Don’t stop believin’. Develop your belief statement.

I received an email…

My friend Mark sent me an email in response to Monday’s post – Define the why.

It was an email that made me stop and think. He challenged me to go further. To not just say, “Why?”, but to say why in the context of a belief statement (or mission statement). He did this sample for me:

At the Photo Collective we believe in the path of the servant. That we can best lead by serving those in our family, our community, and profession. We do that by offering a forum for advice and inspiration, on photography, business, and lifestyles of small business owners.

Which made me think, “Wow, that’s good.”

Defining the why.

The TED presentation by Simon Sinek is built on this premise:

All great companies and/or leaders go beyond just creating something that answers the questions: what? and how?

Great companies and leaders answer the question: Why?

As Mark put it in his email; They create statements that explain what they believe

Let me bring this back to The Collective as an example. I rearranged Mark’s above statement, to this:

The Collective believes in life. We believe in living a whole, free, and meaningful life. We want to help you live life by serving you – our family, community and profession. We do that by offering a forum for advice and inspiration, on photography, business, and lifestyles of small business owners.

2 Challenges:

Here are 2 challenges I have for you. I dare you to consider and act on both.

1. Define your why. Create a belief statement.

I challenge you to define why you do what you do. Why do you take portraits? Why do you shoot weddings or events? Why do you have a photography business?

Set aside some time this weekend or coming week to think and meditate on your business, your family, your photography, your life. What do you believe?

Write it down. Record it on paper or on a computer. Use the above statement as a template – which is a use of Simon Sinek’s statement about Apple:

We believe in challenging the status quo, we believe in thinking differently. The way we do that is by making things that are beautifully designed, simple to use, and user-friendly. We just happen to make computers, wanna buy one?

The template basically shares the what (computers), the how (beautiful, simple, easy) and the why (think different), but in this order: why, what, how.

Or come up with your own.

Don’t be afraid to be wrong. This can be fluid; it can change over time. Your why will become more defined and understood overtime. In fact, I’m making the assumption that parts of The Collective’s statement will change over time. It may look completely different in 10 years, but the base will remain true.

2. Join me on this journey – serve with me.

So many of you already have and actively are joining me on a daily or several times a week basis. Thank you! Let me ask you to start or continue sharing with your friends by email, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and more.

I also know that there may be some people who would love a way to serve other photographers, but aren’t sure where or how. Let me offer (or challenge) The Collective as your way. You can:

• Submit a guest post.
• Submit your photography in a monthly contest.
• Comment on posts (this or any other).
• Send me an email with your thoughts, concerns, ideas.
• Any other ideas or thoughts you have.

I know this. Sharing with others will help you to define and clarify what you believe. It will show you parts of yourself that you didn’t know were there.

Do you have a belief statement? How did you develop it?

Now available in The Collective Shop – the spa Event 2009 DVD training series! Senior Portrait Artists holds an annual event, designed to educate, encourage, and inspire. The most successful senior portrait artists from around North America converge in one beautiful location for multiple days to receive invaluable training in lighting, composition, posing, style, sales and marketing. SPA Event 2009 was professionally video recorded, and we have so much great information, it filled three discs!
Disc 1: On Location Shoots
Disc 2: SPA Business School – Part 1
Disc 3: SPA Business School – Part 2 + Bonus Features