This downtime is exactly the time we need to revamp and rethink, streamline and slim-down.  In the end, I imagine that the poor economy may end up being the best thing to ever happen to my career.  If you orchestrate it right, that statement could be true for you too.

First off, it’s no longer sufficient to sit and wait for the phone calls like we used to.  It no longer works to have a website you only update twice a year.  And most importantly, it’s no longer OK to only shoot when you’re being paid to do so.

All of us have to rethink not only our business, but also our lives.  If you’re not eating, sleeping, and breathing marketing right now then you’re already behind.  The old way of doing things has been out the door for some time, and its more apparent now than ever.

I started totally revamping how I did things back in about August.  I had been a lazy photographer, and a lazy business man.  Nearly all of my jobs were coming from relationships I had built through friends and family, and I was doing nothing in the way of marketing myself.  I decided that old way of doing things was dying and so I did some research and came up with a new ways of running my business.

First,I started this blog.  Having a blog is the first step in building a community based on your business, and community means relationships, and relationships mean work.  Not only the you do work to maintain the relationships you build, but work that lines your pockets.  The response is amazing, and if you’re a photographer, WHY AREN’T YOU BLOGGING???  You may think that no one wants to read your drivel, but believe me somebody does.  If anything it’s a great way to keep in touch with people and it is AMAZING for SEO ( if you don’t know what SEO is, I’m sorry, click here and welcome to 2009).  And sure, not ALL your clients will want to read it, but some of them might.  If you have a blog, they at least will have the option to become involved with your community and that option needs to be there.

Second, embrace social media!  Of course there’s facebook and LinkedIn, but I don’t believe any of you really need convincing for the effectiveness of those.  So I’ll spend the time on the one that seems to meet the most adversity.  It may have taken awhile, but face it folks, Twitter is here and it ain’t going nowhere.  It’s a glorious tool, I have made 3 face to face meetings with potential clients through nothing but twitter.  Most people view the internet as this cold distant place, when it’s just not that way anymore.

Once you get all the tools in place, you need to create content!  Whether this is work you make for clients, or personal projects you make for yourself, YOU HAVE TO BE SHOOTING!  You can market all day long, but if you don’t have the product to back it, then what are you marketing?

All this said, you have to have hope and you need to hold onto the passion that made you decide to be a photographer in the first place.  I could toot my horn all day long, but it’s really simple: if you do what you love, and make sure people know that you love it, it doesn’t matter what vehicle you use to get the message there, eventually the work will come.

Have a question or comment about photography?  Leave a comment in the comment section, or send me an email