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
Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
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'.
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'.
Friday, January 22, 2010
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!
But it has to be done. And I'll stop spending time blogging to go do it!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
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.
'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.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
New Year resolutions
- Promote myself as a portrait photographer specialising in children.
- Start my much talked about and little done about DOG photo/vid website.
- Approach The Age with audio slideshows of big Melbourne events.
- Keep disciplined in my work life, ie. have regular hours, write this blog regulary, set deadlines for myself.
- 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. :)
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. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)