(27-365) Setting Goals...

Today I was thinking about my photography business and the things that I needed to focus on so I could be on my way to achieving my goals in becoming a very successful photographer.

In thinking about my strengths and weakness, I came up with these:

Strengths:

1-The ability to speak English and Spanish.
2-Having a new canon slr full-frame sensor camera with 21 mp.
3-An excellent lens.
4-Adequate transportation.
5-Two portable flash units and two battery units, etc.
6-A very likable personality.
7-An excellent ability to photograph the perfect moment, an emotion, a sudden laughter, etc.
8-Kids like me.


Weaknesses:  (what my competitors have that I don't)

1-Not having a studio space.
2-Not living close to where my desired customers live, which makes it inconvenient for them to visit me.
3-Not having the necessary equipment that most photographers have: An extra camera body, 3 professional lenses, 5 professional quality light strobes, etc.
4-Not having an assistant.
5-A disorganized photo library.
6-Not having an accounting software and a laptop to perform my daily  necessary operations.
7-Not having a complete knowledge of the technical aspects of my most vital equipment:  flash units, how they work,  all the features of my new camera,  etc.
8-Not taking advantage of the New York Institute of Photography by not finishing the course, not doing the homework,  not contacting my assigned professor for vital questions, etc.
9-Not being an active member of a professional photography organization which could give me the opportunity of getting to know the people in my industry that could help me in getting my foot off the ground.
10-Not participating in any networking events.
11-A mountain of debt.


My focus should be in creating a plan to achieve all those points and marrying the plan.  This gives a lot of things to think about.

I know I can succeed.  I know I can become a professional photographer,  get out of retail, get out of debt, complete my divorce to Olga, finish my photography classes, get fit, get my finances together,  gain the respect of others, get closer to my family, start dating, fall in love, and enjoy life to the fullest.  It's not impossible.  All I have to do is to actively work with every level of my being so I can achieve each and every goal mentioned above.   It's like going to the gym.  If I don't exercise,  I won't see results.  If I sit around waiting for something to happen, waiting to be in a better mood so I can exercise,  postponing the workouts for better days, my dreams of becoming fit will never materialize.

Today I started the gym again.  I made the decision to completely disconnect myself from past lovers.  Not because I hate them,  but because, as I see it,  there was a reason I stopped seeing them in the first place,  and my need to seek them is a testament to myself that there is anybody else out there,  that I can only settle for what's easy, and so on.  So I will quit the habit of contacting those people and look at the future.  Sometimes it is better to leave those things that belong to the past in their right place.  I am burning those bridges for good.


Thanks for reading.

Hans.

(26-365) Asking...

I work at SAKS FIFTH AVENUE.    I WORK in the 5th floor contemporary shoe floor.  When I've got that job, I thought I was going to make tons of money, but I was wrong.  This entry will tell you what happened.

When I was offered to work for SAKS, I was already training to work for Jeffreys.  Jeffreys is a very exclusive boutique located in the meat packing district of Manhattan.  I was guaranteed to make at least 85,000-100,0000 dollars a year.   Why I declined that incredible opportunity?  Because I thought Saks was going to be like a second bergdorfs, and it wasn't.  

There were problems with my department.  My floor mananger didn't have any courage.  The stock room manager was kid that didn't now much about running a  stock room properly.  He didn't care about organizing the shoes by vendor color and size.  The store was or still practically hiring everyone that is unemployed in New York City.  In a commission environment, having tons of people competing with you is just not only unfair, but bad for business.  So these were some of the problems that I had working for there.  My co-workers had no other choice but to complain among each other about whatever they thought was screwed-up about our workplace.  I decided to do something different.  

I wrote a letter to the president, and the letter that I wrote was this: 

Dear Ms. President, 

My name is Hans Gonzalez, I work on the contemporary shoe salon on the 5th floor.  I have been working here since last October.  With this letter, I wanted to bring your attention to my department  and express the concerns that we all have.

I have been working in retail for about 14 years now, and honestly, never seen some many disatisfied people in one department.  Since I started work here a little bit over 5 months now,  5 or more people have left the floor.  Everyone i ask expresses the same feeling.   The problems that we complain about are not many, but they are very serious problems, and surprisingly, they have very easy solutions.  But it seems the decision-makers that could easily create the changes that are needed not only for us the associates, but for Saks as well, are too busy with other things, or have no interest whatsoever.  We need to create  an environment that is in accordance with Saks' mission statement: "A great place to work, a great place to shop, and a great place to invest." 

Our problems are these:   The size of our floor can only hold 15-18 people max.  We have 24 and counting.  Having lots and lots of people makes it extremely difficult for everyone that work here and the more people that you bring, the less money we all make.  Think about it!  What would you say, if your boss tell you that your salary next year will have to be cut in half?  Living in New York is extremely expensive and we all have bills and responsibilities.  I hear people say that just to pay their rent they had to cash out their 401k, ask money from relatives, etc.  I for one had to stop paying child support in more than one occation because at times, I wasn't making any money at all.  Sure we can all become sharks and struggle for survival,  but what does it say about Saks Fifth Avenue?  How would our customer perceive us if every time they come to shop, more and more people are on the floor, and the people that were here for a long time,  had to leave to other companies?

The second problem is our stock room.  There is just not enough place to stack so many shoes.  It is extremely difficult to find shoes in here when the "organized not only by the color of the vendor's boxes, but by the color, style and size" is def. not in the vocabulary of the people in charge of running it.    Hundreds of thousands of dollars are lost each year just because of all the shoes that we are never never able to find.  Talk about putting a price to a simple problem!

We have other issues, but if only these two were addressed and taken care of,  our department would transform overnight into a really enjoyable place to work.  What we want will not only benefit us the employees, it will also benefit our level of productivity,  sense of pride,  our customer's perception of the department, sale volume,  and general satisfaction.  Wouldn't be good to double our sales in a single year? 

Sincerely yours,

Hans Gonzalez

I WROTE this letter.  TWO days later,  the stockroom was organized.  Two days later,  my boss, bring me up to her office to thank me that I wrote that letter and to promise me that things were going to change.  She basically asked me to be patient about it.

What I want to do with this post is to show you that complaining to your friends about your life doesn't work.  It might give you a outlet to escape, but it doesn't give you any power.   What does help is for you to talk about the right people about what you want to happen, making a request for them to hear to you and see the results.

Thanks for reading.  

(25-365) Sense of direction...

I started this blog with the promise to write every day about my experiences regarding the law of attraction.
For the last three days or so, I haven't written anything.  I guess I was amiss with the whole thing or had the feeling I wasn't going anywhere with it, until today.

This morning I heard the famous speaker Anthony Robbins talk about how simple adjustments, tiny steps, or very small changes to our personality, can completly change the direction of our entire lives.

It is a simple, yet very powerful lesson.  Our lives follow a pattern,  the result of our daily actions, which in turn are the result of our thoughts.   Changing how we think will cause the direction of our lives to change.

I've heard that we all want the big changes in our lives, and that we don't always pay attention to the small changes that can make the big changes take place.   Having said that,  what small changes can I make?

Calling people by their actual names.  It's a bad habit of mine not to use people's names when I get to know them, I guess because my mind thinks that by doing so is a sign of actually being close to the person.  However, people love the sound of their names more than anything else.  Using it in conversations is  the smart thing to do  always.

Thinking before speaking.   With this I mean making sure that I sound clear every time I say something, keeping a close check to my feelings.  The image that we project to the world is what determines how people perceive us, and their perception is who we ultimately are.  What everyone thinks  we are at any given time is what we are, regardless of what we think of ourselves to be.

Communicating with my loved ones.  Once I heard that most of our relationships live only in memory.  When we are not in communication with someone for a long time we are not relating with that person, period.    Regardless of what we are in blood,  the actual relationship exists only in our memory.  It is when we take the time to be with people what makes the relationship with them real.  Keep this in mind.

This list will continue in further blogs,  but I think you get the sense of what I am trying to get at.  The biggest changes in our lives take place as a result of the small changes that we make on a daily basis.

Thanks for reading.

(23,24 out of 365) Focusing

Last night was the first night I broke my promise of blogging every day.

Last night I went to bed at 4 am working on my site thegoldenmile.net.  I was struck to find out that I had not taken advantage of keyword search.  I search my page for keywords and found none.  No wonder my page has not generated any revenue yet!

So I decided to start writing lots and lots of keywords.  I am really focusing on marketing my photography services in way that I nave never done it before, and for that I have to say, I am really happy.   I notice that I am paying attention to who could be a potential customer and I am introducing myself to them as a professional photographer.  I give them my card and they go "wow."  :-)

Take care.

Hans.

(22-365) Time

I am finding new ways to deal with my time.  I eliminated the habit of giving excuses of not having enough time of reaching my goals and dreams.  I am now in control of my destiny, therefore,  I the future is bright. I thanks God for his divine guidance and perfect self-expression.  Every day and in a every way,  I am getting better and better.  I am now opening my eyes to new and exciting posibilities.  I am surrounded with love, good friends, and good relatives.
Thank You God for always being there for me.

Thank You Lord.

(21-365) Visualization

Visualization is very simple:  See youself as you wish to be and imagine having the things you wish to have.   It is evident, that if you can't see yourself owning that home,  having those friends, or marrying that kind of person,  your chances of bringing those things to your experience are slim.  This post is about visulation.

Besides working at Saks in the shoe department,  I am a photographer.  I have been taking pictures for quite some time, however, I haven't managed to make it a career.   Some time ago, I started a blog  with the intention of sharing my experiences of becoming a full-time photographer.  The blog took a turn and became an outlet for my need to share my views on areas such as philosphy, psychology, etc.  In other words,  it failed in its primary intention.

But I haven't stopped taking pictures.  the thing that has helped me continue is the feedback that I receive from the people that look at my photographs.  They really like my eye, and say I am a very talented photographer.  I could have been  a full-time photographer already.    I have had the money and education materials to make that a reality, but something in me,  kept me from making my dream of becoming independent not come true.

That thing is my self-image,  how I see myself.  I know that when I really want something to be done, and something right,  I get it done.   For example,  I've had had made lots of business cards in the past, and they have not been well perceived.   Two weeks ago,  I decided to create a truly remarkable business card,  I did it and it is that one that you see in the picture.  It folds down, and it has another image in the back, it is a gorgeous business card.

I worked with a  semi-professional Canon Digital SLR camera.   Canon introduced a full-frame SLR digital camera two or three years ago. It was a dream of mine to own one, but didn't think it was wise to spend 2,500-3,000usd on a camera if I wasn't making any money in it.  For me,  owning such camera was a sign that I was already a professional photographer and that I was making the money to justify making such an investment, I was wrong!

After receiving my income tax check,  I was about to make the same mistake with the money I did in 2009 by blowing  it all on trips to the Dominican Republic.  Instead,  I decided to buy the Canon 5D Mark II full-frame professional camera.     I believe it was a very smart decision.

Having a professional camera makes me look like the professional that I am,   which allows me to justify charging more for my services that I deserve as a result.  I know that I have to buy more equipment, and that there are a lot of other things that need to be done,  but one thing for certain, I need to see myself succeeding.

If deep down inside I don't feel that I deserve what I want,  no matter how many cameras I buy, or how much money I have at my disposal, the odds of me becoming a professional photographer are pretty much very slim.  I need see myself as having all the equipment that I need and also working as a truly professional photograher.

A few months ago, I posted a picture of the camera that I wanted on the wall in my bedroom.  At the time I did it I was going through some huge financial problems, frankly, I didn't know how I was going to be able to afford that camera.  Two or three months later,  it is in my hands.  


Thanks for reading, good night.

Hans.

(20-365 do over) Too complex to have a Title.

I am re-writing the post from yesterday today Saturday March 12, 2011.   When I wrote it, I was very angry and said things I shouldn't have, for that I appologize.

The teachings of the law of attraction are very clear:  Your thoughts create you destiny.  But there is a lot of work to be done.  Our lives are pretty clomplex and merely to do some excersises here and there is not enough.  Getting to know ourselves is very critical, and requires a lot of self-observation, meditation,  and sacrifice.

The reason I want to succeed doing this project is because I want to achieve happiness, and be able to help others such as my sisters, my father and mother live better than what they are living right now.

It is of supreme importance, that we pay close attention to our speech.  What we say, and how we say it.
This project has made me take a closer look at how I interact with others.  At times when I feel at ease,  I can communicate very well and I am perceived as someone that is very intelligent, resourceful, and smart.  But when I don't feel at ease,  it is as though I am an ESL student.  I had mentioned this in earlier postings.

I have been struggling for some time to handle my time a little better.  Because of not keeping a calendar, time seems to be slipping from my fingers.  I have to learn how to distribute my free time better this week and create the habit of using my iphone to make sure that the important things that I've been wanting to do, I get them done.  Things like studying photography, posting on ebay,  going to the gym, going to the post office, reading other books and magazines, keeping up with the trends in my field, visiting relatives and friends,  calling people,  meditiation and prayer, etc.  

Every day that I write on this, I see more and more the importance of taking my life more seriously and being more diligent on just about everything.

Thanks for reading.

Hans.