[Leica] More advice

[Mike Johnston <michaeljohnston@ameritech.net>]

Oh,
Another bit of advice for aspiring photographers: after interviewing
dozens of photographers, I learned a little dirty secret. All of them
will tell you that they have rational, serious, fancy-sounding
"marketing plans" and so forth, and they're more than happy to recite
them for you chapter and verse; but the dirty little secret is that,
when you get right down to it, most photographers get most of their work
from people who are their friends. If an A.D. or a client likes you,
trusts you, and works well with you, you will get work from that person.
Anything you can do to establish rappor and friendship with prospective
clients is literally money in the bank.

And always be thinking about how you make the person who hired YOU look
to the person who hired THEM. That will make you go very far. Half the
jobs ever assigned to photographers are chosen on the basis of how it
will reflect on the person doing the choosing. Think about that, and
never miss an opportunity to make the person who hired you look good.
Learn the dynamics of the agency or the corporate department or the
design firm that hires you, and be sensitive to their hierarchy.

- --Mike (who will now be thinking of more photographic business tips late
into the night, thank you very much <g>)