BeckerBiz — Larry's business blog

Everybody in business needs to be a good manager of their own time. You need to spend some time researching potential markets, perfecting your craft, working on client projects and files, accounting, etc. And if you’re working full-time, you know you need income so that you can survive. The problem is that part-timers and freelancers [...]

Most people have heard of the movie Pay It Forward from a few years back. The main concept in the movie is that frequently when someone does something nice for us, we aren’t always in a position to repay that person for their kindness. Sometimes it’s actually impossible to “pay it back.” So “pay it [...]

Notice the question isn’t the typical one you hear like, ‘How are you better?’ Instead, how are you different. When it comes to being different, most people understand that IF their ‘difference’ is generally considered to be a strength or positive characteristic, then that’s what they should focus on in their marketing. If you always [...]

What is it about some people that they get something out of flaming or trying to crush someone else?! I don’t get it. Recently a friend of mine who is a very good photographer and a truly kind soul, was told by a “professional” (somebody with a particular certification) that her work was bad. First [...]

image ©Larry Becker Some people seem to automatically understand the impact various things could have on their bottom line. They see past the surface of the presentation and start imagining how it could help their company or make them more money on some way. If these “visionaries” are photographers, they hear about a new photography [...]

Some time ago I discovered videos produced at the annual Ted conference and many of them were quite brilliant. They cover topics from science to art and everything in between. Sometimes they are little more than puffery, but most of the time they are inspirational, informational, and uplifting. Every once in a while I remember [...]

Do you want to start freelancing? Are you planning on starting a new business? Are you trying to get your business to the next level? Have you told yourself that there’s something you need before you can march forward and tackle that big goal? If you’ve been waiting for a long time to get that [...]

Just a thought… no earth-shattering breakthrough here… no epiphanies… just an idea for an experiment. A simple two-step process. Step One Set aside 2 hours this week. It doesn’t have to be all at once. You can do one hour each on 2 separate occasions, but dedicate 2 full hours to researching the leading edge [...]

When I started to compose this post, I was a bit worried about hurting the feelings of some of my readers. I certainly wouldn’t ever want to hurt someone’s feelings or make them feel bad, but then I thought, my blog is frequently laced with messages about being a self-starter and an entrepreneur, people who [...]

I have a Nikon D200 and almost all my shooting friends at work have a D300s, D700, or D3s, and some have two or more cameras. Because I’m a “normal” photographer, I have gear envy and I usually want a different (newer, better) camera. However, I certainly don’t need one. In fact, I know my [...]