My friend Deyl talked me into buying a house last year despite lots of skepticism about the market but the cool thing is that the Freedom House, and my whole neighborhood, has shot up in value because every house is unique! Checkout these numbers! My neighborhood is up 150%!!! Sweet!
In a slouching market there are things that can keep values high and one of those things is uniqueness. As our economy worsens and the brides start to penny pinch a bit more we ABSOLUTELY MUST separate ourselves from the masses.
We must be different!!! So think about what your potential clients have as a first impression of you and think about how that could be hindering your success if it makes you look like everybody else!
17 comments:
Neat! Congrats. Good thoughts about "uniqueness." I think about that all the time. What would make a bride book ME over my neighbour?
mark up 3.8% for the stichters.... but i'm in a condo that looks the same as 55 other ones. ouch.
Hey that's actually a very cool analogy DJ, thanks for sharing!
it's ever so important nowadays to Stand out in the crowd... :)
xo
cool post, thanks!
Good post DJ. "Zig when others zag" is probably one of the most important lessons in business. :)
either sakana or ruth's chris will be fine... i'm not picky at all :)
How about Sakana tonight you poser. I leave for Vegas tomorrow.
I think you made a really smart buy because it is a unique house! That's what we did with our home. When you buy, if you're planning on reselling, it's so important to think about resale! (or to think about renters!)
LOL. Dude - that is the average of only SIX sales! One very high home could throw the average. Average home prices in a neighborhood doesn't change the value of yours - what changes is the 'comparable' value YOY.
If one house sold next year in your neighborhood for 500k, then the average in your neighborhood would go down 78%. HAHA you're silly
So, if those unique houses were in, say, Las Vegas or Riverside, do you think the values would still be going up?
Bad analysis. Bad analogy. Nice sales pitch.
Hey Ed :)
Good to see you back on the blog!
I'm not in real estate but I definitely know how dangerous it is for photographers to all look the same! Yikes!
Come to the Young Guns presentation on opening night of WPPI and I'll share more about how important it is for photographers to have unique websites. It's gonna be awesome!
Game over! :)
DJ
I live in 93105.
only 3.8% rise. I think we live in different parts of town. Just a guess. Go think I don't own anything.
Oh, its good to be back on the blog.
Unfortunately, I can't make Young Guns because my plane doesn't land until Sunday night. It's too bad, because there's a few extremely talented photographers in that group I'd love to see.
Its good to know you're using the platform to promote your products. Let's face it, you didn't start preaching about having a unique website until you started getting ready to sell websites.
What I don't think you realize (or admit) is that many of the website solutions out there already allow flexibility, uniqueness, and personal expression. Furthermore, a photographer's website only needs to be unique relative to their current market (region).
I've survived as many recessions as a photographer as you have–zero. I'm not really qualified to tell photographers how to survive in the current market conditions, but my advice would be first: create great images, second: be flexible in your packages and offerings, third: be smart & creative in your marketing and networking.
Game over? I don't get it ...
Ed - I agree with being smart and creative and that means NOT having a website that looks just like another photographer. Our clients look at photographers all over the U.S. so our region is pretty much everywhere.
:)
Like I said, have a unique website isn't difficult or new–and having great/unique images is what makes the difference.
In my opinion, usability, simplicity, elegance, and search-engine friendliness trump "uniqueness" any day of the week.
BTW, when you say "our region is pretty much everywhere", who is "our"?
How about unique photography? two words Fashion Engagements.
Thumbs Up DJ!
damian
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