Discover what happens when you surf with sharks & some great photography business advice.
Share – To surf or not to surf with great white sharks!
Inspire – Massive action and how it will help your portrait business
Create – What is a positive constraint, and how it will help you with your photography
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Johny & Brent
Video Highlights & Time Codes:
(01:57) Surfing with great white sharks
(03:30) Putting your life at risk for photography it’s not worth it
(04:20) Take massive action
(05:13) Don’t wait for everything to be right
(05:35) 2 levels of Inspiration
(06:13) Action Equals Success
(05:54) Learning experience and knowledge from someone
(08:05) Client’s feeling of connection
(10:59) What is a positive constraint?
(11:07) Go out somewhere, turn everything off and create
(12:32) Achieving goals with positive constraint
Show Notes:
Share Inspire Create
Discover what happens when you surf with sharks & some great photography business advice
Share – To surf or not to surf with great white sharks!
Putting your life at risk for photography it’s not worth it
- in getting a bit further and a bit closer
- it’s too slippery, or it’s too dangerous
Inspire – Massive action and how it will help your portrait business
Take action
- to make money out of photography
Don’t wait for everything to be right
- it doesn’t have to be perfect when you do it
2 levels of Inspiration:
- take that first step – Action Equals Success
- learning experience and knowledge from someone
Tip:
Connection
- feeling that people have when photographing them
- enjoying the photo shoot
- feeling when they want to purchase the images
- creating a worthwhile product and a worthwhile service for your clients
Create – What is a positive constraint, and how it will help you with your photography
Positive constraint
- you constrain yourself in a positive way.
- go away somewhere
- turn everything off (phone/internet)
- sit down and create
Achieving goals with positive constraint
- Push you and encourage you to get that next step
- Doing one thing a day or one thing a week
Introduction
Johny: Hey guys what’s up? Its Johny here and welcome to another episode of the SIC show. As always I’m super pumped to be here and I’m here with my main man B. How are you my brother?
Brent: I’m scared going to the SURF “todo todo todo”.
Johny: Oh man this week on the show Brent’s gonna share a little story about what happen to the surf the other day.
Brent: And I’ve got some great tips if you’re starting off your photography business. Stick around and watch.
Johny: Yeah man epic advice. Let’s get into it. Enjoy.
Surfing with Great White Sharks!
Johny: Alright buddy, share a little story with us.
Brent: Alright guys, so recently I’ve just taken a little break and I’ve gone up the Coast to see family and everything. And I always take my surf board with me because I’m a keen surfer and I like to cart-board and everything. So I love the ocean. But there’s been a little bit of activity when it comes to sharks locally.
Johny: But how about what happened to Mick?
Brent: Yeah Mick Fanning in South Africa, J-Bay.
Johny: And you know what else? I’m not sure the location but 2 times like really scary.
Brent: So we’re all very aware of sharks in the water. And here in Australia there’s some big great white; great whites, some big ones. So when I went surf to this really great spot but I’m starting to see shadows below me when I’m paddling and you know. It’s just like my mind is starting to play tricks on me.
Johny: Paranoid, that’s the word.
Brent: Yeah, I got to this really great break up the coast. It was called Lennox Head. It’s one of the top point breaks here in Australia. And I get there and it’s normally packed. It’s like only at least 50 surfers on the break. And I get there and I looked out then I see 2 people. I’m like “Wow awesome 2 people”.
Johny: I’m out?
Brent: I’m out there, grabbed my board and everything. I pulled into the parking lot and all the surfers are there like packing all their boards and I’m like “What’s going on?” and they’re like “We got chased out of the water by a 4 meter great white.” Now 4 meters how many feet is that?
Johny: That’s twice the size of Johny man. That’s a big great white man.
Brent: So that’s 18 feet? I don’t know.
Johny: We don’t know in feet.
Brent: It’s big. It’s a big great white and it’s spotted by helicopter and then the surf life saver guy came out.
Johny: I reckon a 4 meter great white would’ve been about that big you know like almost out of shot. It’s big and the thing would be that round. It will take half of Johny in one bite.
Brent: So I’ll put the picture that I took with my phone.
Johny: Yeah good.
Brent: Just to show you how beautiful Gold was. It’s winter here. It was a lovely day. And the water‘s quite warm. 2 people out there, 1 girl and 1 guy and I go on to the rocks and have a look in and there’s a surfer there and say “I’m waiting for this girl to come in. She said one more wave.” And he’s a bit agitated waiting for her to come in and then I see a catch of wave, catches the wave, jumps off and paddles back out. And then 10 minutes later she gets to another wave, paddles back on. And I said “Dude she’s not coming in.” and he’s like “You know maybe I shouldn’t have forced her to come in.” But guys its dangerous when there’s a known great white out there spotted by helicopter. Surf last time and come out with a rubber duck to tell everyone and get out of the water.
Johny: Hey I got a thing how it’s gonna relate to photography. Coz we do landscape photography you know. We always wanna get that a little bit further and a little bit closer and man I tell you what. Putting your life at risk on your photography it’s not just worth it.
Brent: Not worth it, no.
Johny: I mean we’ve all had a couple of epic tripod fails you know down to I mean the same on my tripod luckily but taking my camera off, my tripod’s gone into a little creek and I have to chase it down you know. There was a couple times that happen to me man and about and it’s never worth it man if it’s too slippery, or it’s too dangerous. And particularly if you’re out there by yourself man. Just don’t push it. It’s not worth it man. It’s not worth getting hurt for your craft.
Brent: Yeah definitely.
Johny: Definitely isn’t man. So yeah cool story bro.
Massive Action that will help your Portrait Business
Brent: Alright guys, so I’m gonna inspire you the story recently when I was up the coast. I met one of the people from the Share Inspire Create lounge. The photography community that Johny and I set up. And what’s inspired me so much about John and Jonathan his son is they’ve taken massive action. So they’re starting up a portrait photography business. They’ve got another business right now but they wanted to get into what they love to do, their passion, portrait photography. And they’re following my course Portrait Photography for Profit course.
Johny: We’ll put the link in and give you a little…
Brent: And I’m so inspired because I went up there and I know he said that he’s been doing things but I’ve got in there and there’s so much that they’ve done. They’ve got brochures done. They’ve put together their pricing list. They’ve set up their studio. And they’re setting up the ordering and viewing presentation room. They’re getting prints done to get on the walls. I mean they’ve really taking action and just in a few short months really. And go from nothing to almost having their business done to make money already. And that really inspires me. So guys if you are or if you do wanna make money out of photography take action. Don’t wait. Don’t wait for everything to be right, everything the moon to be align with the earth and all that stuff. Just start doing it. It doesn’t have to be perfect when you do it. But if you take action things started getting attracted into your life. We’ll basically they’ve attracted me to come and help them because they were taking action. I wouldn’t have gone there if he wasn’t taking actions and had done a lot of things.
Johny: Yeah man I mean that’s inspiring on 2 levels. One, if you are starting your business man just take that first step. Whatever that first thing is you know if it’s getting your images online or you know getting a design up on your website, take that first step. Coz I tell you what, you just take that little chunk. Man we do this all the time and I’ve talked about before. I have a full time job still but I’ve got the SIC show. We’ve got some Podcast we gonna start and we got the Share Inspire Create community which I absolutely love. You know but I also do just chunk it out and just di little things and chip it away. And man even chipping it away will make something big and you know action. This is my new phrase, “Action Equals Success”.
Brent: Yeah it does.
Johny: “Action Equals Success”, coz you cannot fail if you’re taking action. That’s the first step to success.
Brent: Well even if you think it’s a failure, it’s just an event.
Johny: That’s it.
Brent: It always happens. You’ve actually taken action and you assumed with it hasn’t produced the result that you wanted but it’s an event. And that event is gonna lead to the result that you want eventually.
Johny: Definitely man. And the second point that was really inspiring Brent is you know all that experience and knowledge that you’ve been parted into you…
Brent: Portrait photography, PPP course.
Johny: Yeah triple P is more gangsters. We will change that name there actually, Triple P.
Brent: Yes
Johny: Anyway, that fact that someone has brought that course and he’s implementing all stuff and he’s done all that knowledge he’s been parted man that is inspiring for me. Because that is my whole goal about doing these stuff online for you guys is to help other photographers master their craft. And I keep saying it man. And I’ve got hairs on the back of my neck standing up now because man yesterday we just finished our July assignment critique; July?
Brent: July yeah last month.
Johny: July assignment critique rule of thirds for the Share Inspire Create lounge and we put the video up and man all the comments, the positive feedback. And that’s what drives me to keep pushing myself to help more and more people man. And I think that’s a classic example, be on and go there and face to face with John and helped him out and see that he’s taking action from something that you’ve experienced and produced. Man there is nothing more inspiring from that. And I think you would get that exact same feeling by if you’re a portrait photographer shooting portraits for a client and having them come and pay you and seeing their faces when they see their photo prints. I bet you’ve got similar feelings when you did that the first time man.
Brent: I did. And one thing a tip for you guys I can give you. When I was talking to John, it’s not about the equipment, it’s not about the lighting, it’s not about the photography, it’s about the feeling that the people have when you’re photographing them.
Johny: Yeah.
Brent: How you’re making them feel. Are they enjoying the photo shoot? Coz if they’re enjoying the photo shoot they gonna buy the prints.
Johny: they got to be connected to those images. That’s it. It’s about the connection.
Brent: Yeah so it’s not the best lighting. And a lot of people get that wrong when they’re starting their photography business. I got this wrong right in the beginning. I thought it was about the best lighting, and then I’m showing my clients images. And there’s perfect lighting, side lit, I’ve got you know it’s just beautiful. And then they’re like “Oh I don’t look good”, “I don’t want that one” and I’m like “What, really?”
Johny: Yeah.
Brent: So it’s about the feeling that the client has when they are on the shoot. And then also when they’re looking at the images. How did they feel when they want to purchase the images? Have you got the right environment around you to make it easy for them to purchase these images and make it fun that they actually enjoy it?
Johny: Yeah that’s awesome man. That’s a great tip and you know I mean that’s the total unique on portrait photography on being successful man. It just makes people connect those images when you show them. Man it’s so powerful. It’s just so powerful. Man we’re so lucky as photographers, such a powerful medium and those images dude they’re gonna have them on their walls for years and it’s gonna change people’s lives man. Because they get to see when there’s kids with that small. They get to see their grandparents who may not be there anymore. The power of creating an image and giving it to someone to hang on their wall man is process bro.
Brent: It’s the best thing. And I’m already missing it, I don’t know if you guys noticed or I don’t know if even said it but I’ve just sold my portrait photography business. And I’ve got Geoff taken it over and it’s great. I’ve been teaching him how to do it. So that also leads into me giving more time and focusing on actually teaching you guys to succeed.
Johny: Yup giving back.
Brent: But you now if you think about it, so 11 years ago coz I’ve just transferred the domain name. 11 years ago I started that business.
Johny: That’s crazy man.
Brent: And we just sold it. So look you can produce something that’s worthwhile. You can put all your energy into something that actually is worth quite a lot because you know people paying money for these things if you set it up right and you actually service a lot of people. You create a worthwhile product and a worthwhile service for your clients.
Johny: yeah man, that’s an amazing story. It’s so inspirational buddy. Thanks dude.
Brent: Yeah, awesome.
Positive Constraint – How it will help your photography
Johny: Alright buddy, tell me what’s been going on with your life? Coz I know you’ve got a great tip here.
Brent: Yeah so guys if you’re like creative type of people and you’re creating things, sometimes a lot of or you can get a lot of distractions in your life. A lot of things are happening around you to stop you from creating or it’s not the right environment for you to create. So what I do is I used something called a Positive Constraint. And that means you constrain yourself in a positive way. So what I do is I actually go away. I leave my home and my studio. And I go away to a little cabin on the coast somewhere. And that’s where I create because I get away from all my distractions. I can actually turn my phone off. I can do everything off; the internet or whatever. And I go out there and just sit down for a couple of days and I create. And right now we’re creating, Johny and I are creating these free photography courses for you guys. I got a portrait one, landscape; make money from photography, and a post processing course. Many courses and to actually create these courses and get them done, I’ve actually got to get away from my normal environment. Get away from the family, the kids, the friends, all the distractions that you get at home or work to finish this off. And I know Johny’s done this too.
Johny: Yeah, you know basically I just put myself coz I can’t really get away coz I can’t ravel at the moment. But I’ve been putting myself and locked down in a room and just stay there. You know the next hour or what do I got? The next 2 hours gonna put my headphones on and I’m just concentrate on this one thing and turn everything else off ‘till it’s done. And I think man this is back to what we’re talking about taking action. This is the great way for you to take that first step. Just set aside that hour or whatever it is. Don’t set your goals like over the moon like “I’m gonna have my website up in 2 days” and this and that. Just take one little part and set aside you know might be a half an hour task. Set yourself an hour by the time you get prepared. And just get that one thing done. And you know what? Achieving that one thing with positive constraint where you’ve set that goal, that will push you to do the next thing. There’s no doubt about. It will push and absolutely encourage you to get that next step done and you set the next goal. Don’t go setting 2 goals in over the next 5 weeks you know. Just point that one thing that you can do today and put a date on and put a time on it you know. And get it done by that time; a deadline.
Brent: A deadline. So also the one thing and that’s quite a really concept Johny. So doing one thing a day or one thing a week in your business, if you’re looking at photography business, one thing a week is a good goal to go for. You know don’t try and do too much. You may get overwhelmed and look at all the things that you have to do to get your photography business going. And then you don’t do anything. But if you do one thing a week, in the years’ time you’ve done 52 things.
Johny: That’s it.
Brent: And you just start building on it and eventually there. You have to.
Johny: Yeah that’s it. You can’t – not succeed. Action equals success man, so positive constraint. And positive constraint may be a whole lot going on and then someone’s got that example. It could be a trip that you’ve got planned in a few weeks’ time and you wanna get these things done. It could by anything man. You just set your goal base on something that’s gonna force you to complete that one thing and man those are gonna open, you’re gonna get roll on and nothing’s gonna stop you mate. Nothing can stop you. You just can’t stop.
Brent: So that’s it guys. So let’s wrap this up, the show right? So we’ve talked about the sharks.
Johny: Oh yeah man, sharks. Do not put your life in danger in your photography.
Brent: Yeah don’t do that. We’ve talked about John in going up and seen him and taking massive action. And I’m super impressed when he takes massive action. People around you and get attracted to you that actually want you to succeed; and then also the one thing, positive constraint. If you find that you’re in a place where you’re battling to create, or you’re not getting done what you need to get done, get out of the environment. Go somewhere else and then create.
Johny: Yeah and another to that is actually a great way to learn photography too you know, if you’ve got one thing you’ve been struggling with, set aside that hour and half to go on either research or going in the field, whatever your genre of photography is just go and pack out that one thing you know. It relates not only to the business but you know learning photography I mean I learned when I just could not put my camera down man. I would dedicate an hour on sunset every day after work when I had time. I just go out and spend that time and captured and play with my camera until I nailed it man. And that’s another thing that’s great about learning photography man. You just take that next step. Do not worry about the whole big picture or all camera settings and this genre and that genre. Just pick the one thing you wanna master whether it is something in post-production or something in camera skills or field or whatever and just pick that one thing and just keep trying. Set aside that time every week just to do that one thing until you nail it. And then move on to the next one.
Brent: Yeah
Johny: I tell you what Brent, leaning photography man, I’m still learning today. You never stop learning. There’s always something new or there’s always something that you didn’t know.
Brent: it’s actually fun to learn. I love learning. If I stop learning, it’s like I’m bored. I wanna learn new stuff.
Johny: Yeah that’s it. Take that same concept and apply that to learning photography man.
Brent: Yeah.
Johny: Another epic show bro. Thanks for sharing all that man.
Brent: No worries.
Johny: That is inspirational. Guys if love you us talking about the business of photography and you wanna hear more, we’d love hear your feedback about. I mean we wanna give you guys some more tips and Brent’s got more time now with the studio sold and we’re passionate enough.
Brent: Time? Feels like it.
Johny: More time to spend helping you guys.
Brent: More focus I think.
Johny: Yeah more focus.
Brent: I think it’s more focus than time nowadays for us creative people. You know you’ve only got so much focus in the day then you got a lot of time. You got the same time as everyone else, so more focus.
Johny: Okay, more time.
Brent: Okay guys, so also I’m starting a Podcast. Maybe it’s up by the time the SIC show goes out. You know it’s the business of photography. I’m gonna be interviewing a bunch of successful photography business owners. And find out their secrets on how they do it.
Johny: Exciting man. I can’t wait to hear that. It’s gonna be awesome bro. Alright guys, been an epic show. And if you’ve got any feedback for me hit me up on Twitter and just tweet me ijohny. I love to get it there. Unfortunately my email inbox gets smashed. Twitter’s just seems to be the best way for me these days. And of course leave some feedback below the show. Hit us on iTunes and give us 5 stars if you love what we’re doing. And don’t forget to share this show. Share the photography love. We’ll see you next week.
Brent: Awesome guys. If you want to talk to me just jump into the Share Inspire Create lounge. I’m in there every day chatting to everyone.
Johny: Good, man.
Brent: See you next week, bye.
Johny: Take care, bye.