Category: #PourLife

  • The cost of doing business rises, should customers pay for it?

    The cost of doing business rises, should customers pay for it?

    Today so far has been a very interesting day.

    Its the last week of the month, of which I am usually preparing to pay bills and organize my budgets for the following month, and after looking at a few receipts and invoices I noticed, things just keep going up and up and up!

    I personally hate the fact that things keep going up, like my car insurance…smh Not only did I not have any incidents or claims, but my insurance increased! When I asked why despite having no issues or claims, they said it costs more to repair cars nowadays.

    Really…

    So because, I never filed a claim and everyone else drives like idiots, and messes up cars and property, I’m paying for it… its not fair. (currently searching for new car insurance by the way.)

    Anywho, the point of my blog post is this, everything in the world is increasing for me to handle business but I don’t want to have to pass my expensive costs on to my clients/customers.

    Currently seeking ways to keep business moving without reasonably raising costs for customers.

    How do you cope when your expenses get higher every year?

    (The video, fyi, just illustrates general costs of being in business, whether you are a photographer or not. Plug in what applies to you)

  • Success: Its All About Your Perspective and the Progression of Time

    Success: Its All About Your Perspective and the Progression of Time

    “If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.” ― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

    Recently I was afforded the opportunity to work with a new client for their company’s promotion for Alexis Bittar at Neiman Marcus and it was pretty interesting. It was for a company called PaintAPic.com and what they offer is a custom paint by number painting that you complete based on any photo that you submit. So what happens is you send them a picture, it could be a picture of your dog, a picture of you, a picture of whatever! and they flatten out that picture and turn it into a paint by number picture. With your picture they also send you the paint you need to complete the artwork and the canvas &  paint brushes so you’ll have everything you need to complete your art project.

    (But back to the point of this blog post, lol) For this particular promotion we were asked to do a paint by number version of Alexis’s latest advertisement for his FINE collection pictured here:

    alexis_bittar_ad_fall_winter_2013_2014

    Before we started to paint I wasn’t told exactly what it was that we were going to be painting. To see the Paint-A-Pic before its completed, I thought it was mountains and rivers and all that jazz. Basically I thought we were going to be painting a picture of a landscape. See the picture below and tell me its not a mountain scene! lol:

    Alexis-Bittar-PaintAPic-Neiman-Marcus

    Ok so if you don’t think its a mountain scene its okay, I see it as that because that’s how it appeared to me upon my first sight of the work ahead, its just my perception. As we started to paint, I still couldn’t see how this was going to become a version of the ad, but we pressed on, section by section. As we continued on in our work, people were walking by wondering what it was we were working so hard on. My job was supposed to be paint the picture and try to get others involved in painting it with us and talk about the product. For me it was a bit difficult, ONLY because doing this painting in a high traffic area caused me to tune everything out and focus. That’s rare for me! lol I was so into this painting I missed the chance to engage with potential consumers. eventually I forced myself to multitask and draw people in but my main thought was, I gotta finish this I want to see how this is all going to look completed. But like all work that has to be done, this painting was taking more time than I thought. We painted and painted and being that I was so close on the work I still didn’t see what it was supposed to be, but everyone that walked by could see it.

     

    Why?

     

    Because they were looking at it from a different perspective. Because they were able to see it from a distance, they could see that all the small pieces we were painting and the time an energy and effort we were putting into the painting, was building itself into becoming a great piece of art work.

     

    See where I’m going with this? Check out this picture of the painting mid-way through:

    2013-12-06 17.51.52

    It was in the moments after the painting was finished, when I stepped back and looked at the finished product, I realized how much this painting experience is a story of my life. I take on projects knowing that there is going to be a lot of work involved and often times as I get a little deep into a project, especially when its taking a long time, I can get a little frustrated wondering if this is going to turn out as great as I originally thought it could be. I have people that see what I’m working on and I get compliments or people that want to be a part of what I’m working on, and personally sometimes I cant see exactly what or how things are going to turn out, even  though I know it is going to be great in the end, because I’m too busy focusing on what i’m doing up close and not in the scheme of the big picture. And even though I know things will come together if I stick with it and do the little things in order to build it into bigger things in time, I have to learn that there are little steps in order to get to the big vision. With this experience though I have learned that in order for me to keep focus on the big picture at hand and not get discouraged or frustrated or any other emotions that don’t help the work/project positively, time to time while I work on things I need to step back and see that the little things that I have been doing are shaping to be a vision of success that can only be obtained if I complete the smaller components that make it all come together.

     

    And with that Success is obtained through your perception of progress through time.

    Thanks for checking out a bit of whats in my mind 🙂

     

    Oh yea, here’s a finished picture of the paining:

    Alexis-Bittar-PaintAPic-Completed

    Pretty cool right?!

     

    Be sure to check out PaintaPic.com to get your custom paint by number canvas and Neiman Marcus for the latest Alexis Bittar Jewlery. Tag me in your instagram pic if you get either, I’d love to see it. Follow me on IG – @completebeauty

  • Taking on projects/clients ONLY because you need the money… #Scandal

    Taking on projects/clients ONLY because you need the money… #Scandal

    For those that follow me on Twitter you know that Thursday nights I’m usually tweeting up a storm during Scandal. This week’s episode “Say Hello to My Little Friends” started out with Olivia Pope and Associates needing money since her client base had dried up after her scandal being outed on being with the president. With that they began to take on a client that they didn’t seem to happy to take on and justified taking it solely because they needed the money.

    I’ve been there before, at slow time in my business where bills needed to be paid and there were no clients to pay me or funds had come in late. There comes a time where things get down to the wire where you worry about paying staff and keeping the lights on etc. etc. and then someone comes along that wants your services but you aren’t really willing to take it on because either its not what you like to do or its not an industry or area that you would like to work in, or you don’t see how this type of client can take your business to another level. But, they have something you need… and that of course is money. What do you do? Do you take on the project and try to get over it as quickly as possible so you can pay those bills and move forward or do you refuse the project and move on to another that may not come along for another few weeks or months?

     

    Decisions, decisions…

    When I think about this, I sometimes think, you gotta do what you gotta do, do the work and move on. But for some reason when I took on clients that I normally wouldn’t during these times, they were the worst clients for me to have, they always seemed to cause me more stress than the projects and clients that I wanted to work on. Maybe its because I didn’t want to work on those projects but I just sucked it up and got the bills paid so I could keep on moving.

    Usually after a lot of those projects were over it seemed like more of the same type of work came along. I would get tons of the type of work that I didn’t want to do, and for a while I would take it on, then I realized there comes a time where you have to draw a line where you won’t do things that don’t have anything to do with where you are trying to go with your company. You have to enjoy what you are doing in order for it to be great and make sure it aligns with your brand.

     

    What about you? What do you do when you have tons of the types of clients you don’t want, that want your services but the types of clients you do want seem to be coming to you in a slow drip? Do you take projects that don’t align with your company in order to pay the bills or do you refer them to someone else? How do you deal with those projects/clients?

  • My 5 Favorite Shots from my #deeplyrootedproject #Photoshoot with @PRiMo_SuPReMo Photography

    My 5 Favorite Shots from my #deeplyrootedproject #Photoshoot with @PRiMo_SuPReMo Photography

    Before you read my little blurb about this shoot and you take a look at the pictures I want to make sure I mention that the great idea for me to be involved in this shoot came from

    @PRiMo_SuPReMo

    Check out his website – www.primosupremo.com

    Follow him on twitter – @primo_supremo

    Follow him on Instagram – @primo_supremo

    and like him on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/primosupremothebrand

    Phenomenal Photographer Endorsed by Yours Truly! Contact him to book your shoot today!

    Now, onward to the pictures!!!!

    This was my first photoshoot of 2013. Before then, I cant remember the last photoshoot that I have done. I have been modeling consistently for the past 10 years but this was the end of a looooong season of not having a photoshoot. I was so excited honored when I was approached to participate in this project, when you see the pictures you’ll see why. Bola aka @Primo_Supremo is a great photographer and takes a fresh approach to photography that steps away from the current fad of highly glamorized and over edited pictures. And for that I love these images! Everyone looks for photography to make them look great, but I think it should show what is there and bring to life an emotion or thought that you may not have thought of or felt before. His photography does that, and I’m glad to have been a part of this project.

    Oh yea, I know the post title says 5 of my favorite shots, but I had to add more. There were so many frames from this shoot that I loved I couldn’t limit myself to just 5!

    [nggallery id=7]

    Also, as part of this project I was asked to share my natural hair story. Read about it and see the rest of the pictures that feature me from the Deeply Rooted Project here – http://www.primosupremo.com/alean

    Want to book me for your next photoshoot or photography project? Email me the details – alean@aleanelston.com

     

  • So I decided to start #Vlogging…

    So I decided to start #Vlogging…

    So I’ve come to a point in my life where I’m like, #justdoit, lol. There are so many things that I want to accomplish and try and see, that If I wait for things to be perfect, it will never happen.

    I’ve always wanted to video blog and I’m stepping out and just doing it and letting it take me where ever it may.

    So here goes!

    The video blogs will be released once a week, beginning the week of 8/5/13 and will cover a range of topics. If there is something you’d like me to vlog about, explain a blog post in more detail, let me know. Comment my posts and videos, email me, tweet me, facebook me send me smoke signals or whatever! The more you talk to me the more I can shape the content to best help you all.

    I hope you enjoy!

    Alean

  • How to Develop a Sexy Elevator Pitch!

    So , as usual, I was supposed to be doing work and I got sidetracked by a video on youtube. This one was about developing your elevator pitch. Terri Sjodin, explains how to break down all of the information you want to get across in a short amount of time into a short pitch that should generate interest in the person you are pitching your ideas or company to. She calls it a “Sexy” Pitch because it should entice people to want to know more.

    Here is the general breakdown of her methodology:

    Approach the person with an icebreaker. Discuss current events, ask an intriguing question, offer a gift (depending on meeting situation), or share a short relateable story.

    When it comes to developing your pitch it should have the following components:

    • Intro – should grab attention
    • 3 body components – persuasive questions, convincing arguments, or compelling ideas
    • a conclusion to wrap up all that you have said
    • and a close – should be a call to action to set up an appointment with the person to further present your ideas

    Here is the video in its entirety for your deeper understanding. Enjoy!