Green Room

Shooting Your Passion: A Guest Post by Steve Gerrard

Kat

April 27, 2012

In a previous life I stumbled into a career as a club DJ that took me around the world, saw me open for Oasis at Wembley Stadium and release my own mix CD (if you're interested it's called Thinking Out Loud and you can probably get it in your local charity shop for about 50p!) I loved every minute of it but none of it was really planned. It developed naturally from my love of music. And from me wanting to share music with anybody who'd listen. My passion became my career. And quite a successful one at that.

The Inspirations: David McNeil

Kat

April 25, 2012

Wedding photographer David McNeil and I have been friends for a long time, waaaay before I started my blog or he started shooting weddings. We worked together at the shopping channel and having someone, basically alongside me for the whole time I've run my business, has been pretty amazing. We've advised each other (David is notoriously brilliant at advice!) and seen each other grow into our businesses and make a success of our passions. It's been pretty magical really. We've shot together, we've traveled to Vegas together and we've learnt a serious amount of stuff about this crazy little industry of ours together. So, who better to interview this week than the man that I've seen start from diddly squat and grow into his business like a complete and utter pro?

Measuring Success & Being Grateful

Kat

April 24, 2012

Last week I was invited back to my University to give a talk on blogging and social media, which I wrote about here. Quite apart from the usual nerves and the unusual emotions of being back there, it started me thinking about success or more-so how one might quantify it. On the way I texted my best friend, who I'd met at Uni, to tell her where I was. "Ahhh how exciting," she replied "How long since we left, 6 years? How the hell did we both end up all successful and stuff?" and so I started writing this article in my head...

Get Yourself Noticed: A Guest Post by Photo Professional Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Terry Hope

Kat

April 20, 2012

In today’s competitive market you need to be noticed and, as Photo Professional's editor Terry Hope explains, there are lots of cost effective ways you can exploit that will help put your name out there In today’s competitive market you need to be noticed and these days there are lots of cost effective ways you can exploit that in order to help put your name, and your business, out there. There have probably never, ever been more people out there offering photographic services, and while it’s great that what was once such a closed profession is now so wide open to everyone, it also means that the competition has never been stiffer, and you’re going to have to do something pretty special if you want to stand out from the crowd.

The Inspirations: Choccywoccydoodah’s Christine Taylor

Kat

April 18, 2012

Do you dream in chocolate? Then, surely you must be aware of the unequaled talented that is Choccywoccydoodah. Famous world-over for their creations in confection I am a huge fan, and even more-so now I've got to know the team behind the yummy personally. I'm was seriously excited to speak to Creative Director Christine Taylor as part of this series, and when you read through our chat below I just know you're going to fall in love with her too.

Accepting & Declining Work and Whether to Work for Free

Lisa Devlin

April 17, 2012

As an emerging photography business it can be hard to spot the times when you'd be better off saying no to potential jobs. It’s amazing some of the offers than can come your way so how do you gauge the times when it's not in your best interests to take something on?

How to Write a Press Release That Will Actually Get You Featured: A Guest Post by Debbie Carlisle

Kat

April 13, 2012

Before I entered the heady world of the wedding industry I worked for nearly two decades (gulp) as a journalist. I worked as a reporter and then news editor on regional weekly and daily newspapers and also wrote health and beauty features for a glossy magazine – all of which means I have spent a frightening proportion of my life reading press releases. Press releases are a great way of sending information and news about your company, product or service to journalists and bloggers quickly and easily. While it is no substitute for face-to-face meetings, a well-written press release backed up by strong images is a godsend to busy journalists who don’t have time for countless meetings and networking events and can just cut and paste your copy into a last-minute gap on a page. On the other hand, a poorly-written or presented press release can do more damage than good, leaving the recipient tearing their hair out, reaching for the delete button or, in the very worst cases, blacklisting the sender for being rude and stalker-ish (no really…)

The Inspirations: Tattooist Mike Harris

Kat

April 11, 2012

I always loved sleeve tattoos on women, so when I finally got up the courage to get one done myself I really did my research to get the very best artist I could. Mike, and the London studio he was working in at the time, was recommended to me by a heavily inked friend when I said I was looking for a cartoony, colourful and fun design - nothing to serious, just like me I guess! After spending 18 hours together I got to know Mike pretty well. I was surprised to find out he was so young but this along made me respect him even more. He is incredibly talented, devoted to his career and seriously inspirational. The perfect candidate for this week's Inspirations interview if you ask me!

Husband & Wife Teams and How to Make them Work

Kat

April 10, 2012

Last week I revieved the following email from Green Room reader Kristi, "I would love to see a post about husband & wife teams (or working with your spouse/partner etc) but in a super honest way. I feel like all the husband & wife teams out there only talk about the good and not the real challenges. I myself have always hated the phrase 'husband & wife team' because it makes it sound like we were matching jogging suits and finish each other's sentences. When that is totally not us. We are more likely to argue about the shot one of us missed or the one of us choosing to many of our own photos etc. Please can you help?! P.S Viva la Rock n Roll Bride! Well Kristi that's what I'm here for - and we all know I'm going to be as super honest as possible! As one half of an accidental husband & wife team (the initial plan for Rock n Roll Bride was never for us to work together) there have been lot of steep learning curves that we've had to navigate along the way. We've had to make changes to how we live and work, mostly without any forward planning (I'm sure 'proper' business people are shuddering right now) but I do think we somehow have made it work. Like with anything business-related I think it's very easy to look at other husband & wife combos and think they've got it made, when of course, deep down, we all know they're only sharing the good stuff and keeping the real nitty gritty and blazing rows under wraps. It's certainly not all high fives and long lunches in our house, but there are a few conscious decisions and changes that we've made along the way, all of which have made a huge difference to our work/life balance.

The Green Eyed Plateau-Puss // How to Overcome Inertia and Jealousy: A Guest Post by Amma of Beyond Beyond

Kat

April 6, 2012

Hi, my name is Amma and I would like to confess that sometimes I have green eyes. Yes, I know that biological anomaly that I, as a child of African parents could have emerald green peepers – but I’m talking about professional jealously and how you get over it. As, some of you may or may not know – I still have a day job; as day jobs go mine is not half bad and given the state of female unemployment at present; I certainly know which side my bread is buttered; so I am more than happy to plod along – albeit sometimes sulkily as a 5-9er until I hit my professional tipping point. Now, without getting into the nitty-gritty of it all – I had some personal stuff going on that really meant that despite streaking the sky like a comet when I first began my foray into business. I got forced to slow down, in fact not just slow down – I had to hit the brakes and I experienced a mega slide into a career plateau. Although, work requests and projects were coming in thick and fast, there was no way that I could take it on, and circumstance meant that ‘my stuff’, blogging, and the day became an all encompassing festival of woe.

The Inspirations: Abbey Warner of Sugalily

Kat

April 4, 2012

Abbey Warner is one of those incredibly giving and beautiful people. She is someone that I can always count on to dish the advice as well as have a dirty gossip with! I love her dearly and I'm totally chuffed to have her in The Green Room today. Women don't come much more inspirational than my friend Abbey. Hi Abbey! I'm so excited to have you as part of my Inspirations series. Can you tell us a little about yourself - Who you are, what you do etc? Hello! I am Abbey, a little bit of the team that makes up the Sugalily design studio, which is based in Derby, right in the middle of England. I also spend at least one day a week in London town, meeting clients. Within the business my role is as Creative Director, doing {most of} the design and looking after our wedding clients.

How to Win Friends and Influence People: Social Media

Kat

April 3, 2012

The late, great Dale Carnegie once wrote, "You will go further in two months by becoming genuinely interested in just two other people than you will in two years trying to get other people interested in you." This quote blows my mind. It's so damn spot on (after writing this article I actually went out and bought the book as I've never read the whole thing - I can't wait to get stuck in!) As a side note, can you believe that it was written in 1936, but it's still just as relevant today? Amazing! The section of my workshops and talks where people always seem to ask the most questions is the bit about using social media. People always want to know a) how to get more followers or 'likers' and b) what to actually write about so people don't think they're a weirdo. Yeah seriously.

Babies & Business: A Guest Post by Lucy Ledger

Kat

March 30, 2012

Our baby wasn’t really planned – it was a half assed plan if you will. I knew I wanted babies but I had just left my full time job to run my business and being the household bread winner just keeping things going for my share of the income was as much of a challenge as I wanted. Plus I wanted the success of the business to grow after a long hard year of working two jobs to get it off the ground and watching it flourish as a result. This was supposed to be a wonderful time when after all my hard work, late nights and lack of social life I could really celebrate what I had achieved… you know, with fizzy stuff. Clink clink.

The Inspirations: Elizabeth Messina

Kat

March 28, 2012

When I say that I'm thrilled about today's interview... well I really truly mean it. 'Thrilled' is just one tiny little word but it's probably the only plausible way to describe how I felt when the email reply agreeing to this feature arrived. Elizabeth Messina is a wedding and portrait photographer who shoots on film. No stranger to wedding blogs (or print magazines for that matter!) she's had her incredible imagery featured on pretty much all of them. Her eye for love and emotion is like no other and she has just written her first book, due to be published on April 24th. Elizabeth kindly took some time out of her busy schedule to talk to me today.

Search Engines vs Social Engines

Gareth

March 27, 2012

For as long as there have been search engines there has been search engine optimisation (SEO). Briefly, SEO is the practise of enhancing a web site, through both its copy and its source code, to rank higher in the top search engines for particular search terms. But then you knew that already, didn’t you? Because SEO is big business. Companies specialise in it, websites are dedicated to it, profits are won and lost because of it. Or so the industry would have us believe.

Reminder: Spaces Available for the Devon School of Rock!

Kat

March 26, 2012

Just a little note today in case you missed it last week, but I've announced my next School of Rock tour date! On Thursday 26th April Gareth & I will be heading to Muddifords Court, Devon in my bright pink tour bus (yeah..that's a lie I don't have a tour bus let alone a pink one...but maybe one day!) and I'd love to see you there.

The Importance of Customer Service: A Guest Post by Marianne Taylor

Kat

March 23, 2012

In my opinion, every business lives or dies on the strength of its customer service. To most it means complaining when there are queues at the store, when a check out girl is grumpy, when we wait too long for our order in the restaurant – i.e. the term is mostly pulled out when customer service is lacking. When it works well, it’s like an invisible comfortable blanket that makes you feel good when you think about visiting your favourite bar or when you are ordering an item from an online store that’s always reliable. When Kat asked me to write about customer service, I first started writing a very matter of fact, hypothetical kind of article. But I soon realised that, actually, speaking from personal experience would make my point come across a lot better than any bullet points ever can. So, I hope you’re sitting comfortably, as I’m about to tell you the story of my tattoos…

The Inspirations: Liene Stevens of The Splendid Collective

Kat

March 21, 2012

You're probably all aware by now, that at the moment I'm loving teaching, learning and exploring the ideas behind running your own wedding business (hence The Green Room, my School of Rock workshops and my work with The Photography Farm!) Very early on in my wedding blogging career I became aware of Liene Stevens and her blog Splendid Communications. I found it invaluable and full of amazing snippets of advice and guidance when I was navigating the murky waters of trying to be my own boss. When I launched The Inspirations, Liene was top of my list of people to interview. I hope you enjoy eavesdropping on our chat...

The Art of Self-Confidence

Kat

March 20, 2012

I'm not going to embarrass anyone by naming names, but I've had a few people ask me if they could 'borrow some of my confidence' recently. It's a funny old thing really and a notion that I still find very strange. Inside I'm quaking in my boots pretty much daily, but apparently no one can tell - I guess that's a good thing! I really don't see myself as a confident person (seriously, just ask Gareth how annoying and stressy I've been over my School of Rock workshop that's happening tomorrow!) However what I am aware of is how I present myself in order to give the impression of self-belief. My faith in myself has come on in leaps and bounds over the past few years. However I certainly didn't wake up one day feeling top of my game...in fact even as I write these words I'm cringing a little bit inside that you're all going to think I'm a right knobber. My 'knobberness' is something I've just had to come to terms with I guess.

It’s a (Wo)man’s World – On Being a Man in the Wedding Industry: A Guest Post by Adam Crohill

Kat

March 16, 2012

Today I've asked my buddy Adam from a rival wedding blog (I say this in jest, we love each other really!) to write a guest post about being...well...a man. It's something I've thought about a bit recently, what will Gareth taking a lot more of an active role in our business and all - what is it really like being a man in this so heavily female dominated industry? Not only are weddings often perceived to be 'all about the bride' but most of the people that work in the industry are female too! Obviously this isn't a topic I could really discuss myself with any semblance of authority, so here's where my mate Adam comes in! Over to you fella...

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