This blog post could also be titled Blessings by the Boatload, but lets be honest those names got your attention right? They sure got my attention when they showed up in my inbox over the past couple of weeks! A few weeks ago I submitted a video to be considered for a wedding photography course held by creativeLIVE with the world famous Jasmine Star in Seattle. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m not a risk taker not even for the littlest stuff. I hate rejection and the old me had 2,000 excuses of why I shouldn’t take a risk before I even knew what the risk was. You know, like the good old washing my hair or expecting a phone call lines. Or my favorite, I have to work on my thesis. That one was good for about 2 years! Well the thesis is done, the hair is squeaky clean and all the other bad excuses have run their course as well. I’m not even kidding myself anymore. That little voice in my head said you need to be in Seattle. So I made my 60 second video and sealed it with an EEK! Seriously, when I sent it to @jasminestar I included a caption that said “Here it is. Eek!” Here is is? Eek? Rejection road here I come. Well to make a long story short, 120 amazingly talented people from around the world entered the contest. Six were chosen. I was one of them. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Of 120 people, I was chosen? I’ve never won anything except a DARE tote bag in the 5th grade (I was rockin’ the most red on DARE day, thank you very much).
But it gets better…
Last night I found a message in my Facebook inbox from Becker at the [b] school informing me I won a seat at the WPPI Road Trip in Irvine. WHAT THE WHAT?? This can’t be for real. Oh, its for real. Two major events, one stellar week. Its going to be bananas. So what did I learn? Taking risks, even if they were small risks, is the only way to make things happen. Now that I’m running my own business, I need to put myself out there… and rejection? I spit on rejection. Rejection is a state of mind, and only I decide if I’m good enough. Amazingness is in full effect. I can’t wait until Sunday so I can go give thanks in person.
Thanks again to creativeLIVE, Jasmine Star, [b] school, WPPI Road Trip and my buddy Mapu of Mapuana Photo who called me at 8:30 on a Monday morning to congratulate me!
And for your viewing pleasure my video submission for the creativeLIVE course…
Hi Stephanie, I came across your picture on the bSchool and checked out your blog. Congrats on winning the workshop with Jasmine and the WPPI road tour! That’s awesome. Congrats on starting your business. Hope you have much success!