How to build your TRIBE – part 1

I reviewed Seth Godin’s book, Tribes, at this post if you would like more information on what the book is about. I highly recommend it. More than anything it is a challenge to go about beginning the process of building and leading a tribe – no matter what the size.

When reading the book, though I was struck by the importance of photographers building their own tribes of followers no matter what type of photography you do. The most successful photographers have groups of people who go where they go. You must build a group of people who are passionate about your work and what you have to offer them.

Here are (my own, culled from various places) 3 helpful tips to create a TRIBE.

1. Be authentic.
2. Ask people to follow you.
3. Make it worth while to be a part of your tribe.

I thought I would share a little more about each one of these three, in three different posts.Parts 2 and 3 will be posted in the next couple of days.

Be Authentic

There is a great thread on spa Talk about differentiating yourself from your competition (spurred by another Godin book, Linchpin). One of the outcomes from the conversation has been to figure out what makes you different/authentic and be that. In other words, don’t try to be the guy down the road, but a little cheaper. Just as important don’t try to be your local version of the current national big name photographer. This is much easier said than done, and may take some internal debate. It is a lot less work to look at someone else, buy their stuff and recreate it in your world, but will someone follow you if you aren’t being you? Probably not, so do the hard job of figuring out what makes you different and be that.

Some ways to work on your authenticity… Make a pact with yourself to not look at your competition’s website, blog, Facebook page, etc for one month. Challenge yourself to create new work just for yourself. Dream about what your business would look like if you could do whatever you wanted, no limitations. Lay off the blogs for one week. Read a book about business. Expand yourself.

No matter how you do it, do it. Build a tribe. Your business needs you to create a group of followers. Your business needs you. Your tribe needs you.