Entrepreneur Gems with Dame

Dame Peters is one of the extraordinary talents found in BVI. He is the Renaissance Man of this era. Not only does Dame "capture moments in a frame of timelessness and light" (his business slogan) via photography, and also adding videography to his ambit, he's also a musician, singer, poet, actor, daddy, husband and good friend of mine. And that's all I can think of for now.

Dame is a good friend because he's a good listener. And because he's been listening to me confess about my insecurities with starting a business and my ramblings of confusion, he reached out to me one-on-one to share some precious gems. And because he is such a gem, he's allowing me to share them with you my LinkedIn family. This is the actual advice he voice-noted me via What's App. So here you go:

GEM #1 - Create Strategic Partnerships

I've figured out a lot, but I still haven't figured it all out. I find that most of my time over the last few months has been spent trying to create strategic partnerships with other entrepreneurs, instead of meeting with new clients. Now that sounds strange, but what I find, is for my type of business, is that client acquisition is difficult and expensive. There's great competition in the market, not because of quality, but more so because of pricing competition. So what I've sought out to do, is to align myself with other businesses that function in my industry which allows me to leverage their leverage with their clients, and have them sell my business to their clients. Obviously I would implement some benefit package for them. Even partnering with businesses to provide a service that compliments my services. The takeaway is aligning yourself with other entrepreneurs that can support your business.

Leverage their expertise, their marketing, their popularity. Allow that partnership to let your business to grow, with less effort than if you wanted to do it yourself.

There's so much reach in the world when other people's arms are out there grabbing business for us.

One of the things that I'm working on too is creating exclusive partnerships and signing agreements for exclusive partnerships. This means having a strategic partner that is willing to only utilize your service. It is a mutually beneficial relationship where both sides win.

GEM #2 - Set Goals

It sounds cliche. You've probably read it in many articles, many business books, heard it from everyone around you. Set goals. So many people are saying it because it is so crucial. Those goals can be included in a business plan. Business plan writing is not a simple thing. It takes a lot of time. It takes skill. You may not have all the expertise to create an in-depth business plan, but you can write out your business goals. Those goals should be attainable, should not be goals that you're not feeling uncomfortable about. When you set a goal for your business, you should feel uncomfortable about it. If your goals don't make you nervous, you're not reaching high enough. If you're not reaching high enough, you probably are not going to be as motivated and put in as much action to try to reach those goals. If you set a goal that's attainable, but you set it so high that you know you have to buckle down and get it done, you will push yourself to do it, but of course that requires commitment. You can set a goal to say: "I want every production company to know my business and to utilize my service". That's a grand goal. But you can lay out the steps to achieve same. You don't put down the goal and forget about it. You have to constantly remind yourself. But it's okay to set it, and let it set in for a bit before taking action. But again, remind yourself regularly about it. Have it in your face. Write it down somewhere, put it on your desk, or your wall.

Another thing is before you do any task, or even while you're doing that task, ask yourself: "Does this get me any closer to achieving my goals?" If it does, great, get it done. If it doesn't, leave it alone.

Replace it with a task to help you achieve that goal. If you're not overly disciplined, doing this will help you get disciplined. It will become second nature. Organize yourself so that your tasks reflect the professional and personal goals you seek to attain. 

GEM #3 - Know Your Business

You have to know your business. Often times, entrepreneurs are so excited about what they do, that they don't delve into the details of it. The other day, a photographer posted a question in a Facebook Photography Forum. He asked if anyone has ever seen any white clothing in pictures look over exposed, as compared to the rest of the image. I responded with a scientific explanation of the wavelength of light, and explained that light appears brighter because it reflects all light, whereas other colours only reflect that particular colour. 

Some photographers do not know that because a lot of times entrepreneurs really only look at the surface of what they do. They may say: yes, I have a camera, yes I know how to adjust the settings, I know how to pose people. I understand composition. I understand lighting. I understand editing. But, I don't understand how the camera actually takes the picture. I don't understand how the technology really works. I don't understand the industry worldwide. I don't understand the industry within my own country. I don't follow the new technology. I don't understand what people are really looking for. I don't understand the market. I don't understand my customer. The concept then is that you should know your business, but you should understand the industry you're in. 

What I have told myself is (and you should too): I need to understand my genre, the history of it, the technology that I use, costs, mark ups, different materials used in frames, sizes. Basically, if someone comes to you and asks you a question, you have an answer. If you have to say you have to get back to someone with an answer, it makes people think you don't really know what you're selling. And that relates to confidence. People will buy into your business, if you are confident about it. Knowing your business helps you become more confident about your business. If you don't have all the prices in your head, you should have a base, you should know the formula.

But if you don't know your business, then nobody knows your business. Sound funny right? LOL

And that's a bad thing. If you've ever been around someone who is able to really delve deep into a topic and strip it apart and explain it by referencing books and by pulling from their own experience, then you will consider that person, (this is a key word) - You will consider that person an EXPERT. That's the goal. 

Also, in knowing what I do, I have to be able to communicate same. When I sit around a table of people and they ask what I do, I never tell them I'm a professional photographer. I tell them something like, "I create and capture memories for a lifetime of enjoyment." Or, "I create lasting art from beautiful moments" or "I freeze moments in time." That alone sparks interest and they then become so engaged in wanting to know what it is I actually do. Then they will remember the encounter for a long time because their brain got interested in something they thought was cool. Plus they get a sense of passion because of how you introduced what you do without actually saying what you do. It pulls them in for more. 

GEM #4 - Do it

Get it done. Just do it. And one of the things that any entrepreneur would tell you is that decision making is critical to your success. Whether it be a project, your daily schedule - it can be anything big or small scale. You have a decision to make, you need to make the decision. It not only helps with you being assertive and knowing what you want, but it helps greatly with getting things out of the way.

It sounds simple, but it is so critical to be able to finish something and move on to the next thing.

So if you don't make a decision on things, if you don't proceed as quickly as possible, then you end up cluttering your schedule, you end up having way to many projects to be working on, and you end up feeling overwhelmed. So if you have a meeting with someone today, and that meeting results in you having to do a proposal, then get it done immediately. When you get home, send your client an email thanking them for the meeting, and ensure that your next email is that proposal. Do it as soon as you can. It helps a lot with managing your mental space (LOL) or storage. So whatever you need to do, do it, and do it now. 

To find out more about the man and artist that is Dame Peters, and for bookings, go check out his website: www.damepeters.com and call him at (284) 340-2716.

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Hi! I'm April, and I tell stories. I created 'Story by Adisa' to curate stories for your business. Each client's project is executed using a blend of storytelling, event planning, public relations and digital marketing. Tell us who you are and what you hope to achieve, so that we can curate campaigns to tell your unique brand story.