Education: The X-Factor

There are people who KNOW and people who DON'T KNOW. The people who know will always have more power and influence than those who don't. Therefor, one of the best things you can do for yourself and your business is to constantly seek out new educational opportunities and sources of information. Here are a few different ways to go about expanding your education..

TRADESHOWS
These days, every industry has a trade show and conference. For us photographers, the two largest tradeshows are Imaging USA (currently underway) and Wedding & Portrait Photographers International. If you can only afford ONE trip in a year and you've never attended these conferences, be sure to budget one into your calendar. Included in the cost is countless free workshops and speaker sessions. Add to that, many tradeshow booths are now also offering educational vignettes featuring key people in the industry during tradeshow hours. The education never ends! If you feel like you've seen it all when it comes to your industry's tradeshow - why not check out a tradeshow in another industry?! It's amazing how completely abstract fields and ideas can spark and inspire new ideas for your own business.

WORKSHOPS
Workshops are some of the most intensive experiences you can have. They give you the opportunity to participate in real life experiences and one-on-one and discussions with the opportunities to ask questions and get feedback that aren't possible through DVDs and Books. Workshops also provide a community of peers with which you've shared an intensive experience, creating stronger friendships and a kind of community that you can draw on later if you ever need help. Because they are so intensive, there may be little time to process everything that's being given to you at once, so I suggest keeping a journal and referring back to it at a later time. Also, it's highly likely that not EVERYTHING is going to be important or applicable to you at that time- and if you're receiving information that isn't immediately important or applicable, than you're more likely to simply forget that information all together.

VIDEOS & BOOKS
Enter: educational books and videos. You can always go back to it. It's not a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and what may not be applicable to you today, may be useful after you've mastered some aspect of the process you set out to learn. Another benefit to videos and books is that they are often much less expensive than attending a tradeshow or workshop and you can read or watch them at your convenience in the comfort of your own home. There may not be the live support that you'd get in a workshop experience, but you may be lucky and have the author answer some of your burning questions over email. ;-)

MESSAGE BOARDS & BLOGS
The internet has revolutionized information sharing, so I would be a fool not to acknowledge its strong role in helping people educate themselves. Most message boards and blogs are free, but there are added benefits to paid message boards such as exclusivity, privacy, and an environment in which to establish a tighter community. Blogs are similar to books in that it's primarily a one-way form of communication, although there is an exchange of ideas through the comments section. Message boards are really the ultimate web 2.0 experience with many different users sharing their experiences and knowledge in a conversational format. If you aren't currently a member of a message board community, visit my previous post about the free internet resources to find one that might be right for you: http://photolovecat.blogspot.com/2007/02/free-online-resources.html

Whatever your source of education, I firmly believe that it is the x-factor that separates those who grow from those who simply go with the flow. The best place to look for educational materials and workshops is through your professional organizations and affiliations who often allow presenters to advertise. My best advice when deciding which workshop to attend would be to start with someone you trust and respect who offers something you're interested in. You're much more likely to get something out of it if you're excited about the person presenting the info. An investment in yourself will go a long way toward an investment in the future of your business.

Afterthought: Learning is twice as effective when you take the information you've learned and then SHARE it with others. Some of my best ideas have come from sharing what I know with others and receiving their feedback or advice on my ideas. If you're only absorbing information and not finding ways to share that information with others, you're only learning half as much. Create a community of photographers that get together to share ideas and info. Visit your local camera shop and post a flyer for a get together, or contact a few local photographers that you admire and ask if they'd like to go out for lunch together. If you need help finding people locally, check out the chamber of commerce, google local, or your professional organization's website- most have directory listings by zip code or city. It never hurts to ask, and everyone is flattered when they are valued for their wisdom and experience.

Rechargeable Battery Tips

Do you know if you're helping or hurting your rechargeable battery's life? Different batteries behave differently and need to be treated differently in order to get the most out of them.

I'm not usually a person to go into the techie "tool" stuff - there are plenty of blogs out there for that! But, I feel like this is one of those things that might make your life easier if you knew a little more about it, so here we go!

NiMH: Nickel-metal hydride

The most common rechargeable battery when it comes to standard AAA and AA batteries. NiMH batteries come in a variety of mAh (milliAmp hours = aka power time), the higher the number, the more battery life you can get out of them. Some of the best mAh on the market right now for a standard AA rechargable battery is about 2700mAh- look for this info, usually clearly marked on the battery, before purchasing because it will make the biggest difference in how long you can use those batteries during a single charge.

When it comes to getting the most life out of NiMH batteries, you will want to use these batteries until they are completely drained, and then only charge them immediately before they are going to be used again. If you can't completely drain them, than simply let them sit uncharged until you need to use them again. If you charge them 24 hours before they'll be used, you should get a decent battery life out of them. If you try to charge them one week before they'll be used, you'll find that significant draining has occurred and lessened the battery life. The first few times you use this battery, it's strongly recommended that you let it completely charge and completely discharge a few times in order to get the most out of the battery.

Li-ion: Lithium Ion

This battery type is often found in cell phones, small digital devices, and professional cameras and video cameras. It is not currently available as a rechargeable battery in standard (AA) battery sizes. It has a higher capacity for mAh, and can produce a higher voltage than the NiMH batteries. Li-ion batteries are also much better at holding a charge over a long period of rest. When properly cared for, these batteries can last a very long time.

Li-ion batteries perform best when they are not fully drained. These batteries like to be charged regularly and perform best when maintained at a full to medium charge. Li-ion batteries do a MUCH better job of holding a charge over a long period of time, but only if they have a partial or full charge left before leaving them on the shelf to sit. If you do let a Li-ion battery fully discharge and then let it sit for a long time, you may find that it is unusable after it has been discharged below it's safe level. Li-ion batteries don't tend to develop a "memory" in the way that NiMH batteries do, therefor it is not necessary to fully charge and discharge this battery regularly, but it is recommended to complete the cycle from time to time.

All Rechargeable Batteries are affected by extreme temperatures and different types of chargers. It is recommended that you use a medium speed charger in order to prevent your battery from overcharging or undercharging too quickly. Rechargeable batteries should be replaced when their performance life has significantly decreased. If you have a device that is only used sporadically, you may prefer the life of a Li-Ion battery (even if it isn't rechargeable) over that of a NiMH. However, rechargeable batteries are ultimately better for the environment and for your finances when well-cared for.

*Special thanks to my Dad, aka "Battery Dave" for helping me pull together this info.

If your house gets taken over by your need to charge many batteries the night before a wedding, check out this awesome battery and charger storage and organization solution featured on Laura Eaton's blog! Click any image to see the original post..

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WPPI is the Wedding & Portrait Photographer's International Convention held in Las Vegas from March 16-20, 2008. See more details about WPPI here==> www.wppionline.com

Subscribe by Email!

Now you can subscribe to this blog by email and get photo lovecat posts in your inbox! If you're reading this in a feed reader, CLICK HERE to visit the actual blog and use the email subscription form on the right to get new posts emailed to you!

I love using bloglines as my feedreader, but lately I've been so busy that the only things I've been looking at are the things that come through my inbox. Also, many of my own clients don't really track various blogs through a feedreader, so an email subscription is perfect for them because they get the blog content delivered directly and automatically to their email. The only email feeder option I've found to accomplish this with tons of additional features is FeedBlitz.com.

If you're a sporadic blogger (like I am with this blog, even though I'm very active on my personal blog), or if you find it difficult to keep a blog and a newsletter, this could be the perfect option for you and your readers! FeedBlitz.com has a lot of different options for customizing your feed and making it look more like a newsletter. You can also specify which posts get subscribed to by limiting a subscription to only certain tags.. for example, you could only have items tagged "personal" sent to a friends & family subscription, or only items tagged "portrait" sent to your portrait clients. You can also decide how frequently your blog gets emailed- if you post daily but only want to send an email to your clients once a week, you can set the frequency with which the posts are emailed. You can also track when your feed has been forwarded to others, and you can check click-through rates all within FeedBlitz! There's so much more, but I'll let you read about it on your own:



I'm just using the free option right now (which includes ads)- so you're welcome to see what it looks like by signing yourself up for new posts from this blog, and then you can unsubscribe safely whenever your heart desires! (Of course, I hope you'll love me so much that you won't... but I hate unnecessary email as much as the next person!) Check it out and see if this is something that will make life easier for you & your blog readers!

Free Resources for Small Business Owners

A lot of creative people don't go into business to run a business. They go into business because they want to make a living from their art, their passion. Well, if you're making a living from your craft, than you need to get real with yourself and face up to the fact that you are, in fact, a business owner and that your ability to make a living is dependent on the ability of others to pay for your product or service. Unless you've hired a manager, publicist, and secretary - YOU are the manager, publicist, AND secretary all rolled into one! So, what? Why am I making a big deal about it?

By becoming a business owner, you have joined a new "club" of people who enjoy working for themselves. Running a business certainly isn't the easy way out, but the more you know about business, the easier it becomes. In order to survive as a small business owner, it's important that you stay on top of the latest business trends, news, and information. While it's important to know about the latest innovations within your craft, many of the daily issues you face in your business are common challenges that all small business owners face, and your ability to handle those challenges will determine your success. Some of the best ideas for new ways to overcome challenges, market or brand your business, or create innovative products can be found by simply keeping up with the general business world at large and by staying current with the latest books and trends OUTSIDE of your own industry, because the clients you serve are being affected by the trends of the larger business market as a whole. The more you know about your client and the messages they're receiving from the overall market, the better you'll be able to identify and communicate what makes your service and product important to them. The economy is changing, not just financially or globally, but the decisions people are making and why they are making them is changing as well. To understand these changes and to find resources for running your business, I've put together a few links for you to check out...

Web Videos, Blogs, and Forums for Business Owners
• Small Business Television
• All Business Advice & Forums

Government Sponsored Web Resources (yes, your tax dollars pay for these!)
• The IRS's Small Business and Self-Employed One-Stop Resource
• U.S. Small Business Administration

Non-profit Small Business Resource Websites
• SCORE: Counselors to America's Small Businesses
• America's Small Business Development Center
• Tool Kit

Online Magazines for Business Owners
• INC
• Entrepreneur
• Fast Company

Blogs from Business Authors & Motivational Speakers
• Tim Sanders
• Seth Godin
• Duct Tape Marketing

Randomly Interesting Things for Trend Spotting
• Digg
• Boing Boing

It's much easier running a small business when you know you have people you can talk to about your business challenges. See if you can find a local group of small business owners, perhaps through your chamber of commerce, who you can meet with on a regular basis to talk about these challenges. Sometimes it's easier to find business support outside of your industry, since people are more likely to share information when they feel as though their personal business won't be threatened by the competition. You may also find more creative and abstract solutions to your problems by simply talking with someone who looks at things in a very different way. Having a community of support will help you keep your business on track, and pull you through when times are tough.