When my friends Rebecca Mead and Kathy Hokunson mentioned Gary Vaynerchuk‘s stop at R.J. Julia's Bookstore in Madison, CT, I jumped at the chance to go see and hear him yesterday evening.

First impression – this dude is the real deal. Down to earth, even if he has made millions of dollars selling wine in his family business or starting Vayner Media, a marketing consulting company. Just check out the way he presents wine on his extremely popular Wine Library TV. When we met he was approachable and extremely generous with his time.

He was obviously at the bookstore to chat about his second book, The Thank You Economy. I had just received it through Amazon yesterday and had not had a chance to read it yet. His first book, Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion, made a phenomenal impact on me. I recommend you get that book as well if you are just starting to explore social media.

The synopsis of his new book is this – our economy is changing to a point where we better become a whole lot more customer-centric, if we want to survive in the business we are in. Once I have read the book, I promise to post an online review. If you want to know more about it, check out The Thank You Economy.

As I said, Gary was extremely gracious when I asked him if he would spare two minutes to speak to you, my fellow photographers, about how the message in his book pertains to what you are now doing in your business. His is a terrific message and I welcome you to watch the video below. Then post your thoughts about what he said. Are you going to be making changes to the way you run your photography business? Share your thoughts with other photographers here.

Thank you, Gary, for your time and for launching this new feature on Tiffinbox called 2 Minutes WIth Tiffinbox. I welcome other authors, artists, photographers to contact me about being featured here as well.

UPDATE: For a quick review read my friend Scott Wyden's review of The Thank You Economy.

This is a guest blog by Boston-based photography consultant, Selina Maitreya.

For months many photographers have been laying low, few of them actively marketing citing financial setbacks and slow economic times. However proactive photographers have been working on their portfolios, updating databases, sending out direct and visual email and going on sales calls.

Who’s going to be in the running when the assignments start rolling in? My guess would be our proactive friends. No surprise there.

If you chose to cut back on your sales and marketing efforts in the last months or even years, NOW is the time reboot your business. Here is my checklist (in order) that you can use as a reference as you seek to re-charge your efforts.

VISUAL PRODUCT: Your body of work is your product. Make sure you have a deep body of work 25-40 images that represent your visual approach to your subject area. Go back and make sure all examples are current, and applicable to your vision. Edit and repaginate.

DATABASE: When was the last time you used your database? If it’s been a while, check with your provider and restructure your contact list. Make sure you have enough contacts for your outreach efforts (direct and visual email) to show a healthy return (1000-1500 names). If you don’t have a list. Invest in one. Contact AgencyAccess.com. They have a super team.

Develop Sales and Marketing Tools:

1) Get a print book fill it with the same images that is in your main web gallery and use it.

2) Choose locations 1 hour North, South, East and West of you and choose 75-100 contacts from your database and create an in person sales call list.

3) Set a goal for yourself for appointments you need to have per month and get going.

4) For my wedding folks your numbers for contacts will be smaller but if you look to see function hall contacts, wedding planners etc. you should have lots of in person leads.

5) Develop inexpensive post card mailers and plan on sending one every other month.

6) Develop and plan on sending out emails on month’s direct mail does not go out.

Social Networking:

If you have been a bit intimidated by social networking or only communicating with other photographers get your self-educated about the use of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn as business applications. These helpful contact tools cost nothing but your time and attention.

I’ve given you what may seem to be a very large task, but if you take these suggestions one at a time and facilitate them you will be in great shape when the economy turns, and my wish is that it turns in your favor!

Follow Selina on Twitter, connect with her on Facebook and or LinkedIn. She is also the producer and voice behind The View From Here, an audio (MP3) program for photographers. If you found Selina's post here useful, you are going to LOVE The View From Here. Simply use “FOSSES” when you check out, to get it for $199 $99! (Yes, that's an affiliate code)