Recently I’ve been studying people who have achieved great things – mainly mountain climbers, explorers, sailors, those types.  Last week, while in Maui on vacation, I read Edmund Hillary’s book High Adventure.  Edmund Hillary was the first man to successfully climb Mount Everest and High Adventure is his account of that ascent and all that led up to it.

Image Credit: Rupert Taylor-Price

On thing that has struck me in reading his book and others is that the actual success usually accounts for only 10% or less of the work.  Hillary worked for years to prepare for his ascent of Everest.  He trained by climbing other mountains.  Money had to be raised to support the expedition.  Gear was purchased and preparations were made months in advance.  During the ascent, he and his team spent weeks training with their equipment and climbing up and down Everest to get acclimatized to the low levels of oxygen.

The key here is, if they would have just climbed straight to the top of Everest, they would have died from altitude sickness.

The same lesson applies in your photography business.  You can’t expect to one day be on top if you don’t spend the time to prepare.  Even if you make it to the top without preparing, you’ll die when you get there because you won’t know how adapt your business when you get there.

There are many things every photographer should do to prepare themselves for success, but the most important is to learn how to market themselves and their work.

Edmund Hillary said, after discussing the recent advances in climbing technology, equipment, and techniques, “I firmly believe that in the end it is the man himself who counts.  When the going gets tough and things go wrong the same qualities are needed to win through as they were in the past – qualities of courage, resourcefulness, the ability to put up with discomfort and hardship, and the enthusiasm to hold tight to an ideal and to see it through with doggedness and determination.”

Do you have the courage to push yourself beyond your comfort zone and really learn how to market your work?

Do you think Edmund Hillary and others really wanted to spend months and years raising the money to support their expeditions?  NO!  Of course not.  They wanted to CLIMB!  But, they knew they couldn’t just go climb.  They had to lay the ground work first.

Are you willing to lay the ground work for success in your business?

Do you want to lay a ground work that prepares you for thousands or tens of thousands of dollars of income each month?

If so, sign up for Over[Exposure].  Read this blog regularly.  Do everything in your power to learn how to market your work.  Stick to it with “doggedness and determination”, and you WILL get there!