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What are you waiting for?  

Really, what are you waiting for?  Can you put words to whatever it is that's keeping you from being what you dream you could be?  Can you identify the things that hold you back as you imagine how to move forward with whatever it is you want to do?

Chances are, you're waiting for one of three things:

FEAR

No, you're probably not waiting for fear - you're probably hoping if you just wait, the fear will go away.  It won't.  In fact, there's a reason you experience fear when standing on the edge of making your ideas happen. It's because fear is the signal that you're about to leave your comfort zone.  It's the affirmation that you're about to do something you haven't done before.  If there was no fear, would whatever you're dreaming about doing - really be worth it?  If there's nothing different about where you're headed - aren't you just wasting time?

Fear is the feedback cycle that tells you that you're attempting something you've never done - and isn't that the point?  The fear won't go away.  In fact, my experience has been that the longer I wait, the more the fear grows.  And while some amount of fear is a useful signal, allowing it to grow can be paralyzing.  That paralyzing fear is the reason that most of us just live our lives without ever doing anything exceptional.  Sure, we have ideas, but we spend most of our potential waiting for the fear to go away.  In fact, instead of just waiting, we actually spend more energy hoping that fear will go away - rather than focusing our efforts on our idea.  By the time we get past the fear (if we ever do), we have nothing left for our idea. 

SOMEONE ELSE

If you're like almost everyone else who ever had an idea, you want to see your idea come to life.  You want to see it nurtured, see it grow, and see it flourish.  You want all of that, but deep down - what you really want is for someone else to make it happen.  You're waiting for someone else to clear the obstacles, remove the barriers, and assume all of the risk.  And so you're waiting.

Here's the thing - it is your idea.  It's your passion.  It's your calling.  There's a reason this idea started as a tinge.  It began in you, as a brief "what if," and it's in you that it grew roots.  There's a reason it began to grow, and expand, and resonate - within you.  And if there's a reason - why on earth would you wait for someone else?  Maybe someone else has a similar idea, and they're waiting for you... 

I can't even begin to count the number of ideas I've had, that never made it in to this world, simply because I'm waiting for someone else to do something.  When that happens, we all lose.  We lose an idea, because I was hoping someone else would have the idea and do something.

On a side note, the irony is, when someone else DOES do something with an idea similar to ours, we often end up bitter and resentful.  "Hey, that was my idea!" we tell ourselves, as if we are somehow entitled to be the sole being with a claim to "our" idea.  Never mind that we never bothered to do anything - we were waiting for someone else.  We were waiting for someone to do something - and they did.  And now, we're somehow surprised that we don't get credit for it. 

PERFECTION

Finally, many of us are simply waiting until we have it all "figured out."  We don't want to share our idea with the world until we have it "just right."  And so, we wait.  We wait for things to work themselves out, until the idea is fleshed out, until the edges are perfectly refined, and the plan complete.  Even if we're inching forward, we're still waiting.   

In reality, most ideas don't reach their maximum impact until they've been refined by rubbing up against other ideas.  They don't mature without exposure to other perspectives, and they don't often succeed without frequent encounters with failure.  If we're waiting until our idea is "perfected," the truth is - it never will be.  Nothing great was ever sprung on the world.  Nothing is ever perfect in v1.0. 

I love how Seth Godin puts it: "One key element of a successful artist: ship. Get it out the door. Make things happen." 

If you never shine light on your idea, for the world to share, what's the point of your "perfect" idea?

WHAT FACEBOOK CAN TEACH YOU ABOUT YOUR CLIENTS

A week ago, Google finally put a bullseye on Facebook with it's "Google +" social media effort.  Sure, Google is pretty notorious for putting out half-baked concept products, and waiting to see if they flourish - mostly to find that a good portion of them wither on the fine.  

Anyone remember hits like Nexus one? Orkut? wave? buzz? google answers? lively? jaiku?  

But with Google +, they seem to have something that might actually stick.  So you can begin to understand that Facebook might be a bit nervous. 

This week, they introduced their version of video chat, and I think there's a couple of things we can learn from these recent moves.

1. In an experience-rich business environment, stickiness matters.  

Facebook has flat out said that they aren't as concerned with signing up new users.  They have over 750 million, so I can see why.  Their challenge, in their words, is to "give their users more to do on Facebook."  What this really means is, "find more ways to monetize our existing client base."  It will always be cheaper to maintain your existing clients, than it is to find new ones.  

It's true that growth matters, and all of us are looking for more clients, but the reality is - the greatest source of future clients is our existing clients.  The more we focus on, and enrich, their experience - the more likely they will refer their friends.

2. Face-to-Face matters.

Have you seen the new Facebook + Skype commercial?  

Sure, it's a pretty blatant knock off of the original Facetime ad for Apple

But Facebook realizes that for all the wonder of the virtual world, it doesn't replace face-to-face contact.  It doesn't replace looking someone in the eye, and that there is nothing quite like a smile from a friend.  What does this mean for us?  

I think it means that for all of our technology, for all of our social media skills, and for all of our efforts to create a "real" experience for our clients - the more we connect with a client, the better we can tell their story. 

What do you think?

PRICING FOR A PROFIT: PART 1

Pricing is one of those areas where photographers struggle more than any other. Figuring out how to develop a pricing strategy is much different than learning how to use a camera. It requires us to sit down and think about things we may not have considered before, things like expenses, and value, and our market.

It requires us to do the hard work of setting up our systems of expense management so that we can be sure our pricing is rational. This is a big part of pricing strategy - rationalization. We’ll talk a lot more about that in a minute. First, let’s look at what seems to be the most common pricing method among photographers - and why it might be setting you up for failure.

Most often, I hear about photographers looking at what other photographers in their area are charging - and charge that. The rationale used is that if we find other photographers that are of a similar style - and of similar ability - that we should be priced in a similar manner. On the surface, that seems perfectly reasonable - two products of similar style and quality should be priced similarly. In fact it’s actually very reasonable. Airlines do it all the time. But, there’s a a problem

First, you have no idea if the photographer you are copying has any clue about their price. You don’t know if they are making - or losing money. Simply copying someone else’s pricing, or price range, ignores the fact that their costs may be different, they may value their time differently, or they may be clueless about both!

Instead, I want to provide you with a way to develop pricing that is rational, and supports the goals of your business. After all, if you’re losing money, your business isn’t profitable. If your business isn’t profitable, it no longer supports your lifestyle - rather you begin to have to support your business.

PART 1: COSTS

I recommend you begin your pricing plan with a solid understanding of the costs that go in to any given product or service. One of the resources that I recommend is a PRODUCT WORKSHEET, (click the link to download a free copy) that you can use to figure out the true COST OF SALE (COS) for every product you offer.

The COS is the total of all of the things that go into selling, producing and delivering a product. This includes the wholesale cost you pay your lab for a print, the cost associated with the time spent editing and retouching the file, the packaging and delivery costs, and time spent selling to your client.

For many of us, it’s easy to figure out what we pay the lab for a given product - that’s pretty straightforward. It gets more complicated when we sit down and try to figure out costs associated with the other things - especially time. My suggestion? Start keeping track. Start tracking your time spent when you sell a product. The only way you can really understand whether or not your pricing is sufficient to cover your costs is if you first understand those costs. The PRODUCT WORKSHEET allows you to add up all of the costs that go into your COS.

As a general benchmark*, Professional Photographers of America recommends that your COS expenses not exceed 35% of your total revenue. What does this mean? It means that when you look at your expenses as compared to your revenue at the end of the year, you should spend less than 35 cents of every dollar you bring in, on expenses related to COS.

How does this help with pricing? Well, 35% is very close to 1/3. This means that when you add up all of your COS expenses, you should mark it up by a minimum of 3X’s to get to a price that covers your expenses. The other 65% goes to cover two things: your fixed expenses, and your profit/compensation. As a rule, your fixed expenses should be no more than 30% of your total revenue, leaving 35 cents of every dollar as compensation/profit for you.

Of course, you can set up your pricing to be more profitable, but this is a place to start. Once you understand your costs, you can begin to rationalize your pricing.

*PPA Business Handbook 2009. Available at PPA.com/benchmark

Come back on Wednesday for PART 2, where we'll talk about effectively valuing and pricing your time.