"You want to start something?"

I am not interested in starting a bar fight.

I'd like to talk about those people that find the courage to start a business.

I am a few years into running my own business. It is my second effort as I ran a marketing consulting firm for a dozen years. That died when I took a pay check job for a decade. Now, I am back on my own two feet again as an advertising photographer.

Business practices, marketing strategy, to be or not to be an LLC. Pacing the floor trying to make a tough call. You decide someone must be let go and now you have to sit down with that person. You are fully aware that your spouse is stressed due to the simple fact that next month's income is an open question. We are not even getting into the risk of potential lawsuits over stupid stuff. It's enough to consider touching base with a phsychologist for a statement on why anyone would do it.

My best guess is that we see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is possible that it is an oncoming train. We push on with faith that we can reach that golden light and enjoy the fruits of our labors. Of course there is plenty of ego involved and that is not a bad thing... usually. There are as many different types of busines owners are there are people. The stereotype of a stoic, pragmatic business person is rarely a true fact. I make many decisions based on what I think others will think of that call. It's a fact that I need to address and an improvement I need to make. Emotions must be controlled as many things will make you angry and you must hide that and move on.

Some of the smartest people start a part time business and keep their day job until it makes sense to make that huge leap of faith. My wife wishes that I were one of those smart people. The lack of start up funds is an increasing difficulty causing many to start much smaller than they had planned. Some brave souls will risk the home to get the start up bucks and others charge up credit cards (my photo equipment option). Red ink flows and the plans change as the attempt is made to get to black ink.

It does take courage to step out on your own. It also requires that a good business person learn quickly to think first of the customer and actually act with that priority firmly in place. I am a firm believer that many new businesses fail due to a stubborn entrepreneur that was unwilling to make changes, listen to sage advice or build a team. Playing your cards too close to the vest is a sure way to wearing a vest with some big box store logo on it. Learn to listen, ask for tips and then learn the art of making decisions with good facts in the mix. Invest time in others and delegate some stuff you really would rather not let go of.

One last bit of advice, dear entrepreneur, be very aware that you will have a tendency to hear only what you want to hear. If you hear some advice you do not like it is only human to disregard it. I am suggesting that you learn the art of thinking it through. Blend what you like with what experts tell you will work. If you aspire to be the best business person you can be .. you will go out of your way to tap the wisdom of true expertise.

Continue to spread your wings, land on firm ground and then stand tall and strong. Call me if I can help in any way at all.

A Blog is a terrible thing to waste.

I won't go into detail about this shot. It's cool... I like it.. dats nuff.

There needs to be a more useful way to write more often in this blog thing.

I am thinking about a new idea that could be spelled out here. One benefit to using a blog is that longer text or lengthy content can be done here and then links published hither, thither and yon.

The idea is coming soon. A hint is that it would be related to military families.

Hopefully I won't neglect this blog as much as I have so far.

Let me begin this post with an ad that I paid to have produced. I could have done it myself and saved a few bucks but hiring someone to do this layout was a smart move. There are phrases that come into play... "You get what you pay for." , comes to mind.

A new business operating on a shoestring might grab a tiny digital camera and take some shots for their new website. They would be smarter to hire me for a cheap rate and get some "partnership" on the marketing mission.

And now on to the talent agency...

It's time to lay a few cards on the table. TeamEffort Talent has just passed our one year anniversary. Please notice that I do not say we celebrated anything.

The great news is that we survived the first year. The fantastic news is that I know a lot more now than I did then and that TeamEffort will survive and thrive.

It always was a slow growth plan. I have some previous experience in the ad industry as I spent a few decades writing radio copy and voicing spots from Florida to Oregon. I probably had a commercial running in Honolulu but I don't recall it at this time.

Let me be very clear about what makes me so sure that TeamEffort is here to stay. The new promo piece above features Kayla, a model that signed up with TeamEffort about six months ago. Kayla is a perfect example of what we need and what we should be looking for as we add more talents. She is a true team player and has never shown any sign of what I call excessive model attitude. The phrase I have used often on Facebook is "Pretty is easy ... talent ain't."

The promo piece that I produced with Kayla's shots depict her across the top in a ghosted image that gets more solid and clear. It takes time and work. I tell new talents that playing softball takes practice so why would I expect a new model to step in front of my camera and be perfect in their very first photo shoot? Kayla's smile was more credible in her sixth photo shoot than it was in her first. Who is taking the time to work that long and hard to develop that talent? TeamEffort Talent Agency.

We've survived the first year. It will still take time to build this business. I am thrilled to be able to say that many ad producers are sharing their needs with us. I now get emails that say something like, "John, I am going to need a redhead that can show frustration and anger and then smile after we have solved her problem."

There are other ad producers that know we exist but have been totally silent. I understand that and I plan to simply court their business over time. And we do plan to solicit business in other cities but that growth will have to be slower than I had hoped. Memphis is our largest target market for many reasons and we have not yet said hello to anyone in that city. We will soon enough, but it will be when we are more experienced and have stronger talents to offer the ad agencies in Memphis, Phoenix and Las Vegas.

So, I am not celebrating our first year. It has been rough. My time was often abused and that will keep happening. But I am smarter now and I will guard my time investments and focus on growing TeamEffort so Kayla will always be happy to be part of who we are.

Ad people....

I know you will not need talent every day for every client. You may even be stuck using the clients niece in a production. Keep the communication with TeamEffort open and honest and you will benefit.

I booked a family portrait session and stumbled upon a great idea. Any family portrait project will also get (free of charge) a drop by your home after you have the tree and lights up for the holidays.

I had no paying projects so my wife and I went frolicking through Vermont. I will probably upload this shot to the site where I sell some landscape shots. For those tempted to grab this version... it is low resolution and will not print well at all. Contact me and we'll quote you a price lower than the rate I get from the publishing site.

Some New Stuff

This shot was just an experiment with adding items in Photoshop. I have not added it to my website http://picbymurphy.com and I am not sure that I will.

I may put it online at this location....

http://www.imagekind.com/MemberProfile.aspx?MID=8f5e7e94-9d39-4380-9554-f60566b4cd82

Where I have a few landscapes available for sale.

Some of the models I work with may like to develop some ideas for posters and I would offer those posters for sale and split the proceeds with the models. That is why we call ourselves TeamEffort after all.

Come see our new "Cover Shot" on our home page http://picbymurphy.com

A Mission Statement of sorts

I am seeking to build a solid business doing family and business portraits. As I continue to shoot family portraits, I hope to gradually become full time with advertising productions.

The above was written six months ago. I am leaving it for historical and context purposes. Photo By Murphy will never have the prettiest website. As we continue to build our business with advertising productions, we will hold our overhead down and offer full service to businesses. We mean full service.


Advertisers are controlling their cost by limiting the number of shots or how often we come to them to do a photo shoot.

We will be happy to come by and take four (insert your number here) pictures and we will quote you a very budget conscious fee for doing so.

Our full service flat fee will allow you to get everything that "might" have marketing value. Using images in your social networking is a strong, aggressive approach but most businesses will neglect that or take some shots themselves.

Go to our ugly website http://picbymurphy.com and click to the prices page.

Headshots of your staff, menu or product shots. Interior and exterior building photos.

Go with the guy that has decades of experience (prior to the camera) in developing strong, result oriented marketing messages.