Photo Success

A Place to Grow

Bring the best you got to each and every shoot…

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It’s easy to lose focus. Our equipment, our personal ideas about how things ought to be done, our personal neurotic messed up voices constantly telling us what to do…good and bad.

All, or part, of it can get in the way of our clarity and intention.

And clarity and intention is what we need most for each and every job we photograph.

Not so much….“Do I have the right camera, or lights, or computer……”

But intention, clarity and focus on bringing the very best we got to every aspect of our photography business.
To every session. To everything.

Here’s some crappy (depending on how you look at it that is) news: It doesn’t get any better over time.

Doesn’t get any easier.

Sure, your skills improve, depending on which ones you decide to hone in on and focus on….lighting, posing, communicating, selling, innovating…etc etc…

But destiny alas decides it doesn’t get that much easier.

You always need to be on your toes, so to speak. And never, ever, ever take anything for granted.

Bring the best you got to every session, every aspect of your photography business,
every marketing idea, every client….

Don’t get caught.

If you think your clients will love you next year as much as they did last, you could be fooling yourself, if you assume it.

For me, for us, this means:

*be grateful (quit complaining, say thanks, and get off facebook)

*be better… always push your basic skills to be better

*work your marketing. Newsletters (home delivered), offers, selling, networking, affiliation marketing…work it, work it, work it

*Goals…..one of the HARDEST things to do in life is to come up with a five year vision and one year goals.

The simple act of tackling these areas (especially the goals one) will put you in a category of few.

The minority who tune out the inner dialogue of shame and excuses, the outer dialogue of criticism and blame….and push forth anyhow.

But this all starts with clarity and intention.

You won’t find that from your mom. In the coffee shop surrounded by comfort friends. Or on facebook.

It’s an inside job.

Take it on and run with it.

I can always tell where a person will be in the next year based on where they’ve been in the last year.

It’s simple really.

And I assess a person, or their intentions, goals, ideology not based on what they say.

But what they do.

Action, my friend, speaks much louder than words.

Go forth, and put action to your intentions, and watch how clarity sets in.

Yours in photography and success,
Robert Provencher

Write it down….and predict everything from success to your baby’s due date…

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When I get together with my fours sisters, as I did recently over the holidays, we often reminisce years gone by.

We we’re chatting about the oldest of the four girls (I’m the oldest in the family, with four sisters younger than I) and the birth of her four babies.

You see, she’s the academic in the family. Made the rest of us look smart.
She became and currently is a successful lawyer.

And she had four babies. Barely interrupting her career.

She’s a great mom, and her clients love her too. She totally kicks butt in the “having it all” category.

But here’s what I found truly fascinating. You see, the sisters were chatting, and sort of poking fun at her ability to schedule the birth of each baby.

Not a medically induced, scheduled dealio. But old school, organic, natural, baby comes when baby is ready.

She would put the babies due date in her jam packed schedule, and, baby came THAT DAY.

Here’s what’s really cool.

With one baby, she had a visit with her doctor the day before her due date.

The doctor said something to the effect of…:
“baby’s fine, you got about ten more days before it comes…..hang tough…”

All the while, her due date was the NEXT day. AND, the baby came, the NEXT day.

I chuckled….maybe, maybe not, that because she “scheduled it”, the baby, on the day she had in mind.

It reminded me of the power of writing things down.

Goals, Plans. Ideas. Crazy thoughts. Dreams. Hopes. Wishes. Aspirations. Births.

But mostly goals.

True story:

My wife and I and our nine year old girl moved into our new ‘dream home/home studio’ back in 2005.

It was uncanny.

Going through my office, cleaning out some of the drawers in my desk, I found a sheet of paper with my five year plan written out on it… from, you guessed it, five years prior.

I totally forgot I even had this tucked away.

I read it.

And was blown away. On that five year plan I had written down the following:

*in five years I’ll be living and working in a home studio (we were at the time renting a commercial space)
*this place will be 3,000 SQ feet
*it will be wood, lots of wood
*it will have cathedral ceilings
*large lot
*it will have a home studio on location
*it will be not too far from the city, yet not too close

And that’s it. All I wrote. And as I’m reading this long lost list, I got chills.

It dawned on me.

Our new home was, you guessed it:

  • exactly 3,000sq ft
  • cedar outside, everywhere. Hardwood inside
  • 1200 sq ft studio out back, all cedar as well. About 20 paces from the patio doors out back
  • it was right on the city line. Bears, deer, moose, foxes, coyotes and more. A two minute drive to everything
  • cathedral ceilings….(I’m not shitting you!)
  • acre sized lot

I ain’t making this up. Coincidence? Nonsense? I don’t know, don’t care.

I’ve had this happen to me many, many times in my life…Cars, Hasselblads, health and homes….and more.

I can honestly say I’ve achieved more, way more by doing TWO things:

1-having a clear mental picture of what I wanted….CMP I call it

2-writing it down

I believe in this principle. A lot.

It’s why I teach and preach it. And help other photographers, young and old, newbs and oldtimers,
get better, stronger, healthier and more prosperous.

BUT, you gotta start inside. In your heart and soul.
What do YOU want?

What’s getting in YOUR way?

Start there first. Cool?

You with me?

Success IN photography starts on the inside,

Rob Provencher

P.S. Everything I know, practice, teach and show on goals setting is in my presentation I gave a few years ago, along with some PDF forms…..members can access it now.

How to interact with clients and get killer expressions in your portrait photography

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A short while ago we hosted a webinar with Chad Pennington, a world class wedding photographer from the Bronx.

It was nothing short of amazing, filled with great advice, ideas and marketing strategies.

(Members can access the replay HERE)

After it was over, I had a nagging relentless sensation. I thought to myself: “This guy knows how to elicit some very cool reactions and expressions from his subjects. How’d he do that?

So, I hit Chad up and asked him to come back again. This time we’re going to focus in on actual strategies and techniques he uses.

To me, and to any photographer who creates portraits of any kind, being able to get emotion, reactions,
and expressions from clients is like being a magic wizard with super powers.

MEMBERS….REPLAY IS HERE

If you’re not a member, a gold mine, including this presentation awaits you for only twenty bucks. CHECK IT OUT*

*(you will have instant access to this presentation and over 1,000+ high quality marketing
and success strategies for portrait & wedding photographers)

You become more of who you are meant to become…

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I’ve read  a few books about the wealthy. And about prosperity.

It’s always been an area of pain, frustration and limitation with me.

I did not grow up with much. And I heard the typical stuff you likely heard as well.

Things like “money doesn’t grow on trees”… or…”hard earned money”…..

Over the years I changed my beliefs. Wasn’t easy, but I did it.

I still struggle mind you, but it’s not nearly as hard or limiting as it once was.

If you asked me in a nutshell what I learned, here it is:

*Focus on earning, not saving. Saving, yes…but earning too!
*Leverage creates wealth, not hard work
*Money is earned from thought, innovation, leadership… not hard labor
*Never worry about running out of money, instead, think about how to innovate and make more
(by the way, that’s a big one)
*Don’t see money with emotions, but with logic
*Realize you are in control of your wealth, not luck or fate
*Don’t wait for some external force, politician or whatever to ‘rescue’ you
*Take action. Nothing, nothing, nothing beats taking action
*Don’t stress about money. Get peace from it
*Money is just a tool, an energy. What we do with it is up to us. If we’re a jerk, it may make
us more of a jerk. Likewise, you can do great and wonderful things with it and become more of who you are.
*Avoid debt like the plague. (especially credit card debt)
*Be patient. Be disciplined. But have goals and believe in them. Too often our goals are impulses
from vapious mal-contents, or we become like whiney little babies who want it all now. Delay gratification.

Money is an idea. Frozen energy. It has no direction, moral compass or discretion.

We give that to it, for better or worse. It goes where money already is and is attracted to activity and thoughts that magnetize it.

It all starts with you.

Money is a responsibility. Therefore, we must be responsible.
No guilt, no shame, no distorted sense of morality.

When you create wealth, your wealth and get cool with it, you get in touch with your own destiny in many ways.

When you grow, and welcome prosperity into your being, you actually become a better person. You become more of who you are meant to become. If you let it.

It’s never just about the money. Money isn’t everything. If you think that, then you are thinking small.

If you pursue money out of desperation, it will run away from you.

If you create money just for the money, you will not be successful.

But you must be guilt free and open to it in order to succeed both financially and as an individual.

Get rid of the crap and get focused on what you want.
I owe, I owe…what a crappy reason to go to work. Yuch….

It’s important to be cool with money and prosperity.

Be challenged too! That’s where growth and opportunity lie.

I created an amazing PDF form and a presentation on wealth creation strategies for photographers.

Pure magic. Check it out….

Members HERE

Not a member? A goldmine awaits you….HERE

Yours in photography and success,
Robert Provencher

Busting through the BS…

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There’s a blanket of bullsh*t.

Opaque, suffocating and soul sucking.

It’s inside, outside, everywhere.

It always was there, and is never going away.

Do you want to know how to break the shame, the blame, the bullshit that binds you?

Blame, victimize, accuse others….  These get you off the hook.

Stop those games and you’re in another game.

Keep playing them, stay in the same game, and it stops you from creating your own identity……

I see a problem with that. Do you?

Join me this Thursday, March 30th at 9:00PM EST for a Lighting Mastermind meeting.

I’ll discuss, show, reveal real, authentic, legit money money making lighting strategies.

Including a quick overview on fairy portrait lighting, creating high quality commercial images for a restaurant menu, shooting portraits in the hot blazing sun in Costa Rica, both in the beach and on a farm…and more…much more.

Members, login, go here for the registration link.

Non member? join us….it’s like a measly twenty bucks (canadian bucks) a month, leave when you want, no excuses, no notes required.

Yours in photography and success,
Robert Provencher

P.S. The replays for all lighting masterminds are also in the forum.

How to get good at goals…

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Some of the photographers I interview are making a rock-solid 6-figures and some have not made much of anything yet.

I think I know why.

When I coach anyone, one of my first questions is “what are your goals?”

And, what’s stopping you? Knowing the obstacles is just as valuable.

Some start blaming, whining, complaining. Not taking any responsibility.
Riding the pity party train….heading no where.

NO where…..so, my question to you is:

What do you want to create? What is your vision for your photography business?

It’s amazing how the answers are all over the place. But here’s the interesting thing.

The photographers who are making more have some very specific and common practices.

One, they have goals.

Two, they take action.

And three, when their actions flop, they don’t take it the wrong way.

For example, when you act on  a goal, and it fails, you have THREE ways to look at that fail:

1-Quit
2-Repeat the same behavior
3-Change your approach

In other words, you learn from the fail, making the fail a valuable stepping stone.

Where else you gonna get this kind of education? Your failures now have become your best lessons.
If you choose to look at it that way.

Set a goal that is SPECIFIC (exactly how much do you want to make and what markets do you want to go after).
It’s amazing how your brain starts to come  up with solutions when it has a specific goal to reach.

Next, set a goal that is MEASURABLE (when exactly will you achieve your goal). You must set timelines to achieve your goals – it’s mandatory.

Create a system, a series of steps you can take to get you closer to your goals. List every possible step, every possible action, working with everything you have available to you right here, right now.

Get off the train.

And finally, when you do make it, keep your feet firmly planted on the ground. Don’t be  a jerk.
Success and money can do that to some folks…..but not you…

In the forum I posted a presentation and some forms for you to download. I have in my life never found more practical and useful information.

And it’s right there.

Go grab it.

Yours in photography and success,
Robert Provencher

Are “phantom” pains dragging you down?

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A little while ago I learned a new word: `fauxcellarm“

It means a phantom cell phone vibration in your leg when you`re not even carrying your cell phone.

Kinda like the phantom pain people get who lost a limb. And they feel either pain or the actual limb, even though it`s not there.

I thought it was cute and funny. Made me smile.

This, by the way, is a scientific fact. It`s how the brain works because of neurons and pathways that have been traveled since forever.

I read all about that in a book I just finished called: `The Brain That Changes Itself`. Great read! I highly recommend it.

This all made me think about success and getting ahead in business. It seems that we struggle when certain habits get in the way. Bad habits. Habits that create the wrong mindset.

Habits that are like the phantom pain effect, but to us they are real.
So, we let them control us.

Let me explain. Couple quick examples.

You go out and buy a ton of photography gear, and photography marketing stuff. You struggle, you get some success. But you hit a wall.

Or, something really bad happens. Anything. Name it. We all experience it…..bad decisions, rejection, debt, burn out….on and on…no one is immune. Trust me.

And these experiences live in our brains as if they were real. Well, frankly, they were real. But `were`is the operative word here.

We give them life because we don`t know any better. It`s hard to reprogram those pathways. To reset, re boot and get on the right path.

The only way I know of that has any hope of working is outside influence. A coach. A mastermind.

It`s one of the best ways to progress and move beyond those phantom pains.. And it`s why I run so many mastermind meetings. It’s the truest source of change and inspiration for success and prosperity in photography.

If you need to re set, re focus, re program your brain for success,
consider joining  me….details are HERE.

If you’re already a member, as usual, the replays are all in the forum (login first) HERE.

Yours in photography and success,
Robert Provencher