Why every professional in the area should take advantage of my $65.00 Pro-headshot session.

Every professional  needs a professional head-shot. Its my mission this month and next to make sure I get as many  business professionals as I can an affordable head-shot.

Here is a few reasons why you need one: 

YOUR HEAD-SHOT IS YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION. 

Its a fact that people with professional head-shots make potential clients feel a personal connection even before talking to them. 

YOUR HEAD-SHOT GROWS YOUR CONNECTIONS. 

Much like your first impression, your head-shot grows your network. Whether you are on LinkedIn or Twitter. Your Head-shot speaks BUSINESS PROFESSIONAL,  and will attract people to your profile. I CAN GUARANTEE YOU THIS!

A SELFIE JUST DOES NOT SET YOU APART. 

This fact speaks for itself. Scrolling on facebook and I need a intern, I might scope out a college student with a selfie in the bathroom mirror. BUT IF I AM LOOKING FOR TAX PROFESSIONAL, I am looking for someone with a head-shot and great reviews on their fan page. 

If you are in the DC, MD, VA area and you are in need of a head-shot screen shot this article and I will give you a $65.00 head-shot session! 

Hope to see you soon!

Kind Regards,

Tracey H.

How I got BLOCKED FROM FACEBOOK!

Have you ever caught yourself  checking your Facebook every 10 MINUTES?! Or even  constantly  hitting the refresh button to update your news feed? Do you have to have several Facebook breaks during a work day? If you answered yes to any of these questions YOU ARE ADDICTED! It does not even have to be Facebook, it could be TWITTER, TUMLBR, etc. I am not the pot calling the kettle black, I am addicted too.  I lose focus, and can barley get work done. So I turned to KEEPMEOUT.COM. This site works wonders. It literally blocks you from Facebook for how ever long you desire.  I set to be blocked from Facebook every 2 hours. So once I log on, do what I do then leave the site. I cannot get back in until another 2 hours pass. Now like kicking any addiction you have to have will power. There are ways to get around the block with out lifting it. But if you are determined to get work done, and kick this habit of social media you have to be willing to stick with the block for 21 days.

How to:
What you do is fill in the form on the homepage, it'll create a new address, you bookmark that address instead of the normal Facebook domain.  

Everytime you try and access Facebook (using that bookmark) it'll say you've visited the site recently and it has a timer when you can come back.


 Its a win win situation,  you can still have a life and keep your Facebook account active.

I hope this helps

--
Tracey

Why there is no excuse for you not to have a website.

I apologize for my sudden disappearance . I just had a beautiful baby boy.  He is the most amazing person I have ever met in my life! 

  So why the reason for my comeback? I was browsing for Tattoo artist on instagram  for an upcoming project, when I seen an amazing artist but no website. And I began to think why is it that artist don't at least have a domain? Then it dawned on me,1)they dont know what a domain is, or 2) they dont know about this great feature that tumblr has where you can connect your domain to your blog. Since Website hosting can be a bit pricey. 

Dont know what a domain is? In so many words a domain is the name of a website.

I cannot stress the importance of having a domain. It just does not look professional to scout out clients with the link to your portfolio looking like myportfolio.sombodyelsesdomain.com. Am I right or am I right?

I am going to give you a suggestion. Get a domain. GoDaddy.com has domains for the low low ($$). I got my domain for a year just for $0.99. I took that domain and connected it to tumblr for FREE. The best thing about tumblr is that they have pre-made layouts that look like websites. Tumblr is perfect for artist to display their portfolios. 

So there you have it there is NO EXCUSE for you not to have a website for your business. 

This one was a pretty simple post but I hope it helped! Make sure you share this with you ENTREPRENEURIAL CIRCLE OF FRIENDS! If you need further info on how to get this done feel free to email me trayhawkport@gmail.com.

Resources:

http://www.godaddy.com/

https://www.tumblr.com/

---

Tracey H.

http://traceyhportraiture.us/

ROMANCING YOUR CLIENT

Have you ever had a person inquire about your product or service, but you lost them early on in the convo? Think back to those times where you didnt make the sale or they did not book the appointment. Can you guess where you might have gone wrong?  Let me try to help you figure it out. How soon did you drop the PRICE BOMB on them?

I know what your saying, "is that not why I started my business, to make money" Yes, it is. Collecting your money  from your client is a must, BUT YOU MUST ALSO MAKE YOUR CLIENT FEEL LIKE THEY MATTER. If all you discuss is money off hand and it will make them back down.  You want to use a tactic I like to call ROMANCING! Yes you want to romance your client, making them feel like they matter. You dont want them to feel like they are just another potential dollar in your bank account; and you dont want to come off as a PUSHY SALESMEN.  Telling them what your product or service can do for them is the first step to closing the sale, or booking that session or appointment. Now if you get one of those inbox messages on facebook that I oh so dislike such as "How much is _____"  It's easy to turn the conversation around. Yes tell them the price but also tell them what they are getting. Now if you are a clothing designer you might want to divert their attention from the price by asking them what they are purchasing a certain piece of clothing for, ask them the occasion and maybe give them a few other choices, make them feel like your their own personal stylist, or personal shopper.  Now if you are in my field which is photography, you can divert their attention from the price by simply asking where will these pictures be hung in your home, are you using them for a photo-album, or even start by asking them  "Are these pictures for a specific occasion?"

 Romancing your client does not mean WINE AND DINE THEM. It simply means making them feel important, making them feel as though you generally care. Not all clients are  big spenders so you have to make those who are going to be spending money with your company feel special and that you are taking the time to get to know to them. Romancing your client is not a long process  but taking a few minutes with each client  getting to know them just by asking them a few questions will go along way in making them feel like not just a dollar sign when you see them.

Romancing also makes the easiest form of marketing easier for you!  Which we all know is WORD OF MOUTH. If their friends hear about how special you made them feel, and how much of a personal and awesome experience it was dealing with you, their friends will be more reluctant to come to you to fulfill a want or need.

If you have any questions on how you can divert your clients attention away from your price, ROMANCING, or even how to or when to drop the PRICE BOMB contact me via email @ ejimaging@aol.com or hit me in my inbox on facebook.

Happy ROMANCING!!!

Career before ROMANCE

As alot of people who follow my work may know that I travel! Being a traveling photographer can be great but it can take a toll on relationships, whether it is  with family, a friend or significant other. In many cases it maybe a significant other. Before my current  relationship my motto was "Love wont pay the bills" but now I always say "Love has everything to do with happiness".

Over the past three years since I have started EJ IMAGING I have noticed that is not relationships that  get in the way of your success; dating is.  Dating is extremely time consuming and if you are doing it right at times it can suck away 24 hours in a 26 hour day! Just joking. But in between the phone calls , texting , the consistent babbling to friends about your new prospect,  can cause an ambitious girl to be drastically less productive.  But it all boils down that it is necessary, but you have to learn "THE ART OF BALANCE", balancing your leisure with your ambitions for success.

Think about this:

You are working on a LONG LONG LONG term project, which will take up a majority of your time and ENERGY! You have no BETTER HALF (boyfriend or girlfriend), absolutely no time to date; you become depressed and distracted as your deadline inches closer and closer. If you did have a better half to bring you carryout, or pizza would that not turn your night right side up?

But remember:
A RELATIONSHIP SHOULD SUPPORT NEVER HINDER

The deepest thought I have had all week was;
Lets just say being alone is easier----- is that what we really want though?! 

Happy Loving! 

Stay in your lane.

Now I know most artist are a JACK OF ALL TRADES. But at some point its a time where you have to master the craft where your heart lye's.  Speaking of MASTER. As I started this blog my dearest father handed me a letter where he was congratulated on his success on passing a MASTER'S test for his official HVAC license..Now my father is the epitome of JACK OF ALL TRADES, he's and electrician, mechanic, plumber, and so much more. But he has mastered the trade of HVAC!

    This past week I did a shoot, I was super nervous going onto the set. The client I was working with is super influential in the industry. So I thought I might have to get commercial with this one. I dont know why my mindset shifted. I do confess I began to look at other photographers work mimicking it. Now by no means is my style of photography COMMERCIAL. Now obviously she hired me  because she was impressed with my work and my style of shooting. I cracked under my own pressure I applied to myself. Stay focused. Sometimes it pays better to stay in your own lane. If you know anything about me, I am all about you developing your own brand, signature style, and standing out. I cannot tell you what made me slide into this state of mind. But if I can offer you any advice in this blog:  When it comes to your work, STAY IN YOUR LANE!

Unless a client comes to you asking for different, stick to your style, your brand, your product! If its something you are a bit unsure of, or dont think you can do, dont be so reluctant on passing the job on to a fellow artist, or telling the client you are  unable to produce this product.  You dont want to produce a SHIT product (pardon my tongue . But this is your business your putting on the line here. Word of mouth is your biggest MARKETING TOOL! So you want to make sure that when someone speaks about your brand to another it is positive. If it  is not as paid job by all means practice and experiment, but if a client is paying you for  a product or service, stick in your sought after style. This is what I mean by STAYING IN YOUR LANE!

^_^ ♥

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! (If I do not update before hand)

You have to CLAIM IT!

You know we all have our days when we begin to doubt ourselves. I had one of those days this week. As alot of you may know I am looking to photograph Celebrities. Which can be very challenging. So before that doubt could set in I sought some wisdom from my very good friend and celebrity STYLIST Zoe Dupree. While speaking with him he gave me the challenge of making a daily faith confession over the desires of my heart. So now every day I state and claim " I AM A CELEBRITY PHOTOGRAPHER" "I AM A WORLD RENOWNED PHOTOGRAPHER  I cannot stop saying this! Its fun. So my whole point of this blog, is "I AM"  is a secret language, that about 10% of the world  uses. Confessing  who you are, who you desire to be, what you desire to have, ITS ALL A BIG PART OF THE DREAM CHASING PROCESS....I challenge you to wake up EVERY MORNING AND BEGIN TO CONFESS  WHO YOU ARE, WHO YOU DESIRE TO BE.  Use the sacred language of "I AM"....


HAPPY CLAIMING! ^_^  <3