federal express

i'm in san diego for the weekend, learning about physics (and how to teach it). i mention this because i sat next to a guy on the plane who considers himself quite the marketing genius; i'm inclined to believe him. his assertion is that the experience of an actual thing, held in your hand, has much more impact than the virtual copy of that thing, i.e. send a physical portfolio.

what's more, my marketing guru thinks that said physical portfolio should be delivered via fed-ex, because there's something about the fact that it shows up in an envelope that ultimately gets hand delivered to the guy in charge, and he has to pull the tab that zips it open, and inside is a physical thing that becomes important just by virtue of its presence in said envelope.

so i'm thinking it's time to craft some portfolios, tailored to the firms that i think give me the best shots at actual work, along with construction companies in china (don't ask), and send some fed-ex letters.

in other news, the comparatively long silence was due to a bout of overwhelming self-doubt on wednesday, from which i have finally recovered. starting a business is punishing, to say the least.

supplemental:

the new cold call goal is 7 firms/day; this seems like a decent number, but not so many as to become disheartening or overwhelming. i just finished my seven calls for the day, and may have found one small lead. that would be exciting.

fixed!

i'm apparently finished with the fiasco that was my most recent photo job. reshoot was two days ago, feverish editing was yesterday, and 12 hours after delivering pictures, there's no word--which i'm hoping means satisfaction. i'll make a follow up call this afternoon and post an update if i think it's warranted.

pictures were ok, i guess. i'm thinking the client won't love the sun-temple/arc d'triumph thing i've got going in the yard, but it was fun to do, and she might actually think it's the coolest thing ever.

photo success?

interview this morning went swimmingly--i used my magical upside down reading abilities to discover that i was 5/5 on every category, though they only rate my potential as very good, not superior.

in other news, the office next door to the interview was an exhibit design office--i stopped in to see if they were hiring, and they weren't, but they need a photographer in the near future. so i'm going back on monday with business cards (i need to actually carry those everywhere...) and examples of websites and portfolio images in general.

which should make this a very busy weekend, complete with medium-high frustration and anxiety.

photo failure.

a valuable lesson from wednesday's photoshoot--make the client art direct. i failed to make the client art direct on wednesday, and received a diatribe in response to the finished photos, cataloging their failure to capture many salient points of the project. i'm probably going to have to reshoot the project, at my expense, and i'm not happy.

off to an interview for a part time job job this morning. wish me luckyness.

work!

i have a job today! it pays!

of course, it doesn't pay much, and because it's freelance, it doesn't pay tomorrow. but it's photo, and it's something. once images are made and edited, i'll update with the best ones. like i just did.

spent much of yesterday making cold calls--and possibly finding leads. everyone is eager to talk to me, but most are quite willing to tell me that they have no work, and that if they did, they already know a guy.

frustration is, as always, rampant.

inaugural

watch this space, i suppose, for ramblings on what it's like to start a photo business with lousy credentials, minimal portfolio, and massive economic instability as assets.

it should be exciting!