First ad!

First ad!, originally uploaded by jessparker.

This month's 'Melbourne's Child' is out and it features the first White Spark Photography ad. Very exciting. It's in a good location too, being on the Party Directory pages (and as the only photography listing on the opposite page).  I hope that parent's will save this issue or the party directory for when the time comes to plan their child's birthday. 

My first caller was treated to a bad case of muttering and "Um..."s so there's a lot to work on there!  I'm well aware that I'm not very good on the phone and so I'm going to need to work on some scripts and potential Q&As so that I can hopefully come across a little better.  This I share as I know many creatives will have the same issues and can maybe gain some strength from another creative bumbling her way through ;)

Meanwhile I'm trying to get into networking and that's been an interesting experience.  I went to a local council networking evening last night for the first time and left feeling a little traumatised after doing a terrible self-promo and then being berated by a woman for being far too narrow in my marketing (ie.children's parties).  But I did meet a couple of interesting people including someone with a friend that does videos of children who I'm hoping might be interested in doing some work with me.

I still feel like a kid pretending to be an adult at these functions but I know that this stuff just takes time to relax into; practice makes perfect.  Onwards and upwards.

I've still got and hundred and one things to do, including some things I find very difficult like Business Activity Statements.  My father may be an accountant but he certainly didn't pass on any skills to me in that area.  Off I go to crunch numbers and rifle through a box full of receipts (cringe).

My life revolves around this revolving chair

, originally uploaded by jessparker.

This month has been full on.  I've almost mastered the art of working fulltime(ish) from home, self discipline has certainly improved.  The deadline has created a shift for me, going from "Oh yeah, one thing at a time, and I'll get there eventually" to "Oh right, this and this and this need to be done, and I can do THIS and this today."  I still seem to be treading water a little, there's so much to be done, and not that much time to do it in!  The month of May is fast approaching and the Melbourne's Child could well be out early.  So really I have to get most things done by Wednesday next week and that's under a week away!  Yikes.  At least the website issues are almost sorted, and as soon as I've had my copy edited I can go live which I'm hoping will be by the weekend (that might be a tad unrealistic!).

I finally finished a business plan yesterday, a ONE PAGE business plan that is!  That was a recommendation made by a friend and I thought that suited me just fine.  I can aim at doing an in-depth business plan, but it certainly wasn't going to happen this month and I really don't have the need for it.  I'm not applying for any loans or asking anyone to invest so my business plan is just for me, and I'm really happy with the one pager.  It enabled me to define my goals, policies, marketing and financial plans clearly on paper and hence in my own mind.

I've started a new blog called White Spark Photography so that I can separate my own personal ideas and feelings from the public front of the business.  I'll use the business blog to post recent photos and great party ideas and whatever else I decide is great blogging material.

There's so many ideas and things to do and what to dos running around in my head I thought writing this entry might help with some clarification of the mental processes.  The most important thing is to get my website  up to scratch, here's a sneak peek of how it's looking at present:

I'm quite happy with it, although it's slow and I think I'll eventually get it designed professionally or at least go to a different provider.  I've used WIX again and it has allowed me to make a site that looks how I want it to  look and for really minimal cost.  I'll see how it's received, what the reaction to it is.  Currently all  the wording on it is using 'we' and 'us' which I thought was a good thing as it indicated that there's more than one photographer (which is my intention further down the track) but when discussing with a friend what I liked in regards to websites/blogs of photographers I realised that I like being able to pick up on their personality.  Maybe I'll leave the wording as it is, after all it is clear that it I own and operate the business right from the front page.

The business has taken on a life of it's own already.  I've never been keen on the thought of building this into more than just me but I've written it into the business goals that I will have a trained, strong back-up team of photographers by 2012.  I guess that's just common sense, of course I need to have back-up for when I'm sick or out-of-town, but the thought of having employees still frightens me.

So the plan is that I'll get this website up, package prices set, business cards and flyers printed and commence marketing.  I want to get balloons printed with my logo and make up some small promo packs like party bags.  I'm thinking of about 500 at this stage, which will probably be a significant amount of money (every time I think about this kind of thing I just think of Morffew Photos and their TV advertising campaign which must've cost tens of thousands... maybe one day ;)).  I'm going to canvas all the local child care centres, libraries, businesses and wherever else I think they might let me leave some flyers or business cards or give out party packs.

Well I best get moving!  Lots to do. Wish me luck or send up some prayers for me.

First ad

Last night Mike (my boyfriend/graphic designer) and I finished and sent away my very first ad to be published!!!  It'll appear in Melbourne's Child in May.  It looks great! I'm really happy with it. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful, patient boyfriend who puts up with my fussiness and frustration. I really want everyone to see the ad but I think I'll just wait until the end of the month when I can do the grand reveal of everything at once... or will I??  I've got lots to do to get it all ready but it's great to have that deadline.  I work best to deadlines.

Survey!

This is something I sent out this week to all my contacts:

Hello, 

I'm a professional photographer in Melbourne, setting up my own business to take documentary / un-posed photos at children's parties. In my experience, photographing kids when they are relaxed and having fun gets far better results than formal portrait or studio photography.  I can really capture the joy and reward the effort a parent has made in creating a special occasion for their child. As a young businesswoman, I would really appreciate your help in completing a 5 minute market research survey so that I can ensure my service and pricing will fully meet parents' needs.

If you're a parent and can spare a moment, please complete my survey about children's parties and photography. The survey is completely confidential and your answers will be anonymous. Data collected will only be used by me to finalise my business plan and hopefully build a successful business!  If you're in Melbourne and interested in having your child's party photographed, please email me at whitesparkphoto@gmail.com I'm always happy to provide examples of my previous work, references and answer any questions you might have. 

Please forward this email to other parents you know who might like to take part. The survey close date is 23 April 2010. 

Survey link : http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JJNPF3Z

Thank you so much for your time,

Jess Parker
White Spark Photography

whitesparkphoto@gmail.com

Progress

So much to write about!  The last couple of weeks have been mad.  I've been busy earning money that will help pay for the launch of White Spark Photography PARTY, going to networking opportunities, keeping up with my iphone 365 project, eating Easter eggs and hot cross buns... it's mad mad mad ;)  The good news today is that I have finalised my logo!

Many thanks to my wonderful designer/boyfriend Michael Christian for being so patient with me.

What do you think?

Next on the list to finalise is an ad in Melbourne's Child magazine for  the May issue which is the PARTY issue so most important.

I'm still gettin my head around social networking but the facebook page is set up, the Twitter account (whitesparkfoto) is on the go... now to fully utilise them... hmmmm.

18/365

18/365, originally uploaded by jessparker.

This little girl is the reason for my marketing strategy. She's also my model for my logo. She's THE party girl.

Twittering and 'booking

I've just been to the Annual Community and Business Networking Event run by Community OnBoard and have been told to come home and get my Twitter and Facebook names 'registered'. And I can see why! The user name whitesparkphoto has gone already, and I couldn't make it any longer. So I've got 'whitesparkfoto' with a F. Which seems quite logical to me with my small understanding of Portuguese, in which photo is foto. I'm not sure who else will get it :P What do you think? Logical or not?

I also learnt about how to write press releases that get noticed, and published; how to network; and how important social/online networking is. Ben Angel and Rhondalynn Korolak especially were really interesting and engaging and had heaps of great tips.

I met a couple of people that could be helpful. One man invited me to another networking group in need of a photographer and another woman who is also an emerging photographer was keen to get together to see how we can help one another.

Most of all I've got a whole lot more confidence in going to networking events and talking to strangers about what I do. I need to work on the speil, but I'm happy with my first experience of networking.  :)

No One Cares What You Had for Lunch!

No One Cares What You Had for Lunch!, originally uploaded by jessparker.

During my cram sess this morning (see previous blog) I read through 'No One Cares What You Had for Luch : 100 ideas for your blog' by Margaret (Maggie) Mason. Although throughout most of the book I was saying "Not relevant. Good idea, but not relevant.." I was unexpectedly inspired to start a new blog. An idea that I've had on the backburner... thinking that it'd make a great website if only I knew how to do it... but I realised I can start it as a simple blog!

Her last entry; 100 - Just write. Was definitely the biggest blow to my closemindedness regarding blogging. The simple statement "You'll need to love what you're writing about." Has got me all spine-tingly inspired!

AND Maggie prompted me to try blogging straight from flickr. Which I've done with these 2 posts. I can't believe I didn't think of it earlier!

Check out Maggie's bio and sites here 

MEANWHILE... I'm finding this dark brown blog 'skin' too oppressive and moody. I want to do something new and bright and more ME. Watch this space. Oh, and stay tuned for the NEW blog which by the way is not going to impinge on this one at all... it's totally different ;)

on loan

on loan, originally uploaded by jessparker.

My library books are due back. These have all been keeping me company for the past couple of months. This morning I was wondering out loud to my boyfriend "Why do I need to take out so many books at one time?" I'm trying to do a last minute cram sess before returning them. I'm wondering how much my overdue fines will be this time.

It's a slow journey alright

Piece by piece the puzzle is coming together. As I just get on with the next thing to do, things get done. Yes, everything takes a whole lot longer than I initially thought, but then there's really no deadline I need to work to. There's no set time this  HAS TO HAPPEN by, and if it doesn't ever happen then that's ok, as long as I've put in the action that's required of me. I don't want this to not happen because I'm lazy or fearful that's all. Letting go of the result.

Meanwhile I've got a new iPhone (business phone of course :D) and I've started a 365 day project using the camera on it. I'm discovering apps that make the photos look like they're taken on plastic cameras - which I LOVE - and there's an app that takes a series of photos and combines them in a series. So much fun :)

Party pic

 

This was taken at a children's birthday party where they made body glitter and slime... I'm starting to get excited about the potential of children's parties. :)

aching eyes and back

I don't know if I'm cut out to spend a lot of time in front of the computer.  Maybe I just need a new ergonomic chair instead of the one we found on the street, and maybe I shouldn't look at 500 different fonts for a logo at time, maybe just limit it to 200 at a time.  Hmmmmmmm.

This is going to be an outpour of BS. I need to get this stuff off my chest so to speak.  If you're a potential customer... well too bad, this is the heart of my business: FEAR and PROCASTINATION!!!!  Yeah, I don't think I'll be linking this blog to my website... I mean when I actually HAVE a website.  Oh, there's that one I made straight off the bat in January but that's not gonna be a stayer.  My friends liked it, loved it in fact but now my business has turned upside down and back to front and that website is redundant.  In fact, I think it's crap and I'm glad I won't be using it.

I have gotten hardly anywhere with the mechanics of organising my business over the past couple of weeks.  Oh, I've had a few little jobs from friends and friends of friends and that's been great but I need to get my insurance sorted and talk to an accountant and sort out a friggin logo!!!

I'm probably just on edge and pissed off because today was going to be the start of my new schedule.  You know the one, get up early, preferably with time for some exercise, get showered and dressed and ready to start my days work at 9am.  Well, I managed to start work at 9am, I just hadn't exercised or showered (I'm sitting here in my PJs). So much for my 2 hours of solid work, then off to do a care shift in the city (I've gotta keep some cash flowing in after all) and then back for another 2 hours solid work from 3-5pm. Four hours of solid work in a day would definitely get me moving forwards. Too bad I couldn't drag my sorry arse from bed this morning.

So I hope you've enjoyed this little vent. This is supposed to be an honest blog and it wouldn't be that without a dose of the 'poor me's.

I better get some work done now... or maybe go have that shower...

small milestones

• Business bank account opened
• 2 Photography jobs completed (and hopefully both will be paid)
• White Spark Photography (business name) registered
• Domain name purchased
• Working With Children Check filed
• Temporary business cards in my wallet (and some even handed out)
• Morning pages (Artist's Way) done every day

I'm doing ok. It's not all happening as fast as I'd like it to, but it's happening.

The Artist's Way exercises in week 2 weren't all completed, but that's ok, I'm doing my best.

I had a busy week with my care work but next week will be FREEEEE and I can do LOTS on my business :D

Things to get done pronto:

• Insurance
• Finalised logo ( I have to find a font I like first!)
• Portfolio party photos (I'm booked in for a party on Saturday :))
• Survey sent out 
• ABN details updated

Oh and there's a lot more... who would've thought there'd be so much to do and so much I need to learn?! But that's ok too, it's just that I'm not a fan of feeling ignorant.

One thing at a time, and I'm going to be asking for some help!

The Artist's Way

I've started reading Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way: A Course in Discovering and Recovering Your Creative Self. This was recommended to me a few months ago and I finally found a copy in the library last week. I've started doing the Morning Pages (3 pages of "stream of consciousness") and I had my first Artist Date (2 hours doing something just for your inner artist) yesterday. Following my first impulse of reading children's books at the library I found myself at the State Library, only to discover there's no children's section! So I looked at the portraiture display and then went and picked out several painting books to flick through. I found a really interesting autobiography by a Melbourne artist who's name I can't even remember now, but she did make an impression with her full-frontal honesty and prolific work. I look forward to next weeks date with my inner artist... not sure what it'll be this time, maybe I'll just go down the road to the Hawthorn library and do the children's books there (I love the illustration).

The idea of not only reading the book, but doing the course within it's pages, is to allow my creativity to grow and flourish. I have felt recently that there's really a block of some kind holding  me back. I've talked a little about it in this blog, it all comes down to fear really, but I'm hoping doing some positive work and exploring a little of my subconcious beliefts might bring to the surface if there's something in particular stopping me from  really moving forward.

I'll keep you posted on my 'recovery'.

white spark?

Spark of Life. Spark of imagination. Spark of creativity. That's what White Spark will stand for. IF it comes through as registrable.

I made my wall list. It helped me feel like I had things planned out... but most of the 'Now' things I can't get done until I get my business name sorted. I like that when I took this photo the 'Now' list is in shadow. Maybe that means I should start working on 'Next' things. Maybe I'm too busy looking for signs. Maybe I'm starting to lose my mind.

Sigh.

Thankgod for beautiful heartfelt blogs from wonderful people (in this case Sheye)  that make me realise how easy I've got it.

confusion reigns

I still haven't registered a business name... what to do, what to do?? I tried the first part of the process with 'Bright Spark Photography' then became confused and dismayed when it came back that it was too similar to an existing name, after I'd done a heap of searches and came to the conclusion that it MUST be available. Even trying 'Jess Parker Photography' came back as a fail. I talked to a customer service rep and she suggested I push on to the next step and that I may in fact be able to use that name. But now I'm doubting the name! And I can't do much until I've got a name sorted!

I think I'll work on research and my business plan for now. I feel like writing down things on pieces of paper and plastering the walls... after all I'm a visual person and it would feel better to get all the components that I'm working on in front of me in a visual, material fashion, rather that floating in and out and around my mind causing total shutdown.

Maybe I'll just leave the business name decision until Monday. :P

Bright Spark Photography??

I was pondering the question of whether to have a different business name to 'Jess Parker Photography' the other night while I was waiting for the train. I starting doing some brainstorming and doodling and realised that I could get the word 'spark' out of the middle of Jess Parker.. and so evolved 'Bright Spark Photography'. Here is my original doodle:

Mike took that and produced:

I've been discussing with friends and anyone else I can corner if it's a good name and not too cheesy?? Please let me know your opinion!! There's the option of using the logo without the 'JES...ER' at all or printing it a lighter shade of the background colour (light gray in the case of the website). Do you like the red?

I've been searching the Australian databases to see if there's anyone else else registered under that name and although there's plenty of Bright Sparks with names such as  'Bright Spark Production', 'Bright Spark Lifecoaching', etc and there's a 'Bright Eyes Photography' (Victoria too), there's no 'Bright Spark Photography'.

LIVE

My new website is live :) It's not finished. It's still got all the WIX logos on it. It's not linked to my domain name yet. It's not popping up in a google search. But it's up in cyber world. It's good to get feedback on it from friends.

Now I really need to do work on research and business plan so I can get some relevant content  on there. Of course that's the stuff that I have a block with. My thought processes = Business plan?! How the f*&k do I do that?!!

But it has to be done. And I'll stop spending time blogging to go do it!

Time to get busy

6 months ago I went to a 2nd birthday party as a guest and I took some photos of the birthday girl and her friends. After giving the mother the photos she has been saying that she'd love to have a talk with me about the marketing possibilites (she's in marketing). Finally we got together on Saturday for a chat. After spending the week designing my branding and getting the website together with just the straight forward 'Jess Parker  Photography' she convinced me to think of other angles. Her idea is to market myself as a children's birthday party photographer, that by doing so it's a point of difference from other photographers and it would capitalise on a niche market that is growing. Apparently the amount of money parents are spending on birthday parties these days is often in the thousands. If so, I'm hoping that another couple of hundred for a first rate photographer that will capture the event and some cute shots of the child in their best party clothes will seem like a great idea!

'GoldDust' was suggested as a name for my business, but I'm not sure about that. I might need to think some more on the question of whether to stay self-titled or go for something a little more memorable...

At present the website is looking pretty good and might even be live by the end of the week. I've been using Wix which provides really easy to navigate online software to create a website from templates. I think I'll stick with what I have done for the time being (ie. no party angle) and as I come to some decisions the website can be altered accordingly. It's the easiest and cheapest way of getting my name out there so it'd be good to have my name popping up on the search engine pages when people search for Melbourne photographer.

this horse knows how to buck

FEAR. It's been described as "an evil and corroding thread" in the fabric of our existence. That really rings true for me and there seems to be a lot of that thread wound around my career ambitions. Just talking about working on business card designs gets me all tensed up. My chest constricts, my shoulders move towards my ears and something starts churning in my stomach... the physical signs of anxiety immediately show. Sigh.

But I am trying my hardest to not listen to that part of me that looks to other things to enable procastination. I procastinated the entire year last year. Today the activity that will allow me escape from the tasks at hand is a trip to the gym. Exercise is beneficial afterall, it alliviates stress! Exactly what I need. And a swim... it was 45 degrees yesterday afterall and it's still hot today. I wouldn't be able to concentrate an entire day in this heat.

Such is the way my mind works.

New Year resolutions

1. Promote myself as a portrait photographer specialising in children. 
2. Start my much talked about and little done about DOG photo/vid website. 
3. Approach The Age with audio slideshows of big Melbourne events.
4. Keep disciplined in my work life, ie. have regular hours, write this blog regulary, set deadlines for myself. 
5. Enjoy the process! Enjoy my work. Enjoy taking photos. Keep it simple.
   

Bring it 2010!!!!

Coming into the New Year and a new decade has got me excited about the possibilities. Having made the decision to JUST BLOODY WELL DO IT and go freelance I'm getting impatient to get into it.

I arrived back in Melbourne yesterday after covering New Years Eve for The Marlborough Express and I felt more than a little disjointed. I'd had an evening chasing drunken revellers and tired kids waiting on fireworks, a morning of downloading and captioning, and an afternoon of frantically packing. There was the emotional trip: I was tired, stressed, sad about leaving family and the job and excited about seeing my boyfriend. This was all topped off by the flight I was on to Melbourne needing to circle for around 40 mins trying to avoid electrical storms (and not always succeeding I think as we rapidly ascended a couple times as the lightning appeared to get very close). So although I was quite happy with my ability to handle all these things, I was still absolutely shattered when I was finally welcomed into my boyfriends waiting embrace.

Why am I sharing all this? It just seemed like a hell of a day to kick off the New Year with... and the conversation with my creator during the electrical storm circling was rather pertinent: "But there's so much I've got to do this year!". Not in the "Oh-my-god-but-I've gotta-get-this-and-this-and-this-and-this-done" kind of way but the "Nah you're not gonna take me yet cos we're gonna achieve so much this year!" kind of way.

Top of that list is getting right into my photography. Immersing myself in creativity. Scaring myself. Pushing through barriers. Building my strengths. Working on my weaknesses.

But let's get this straight. This is my journey into a POSITIVE mindset. This is my walk of FAITH. Please remind me gently if I waver and retreat into that dark sardonic place of distrust and futility. Thankyou.

Onwards and upwards. I really do have a feeling 2010 is going to be brilliant. :)