He was outnumbered 20 to 1.

The joke was, if you came here as a single man – the odds were absolutely in your favor! (No, that wasn’t a subtle nod to The Hunger Games, but if it had been now would be the time for me to tell you to go see the movie or read the book. Or better yet, both. Yes, I’m on that bandwagon. If you want to join, I’ll clear a seat for you.)

You have heard before of my inspirational track record with photographer, Jasmine Star. Well, a few weeks ago, Dan and I met her and her touring posse for, the FIX.

The crowd was distinctly female-dominant, but the message was one applicable to any photographer working in the wedding industry: we all struggle, let’s band together to fix the problems and make our businesses – and more importantly, this community – stronger.

I am lucky in that I have a partner in my business. But even so, owning your own small business is an inherently solitary endeavor. You do a lot of work from home where there aren’t coworkers surrounding you and you don’t have a lot of feedback to inspire you. As with that sentence there’s a lot of you involved.

I don’t have any sort of scientific research to back up this next claim – so fair warning – but I believe that you do your best work when you have a community to encourage you, to inspire you, to keep you accountable and to push you forward.

While Jasmine gave us a lot of practical wisdom to apply to our businesses individually, one of the biggest messages she conveyed was that there is safety in numbers. Not to sound too after-school special on y’all (I’m apparently Southern now) but we are all in this together. While we can sometimes get paranoid and feel like there isn’t enough business to go around, and that being a wedding photographer is a constant competition to get a leg up, it really, really doesn’t have to be.

So, reach out to those in your community who share your passions and encourage one another. Go on a photography adventure. Get some coffee and discuss what scares you about this business and lift each other up.

And, if you ever have the opportunity to attend a wedding photography conference or workshop, I absolutely encourage you to do so. You won’t regret it.

(Especially if you’re a single guy. I kid, I kid! Sort of…)