Reality sucks. Or does it?
If you’re smart about it, you can see things for what they are, and learn. Grow. Prosper.
And be accurate in your thinking. Or struggle endlessly trying to grow your business. Never really knowing why the crowds never show up to buy your thing.
Let me explain.
Ever seen the movie “Anvil: The story of Anvil”?
It was released in 2008. It’s quite good actually.
In many ways it helped launch, finally, the band’s career. The band of course is called Anvil. A heavy metal trio that brushed up against success in 1984 when they made a debut with other lesser known, at the time, acts like Bon Jovi, WhiteSnake and The Scorpions.
These bands, and others, went on to success and fame. Anvil, not so much.
It eluded them. This doc tells that story.
After the film was over it was clear as day why they never succeeded. Crystal clear.
If you seen the film and know the answer, then you know the reason success eluded them was very simple. Here it is: Their music ain’t that great. And they kept recording album after album after album hoping to finally “get it.”
It’s alright. But not great. It’s that simple.
There’s no big market for music that’s so so. Having a few songs that make you wanna jump into the mosh pit isn’t enough. You need a parade and constant outpouring. You need to be prolific.
To be fair, they may have had better luck since 2008. I don’t know. I don’t follow them. I hope so, and I hope the film helped. Who knows…
It all starts with the product. If no one wants it, there’s no market. This applies to all businesses, all markets, including photography.
There’s one section of the movie where they try and land a famous UK based producer, and get the funding to hire this guy to produce their new album.
Obviously this is flawed. You can’t put lipstick on a pig and expect a thing of beauty. If you have a top notch album, with a ready market, you could hypothetically speaking record it in your basement. The market will answer. Because quality is quality.
Throwing big money at a problem won’t fix it. No matter what. The equivalent in photography is spending big dollars on new equipment. Deluded oneself into thinking “that’ll work.”
Think. And get real. Reality sucks if we ignore it. It actually helps us if you LEARN.
No matter how hard the lessons are. It’s part of the journey.
No hard feelings to any Anvil fans.
Robert N. Provencher – Your Master Coach Marketer
“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”
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