Episode 17 – How to beat the competition every time
- April 21st, 2009When it comes to sharing with the competition, what would you say is your greatest fear?
Tell the truth in the comments below. I dare you.
- Dane
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AskDane is a production of The Bui Brothers
April 21st, 2009 at 7:13 am
Yea, but leaders are also lightening rods for: criticism, jealousy and other negative forces.
So there are good reasons to prepare for the backlash as well.
April 21st, 2009 at 7:14 am
Dane, this is such a great post! I worked for a retail company for several years and we were always encouraged to send our customers to the place down the street if we didn’t have what they wanted. Not only did our customers appreciate the gesture, and were often times blown away by it, but it helped to build trust and strengthen our relationship with that customer.
The more interesting thing that happened, was that our competition started sending customers to us as well. We coexisted happily in our community and our customers benefitted by having us both.
I feel really lucky to have lived in that sort of example for years, because it has set me up to not have any fears about sharing with my competetion, whether information or referrals.
April 21st, 2009 at 8:16 am
We live in an area where we specifically have found no help as up and coming photographers, and because of this, we thought you were suppose to protect yourselves and not help out others – in order to survive. We lived in fear…
We are trying to get out of that – at least on our end! I was afraid to help up and coming photographers in my area even when they DID ask for help because I was afraid that the better they got the more clients they would get = the less clients I would get.
I’ve changed my thinking and ways of doing things.
Did I get help from Grumpies who were afraid of me? No,and it only hurt me and my business. I WANT to help others now – anything to make their process and experiences better than mine was.
More than likely if an up and coming photographer is dedicated and ambitioned enough to ask for help – they are going to get better with or without your help. Why not help them and become an ally with them instead of fearing them.
I think we all do better WITH help from others, whether you accept that or not.
If you are confident in your own work what do you have to fear?
April 21st, 2009 at 10:51 am
not having an edge, or upper hand. you want to set yourself apart from the masses so i’ve always been afraid that if i share others would appropriate my style and offerings making me no different. stupid i know.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:56 am
Meredith, I don’t think that is stupid at all – but use the fear to make yourself better – I’m speaking to me and my fears too! ;)
April 22nd, 2009 at 5:43 am
I love this…. I feel as though lately I’ve been trying to step away from this fear over and over again…. Recently in an effort to share with others the information about Fast Track Photographer (and my hopes of bring Dane to the area for a workshop) I posted it to the wall on a photographers pub night/group in my area. I emailed the organizers to let them know and then it was promptly removed. I was told that even if Dane Sanders himself was coming to Photo Pub night this photographer would not allow that information to be shared as they felt it was advertising and there was to be no advertising.
I was only excited about something and wanted to share it with my peers but was shot down. So here’s the big question.. do I still go to the photo pub night? lol I know I should but I still can’t get the bad taste out of my mouth from that email.
How do you find a balance… extending yourself and your knowledge without being taken advantage off?
April 22nd, 2009 at 4:06 pm
I LOVE LOVE LOVE to share. In fact, I’m better at sharing, especially technical knowledge, than I am at actually “doing”. Almost as if I’m living that old insult to teachers, “those who can’t do, teach”… I LOVE being the go-to guy when someone has a question about anything geeky.
But since you asked for HONESTY, Dane, I’ll admit one thing: I dislike sharing my locations with more than one or two close friends. If a complete stranger emails me to ask where I took a photo, I may or may not tell them. If it’s a very public place that everybody knows about, then yeah I’m more than happy to inform this newcomer and share an awesome location with a stranger. I already cross paths with strangers at the location all day long! But if it’s a location that I personally discovered, or that a friend showed me in confidence, it becomes a treasure, and I will NOT be telling complete strangers where I got the shot. Out of my own greed, maybe, but also out of respect to the locals, or the wildlife, or the location itself- I’d feel terrible if I gave up the location of some secret, pristine place and it eventually got trampled into ugly / boring… I know I’m exaggerating a bit, but that’s how I feel inside…
Take care,
=Matt=
April 22nd, 2009 at 4:12 pm
@ Malinda: I can almost understand the feelings of such event / group organizers. They hate to be pestered with promotions or advertisements, so they’ve created an environment where others can come and expect not to be pestered as well.
I think that in some circles, or coming from certain people, knowledge can only be given away for free. If you’re totally new to the Pub group, then joining and posting about an upcoming workshop is borderline spam. If you’re a well-known member who everybody respects however, then you might be able to get away with mentioning that a workshop is coming to town, or asking if people would be interested in going IF it came to town.
Take care,
=Matt=
April 23rd, 2009 at 12:34 am
Similar to Meredith’s story about the retail competition, I coexist locally with six more photographers. With half of them, I’m on good terms. There’s three that are really competitive and hardly even say hello. One of the “good terms” photographers immediately from the outset offered his help, and we have a strong relationship since. We help each other out in technical matters and send each other customers from time to time.
We also meet nearly every week and discuss. I really think that this benefits both of us.
Cheers
Lukas
April 23rd, 2009 at 3:30 am
Dane,
I love the podcast, you answer questions that everyone has had from time to time. Please keep these going. Thanks!
April 27th, 2009 at 7:10 am
We live in a large world with MANY people & places to photograph. Being on a journey to find my own “style” has shown me to trust in God & myself. We are artists & we each have a creative way of expressing ourselves like no one else. When I run into other photographers, I find it amusing, yet sad, that there is camera/photographer snoberishness (my new word) because we really owe everything we have and do to our maker. Thank you Dane for giving us knowledge & excitement for our passion. You’re a role model who inspires.
April 30th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
I’ve been photographing semi-professionally for over 10 years…and am just this year making it a full-time dream/career!
During this transition, I experienced some defensiveness in a friend of mine, who had been an established photographer for many years. She has made some rude comments about “new, amateur photographers” flooding the field, and had nothing positive to say about me or my photography.
After the initial hurt feelings, I realized that she was simply feeling threatened, so I made two choices: 1) never ask her for help or advice, and 2) to always offer help, support, encouragement to any up and coming photographer who thinks I have something to offer.
The result has been a wonderful community of open minded, supportive photographers, and for myself, a peaceful heart.
As a bonus, my friend has realized that she & I are peers, not adversaries & we can now talk shop and refer clients to each other whenever we are at capacity.
Dane…you are an inspiration!
Your Podcasts are really very encouraging, so thank you for sharing your vast experience in such an openhearted way.