Warning — this is sort of a business post…
There’s a photographer that I’ve followed for a very long time — Jasmine Starr.
She left law school and became a fabulous photographer whose work has been featured in a lot of important places. She carved a niche on teaching photographers how to build a business via Instagram — and moved to teaching that content to entrepreneurs and the world in general. She has podcasts, learning platforms, bootcamps, and more. And then, she put her flag in the ground. She’s a business strategist. TADA!
Yesterday, she revealed she’ll be signing with a speaker agency. Among her many online money producing offerings — including a newly released mastermind group — she aspires to be a professional speaker.
I’d love to pull her aside after my 20 years in the industry and say, “GUUUURL!“
Pre-pandemic we booked an event where she had a workshop…
As much as I like her as a photographer and am a fan — she’s business savvy, no doubt about that — I couldn’t make it through her presentation. I didn’t listen more than 10-minutes before skipping forward hoping it got better. It made me sad. It felt like she was trying to be a whole different person than I perceived her to be. If this is now the goal, why didn’t she stick with law school?
I’m a creative/artistic type person. I like colors and photos and designing things — from photo composition to websites and layout for publications — to logo creation and more — I have my own style and I know what I think is aesthetically pleasing. My favorite brother is a content creator. While this employs creative thinking — it’s different. REALLY different!
And it’s a TOUGH business, you guys.
Like… so tough you can’t even begin to imagine. Welcome to the world of bureau exclusives and commissions — getting booked BECAUSE of a bureau and not getting booked BECAUSE of a bureau. The competition is fierce and there are a whole lot of hungry speakers out there — lots of amazing talent that will never reach potential in today’s market.
Welcome to a world where companies secure a speaker to check a diversity box as opposed to hiring one with a dynamic and engaging presentation filled with content relevant to their audience. It’s a world where color, sexual orientation and age aren’t supposed to matter… but where appearing not to care about those things accentuates the fact that they do care. (Otherwise, why not hire the best fit REGARDLESS of those things?)
Good luck, GUUUURL… you’re so going to need it, and I’d love to see you succeed.
TIL (Today I Learned): American cars in the 1980s were legally prohibited from showing speeds above 85mph on the speedometer.