The Business Plan

I have so many great things planned for this year, and one of those was finally hammering out a business plan. It's essential for all business to have a business plan. It identifies your mission, your keys to success, the market your trying to attract, and gives a small breakdown on demographics.

I'm using this really cool software called Business Plan Pro, that pretty much walks you through every step. I don't know what a lot of accounting terms are, but this program makes it pretty damn easy!

It is VERY time consuming, and have only gotten through 8 steps in the last 2 days. 40 steps left! When it's complete it will be 35 pages long!


I have some other great news too! I am going down to meet with a very special new friend today. He is not involved with this industry, but pretty close to it. Let's just say that starting very soon this year, 2 new products are going to be added to the line up. One of those products nobody else in the WORLD makes, and will completely set us apart from the rest!

Stay tuned for more hints!

My Lost Hobby

You know it's funny, before I started this business, photography was a hobby. Since that hobby turned into a profession, I now have no hobbys...which is bad.

Before photography, I started to ride Trials.

Trials riding? Yes, and not TRAILS riding...trials riding. The sport, or rather "art" is heavily based out of Europe. In fact when I used to ride, there was only 1 other person in the State of Florida who rode. There are MAYBE 500 riders in the US. Another fact is that there is only one US store who sells these special bikes priced at around $2000, or get one imported from Europe. The bikes are special in that they have no seat....your not meant to sit down. Norco, and Echo are among the top manufacturers.

Observed Trials is very popular with motorcycles, but them someone decided to adapt it for use with mountain bikes. Basically, you navigate a short obstacle course without ever having to put your foot on the ground. It takes incredible balance, a heightened sense of what's around you, and the ability to pinpoint exactly how far apart certain things are.

My 2 favorite riders are US based rider Ryan Leech, and Phil Feeney out of Europe. Ryan's style is very clean, very fluid, and sticks every landing with uncanny precision. Phil on the other hand is very aggressive, more freestyle, and just damn right wicked!

My personal goal for this year is to start riding again as a hobby. The bike I used to have was a stipped down mountain bike, wasnt meant of doing what I was trying to do, so I broke it. If I had a bike now, I'd start riding again! To all my readers, if you happen to be a trials rider, please contact me!

Of course my wife cringes thinking about her husband jumping 10 ft off a roof on a bike...BUT...you only live once. Gotta make the best of it.

Here are a few of my favorite videos;

This is an short clip from Ryan's DVD, Manifesto.



Here's Ryan riding in Prague



Ok, so now we switch styles a bit to Phil. Here is Phil's newest video, Edit 7. Just click the vid and you should be able to find all the edits. We're only going to post this one, and one other.



This one is still my all time fav. The city was going to ban riding, saying it was "vandalism." What do you think? Watch and decide for yourself.

Tampa Meetup - Recap

This evening I got to hang out with some of the coolest photographers; Courtney, Shem, Will, Taka, Steven, Chris, Erin, and Travis...you guys rock! It's so important to network with local photographers, and some folks need to get it through their head that; we are not each other's competition. We are each others inspiration, and motivational factors. I must say, it was really nice to be around you guys. I have definitely found, "my other family," and am really looking forward to watching all of us grow together!

Of course, I will give the uber famous quote from Tim Sanders that I learned from David Jay; your network is your net worth.

I couldn't pick out just a few favs, so I figured I'd just post em all. I'll be emailing you guys your photos soon!

Few more on Courtneys blog!

The stunning Miss Courtney...



...and Courtney in action.









I love this one!



Uber cool Erin, Chris's wife.



THE one and only, Taka.





Here's Chris in action. Chris is Erin's husband.







Here we have Shem, another really awesome photographer



Chimper!



I had another one of my visions....two today to be exact; this was one of them.



There was just something about those red shoes...awesome!





Taka!







Ok, let me explain this shot. First off, this was the second vision I had when we were shooting in the alley. Courtney decided to add a funky twist to the shoot this evening, and offered a free canvas to whoever had the most creative shot. Well, I saw an empty bottle of Hennessy on the ground, and it was all over. Poor Shem. She really is a bright and happy girl, and hated to put her through this.

Hah....what am I talking about, this was frikking hilarious! In PS, desaturated, several layers of Lucis, and one freaky texture.



The uber talented Will. See you next month at LUMU! man!



and dude....you have some wicked cool eyes.



Ahhh, multi tasking!



Another really sweet shot of Courtney....



...and another. This one is my favorite of you Courtney!



One with the lensbaby...



...and a few portraits of the gang!

Shem



Erin



Chris



Steven



Travis



Will



Taken with my ultra ultra wide angle...pfff.....yea right. Eventually we'll have one!



See you guys next month!

Max TV

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http://www.ustream.tv/channel/max-tv

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