5 Business Mistakes I made in 2015 and what I’m doing differently

by Marcela | Mar 2, 2016 | About, Blog 2, Business

5 Business Mistakes I made in 2015 and what I’m doing differently

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I’ve been thinking a lot about this post during the past two months, wondering if I should write it or not. And the reason I’m here, typing these words, is because it’s easy to hide. It’s easy to show a facade of perfection and great decisions, to develop a persona, to tell partial truths and allow the spaces in between to be filled by a fantasy view of who we truly are.

But that doesn’t serve anyone, don’t you agree?

It doesn’t serve me, because when I hide my authentic self, my fears creep up. And it doesn’t serve you either, because you don’t get to learn from what I’ve done wrong, and because if you believe I do everything right and that I’m blessed by some kind of magic fairy godmother, you may not try to go after your dreams-despite the possibility of failure.

And I want you to go after your dreams, to do what you love, to grow a business you adore.

So, in the hope that my business mistakes serve you, here are my lessons from 2015, and how I’m turning them into the fuel I need to grow.

1.I listened to others more than I listened to myself

At the end of 2014, I was exhausted and confused. I had been working a lot and homeschooling Luka and Zoe at the same time, and my sleep patterns had gotten disturbed.

When January 2015 rolled out, I was barely recovering from the stressful past three years, finalizing old projects and getting the house organized in the little time I had in my free mornings. I realized I needed to make changes in my business, if I didn’t want to burn out…but I didn’t even know where to start. I had thought that getting started was going to be the hardest part, but once I did and started having my first clients, I just didn’t know how to grow from there to where I wanted to be.

B-school gave me that clarity.

It allowed me to give voice to my true desires and give thought, not only to growth and profit, but to quality of life, and it showed me how my business needn’t be like any other, and that I could design the business model that suits my lifestyle best. During the program, I was tremendously inspired and felt unstoppable…but when the program ended, my feelings of not enoughness and my fears started to take hold of me and, instead of going within to find the answers to each challenge, I started to massively consume information, in search for the right way to grow my business. Perhaps you’ve been there too?

I became so overwhelmed by everything I was reading and there were so many dissonant voices, that for a while, implementation took a step back. I was listening to everyone, instead of listening to the only person who had the answers: me, and instead of doing the only thing that truly works: testing.

Here’s what I discovered: Most people teach what has worked for them. But just because someone is successful using X or Y tactics, it doesn’t mean everyone else will. I believe this is especially true when it comes to personal branding, because our personalities do have an impact in how we show up, what comes naturally to us and the clients we attract. An email sequence that works fantastically for the person who created it may sound completely fake coming from someone else. A photograph designed for one person, at X level of her career, may look out of place in someone else’s website.

There really is no replacement for the simple act of taking a moment to slow down, and check in with ourselves where we feel called to go.

[Tweet “There’s no replacement for slowing down, and checking in with ourselves where we feel called to go.”]

I discovered that there isn’t a single way to reach our destination. That the methods, tactics and strategies we use for our business, should only be the ones that fit our personality, our desired lifestyle and our objectives. And I discovered that when we apply tactics that we’re not comfortable with, they never work.

I believe our lives and businesses work in cycles, sometimes we need to retreat and reflect, sometimes we need to implement, work hard, and push things forward. And I believe it’s important, for our own well being and that of our businesses, to learn to know the difference.

This year, I’m going back to my B-school worksheets, where I poured my heart and where I was able to realize what it is that I truly wanted. I’m making sure I listen to myself first and that I implement only that which feels aligned to my voice. For that, I have developed a structured spiritual practice, that helps me center and ground before starting to work, and which reminds me that silence, meditation, and self-care need to be a part of my business plan.

2. I buried my true voice out of fear

Because I let the voices of fear of not enoughness take hold of my brain, I shut down my true voice. The weird part of myself got locked in a room and not allowed out. This became most obvious in the copy of my website.

Here’s the thing: I’m not a rebel, I’m not the kind of person who will push your buttons, and I’m not confrontational.I would never instill fear of missing out or lack in you- yet that’s how I wrote my copy because I thought that’s what I was supposed to do.

But that’s just not me, and I cringed every time I read those words. I wanted to work with my ideal client, but everything in my copy was pushing them away. And because I felt embarrassed and deeply uncomfortable about what I had written, my energy pushed them away too.

Here’s the truth: I’m not the friend to get drunk with, I’m the one who bakes you cookies, makes hot chocolate and pats on the couch so you can sit and talk about what worries you.

I’m not the person who will tell you you’re doing something wrong and you’re an idiot,a loser or a low performer if you don’t do X,Y,Z. I’m the one who will encourage you to look at the patterns in your life that have led you astray, and to connect to your heart to find your truth, but will know that this is your life and your business and your path and that whatever you decide is the right choice for you.

I’m the one who will be direct and honest, but never harsh. I believe the world would be better if we were all a lot kinder to each other, so I try to model that. I’m nerdy, and have a nerdy sense of humor.

And I’m very spiritual- of the woo kind…I go daily to a nearby park to hug trees, I feel the energy of gemstones, and practice reiki healing, and channel messages, and can communicate with the dead.

Yet I felt it was not “professional” to be any of those things- so I remained quiet, and silent about them. I stopped myself from writing so many blog posts because I thought what I felt called to share, was not what I was supposed to write about.

In 2015 I learned, the hard way, that when we don’t speak with our true voice, we can’t resonate with the right people

[Tweet “When we don’t speak with our true voice, we can’t resonate with the right people”]

Every time I came to this blog, I felt blocked and this is why I didn’t write. For some crazy reason that contradicts everything I’ve always fought for in my life, I thought I should be, in this pages, someone I’m not. My true voice only came forth in Cult of Hybrid, because the live component of it, the fact that I was talking to a great friend, and that we were recording at midnight, Cyprus time, allowed me to let down my barriers, and my fears.

This year, I’m committing to speaking my truth in everything, and, lucky me, I have Marbel to keep me accountable. And I’m re-writing my copy and my sales pages to be what I truly want them to be: an invitation to work together, if you feel called. I got started by finding my Ikigai– an exercise designed by the always inspiring Sara Bobkoff that I highly recommend you do too.

3. I became invisible

No, not in the super hero/cloak of invisibility way. In the marketing way. I was almost nowhere to be found and my marketing was…erratic, to say the least.

But how could it be otherwise, when I was hiding who I truly am, when I was speaking with a voice that is not mine?

When we’re proud of who we are and proud of the work we do, we are able to shout it from the rooftops. When be believe the false voice of fear, and buy into our inadequacy, we grow increasingly uncomfortable with visibility- and that is exactly what happened to me.

I’m turning 40 in less than 3 months, an age I always looked forward to. And, for the first time, I’m now ready to truly step into my power and do what I feel truly driven to do, to do work that makes me happy. So I’m creating tiny habits and developing systems to support this determination. Systems help us trump the ugly voices in our head.

This year, I decided to invest in the tools and training that can help me learn what I need to make my business become visible, consistently and strategically, in the way I want without spending tons of hours glued to the computer. I took a course on social media strategy by Kimberly Jimenez (she has amazing free material too), signed up for Co-schedule (I’m wondering how could I live without it all these years!) and signed up for Canva for work because, yes, I can design in Photoshop the graphics I need, but Canva’s magic re-sizing tool saves me a ton of time- time that I prefer to spend shooting and creating resources for you.

If you have something that’s blocking you from taking action, don’t hesitate to invest in the tools and resources that can get you out of the rut. The investment will be recouped quickly.

4. I stopped creating

There’s no bigger creativity block than fear.

When we question the Muse, we stop hearing her calling. She’s still there, but we can’t see her.

[Tweet “When we question the Muse, we stop hearing her calling. She’s still there, but we can’t see her”]

During 2015 I kept wondering what I should create, instead of getting out of my mind, connecting to my heart and birthing whatever I felt passionate about. I felt I was not “expert enough” or “talented enough” and I forgot all the times when I had busted glass ceilings before and done things that seemed impossible. I forgot I got started in photography thanks to my children, as a way to create and play with them, and that the key to growth and improvement had been not judging what I was creating, but simply putting it out there and allowing it to fly on its own.

Living in my head is not good for me. It’s what I did for most of my life, because I was praised for my mind and being intellectual was my way of being a good girl and doing what I thought was expected of me. I bought love with grades- or so I thought. But it didn’t make me happy. I’m at my happiest and most joyful when I’m a vessel for creativity and love to pour through me and reach others. That’s when I’m at my best.

So this year, I made a commitment to create more, experiment more, play more, without judgement or perfectionism.

I’ve had photos in my head for 18 months, that I’m dying to bring to life, and this is the year I finally will. And because money is energy, I invested in a wacom tablet, to be able to play in Photoshop with composites like I want to. I’ve also started a 30 day creativity program by Brooke Shaden and blocked time in my calendar to nurture my right brain.

5.I didn’t take good care of my body

You may think this is not a business mistake, but it is, because when we don’t take care of our bodies, we don’t have the energy, the focus or the stamina to perform at our best.

Luka and Zoe have never been great sleepers and, still to this date, they may wake up several times at night. A disrupted sleep for 8 years sent my hormones into chaos in 2015 and I failed to take action to regularize them.

With cortisol through the roof, I was permanently tired and, to give me energy, I turned to sweets and bread and easy snacks. I gained a lot of weight (which boosted my visibility fears).I couldn’t sleep and my brain was as foggy as a London morning.

I tried everything-except what my body truly needed: A drastic change in food habits, exercise, and stress-reduction activities.

At the beginning of this year, I finally took action. I started slowly eliminating foods that made me feel bad. Then, for our 10th wedding anniversary, my husband and I gave each other Garmin fitness trackers (because we want to live a long and healthy life together) and started going out for walks everyday. And finally, two weeks ago, I started a strict hormone reset diet that is proving almost magical. I’m also making sure that I send daily love messages to my body, through reiki and these meditations. If I thrive when I’m a vessel for creativity, love and joy, I must take care of the vessel of my soul.

In 2015, I discovered that growing a business requires us to pay deep attention to our mindset, and the ways it tricks us into staying stuck. I discovered that moving forward requires harmony of mind, body and soul- and that one cannot work properly without the other. And I discovered that I’m capable of much more, if I only allow myself to experience it.

Your turn: What lessons did 2015 leave you? What are you changing in your life and business this year?

Leave a comment below, and if you think this post may be useful to someone, please share!.

Planning the year ahead: Mindful goals, habits & tools.

by Marcela | Dec 16, 2015 | Blog 2, Business

Planning the year ahead: Mindful goals, habits & tools.

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When I was growing up, I thought the key to a happy life was to have a plan. A plan for absolutely every little thing. A detailed, carefully thought-out plan for career, relationships and everything in between. I had mile-long to do lists and carefully detailed goals in my planners, and I executed them religiously.

Here’s how I thought my life was going to be: I would study at the University, graduate with top marks, get a scholarship for a masters abroad, get a fantastic job, and eventually meet and marry the love of my life, have a child or two, and travel extensively (for fun and for work).

Just to give you an idea of how much I planned, listen to this: I started researching Masters Degrees at 18, as soon as I started University. Why? I wanted to know the requisites set by my favorite Universities, to shape my education to what they wanted. When everyone else was thinking about boyfriends, and parties, and having fun, I was studying a little bit more, signing up for another research programme, or becoming teaching assistant for another subject.

And, for a while, it worked.

Things did go according to plan.

And then, as it usually happens, they didn’t.

My earlier years had been full of instability, and I had created a system of rules, goals and plans as a reaction to them. I thought- and here’s where I went wrong- that my well being, my happiness, my security depended on achieving those goals, fulfilling those plans, checking the ticks that signaled the completion of the millions of tasks I had set out to accomplish.

In reality, I became the prisoner of my own plans.

It worked when I was an employed lawyer. It failed miserably when the time came to make the switch to entrepreneurship.

This is what we talk about, with Marbel, in the two latest episodes of Cult of Hybrid.

The long road to accepting our gifts and talents, the many mistakes we made in the first years in business, and how we got to where we now are. And how we found a way to plan our businesses and our lives, that was mindful of the way we want to live and takes into consideration our natural rhythms.

As we get close to the New Year, and we all start to plan the year ahead, let us be mindful of the life we want to live, and how we want to feel every single day.

Click on the buttons below to listen to the podcast, in iTunes, or the blog, as you prefer. And, when you’re done, come back and share in the comments:

How do you plan your years? Has your way of planning changed over the years? Do you have any favorite resources that you’d like to share?

Podcast 5 branding spirit soundcloud thumb

Listen in iTunes

Listen in the blog

Have a wonderful week, dear friend. And may you achieve all your goals, and feel the way you most want to feel in the new year.

Spirituality & mindfulness in business and why they’re important

by Marcela | Nov 26, 2015 | Blog 2, Business, spirituality

Spirituality & mindfulness in business and why they’re important

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When I was growing up, I used to think that spirituality and ” real life” were two separate things. I was born in a Catholic country, from an atheist father and an agnostic mother, and, to the horror of everyone who knew me, I wasn’t baptized. Aren’t you afraid that you won’t go to heaven? People would ask me all the time, to which I would respond: “ I like to think that, if there’s a God and a Heaven, it’s not limited to those who follow the rite of one of the many religions of the world, but rather that it’s open to good people, so no, I’m not afraid” . To the outside world, I was weird. Not because I was not Catholic, but because I didn’t have a religion. And I didn’t want one either. I rejected the idea of confession, and while I appreciated the beauty of sacred art, I believed that true connection with the Divine could only be found in nature. I was moved, not by a statue of the Christ (The image of the crucifixion always terrified me) but by the landscapes I saw when I traveled, the beauty of dawns and sunsets, the stars in the sky, random acts of kindness, undying friendships, art and poetry.

I saw the Divine in everything. I just didn’t call it that.

Until my late teens, I didn’t see the purpose of having a religion and I couldn’t understand those who did. I was young, and intellectually arrogant and had a lot of life to live before I came to realize the immense power of spirituality. During a particularly hard period of my life, I looked for refuge by going to Church, but found that the practice left me fearful and anxious instead of empowered, so I soon dropped it.

Even though I felt restricted by religion, in my 20s I started longing for a sense of belonging to something bigger than myself.

It started with yoga and meditation, in 2004, practices which sustained me during the difficult first years since Luka and Zoe’s diagnoses. Vision boards, gratitude-journaling, and tapping quickly followed. Then came the turn of oracle cards, Abraham-Hicks videos on youtube, mantras, reiki, channeling, manifesting, planning in accordance with the moon cycles, and the study of the Divine Feminine.

And then I understood.

We don’t have a spiritual practice because we need one. We have a spiritual practice because when we are connected to a higher power, everything is easier and more beautiful.

[Tweet “We have a spiritual practice because when we are connected to a higher power everything is easier & more beautiful”]

It took me years to get to this point. It didn’t come easily to me.

I have a type-A personality that has given me as many triumphs as headaches, and until my kids were born, I never gave myself the time for pleasure, or contemplation. I was all the time on the clock, thinking about what else I had to do to achieve my goals. Rain + a book was always my idea of a perfect day, but do you know how many times I allowed myself to enjoy a day like that? Until recently, very few. That’s the curse of a Type-A personality with a side of insecurity: the constant drive to do more and more and more, to achieve, to excel, to improve…to prove to myself that I was worthy. I was always on the move, always thinking about new things to do, always wondering how I could move forward in my career. I thought I was my career until Luka and Zoe were born.

And then, one day, I found myself 24/7 at home, with young kids, and I thought I was going to go mad.

The calmness, the routines, the monotony and (for an introvert like me) the lack of silence were a shock to my system. A lightning bolt in my life, so planned to the detail, so structured before, and now so different. I didn’t know how to cope with my ever growing to do list, with my need to do something other than mothering and for the love of all things holly, I promise you, I had no idea how to be a good mother either. Add to that the lack of sleep, and that, apart from mothering twins, I was also studying for a very demanding Master of Laws and you’ll understand why, when the kids were 15 months I found myself crying with desperate sobs, in the middle of the night, that I couldn’t do it anymore, that I needed to please sleep and do nothing, that I needed a break.

I knew, back then, that I couldn’t continue like that, and that I needed to find a way to change. And what saved me were two things: an enormous love for my children, and the sheer determination to find a way to combine mothering and work with more ease, with more peace, lovingly embracing the present moment. Yoga and meditation, which were practices that I had briefly started before, became the cornerstones of my well being. Crafting, baking and photography became my creative outlets, my stress-busters, my oasis. And that’s when The Celebration Girl (my old blog) was born.

But when I started this new business, the old type A habits kicked in again, because that’s the only way I knew how to work. My mind kicked in overdrive at first, and I became obsessed with learning every tip, every tactic, every strategy. I subscribed to a gazillion of newsletters to the point where I felt overwhelm at the mere thought of opening my email account. I was always feeling guilty of not doing enough, not knowing enough, not being more advanced in my plans. I followed the kind of online gurus that shame you for not attending their webinars or buying their products and I allowed them to make me feel like a sore loser.

But, this time, because of my mindfulness practices, I could feel in my bones that something was not right. And around 18 months ago, I started to really pay attention.

I noticed that my body was providing me with signs: a tightening in the stomach when something felt wrong, a feeling of opening in my chest when I loved something, and many more. Could there be other signs I hadn’t noticed? Other patterns? I wondered. So I listened more.

It started like a game: I would give the Universe an ultimatum, or ask a question and then I would start noticing patterns. I was not looking for them, they were pretty much being thrown at me! It was fun, and it was simple, so I started using it for business too. My mind still wanted to take over, but now I knew when to allow it and when not to. I realized that I shouldn’t make decisions when too tired, nor be on social media, for example, because I can become snappy.

I noticed that my mood improved and I could work much better if I took a cold shower in the morning and had green juice for breakfast. I discovered that 15 minutes of exercise a day greatly improved my energy levels. And I found out that lighting a candle and asking the Universe to guide what I had to write before sitting at the computer, made every communication flow much, much easily.

And for the times when my mind was very persistent? I now had a series sacred practices that supported me.

Can I live, work, raise my kids without a spiritual practice? Yes, of course I can. But everything would feel harder. And, call me crazy, but I prefer things to flow and feel easy.

Spirituality (these set of sacred practices that support my well being) and Mindfulness are the keys of my happiness and my sanity. Everything I’ve accomplished these past years, and my positive outlook in life (which has often surprised many and, frankly, unnerved others) can be traced back to the moment I decided to develop consistent routines that support me feeling like I wanted to feel. I was this close to burn-out on many occasions, and I know it’s just not worth it.

Today, my days start giving thanks for everything I have before I step out of bed, followed by a morning walk (with a mantra playlist) and a meditation while sitting in a park near my home. I write my goals every New Moon, and review my intentions when the moon is full. I color mandalas when I feel down, and make it a priority to get back into alignment as fast as possible when life knocks me down. At night, I journal about the day and give thanks again for everything that happened, so my dreams are sweet. I try to surround myself with beauty everywhere I go (a pretty pen, a mug I love, a scarf in my favorite color, the photo of a loved one). And the more I do this, the better my life gets.

This is what works for me. This is what makes me happy.

My podcast partner and great friend, Marbel Canseco has been the person with whom I’ve developed these habits and practices during the past 2 years. Every Monday, during our accountability meetings, we’d share what was working for us, what was helping us move forward in business and life. We tested resources, tracked practices and finally arrived to a system that works for us. And the reason it does, is that it’s flexible and fun, because we’ve found that what feels like a chore won’t get done consistently.

And today, we want to share it with you.

We created a beautiful set of printables, planners, calendars and meditations to help you plan your days with a mix of brain and woo, a lot of action and a dash of letting go. The same system we developed to make the best use of our minds-but to prevent them from taking control. A system to allow us to connect to our inner knowing, to our inner guidance, and to let the Universe show us the way.

This is for you if you believe the universe is power.If you want to add spirit to your planning, so that you can feel supported, and aligned, in every life and business decision.

This is for you if you have ever felt blocked, stuck, like everything in business was just plain…hard. If you’ve ever felt confused about the type of clients you want to work with or the type of customers you want to attract. If you’ve ever wished someone would just tell you what to do, give you some sort of step by step manual for YOUR business, that you could take some sort of back to the future trip in a De Lorean to meet your future self and ask her HOW TO DO IT ALL.

If you feel out of sync with yourself and your intuition, this system is for you. It is not a crystal ball, it’s a system of resources for you to quiet your mind, go within, and find the right answers for your life and for your business.

Yes this is New Age-y. No, it’s not for everyone. But if you feel called to it, if something in you says “yes, I’d like that”, it would be our pleasure and our honor to share our system with you.

We believe there’s a place for the Sacred in the Daily and the Practical. Don’t you agree?

You can learn more by clicking on the button at the bottom of this post.

FIND OUT MORE

How I got started in business {podcast interview in Spanish}

by Marcela | Oct 22, 2015 | About, Blog 2, Business

How I got started in business {podcast interview in Spanish}

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I got started in business by accident.

I guess we could say that I put a wish out there, to the Universe, and the Universe delivered it to my complete and utter surprise, and before I was ready.

I’ve always found that the best things in life happen when we embrace the unexpected, and leap, so I leaped, without much idea of what I was doing, and these first two years as a photographer have been exciting, exhilarating, and a huge, huge learning process at every possible level.

I’ve changed. I’ve grown. I’ve cried. I’ve celebrated. I’ve been confused and I’ve learnt to ask for help.

I wouldn’t change it for the world, and I’m forever thankful that I leaped.

This is why I was so happy when super blogger Ximena de la Serna contacted me for an interview in her podcast in Spanish, Asalto Emprendedora, to talk about the lessons I learned and what I would like to transmit to someone considering the possibility of getting started as an entrepreneur, going from dream to reality, and leaping- as I did.

In this interview I talk about my most honest truth. What came easy, what was hard, what issues I had to overcome and how I did it (hint: it all goes down to mindset!). My best tips, my best resources: I share it all.

podcast-interview-marcela-macias-ximena-de-la-serna-asalto-emprendedora

Click on the button to listen to the podcast (in Spanish) to learn:

How I got started in business
How and where I found my first clients
How to overcome the “I’m a fraud” syndrome
How to raise your prices without freaking out.
How to know what will sell and what won’t
The secret formula to get a client
How to differentiate yourself from the competition (hint: there’s no competition)
The most important thing you 100% have to take care about when you’re getting started in business.

Listen in the blog

After you listen, come back and let me know: What’s stopping you from starting a business and how can I help you leap?

May you have the most beautiful day.

Who you are matters

by Marcela | Sep 16, 2015 | Blog 2, Business, Photography, visual marketing, Visual Strategy

Who you are matters

The strategy of being you

Every time I’m meeting with a new prospective client, or doing a consultation, I ask the same first question after the initial meet and greet.

My question always leaves my clients speechless for a while, regardless of how many years they have been in business. Some of them stutter, some lower their eyes, and many become visibly uncomfortable.

The question I ask is not irreverent, inappropriate or adult rated. What I ask is, simply:

What makes your work special?

Why should people hire you?

I don’t ask this question to be mean. I don’t ask this question to make my clients uncomfortable.

I ask this question because the reason my photographs sell is that I photograph what makes my clients and their products unique… and I can only photograph it, if they know what that is.

I ask this question because I know it’s hard, and I know they need to explore the answer in a safe place.

And I ask this question because I can see the light in them and the higher purpose of what they do as soon as we meet, but I know that they need to discover it, own it and embrace it by themselves if they are to fully step into their power.

Why is this such a difficult question?

I started exploring this question when my children were diagnosed with special needs. I’d always believed that we all come here with a special song inside of us (As Wayne Dyer used to say), and that my role as a mother was to help my children find theirs.

I could define my children by what they found hard to do, or I could allow them to define themselves by that which they excel at, by that which they feel called to do, by that which makes their heart sing. I could raise my children to believe that they lacked something, or I could raise them to believe that their resilience, the love in their hearts and the talents they were born with, were more than enough.

We could have focused on their needs, but we chose to focus on that which makes them special.

And as beautiful as this may sound, I would be a huge hypocrite if I didn’t tell you too, that it wasn’t easy. Not because I couldn’t see the light inside my own children, because that was the easy part. That’s pretty much a gene that gets inserted into us when we become mothers.

No, the difficult thing was setting the example, because I had no idea what made me or my work, special.

I understand my clients

because I was in their shoes a while ago

I was 100% aware of that which I was not good at, and I grew up ashamed of not being excellent at everything. For years, I felt undeserving of success, because I was not perfect. And I grew up thinking that being proud of what I did well, was bragging.

Perhaps you can relate?

I want you to know what makes you special

I want you to step into your own power.

This is why I’d like to share with you a resource I’ve only shared with my clients until now, and that is part of series of explorations that we do when we start working together.

It’s a short test called Stand-Out. I found out about it through B-school and, when I read the results, I felt I had found a radiography to my soul. I was amazed at how it reflected the things that people had always praised me about-and that I had discarded because I was used to not thinking of myself as worthy of praise.

The link I’m sharing with you goes to LeanIn, because there there’s a code to take the test for free.

In the next few blog posts, we’ll explore how to bring personality to your photos, and how to use your photos as a tool to connect on a deeper level to your audience. But, in order to use the techniques I’ll share with you to their highest potential, you need to first know what’s your secret sauce.

So go ahead, take the test, and then come back and share your results in the comments.

Let’s celebrate, together, our talents, and our greatness.

Take the test

If you found this post useful, please share it! Let’s build a World where everybody’s talents can shine!

Why your business needs a visual strategy

by Marcela | Sep 2, 2015 | Blog 2, Business, Visual Strategy

Why your business needs a visual strategy

Visual Strategy 101: why and how

When I started working as a professional photographer, I felt like Sandra Bullock in Gravity: lost in space. Yes, I knew how to take photos. Yes, I knew how to style. Yes, I knew how to edit. But I also knew very well that, in order to turn that first job into more, and eventually into a profitable business, I needed something more.

I’ll be completely honest: I had no idea what that something more needed to be.

So I did the only thing I knew how to do well: I actively listened to my clients. This means that when I asked a question and I thought I had understood their needs, I listened a little bit more. I taught myself to keep asking questions, to observe, to listen better.

Whenever my clients mentioned some of their dreams (“I want to sell in Anthropologie”, ” I want my husband to quit his job”, ” I want to teach at CreativeLive“), I’d start thinking: What do they need to get there and how can I help them? How can my photography help them make their dreams a reality?

I soon reached one conclusion:

My photos needed to make my clients money.

And this conclusion was quickly followed by two questions:

Could photos do this? And if so, how?

Early last year, I set up on a quest to find these answers. In reply to the first question, I found plenty of numbers and statistics. I’m sure you’ve seen them too:

Percentage of added views when an article includes an image

Percentage of consumers who say that the quality of a product's images is very important when selecting and purchasing a product.

Percentage of consumers who are more likely to give attention to a website when an image appears on the search

Percentage of ecommerce traffic that comes from Pinterest (a visual social media platform)

But I wanted to know more.

I wanted to go beyond the obvious, and the easy.

I wanted to know whether photos were an expense or an investment (and whether the answer was absolute (yes, in all cases; or no, in all cases) or relative (it depends, and if so, on what)).

Were photographs really powerful marketing tools, or where they just “an extra”, “an addition”?

Were images actually necessary? Should business owners budget for them, or could they be omitted?

If photos were important: did any image count, or were some images better? Was there a secret recipe to turn an image into a selling tool- and if so, what was it?

So I put my years of training in Legal Research to good use, my nerd cap on (just kidding, it’s always on) and I started reading everything and anything I could find. And then I started testing and applying what I had read about.

Over 40 books, several articles later, and many (many!) euros spent on amazon.com, I’ve come to a conclusion:

The most effective photos are

strategically designed, and strategically used.

Strategically designed, because:

They need to be tied to your brand story and to your business objectives. They are ambassadors of your brand.

They should be about you, because they are meant to reinforce your positioning, but designed for your customers. Why? Because if your clients don’t resonate with them, they won’t engage, they won’t share, you won’t sell. Period.

They must use principles of design and, most important, of psychology.

Strategically used, because:

They need to respect the characteristics of the medium where you will share them. If you want amazing results, you need to understand the culture, people and rules of the social media platform you’ll be using (or work with someone who does).

They need to work systematically, with the rest of your marketing and promotional efforts. They need to be part of a plan.

IF YOU USE IMAGES AT RANDOM, YOU’LL GET RANDOM RESULTS

If you want to achieve your desired results consistently, you need to be intentional and strategic with your photos, just like you are with your words.

Having a visual strategy will allow you to:

Communicate clearly with creative professionals: you’ll know what you need and what to ask for.

Select stock photos with intention and confidence, and in alignment with your business objectives.

Save time: when you know what to do and you remove the guesswork, you free mental space, and you can even create systems around it.

Be more effective: You’ll be able to reach the right people.

Be consistent, not just in the way your business looks, but also in the emotions you evoke and the message you transmit.

Track results, in order to improve.

And the first step is to know what’s working and what’s not

Images can be powerful marketing tools when they are aligned with our business objectives. Tracking where and how they are used, and the response you get from them, will allow you to optimize your content.

It’ll allow you to ensure that you are reaching the right people, engaging with them in the way you want to engage. It ‘ll ensure that your brand is perceived as you desire, and that you can grow as a result. It’ll save you time, and make you more profitable.

Ready to know where you stand? Download the cheat sheet below open your analytics, and grab a cup of tea.

Get the cheatsheet

When you’re done, don’t forget to come back and share your A-HAs in the comments!

What did you discover? What’s working for you and what do you need to improve?

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