I don't like saying that things are a struggle, but it can be a little frustrating to find out where you land on your services. With my Etsy Shop being up for nearly 9 months, I had pivoted at least 15 times on what I am offering to the world.
I thought, "I can sell digital art as a printable download and maybe pug portraits!" and jumped in and went a little crazy. I had a ton of super cute photos, amazing landscapes, interesting fine art work to make into downloadable packages from all different sizes and dimensions.
Luckily for this, I was able to automate all the sizing and had a workflow for making the images for listings:
And nearly 80 listings later, I was done, and was excited! My actual art and photography works were for sale on Etsy!
And then, 90 days later, all of those listings expired, without a single sale.
I was a little... beat up by that. It didn't feel great, one or two images were favorited, but most were barely viewed. I put some on blast for advertisement and scheduled a lot of social media around them.
And it just didn't get the traction I wanted at all. It didn't get any!
So I started packaging ALL of my overlays. And started packaging tons of presets.
But I learned something. Having 100 listings isn't the way at all.
I decided to have seasonal, popular, and pretty listings.
Look how pretty
And this is the way. I have more traffic with less listings. I have more sales since getting rid of all the other listings.
Granted I only have 5 sales there.
However, I have more connection to people and more interaction with them.
I have saved my idea of photography selling and have been adding my work to https://sngdesigncodigital.shootproof.com
I am still working out some kinks, but it's looking really bright because I'm doing the work.
- Etsy Shop Makeover and Promotion
- Art Print Selling
- Putting Together Coffee Table Book
- Having Prints Available for Art Show (in progress when I find out the theme of the next art show)
- Digital Courses
- Actual Photography
It's all coming along.
It just took longer than expected.
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/trying-to-figure-out-a-way-to-connect-with-your-ideal-customer/
Monday, January 16, 2023
Sunday, January 15, 2023
Ok, that is a mouthful and this is an honest and quick review of this wonderful little guy. First off, the most important thing to know is that it's not going to make your night sky photos look amazing if you live in NYC with a Bortle rating of over 9000.
This is an affiliate link, if you buy this from this mini review, you're helping me:
But it will help bringing the glow down from those billions and billions of lights from the city. I really need to get in the field more with it at night, but so far I will post this as a quick testimonial for this lens filter.
This is a shot I did at night, with a new moon, and the city lights from just my local town:
This was the NEOWISE Comet, taken in Alpharetta, GA in 2020.
See the sky getting lighter and lighter as we get lower? That's light pollution!! Isn't it neat?
Here is another example!
This was the Perseids in 2021, I said I didn't get anything, this was early september when it should have been over, but I still got a few. Just not a 100 per hour, more like 3.
That glow creeps in hard and is frustrating. It really happens everywhere down here because of Atlanta being a giant ball of light.
However:
This shot, even at night where the moon was full, should have been full of pollution. But, it was ultimately mild. DURING A FULL MOON.
I plan on taking it for a run of shots more towards the city and around city centers during the times around a new moon so we can really see how much it can stretch this little nifty filter's legs.
Stay tuned for a further review!
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/quick-review-kf-concept-clear-natural-light-pollution-reduction-filter/
This is an affiliate link, if you buy this from this mini review, you're helping me:
But it will help bringing the glow down from those billions and billions of lights from the city. I really need to get in the field more with it at night, but so far I will post this as a quick testimonial for this lens filter.
This is a shot I did at night, with a new moon, and the city lights from just my local town:
This was the NEOWISE Comet, taken in Alpharetta, GA in 2020.
See the sky getting lighter and lighter as we get lower? That's light pollution!! Isn't it neat?
Here is another example!
This was the Perseids in 2021, I said I didn't get anything, this was early september when it should have been over, but I still got a few. Just not a 100 per hour, more like 3.
That glow creeps in hard and is frustrating. It really happens everywhere down here because of Atlanta being a giant ball of light.
However:
This shot, even at night where the moon was full, should have been full of pollution. But, it was ultimately mild. DURING A FULL MOON.
I plan on taking it for a run of shots more towards the city and around city centers during the times around a new moon so we can really see how much it can stretch this little nifty filter's legs.
Stay tuned for a further review!
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/quick-review-kf-concept-clear-natural-light-pollution-reduction-filter/
Saturday, January 14, 2023
Since moving to Georgia, when the Perseids Meteor Shower starts in July till it ends at the end of August, it's been near impossible to get out and see it. I understand the underlying issue, living next to Atlanta makes any cosmic events impossible to see. I have a special filter for my camera to help tamper down the noise pollution a little, but whenever I would get out during the peak, mother nature would just slap me down.
This year, I decided to go for broke, I didn't want to have just a semi-neat shot of the sky with some streaks from the meteorites doing their thing. I wanted to really go for it.
With this in mind, I started doing some e-scouting (I'm going to do an article on that eventually, it's a huge time saver). I found 5 spots that I wanted to try, 3 I found on my own, 2 I found from crowdsourcing nature loving people in the area I befriended on social media.
My first location was on the shores of Lake Lanier. I was thinking to myself, "Near Full Moon to the south, it was 100% full the night before, but the sky was 100% full of clouds, however tonight is almost crystal clear, so if I can't see anything from the perseids to roughly north, I could flip around and get a great shot of the lake and the moon being ever present." Before we move on, that is the abbreviated thought I had, with ADHD you don't want to see the spiderweb of connections and correlations that go on. It looks like this basically:
Charlie Day in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Anyway, back to the adventure.
I had started heading north on GA400, a main artery that goes into the perimeter of Atlanta and eventually directly downtown. However, when you head north, you head away from the giant metropolis of Atlanta, into the unknown of the north.
The first stop, like I said, was Lake Lanier, which is known for a lot of things. It's where they filmed amazing things like Ozark, Blended, Hall Pass, and underrated, completely amazing Strip Club Massacre...(Sarcasm is really hard to convey in text)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_rhOtqq6S0
Remember, Atlanta is the "Hollywood of the South" so even really crappy movies get made here just like real Hollywood, it's not all Marvel Movies, Hunger Games, and Fast and Furious Movies here.
Lake Lanier can be an absolute beautiful place though and I had an idea for this great shot of at least SOMETHING on the water at night.
Something like this would have been great (even though this is noisy and low quality, there is sky, a meteorite, and a lake... nailed it Kathrine! Photo by Kathrine Birch on Pexels.com
What I got was about 20 kids in pickup trucks, lights on, and having a great time... Hard Pass. It was ok, I had a few more spots to go to, and I checked them out and were not open or had poor visibility of the north sky due to new construction in the area. (That is a drawback of doing E-Scouting).
But, I had one place that was recommended, and I knew it was about an hour away. It was far north, out by a little town called Dawsonville. There is a lot of nothing up that way besides mountains, rivers, a giant race track luxury experience, and at least 3-4 on the Bortle Scale. Remember the Bortle scale from that other post?
It's the Bortle Scale! Every night photographers friend on finding a quiet and dark place to work out amazing photos!
Anyway, this place was about a 3 to maybe 4, even with the Full Moon, it was probably around a 5, which is still great considering if I go outside my front door and look up, I get a 7. Which means I can see the Moon, Planets if they shine bright enough, and Sun during the day.
Setting up for night photography isn't exactly "easy" in terms of gear for me. I have a tripod and a camera (duh), a remote trigger, a monitor (a small 7 inch monitor helps when I zoom into the moon or some sort of heavenly body, so I can really focus tight), and a few little side things like a secondary tripod to use my phone to record timelapse of me or do astro timelapse photography.
This is the moon, it's on my little monitor, zoomed in digitally 10 times so I can focus tightly on the details of the giant satellite.
This is a time lapse of random stars, taken from my phone. It was the first time I tried it, kind of neat right?
All in all, it can take upwards of 15 minutes to get everything set up, 5 minutes to get dialed in with focus, settings, and such. Then I will, depending on the type of shot, take a LOT of photos. Sometimes it's short exposures like for the moon (it's bright enough that 1/400th or faster works for that depending on what I'm doing), but sometimes, when doing deep space and meteor showers, I have to take into account that it might be a while and I run at 1 - 24 SECOND exposures, at 100 shots in a block. I do this because I want to make sure that I capture the streaks of light flying across the sky.
This wasn't the Perseids, this was the Lyrids, where I got a few shots of sky rocks doing their things. This one had a small piece of galaxy below it.
So if you do the math (I hate math), I can spend a few hours in a spot, late at night, shooting hundreds, if not thousands of photos.
So, when I find this beautiful spot that has this wonderful treeline that is bathed in moonlight to frame an open area of sky to show off the stars and possible fire balls and streaks in the sky... I get excited.
It was in the middle of nowhere off a rural highway, in the mountains, it was a trailhead, but I was about 11 miles from any town at all. I was excited, I got out of my vehicle, set up my equipment and took a couple test shots.
I was making sure to get it framed nicely, but I had the settings dialed in and position locked and ready to hopefully capture some sky magic
I was ready, it was getting close to 1am, I was about an hour and a half away from home, I was ready to fall into my meditation of night photography, where the whole world of nonsense disappears and all that is left is me, my camera, and the entire universe to look at.
So I rattled off that first shot of the series... and then it happened.
Headlights coming down the highway. That wouldn't normally bother me, but this night it did, because it was 1am, I was in the middle of nowhere, and what I heard was loud country music and giant tires... slowing down from going 55+ MPH.
They were stopping.
Great.
They turned into the trailhead parking lot, as you can see with the headlights in the bottom right corner spilling into the scene.
I can't believe they are stopping here at the trailhead... where I am sitting with all this gear pointed into the sky.
As it rolled passed me to the back of the lot towards the entrance of the trail, the smell of booze wafted by. Instincts kick in at that point, because I just don't want to be bothered with people during my alone time.
I start packing up gear, and tossing it in the back of the Subaru. I hear 2 of them arguing, one guy yelling out "Whatcha doin there with the camera?" and one woman saying really loud, "I have to pee or throw up, I can't tell".
I just don't want any part of it, and before they close the 100 feet between us, I'm already in the car and gone. I was bummed, because It was already late, and I would have to find another place... which I couldn't that late at night, and started the drive back home. Through winding backroads of nothing, until coming down a small mountain, and into another forest, I passed a couple houses, then it was dark forest.
I drove up a small hill and as I crested the hill, I saw lights.
"Hmm, maybe it's a town or gas station", I thought, seeing there was a roundabout coming up on the GPS.
Nope...
It was a roundabout... and as I drove through it... and headed home, I noticed something even sillier. 75 feet of road after my exit of the roundabout... there was.
A roundabout.
And it too was lit like the daytime.
None of it made sense, but I had to stop and take a photo, because I had noticed something at this weird double roundabout.
Tractor Trailers. 2 of them when I was driving through it. I thought that was weird, so I stopped, and looked at the map and saw NOTHING near the spot for miles.
Technically it was HWY 9, which if I took it all the way south would take me home to Alpharetta, just a lot slower and longer than getting back to 400.
But even though it was a major Highway, I had nothing on the map that would warrant traffic here, let alone large trucks. Let alone 2 Roundabouts in succession.
So I stopped and setup for a quick long exposure shot, which are my bread and butter shots, so the setup is easy to me. Within 3 minutes, I had my first truck come through!
I love the lights on big rigs, because they put an extra layer of light in the photo.
So, the light was a little obscuring the second roundabout that they came through but it was still great to get a shot I enjoyed (though it would have been so much better if he drove around past me for a complete S light bend).
And then, I heard another truck coming!
I was so excited.
I set up for a wider shot to really get both roundabouts in frame, and looking really nice in camera. And then I heard the tires slow up, and stop.
I turned and looked...
No, it wasn't the same drunk people from earlier (Thank God)... but... it was... an inebriated individual or just tired, as it was getting close to 230am at this point. But, while he wasn't annoying, he was interrupting my zen lol. He was perplexed at first until he realized I was taking photos.
That is why he stopped, he was an amateur photographer too after telling me his name, which I don't remember (I never remember names, my brain has a real hard time with them). He mentioned that he was up early to go watch the Perseids peak before he had to go to work (so he was probably tired), which was neat, but I just didn't have it in me.
I mentioned I was wrapping up and headed home as I had been out for a few hours already, and he got back in his truck and went on his way.
I got back home and was in shock really. Sure, it was Friday Night, but I was miles from a town that had a population of maybe a couple thousand max. Where even the gas stations closed at 9pm, on a friday. People just wandering in the night drunk on country roads (next time I'm calling the cops, because if I could SMELL the booze as they drove by, who knows how drunk they were). And eerily friendly people at 230am who stop when they see a stranger (mind you, I'm a giant dude, slightly muscular build, have resting serial killer face when I'm doing something I like, and was dressed in a sleeveless shirt and old ratty gym shorts... because I wanted to be comfortable.)
Another year and I have missed the Perseids, but at least I did get to see something this year, and I have a weird tale of drunk people in the woods of northern georgia.
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/the-perseids-peaked-i-saw-them-but-i-have-nothing-to-show-for-it/
This year, I decided to go for broke, I didn't want to have just a semi-neat shot of the sky with some streaks from the meteorites doing their thing. I wanted to really go for it.
With this in mind, I started doing some e-scouting (I'm going to do an article on that eventually, it's a huge time saver). I found 5 spots that I wanted to try, 3 I found on my own, 2 I found from crowdsourcing nature loving people in the area I befriended on social media.
My first location was on the shores of Lake Lanier. I was thinking to myself, "Near Full Moon to the south, it was 100% full the night before, but the sky was 100% full of clouds, however tonight is almost crystal clear, so if I can't see anything from the perseids to roughly north, I could flip around and get a great shot of the lake and the moon being ever present." Before we move on, that is the abbreviated thought I had, with ADHD you don't want to see the spiderweb of connections and correlations that go on. It looks like this basically:
Charlie Day in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Anyway, back to the adventure.
I had started heading north on GA400, a main artery that goes into the perimeter of Atlanta and eventually directly downtown. However, when you head north, you head away from the giant metropolis of Atlanta, into the unknown of the north.
The first stop, like I said, was Lake Lanier, which is known for a lot of things. It's where they filmed amazing things like Ozark, Blended, Hall Pass, and underrated, completely amazing Strip Club Massacre...(Sarcasm is really hard to convey in text)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_rhOtqq6S0
Remember, Atlanta is the "Hollywood of the South" so even really crappy movies get made here just like real Hollywood, it's not all Marvel Movies, Hunger Games, and Fast and Furious Movies here.
Lake Lanier can be an absolute beautiful place though and I had an idea for this great shot of at least SOMETHING on the water at night.
Something like this would have been great (even though this is noisy and low quality, there is sky, a meteorite, and a lake... nailed it Kathrine! Photo by Kathrine Birch on Pexels.com
What I got was about 20 kids in pickup trucks, lights on, and having a great time... Hard Pass. It was ok, I had a few more spots to go to, and I checked them out and were not open or had poor visibility of the north sky due to new construction in the area. (That is a drawback of doing E-Scouting).
But, I had one place that was recommended, and I knew it was about an hour away. It was far north, out by a little town called Dawsonville. There is a lot of nothing up that way besides mountains, rivers, a giant race track luxury experience, and at least 3-4 on the Bortle Scale. Remember the Bortle scale from that other post?
It's the Bortle Scale! Every night photographers friend on finding a quiet and dark place to work out amazing photos!
Anyway, this place was about a 3 to maybe 4, even with the Full Moon, it was probably around a 5, which is still great considering if I go outside my front door and look up, I get a 7. Which means I can see the Moon, Planets if they shine bright enough, and Sun during the day.
Setting up for night photography isn't exactly "easy" in terms of gear for me. I have a tripod and a camera (duh), a remote trigger, a monitor (a small 7 inch monitor helps when I zoom into the moon or some sort of heavenly body, so I can really focus tight), and a few little side things like a secondary tripod to use my phone to record timelapse of me or do astro timelapse photography.
This is the moon, it's on my little monitor, zoomed in digitally 10 times so I can focus tightly on the details of the giant satellite.
This is a time lapse of random stars, taken from my phone. It was the first time I tried it, kind of neat right?
All in all, it can take upwards of 15 minutes to get everything set up, 5 minutes to get dialed in with focus, settings, and such. Then I will, depending on the type of shot, take a LOT of photos. Sometimes it's short exposures like for the moon (it's bright enough that 1/400th or faster works for that depending on what I'm doing), but sometimes, when doing deep space and meteor showers, I have to take into account that it might be a while and I run at 1 - 24 SECOND exposures, at 100 shots in a block. I do this because I want to make sure that I capture the streaks of light flying across the sky.
This wasn't the Perseids, this was the Lyrids, where I got a few shots of sky rocks doing their things. This one had a small piece of galaxy below it.
So if you do the math (I hate math), I can spend a few hours in a spot, late at night, shooting hundreds, if not thousands of photos.
So, when I find this beautiful spot that has this wonderful treeline that is bathed in moonlight to frame an open area of sky to show off the stars and possible fire balls and streaks in the sky... I get excited.
It was in the middle of nowhere off a rural highway, in the mountains, it was a trailhead, but I was about 11 miles from any town at all. I was excited, I got out of my vehicle, set up my equipment and took a couple test shots.
I was making sure to get it framed nicely, but I had the settings dialed in and position locked and ready to hopefully capture some sky magic
I was ready, it was getting close to 1am, I was about an hour and a half away from home, I was ready to fall into my meditation of night photography, where the whole world of nonsense disappears and all that is left is me, my camera, and the entire universe to look at.
So I rattled off that first shot of the series... and then it happened.
Headlights coming down the highway. That wouldn't normally bother me, but this night it did, because it was 1am, I was in the middle of nowhere, and what I heard was loud country music and giant tires... slowing down from going 55+ MPH.
They were stopping.
Great.
They turned into the trailhead parking lot, as you can see with the headlights in the bottom right corner spilling into the scene.
I can't believe they are stopping here at the trailhead... where I am sitting with all this gear pointed into the sky.
As it rolled passed me to the back of the lot towards the entrance of the trail, the smell of booze wafted by. Instincts kick in at that point, because I just don't want to be bothered with people during my alone time.
I start packing up gear, and tossing it in the back of the Subaru. I hear 2 of them arguing, one guy yelling out "Whatcha doin there with the camera?" and one woman saying really loud, "I have to pee or throw up, I can't tell".
I just don't want any part of it, and before they close the 100 feet between us, I'm already in the car and gone. I was bummed, because It was already late, and I would have to find another place... which I couldn't that late at night, and started the drive back home. Through winding backroads of nothing, until coming down a small mountain, and into another forest, I passed a couple houses, then it was dark forest.
I drove up a small hill and as I crested the hill, I saw lights.
"Hmm, maybe it's a town or gas station", I thought, seeing there was a roundabout coming up on the GPS.
Nope...
It was a roundabout... and as I drove through it... and headed home, I noticed something even sillier. 75 feet of road after my exit of the roundabout... there was.
A roundabout.
And it too was lit like the daytime.
None of it made sense, but I had to stop and take a photo, because I had noticed something at this weird double roundabout.
Tractor Trailers. 2 of them when I was driving through it. I thought that was weird, so I stopped, and looked at the map and saw NOTHING near the spot for miles.
Technically it was HWY 9, which if I took it all the way south would take me home to Alpharetta, just a lot slower and longer than getting back to 400.
But even though it was a major Highway, I had nothing on the map that would warrant traffic here, let alone large trucks. Let alone 2 Roundabouts in succession.
So I stopped and setup for a quick long exposure shot, which are my bread and butter shots, so the setup is easy to me. Within 3 minutes, I had my first truck come through!
I love the lights on big rigs, because they put an extra layer of light in the photo.
So, the light was a little obscuring the second roundabout that they came through but it was still great to get a shot I enjoyed (though it would have been so much better if he drove around past me for a complete S light bend).
And then, I heard another truck coming!
I was so excited.
I set up for a wider shot to really get both roundabouts in frame, and looking really nice in camera. And then I heard the tires slow up, and stop.
I turned and looked...
No, it wasn't the same drunk people from earlier (Thank God)... but... it was... an inebriated individual or just tired, as it was getting close to 230am at this point. But, while he wasn't annoying, he was interrupting my zen lol. He was perplexed at first until he realized I was taking photos.
That is why he stopped, he was an amateur photographer too after telling me his name, which I don't remember (I never remember names, my brain has a real hard time with them). He mentioned that he was up early to go watch the Perseids peak before he had to go to work (so he was probably tired), which was neat, but I just didn't have it in me.
I mentioned I was wrapping up and headed home as I had been out for a few hours already, and he got back in his truck and went on his way.
I got back home and was in shock really. Sure, it was Friday Night, but I was miles from a town that had a population of maybe a couple thousand max. Where even the gas stations closed at 9pm, on a friday. People just wandering in the night drunk on country roads (next time I'm calling the cops, because if I could SMELL the booze as they drove by, who knows how drunk they were). And eerily friendly people at 230am who stop when they see a stranger (mind you, I'm a giant dude, slightly muscular build, have resting serial killer face when I'm doing something I like, and was dressed in a sleeveless shirt and old ratty gym shorts... because I wanted to be comfortable.)
Another year and I have missed the Perseids, but at least I did get to see something this year, and I have a weird tale of drunk people in the woods of northern georgia.
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/the-perseids-peaked-i-saw-them-but-i-have-nothing-to-show-for-it/
Friday, January 13, 2023
To ask about pugs, put a call out for pugs, specifically pugs is something you would expect of me. The psycho Pug Lover and Pug Dad.
I am starting to get funding on a project that is close to my heart, that will express my artistic photography, my love of photographing pugs, my need of rescuing and support pug rescues, and the joy that those pugs all bring to you all.
The project
The whole idea of this post and this idea is layered:
Reasons
- Pugs
Real Reasons
- I've wanted to bring my photography to the masses, and not just Digitally, because there is nothing like having printed work in your hands in a high quality book
- My love of pugs is one thing, my love of photography is another, my love of pug headshots is the perfect marriage of those passions.
- I am a board member of the Georgia Peach Pug Rescue. I want to help pugs obviously, so I wanted to not only have this as a means to make an income by having my work be bought by people, but taking proceeds of this book and taking it to the rescues out in the world, starting locally and eventually globally.
- I don't want to do this as a one off book, I will start with what I have, who I know here, and take it all over the globe, doing headshots of pugs for these books and to help those rescues with their fight to rescue more pugs.
- Eventually I want to make it a whole collection of photobooks, of different pets, different rescues. I want this project to be the jumping off point into an amazing world of helping animals and showcasing my talent of Pet Headshots.
So why am I looking for funding?
Why not just go to a publisher?
Well, I am, I have, and I will continue to. However, it may not be the way it goes. And I need to put this out in the ether as I get my proposals and submissions together for the larger publishers out. Because, a lot of photographers end up having to self Publish and spending around $5k - $10k getting their books designed, made, and mass produced.
This is a very real reality for me and it will be interesting to see if any of the 20 or so publishers I have written down are open to a Pug Headshot Photo Book.
So, I will refer back to this a few times, but today is the beginning. Today I am putting it out there.
And for right now:This is a casting call to all puggies who want to be in the book!
Feel free to contact me:
Go to my etsy shop and like the shop, if you've bought something from me, leave a glowing review! It will be much appreciated.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/SNGDesignCoDigital
Sign up for my Newsletter, I don't spam, I barely do 1 email a month. However, when I do, it's good information! Oh, bonus, you get a 20% off discount code to the shop just for signing up, so, kind of a win if you ask me!
https://mailchi.mp/b700.../sng-designco-digital-mailing-list
And stay tuned to my online courses on Thinkific. A lot of great things are coming to help people get into photography, take their own photography skills to the next level, and... not break the bank doing so.
https://theprofessionalamateur.thinkific.com/
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/a-casting-call-for-pugs-for-charity-and-more/
I am starting to get funding on a project that is close to my heart, that will express my artistic photography, my love of photographing pugs, my need of rescuing and support pug rescues, and the joy that those pugs all bring to you all.
The project
The whole idea of this post and this idea is layered:
Reasons
- Pugs
Real Reasons
- I've wanted to bring my photography to the masses, and not just Digitally, because there is nothing like having printed work in your hands in a high quality book
- My love of pugs is one thing, my love of photography is another, my love of pug headshots is the perfect marriage of those passions.
- I am a board member of the Georgia Peach Pug Rescue. I want to help pugs obviously, so I wanted to not only have this as a means to make an income by having my work be bought by people, but taking proceeds of this book and taking it to the rescues out in the world, starting locally and eventually globally.
- I don't want to do this as a one off book, I will start with what I have, who I know here, and take it all over the globe, doing headshots of pugs for these books and to help those rescues with their fight to rescue more pugs.
- Eventually I want to make it a whole collection of photobooks, of different pets, different rescues. I want this project to be the jumping off point into an amazing world of helping animals and showcasing my talent of Pet Headshots.
So why am I looking for funding?
Why not just go to a publisher?
Well, I am, I have, and I will continue to. However, it may not be the way it goes. And I need to put this out in the ether as I get my proposals and submissions together for the larger publishers out. Because, a lot of photographers end up having to self Publish and spending around $5k - $10k getting their books designed, made, and mass produced.
This is a very real reality for me and it will be interesting to see if any of the 20 or so publishers I have written down are open to a Pug Headshot Photo Book.
So, I will refer back to this a few times, but today is the beginning. Today I am putting it out there.
And for right now:This is a casting call to all puggies who want to be in the book!
Feel free to contact me:
Go to my etsy shop and like the shop, if you've bought something from me, leave a glowing review! It will be much appreciated.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/SNGDesignCoDigital
Sign up for my Newsletter, I don't spam, I barely do 1 email a month. However, when I do, it's good information! Oh, bonus, you get a 20% off discount code to the shop just for signing up, so, kind of a win if you ask me!
https://mailchi.mp/b700.../sng-designco-digital-mailing-list
And stay tuned to my online courses on Thinkific. A lot of great things are coming to help people get into photography, take their own photography skills to the next level, and... not break the bank doing so.
https://theprofessionalamateur.thinkific.com/
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/a-casting-call-for-pugs-for-charity-and-more/
Thursday, January 12, 2023
Something I had come across in my journey of building a photography empire is that I have dove in on a lot of different forms of classes, self help, and even just signing up for mailing lists (hey, sign up for mine for 20% off my Etsy shop...). I learned a lot of very VERY important lessons from a lot of great places. Most importantly, I have started implementing them in my shop up at:
This banner... was actually part of the amazing course on doing a makeover for my shop by Angie White
https://sngdesigncodigital.etsy.com/
So Angie White actually had a great course in giving your Etsy Account a Makeover. I jumped in, paid the money for it, and started in on it. Then had a week or two away, then came back and am finishing up my Etsy Makeover this week to showcase the important pieces I want to sell and more.
My friend, Angie, has always been into beautiful design. It’s kind of her thing. Both personally and professionally, she’s been creating beautiful things for years. And anyone who knows me, knows I went to school for Graphic Design... and don't like doing Graphic Design.
She used that design experience to open and grow a successful Etsy shop selling printables and downloadable content.
It dawned on her that "OMG What if Etsy sellers COULD make their shops look beautiful and cohesive without any design experience?"
So... she did that, and made my life 100% easier to create graphics, listings, and more.
Her course, Your E-Shop Makeover, is a phenomenal course filled with templates and tutorials that will fast track you to a cohesive brand.
If you're dedicated and have the time, you can do it in a SINGLE WEEKEND.
So, there is a TON of great info in this:
How to make your Etsy shop stand out with NO DESIGN EXPERIENCE NEEDED (I needed to Bold this one, because it's that important)
How to customize Canva templates to create your shop’s branding images, don't know what Canva is? That's ok! Download the free version and still be able to use the templates. These are all from her templates.
How to improve your listing images (those templates! so magic)
And a ton of little key tips here and there.
So if you’re ready to transform your Etsy shop, you’re going to absolutely love Your E-Shop Makeover.
But don’t sleep on this course… because if she decides to, she can raise the price... to like a billion dollars if she wants, because it's that good! (It's worth it for the templates alone!)
Yes this is an affiliate link. But after this I want to talk a little more about why I even jumped on the chance to be an affiliate for this.
https://sngdesignco--thecelebrationbird.thrivecart.com/your-eshop-makeover/
I've learned that there are a lot of great things out there. And I've learned that a lot of people don't have the certain fortitude to jump in and go for it on all these different courses, packages and what have you. Now, I'm not Mr. Moneybags (yet, that's future goals), but when I see these courses and packages, I tend to jump on it.
Before you ask me, "So are you going to post about all of them and show affiliate links to all of them just to make money?".
Yes!
And NO
That No is so important. I want to post about all of the amazing content I find that helps me and in turn can help you in different ways.
So NO, there won't be affiliate links in every post about a service or what have you. There WILL be an affiliate link on products and services that I actually use and enjoy. More importantly, that I found they were actually worth the time, money and effort to use.
So, https://sngdesignco--thecelebrationbird.thrivecart.com/your-eshop-makeover/ is one of them.
Not just because of the positive results (EVEN HAVEN'T FINISHED YET) I've seen, but Angie herself was kind enough to reach out after I had questions on what to do next. She gave an honest critique, honest feedback, and suggestions to help create even better posts.
So, yes, I support this one completely, because Angie made a quick and easy course to learn about how to make your shop better.
I can't iterate how great that is, because she made it simple and easy.
I don't have a rating system nor do I want one, but I will leave you with this.
I RECOMMEND HER COURSE
https://www.stefanglazer.com/information/your-e-shop-makeover-its-not-just-to-make-your-etsy-shop-pretty/
This banner... was actually part of the amazing course on doing a makeover for my shop by Angie White
https://sngdesigncodigital.etsy.com/
So Angie White actually had a great course in giving your Etsy Account a Makeover. I jumped in, paid the money for it, and started in on it. Then had a week or two away, then came back and am finishing up my Etsy Makeover this week to showcase the important pieces I want to sell and more.
My friend, Angie, has always been into beautiful design. It’s kind of her thing. Both personally and professionally, she’s been creating beautiful things for years. And anyone who knows me, knows I went to school for Graphic Design... and don't like doing Graphic Design.
She used that design experience to open and grow a successful Etsy shop selling printables and downloadable content.
It dawned on her that "OMG What if Etsy sellers COULD make their shops look beautiful and cohesive without any design experience?"
So... she did that, and made my life 100% easier to create graphics, listings, and more.
Her course, Your E-Shop Makeover, is a phenomenal course filled with templates and tutorials that will fast track you to a cohesive brand.
If you're dedicated and have the time, you can do it in a SINGLE WEEKEND.
So, there is a TON of great info in this:
How to make your Etsy shop stand out with NO DESIGN EXPERIENCE NEEDED (I needed to Bold this one, because it's that important)
How to customize Canva templates to create your shop’s branding images, don't know what Canva is? That's ok! Download the free version and still be able to use the templates. These are all from her templates.
How to improve your listing images (those templates! so magic)
And a ton of little key tips here and there.
So if you’re ready to transform your Etsy shop, you’re going to absolutely love Your E-Shop Makeover.
But don’t sleep on this course… because if she decides to, she can raise the price... to like a billion dollars if she wants, because it's that good! (It's worth it for the templates alone!)
Yes this is an affiliate link. But after this I want to talk a little more about why I even jumped on the chance to be an affiliate for this.
https://sngdesignco--thecelebrationbird.thrivecart.com/your-eshop-makeover/
I've learned that there are a lot of great things out there. And I've learned that a lot of people don't have the certain fortitude to jump in and go for it on all these different courses, packages and what have you. Now, I'm not Mr. Moneybags (yet, that's future goals), but when I see these courses and packages, I tend to jump on it.
Before you ask me, "So are you going to post about all of them and show affiliate links to all of them just to make money?".
Yes!
And NO
That No is so important. I want to post about all of the amazing content I find that helps me and in turn can help you in different ways.
So NO, there won't be affiliate links in every post about a service or what have you. There WILL be an affiliate link on products and services that I actually use and enjoy. More importantly, that I found they were actually worth the time, money and effort to use.
So, https://sngdesignco--thecelebrationbird.thrivecart.com/your-eshop-makeover/ is one of them.
Not just because of the positive results (EVEN HAVEN'T FINISHED YET) I've seen, but Angie herself was kind enough to reach out after I had questions on what to do next. She gave an honest critique, honest feedback, and suggestions to help create even better posts.
So, yes, I support this one completely, because Angie made a quick and easy course to learn about how to make your shop better.
I can't iterate how great that is, because she made it simple and easy.
I don't have a rating system nor do I want one, but I will leave you with this.
I RECOMMEND HER COURSE
https://www.stefanglazer.com/information/your-e-shop-makeover-its-not-just-to-make-your-etsy-shop-pretty/
Wednesday, January 11, 2023
After what seemed like a Life-Long relationship (13 friggin years) with Dreamhost, has come to an end. After a month of continually having issues on their server side, I finally got my main bread and butter transferred to a new host. You're here now! You actually clicked a link and it didn't time out. It's running a lot smoother, and I have a good support team, and so far, this move to Skystra has been a beautiful beginning to beautiful and loving friendship. But it's not over yet, I still have 6 more domains to move here, and it's daunting but Skystra seems up to the job and always answering me quickly and humanly.
That is something I really need to say, HUMAN.
Fred is the person I've been working with since starting this move, and Fred is from the migration team. He is the one who had been in contact with me, sending updates through their ticket system (which is so smooth and easy to use) whenever he had issues or completed a task.
I know Fred did this because I would get ticket updates signed by him.However, during this month of hell that Dreamhost had put me through, I have no idea who is working on it. I also have no idea if anyone actually IS working on it. I received the same canned document... Any other Dreamhost people out there know the one:
I received this email, and roughly 40 others like it.
This is just from the last 30 days... roughly 80 dreamhost emails... 10 of them were "Domain Registration Reminders" a few were me replying... a couple Let's Encrypt ones... And about 40 Replies with the canned statement
Why even talk about this in a blog post? Because I need this to be seen for people that might try and hop on the Dreamhost train because of their... I don't even know why anymore, everyone has some sort of really good priced shared hosting plan, proposed amazing uptime, and more blah blah.
I don't want anyone to have to go through a month of lost revenue and lost everything for that matter.
The straw was today when I received this email:
Hello Stefan,
Thank you for reaching out to us on Social Media! I noticed your tweet
from @ghengis317 and wanted to follow up with you here! I apologize for
the issues you are experiencing and any inconvenience it has caused.
Customer websites impacted by the iad1-shared-d12-02 Connectivity
incident are online and all customer data is accessible while the
migration process continues in the background. The data migration and
balancing process for shared hosting server “iad1-shared-d12-02” is
approximately 3/4 complete.
Support technicians are available at all hours to provide one-on-one
assistance, whether you have any questions regarding this incident or
need help related to your website or business.
Thanks,
Matt C
Which is a funny email to receive when you tweet about something. So let's see what I was talking about when I was greeted with this odd email:
https://twitter.com/ghengis317/status/1556381641643286530
https://twitter.com/ghengis317/status/1556382253416054785
August 7th AUGUST 7TH
https://twitter.com/ghengis317/status/1557090517430812675
So... I have reached out and had the Skystra people
START THE TRANSFER ON ALL OF MY SITES TODAY.
I'm going to add an affiliate link here for Skystra
- Because I can
- Because They Offered Me A Link To Do This
- Because Fuck Dreamhost
And if, for any reason Skystra Let's me down like Dreamhost... I'll be sure to write about it as well.
I don't even know what you get with this link, but hey, it's a referral link!
https://ac.skystra.com/aff.php?aff=562
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/im-done-with-dreamhost-hello-skystra/
That is something I really need to say, HUMAN.
Fred is the person I've been working with since starting this move, and Fred is from the migration team. He is the one who had been in contact with me, sending updates through their ticket system (which is so smooth and easy to use) whenever he had issues or completed a task.
I know Fred did this because I would get ticket updates signed by him.However, during this month of hell that Dreamhost had put me through, I have no idea who is working on it. I also have no idea if anyone actually IS working on it. I received the same canned document... Any other Dreamhost people out there know the one:
I received this email, and roughly 40 others like it.
This is just from the last 30 days... roughly 80 dreamhost emails... 10 of them were "Domain Registration Reminders" a few were me replying... a couple Let's Encrypt ones... And about 40 Replies with the canned statement
Why even talk about this in a blog post? Because I need this to be seen for people that might try and hop on the Dreamhost train because of their... I don't even know why anymore, everyone has some sort of really good priced shared hosting plan, proposed amazing uptime, and more blah blah.
I don't want anyone to have to go through a month of lost revenue and lost everything for that matter.
The straw was today when I received this email:
Hello Stefan,
Thank you for reaching out to us on Social Media! I noticed your tweet
from @ghengis317 and wanted to follow up with you here! I apologize for
the issues you are experiencing and any inconvenience it has caused.
Customer websites impacted by the iad1-shared-d12-02 Connectivity
incident are online and all customer data is accessible while the
migration process continues in the background. The data migration and
balancing process for shared hosting server “iad1-shared-d12-02” is
approximately 3/4 complete.
Support technicians are available at all hours to provide one-on-one
assistance, whether you have any questions regarding this incident or
need help related to your website or business.
Thanks,
Matt C
Which is a funny email to receive when you tweet about something. So let's see what I was talking about when I was greeted with this odd email:
https://twitter.com/ghengis317/status/1556381641643286530
https://twitter.com/ghengis317/status/1556382253416054785
August 7th AUGUST 7TH
https://twitter.com/ghengis317/status/1557090517430812675
So... I have reached out and had the Skystra people
START THE TRANSFER ON ALL OF MY SITES TODAY.
I'm going to add an affiliate link here for Skystra
- Because I can
- Because They Offered Me A Link To Do This
- Because Fuck Dreamhost
And if, for any reason Skystra Let's me down like Dreamhost... I'll be sure to write about it as well.
I don't even know what you get with this link, but hey, it's a referral link!
https://ac.skystra.com/aff.php?aff=562
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/im-done-with-dreamhost-hello-skystra/
Tuesday, January 10, 2023
I'm a Photographer. I'm a Fine Art Photographer. I'm a Pet Portrait Photographer. I could go on with all of the titles that I can have, however, what I have problems showing people is that I am here to help other photographers who are just starting out or going forward in their new career of being a Photographer.
Having a niche is good, knowing who and what you want to do with your skills is actually a huge step in the right direction. I had talked about my "Photography Empire" and what I want to do to help other photographers. It seems widespread, but it's really a niche. While I know I can help veteran and other professional photographers with my work, I am really focusing on people who are starting to take photography seriously or even if they are looking at taking photography to a place where they get paid for their work.
That is the very real side, I have a target to talk to and go to. I have products, services, and more that are geared towards that target audience. That's what a lot of people don't seem to have, they want to be a professional in some sort of niche or even a broader profession. However, they don't know how to make their services available and accessible for them. They also don't even know how or where to find these people to talk and sell to.
It's something I struggled with continuously over the past few years, the "Who and What" am I doing.
I just want to make it loud and clear, before you get into business...
FIGURE OUT WHO AND WHAT YOUR SERVICES ARE FOR
I just wanted that to be loud and bold for you to remember. It's so important, and once you start down that path with those 2 things in your arsenal, you will already be 10 steps ahead of the game.
If you already know this, and are already running a successful business, then more power to you! I'm happy you did, that isn't sarcasm either, this is something I want all small business owners to get on.
With all that being said, I will get to doing what I should be doing every single post, plugging my wares.
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/the-very-real-side-of-being-a-small-business-owner-in-a-niche/
Having a niche is good, knowing who and what you want to do with your skills is actually a huge step in the right direction. I had talked about my "Photography Empire" and what I want to do to help other photographers. It seems widespread, but it's really a niche. While I know I can help veteran and other professional photographers with my work, I am really focusing on people who are starting to take photography seriously or even if they are looking at taking photography to a place where they get paid for their work.
That is the very real side, I have a target to talk to and go to. I have products, services, and more that are geared towards that target audience. That's what a lot of people don't seem to have, they want to be a professional in some sort of niche or even a broader profession. However, they don't know how to make their services available and accessible for them. They also don't even know how or where to find these people to talk and sell to.
It's something I struggled with continuously over the past few years, the "Who and What" am I doing.
I just want to make it loud and clear, before you get into business...
FIGURE OUT WHO AND WHAT YOUR SERVICES ARE FOR
I just wanted that to be loud and bold for you to remember. It's so important, and once you start down that path with those 2 things in your arsenal, you will already be 10 steps ahead of the game.
If you already know this, and are already running a successful business, then more power to you! I'm happy you did, that isn't sarcasm either, this is something I want all small business owners to get on.
With all that being said, I will get to doing what I should be doing every single post, plugging my wares.
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/the-very-real-side-of-being-a-small-business-owner-in-a-niche/
Monday, January 9, 2023
I have set out to create a Photography Empire. What does that mean? Most of you know I'm a photographer, but there are a lot of photographers out in this world. What I had set out is to be able to use my skills, knowledge, and love of photography, to create a sustainable and constant stream of income on different fronts.
This is the goal of my empire - Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com
In other words, I want to live comfortably following my passion.
It seems simple enough, but it actually takes a lot more planning than you would think. Following your passion is something I tell everyone to do, because if you follow your passion into making a living, you will feel fulfilled in life, knowing that everything you do is a labor of love for your craft.
This dude found his passion in making speakers for smartphones intricately, go dude go! Photo by Craig Adderley on Pexels.com
So, what did the "Professional Amateur" / "SNG Design Co Digital" empire look like? I'll list some pieces to this puzzle and give you links to see the avenues it all has gone.
- Photography! - At the core of my or any photography empire is photography. That seems like a no-brainer, but some people do forget all about it.
- Creating tools for other photographers - This one was a no-brainer for me, because I had amassed tools such as presets, overlays, and more in over 20 years of photo editing, predating my time as a professional photographer to when just an image manipulator who was in the graphic design space.
- Teaching Photography - The old adage is "Those who can't, teach", which is complete bullshit. Some of the best teachers that I had in the design world, also were in the design world. So, why not take all the knowledge, short cuts, and tips I have gained over the past decade and share them in easy to swallow videos and slides? This one takes a little more to create, but by August 15th my first free course will be available on Thinkific, and more paid courses to follow.
- Social Media - I love social media, sometimes. However, what is important is to have your craft and passion available to be seen on all platforms. You don't have to pigeon hole into one platform, through apps and scheduling you can share your content on all platforms with barely any work beyond setting up the applications.
- Selling Digital and Print copies of Photos - While this seemed simple, it really wasn't. I had dove into NFTs and that was fine, but that is not the only place I want to be as a Fine Art Photographer, I want to diversify a little more, so I started offering ways to buy digital copies of my work and be able to get prints made as well.
- Blogging - You're reading it right now! But, I also get to give my opinion or take on certain topics. Post reviews of new gear I get. Share insights into the paths of photography I walk... or complain that my Webhost is garbage and keeps crashing. This is also a place where, due to traffic, I get advertisement revenue, and I'll tell you if any links I put up are affiliate links (not all are believe it or not), and you see ads on the site, they help pay the bills.
- Networking - I do this through social media, like most people, but I also have an email list that are subscribed to my work here on the site that goes out to a little over 1,200 people. I also have an email list that is more geared toward big announcements, sales, and specials from all of my other pieces of the puzzle.
- Stock Photography - While it might seem like getting paid $0.30 for one of your photos through shutterstock might seem like nothing, I have 10s of thousands of shots that are meant for that world. Even though they aren't all top tier work for stock photography, most are. Even if I sold 1 copy of all the photos I am going to be adding (so far only have added about 100) shutterstock, I would make about 6 grand. Some images get pulled a lot, and before you say that is a pipe dream, I already have made about 3 dollars since yesterday.
- The Podcast - While The Professional Amateur Podcast may not be a podcast based on Photography, it IS a podcast based on following your passion and the stories of those who have. It's a great way to learn that everyone out there answered the calling to their passion and went ahead and followed through on them to great success.
So, those are the major pieces to the puzzle to my Photography Empire. THere will always be more, but it's part of the fun in building an empire, finding more pieces to fit in the puzzle to get your to your goal.
This image really doesn't make sense here, but it made me laugh because I looked up "hitting your goal" and got this photo, so there is that. I love stock photography. Photo by Pineapple Supply Co. on Pexels.com
Here is to the future, and the future of my empire, which I thank you all for being a part of!
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/the-puzzle-of-creating-a-photography-empire/
This is the goal of my empire - Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com
In other words, I want to live comfortably following my passion.
It seems simple enough, but it actually takes a lot more planning than you would think. Following your passion is something I tell everyone to do, because if you follow your passion into making a living, you will feel fulfilled in life, knowing that everything you do is a labor of love for your craft.
This dude found his passion in making speakers for smartphones intricately, go dude go! Photo by Craig Adderley on Pexels.com
So, what did the "Professional Amateur" / "SNG Design Co Digital" empire look like? I'll list some pieces to this puzzle and give you links to see the avenues it all has gone.
- Photography! - At the core of my or any photography empire is photography. That seems like a no-brainer, but some people do forget all about it.
- Creating tools for other photographers - This one was a no-brainer for me, because I had amassed tools such as presets, overlays, and more in over 20 years of photo editing, predating my time as a professional photographer to when just an image manipulator who was in the graphic design space.
- Teaching Photography - The old adage is "Those who can't, teach", which is complete bullshit. Some of the best teachers that I had in the design world, also were in the design world. So, why not take all the knowledge, short cuts, and tips I have gained over the past decade and share them in easy to swallow videos and slides? This one takes a little more to create, but by August 15th my first free course will be available on Thinkific, and more paid courses to follow.
- Social Media - I love social media, sometimes. However, what is important is to have your craft and passion available to be seen on all platforms. You don't have to pigeon hole into one platform, through apps and scheduling you can share your content on all platforms with barely any work beyond setting up the applications.
- Selling Digital and Print copies of Photos - While this seemed simple, it really wasn't. I had dove into NFTs and that was fine, but that is not the only place I want to be as a Fine Art Photographer, I want to diversify a little more, so I started offering ways to buy digital copies of my work and be able to get prints made as well.
- Blogging - You're reading it right now! But, I also get to give my opinion or take on certain topics. Post reviews of new gear I get. Share insights into the paths of photography I walk... or complain that my Webhost is garbage and keeps crashing. This is also a place where, due to traffic, I get advertisement revenue, and I'll tell you if any links I put up are affiliate links (not all are believe it or not), and you see ads on the site, they help pay the bills.
- Networking - I do this through social media, like most people, but I also have an email list that are subscribed to my work here on the site that goes out to a little over 1,200 people. I also have an email list that is more geared toward big announcements, sales, and specials from all of my other pieces of the puzzle.
- Stock Photography - While it might seem like getting paid $0.30 for one of your photos through shutterstock might seem like nothing, I have 10s of thousands of shots that are meant for that world. Even though they aren't all top tier work for stock photography, most are. Even if I sold 1 copy of all the photos I am going to be adding (so far only have added about 100) shutterstock, I would make about 6 grand. Some images get pulled a lot, and before you say that is a pipe dream, I already have made about 3 dollars since yesterday.
- The Podcast - While The Professional Amateur Podcast may not be a podcast based on Photography, it IS a podcast based on following your passion and the stories of those who have. It's a great way to learn that everyone out there answered the calling to their passion and went ahead and followed through on them to great success.
So, those are the major pieces to the puzzle to my Photography Empire. THere will always be more, but it's part of the fun in building an empire, finding more pieces to fit in the puzzle to get your to your goal.
This image really doesn't make sense here, but it made me laugh because I looked up "hitting your goal" and got this photo, so there is that. I love stock photography. Photo by Pineapple Supply Co. on Pexels.com
Here is to the future, and the future of my empire, which I thank you all for being a part of!
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/the-puzzle-of-creating-a-photography-empire/
Sunday, January 8, 2023
I had been getting on a real roll at the beginning of the month with getting content out to people on all fronts. However, a couple weeks ago, my website host Dreamhost, literally shit the bed. I've been on their shared hosting for over a decade. It's never given me an issue, even on my other sites that had garnered more traffic, then it was this recent set of issues, where I had a lot of traffic due to a good blog post, it all seemed to come to a head as if it was my site that was the issue.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com
I had jumped through 100 hoops with my host, trashed my website (it looks nothing like before), stripped off my plugins to make my life easier for creating content... and found out after a almost 2 weeks.That it was their fault and nothing to do with my issues. It was noted as of July 24th when it started happening around July 11th.
It's still an issue.
I still have a lot of problems.
I want to go forward and just put as much together and hopefully schedule it and post it. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't. I do know my advertising revenue from google is down to 0, which is really great when you're trying to make a living from creating content.
Photo by Robert Nagy on Pexels.com
So, hopefully things get resolved, and more regular content will be coming.
https://www.stefanglazer.com/information/frustrated-by-dreamhost-not-being-able-bring-you-content/
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com
I had jumped through 100 hoops with my host, trashed my website (it looks nothing like before), stripped off my plugins to make my life easier for creating content... and found out after a almost 2 weeks.That it was their fault and nothing to do with my issues. It was noted as of July 24th when it started happening around July 11th.
It's still an issue.
I still have a lot of problems.
I want to go forward and just put as much together and hopefully schedule it and post it. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't. I do know my advertising revenue from google is down to 0, which is really great when you're trying to make a living from creating content.
Photo by Robert Nagy on Pexels.com
So, hopefully things get resolved, and more regular content will be coming.
https://www.stefanglazer.com/information/frustrated-by-dreamhost-not-being-able-bring-you-content/
Saturday, January 7, 2023
There are plenty of different guides out there in the world. However, I want to put together something quick in a list form to help you make sure you are prepared for your first shoot or future shoots.
Photo by Md Iftekhar Uddin Emon on Pexels.com
I am currently putting together a whole Photographers Kit for digital planners and printables that will make life so much easier for you all. What will be in it?
- Photoshoot Workflows for different Photoshoots
- Client Sheets to keep track of client information and shoot type
- Goals sheet to keep track of business, client shoot tallying, money
- Location Scouting Sheet to keep a running list of locations you have shot at and the positives, negatives, and points of interest.
- Gear Check Lists for different types shoots
- Crew Sheet if you have a friend shooting with you or an assistant
- Forms, Contracts, Waivers, and Releases.
Just for the contracts and releases alone, I know people charge upward of $100 for those, but I plan on making a huge digital and downloadable planner affordable and accessible for under $25.
Check out the Etsy shop where I have a bunch of tools and tips for Photographers here!
So, what tips do I have for you for free right now? Let's go over some basics first.
Do you have a camera? Good! You can now have a Photography Business. Do you have a high end phone with a decent camera? Also Good! You can now have a Photography Business. Yes, it seems silly, but the gear doesn't matter anymore when it comes to starting your business.
Photo by Lisa on Pexels.com
Do you know what you want to shoot? Do you have dreams of shooting weddings, engagements, and couples? Maybe you just like the professional feel of doing headshots. Perhaps you are all in on Pets! (like I am haha). When you have a niche you love and want to pursue it, it's a huge step in the right direction. Are you unsure what you want to do as a photographer? Try it all out!
So you have a camera and you know what you want to photograph. What now? You need clients! Talk to friends and family, go to networking events and businesses that might need your services, and of course post on social media.
Photo by Tracy Le Blanc on Pexels.com
How do you convince these potential clients to pay your for your services? Invest in a free web portfolio that has 5 - 10 of your BEST photos from different shoots you've done, paid or not. The cream of the crop in terms of quality is what you want, not multiples of the same subject.
Wait, wait wait... you're getting mad at me because I told you to get clients and have a portfolio. How do you have a portfolio without clients? The easiest way to do that, for free for yourself or family! And let them know that this free gift will help you grow as a business, and then in future they have to PAY FULL PRICE. Because your time is valuable and no one rides the photography train for free!
There are a ton of other pieces out there to do, but you just want to start and get the ball rolling. In the future, I'll talk about more in depth things like how to scout locations, how to create certain feels and looks for portraits, or even what websites to use for clients photos from free to premium.
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/starting-a-photography-business-i-have-some-tips-for-you/
Photo by Md Iftekhar Uddin Emon on Pexels.com
I am currently putting together a whole Photographers Kit for digital planners and printables that will make life so much easier for you all. What will be in it?
- Photoshoot Workflows for different Photoshoots
- Client Sheets to keep track of client information and shoot type
- Goals sheet to keep track of business, client shoot tallying, money
- Location Scouting Sheet to keep a running list of locations you have shot at and the positives, negatives, and points of interest.
- Gear Check Lists for different types shoots
- Crew Sheet if you have a friend shooting with you or an assistant
- Forms, Contracts, Waivers, and Releases.
Just for the contracts and releases alone, I know people charge upward of $100 for those, but I plan on making a huge digital and downloadable planner affordable and accessible for under $25.
Check out the Etsy shop where I have a bunch of tools and tips for Photographers here!
So, what tips do I have for you for free right now? Let's go over some basics first.
Do you have a camera? Good! You can now have a Photography Business. Do you have a high end phone with a decent camera? Also Good! You can now have a Photography Business. Yes, it seems silly, but the gear doesn't matter anymore when it comes to starting your business.
Photo by Lisa on Pexels.com
Do you know what you want to shoot? Do you have dreams of shooting weddings, engagements, and couples? Maybe you just like the professional feel of doing headshots. Perhaps you are all in on Pets! (like I am haha). When you have a niche you love and want to pursue it, it's a huge step in the right direction. Are you unsure what you want to do as a photographer? Try it all out!
So you have a camera and you know what you want to photograph. What now? You need clients! Talk to friends and family, go to networking events and businesses that might need your services, and of course post on social media.
Photo by Tracy Le Blanc on Pexels.com
How do you convince these potential clients to pay your for your services? Invest in a free web portfolio that has 5 - 10 of your BEST photos from different shoots you've done, paid or not. The cream of the crop in terms of quality is what you want, not multiples of the same subject.
Wait, wait wait... you're getting mad at me because I told you to get clients and have a portfolio. How do you have a portfolio without clients? The easiest way to do that, for free for yourself or family! And let them know that this free gift will help you grow as a business, and then in future they have to PAY FULL PRICE. Because your time is valuable and no one rides the photography train for free!
There are a ton of other pieces out there to do, but you just want to start and get the ball rolling. In the future, I'll talk about more in depth things like how to scout locations, how to create certain feels and looks for portraits, or even what websites to use for clients photos from free to premium.
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/starting-a-photography-business-i-have-some-tips-for-you/
Friday, January 6, 2023
Living on the east coast, especially the south, is frustrating, it’s hot and humid during the summer, which can wreak havoc on your equipment. What is really frustrating is the light pollution, it makes my life impossible to catch true night photos.
This is a light pollution map, there is a blue dot, that is where I live… it makes life hell for night/astro photography.
What is pretty insane about this map, if you look, there are a few “dark sky sites” about 6 – 10 (yes 10) hours away from me.
- In Georgia! Where I live! Stephen C Foster State Park – See more informationCaveat, it’s a swamp, and when a lot of great astrological happenings are going on, it’s during the summer. Let’s do the math. Swamp + Summer + Georgia = Dead from mosquitos, ruined gear from fogging/condensation, and… it’s a damn swamp! – 6 hours away
- Next UP… WEST VIRGINIA Spruce Knob – See more informationCaveat, it’s West Virginia… seriously – 10.5 hours away
- OOH THIS ONE IS SO CLOSE… Deerlick Astronomy Village – See more informationCaveat, you need a membership, packages are roughly upward of $200 a month for non-commercial photography use in a shack, where you’re going to be surrounded by a few other shacks with other people doing photography and astro gazing. – 2.5 hours away
- The first real possibility, Buffalo National River – See more informationCaveat, it is in Arkansas, but the upside is that I have driven through this area at night on my way back from Missouri. And there is a stretch of about 80 miles of highway and back roads in northern AR and southern MO that have bortle scale 1 or 2 max. – 9.5 hours to there, but 8 hours to a town that is surrounded by darkness and has lodging that is way cheaper than any airbnb. (I only know because I stayed there overnight)
I mentioned BORTLE SCALE, this is that scale
So where am I on this scale currently?
This is the park by my home in Alpharetta Georgia
Bortle Class 7… what is the difference between Class 7 and Class 1 or 2?
Credit: Harun Mehmedinovic http://bit.ly/2LDbTe4
It makes all the difference in the damn world.So what does that mean? It means that near the new moon, I need to figure out if it will be feesible to spend a few days in Arkansas, the closest Dark Sky area that has open fields and mountains to be the backdrop. Spending a majority of the night outside, where it won’t be as disgusting temp and humidity wise.
So, I want to plan a trip out to the Cottonwood Inn in Salem Arkansas (I had driven by it, it looked clean, friendly, etc.) It was in the middle of nowhere, yet the town has places to grab a bite, and there is a Walmart 20 minutes up the road in case I need any supplies. There is literally NOTHING for miles in either direction of the town, or after the walmart.
I have a run of the entirety of northeast Arkansas or southern Missouri with no light pollution, the only other places I’ve had this type of freedom of light pollution is out west in the desert.
So, when could i go?
I would need/want to go closer and through a new moon. Here are my options to the end of the year.
July 28th – Might be cutting it too close – Rates would be 65 a night- Roughly $180 for the stay.August 27th – Possibility, though may have other plans for this weekend – Rates would be roughly $50 a night – roughly $150 for the stay.September 25th – Higher Probability – $50 a night – $150 for the stay. This would give me ample time to dial in my photography with the telescope, not just the wider shots with the camera.October 25th – Decent probability – Still $50 a night and $150 for the stay. It’s later in the year, and would have to see temps and if I would need to bring lens/mirror warmer in case it is too cold.Then these two dates are right out, holidays and such.November 27thDecember 23rd
In the infamous words of Mona-Lisa Saperstein – “MONEY PWEEZE” Pexels.com
So, if you want to help me get there so I can turn out a lot of amazing photos and get them printed and sold to admirers all over the world? Donate here!https://www.venmo.com/u/Stefan-Glazerhttps://paypal.me/stefanglazer
I’m flipping a coin of possibly going September or October for this. But I have been talking and talking about doing a photography trip like this for years, I just never followed through.
This year will be different.
Go to my etsy shop and like the shop, if you’ve bought something from me, leave a glowing review! It will be much appreciated.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/SNGDesignCoDigital
Sign up for my Newsletter, I don’t spam, I barely do 1 email a month. However, when I do, it’s good information! Oh, bonus, you get a 20% off discount code to the shop just for signing up, so, kind of a win if you ask me!
https://mailchi.mp/b700…/sng-designco-digital-mailing-list
And stay tuned to my online courses on Thinkific. A lot of great things are coming to help people get into photography, take their own photography skills to the next level, and… not break the bank doing so.
https://theprofessionalamateur.thinkific.com/
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/dark-skies-its-not-something-philosophical-its-deeply-sought-after/
This is a light pollution map, there is a blue dot, that is where I live… it makes life hell for night/astro photography.
What is pretty insane about this map, if you look, there are a few “dark sky sites” about 6 – 10 (yes 10) hours away from me.
- In Georgia! Where I live! Stephen C Foster State Park – See more informationCaveat, it’s a swamp, and when a lot of great astrological happenings are going on, it’s during the summer. Let’s do the math. Swamp + Summer + Georgia = Dead from mosquitos, ruined gear from fogging/condensation, and… it’s a damn swamp! – 6 hours away
- Next UP… WEST VIRGINIA Spruce Knob – See more informationCaveat, it’s West Virginia… seriously – 10.5 hours away
- OOH THIS ONE IS SO CLOSE… Deerlick Astronomy Village – See more informationCaveat, you need a membership, packages are roughly upward of $200 a month for non-commercial photography use in a shack, where you’re going to be surrounded by a few other shacks with other people doing photography and astro gazing. – 2.5 hours away
- The first real possibility, Buffalo National River – See more informationCaveat, it is in Arkansas, but the upside is that I have driven through this area at night on my way back from Missouri. And there is a stretch of about 80 miles of highway and back roads in northern AR and southern MO that have bortle scale 1 or 2 max. – 9.5 hours to there, but 8 hours to a town that is surrounded by darkness and has lodging that is way cheaper than any airbnb. (I only know because I stayed there overnight)
I mentioned BORTLE SCALE, this is that scale
So where am I on this scale currently?
This is the park by my home in Alpharetta Georgia
Bortle Class 7… what is the difference between Class 7 and Class 1 or 2?
Credit: Harun Mehmedinovic http://bit.ly/2LDbTe4
It makes all the difference in the damn world.So what does that mean? It means that near the new moon, I need to figure out if it will be feesible to spend a few days in Arkansas, the closest Dark Sky area that has open fields and mountains to be the backdrop. Spending a majority of the night outside, where it won’t be as disgusting temp and humidity wise.
So, I want to plan a trip out to the Cottonwood Inn in Salem Arkansas (I had driven by it, it looked clean, friendly, etc.) It was in the middle of nowhere, yet the town has places to grab a bite, and there is a Walmart 20 minutes up the road in case I need any supplies. There is literally NOTHING for miles in either direction of the town, or after the walmart.
I have a run of the entirety of northeast Arkansas or southern Missouri with no light pollution, the only other places I’ve had this type of freedom of light pollution is out west in the desert.
So, when could i go?
I would need/want to go closer and through a new moon. Here are my options to the end of the year.
July 28th – Might be cutting it too close – Rates would be 65 a night- Roughly $180 for the stay.August 27th – Possibility, though may have other plans for this weekend – Rates would be roughly $50 a night – roughly $150 for the stay.September 25th – Higher Probability – $50 a night – $150 for the stay. This would give me ample time to dial in my photography with the telescope, not just the wider shots with the camera.October 25th – Decent probability – Still $50 a night and $150 for the stay. It’s later in the year, and would have to see temps and if I would need to bring lens/mirror warmer in case it is too cold.Then these two dates are right out, holidays and such.November 27thDecember 23rd
In the infamous words of Mona-Lisa Saperstein – “MONEY PWEEZE” Pexels.com
So, if you want to help me get there so I can turn out a lot of amazing photos and get them printed and sold to admirers all over the world? Donate here!https://www.venmo.com/u/Stefan-Glazerhttps://paypal.me/stefanglazer
I’m flipping a coin of possibly going September or October for this. But I have been talking and talking about doing a photography trip like this for years, I just never followed through.
This year will be different.
Go to my etsy shop and like the shop, if you’ve bought something from me, leave a glowing review! It will be much appreciated.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/SNGDesignCoDigital
Sign up for my Newsletter, I don’t spam, I barely do 1 email a month. However, when I do, it’s good information! Oh, bonus, you get a 20% off discount code to the shop just for signing up, so, kind of a win if you ask me!
https://mailchi.mp/b700…/sng-designco-digital-mailing-list
And stay tuned to my online courses on Thinkific. A lot of great things are coming to help people get into photography, take their own photography skills to the next level, and… not break the bank doing so.
https://theprofessionalamateur.thinkific.com/
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/dark-skies-its-not-something-philosophical-its-deeply-sought-after/
Thursday, January 5, 2023
There are so many times I went through endless trials and a lot of errors when I started out in Photography. Having the eye was great, having the idea of shooting certain things was easy, but editing and settings always made my braid hurt. It's kind of why I started putting together online courses to be honest. To make people not have that sense of dread that their photos might look good, but they broke them in the editing phase.
It's why I made presets and overlays. So you could just hit a button or ad a layer to photoshop and make your photos look great.
My favorite? Light and Airy... EVERYONE wants light and airy for their portraits and other photos.
https://v-cg.etsystatic.com/video/upload/ac_none,du_15,q_auto:good/Before_ewhgja.mp4
Go buy this setup. Because it will make your life easy.|https://www.etsy.com/listing/1234251610/20-light-and-airy-lightroom-mobile-and?click_key=82c3355d185bb5c11835095db09ed8b3cab50caa%3A1234251610&click_sum=adbd0863&ref=shop_home_feat_1
Go to my etsy shop and like the shop, if you've bought something from me, leave a glowing review! It will be much appreciated.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/SNGDesignCoDigital
Sign up for my Newsletter, I don't spam, I barely do 1 email a month. However, when I do, it's good information! Oh, bonus, you get a 20% off discount code to the shop just for signing up, so, kind of a win if you ask me!
https://mailchi.mp/b700.../sng-designco-digital-mailing-list
And stay tuned to my online courses on Thinkific. A lot of great things are coming to help people get into photography, take their own photography skills to the next level, and... not break the bank doing so.
https://theprofessionalamateur.thinkific.com/
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/making-photography-easier-for-people-just-starting-out/
It's why I made presets and overlays. So you could just hit a button or ad a layer to photoshop and make your photos look great.
My favorite? Light and Airy... EVERYONE wants light and airy for their portraits and other photos.
https://v-cg.etsystatic.com/video/upload/ac_none,du_15,q_auto:good/Before_ewhgja.mp4
Go buy this setup. Because it will make your life easy.|https://www.etsy.com/listing/1234251610/20-light-and-airy-lightroom-mobile-and?click_key=82c3355d185bb5c11835095db09ed8b3cab50caa%3A1234251610&click_sum=adbd0863&ref=shop_home_feat_1
Go to my etsy shop and like the shop, if you've bought something from me, leave a glowing review! It will be much appreciated.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/SNGDesignCoDigital
Sign up for my Newsletter, I don't spam, I barely do 1 email a month. However, when I do, it's good information! Oh, bonus, you get a 20% off discount code to the shop just for signing up, so, kind of a win if you ask me!
https://mailchi.mp/b700.../sng-designco-digital-mailing-list
And stay tuned to my online courses on Thinkific. A lot of great things are coming to help people get into photography, take their own photography skills to the next level, and... not break the bank doing so.
https://theprofessionalamateur.thinkific.com/
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/making-photography-easier-for-people-just-starting-out/
Wednesday, January 4, 2023
I get overwhelmed and overstimulated constantly, even writing this article. That's right, this very second I'm overstimulated and overwhelmed with everything and that is ok. It was something that I would get afraid of really, the circuit overload in my head that would have me spiral out of control and get into a hole that I didn't want to come out of.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com
Now, it's different. When I feel like this, even when I am in it as I am right now, I know that I can get out of it, because I'm choosing to feel like that, I am choosing to feel overwhelmed. I am choosing to feel overstimulated.
That sounds preposterous, however when I do feel that, I have learned and taught myself to stop and take a step back. Look at what I am feeling objectively. See what had been causing the feeling, where did it come from. Then I go back in and chose to feel something else.
It's not easy to do, you don't learn how to do it overnight, but over time, you learn how to do it. You choose to feel overwhelmed, overstimulated, even with my ADHD brain not being wired like the neurotypical brain, I choose to not feel overwhelmed, I choose to feel calm. I choose to not feel overstimulated, I choose to feel serene.
Photo by S Migaj on Pexels.com
What does this have to do with photography? EVERYTHING! It has to do with everything, not just photography. It keeps me realizing that I don't have to be in a place of negativity or frustration. Changing how you feel and how you approach your current feelings will literally change everything.
https://www.stefanglazer.com/information/overwhelmed-and-overstimulated-you-need-to-look-at-it-differently/
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com
Now, it's different. When I feel like this, even when I am in it as I am right now, I know that I can get out of it, because I'm choosing to feel like that, I am choosing to feel overwhelmed. I am choosing to feel overstimulated.
That sounds preposterous, however when I do feel that, I have learned and taught myself to stop and take a step back. Look at what I am feeling objectively. See what had been causing the feeling, where did it come from. Then I go back in and chose to feel something else.
It's not easy to do, you don't learn how to do it overnight, but over time, you learn how to do it. You choose to feel overwhelmed, overstimulated, even with my ADHD brain not being wired like the neurotypical brain, I choose to not feel overwhelmed, I choose to feel calm. I choose to not feel overstimulated, I choose to feel serene.
Photo by S Migaj on Pexels.com
What does this have to do with photography? EVERYTHING! It has to do with everything, not just photography. It keeps me realizing that I don't have to be in a place of negativity or frustration. Changing how you feel and how you approach your current feelings will literally change everything.
https://www.stefanglazer.com/information/overwhelmed-and-overstimulated-you-need-to-look-at-it-differently/
Tuesday, January 3, 2023
This sounds like an ad for Thinkific, or some paid affiliate marketing strategy. But it isn't. I have tried so many different platforms, Udemy, Teachable, Kijabi, all of them had some great things, but Thinkific kept it simple for me.
While the free course I've been putting together has had some speed bumps along the away, like having the video files corrupt for 3 of the videos, recording the final video only to find out that there was not audio track attached to it. But, I've learned that technology sometimes fails, and while I still have to record the last video again (thankful for scripts to make my life easier to re-record).
What does make it easy was the fact that I can create a course at my own speed and their interface is so much easier to navigate, much better to put together what you want and need to.
The course layouts are easy
I'm not afraid to show you the behind the scenes of my upcoming free class. The learning and help along the way for this platform is great too. The best part is, I have learned that I can put together content, without speed bumps, pretty quick. In turn, will make my courses low in cost and more available. I also have a few ideas for some free webinars in the future on editing and photography.
It's easy!
Go to my etsy shop and like the shop, if you've bought something from me, leave a glowing review! It will be much appreciated.https://www.etsy.com/shop/SNGDesignCoDigital
Sign up for my Newsletter, I don't spam, I barely do 1 email a month. However, when I do, it's good information! Oh, bonus, you get a 20% off discount code to the shop just for signing up, so, kind of a win if you ask me!https://mailchi.mp/b700…/sng-designco-digital-mailing-list
And stay tuned to my online courses on Thinkific. A lot of great things are coming to help people get into photography, take their own photography skills to the next level and not break the bank doing so. https://theprofessionalamateur.thinkific.com/
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/creating-an-online-course-isnt-easy-unless-you-make-it-easy-with-thinkific/
While the free course I've been putting together has had some speed bumps along the away, like having the video files corrupt for 3 of the videos, recording the final video only to find out that there was not audio track attached to it. But, I've learned that technology sometimes fails, and while I still have to record the last video again (thankful for scripts to make my life easier to re-record).
What does make it easy was the fact that I can create a course at my own speed and their interface is so much easier to navigate, much better to put together what you want and need to.
The course layouts are easy
I'm not afraid to show you the behind the scenes of my upcoming free class. The learning and help along the way for this platform is great too. The best part is, I have learned that I can put together content, without speed bumps, pretty quick. In turn, will make my courses low in cost and more available. I also have a few ideas for some free webinars in the future on editing and photography.
It's easy!
Go to my etsy shop and like the shop, if you've bought something from me, leave a glowing review! It will be much appreciated.https://www.etsy.com/shop/SNGDesignCoDigital
Sign up for my Newsletter, I don't spam, I barely do 1 email a month. However, when I do, it's good information! Oh, bonus, you get a 20% off discount code to the shop just for signing up, so, kind of a win if you ask me!https://mailchi.mp/b700…/sng-designco-digital-mailing-list
And stay tuned to my online courses on Thinkific. A lot of great things are coming to help people get into photography, take their own photography skills to the next level and not break the bank doing so. https://theprofessionalamateur.thinkific.com/
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/creating-an-online-course-isnt-easy-unless-you-make-it-easy-with-thinkific/
Monday, January 2, 2023
This is a topic that really needs to be discussed. We all know someone who has a small business, side hustle, or business adventure in creativity. We see them posting on social media, and doing all sorts of great content, but most people don't see the background of what is going on. We are trying to get as many eyes on their business as possible.
This is a real photo of me scheduling and figuring out how to get more people to my online store, seriously Photo by Tara Winstead on Pexels.com
There are posts on different social media platforms, blogs, spending on advertising on multiple platforms as well, and telling people by word of mouth. You see the posts and give them a like, because they are your friends!
This is the average amount of likes my posts get. Photo by Prateek Katyal on Pexels.com
You really don't want to spend the money on whatever they are selling (hey, I get it, sometimes they sell things that aren't up your alley). You don't have to do that at all, your friend's small business just need you to do a couple little things to really help them all.
Photo by Anna Tarazevich on Pexels.com
- Share their posts about their store!
- If they have funny reels or videos about their process, share them!
- Go to the store itself and favorite some of their wares.
- Share a listing of something that is interesting to you on your favorite social networks.
- If you do buy something, please leave a review, the more reviews we have, the more we get seen by others and are trusted by others, the higher up in rankings we get and more people will end up shopping with us.
- Tell your friends who have interests about whatever we sell, word of mouth needs to be more than just us yelling into the void or at networking events.
Reviewing, liking and sharing are the best way to help a small business outside of actually buying a lot of their goods.
So, before you decide to just "throw your friend a like" on their posts about their businesses, why not visit the site, share the content, and do a little more beyond liking.
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/how-to-actually-help-a-small-business/
This is a real photo of me scheduling and figuring out how to get more people to my online store, seriously Photo by Tara Winstead on Pexels.com
There are posts on different social media platforms, blogs, spending on advertising on multiple platforms as well, and telling people by word of mouth. You see the posts and give them a like, because they are your friends!
This is the average amount of likes my posts get. Photo by Prateek Katyal on Pexels.com
You really don't want to spend the money on whatever they are selling (hey, I get it, sometimes they sell things that aren't up your alley). You don't have to do that at all, your friend's small business just need you to do a couple little things to really help them all.
Photo by Anna Tarazevich on Pexels.com
- Share their posts about their store!
- If they have funny reels or videos about their process, share them!
- Go to the store itself and favorite some of their wares.
- Share a listing of something that is interesting to you on your favorite social networks.
- If you do buy something, please leave a review, the more reviews we have, the more we get seen by others and are trusted by others, the higher up in rankings we get and more people will end up shopping with us.
- Tell your friends who have interests about whatever we sell, word of mouth needs to be more than just us yelling into the void or at networking events.
Reviewing, liking and sharing are the best way to help a small business outside of actually buying a lot of their goods.
So, before you decide to just "throw your friend a like" on their posts about their businesses, why not visit the site, share the content, and do a little more beyond liking.
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/how-to-actually-help-a-small-business/
Sunday, January 1, 2023
Anyone who is a follower of my Podcast "The Professional Amateur Podcast", might realize that there hasn't been a new episode in a while. The last episode was talking about how I had a lot of guests in the works. What was brewing in the background was a huge shift in everything that I am doing. And it was an important shift, because it gave me clarity and focus on what I truly want and desire in life. To create a Photography Empire.
Photo by Ryutaro Tsukata on Pexels.com
Some will look at the idea of an empire as something that dominates others, but I had a vision of it all being a little different. I've had this vision for such a long time, but what I did not have was clarity and order for this vision. That is when I started walking a path of self help.
Now, maybe getting a therapist isn't your thing, or a business coach, or even a Shaman, are all not your cup of tea. However, they were and are for me.
Getting a therapist and working through a lot of inner turmoil and confusion was a big first step for me, after my ADHD diagnosis 2 years ago at 39, I needed a little guidance.
Amy Yancy
Getting a business and intuitive coach (shout out to Amy Yancy at https://www.intuitivecoachingwithamy.com/ and her podcast https://www.blogtalkradio.com/intuitivecoachingwithamy/) had me looking at what I truly wanted and desired. I spent hours and hours of sessions with Amy and came out enlightened, and with a large list of things that I still had to tackle in life, but I had a gameplan.
Rosie and Kit Volcano
I started putting into practice what I had learned and understood I had blocks still, and you can discount or blow off the teachings and ideas of people like Joe Dispenza. Or the approach to energetic and spiritual enlightenment like Kit and Rosie Volcano (and another shout out to the amazing https://www.thelittlevolcano.com/ my second family of mystics, creators, coaches, and overall rad people). However, their approach to everything in life had me look at things differently. However, I still had blocks on what I was trying to achieve.
It wasn't that I was not good enough, or that I didn't deserve it.I KNOW I deserve it, and I am more than enough for it all.
There was something deeper.
Atousa Raissyan
And that is when my wife had stumbled on Atousa, a Shaman and Life Coach out of Maryland. (Check her out atousaraissyan.com)And that is where it started to get deeper, she functions as a guide to healing past trauma. Trauma I didn't even realize was trauma, trauma that I had forgotten about, and trauma that I knew happened but was afraid to acknowledge it.
You have no idea how amazing it felt to get through some of the trauma so far. It's opened up everything to me, and I'm ready to receive all the wealth and abundance I want.
If all of this isn't your cup of tea, that's fine... it's mine, and it works for me.
*SHRUG* Photo by Polina Zimmerman on Pexels.com
Couple all of that with some online guides from Amanda Frances (https://amandafrances.com/) and Denise Duffield-Thomas (https://www.denisedt.com/), I have all the tools to be successful.
So, this was a long winded segway to get to saying.
The Podcast is back.
I still have all those guests on hold and am going to be excited to roll out new episodes every week again. I will also have a few self episodes that deal with hurdles, blocks, misconceptions, or general mental health checks for all of us small business owners and professional amateurs alike.
https://www.stefanglazer.com/feed/podcast
So, it might not always be about Photography, but it will always be adjacent. At the very least, it will always be helpful for you and me.
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/its-not-all-about-photography-but-i-will-always-mention-it/
Photo by Ryutaro Tsukata on Pexels.com
Some will look at the idea of an empire as something that dominates others, but I had a vision of it all being a little different. I've had this vision for such a long time, but what I did not have was clarity and order for this vision. That is when I started walking a path of self help.
Now, maybe getting a therapist isn't your thing, or a business coach, or even a Shaman, are all not your cup of tea. However, they were and are for me.
Getting a therapist and working through a lot of inner turmoil and confusion was a big first step for me, after my ADHD diagnosis 2 years ago at 39, I needed a little guidance.
Amy Yancy
Getting a business and intuitive coach (shout out to Amy Yancy at https://www.intuitivecoachingwithamy.com/ and her podcast https://www.blogtalkradio.com/intuitivecoachingwithamy/) had me looking at what I truly wanted and desired. I spent hours and hours of sessions with Amy and came out enlightened, and with a large list of things that I still had to tackle in life, but I had a gameplan.
Rosie and Kit Volcano
I started putting into practice what I had learned and understood I had blocks still, and you can discount or blow off the teachings and ideas of people like Joe Dispenza. Or the approach to energetic and spiritual enlightenment like Kit and Rosie Volcano (and another shout out to the amazing https://www.thelittlevolcano.com/ my second family of mystics, creators, coaches, and overall rad people). However, their approach to everything in life had me look at things differently. However, I still had blocks on what I was trying to achieve.
It wasn't that I was not good enough, or that I didn't deserve it.I KNOW I deserve it, and I am more than enough for it all.
There was something deeper.
Atousa Raissyan
And that is when my wife had stumbled on Atousa, a Shaman and Life Coach out of Maryland. (Check her out atousaraissyan.com)And that is where it started to get deeper, she functions as a guide to healing past trauma. Trauma I didn't even realize was trauma, trauma that I had forgotten about, and trauma that I knew happened but was afraid to acknowledge it.
You have no idea how amazing it felt to get through some of the trauma so far. It's opened up everything to me, and I'm ready to receive all the wealth and abundance I want.
If all of this isn't your cup of tea, that's fine... it's mine, and it works for me.
*SHRUG* Photo by Polina Zimmerman on Pexels.com
Couple all of that with some online guides from Amanda Frances (https://amandafrances.com/) and Denise Duffield-Thomas (https://www.denisedt.com/), I have all the tools to be successful.
So, this was a long winded segway to get to saying.
The Podcast is back.
I still have all those guests on hold and am going to be excited to roll out new episodes every week again. I will also have a few self episodes that deal with hurdles, blocks, misconceptions, or general mental health checks for all of us small business owners and professional amateurs alike.
https://www.stefanglazer.com/feed/podcast
So, it might not always be about Photography, but it will always be adjacent. At the very least, it will always be helpful for you and me.
https://www.stefanglazer.com/photography/its-not-all-about-photography-but-i-will-always-mention-it/
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