Going S……L……O…..W

“My name is Theresa A Johnson and it’s been months since my last blog entry.”

Why is it that the prospect of writing a new blog entry makes me feel like I’m in confession or a drug/alcohol rehab. meeting…(despite the fact that I am not Catholic, nor ever, a member of any rehab groups)? Perhaps it’s an accountability-thing even though I really don’t have anyone to be “accountable” to!

It’s not that I have been lazing around doing nothing, photographing nothing, trying nothing new or anything. Quite the contrary actually. It’s more that the things I’ve tried, the images I’ve made, the goals I’ve set to date in this very young new year… have all failed.

I’m still stuck in the same dumpy motel suite, still have the same antiquated equipment, surrounded by the same circumstances that limit me severely. In short, nothing has really changed in my direct circumstances/situation. It feels like a perpetual “holding pattern” …an energy sapping, spirit-draining, depressing “holding pattern” the likes of which are as UN-inspiring and UN-motivating as a piece of soggy cardboard lying in a parking lot puddle. (Wait, actually that would be photographically kinda cool!)

The New Year has been as inspiring as this rusty bolt I photographed the other day, for the helluvait.

I started the year with the customary optimistic outlook:

“New Year, NewOpportunities”

…and all that jazz.

Having read and absorbed the wisdom of countless B-2-B newsletters, blogs and websites on the topics of photography business, technical tid-bits and personal motivation… I was READY for a change, yanno?

Toward that end; I gathered the necessary calendar, notebook, pens, phonebook,  etc. (I’m not a fan of ALL-things electronic and/or digital… don’t judge lol) and set about “planning” out the business year from four months out and working backwards as many successful photography business owners have described.

The bank account dictates the first promotion to be slated in late January, “just in time for Valentine’s Day”  *gag*…so I also set about designing and purchasing the necessary promotional materials to be distributed around the local area for that “extra layer of exposure”.  I promoted in the various online media areas (aka: Twitter, Facebook, Google +, and dedicated website page), pointed each to the other and scheduled updates to hit those sites on the days most suggested by the analytics and other successful photography business advisers.

(Did you KNOW that your posts to facebook are seen more and are more successful on some days over others… and times of day as well!?? There’s a LOT more to it than I ever imagined!).

And I found my models for the promotion materials and did the shoot(s) to be used in the advertising.

I thought I had all my ducks-in-a-row and “launched” my promo (having already put in the face and networking time and energy with the venue managers where this promotion is to take place!).

(Insert sound of crickets chirping here even though here in Delaware, they’re hibernating now)

*Chirp!

*Chirp.

(even the crickets are decidedly un-enthusiastic)

I was SO caught up in the prospect and excitement of “offering” my services to the women around here… SO caught up in what it was going to do for me and my business (“This is gonna be GREAT and it’s gonna put me on the map around here!” NOBODY else is doing this and for such an accessible price-point… this is gonna explode!” etc.)… that it never occurred to me that there might be a reason for that.

This promo is a flop. It’s a money-waster (when I didn’t have the money to waste on a pizza, let alone a business-defining, world-rocking, ego-boosting, “pamper-you” boudoir/intimate portrait mini-session promotion).

There is no public interest whatsoever.

In my excitement, I’d forgotten that people have to want my “product” in the first place. In my eagerness to accomplish MANY things at once: I needed to create the interest AND ” inspire the desire” for this kind of portraiture, too. A couple of weeks is NOT enough time for such a thing and I should know better than to think “anyone can do this for a LOT less investment of time and money”, too.

So… my first promo of the year: failed. I have many more in que for the rest of the year… various themes/areas of focus and sprinkled through the most advantageous months (according to “research”) but my ego’s bruised.

My vanity is showing and all I really wanna do is go hide somewhere.

I want to “give up”.

I feel “washed up” before I even started.

That’s the humanity of it all.

But I’m not going to give up entirely. I’m CONVINCED that I can make this work for myself AND my “target market” (ugh! Don’t you just hate that term? Talk about reducing people to intangible concepts!).

I just need to go S…..L…..O….W.

In the meantime, I’m experimenting with new concepts, new styles and a new focus for my photography. I’m having fun “playing” with ideas. Here are some recent images from a few sessions with model: Rachel. They are not offered for technical critique. I’m just sharin’   🙂

OH! And before I forget to mention it… with a new year, comes re-NEW-al of business license(s) and website/domains.

Yeah, THAT didn’t go the way I’d planned either. If you’re following me or my work via the website, you may have noticed that the link you have already takes you nowhere. *sigh*

Please visit my new website/domain at http://www.love-n-life-studio.com

(and of course… all the wonderful, search-engine-rank-enhancing Facebook “Likes” from the homepage have reset to “0” in the transition…. so if you are inclined to help me get found and listed in local searches again… hit that “Like” button at the bottom of the page, won’t you? )

concept shoot