I’ve never been one to be really into seminars or motivational speakers or anything. I’m easily bored and find it way to easy to go “Well yeah yeah but that doesn’t apply to me or what I’m doing.” It basically takes a lot to really make me sit up and take notice.
However I came across this teaser video to a photography seminar (the full course is available on dvd from here) held by Jasmine Star who is widely regarded as one of the ‘rock star photographers’ in America. The seminar was called ‘Free to Succeed’ and Jasmine’s presentation was about branding at it’s importance to your business. The talk was aimed at photographers but I decided to give it a watch after seeing people rave about it on flickr, and OMG am I glad I did. I don’t say this lightly but I really feel that my life, my outlook on my blog and it’s branding has changed. Forever. This may sound over dramatic but I have never felt more motivated, empowered and excited about what I have to do. I can’t even begin to do justice to what Jasmine says by paraphrasing her presentation but just watch it watch it watch it! If you’re a photographer, a blogger or anyone trying to start your own business WATCH IT. She talks about being yourself and being true to yourself (something I of course am a strong advocate of!) and about how to work out what makes you special and an individual, and how you should bring this into your business. That how being yourself is what will bring you success.
When I started Rock n Roll Bride I didn’t do so because I thought it would be popular or that everyone would like what I was doing. The whole point of focusing on the ‘alternative’ side of weddings and photography was that it wouldn’t be mainstream or liked by everyone in fact! Hell, I was never a popular girl at school – I was always one of the ‘weirdos’! Lucky for me, there seems to be a lot of you out there that think the same as me – who knew!? I am acutely aware however that I am not the most popular or highest traffic-ed wedding blog in the world, and I never will be because I am a niche. I can’t complete with the blogs that get hundreds and hundreds of thousands of visitors a month for this reason but that works fine for me (and you I hope!)
Somehow though, by being true to myself and just being me I have been successful. I know there are people out there that that don’t like me or agree with what I do and say but hey, you ain’t successful until you’ve got some haters! Bring it on is my motto. I seriously can not wait to make the Rock n Roll Bride brand even more ‘Kat’ so consider yourself warned!
I always thought my blog branding was quite strong. It’s always represent me and what I’m about, but after watching this I am so excited to make some changes! Seriously people – watch it. I can’t say that enough…oh and take notes. I’ve already watched it twice and I’m going to go back for a third hit later.
Huge thanks to Jasmine Star for allowing me to share this video and rave about her (maybe just a little bit too much) today.
In my email to her I totally sounded like a stalker-superfan and even though she is at a conference right now she took the time to reply. Love that! As soon as I got the email from her I called my friend Emma (who also watched the video and was like “omg this is amazing”) right away and was like “Oh my gawwwd I got an email from a celebrity!” (This will make sense after you watch the video)
Click here to be inspired! Have a great Sunday you lovely scrummy things and be sure to let me know what you think in your comments below.
For more info on the Free to Succeed Tour click here
ps and if anyone fancies buying / lending me the dvd then please go right ahead!
* This is not a sponsored post