Sometimes the best strategy is to stand still

The internet is the main avenue I use to get business. How do you go from averaging 30 visits a day to getting 4,651 visitors just one day?
That's the beauty of the net. Sometimes, you just have to wait.
It pays to be ready. As an entrepreneur, you got to be willing to think differently and take a big risk.
So one day, shortly after the featured interview in Photoshelter, I receive a call from a very nice lady. I could tell it was a sales pitch. I get them all the time. How to boost your placement in google, yellow pages, a new card, you name it. This lady was talking about some Groupon thing. Poor thing had to spend about twenty minutes explaining what Groupon was. I was that clueless. Then the pitch: They wanted a radical discount.
Not to go into details. I ended up  giving her a VERY generous deal.
We agreed, emailed and the date was set. Jan 27, my Groupon add went live.
I could barely sleep the days before. What if nobody bought it? What if it was a bad decision?
I had a feeling, though. You can't expect to get different results if you continue doing things as you have. So I risked it.
That day, I answered calls from 7:00 am to about 8:30 pm. Answered emails non stop, posted comments on the Groupon board and best of all, booked the next three months of my calendar. Solid. Even weekends.
I went to bed so excited and absolutely exhausted. Determined to sleep in the next day. Fat chance. My wife texted me about 8 am, waking me up. "It's still going on" I got to my computer. I had a nice email from Groupon: They were so excited that the special did so good, that they extended it. So it happened all over again. I now have sessions scheduled in 2012.

What did I do different though?
Well, besides risking it (Really you are risking all your reputation if you don't please all these new customers). I changed my work flow. I streamlined my operation. I put myself out there. And at the end, I loved it!
I talked to very nice ladies, sold sessions for guys, got and invite for pizza and had a ball realizing how loving these ladies are, getting out of their confort zone to please their husbands, boyfriends, girlfriends.
I got asked and had to answer, "Can you make me beautiful?"
It's a tough question! makes you search within your soul.
Many will come out of town. Many will get up really early, or stay up really late. Many saw this as their last chance to do it, before life just didn't offer the opportunity anymore. Many just did it because they love who they are.
It really made me rediscover why I do what I do. Because it's quite an honor to have somebody's trust to show their inner beauty.
For that, I'm extremely happy.
Thank you
Adrian.