Starting school

As I’ve mentioned several times on this blog and in the emails I’ve sent to my list members, I’m starting law school…this week, in fact. Yesterday I had registration activities and picked up my books, Thursday is orientation, and Friday I start the Intro to Legal Skills class that goes through next Wednesday. The substantive courses start that Thursday. 

I mention this because my email and phone have been quite active lately with photographers looking for one-on-one help. It’s just killing me, but I am not able to work with any new clients…probably for the first academic year. The estimated time required for courses and studying, per week, is 50-60 hours. Add in commuting time and a few other necessities, and there simply is not enough time for me to give to a client. So, no client-based income for me for the next 8 months. Ouch.

This is very hard for me to do. I want to help. There is a reason I chose to be a consultant. I hope my legal degree will permit me to serve you all better in the future. It is all about helping the community for me…and making a living, of course.

This is why I’ve been finishing my book (it’s at the editor’s now and the designer is working on the cover) and created the video presentations I am selling on the Parts Department page of my site. It is also why I intend to continue blogging about the photo industry here, producing the Creative Lube podcasts (on iTunes–new one very soon!), and writing the Manuals. I am not abandoning the community–far from it–but I do have to say “no” to the actual one-on-one consulting for now. 

I hope you all understand.

In a related point, my income will be entirely based on the passive income generated by the books, presentations, t-shirts, and any donations you’d care to make (go to the main page of the Super Premium blog for how to do that). So please, buy stuff, or I’m going to have to start selling advertising on all these outlets. Ew!

Seriously, though, I share this reality about my income because I hope that you all will understand that the lost income is part of the investment I am making in myself, and thus, in my business. Just like buying a new computer or a better website costs money, so does not working so that you can take classes to improve yourself (both cost of the classes and lost time to work). My business will be the better for the investment. So the next time you think about how much you’d spend to go to, say Santa Fe or Maine for a workshop, and you think about the lost work time, think instead about how much more you will bring to the projects AFTER the classes. Invest in yourself more than you invest in your equipment.