Author: Leslie Burns

I work out of a home office, as many of you do. For many people, this makes for a more relaxed and unstructured attitude about work–unfortunately, this can be dangerous for your business. Although creative people generally say they don’t like structure and discipline, the reality is that they do in some areas and, more importantly, that structure and discipline can actually improve their creativity. Getting sloppy about work can hurt more than you might expect. Adding some structure can actually liberate your creativity, if for no other reason than you won’t have to think so much about doing the non-creative stuff.

I’m not saying you need to get up and put on a suit and be a jerk. I don’t do any of that and I’m now a lawyer too, remember (where “jerk” is often included in the job description!). I am saying that there are certain things that are good to “ritualize” about your work and that by doing so, you’ll free up your creative mind to be more creative.

So, here’s my list of “rules” for working for yourself, especially if you work out of your home:

1. Have a specific space that is your office. This is best when it is its own room, with a door, but at the very least have a desk and chair (and shelves, etc.) in one place and use that space for your office work. I have a separate room–it’s actually the larger room of my 2 bedroom home because I only need to sleep in my bedroom but spend so much conscious time in my office that it is best for it to be a good, comfortable space.
2. Set working hours and stick to them. Okay, you are going to have to work late/early some days, but it’s a lot rarer than you think, especially on non-shoot days. Generally, set your working time and try not to work more than that. You’ll be surprised at how much you’ll get done when you know you have to be done by (say) 5:30pm and how the world won’t end if you don’t get everything done and leave it for the next day.
3. Every day you work from home (that is, you’re not out shooting), go to work like you are going to a “real” job. It is a real job and you should respect that. No working in your jammies. Get up, get dressed, and go to work, on time. And go home (that is stop working) on time too.
4. If you have others in your home (kids, partner), ban them from your office during business hours. No, I’m not kidding. You can take breaks and go grab a cuppa with your love or play with the kids (briefly–like a coffee break), but they must respect that you are working a real job during your business hours and need to be distraction-free.
   4(a). Animals are generally good to have in the office, though, according to studies.
5. Do not work during your non-business time. If you set your business hours to be 9am – 6pm, then don’t check your phone, return calls, work on your biz blog, whatever before or after that. When you are not “on the clock” you can improve your work brain by not working (this is particularly true for your creative brain). Also, your love/kids deserve your full attention when you are with them–be present. Besides, you deserve (and physically need) the break of not working when you are off the clock.
6. When you are at work, work. Pick a task and do it, then pick another task and do it, etc. I find I’m most productive if I make a list of tasks at the end of the day that I need to take care of the next day–I do this on an index card, by hand. In the morning, I look at that list and add items (occasionally delete one or two) to work on that day. As I do each task, I cross it off. At the end of the day, I have the satisfaction of a bunch of crossed-off items. Anything I didn’t get done goes on the next day’s card and this day’s goes in the recycling as I head out of the office.
7. Ritualize certain tasks that are part of your office work. For example, make Monday morning your bookkeeping time and do all your financial stuff during that time, every week. As always, if you get a booking for that day, move the bookkeeping to the next day, but generally do it at the same time every week. This goes for things like making “cold” calls, too–same bat-time, same bat-day, every week.
8. Ritualize something creative-related too. For example, make Thursday afternoons “brainstorm for self-assignments” time. I like what this entrepreneur does–you could do something similar.
9. If you use your laptop (iPad, whatever) “after hours” for Facebooking or the like, take it out of your office for that. 
   8(a). Blogging for your biz blog is part of your job. Tweeting, Facebooking, etc., might be, depending on how you are using the tool. For example, my FB biz page is work, my personal FB is just me, although I will admit that my general @LeslieBAP twitter is a mélange (@BurnsTheLawyer is definitely work-only, though). There is some grey in the social media world, but you can tell what is work when you think about it–do that during your work time.
10. Let go. You always have work to do. Always. There is always research on new clients or bills to pay or filing to do or something. You will never have it all done. So, stop working at the end of your work day and leave the work until your next work day–the world will not end and you will not magically go out of business overnight.

The more you ritualize your work, the non-creative part of your work, I mean, the more you free your creative mind to work at its peak creative efficiency. You owe yourself that.

I just did a podcast on this topic (if you have the BAP2Go app, you have it there) but I wanted to let readers in on part of this too. I’ve written and spoken out on fear and how it holds you back, several times, because it’s a biggie. We all have things we need to do but we avoid doing out of fear.

For many of you, business-wise, that thing is making “cold” calls. This is really too bad, because they are a crucial part of your marketing (and they aren’t really “cold” since you’re sending promos and emails, etc., right?). Maybe you are okay with calls, but you get the cold sweats at the thought of showing your book in person. Maybe you don’t even have a book because that way you can’t ever have to show it. Or maybe you are terrified of asking a slow payer to pony-up.

Whatever it is that you are afraid of, you have to do one thing to get better: you have to do whatever it is you fear. Avoidance actually makes the fear worse–you have to just do whatever it is, grit your teeth and do.

I am facing this reality personally: I have booked my first flight in decades. Many of you know I’m terrified of flying, but I’m going to do it, drug-free, in a couple of weeks. Time to get past this irrational phobia. I’m using tools to help get me past my fears, like breathing exercises and an iPhone app put out by Virgin Atlantic, and I encourage others facing fears to find tools to help too. But when you get down to it, one still must do that which is so scary.

So, as I said in the podcast, here’s the deal: if I’m going to fly again, you can to do whatever it is that scares the bejeezus out of you in your business. We’ll both face something really scary together. I bet we’re both better on the other side.

There are a gazillion things going on these days in photography, business, the law, and, well, my life. I’ve been a bit bad about keeping you all informed on this blog so here is a quickie attempt to catch up, just a bit.

1) I am moving (yes, again) on Monday 8/15 and so will likely be offline and unavailable for that day at least. I’m hoping to be up-and-running soon after, however.

2) The BAP Oil Change is currently on sale! $75 off this service. Using your online list service account (like Adbase or Agency Access) I will build lists for you, filling them with highly targeted people and companies. Because the lists are better targeted, they’ll increase the efficiency of your marketing. Contact me for more information on this and all my services.

3) Twitter now has its own photo service. I don’t like it because it contracts with Photobucket to provide the service. Twitter’s ToS aren’t horrible, but Photobucket’s are. Twitter is trying to say their ToS apply, but I’m not so sure there isn’t a scary backdoor there. Better to do what I keep suggesting: keep your work on your own servers and post links instead.

4) Google+ seems to be foundering a bit. I know for me at least, I’m not liking it more and more. I’m hearing this from others although many photographers, especially in the fine art realm, seem to love it. Basically, don’t look for me much there. I’ve got enough with Facebook & Twitter and this blog and my legal site, etc.

5) I’ll soon have a big announcement for APA-San Diego members, over on my legal services site. Stay tuned over there for that.

6) I’m considering adding a new service (yes, for a fee) where small groups of photographers and I would have monthly phone/Skype meetings. We could discuss marketing and business issues in a supportive environment, share what works, what flops, give assignments, and encourage each other. If you have any interest in this, please let me know.

7) The Android version of my BAP2Go app is ready and will be available soon. I’m waiting on one thing and then it will be submitted and available! Look for an announcement about that very soon!

Okay, that’s a bit of a catch up. Thanks for your patience.

On the Telegraph (UK) site there is an article by a photography professor where he extolls the virtues of the CC license and giving away work for free. These articles invariably tick me off because they get shared in the photo community and people hold them up as examples of how Free can help their businesses.

Here is the big problem with that: the Free model only works (when it does at all) for fine art photographers. It simply will not and does not work for commercial ones.

Why? Simple: fine art photographers make their money by selling objects (mostly)–prints of their works. They don’t license use (at least not at first, maybe later if they make it), but rather sell the object with their image on it, an object that someone hangs in her/his office or living room.

If you have something else to sell as the basis for your business, you can give away lots of licenses for free and it won’t negatively affect you. You want word-of-mouth so that others will want to buy your things, your objects. Generating interest by giving away your work to be used for free on blogs, etc., is potentially a very good form of advertising for you. Yes, Free in this world, the fine art world, can work.

BUT, if your business is all about the image itself and NOT the object, then you are screwed if you give it away. You have nothing left if you give away your licenses. That includes using CC licenses (which strip you of the ability to EVER license a work with any kind of exclusivity–yes, even if you use CC non-commercial of some flavor).

You have nothing left to sell.

So, next time you hear about someone extolling the virtues of Free, look at what s/he is really selling. If that person is successful, you can bet they aren’t giving away whatever it is that is making her/him successful.

Cnet is reporting that Facebook won’t permit ads for or even mentioning Google+ on its service.

When you read the article, you get the impression that it’s some sort of first amendment issue. Hey guys… news flash… it’s not. It’s not about free speech in any way. Facebook is its own business, not a government, not public (as in governmental), and it can do very much whatever it wants in the way of regulating speech.

Whether banning G+ talk or ads is a good business decision is something that we’ll not likely know for some time. I suspect, however, that this is a good idea for Facebook (if handled well). Some users might not like the inconvenience of not being able to cross-advertise as they may like, but why should Facebook promote its business competitor?

This brings me back to why I monitor comments and don’t post ones I don’t like, especially anonymous ones–I’m managing my message and there is nothing wrong with that. All good businesses do exactly that. This is my space. This is not a public space. I offer to you what I put on this blog and I hope you get something out of the material I present here, but this is not a public forum. You want to write that I’m a total idiot or, as some commenters have tried to post, that I should be put in a dark hole someplace without a trial, well, you go write that on your own blog and I can’t say bupkis (well, unless you actually slander me or pose a credible threat).

For your business blog and other social media tools, this means that you can and should control your message. You need to use your tools to promote what you offer. You owe no space to those who offer negative comments or your competition. In fact, I think the best thing you can do is ignore any of those outside attitudes and focus completely on what you want to say to the world. Everything should relate back to your core message.

For those of you who have read my books, you know already about the Vision Marketing Statement (VMS). This is your core message. It’s the heart of what you want the world to think of when they think of your business. If you don’t have a VMS (or similar), then you don’t have a message to manage. So start there.

Know who your business is (yes, I said “who”) and who you want it to be. It has a personality (mostly your own personal one I bet)–what parts of that do you like and want to show and what parts do you think might be off-putting and might be better played down? Once you have that, you can better use all your tools (not just the social media ones even).

You snooze, you lose is the old saying, but I’m not a big believer in A or B situations. I like shades of grey like in real life. That’s why when I announced my current sale, I did a graduated discount.

That means, although you can no longer get 40% off my selected services (see this post), you can still get 35% off. To do that you need to contact me and book the service before midnight (PT) on July 23, 2011 (and if you are unsure, I mean 11:59:59 pm PT on 7/23/2011).

Don’t forget, you don’t need to use the service right away–only book it. That means committing to doing the service, paying an up-front at booking, and actually using the service before the end of 2011 (balance invoiced after completion).

For those of you who have been, for example, meaning to update your website or re-do your book, this is the perfect opportunity to force yourself into action.

So, don’t sit on your hands and lose out on saving money while still getting solid marketing help from me.

_______

Oh, and don’t forget the BAP2Go app is on sale (big!) this month too!

[*Last night I tweeted and FB-posted the following: Tomorrow, it’s the first day of everyone’s *new* business. A fresh start for all. Tomorrow, make your first $1. How? You’re creative, figure it out.]

Here’s something to help you get your business on the right road. As I hinted at yesterday (also on Twitter and Facebook), starting today it’s the Burns Auto Parts Super Mega Humungo Act Fast Summer Blow-out Sale! (™ of course… and with big starbursts and a logo the size of a hat, ha!).

Seriously, though, I do want to help shake things up a bit for everyone; so, as promised, I am offering some of my services on a big discount. We all need a leg-up now and again, after all. The thing about a leg up, though, is that you have to pull yourself the rest of the way up.
And so it is here.

Here’s your pull-up: in order to get the biggest discount, you have to book asap. The longer you wait, the less of a discount you will get.

Specifically, if you book (not do the work, but sign up to do it):

• Now through July 17, 2011, you will get a 40% discount on selected services.
• July 18, 2011 through July 23, 2011 the discount will be 35%.
• July 25, 2011 through July 31, 2011, the discount will be 30%.

After that, no more discount. Oh, and you can’t add in some other discount. Thank you for playing.

The services discounted are the Test Drives (where I review your existing website and/or your book and make suggestions for improving them) and the Rebuilds (where I look at a greater body of your work and edit and sequence your website and/or your portfolio). Shoot me an email and I’ll give you more details on the services.

How much will you save? Well, at a minimum over $100 (Web Test Drive) and if you do the Web + Book Rebuild you could save over $500! Here are the actual numbers:

But wait! There’s more. (I just couldn’t resist saying that, you know, but really, there is) The BAP2Go app will also have a big discount for the rest of the month starting tomorrow (July 14… Bastille Day). In the US, you’ll save $20 and in other countries the discount is similar.

Oh, and please let others know about this by sharing the link on Twitter, FB, G+, LinkedIn, or whatever medium you choose.

Today is Day 1 for us all. 🙂

One of the great things about the internet is the access to all sorts of information. Another is that the medium gives people the opportunity meet and/or to learn from other people they might not never have known of or had the opportunity to meet. The internet can be a great teaching & learning tool, but it can also be a dangerous place.

Sadly, there are a lot of people out there who put on a great show but who are, in fact, not experts or at least who have questionable backgrounds. In fact, there is the whole range–from real, giving experts and professionals to scam artists, and everything in-between.

The trouble is, it is very difficult to tell who is who. Although there is a lot of information out there, it’s difficult to know what is legitimate and what isn’t, so whom you follow for crucial business advice may be a great resource or someone who looks great but who is a convicted con man.

So, all I’m saying is that you should do your research and not just believe what you read on someone’s blog or website (including this one!). Ask questions and ask for credentials. Be a bit skeptical. Trust but verify, as they say. It could save you a lot of pain in the end.

I bet every reader of this blog has been asked to work for free. Certainly you’ve been asked to do it for insanely cheap, but I’m betting “free” has come up at least once in your career. There are usually three contexts for this.

First, you get the client who has no budget or is a not-for-profit. This client tugs at your heartstrings with pleas of “we can’t afford to pay” or “everyone is donating their efforts for this worthy cause” or even “we’re a start-up and if we hit, then we’ll pay you on shoots–we’ll remember–just help us out!”
I’ve always advised that if you want to donate because you want to donate (and this does not apply to the start-ups), go ahead and give of yourself; but, if you are only agreeing to do it out of guilt, do not do it.

The second group are the really evil bastards who act like they are doing you a favor for giving you the opportunity to work for them. Think of the publicity! You will be connected with this person/entity in the public’s eye! Lucky you!
Never, ever fall for this. They are making you their bitch from the very get-go and you will never, ever get the slightest respect, or money, from these people, no matter how sweetly they put it. It is never worth it.

The third group are the ones who seem oblivious to the fact that this is your business, that you have to make money, and sometimes they are even shocked that you would expect to get paid or get paid anything near what your rate is. Often, this is the result of the erosion of the apparent value of the service you are providing because others have given it away for free or very cheaply.
Here, just say “no.” You can try to educate them, but likely this client is looking for free or very cheap and really doesn’t care at all about your actual value. Walk politely away.

In my business, I get a bit of number 1, almost no number 2 (with one huge exception), and a whole lot of number 3. I get emails all the time from photographers who want me to review their portfolios or websites and when I say “it’ll cost $X” they act stunned. These days, there are a ton of consultants and photographer service providers who offer free out the yin-yang, and that makes it more difficult for me when I quote my rates.

Y’all have the same problem. Because there are so many photographers who will do it for a credit line or for cheap, the rates have been depressed. You have to face that as I mentioned in the post from a few days ago. Like me, you have to find a way to differentiate yourself from the hoards. For you, that way is by making unique work. If your work isn’t like anyone else’s, you’ll be the go-to person for that work.

For me, I seem to have picked a perfect time to go to law school to add that to my quiver. I’m the only consultant/lawyer that I know of.

See, here’s the thing about the cult of free: it’s fading. As the economy continues to swirl the bowl more and more regular people are commenting on how people cannot make a living. They get it. People understand that things cost money. The Long Tail is the emperor’s new clothes (see this, and this, and most of all this) in the real world where products we buy, like groceries, actually cost money.

So while we’re still in a tough place and we all have to deal with the schmoes who want it for free or next to free, none of us are alone in it and, I think, it’s getting better.

At least I hope so, because I can’t pay my rent with only good press either. 😉