Finding your creativity is a journey. It also isn’t a linear journey. It is more cyclical where you get bursts of new content that are often followed by a time of searching.

Our lives are not a trajectory that continues to build on past experiences leading us up a large stairway.
Creativity is more about doing something new and different. Most ideation isn’t born in a vacuum. We draw from our environment, experiences, and others our new ideas.

While early in our career, we are inspired by others and will copy their work until we learn the skills necessary to reproduce that style. During that process, we slowly put our spin on that skill set. We try putting our spin on the other’s art and create something new.

No longer linear trajectory

While we grow in some form of a trajectory that shows progress, we often revisit the process of taking what exists around us and copying it, then modifying it to find our way of expressing something in our hearts, minds, and soul.

When you have those breakthrough moments and people notice, you are often copied by other creatives for the same reason you copied others to develop something new.

Actions to take

The key to the creative process is to ensure you add yeast to the ingredients. This is where you cause fermentation and leavening. Fermentation is the process of breaking down the components.

Let’s say you notice a photographer’s work and want to try and duplicate it. You take the time to study the work.

What lens did they use? How did they light it? What are they doing in the post process to get that look?

Innovate

Leavening is when you are modifying or transforming it for something better.

That is how you become a leader or expert as a creative.

Now, if you are copying other artists’ work and never creating something new, you are just being led. You are not creative. You are a commodity.

Those needing a nice headshot will call you. As long as you are priced like most others in the marketplace, you will be getting work.

Others who recognize creativity and are looking for someone to help them take their brand to the next level will not look to you. You are the vanilla in the creative field.

While trying to always come up with something new is good to keep yourself interested in your work, remember that this helps you create your niche.

More Than A Product

What is just as important to realize is that creativity isn’t limited to your product [photos]. How you treat people is something that shows just as much creativity. The more you WOW people with your service you also separate yourself from the crowd.

Study brands that are known for their service. Copy them and then put your spin on them and do something that adds more to creating a unique experience for your clients.

Thinking you have arrived are being led by others in the industry. Recognizing clients are leaving them is essential. Copying other brands to keep clients is a short-term solution. Other creatives are not seeking them out or copying them. They are selling their product and pricing.

Leaders in the creative field are always looking for a way to improve or at least do something new and different.

Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water!

What I notice about the big brands is they have the signature products they continue to produce that keep their clients happy. Then they have new products. Often these are limited-time offers. These are the things that keep things fresh and exciting for your clients. They may try some of these, but they let your clients know you are constantly innovating.

Be a leader – Embrace change!

89% of shoppers stay loyal to brands that share their values

Your message is likely very sales-heavy if you’re focused on simply selling a product and not building a brand. Consumers are constantly being sold to. Instead of focusing on what you can get from them, brand-building allows you to focus on what you can give, and after you’ve built a foundation of trust with your audience, they will be more likely to hit “Buy Now” on your next offer.

Selling products in the short term may be a necessary goal to launch your business, but branding can set up your business for success in the long term.

Selling stuff you no longer need on eBay to get some cash should look a lot different than how your business sells its products or services.

Steve Jobs’s impact on Apple was continually pushing products back to his team for simplifying and design. He went for the clean back of the MacBook Pro. Something that most in the industry were not paying attention to that kind of detail that customers didn’t see when using. Jobs knew better.

Build your brand, and don’t just succumb to Good Enough for your marketing.

[NIKON Z 6, VR Zoom 24-105mm f/4G IF-ED, Mode = Aperture Priority, ISO 100, 1/320, ƒ/4, (35mm = 24)]

The lightsaber is the weapon of a Jedi, an elegant weapon of a more civilized age.

Flash is the lightsaber tool of photographers

The Jedi used the Lightsaber as a weapon. It made them even more powerful.

The photographer uses lights [flash & constant light source] to make them more powerful.

For the original Star Wars film, the film prop hilts were constructed by John Stears from old Graflex press camera flash battery packs and other pieces of hardware.

Without a flash, a photo often misses that “WOW” factor.

Add flash, and now the color and the people “POP.”

While silhouettes are often powerful by themselves, I could reveal the subjects by adding flash.

Learn How

I teach this in workshops that colleges, photography programs, camera clubs, & individuals hire me to demonstrate and then coach them to do it themselves with my supervision.

Here you can see the photography workshop participants watching and learning.

Contact me to do a workshop for your group or you individually.

Laughing Gull at Ocean Isle Beach, NC [NIKON Z 9, Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8G + TC-2001, Mode = Aperture Priority, ISO 500, 1/4000, ƒ/5.6, (35mm = 600)]

When you buy a new camera, there are many situations in that you can shoot with minimal understanding of your new camera.

I believe headshots are super easy for a new camera. Setting the camera to manual and sync speed is minimal to get great results. With the Z9 and having the eye-tracking activated, it does great. This is because there is only one set of eyes to track, and focusing is quite simple.

More Eyes

Now with football in a stadium, there are many eyes to track. This is where the camera gets confused as to what you want in focus.

Now taking the camera out of the box and going off to a sporting event for a job is just crazy. This is such a complex subject to get into focus without understanding all the camera settings. So much so that Nikon has a unique instruction manual for just sports.

Acknowledge the Complexity

It gets very complicated and quicker. Just look at this chart alone.

With so many dials and choices, you must understand what they all do before shooting a critical job.

Today’s top-end cameras take much time to master all the controls.

I am unsure which has more controls, the Nikon Z9 or a Boeing 747. Pilots will train in a flight simulator before actually flying the Boeing 747. The primary purpose of a flight simulator is to help the pilot to achieve, test and maintain proficiency in handling airplane operations without involving any risk to property or lives and at a much lower cost than training in the air.

How long does it take to become a 747 pilot?

Becoming an airline pilot takes two years to gain the required 1,500 hours of flight time.

One of the major problems with many buying the Nikon Z9 is they have minimal experience with photography in general.

	Total Hours Required
Private Pilot License	40 Hours
Commercial Pilot Certificate	250 Hours
Airline Transport Pilot Certificate	1,500 Hours

Those are hours flying and don’t include all the ground school for each certificate.

Manuals & Community Groups Don’t Substitute for Hands On

On Nikon Z9 community groups online, I am seeing people asking questions that are more basic than just the knowledge of the specificity of the Nikon Z9. You have got to spend a lot of time learning all the menus, and the reference manual is the best way to do that. The second thing you have to do is test out what each of those settings does and take some photos changing those settings, so you understand what that setting does to help you in a given situation.

One of the best ways to get those hours under the belt is by practicing with all subjects and situations. You cannot practice enough.

This past week while on vacation at Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, I used the time to play and, most importantly, become more aware of some of the controls on my Nikon Z9.

One of the most challenging things about photographing birds was keeping the bird in flight in the frame. My brother-in-law tried my Nikon Z9, and his first comment was how difficult it was to track the birds.

While playing/practicing with the Nikon Z9, I did the same thing with my Drones. I flew my DJI Air 2S.

My new Nikon Z9 can do way more than I have understood. I am practicing with different situations so that when I have a client that needs something that my camera will do, I need to have the correct settings to maximize the camera’s ability. You can also screw up most all the photos if not in suitable locations.

I will be shooting the Roswell Alive After Five on Canton Street this week. This is where I am also practicing. The last time I did this, I shot with two prime lenses. I shot with the Sigma 35mm ƒ/1.4 Art and the Nikon 85mm ƒ/1.8.

I loved shooting shallow depth-of-field to force you to look at what I wanted to be the subject in the photo.

Procedural Memory

Procedural memory, also called implicit memory, is a type of long-term memory involved in performing different actions and skills. Essentially, it is the memory of how to do certain things. Riding a bike, tying your shoes, and cooking an omelet without a recipe are all procedural memories.

Tips To Master Your Nikon Z9

• Download the Nikon Z9 Reference Manual
• Watch YouTube Videos – Go to YouTube and put in the search term for “Nikon Z9.”
• Watch YouTube Specialty Videos – Put in “Nikon Z9” and “Specialty,” ie. “Bird Photography”
• Set aside time in the day to go and shoot practice situations
• Evaluate your shoot. I recommend using Nikon’s NX Studio. The advantage is this can let you see where you were focusing and help you understand user error
• Rinse & Repeat – Continual Repetition will help you know when you need to change the camera settings and which settings to use in any situation

Remember, one size doesn’t fit all. The camera is highly customizable for you to do things no one thought possible, but you must have the camera setup for that subject and situation.

This year we did the family photo up on the walkway to the beach. This was easier for my parents to navigate than on the beach.

Here is the basic setup for this photo.

Now I also took a family photo with my drone this year. The wind blew so much that we didn’t get one shot, with everyone looking great. We did get many pictures without the drone.

Now getting a moment with little children takes a village. They were done after a couple of shots, but we needed them for different groupings.

“Patience grasshopper”

– Kung Fu

I believe that recording real moments is what we cherish years later. Of course, I am thinking about how we can get a better photo with everyone looking their best. I suggested the oldest cousin sit in front of one of the younger ones to make them feel special. IT WORKED!!!

I then took my lights onto the beach for those who wanted photos on the beach.

Again I had some help from the rest of the family. They held the lights so the wind didn’t blow or damage them.

By the way, I shot the photos on a tripod in case I needed to combine multiple photos to get the best expressions.

This last photo combines a couple of photos to get the best expressions.

Many of us went back to the movie theater this past weekend and watched “Top Gun: Maverick.” Tom Cruise brings Maverick back to the big screen.

Maverick has a rogue pilot’s attitude to life. It takes the death of Goose for Maverick [first movie] to look back on his actions with anything resembling a critical eye, as the young pilot is initially a reckless, feckless recruit who couldn’t care less about the lives he endangers and the potential damage he could do himself.

Our culture teaches us we are to take calculated risks. However, Maverick tells Rooster, “Don’t think, just do.”

“Remember that failure is an event, not a person.”

– Zig Ziglar

Without spoiling the movie, Maverick takes us on a journey where he is willing to push his limits. The greatest lesson Maverick teaches is the importance of believing you can do something.

One of the film’s central themes is, “It’s not the plane; it’s the pilot.”  Maverick added, “What is achievable comes to the pilot in the box.” 

“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.

– Norman Vincent Peale

Creatives Need To Embrace Fear

Fear can be healthy. It is programmed into your nervous system and gives you the survival instincts you need to keep yourself safe from danger. Worry is unhealthy when it makes you more cautious than you need to be to stay safe and when it prevents you from doing things you would otherwise enjoy.

I watch many freelancers who have a hard time surviving in this industry. They overthink. They suffer from Analysis Paralysis. Analysis Paralysis is an inability to decide due to over-thinking a problem. An individual or a group can have too much data. The result is endless wrangling over the upsides and downsides of each option and an inability to pick one.

You Must Fail to Succeed

Failure is not a step backward; it’s an excellent stepping stone to success. 

“Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.”

– Winston Churchill

What’s the worst thing that could happen?

It’s good to ask yourself, “What is the worst thing that can happen?” in any given situation. You might be spurred into action if the worst thing is not that bad. If the worst thing that can happen is terrible, then it might cause you to sit this one out and stay on the sidelines because the possible downside is so awful, even if the chance of it happening is minimal. It’s better to err on caution than on the side of catastrophe.

Aron Ralston went rock climbing alone and got his hand pinned against a rock wall by a boulder that moved while climbing down it. He didn’t tell anyone he was going hiking so no one would look for him. He was stuck there for five days. He then realized that although he couldn’t move or break the boulder that trapped him, he could escape the boulder by cutting off his trapped arm with the small, dull knife he had. So that’s what he did. He cut off his arm to survive—quite a story.

Had Ralston asked himself, “What’s the worst thing that can happen to me while hiking alone?” before going alone, he probably would have told someone where he was going in case he got in a situation where he needed help.

Mitigate the Risks

Take the time to develop a game plan to grow your business. Dream Big! The only thing you need to do is plan out the actions that you will need to take to implement your vision.

Ask yourself, “What’s the worst thing that could happen?” If you can lose money to implement the plan, be willing to lose that money. Consider it a way to test your idea out. It is you doing research.

“Why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me.”

– J.K. Rowling

I love how Thomas Edison looked at what many would call failure. He tried over and over to invent the light bulb. He probably failed more than most. It took over 10,000 failures to find the suitable material to make it work. Edison said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

What is the difference between most successful freelancers vs. those who had to leave the industry? Confucius said, “Our greatest glory is never failing, but rising every time we fail.”

Those who get back on the bicycle after falling are the ones who learn how to ride a bike.

“My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with failure.”

– Abraham Lincoln

When parents of today’s seniors had their senior photos taken, they were shot on film and not digital as today.

For our family, we all had senior photos made in the style of the day, but the number of images you took was much less than we do today.

Today it is much easier to take hundreds of photos so that we can get a variety of images and the best expressions.

Kids who seemed confident throughout childhood may struggle to maintain self-assurance during the teen years. For many, adolescence is a time filled with self-doubt, a questionable body image, and insecurity.

Feeling self-conscious about your appearance is normal. How most of us are photographed throughout our lives doesn’t help. You see, most of the time, when a photograph is taken, that is it. One photo is taken, and maybe a second where everyone is acting goofy. What are the chances that moment was your best?

Look for a Seasoned Professional Photographer

Most all professional photographers can get a well-exposed and sharp photo. When you look for a photographer, pay attention to the people’s expressions in the pictures. Pay a lot of attention to the eyes.

Look for a variety of expressions. You can tell if they are genuine expressions.

Some photographers are great with their personalities but don’t bring out their subjects’ personalities. Sometimes the best photographers are quiet and listen more than they talk. That is because they are looking for real connections.

Some of the best people photographers I know had degrees in psychology, social work, and counseling professions. They studied body language. Other photographers without that formal education have spent a lifetime studying people. They have gone to workshops and studied with seasoned professionals to perfect their people and photographic skills.

Tips for Your Senior

Have FUN!!!!! Act up! Be Goofy!

After 40 years of working in photography, I can tell you that those willing to take the risk and look ridiculous and take risks are those with the best images I have ever made.

I started taking portraits in college. I found that those who would work with me and take direction always got the best expressions.

My Brochure and Prices for Senior Photos

This was posted today on Facebook. Every day somewhere, a newbie to the industry or a new genre of photography/video asks, “What can I charge?” Here is that question on this post:

Client: Environmental NGO based in California
One day Shoot: portraits, candid shots, etc. outside of the US
Usage: social media, website, other marketing material
Duration: they haven’t specified

Questions:

• Would you charge a day rate or a flat fee?
• How many pictures would you deliver?
• What sort of usage would include (i.e., non-exclusive, 2-3 years?)
• If it is a day rate, do you charge additional editing days, considering it is all minor color correction, etc.?
• What’s the standard rate for NGOs in the US? (I know the rates vary quite a lot for NGOs based outside and inside the US, ranging from $360/day to $1,500.)

Here is my response, which I hope may help even more people.

What is an NGO?

The most significant difference between a non-profit and an NGO is the scope of work that most non-profits assume. Many non-profits are affiliated with churches, boys and girls clubs, and alumni associations. An NGO, on the other hand, has a broader and internationally driven footprint.

Similarities of non-profit and profit organizations

Both make income but reinvest all earnings into the organization to continue operations and support their causes. Although both have a staff consisting primarily of volunteers, they also hire and pay some higher-level employees within the organizations.

Their utilities are pretty much the same. The staff must be paid a going rate in their location, or they will not be able to hire.

Special events costs don’t change because they are a non-profit. The catering is the exact cost. The cost savings usually come in volunteers helping.

Don’t be the one vendor giving their work away for less while all the other vendors are being paid their total price.

Day Rate or Hourly Rate vs Flat Fee or Project Based Pricing

Charging by the hour is one of the worst mistakes a freelancer can make. If you charge by the hour, it will only be natural for you to work less efficiently than if you had priced on a per-job basis. And given that you only have a certain number of hours available in the day, you are essentially capping your maximum earning potential.

If, on the other hand, your price is on a per-job basis, you are limited only by the speed at which you can complete your work. You will learn to work more productively and, in turn, will earn a higher equivalent hourly rate (and impress clients with your efficient style and quick turnaround).

I suggest Project Pricing with a contract

For this model, it is necessary to spell out what is to be photographed and what the client’s deliverable will be.

When doing the job, it is common for clients to say, “Since you are here,” or “Can you take a few shots of this for me?” By having a contract with the project scope outlined, you now have a way to handle those requests that make you more money or keep you from giving away work for free.

“I would love to help you get more photos. Since this is beyond the contract, the extra cost will be $_______.” They may say no, but you offered to do the work, and they cannot take advantage of you.

You can also respond by saying, “The list of shots we have to do on the list will not all get done if we stop and shoot this. What on the list do you want to eliminate for this photo?”

The number of photos delivered

Delivering a few finished photo options for each situation is the bare minimum. Some show most of the take and only provide a limited number, which the client picks for further finishing edits. Usually, a number is given in a contract on the number of deliverables, but it’s good to always spell out the price for additional photos from those taken.

If you are new to shooting this assignment, have the client tell you what they want. Then overshoot and have them limit the final number.

Usage

An estimate always includes three prices. There are always three levels of pricing: low, Medium, and High, at which something changes in what the client gets for the price.

Usage is one of the best ways to create three prices. Also, by spelling out the use and other factors in pricing, you are setting up some of the parameters for negotiating with the client before starting the job.

Do not make your lowest price something that you will complain about if they choose to go in this direction.

I have found that most of the time, the client picks the median price.

For large corporations or organizations, add the 4^th price. This I call the Whoop T Doo. If they go in this direction, you will benefit, and so will they.

Post Processing Fee

Please always let clients know you can do more with the photos. In post-production, you can fix skin issues or change clothing colors.

It is easier for the client to have a pricing idea before asking for the work. Sometimes, it is easier to have examples of before-and-after pricing.

Don’t make clients feel like they are being nickeled and dimed by you. Make them feel like they are at a spa, upgrading the experience, and enjoy spending on the luxurious experience.

What’s the standard rate?

There are no standard rates in photography.

The costs of living around the country alone cause prices to fluctuate. It costs more because everything in that market costs more, and people have to make a living.

The prices I hear in the Metro Atlanta area go around $600 daily to $4,000 or more.

There are always those who are cheaper, but rarely have they been in business for many years.

Tips!!!

• Know your Cost of Doing Business. I would like to know what my monthly expenses average out over time and have a figure I know that I cannot walk out the door to do work or that I will be paying them to work for the job.
• Know your hourly rate, but wait to quote it. Fast food restaurants know how much they must pay each employee an hour, but the prices on the menu do not show those hourly rates. Neither should you. Use this rate to help you configure your project price.
• Sliding Scale. If a job is for an hour, for example, the client will pay much more for the most part than the person who hires me for a project that takes a day. So, if I am paying myself $300 an hour for the first hour, I may charge the client $1,100 for half a day of my time. Again, this is how I am building my price for the project in my head. They get a $100 discount for more work. I may only charge $1,800 for the day versus 8 X $300 = $2,400. Again, please give me more work you get a discount.
• Usage & Risk. If the client is going to use this in a significant multi-year ad campaign, then most likely, your photos will help make them a great deal if successful. You want to get paid more. If this is something like a wedding where you have no do-overs, the risk means you should be paid more. High-risk jobs require more redundancy and preplanning to avoid unnecessary risks.
• Always provide three prices. Give clients the ability to add fries to their orders. Price choices are how you can grow your business.

Nobody else will if you can’t identify what makes your story unique and exciting.

• Who is driving the story? What is it about? Who is affected? Who benefits? Who loses?
• What has happened? What are the consequences? What does this mean for the reader?
• Where is this happening (building, neighborhood, city, country)? Where should readers go to learn more?
• When did it happen (time of day, day, month, year)? When was the last update? When can you expect to learn more? When will the effects be felt?
• Why did this event take place? Why is this important in the big picture? Why should readers care?

Storytelling is Key

While you can have all the answers to the 5 Ws and have all the visuals from the close-up, the medium, and the wide overall photos to tell the story, you need a way to engage the audience and weave the parts into a coherent storyline.

Stories are either a 1) Drama or 2) Tragedy. There is always a tension for which everything pivots around.

When the storyteller starts with a kidnapping event, the tension is established right away, and the question of if this is a tragedy or drama is what hooks the audience to stay on the edge of their seats for the ending.

Businesses often fail in telling their story

Most businesses put most of their money into events like groundbreaking, award banquets, kickoff events, and other celebrations.

Imagine Star Wars starting the story with the celebration of the victory. Imagine any movie beginning with the ending, but this is what most businesses do with their Public Relations.

Either Or?

Am I proposing that instead of celebration events, you do storytelling instead? No. I suggest that storytelling be a priority so that the celebrations improve. Why do we celebrate? We had to overcome a great deal to get to this point. Tell that story, so everyone knows what brought you to the point of the celebration.

Invite your Audience to the Game

Do you think people would show up just for the trophy presentation? No. People want to see the game. They want to see and experience the tension of overcoming obstacles to win the game.

What is your play of the game for your business this year???

Hire a professional storyteller to tell your story. Most of your audience isn’t present while you play your game. They will need the storyteller the next day to pull the highlights and the gameplay to tell your story.

Establish the crisis that your business provides the solution to.

How to Fight The Coffee Borer Beetle

1. Regularly inspect your crops for signs of infestation. …
2. Immediately separate all infected samples and cherries. …
3. Use pesticides (organic farmers may also be able to find appropriate pesticides).
4. Use traps.

Are you telling compelling stories, or are you killing the saga by starting with the ending by only celebrating with events? My suggestion is to do both. Tell your story and celebrate those milestones.

Today many are Gig Workers. They are self-employed and work for many clients, unlike employees with one boss.

Gig mind setters are constant learners — they self-manage, take spontaneous initiative, focus on skills more than roles, feel free to shortcut processes, and don’t hesitate to question the status quo. They share what they learn with others, take ownership of their personal growth, and feel confident in their ability to influence people.

The Gig Mindset includes a level of loyalty to the organization and not the process. It is a willingness to make things better.

If you are someone who wants to show up and get a To-Do List from someone and execute it, then you need to find employment with a company. Then spend time in that company learning how to develop a Gig Mindset before you become a freelancer.

I think one of the key elements for Gig workers is their ability to develop solutions for their clients.

Creating is not a result of genius, unconscious incubation, or aha! Moments. It results from thinking: a series of mental steps consisting of problem, solution, and repeat.

Complacency is an enemy. “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” is an impossible idiom. No matter what the sales, no matter what the customer satisfaction, there is always something to fix.

“Most Gig Workers can do a job, but few can conceive one.” 

– Stanley Leary

The secret of Steve Jobs was that he was never satisfied. He devoted his life to asking, “Why doesn’t it work?” and “What should I change to make it work?”

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have been celebrating Passover, Easter, and Ramadan. All of these are the time for believers to remember. It is a time to hit the pause button on everything that is going on in their lives and focus on the bigger purpose in our lives.

It is just as essential for us to do our work. Each year we should hit the pause button and remember the purpose of our work. I believe people of faith who integrate their faith purpose with their work will be the most successful.

As a Christian, I am reminded of how Jesus stayed laser-focused on his purpose. At the crucifixion, the chief priests—probably both Pharisees and Sadducees—insisted that the sign over Jesus’ head that said “The King of the Jews” should say, “This man claimed to be King of the Jews.”

Throughout scripture, Jesus confronts the religious leaders about their desire to be honored by men, not God. He purposely healed the sick and picked grain on the Sabbath day to counter their extreme views about the Sabbath.

He was focused on his purpose. Jesus hit the pause button and took time to be alone. He prayed.

Martin Luther, best known as a seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation, said, “I have so much to do that I shall have to spend the first three hours in prayer.”

C.S. Lewis is often attributed as saying, prayer “doesn’t change God. It changes me.”

As a Gig Worker, I see prayer as necessary for my business. It is a time for me to align my will to God’s will.

I have committed my business to honor God. I firmly believe that this alignment helps with all the ethics of my work and gives me a better sense of purpose.

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus said the “leader” is “the one who serves” in the Gospel of Luke 22:24-27.

I spend a lot of time trying to understand my clients and potential client’s business. The core question is, “How can I help them grow their business with their clients?”

I recommend that all Gig Workers hit pause and find their purpose for your business. Start each day in prayer. Be sure your business stays aligned to serving others.

Earth Day, celebrated annually on April 22, is a reminder to protect the environment, restore damaged ecosystems and live more sustainably. First celebrated in 1970, this year marks its 52nd anniversary.

The April 22 date was selected partly to maximize the number of students reached on university campuses as this date fell between colleges’ spring break and final exams.

10 things you can do now to help the planet

1. Change your lights.
2. Recycle unwanted wire hangers.
3. Fly with an e-ticket.
4. Recycle your old phones.
5. Use your own coffee cup.
6. Turn off the water while brushing your teeth.
7. Go vegetarian once a week.
8. Take shorter showers.
9. Shop at thrift stores, garage sales, second-hand stores, etc…
10. Wash with cold or warm water

How do you connect authentically with people today in a disconnected world?

We are all wired to connect as human beings. During these past two years of social distancing, we have been using technology to help us connect. However, there is still a gap between many of us who do not let us connect authentically.

When we connect authentically, I believe we feel heard and understood and listen to others opening up and sharing with us. We find common ground.

While many of us have seen and even experienced unfollowing or unfriending people due to their views, which make us uncomfortable, we can still find our “Tribe.”

Many of us have found online affinity groups around our hobbies or other subjects that help us feel connections.

We all know how special it is to find your “peeps,” but many of us struggle to understand how to start a relationship with a stranger. If you are in business, your livelihood depends on your ability to create new relationships with strangers. The ability to develop new relationships is how we get “NEW” customers.

We all have heard about “Networking,” but many hate it. I think the reason is that we have never learned how to do it effectively.

One of the best ways to network was what we did for the first years of our lives–go to school. What that did for us was put us together with other people our age who needed to learn similar content to develop into working adults.

Many of our closest friends are from a forced networking event–called school. During those years, we spent time together, and through our conversations and even class activities, we formed social networks. We would play sports, join clubs, and hang out with those with similar interests in our age groups.

If you own a business, encourage your people to be involved in the community. You have to meet people first before any relationship can begin.

Teach your people to be curious. One of the most incredible things you can teach your team is how to ask questions to get to know others. Just as important is for each person to understand their own stories and interests.

Hands down, the best skill and job was as a photojournalist. I had to introduce myself and get to know people so that I could share their stories. I learned not to ask who, what, where, when, how, and why questions. But to ask questions that ask people to share the struggles that helped make them who they are today.

The best part of interviewing people for a journalist is that the focus is on the other person, not you. What I found is that doing this was helping me to connect in ways that took years to do with my friends through school. It was being intentional that was the difference.

Getting to know someone will help you connect and also build trust with the person.

Moving from acquaintances to friends means having a connection to their past, present, and, even more, their future. What do you like to do? Let’s plan some time together to do something fun.

In sales, you connect when you know how to improve their lives. You will often discover that the service you do for work isn’t something they need or would benefit from. That is OK; you have a friend.

Keeping friends, even if they are not someone you can sell to, is essential. Sometimes they can help you, or it would be just as good if what they do could help another one of your friends.

Keep repeating that last paragraph. It is the key to those who understand the power of genuine connection. Don’t be shortsighted as so many have become in business. Those thinking about the next 30 to 90 days do not flourish like those who think about a lifetime.

“The social brain hypothesis predicts that humans have an average of about 150 relationships at any given time,” according to a research study. “Within this 150, there are layers of friends of an ego, where the number of friends in a layer increases as the emotional closeness decreases.”

Most of us do not reach our potential in the number of relationships we can maintain.

“Connection is why we’re here. We are hardwired to connect with others, it’s what gives purpose and meaning to our lives, and without it there is suffering.”

― Brené Brown