If you are a wedding photographer, you are heading into the quiet months when you will be meeting and planning your photo shoots for next Spring or Summer. Portrait photographers either have a bevy of photo shoots scheduled inside where it is warmer or are braving the cold temperatures outdoors (at least here in New England where I live) to photograph their clients. Either way, the goal is to be totally booked. Question is: are you? Can your calendar be full, to the point where you have to start a waiting list? Won't that be awesome? (I am hearing a resounding YES).

I wanted to tell you that Sarah Petty and her crew at The Joy Of Marketing are launching a new program today called “Get Totally Booked” for photographers today.

If you enjoy learning and implementing what you have learned from successful photographers like Tamara Lackey, Jerry Ghionis, Tim Walden, Josh Hudson, Lori Nordstrom, Julie Klassmeyer, Jeff & Allison Rodgers, Laura Novak, Joy Bianchi-Brown & Jules Bianchi, Rod Evans, Vicki Taufer and Jeff Richardson.

This is a FREE event over two days – November 6th (did you vote?) and November 7th. If you are not around at home and in front of your computer, you can order all of the recordings here. While that is an affiliate link to Get Totally Booked, I have to tell you that I invested in this program as well.

The cost is $59, but only until it launches at 10 am EST. Then it is expected to go up. Plus, you'll receive over $200 in bonus offers from Marathon Press, whcc, ProSelect, Jill-e Bags and PWD Labs.

For me, programs like “Get Totally Booked” where I am taught how to do something better are incredible value. Just look at the full schedule here and decide. But do so quickly

The series of images you will see here are by Roycin D'souza. He is a 20-year old photographer based in Mumbai. While he is also very passionate about photographing musicians in concert (he has photographed over 350 concerts), he started #TAD365 when he felt “the need of shooting more portraits of regular people from a diverse background.”

I've always been jumping around on Twitter and associating this with Twitter made so much more sense since the community gave back to me much more than I could expect.

Since June 2011, he has photographed over 285 people for the project ranging from advertising creatives, to celebrities, writers, teachers, food bloggers and chefs. Roycin quit his day job to travel to five cities in India to photograph these Twitter personalities. He says he spent everything he earned in the last 2 years to make this project a success. He adds, “I'm almost close to a millon hits for the project (on Flickr itself) and I'm travelling to Dubai tomorrow for a month to shoot and meet more people.”

“The project has a very raw element to it. I use a DIY lighting setup and travel all around the city on my Honda Activa (scooter). The people I meet are very different from each other and the shoots are even more impromptu depending on the ideas and the available time.”

Check out Roycin's blog, Facebook page and of course the #TAD365 project as well.

Do you know of other photographers working on personal projects? Feel free and introduce them to Tiffinbox. I would love to hear from them and highlight their work. Thank you!

It's so appropriate that this blog post appears in October, the month Halloween is celebrated in the United States.

Danny Iny, is an author who quickly became known as The Freddy Krueger of blogging.

He is most recently the author of two seminal and free marketing e-books, Engagement from Scratch and Naked Marketing Manifesto.

Danny, as busy as he is on a variety of projects, agreed to audit my site, Tiffinbox based around these essential questions:

Who are you and what do you do? [01:15]

When did you start the site and how has it grown since? [02:05]

Can you give us a sense of what the numbers are like? [02:40]

Who is your target audience? What do you offer that is appealing to them? [03:20]

How are you getting the attention of your target audience? [04:55]

How does the site make money? What kind of things does the site promote? [08:15]

What is your conversion rate? [10:50]

How do you go about creating a cycle of commitment and reward, asking readers for an increasingly large commitment and in turn offering a bigger reward, and so on? [13:20]

If you could go back in time and give some advice to Seshu of 2003, what lesson would you give? [21:25]

Now, I know what you are thinking. You are saying to yourself, “Gee, this is all about Tiffinbox, what does it have to do about me and my business.”

Well, what you'll hear in the audio applies to you. Trust me. I learned a ton about how to approach my photography business from Danny, even though we were talking about this photographer's community.

[podcast]https://s3.amazonaws.com/nakedmarketing/nm_audit_seshu.mp3[/podcast]

For example, check out his advice on how to leverage Pinterest. Sure, that's something I could do for Tiffinbox, but it could very well apply to our collective marketing efforts for our own businesses.

Soon after I spoke with Danny, Angela Pointon and I collaborated on a webinar series (this is on going and you should totally sign up) with Tamara Lackey, Rosh Sillars and Skip Cohen as guests. Danny's suggestion of offering a FREE webinar was brilliant. Over 100 people registered for it.

This is a candid chat with a guy who knows his stuff. Not only does he ask some very poignant questions, but he gives me some very specific solutions too.

Give it a listen now and tell me one thing you learned from our chat that you will apply to your photography business. You can also read the transcript.

I am kicking myself. Hard.

Why? Well, I went on a social media spree and posted about a webinar series I am co-hosting with Angela Pointon, called Swift Kick: Four Things Every Photographer Should Know About Business. Those who follow me on my Twitter and Facebook saw the posts and signed up quickly.

But I didn't really get you guys involved until … now. I am so sorry!

Well, the good news is, there is still time to register for the webinar series that will expose you to the marketing fundamentals most photographers miss.

I am sure you are curious what the webinar series is going to address and how it will help you. Let me tell you a story and I promise to keep it short.

After graduating from journalism school, with a strong emphasis in photography, I thought I was ready to take on the world and offer my photography services to anyone who asked me to photograph them or their event. Sad truth was unless I opened my mouth and told people that I was a photojournalist, no one really knew what I did for a living.

That's the case even today, except I am much better at marketing myself.

As I have already mentioned I have a fairly strong presence on both Twitter and Facebook (and I am exploring Google+). But that's really only online. What about off-line marketing, otherwise known as good ole' networking? I recently signed up to become a member of a local BNI chapter. I expect to renew my local chamber of commerce membership. I am joining other groups where members refer clients back and forth.

All that's great, but even those forays require some structure.

Angela Pointon, with whom I am co-hosting these webinars suggests that we begin by acknowledging our gut instinct. If a certain connection feels right to you, go for it. You really need to listen to what she has to say about this (and this first webinar is free).

The next webinar, with Tamara Lackey as our guest, will delve into the topic of “Discipline.” Without discipline, I am finding rather quickly, one's focus can get distracted. (on October 3, 2012, 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm … that's TODAY folks!)

Rosh Sillars, based in Detroit, Michigan, comes on board to talk about “Branding” (which hopefully we all know means how our business is perceived or thought-about rather than the existence of a logo. (on October 17, 2012, 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm EST)

Lastly, Skip Cohen, a marketing maven in the photography industry joins us to talk about having the “Right Tools,” to market our business. (on November 7, 2012, 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm EST)

Details about each of these sessions can be found here. If you are getting your business off the ground or you have been at it for a few years and want to know more, register for ALL FOUR sessions for just $25 now.

As an added incentive, ProDPI, Fundy Software, Song Freedom, Photocrati, ThinkTank Bags and Sticky Albums have all come on board as sponsors and have some exciting prizes that they are giving away.

ProDPI is giving away a 20″x30″ canvas per webinar.

Fundy Software is giving away Action Hub (a $79 value) to those who enter their email address into a special form which also enters you to win the Total Studio Pack (valued at $499).

Song Freedom is giving away one license for a song on their site, per webinar.

Photocrati is giving away one WordPress theme per webinar.

ThinkTank Bags is giving away one SlingShot 20 bag per webinar.

Sticky Albums has a special code to receive $30 off of their annual plan.

When you register for all the remaining webinars, you'll receive all the recordings PLUS you have at least three chances to win one of the prizes mentioned above.

So, what are you waiting for? Register now.

Emily Potts at Moms With Cameras is launching a brand-new online workshop, The Mother of All Mentoring. The workshop runs from October 23-November 13 and usually costs $379. Class is limited to only 50 participants. So please be sure to register early to reserve your seat!

She says the workshop is a comprehensive program designed to help you build an incredible photography business starting from where you are this very moment. Emily believes in teaching easy-to-implement strategies that allow you build the photography business of your dreams.

The Mother of all Mentoring is a series of four lessons that run over the course of four weeks. Each week you will receive a 90-minute recording plus a series of tasks that will give you both the education and the tools you need to run a successful photography business.

Registration opens on Wednesday September 26, 2012, but you have an opportunity to win a spot before you can buy it! She’s given Tiffinbox a complimentary seat to give to one lucky reader! Here’s how to enter:

1. Like Tiffinbox on Facebook and Follow Tiffinbox on Twitter.

2. Like Moms With Cameras on Facebook and Follow Moms With Cameras on Twitter.

3. Leave a comment below.

4. We will announce our winner on September 25th, 9 pm EST.

Good luck everyone!

If you’re not the lucky winner, don’t fret. Emily is also offering all of our followers $100 off of the tuition price when they use the code MM100 by September 30th, 2012.

As an added bonus, the first twenty-five registrants will receive a thirty-minute phone consultation with Emily Potts!

With your enrollment, you’ll receive the following:

Four 90-minute sessions full of information on that week’s topics.

A weekly pdf outlining your goals for the week and offering spaces on which to take notes to refer back to.

A set of digital templates to use for your promotional materials and products.

In-house forms to streamline your workflow and keep track of clients.

Special offers and promotions from our favorite vendors.

While this course is being offered by Moms With Cameras, I am sure Emily would welcome guys into this online mentoring program as well. So, if you are looking to get a solid footing as you set up your business, this online mentoring program might be your ticket.

[Just so you know, I am not financially benefitting by announcing this opportunity here on my site.]