students. 

Another requirement for teachers is to make sure that every student understand all of the information by the end of the course. 

The teachers are held accountable for what the students learn. 

If a student is falling behind or doesn’t understand the concepts that were taught in that weeks module the teach will offer a private lesson to the student at no extra cost. 

Before when I taught there were always a few students who fell through the cracks. Most of the time they had personal life issues that would take them away from a class for a week or two and by the time they returned they were behind and felt uncomfortable so they would just stop attending. It always bothered me. Others just had a harder time with a few things like understanding aperture or shutter speed and after a few weeks of not understanding it they would just stop attending. When the new classes start I have a goal. 0% dropout  and 100% completely satisfied. 100% Success rate. 0% failure. This program is brand new and I am excited to see how it goes! Now is also a great time to sign up for photography classes. i set the cost low but I can’t keep it that low forever. 

This is me! Ikon

I love spending time outside with my kids. I love to travel and I ride a longboard! I teach classes at Salt Lake City School of Photography. Check out my website and take a class or message me today about a private lesson!

I'm switching it up!

Recently I suspended all the courses I was teaching at Salt Lake City School of Photography so I could focus on solving some of the issues that I have faced when teaching photography classes. 

I spent weeks reading researching, making notes and thinking. I’ve been forced to change my whole outlook on education.  

Most people in education industry will disagree with me. 

I’ve already had a few discussions that could only end in a disagreement. 

I used to think if I set up a class and you enrolled it was your responsibility to make it to class. 

All the responsibility for success fell on the student. 

I don’t think that now. 

It’s more of a 70-30 split with 70% falling on the teacher… Me. 

Most of the responsibility for success of students should fall on the teacher and the institution, not the student!

A few weeks ago I was at a book store reading and looking for answers and I picked up the book “Scarcity”. I don't remember who wrote it. :(

I don’t remember what chapter I opened up to but I began reading a story about two World War II bombers. One of the bombers had a high success rate but for some reason the pilots of the other bomber would end up dead at a very percentage. The military called in all kinds of specialists to look at the pilots. They assumed the pilots were not trained as well or maybe they were just incompetent.  

The specialists couldn’t figure out what the problem was. It confused everyone. 

But there was one specialist who was also a pilot and he went and sat in the cockpits of both of the bombers and he sat there and thought. The cockpits were set up different. Some of the important levers were hard to reach in the bomber that had a high wreckage rate. After months the conclusion was simple. It wasn’t the pilots who were incompetent. It was the cockpit. 

The pilots who were flying that particular bomber were set up to fail. 

In the courses I have taught in the past there is a percentage that I have seen of students who don’t finish the photography class. It’s just above 15%.

Who does some pay $600+ for a class and then not finish? 

There are a lot of reasons. Some of the possibility’s are that they get home from work and are tired so they skip a class. The next week they feel embarrassed that they might be behind so the stop attending. Maybe they have a sick child one night and can’t make it. There are lots of reasons. A class that is not flexible is in a sense setting it’s students up for failure. I think that is wrong. 

Therefore I am changing all of my course structures. Classes are not taught for one night now. 

They will be set up in weekly modules.

Courses are new set up for to make sure you are successful!

The module will start on a Wednesday and go through the next Tuesday. 

Students will have several opportunities to attend and if they feel they don’t understand the information good enough they can attend more than once during the week. 

This is one of the things I am changing so I take more responsibility for your success. I have a few more things I will change but they take time and a lot of planning. I’m excited about this new program. When I set out to teach photography I decided I wanted to build the best school in the world and this is just the beginning. 

This is me! Ikon

I love spending time outside with my kids. I love to travel and I ride a longboard! I teach classes at Salt Lake City School of Photography. Check out my website and take a class or message me today about a private lesson!

I'm switching it up!

Recently I suspended all the courses I was teaching at Salt Lake City School of Photography so I could focus on solving some of the issues that I have faced when teaching photography classes. 

I spent weeks reading researching, making notes and thinking. I’ve been forced to change my whole outlook on education.  

Most people in education industry will disagree with me. 

I’ve already had a few discussions that could only end in a disagreement. 

I used to think if I set up a class and you enrolled it was your responsibility to make it to class. 

All the responsibility for success fell on the student. 

I don’t think that now. 

It’s more of a 70-30 split with 70% falling on the teacher… Me. 

Most of the responsibility for success of students should fall on the teacher and the institution, not the student!

A few weeks ago I was at a book store reading and looking for answers and I picked up the book “Scarcity”. I don't remember who wrote it. :(

I don’t remember what chapter I opened up to but I began reading a story about two World War II bombers. One of the bombers had a high success rate but for some reason the pilots of the other bomber would end up dead at a very percentage. The military called in all kinds of specialists to look at the pilots. They assumed the pilots were not trained as well or maybe they were just incompetent.  

The specialists couldn’t figure out what the problem was. It confused everyone. 

But there was one specialist who was also a pilot and he went and sat in the cockpits of both of the bombers and he sat there and thought. The cockpits were set up different. Some of the important levers were hard to reach in the bomber that had a high wreckage rate. After months the conclusion was simple. It wasn’t the pilots who were incompetent. It was the cockpit. 

The pilots who were flying that particular bomber were set up to fail. 

In the courses I have taught in the past there is a percentage that I have seen of students who don’t finish the photography class. It’s just above 15%.

Who does some pay $600+ for a class and then not finish? 

There are a lot of reasons. Some of the possibility’s are that they get home from work and are tired so they skip a class. The next week they feel embarrassed that they might be behind so the stop attending. Maybe they have a sick child one night and can’t make it. There are lots of reasons. A class that is not flexible is in a sense setting it’s students up for failure. I think that is wrong. 

Therefore I am changing all of my course structures. Classes are not taught for one night now. 

They will be set up in weekly modules.

Courses are new set up for to make sure you are successful!

The module will start on a Wednesday and go through the next Tuesday. 

Students will have several opportunities to attend and if they feel they don’t understand the information good enough they can attend more than once during the week. 

This is one of the things I am changing so I take more responsibility for your success. I have a few more things I will change but they take time and a lot of planning. I’m excited about this new program. When I set out to teach photography I decided I wanted to build the best school in the world and this is just the beginning. 

This is me! Ikon

I love spending time outside with my kids. I love to travel and I ride a longboard! I teach classes at Salt Lake City School of Photography. Check out my website and take a class or message me today about a private lesson!

1 Simple Thing You Have to do if You Want to Become a Great Photographer!

This is really simple and short. You have to keep learning. You have to keep growing. Learn about photography. Learn about people. Learn about business. Learn about yourself. Learn Learn Learn!
Last night I spent from about 9pm to midnight listening to this Audiobook. It's interesting.
One thing I hear a lot is "God! Your work is great! You're a genius at photography!" Truth... I'm not. I just took time to learn the art and I focused on the fine details and I keep learning. I'll never stop being curious. If you want to be great at anything you have to be curious. Have a great day everyone and when you have a little time you should listen to this Audiobook. You might learn something and that wouldn't be so terrible right?

This is me! Ikon

I love spending time outside with my kids. I love to travel and I ride a longboard! I teach classes at Salt Lake City School of Photography. Check out my website and take a class or message me today about a private lesson!

The #1 Thing You Can Do To Grow Your Photography Business Fast!

Sunday, June 26, 2016

The #1 Thing You Can do Today to Grow Your Photography Business!

If you go online you can read about 1000 different ways to grow your business and market yourself. 

Almost all of them tell you how to grow your Facebook page or how to get  more instagram followers. 

Those things are important and you should be doing those. I think one of the reasons they tell you to do things online is because you’re “online” and they want to keep you online. 

This is a really short post because I want you to do something different. I want you to get offline. 

The truth is that the best way to grow your business is to meet new people! You can do that online but offline is the best way. Why? Because I don’t care how what anyone else says you can only build so much trust online. 

Marketing and growing your business is about one thing. BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS. 

Follow me on Facebook! 

If you are ready to kick some ass and grow your business get out of your house, get off your computer and go meet new interesting people and make new friends. That is simply the best and fastest way to grow your business. Hands Down!

This is me! Ikon

I love spending time outside with my kids. I love to travel and I ride a longboard! I teach classes at Salt Lake City School of Photography. Check out my website and take a class or message me today about a private lesson!

The One Word That Will Save You From Failing.

The thing I hear most from my photography friends and from most of the community is that we as photographers feel undervalued and that others don’t respect the craft or our work.

They don’t want to pay for your work it and they don’t understand how much time we spend learning and how money goes intro running a business.

 I hear this from photographers almost everyday and when we complain about it the people who say these things don't understand. It irritates them because we are complaining about them.

But I get it! It's frustrating! Right?

I used to feel the same way and for good reasons. I run into people all the time who say I can’t afford my work.

 How about you just photography me for trade or for free? I never like hearing that! 

I run into people all the time who tell I am should give them a deal. I now ask them, "Why?"  I know they wouldn’t do the same for me. They never do.

I've found that when complex problems there is usually a simple answer.

This problem is caused by our own(photographers)weakness. If we want to solve the problem we have to become a little stronger.

"Self respect, Colie. If you don't have it, the world will walk all over you." 
— Sarah Dessen (Keeping the Moon)

The big problem here is not that other people don't value us as photographer s but we don't value ourselves enough to ask for what we deserve.

You are probably wondering what the MAGIC word is huh? It's the one word that I have found that helps me keep my power. It's really simple and you have said it and you probably say it everyday and you just need to say it more.

The word is “No.”

It's one of the most powerful words in the world and in't only two letters long!

When someone says No it can be shocking.

As adults we think we are being rude when we say this.

The truth is you are not being rude when you tell someone they can’t afford you so they should go somewhere else. You are protecting yourself!

When you turn a customer down because they asked you to photograph them for half the cost a few things can happen.

Short term Scenarios:

1st: You will probably lose their business. Ask yourself... do you really want to work with someone who doesn’t appreciate you? I don’t.

2nd: They might tell their friends.. They will say something like. “ I asked that photographer to photography me for half off and he said No. What a jerk" and the friend will think.. “Wow. That photographer most really be good cause he doesn’t do things for half price. Or, I wonder why that photographer said No?

3rd: They probably won't tell anyone. It's kind of embarrassing to be told No.

4th: They will lie about it. There is nothing you can do about people like that. They will dig their own grave so let them and do you really want to work with lairs anyhow?

I am sure there are a few other scenarios I didn't cover but these are the most common.

In long term scenarios what will happen?

1st: You will start saying “No.”  and start to earn respect

2nd: It will hurt at first financially because getting half is better than getting all of it. Right?

BUT! People will start respecting you and you get a reputation for standing up for yourself. You'll lose 3 customers you shouldn't have but get 1 great one who loves your work and tells all of her friends about you.

3rd: Slowly you'll see your business grow. Eventually you will only lose one out of two of your potential customers and you are now working half as much and making the same as you would have if you were taking all of the customers. 

4th: You will build your business faster. have more respect, better clients and more success and money to pay for that trip you've wanted to take. You can send your kids to College and you can quite your day job. No more kissing your bosses ass! :)

Note: The biggest reason photographers fail is not because they are bad at photography but because they are bad at sales and marketing. Hint hint.. Learn to sell and market!

I said no 5 times this week. I wish I could have said yes but I don’t feel bad about it at all.

This world is full of people and the best people understand fairness. When I find someone who doesn't I fell sorry for that person.

Heads up! I am not saying photographers should never shoot for free. You should shoot for free when you want to grow your portfolio or need to refresh to or sometimes just for for trade.. but when you shoot for trade you need to make sure they know upfront what what you expect from them.
Be specific. Maybe you want them to invite all of their Facebook friends to like your page? That's fair!

I once listened to a great photographer named Bambi Cantrell at a convention in Las Vegas and she said something that I did get completely for years.

"It’s not your problem if someone can’t afford you. It’s theirs.” -Bambi Cantrell

What she was saying was you can’t be responsible for everyone’s income.

You’re not responsible for how hard your neighbor works. If the guy next door can't afford to send his kids to college it's not your responsibility to pay for their way. I am not responsible for fixing my neighbors car. I can't be!

Follow me on Facebook! SLC Photography School and Ikon Republik

You are responsible for your own success and if you think everyone should be able to afford you then you should also be responsible for everyone else's success!

We live in a beautiful inconsistent world full of all kinds of people.

We live in a world where most people focus on making money and not creating value. 

We live in a world that is fair because it's unfair to everyone. 

We live in a world where people learn to be hard and don't understand that the best people are both hard and soft at the same time.

I love this world.  I am so lucky to live where I do. I have opportunities that I wouldn't have if I was born in a different country and I feel it would would disrespectful if to all the people in the world who don't have the same opportunity as I do if I just decided not to take full advantage of my freedom.

I'll bet you're just like me. I still have days where I want to give up because it's not easy.

I sometime think I should just go out and get a job but then I look back and see where I have been and what I have done and I look at my charts and I see stable growth in my business. Why would I give up now? I would stupid to do so!

Some weeks are better than others but when I have a bad week I regroup and put the pedal to the metal and I make it happen. I have my goals and I look at them and I am meeting them.

That one word changed it all for me.

If it did it for me it will do the same for you!

I'm not going to wish you luck but I am going to wish you success.

One more thing!! This is important! When you have to use the word "No"... Say it nicely. There is never a reason to be cruel. Never look down at anyone you have to say it to. Say it with kindness and understanding. You will gain so much more respect when you can say it with respect!

It takes time to grow a business but if you are consistent and don't give up and give it some time and keep learning just imagine where you will be a year from now.

Lead can turn into gold but it doesn't happen overnight. Creating something of great value takes time! Take the time and make it happen!

"Just say No" should be the moto for every photographer who wants to succeed. I've said it 5 times this week!

Have a great day and if you want to talk to me find me on Facebook!

SLC Photo School or Ikon Republik

Please share this post! When other photographers gain respect so do you! It's good for the whole industry!

This is me! Ikon

I love spending time outside with my kids. I love to travel and I ride a longboard! I teach classes at Salt Lake City School of Photography. Check out my website and take a class or message me today about a private lesson!

14 Ideas That Will Help You Be A Better Blogger

14 Ideas That Will Help You Be A Better Blogger

A few posts back I told you how to grow your business fast! One of the things I told you to do is blog everyday. Sometimes I wake up and I don’t know what I will blog about but I have  a list I found that helps me decide. I’m gonna share it with you. 

A Friend asked me the other day why I would share all of this. "Why not keep it a secret so only I would benefit from it." She said

She has missed the whole point of a business. The only way a business makes money is if it offers something valuable to others. This is Valuable! I want to give you something of Value. You might use it or you might not but you have it now. 

I don’t remember who it was, actually a lot of people have said this in one form or another.. But if you want to be wealthy find a way make others wealthy. I want to be wealthy and I want you to be

wealthy. The trick to getting what you want in life is to help others get there. Some will and some won’t but If I do my part in helping you I can go to bed with a smile knowing I did what I could. The rest is up to you.

I hope you take the things I tell you and use them. That would make me happy.

I should write more but I am so tired right now. I’ve been working too much and not following my own rule of having balance.

The last five days have been 18+ Days of work with nothing else. Today I took the morning off and went on a hike and then came home and edited photos. Tomorrow I have another busy day and the next will be busy too.  So I am cutting this post short so I can rest for a few hours.

Here is the list for you!

• Feature a recent client
• Talk about your  favorite photography location
• Feature another business
• Basic photography tips
• How-to article
• Seasonal topics like Christmas and Halloween
• Your personal thoughts on photography
• Expanded testimonials from clients
• Commentary on something of mutual interest
• An answer to a FAQ
• Personal photography project like a documentary 
• Guest post from another business
• Community outreach theme
• Featured images from your last photo session

This is me! Ikon

Ikon lives by a highway and this evening there was construction and all the noise made it so there was not sleep to be had. He decided to stay up and write the next post so lucky you! He also decided he needs to move soon. Hey, I teach classes at Salt Lake City School of Photography. Check out my website and take a class or workshop or even better, join me on a trip! I'll be adding a Iceland trip, A European trip and workshops soon!  Hey. If you want more cool information follow me on Facebook!