Intro by Skip Cohen
Suzette Allen and I have known each other for a whole lot of years, but the friendship really kicked off when she and Jonny were teaching at a Marathon workshop in Nebraska. Sheila and I were both there, and that trip led to an annual routine of catching up a couple of times a year at conventions and even here in Florida.
Suzette is inspirational, and every conversation is uplifting, and there’s another thing I loved about this short post she shared last month.
We’ve all got a lot of downtime right now. Suzette’s kicking off her blog again, and all of you should be doing the same or something similar for your social media real estate
In terms of your blog, good content is KING – and you’ve got the time to be writing. Build a stash of posts, so the pipeline is full. And if you’re stuck on topics:
- Photography Tips – share ideas on posing, lighting, exposure, and composition.
- Photo projects for kids – remember the kids are home, and parents are at wits end for ideas to keep them busy.
- Share your feelings – don’t get overly personal and don’t share your fears at full volume, but everyone needs to remember they’re not alone during this time of crisis.
- Throwback Thursday – for all of us, the good old days have become January! Use your throwback images to plant the seed for a new family portrait. Pull out those old images and remind people those days will come back.
Remember, women make 98% of the purchase decisions to hire a professional photographer in the portrait/social categories! See the world through Mom’s eyes and share information that’s helpful and relevant.
And like Suzette – use this time to expand your reach, build content, improve your skills, and plan your marketing activity when this is over.
By Suzette Allen
Let’s not agonize and overthink this.
In fact, let’s just jump in with STEP ONE.
I’m reading a book, called HOW TO BE HERE, by Rob Bell and it’s been such an inspiration- I can’t even describe it. But in Part 5, “The First Number”, in the chapter called “Step One”, he talks about starting with the first thing. Step One.
Don’t worry about Step 9 or 16 or what about ___[fill in the blank]__? Otherwise, you will never get started because you just can’t figure it all out! It’s too overwhelming. And you don’t know how it will turn out or what it is supposed to be like until you DO IT.
You won’t know what you even have until it’s born. Whatever it becomes, is created by me, from my imagination.
So here I am, starting with One…starting my blog (again).
How does one start a blog and figure it all out—who-what-where-why? How can you format a creative water-flow-like process? Well the longer you agonize, the drier it gets.
So here we go, with Step One: write today; about whatever is on the top, because as you pour, it comes off the top first. And you won’t see what’s in the deeps until you pour for a while….
