Showit United 2016 Re-Cap - Destination Wedding Photographer

This was the second year in a row attending Showit United in the great desert state of Arizona!

Last week, we spent almost a week away from the TréCrib. We started off in Sacramento at a marriage retreat and then on Sunday we took a morning flight out to Pheonix Arizona. Showit is an amazing software company that gives creatives like us an easy to use platform for their online presence. Photographers came from all over the United States, Italy and even Ireland (shoutout to our new friend Donal!)! About six years ago, the team at Showit created and put together a photography conference. Each year, the conference has gotten even more awesome. The conference is about creating intentional community where everyone is welcome to learn and grow. Some of the our industry's best photographers and educators were there along with some of our fellow Rising Tiders! The week was amazing both in our personal and professional growth. Both Stephen and I were challenged in many areas and are excited to implement these tips back into our own business!

We can't stress enough the importance of going to conferences and investing in continual education. This is one area of our business that we wished we started investing in sooner! Listening to podcasts, having an online community or participating in Facebook groups are all amazing tools that Stephen and I have used to grow from. But there is nothing like face to face interaction with other people going through the exact same things as you! It's so important to meet new people, hear them in person and make new friends in the industry along the way. These conference investments have always been worth every single penny for us!

Although there were many key points, lots of pages filled  our notepads and new systems to implement, we are sharing five key points we learned from Showit United 2016 on the blog today!

1. The Work We Do Matters - We take this part of our jobs very seriously but there's nothing quite like hearing Mary Marantz get up on the stage and hit this point until it brings you to tears (I'm the crier). What I do, what Stephen does, matters. It matters how we treat people, it matters that on wedding days we strive to serve our couples in the way they need love. It matters that we are always bettering our craft and it matters that we produce images and videos that have weight to them. We get to hold mirrors up to people and show them who they are becoming, show them they are beautiful and remind people of the love they will share for generations to come!
2. The CEO vs. The Small Business Owner Mindset - If TréCreative (or any business) is going to last, we have to switch our mindset from being "small business owners" to CEOs of our business. A CEO has a different mindset when it comes to business. While a small business owner's mindset is if I can do it, I'll do it myself. A CEO's mindset is how can I leverage the strengths of others to continue to grow.
3. Morning Meetings - Starting as soon as we got back from our trip we have been implementing this tip and it has already been so incredibly helpful. Every morning before we start work, we start off being on the same page, knowing exactly what each of us need to accomplish that day. We lay out our work tasks, our errands we need to run, the meetings we have, and even the meals we plan to make. This helps us do all these things in the most efficient way, stacking errands into one trip and prioritizing our tasks in order of importance. We drink our coffee, strategize, pray together and head straight into work. I'm amazed by how much more productive we have been these last couple of days with having more accountability and knowing exactly what order I need to finish our to-dos!
4. Don'tGet Romantic About What Has Always Worked - Just because one system or one way of running your business has always worked doesn't mean it will always work as well or that you won't ever need to change. Just like how technology and social media is constantly is changing, so does the way our systems and how we operate need to transform over time. If we're not willing to change and adapt, our business might not prosper!
5. Micro Changes Produce Macro Results - I've heard Katelyn James talk about this before, but it's so true and so refreshing to be reminded of! It's easy to go to a conference, hear someone speak and feel like you have to race home and change everything right away! It's all about making small changes first that build into large scale effects over time.