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Yea, yea, yea…Comparing yourself to others may have some benefits from time to time, BUT as artists it usually can go south pretty QUICK. RIIIIGHT?!?! And in some seasons it can be hard to recover. This past week Laurie asked the question: “What advice would you give to someone who struggles with comparing or feels insecure about their [work/business/life]?” And it really got me thinking about how we deal with this issue. We all do it!! GUILTY!!

Although I am not any kind of self confidence wizard I listed out a few things that have really helped me navigate through the artist’s “depths-of-despair”, as Anne of Green Gables would put it.
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If you enjoy reading this blog… would you be willing to answer a quick questionnaire? I’ve got some fun ideas for how to move forward for 2012 and I’m looking to find out a little more information about you and what you like. Come on…. This is exactly what you do on Fridays, right? Answer a few blog questions?!? GO RIGHT NOW. Also, feel free to leave some ideas or notes here in the comment section too. Thanks so much. I owe you two cookies and a kiss. FUN STUFF AHEAD.

Oh yea…Above is my personal instagram art. I’d like to call it *Instaglam* if you will. haha.

I just got finished tweaking one of my Site House website style groups for Jasmine Star’s The Fix Website. And I was quickly reminded about why I LOOVE Site House sites and why I love the Show It software. There is really nothing quite like this out there… where you can FULLY customize and change a site to look completely different from the “template” by dragging and dropping. WOOHOO!! I love the extreme flexibility and the ability to make each site unique.
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Hi friends!! I am working on answering those questions in the previous post. SERIOUSLY Great STUFF!! I am stoked to answer those. Until I finish up… here is a new post for ya.

In light of looking towards the new year… I thought I would share some thoughts on how and why I take on projects. Some projects and clients are draining, some inspiring, and others can just be neutral. No one EVER wants to feel drained with their job. We all want to stay inspired and moving forward. Once you have built your portfolio, and are now getting more work than you can take on, its time to move past the first come fist serve montra and make some decisions about which projects to take on and which projects to pass on. While I wish I could make everyone happy by accepting everything…. I have learned that it’s just not a reality. To maintain a steady work-flow and excitement for the future, I have to protect myself and my time – only choosing the projects that move me forward, keep me fresh, and pay the bills.

After evaluating my business over the last couple of years I developed three categories for which I use to make decisions on which projects to take on. I don’t always stick to these… but they are a helpful guide.

1 // CHOOSING A GOOD OPPORTUNITY
A GOOD opportunity is a client or large company with industry creditbility and a large network of likeminded people. A client with industry creds and a network of likeminded people will help attract more clients AND more clients LIKE THEM. You could view this has a marketing opportunity for your business. A question to ask yourself would be: WOULD I want to work with more clients like this? Or would I want to work with the people that “follow” my client? If your answer is no, then that particular project would not be a good opportunity for you.
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AHHH!!!! Merry Christmas!! I can’t believe it’s here.

Unfortunately I don’t always get to respond when people right in questions… It’s not because I don’t want to… I REALLY want to. But it’s that moment that I have to finish a project and I tell myself that I will get to it after… Ever been there? Anyway… I am hoping that maybe this post can make up for it? Please oh please!?!

Let me know any questions you have about anything in the comment section and let’s get the conversation started!!

One of the hot questions I got while I was on the Pass Tour this summer was about logo & branding for males in the wedding photography industry. Check this out:

Matt asked:
“How do I incorporate my personal style in my logo and branding for my wedding photography business while also attracting my dream client? Stylistically, my target market (a 20 something bride) is on the opposite end of the spectrum.”

A lot of men feel that they have a hard time attracting their ideal clients (brides) because they don’t have the shade of light peach in their visual identity. I can definitely see where they are coming from considering that the hot marketing tool is leveraging your visual identity and brand to reflect that of your personal style, design aesthetic, and your dream client. That’s right… birds of a feather flock together and you boys are seeing those brides flock across the street to that female photographer whose visual identity looks like a dream wedding day inspiration board.
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Yesterday my project manager/assistant Alex and I got together for our annual reflecting and planning retreat for Promise Tangeman Creative. I Love that Alex puts this together for us…. Cause honestly I probably would not. But this has helped me realize how important it is for your sanity and for the business to be reflecting & planning. It really helps to take a step back and look at the big picture of your business. I think so many times we can just ride the wave wherever it takes us….then at the end of day you don’t have a business that you WANT to be a part of… and instead of you running your business…. It RUNS YOU! This process really helps us stay on top of things and thinking clearly about the direction of where we want to go, who we want to work with, and the people that we want to become both personally and professionally.

1// IDENTIFY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
One of the first things we tackled was identifying all the accomplishments from this past year. We looked at what we spent our time on, how we did it, and even what some of our favorite highlights were. During this past year we Designed 16 custom projects, Art Directed & collaborated with 6 graphic designers, had 686 graphic design inquiries, developed an e-course, launched a graphic design reel, spoke at 4 conferences, had surgery to remove half of my thyroid, was a speaker on an 18 city / 6 week speaking tour around the country, Launched 2 collections of Site House website designs, went to contract with a developer to customize our SiteHouse Showit Websites, designed our first ever 160 page magazine, finished & launched our first big celebrity client (blog post coming soon), and took a week vacation to Hawaii.
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