Who is Don Giannatti?

Please join me in my congratulating Don Giannatti, creative mentor and coach, as this year's recipient of the Tiffinbox Award.

I recall attending one of Don's first lighting workshops in Boston and kept in touch as he evolved and began offering his advice to other emerging photographers online.

Don is the consummate photographer/teacher, who gently coaxes you into being a better photographer and a better business person. He is relentless in sharing his opinion and delivers them as a matter of fact because he has the experience to back it all up. In addition to being a photographer, at one time Don also owned a design agency that worked with a variety of corporate and editorial clients. He brings all of his knowledge, distills it and delivers it to students through his websites Lighting Essentials and Project52.

In his own words:

I have been a commercial photographer since 1974, and have worked with advertising agencies and design firms all over the world. I have had studios in LA, Chicago, and Phoenix.

In the decades of my career I have shot fashion and beauty, product, industrial and corporate, and currently I make portraits and environmental images.

Project 52 Pro System is my flagship online learning center where I work with small groups of photographers, and I offer one-on-one mentorships.

I have taught at CreativeLIVE, and other online education platforms, and written 6 books on photography.

My belief in the power of photography and the creativity of photographers to wield that power makes my job the best in the world.

Example Of Don's Advice

Don's YouTube channel is one of my favorites. He doesn't mince words. He lays it out like any good teacher should. The advice is for us to take or leave behind. Here are two gems:

Don's Sample Portfolio

How Can I Learn From Donald Giannatti?

I've already mentioned Don's YouTube channel. But you should also follow Don on Instagram. He is a huge proponent of having a visually rich social media channel and likes what Instagram has to offer. Do pay attention to his advice on how to use Instagram, though.

Don is also a three-time book author. Yes, I do recommend his books.

If you are an emerging commercial photographer, you need to sign up for Project52. Interested in his other workshops or lighting tutorials? Bookmark Lighting Essentials.

Don's courses on CreativeLive are extremely popular. Here is one on product photography. And here's the first one he called Lighting Essentials.

The next course I want to enroll in? Don's environmental portraiture class.

Recognizing Past Tiffinbox Award Winners

Now in its 8th year, the Tiffinbox Award is now an annual tradition on August 23rd. Please visit and celebrate the previous awardees at the following links:

David DuChemin

Spencer Lum

Jamie Swanson

Jenika McDavitt

Neil van Neikerk

Megan DiPiero

David Anthony Williams

Do Me A Favor Please!

Did you learn something new or were you inspired by this post? Please share it with your photographer friends. Copy + paste the link and send your colleagues an email and tell them why they should check out this post or any of the other posts on Tiffinbox. I appreciate your help in spreading the word!

Asha's essay, “Sales. Never dirty. Always Soulful” made me sit up and take note.

Thanking one of her fans for following her, Asha said this:

“I have always seen the sales a sacred dance for sure (as long as we are offering products that we believe in). Such a powerful profession to connect with people, to test our own integrity, to be of service, and to experience our worth both in the vocation sense & the financial sense.”

Are you as jazzed about what she says about “selling” as I am? I certainly hope so.

Asha is a spiritual and business coach based in Massachusetts. I invited her to be a guest on TiffinboxTV because or her long history of working with creative entrepreneurs, including photographers. In fact, she readily admits that Glen Cooper, a successful wedding photojournalist, who happens to be her husband, was one of her first students.

For most photographers, October is a busy month. Thankfully, right? Both portrait and wedding photographers are hustling and delivering their images to their clients and there isn't a moment to even think about next year. Yet, Asha says this is really the time to to start thinking about what's going to happen with your business in the new year.

She is on a mission to work with creative entrepreneurs – women and men – who are looking for powerful inner transformations. Discover your inner genius here. She leads mastermind courses at the beginning of the year for her students. If you don't want to wait till January, Asha has a new seven-week course called: Take Your Inner Genius To The Bank. It is now open for enrollment for a very limited time.

We sat down to talk about a variety of topics including sales, branding, workflows and creating systems:

Are you ready to uncover and monetize your genius? If you are clear with your goals, laser focused on what needs to be done on a daily basis and feel that you are not in business just for the sake of making money, but really interested in making an impact in your community or country, consider Asha's new program that will get you on the right path.

One of the things Asha says is this:

“When you raise your prices, we are really asking for greater excellence of ourselves and greater excellence of the kind of clients we attract.”

Would you like to raise your prices in a way that feels authentic to you and you are able to truly serve your photography clients in an excellent way? Then it is time to take your genius to the bank!

P.S. I am not an affiliate partner and I did not receive a monetary compensation for hosting this interview. I truly believe in Asha's mission and feel you might be encouraged to sign on to study under her so that your business flourishes. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask in the comments section below. Thank you!

First, Here’s The Bad News:

Professional photography is a lousy industry. According to the US Department of Labor, median photographer earnings in 2013 was $29,280.

What makes the industry so bad? Take your pick:

Zero scalability: With a photography business you are simply trading your time for dollars, and you have a finite amount of time. Compare this with a retail store that can sell more items, or open up more stores. An online business like Google has nearly limitless capacity. A manufacturing business like Apple can open up sales to more and more markets/countries around the world and build more/different products. You, on the other hand, can only shoot a limited amount before you run out of time or drop dead from exhaustion.

Zero barriers to entry: Every day you probably see a dozen new photography businesses open up in your area. Photography businesses are ridiculously easy to start. Since just about 100% of new professional photographers started out as hobbyists, they already have the gear, Photoshop and a computer. And photography web design companies make it cheap and easy to start a website. How about a beautiful website design, free domain name, blog and hosting for $8 a month?

Zero equity building: Most entrepreneurs start a business with an exit strategy in mind. How are they going to cash in on their hard work? It may be an initial public offering, it may be getting acquired, but in one way or another the entire point of the exercise is to build a valuable property that can be monetized. Now let’s look at Sally Smith Wedding Photography. On the day she decides to call it quits, what exactly is there to cash in? Nothing. Maybe she can get a few thousand dollars by selling her gear, but that’s about it. There’s no business to sell.

Now, How About Some Good News:

You can still run a great business, even in a lousy industry.

It’s hard to imagine an industry worse than professional photography, but if I had to name one, I’d pick the airline industry. The airline industry sucks for a few reasons:

Extremely high capital expenditures. A single Boeing 737 (one of the most common planes in the industry) costs anywhere between $52 million and $87 million.
Extremely high labor costs. Skilled pilots, mechanics, ground crew and air crew are expensive and labor disputes are common.
Extremely high fuel costs. Not only does fuel cost a lot, the price is always varying, making it hard to plan and/or expensive to hedge.
Extremely high vulnerability to exogenous events. Weather, air traffic control delays, terrorism, you name it. A big negative event in any of these things can cause millions of dollars in added costs and/or lost revenue.

The result? It’s hard to name an airline that hasn’t gone bankrupt. Let’s just look at a few of the big names that have gone bankrupt in the past 20 years:

Continental Airlines
Frontier Airlines
Eastern Airlines
Pan American World Airways
America West Airlines
TWA (Trans World Airlines)
US Airways
United Airlines
Air Canada
Aloha Airlines
Northwest Airlines
Delta Airlines
Frontier Airlines
American Airlines

So just about every single airline that you’ve ever heard of has gone through bankruptcy. Some reorganized and re­emerged, others simply disappeared.

The bottom line ­ the airline industry sucks rotten eggs.

And yet, there’s Southwest Airlines.

If you invested $10,000 in Southwest Airlines in 1990, your investment would now be worth $508,667.

How did they do it? Why have they thrived while almost every other competitor has gone bankrupt? There have been many, many articles written about the success of Southwest, so I’ll just give you some highlights:

They treat their customers well. How about “bags fly free?” The last time I flew Southwest, the pilot announced that our flight saved $3,300 in fees by not charging for checked bags. Flight changes are easy and relatively painless. And they move fast.

Efficiency. Southwest turns its planes around faster than any other airline, which allows them to fly nearly one extra flight per day per plane compared to their competitors. Everything is standardized ­ they use a single plane (the 737) on all their routes. This saves on maintenance time and training. Their simple point­-to-­point routes means that they have the fewest percentage of lost bags in the industry,

Happy employees. Southwest has never had a strike, despite being the most heavily unionized company in the industry (87%). The employees are on a mission to provide excellent customer service. You’ll never see an airline employee smile more than you do with Southwest. Happy employees make happy customers.

By doing simple things: running efficient operations and treating their customers and employees well ­ Southwest has managed to thrive in a lousy industry.

It sounds simple ­yet it’s easy to lose sight of. You can succeed, even in a lousy industry.

Now, getting back to your photography business. Is business not what you hoped it would be? Are you struggling competing with all the newbies in your market? Phone not ringing? Running any business is hard, but trying to succeed in a lousy industry is even harder.

If you’re doing great ­ that’s awesome, you’re probably doing the right things! If you’re not, what are you going to do about it? Complain? Spend a few hours today online reading camera reviews and lens-sharpness charts?

You’re going to have to reinvent yourself. Learn from Southwest Airlines and do what your competitors aren’t doing. Kick yourself in the butt.

Phone isn’t ringing? Then get on the phone and make some calls! When was the last time you met a wedding planner for coffee? When was the last time you got together with some other photographers to talk about cross-­referrals? When was the last time you met with a realtor who could give out some of your gift cards to families who just purchased a new home in your area? Get off the internet and get on the phone! I guarantee you your competitors aren’t doing this.

No shoots because it’s the slow season? Then start shooting! How about collaborating with a local wedding gown designer or bridal shop to set up some awesome winter bridal fashion shoots? Split the cost of hair/makeup with the designer. Make it a production that turns into an epic blog post and portfolio material.

Influential bloggers in your area? When was the last time you called them and offered a free headshot session?

Still have a 2008­era website? You know, one of those Flash­-based template sites that don’t work on an iPad or iPhone? Get going now on making a new, awesome site that’s also optimized for mobile.

Only write one blog post a month? Or less? Writing blog posts is one of the best ways for customers to find you. Get going.

Sitting alone at your desk all day without talking to anyone? Call some other vendors (florists, planners, DJs, caterers, cake bakers etc.) and put together your own Mastermind group.

Do you know most of the financial planners in your area? Why not? Have you called them to meet for coffee (yeah, I know, I’m big on coffee)? They have the same target customer base that you do ­ affluent clients. They’re always looking for gifts for their clients, but gifts are expensive (e.g. $75 for a fruit & cheese basket). Why not see if they’ll offer one of your portrait photography gift cards to any client that opens a college savings plan?

How about you try to stop asking for stuff, and instead start giving. Grow your circle and find ways to help them. Why not do a photo shoot of one of the caterers in your circle? Make it magazine­-worthy. Blog about them with links to their site. Shoot portraits of them and their food. Help them put together a blog post for their own blog linking to your site, of course). Make them look like the best caterer in town. When you help others it will all come back to you.

The new year is always a good time to kick yourself in the butt. Stop moping. Stop wishing. Stop wasting time. Be the photographer that makes a great income despite being in a lousy industry. Just get out there and start making things happen!