Take Action & Care For Your People w/ Ben Hartley

“A lot of really smart people don’t get around to doing nothin’. They like to think about it, they like to read about it, and then they go to the next book and they listen to the next podcast, and they attend the next workshop, and they talk and they talk about what they’re going to do. But then they don’t ever get around to doing nothin’.” [19:10]

As creatives, a lot of us struggle to move into the launch or action phase of our pursuits. Like Ben Hartley, today’s guest says, we think and talk and plan but often fail to pull the trigger. Well, if you need some motivation, Ben might just be your guy.

Ben is the founder of Style and Story Creative, an award winning wedding photography and commercial videography agency that has been featured on Creative Live, The Today Show, The Huffington Post and more. He also runs the Six Figure Photography Podcast and blog aimed at helping photographers achieve success in their business, but in a way that complements their ideal lifestyle.

Before all this success however, Ben was a restaurant server with a degree in oil painting who just happened to hear about a job opening at a local video production studio. With no experience in video, through determination and action, Ben found a way to get that job, ultimately leading to a long and successful career in video and photography. After hearing Ben’s story, you’ll be hard pressed to come up with excuses about why the time isn’t right to pursue this project, or why you can’t achieve that goal.

Are you like me? Do you love consuming information but find it hard to put out work? Maybe you’ve reached a point like Ben where you put your foot down and said “I’m finding a way to do this no matter what!” Leave a comment below and share your story with us.

In this episode:
- The one simple secret that has allowed Ben to achieve success in his pursuits
- How observing and learning from different industries can make your business better
- I know we all love gear, but why people need to be the focus of your business in order to take it to another level.

Quotes
“It’s all about caring for your people. Your salary, the amount of money that you make, your income, your net worth is entirely related to how well you serve you people. I just want to keep beating that into people’s skulls until they get it.” [12:05]

“There’s no magic bullet, there’s no thing like ‘if you take this course it’s going to fix everything’. But at the same time, if you learn from people who’ve already done it, they’ve already made the mistakes, they’ve already made the wins and learned from them. I mean, that’s as fast as you can go.” [21:29]

Links:
Six Figure Photography - Blog and Email Course | Podcast | Facebook
Style and Story Creative
Lynda.com
Gary Vaynerchuk - Facebook | #AskGaryVee Book 
Mad House Creative

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