My Google Rant…

If anyone has any suggestions on how they would handle this situation with Google please share your thoughts with me.

Google says Do No Evil but they don’t have a problem with setting up toll positions so you have to pay them first or they will create rules that will cause you to lose business.

I’m on a rant today over Google dictating how I should run my business. But it’s their ball field so they get to set the rules for those of us who want to play on their turf.

One of the reasons why I decided not to work their Google Trusted Photographer scheme was because they require that I first submit to them a list of businesses I wish to approach and get their permission before being permitted to contact the business owner. If given the ok they only give you a few days to approach and close the prospect before having to seek permission from google yet again to approach them at a later date.

As I’m a travelling portrait photographer I wanted the flexibility to be able to go into a restaurant for lunch and talk to the owner on the spot and make them an irresistible offer but I found Googles rules to be much to stifling for me. I want to run my own business but working their trusted photographers scheme is more like a job thanks to all of their rules.

Now with the recent launch of Google Helpouts I thought hosting a google helpout would be a great way for me to help out people interested in making money with photography so I submitted a listing. Below are screen shots of what I submitted….

http://screencast.com/t/e7jtVqyp9

http://screencast.com/t/aYYkaS2ETqQ

http://screencast.com/t/CtTm1AzMgI5

Google had me make many changes and emailed me stating that all I needed to do now was to wait for them to contact me for a live video interview to make sure that I had sufficient communications skill to talk to and advise people who choose to attend my Helpout.

After waiting 3 weeks I took the imitative and contacted them. They claimed they weren’t aware that I made any changes but I made every change they requested and was wondering when my live interview would take place.

Google then said that they no longer require a live interview and as long as I made the changes they requested, the status of my helpout would be upgraded from pending to live.

However… they sent me another email demanding other changes to be made… so I sent them this reply:

Hi Cindy, I'm not clear about what you consider to be my "Abrasive Language" that needs to be revised. Is it my use of the word "UGLY" as in Turn Ugly Snapshots Into Fantasy Portraits?

You said: what will you provide in the Helpout that will help users take better photographs. But then later you say: The last 3 paragraphs in the Description is really sufficient for what you will provide in the Helpout.

About your statement what will you provide in the Helpout that will help users take better photographs My helpout is not about how to take better photographs. It's about how to enhance ordinary photographs using the free digital backgrounds I will be giving them. And of course after the helpout they can choose to purchase extra backgrounds from my sites only if they choose to. They will need to visit the sites in order to choose which backgound they want for free from www.BabyPhotoBackdrops.com and from
www.DigitalFantasyBackgrounds.com

My helpout is also about how to find portrait clients, how to create the portraits (which doesn't mean they have to take better photographs as they can enhance poor images and with my help they will look great) and how to present the finished artwork/portrait to their clients so the client will want to exchange money for it.

The testimonial link at: http://bit.ly/1ePhRAJ and www.MomsWithCamera.com links I provided because google said to include my qualifications. Well I'm mostly self taught and self employed with no formal training so I want to let people know my qualifications are that I started from nothing and built a $3000,000 portrait business without any formal training so they are my qualifications.

Are you saying I can't tell them my history? Why would they listen to me if I can't tell them what my real qualifications are?

Sincerely,
Steve

Can anyone here offer suggestions of how I can meet googles demands while still giving people enough information so they can get exited enough to want to attend one of my Free Helpouts?

I suspect part of Google’s problem is they would prefer I charge for a helpout because they get to take a nice percentage and me offering it for free is not putting any money into their pockets.

A couple of years ago I made the mistake of opening up a Google Ad Words Account. They assigned a Google account manager for free for 30 days (I did not want one but had no choice but to listen to her when she contacted me) who tried to get me to purchase ads for my site www.DigitalFantasyBackgrounds.com for the keywords “Digital Backgrounds”.

I declined because the site was already at the top of all of the search engines for those key words. Well after the free 30 day account management period ended my site disappeared in google for those key words but I still rank at the top of most other search engines to this day.

My rant with Google is that they act friendly but if you don’t pay them they invent rules to prevent you using their platforms to help your business to grow.

Not very helpful in my opinion.

Hi Steve,

I keep meaning to Ask you...

What's Holding you back from Getting well Connected with UDEMY and company?

And Expanding your Brand much further in UDEMY's Direction instead...

At this Time, in the meantime, Maybe Forever...

Your Name and Brand is Nowhere to be Found on UDEMY, as of Yet, Coming very Soon! ?? ...

Just Curious and wondering a little, As I'm sure you must Know All About UDEMY Success stories...

And Much more...

More thoughts and Opinions in regards to Your feedback, questions and Google rant issues...

Once we give it a little more Brainstorming and Talk further with a few other Google connections, including...
http://www.google.ca/about/company/facts/management/

UDEMY Success stories and Tips! ...

Google's 10 X 10 pages, Each and Everyone and Then-some...
https://www.google.ca/search?q=udemy...sm=93&ie=UTF-8

How Victor became rich - very quickly! ...
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/tec...625-2ou1r.html
https://www.google.com/search?q=udem...=udemy&tbm=nws

All the best,
Phil

Thanks Phil… I thought about UDEMY. In fact I started to create a course for a similar online university back in 2005 or 2006 but didn’t get accepted because I did not have any formal photography education.

I’m not a very good photographer. My secret is I outsource most of the work and most people who sign up with me expect me to teach them all about photography but that’s not what I do.

All of my backgrounds I outsourced… I outsource all of my edits… I have a couple of photographers who I pay $25 per hour to photograph for me.

I offered to teach them how to show and sell images thinking they would jump at the chance to earn $100 per hour but they turned me down. They want to take photos and let someone else do the marketing and selling for them.

What I teach is so simple it doesn’t require much training… It requires a willingness to take action.

Here’s a testimonial I just received 2 weeks ago from someone who reached out to me on the Warrior Forum:

Unlike most "gurus," Steve practices what he preaches. The methods he espouses are businesses that he has personally forged, tested, and tweaked in the real world, and that he either has run or currently runs successfully and profitably. I've personally used one of Steve's business models to create my own thriving, six-figure, offline business. I wouldn't have any hesitation in investing in anything that Steve creates or endorses. Michael Glovis http://myfantasyportrait.com/

I knew within 5 minutes of speaking with him on the phone that he would succeed because he had no prior experience in photography whatsoever and he had just returned to the States after selling the outsourcing company he started in the Philippines. Plus he mentioned his brother was good with Photoshop. I didn’t charge him a single penny. I just sent him a couple of PDF’s and videos and Michael and his brother Brian teamed up. Thy took action and had immediate success!

But seldom does an artist or fellow photographer succeed. They get so hung up on working in the business instead of working on their business and I’m getting fed up with them.

I just received an email today from someone who I just sent some of my digital backgrounds to along with the same PDF’s and Video’s I gave to Michael & Brian and she shot back a quick message to me asking When will I learn how to actually use these backgrounds with my photos??

Here’s what I just sent back to her:

Gee Teri, I don't even get a thank you for giving you all those digital backgrounds?

I don't teach how to do the work yourself.... my advice is to hire someone in the Philippines to do your image edits for $3 - $5 per hour. My goal is to teach you only what you need to make a lot of money and show you the shortcuts so you can do it immediately instead of taking years to become a graphic artist yourself.

If you are looking to pinch pennies and do all of the grunt work yourself then a good place to learn that is at: http://shareandlikethis.com.au/SVolker

But you would be better off with: http://shareandlikethis.com.au/PhotographyMoneySecrets

Or just hire my team of digital artists and let thm do the work for you.

Your choice,

Photographically Yours,
Steve

I predict Teri will fail because she wants to do all the work herself and when I asked her what books she read it was a very short list and even though she has been on my list for 3 years now she still hasn’t read the E-Myth Revisited which I told her was non-negotiable required reading for her to succeed. She is very busy trying to do all the work herself but she fails to do any marketing.

Now Michael and Brian only contacted me a year ago but because they just followed the very simple steps I sent them… they are doing very well.

I’m thinking I’d be better off to just quietly focus on my offline portrait business and quit helping others to get started with photography. Photographers often tell me how bad business is because everyone now owns a camera and can take their own photos.

Well I own a lawn mower and can mow the lawn myself but I and a lot of other lawn mower owners still hire others to do the grunt work for them. As long as photographers insist on doing everything themselves they will remain starving artists. Pushing a lawn mower is good exercise but I still rather pay someone else to cut the grass while I pay http://www.jetts.com.au/ so I can workout just about anywhere I travel to in Australia. I also have a gym quality threadmill at home along with plenty of freeweights, kettle bells and rebounder but I like working out in a gym with people who are 40 years younger than me... it keeps me feeling young so I don't mind paying when I could gett all the exercise I want for free.

I advise photographers to watch the film “Exit Through The Gift Shop” but not one of them seems to understand this review someone wrote about it: A provocative and absorbing exploration of what constitutes art, the creative process and the power of hype to triumph over talent.

Hype or salesmanship was a big part but you still need a good product / art to offer… but that does not mean you have to create it yourself. Just outsource it to a starving but talented artist and sell the crap out of it.

If you don’t sell a product and leverage your results through other people you are likely to end up selling the one thing you can never get more of… your time. And like Dien pointed out in another SOWPUB post… We all have to sell something.

Cheers,
Steve

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by SteveSki

If anyone has any suggestions on how they would handle this situation with Google please share your thoughts with me.

Hi Steve,

I commiserate!

Unfortunately, the bottom line is most likely that if you want to use Google, you have to "play" by their rules - stupid as they may sometimes be...!

I have to add here, too, that Google is known for its poor customer service. Anything that requires any kind of "human contact," they don't do very well. You hear stories about this from people who use Adwords, AdSense, and so on... And it sounds like your own experience just adds to this impression, too!

On your website dropping out of the search engine for specific terms, it's possible that Google might have done so because they wanted you to buy the advertising. However, they are also always changing their search algorithms, so I think you can never really know. They probably like it that way!

I have a story with some similarities with Clickbank. A while ago, I set up a Clickbank page with a new account to sell a new product, and Clickbank had to "approve" the sales page. They wanted me to make so many changes - it ended up taking all the "guts" of the salesmanship out of the page! (I was already cautious when writing the sales copy in the page regarding what claims I made, but it's like they don't want you to make any claims whatsoever...)

Of course, there are "many ways to skin a cat," and as you know from lots of experience, you can succeed without Google...

Best wishes,

Dien

Good news… I figured whining was useless so I accepted responsibility to reach out to several of Google’s Helpouts Support Individuals and ask for their help. Seems that the Helpout Team has to get word back from their editorial department and the two departments weren't communicating all of the facts to each other.

I was pleasantly surprise when I found an email from them when I awoke today stating they have approved my helpout!

The girl in my Google Helpouts listing image is “Vera” my photographer’s assistant. She wears that fairy dress and wings during the photo sessions (works much better than wearing a silly wig) and treats the kids to Face Painting at the end of each session,

You Can See My Google Helpouts Listing Here!

I figured it was up to me to initiate some video chats with their helpouts team members and sell them on getting this sorted out.

I also figure that I can’t depend on Google sending me any traffic. But I just learned a very clever and 100% free way to get all the leads I want. Names, Address, Email, birth dates and the phone numbers of people already interested in photography to market to.

So I’ll reach out to them first to invite them to take me up on my helpout Will target younger people just getting started with photography so they should have less bad habits to unlearn and are generally more open minded.

As for my website dropping off Goggles first page I think it was really due to over optimization of my key words. All the backlinks I built used my keywords for the anchor text and it got picked up when they made their Penguin update.

Cheers,
Steve

I’ve been thinking of a different angle to take my business international. Instead of teaching people my system to creating and selling fantasy portraits there is no reason why I can’t hire photographers back in the States and pay them $25 to shoot a 20 – 30 minute portrait session like I do with a few photographers here.

I can book portrait clients from anywhere in the world as long as I have a phone and Internet service.

I’m tired of trying to get photographers to become entrepreneurs so why not just give them what they want by booking portraits sessions for them and paying them $25 to shoot it for me…

I’ll take the raw images that a photographer takes for me and have my team of digital artists do the enhancements. And then, instead of trying to teach a photographer how to present and sell the images I can do the sales presentation via an online webinar meeting between the portrait client and myself.

If photographers just want to get paid to take pictures and not be troubled with learning sales and marketing, I can just outsource the picture taking and eventually replace myself with a portrait consultant and pay them by commission or a salary with bonuses based on their sales.

I’ll end up making far more by just working my system this way instead of trying to teach non-entrepreneurs to do what I do.

Today I decided to take a day off and work on my tan at the beach. It gave me a chance to work on the business instead of doing things that I could just let Vera my assistant handle for the day.

But after an hour I had to run back to my van for a notepad and pencil to write out a prospecting script for recruiting photographers to work for me. Relaxing on the beach while listening listening to the surf gave my mind a chance to clam down and the script just suddenly pop into my mind!

Also put together the below ad for Craigslist…. But the little discovery I made a couple of days ago is one hell of great way to get all the qualified leads I want for free! I can already tell that this will be a far more effective than postings ads on CL.

If one or both of you would like to see it let me know and I'll also share the cool traffic method I mentioned above. Maybe you guys are already aware of the method but I had never been aware of it until just a couple of days ago.

Cheers,
Steve

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by SteveSki

I’ll end up making far more by just working my system this way instead of trying to teach non-entrepreneurs to do what I do.

Hi Steve,

I agree - I think you'll make more money with your new idea, than the "old" way...

It reminds me of the story of Jim Penman.

Jim started mowing lawns. He'd advertise, and then get more lawn mowing work than he could handle.

He found that other people mowing lawns couldn't get enough work (maybe because they weren't advertising).

So he hit on the idea of selling these extra jobs to the other people mowing lawns for a living.

(I read this in Jim Penman's book, "Surprised by Success," which I read many years ago...)

Eventually, Jim turned his business into a lawn mowing franchise business.

It's now the largest franchise in Australia, with over 3,000 franchises, and it's also the world's largest home franchise business. He's also recently expanded to other countries, such as the UK and Canada.

His business now makes many millions of dollars a year in net income.

Who'd have thought you could get all that - just from mowing some lawns??!?!

Best wishes!

Dien

Steve,

Great Thinking! ...

Sounds like an excellent Win-Win opportunity using a Smart Proven method of [Re-Creating] the business overall into a Fresh new direction...

I have to agree with Dien's {Great example} on somewhat of a few very Different (type) of idea(S)...

Growing Concept! ... Expansion related formula...

And other Ways to Borrow & Twist [a little] from Jim's business model and concept...

As per...
Franchises now include Jim's Antennas, Jim's Bookkeeping, Jim's Building Maintenance, Jim's Computer Services, Jim's Dog Wash, Jim's Painting and Jim's Roofing, and Jim's Group has recently expanded into Great Britain, New Zealand & Canada.[3]...

Also, on a different related note...

Another very well known resource well worth... Digging further into...

A must Read as I'm sure Many already know...

Studying! ... Applying much of what you Learn about into Fresh new Ideas!

Taking Action is the Key! ...

Think and Grow Rich: Chapter 5. Specialized Knowledge...
https://www.google.com/search?q=Thin...sm=93&ie=UTF-8

Steve, love to hear more about your new found lead generation idea mentioned. Please feel free to PM and share those misc. details...

Much appreciated,

All the best,
Phil