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In this episode of Overgivers Anonymous, we have a very special guest. Marcia Dolgin is a small-town girl, 1st born into a dysfunctional family and determined to be free. Her formal fine art background (BFA degree) mixed with years of professional development (including 3 years with the Ansel Adams team, plus countless other top artists and business specialists) resulted in becoming a thought leader in her business in the photography industry as a professional photographer. Marcia served her clients while being a national teacher to professionals in the transition from film to the digital format in printing with Epson of America as well as Ercosoft.us RIP (Raster Image Processing) who also used her images for international promotions. Now she brings wisdom in sales, building trust for the unknown (like insurance) based on emotional prompts triggered from the conversation to have clients give her what she needs so that they get what they desire for the end result. Her forever and consistent goal in life has been to turn people onto themselves through heart triggered photography as a revealing tool to reach new levels of creativity and unconditional love.
In today’s podcast, Marcia shares with us her story of overcoming a difficult start and finding her love through vision and photography. She tells us amazing moments that helped her realize how to make people find themselves, which became her passion. In this conversation full of awesome insights about business, connecting with your clients and yourself, she teaches us self awareness exercises and gives a beautiful example of how to be successful spreading love.
In any company, you do what works for you. And there are things that are uncomfortable, and that’s okay. Here’s an example. The traditional way that things were run back in the day was people would get paid after they had a session. That was the standard, and I (Marcia) was no way going to put myself in that kind of situation because that was demeaning to me. I needed to be paid ahead of time. And I was told by all my associates that I would fail. I did not fail. Not only that, but the whole industry changed to being paid beforehand. My excuse was, “hey, because I need to reserve a date. So we need to have the session fee paid upfront”. Still today, there are so many business owners who aren’t honouring themselves and their time by getting their payment upfront. The fact of the matter is you are reserving time for this other human being with this other business in your schedule. You should be paid upfront.
I (Marcia) started to change the industry. This non-judgmental thing was very powerful at that time. There was a tremendous amount of misuse and misunderstanding and to be in photography, just like a lot of industries on the internet, you didn’t have to get certified. It could just be a side hustle and side hustle didn’t even exist back then. So people were paying based on the style and referrals. That’s what people are buying. So the first thing you have to earn is trust. No matter what, you can shove stuff down people’s throat, you can do whatever you want. But if they don’t trust you, the party’s over. They don’t have to like you. And they don’t have to even know you. But they have to trust you. If you had a doctor that didn’t have a great bedside manner, but you knew that they were a rock star in the operating room, you don’t have to like them, you know that they’re going to do a good job.
Here is an exercise. When you’re taking photographs, after you’ve taken the photograph, look at the camera and look at the result. And just see; what were you aware of? And what were you not aware of? Did you get what you wanted? Maybe you didn’t. It’s irrelevant in this particular conversation. Just start looking at it and seeing what were you aware of when you were taking that photograph? And you can take that to your business. That’s important in your business, to look back and say what was my awareness at the time. Who was I? Because we change as entrepreneurs, we change as people as to who we are. But so I got these results, but who was I at that time?
And when you do that you can give yourself permission, to accept who you were, and see where you are now, and take steps. This comes back to this higher level of awareness. And acknowledgement is really about your own unconditional love. And if you have that, you’re still going to have times where you’re more creative and when you’re not. Life goes on. But if you have an awareness of your own unconditional love and your power, it can get you through those times. You have to go through them. You’re not human if you don’t have them.
If you’re in a stuck mode, get your camera out, start taking pictures. It’s really helpful because you’ll start to see as you grow even in that, it spreads. It’s contagious in your whole self. You can journal with photography. Using the same model that you’re using, you can use your camera, and it can be on auto, but really look at your photographs and see; “what was I aware of, what was I not?”
Marcia Dolgin:
Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/marciadolginfineimages/
Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/PhotographyEnthusiastHangout/
Instagram @mdolginpictures
