FEATURED ARTICLE:
Why Does Your Studio Exist?  What Do You Want Out Of It?

by:  Charles J. Lewis

Do you know the answer to that question?  When I ask most photographers, I get this basic answer:  "Oh, I just want to earn a good living.  You know, make decent money."

Well, that's just not good enough!  There's a whole lot more to life than just making "decent" money, whatever that is!

Your Studio Exists To Supply You With The Life-style You Demand!

Yes, "Demand."  You must demand of life what you desire, or life will just push you along where it wants you to go.  And you will end up not being where you want to be.

"Life-style" means so much more than just money!  It means things like this:

1.  How many hours a week do you put into your studio?  Are you happy with that?

2.  Whose running who?  Are you running the studio, or is the studio running you?

3.  Are you doing the type of photography that you love?  Or are you doing whatever "comes along?"

4.  Do you honestly LOVE working at your studio, or are you feeling tired and burned out?

5.  Does working at your studio put you in the kind of mood that makes you a fun husband, wife, father, mother, brother or sister?  When you "go home" are you fun to be around?  Or are you up tight, nervous, depressed or insecure?

6.  Are you working IN your studio, or are you working ON your studio?  Are you spending all your time working in the day-to-day operations - just "getting the work out" - or are you working ON the studio - figuring out how to improve the way everything runs, and making sure you are building the Life-style you want?

7.  What are you working so hard to achieve?  Do you clearly know the answer?  Why do you get up in the morning?  What "Burning Desire" do you have that really motivates you, and keeps you going, day in and day out... good times and tough times?

8.  What's your "Purpose" in life?  What do you want to accomplish, and who do you want to help along the way?

Having clear answers to these 8 questions, will begin leading you to the Life-style you want and demand.  Plus, it will keep you driven and motivated to keep going.

In My Humble Opinion, Here's The Most Powerful "Secret" To Success And Happiness I Have Ever Discovered!

Here it is.  After over 30 years of hard work, study, and effort, this is the one major "secret" to success:

Never give up!   I know that sometimes, we all go through difficult, challenging, tough times.  We begin to doubt ourselves, and wonder if it's "all really worth it."

That's when you must find the strength and perseverance to keep going.  To keep looking for the answers to your most pressing challenges.  To not give up and take the easy way out.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes on this.

Denis Waitley - "Perseverance does not always mean sticking to the same thing forever.  It means giving full concentration and effort to whatever you are doing right now."

John D. Rockefeller - "I do not think there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance.  It overcomes almost everything, even nature."

Dr. C. E. Welch (Founder, Welch's Grape Juice) - "Many men fail because they quit too soon.  They lose faith when the signs are against them.  They do not have the courage to hold on, to keep fighting in spite of that which seems insurmountable.  If more of us would strike out and attempt the 'impossible,' we very soon would find the truth of that old saying that nothing is impossible ... abolish fear and you can accomplish anything you wish."

Christopher Morley - "Big shots are only little shots who keep shooting."

Dr. William James, of Harvard, the person most authorities call "The Father Of Modern Psychology," - "If an unusual necessity forces us onward, a surprising thing occurs.  The fatigue gets worse up to a certain point, when, gradually or suddenly, it passes away and we are fresher than before!  We have evidently tapped a new level of energy.  There may be a layer after layer of this experience, a third and fourth 'wind.'  We find amounts of ease and power that we never dreamed ourselves to own, sources of strength habitually not taxed, because habitually we never push through the obstruction of fatigue.'

By the way, here's a fact that might help you realize the importance of never giving up.  You've heard of Dr. Seuss, right?  Pretty famous and beloved author.  However, did you know that Dr. Seuss's first children's book was rejected by twenty-three publishers?  The twenty-fourth publisher took the book and sold six million copies, and Dr. Seuss died having known his perseverance resulted in entertaining, challenging, and educating millions of children.

Did you know that during it's first year of business, the Coca-Cola company sold only 400 Cokes?

Well, I don't need to tell you what a success story COCA-COLA is today!

And how about my personal favorite, Walt Disney?  He suffered 7 total financial failures.  His father laughed and told him he would never make it.  Actually, on the train ride home from another total disaster, he drew the first Mickey Mouse!  In his time of total "failure" he persevered and would not give up.  Many years later, after building such a huge success, he remarked, "Let us not forget that this all started with a mouse!"

That is why I wear my Mickey Mouse watch every day.  So that every time I look at it, I am reminded of exactly what persistence and never ending drive can accomplish.  Just think about this.  If Walt Disney had quit, given up, after financial failure #7, there never would have been a Mickey Mouse, or a Disneyland, or a Walt Disney World, EPCOT, etc.

My Message To You In This Hot-Tip Is One Of Hope, Persistence And Encouragement.

If you will simply not give up.  If you will simply continue to discover the "System" that I am sharing with you, you will make it, and you will make it really BIG!  (Remember, my "System" isn't really mine.  I really can't take much credit for it.  It's the result of studying with the world's most successful people, and then "Lewisizing" everything I discovered so it would work for photography.

The "System" works!  Just use the "System!"  You don't need to understand why it works!  Just USE IT!

We may never make history, become a famous athlete, invent a new product, or start a multimillion-dollar company - but whatever your dreams are, the willingness to "keep on keeping on" will determine your measure of success!

So here's what I recommend to you right now to be assured you are heading exactly where you want to go:

1.  Answer honestly, the eight questions I listed earlier.
2.  Set some specific goals, with deadlines,  that will motivate you and make you a better person when you achieve them.  Do this for the 7 major sections of your life:

A.  Family
B.  Financial
C.  Business
D.  Social (relationships)
E.  Physical
F.  Spiritual
G.  Self Improvement / mental

3.  Write your goals down, and tape them to the mirror in your bathroom. 
4.  Read them out loud, with enthusiasm, to yourself every morning, and every evening.
5.  Every single day, make absolutely certain, that you take some small step towards one of those goals.  Every day, some small step.  That's all it takes!

No - TAKE ACTION!  I'll talk with you in the next hot-tip!

Go For It!

Chuck Lewis

 

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