I am in a very cool photography business group, and on a recent trip we had, I had a powerful conversation with an incredibly talented photographer that blew my mind.
Over 10 years ago, I got invited to join a photography and business group called The Society of XXV. This is a very exclusive group that you must be nominated for and you must get voted in by the entire membership. The part that I love is that it’s a travel group. Every year we travel somewhere, meet up and we share. It’s industry leaders who are giving and it’s our time to be together and lift each other up. But the cool thing is that you have to participate. If you miss more than one year in a row over so many years, you have to leave the group, which I love because then everybody makes a commitment and they show up.
This year the trip was in Portugal and my husband didn’t really want to go and my daughter, Katherine, was able to go. One thing I love about it is that we’re with the group, but we’re not with the group all the time. We have evening dinners together, which is great because the meals are planned and we often have them ordered for us, so they’re just bringing plate after plate for everyone to try. And it’s really great for a conversation. At dinner each night, Katherine and I intentionally ate with different people. We wanted to meet all of these people and there were a few new members that we hadn’t met. The last night we sat by a couple that we hadn’t gotten a lot of time with before, and I haven’t really gotten to know them. Their names are Tom and Cassandra Munoz and Tom’s family has run a massive, thriving, amazing wedding photography business in south Florida for several generations.
They’re doing really high end work. They photograph weddings at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida quite a bit because it’s right there close to them. It’s a gorgeous historic building with so many photography opportunities. People that hire them have a huge budget so they are given the most gorgeous backgrounds and dresses and details. However, along with that comes the expectation that you’re going to deliver. You’re going to have amazing images, going to get every part of the day, and it’s going to be fantastic.
In the conversation, he’d said something at dinner that just really blew my mind, and I want you to hear this. We were talking about the wedding and just really connecting with these two amazing humans. They’re so heart-centered. They have a strong faith, they’re just kind wonderful people. However, think about it, you are going in on the wedding day and there are other people also hired to do their job. Everyone is working under time pressure and setting up and wanting to do a great job. What he told me that he does at the beginning of every wedding literally gave me goosebumps. When he starts the wedding day, he finds the lead person for the video crew, he introduces himself and he tells them, “Hey, I am here for you. I’m going to help you get the video you want first, and then I’ll get what I want. Because you’re the video guy and you can’t redo anything.” So he even sets his lights up for the video person because he knows how to do that, and he wants to make sure that the video guy’s getting the best lighting. I mean, how generous is that? Get what else he did. He sold all of his slower lenses, the lenses that need a lot of strobe with them to be efficient and he specifically bought only super fast lenses so he could shoot using the continuous light source that the video guy needs without strobe and messing up the video in the ceremony.
Think about the video guy always having to worry about the photographer getting in his way or doing this or that. And instead Tom comes in and gives him the lead and they both get great images. He serves hard, and not just the person who hires him. So what do you think happens the rest of the day? I’m sure the video person is like, “Dude, hey Tom, is there anything I can do for you? Did you get what you need? How can I help you?” And the best part, who do you think the video team is referring their clients to when they need a photographer? I am sure they’re saying, “Oh my gosh, you’ve got to call this team because they are amazing and we work so well together,” and people will be like, “Okay, great. Let’s do it.”
The thing is, we can all succeed together for a mutual cause. I just imagine being that video person and expecting to have to play tug of war all day with a photographer who’s trying to stand where you want to stand and get the shot that you’re trying to get. And instead, this photographer comes over and starts the event in this spirit of partnership. It just really gives me chill bumps.
Now, what does this mean for you?I want you to ask yourself, how can you lift others up just because you can right? You want other business owners to work with you and to refer you and partner with you, but you walk in asking them for a display for you or to promote you or to help you. I want you to reverse that, and I want you to go in with the desire to truly help them win first. That will come back to you all day long.
Put yourself in a position where you are not showing up in your business with a desperate energy, and instead put yourself in a position where you can serve others and nurture and grow your business just like it’s a new baby. Then before you know it, the scales will start to tip. You will start being referred. People will start mentioning your name because what you’re doing is so gush worthy. Open your mind to serving others.
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