The Tree Test [Dear Photographer] [My Story]

 

The Tree Test, Lying and Planning

The Tree Test: ever heard of it? Take a look here and tell me what you find out. Is it accurate of who you are?

I won’t tell you the tree that grabbed me and sucked me in instantaneously, but I will share a little of what it said about me.

Two phrases stand out:

” You know what you want, and you’re not afraid to go get it.“

and

“The only thing you require from people is that they’re straight with you. You are ready for the truth.”

First:

Day in and day out, year old and year new, I would have zero issues with hundreds of students unless and until they lied to me. I found this truth to be unwavering in myself: I can deal with anything that’s straight forward.  Combine that with the fact that I can always (almost always, I have been blindsided-and betrayed-a few times in life by ‘friends’) sense  dishonesty and life can be quite interesting in  light of a lie. I don’t know if that is a blessing or a curse. Sometimes, ignorance is really bliss, isn’t it?

Proverbs  6:16-19  tells us the Lord hates lying, too.

There are six things which the LORD hates,
            Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:

      Haughty eyes,

a lying tongue,

            And hands that shed innocent blood,

      A heart that devises wicked plans,
            Feet that run rapidly to evil,

      A false witness who utters lies,
            And one who spreads strife among brothers.

And one more  thing I will share from the tree test:

Second:

There are 3 of us business owners who meet together each week. We encourage, we test, we cheer on and we empathize with one another. This week one thing that came up, as it has before, is the opportunity of sitting under a strong personality in the business who is a huge success and has been for more than 20 years.  My friends says, “I’d be scared to death knowing what’s coming and I’d cry.”

I say, “I would know what’s coming and am ready for it.”

She says, “Then I’d cry for you!”

I LOVE how different we are. She’s a strong, wonderful woman who just doesn’t approach things the same way as I do. And what’s wrong with that?

I’m a firm believer in learning the right way to do things before I do them the wrong way. Then, when I do them the wrong way, I’m determined to take what I learned through hard knocks and share them with others who, like me, are ready to hear them.

This photography business came upon me backwards. Instead of planning to build a business, I was thrown into it with requests to shoot a few weddings. Because I had not looked into what it means to run a small photography business, and because the urgency of the moment was focused on learning more about new cameras and the technicalities I was falling short it (hello digital photography, goodbye film=YIKES), I was already overloaded in work on a shortage of available time.

Now, I teach others how to use their digital camera and what is the bare necessities when presenting yourself as a professional photographer.

Coming up next week, I’m meeting with another 7-10 photographers who are trying to figure out some of the business side of being a professional photographer. While they’re at different places in their ventures, they’ve all realized that pricing is something they need some help in figuring out. You know what? The ones who are doing that before setting things up are the real winners. Like anything in life, it’s more profitable and less painful to figure things out before you’re posed with an otherwise preventable problem. I have been SO busy figuring out everything  over the past 3 1/2 years that had I made a concentrated effort of what I needed to know and where I was going to head, I would be 2 years ahead of where I am now. I’m not saying there’s no value in life as it happens; the wise will glean from all experiences. I am saying there’s a best way.

“Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence and honest purpose, as well s perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing.”

Thomas A. Edison