The Profitable Horseman's Newsletter The only weekly electronic newsletter published for Professional Horsemen.
September 7, 2007

If you are struggling with finding enough time, enough money and enough of the right people in your horse business, then it may be time to get some help.
If you are looking for different results in your horse business, we should have a conversation about how Profitable Horseman strategies can help. (716) 434-5371

Read about these items this week:
  • Last Call For Your Class--Horse Business Workshop
  • Here Is An Inexpensive Way to Keep Connected With Clients
  • Speaking about the Horse Business...
  • Others have said
  • Back at the Barn
  • Watch for Special Offer for A No Cost Business Planning Session!

  • Here Is An Inexpensive Way to Keep Connected With Clients


    During a meeting with a new client this week, we talked about the importance of photographs and how people love to reconnect with the happy experiences they have had with their horses and the people around them.

    It got me thinking about the laminated baseball card size photograph Charles showed me after his last soccer game in the summer season. His coach, a thoughtful volunteer, had taken the time to photograph the team and make a small photocard for all of the members.

    Charles told me the cool thing was that he and another teammate weren't at the game when the group shot was taken by the coach. Clever coach had "photoshopped" both of them into the picture with more skill than the cover creator of "National Enquirer".

    Photographs are powerful emotional triggers. And like a good wine, they just get more valuable with age. No doubt about it, horse owners usually have boxes and boxes of silly snapshot photographs of their horses. But since the owner is usually the photographer, very few good shots of horse and owner together are included in the photo collection.

    You can imagine the joy of a horse owner receiving a "team photograph" of herself and favorite horse as a surprise gift. Can you see her beaming with pride as she tells admiring coworkers about the new team photo on her desk of her horse and herself sent by her instructor, trainer, coach?

    I have a hard time correctly spelling psychology let alone understanding it, but I do know something magical happens to the ego when others send a photograph of ourselves and a four legged "significant other." It's a form of approval: " way to go, an attaboy or attagirl!" from someone whose opinion is valued separately from compliments from family and best friends.

    So here is where you fit in. As a professional horseman, you, an assistant or volunteer can take digital photos of your clients with the horses in their lives. Cull the bad shots with the delete key and print the winners.

    Photo opps:

    • Students and their favorite lesson horses for holiday gifts
    • New owners and their just purchased horses for your website
    • Clinic participants
    • Group shots
    • Candid horse show shots
    • Trail rides
    • Barn events
    • And whatever your imagination dictates

    Why bother and take the trouble?

    As a business person, you spend most of your working day with left brain revved up for logical thinking. Your thoughts focus on: cut costs, raise revenue, efficiency, less labor, do the important things. . . .

    It's not hard to have your thoughts swirling with the business of business.

    But when you stop to think about your clients' way of thinking you realize that for most of them, their horse connection is purely recreational and emotional.

    And can you think of a better way to communicate with their emotional sides than a thoughtful photograph?


    Speaking about the Horse Business...
    audience

    Need a speaker about the horse business for your horse organization?

    Talk to me about talking. Keynotes and workshops available. (716) 434-5371


    Others have said

    "A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know." -- Diane Arbus

    "[Memory is] a man's real possession...In nothing else is he rich, in nothing else is he poor." -- Alexander Smith

    'To the complaint, 'There are no people in these photographs,' I respond, 'There are always two people: the photographer and the viewer.' -- Ansel Adams


    Back at the Barn
    letchworth

    If you're like me, you have boxes and boxes of photographs waiting for sorting and framing. There never seems to be time to frame and display the favorites.

    Undoubtedly there is a specialist offering this snapshot organization and framing service for folks who are too busy, but having someone else do it takes a lot of the joy out of the project. The memory trip through the shoe box of photos is better than any blockbuster movie.

    I've been rotating family and horse photos on a small bulletin board as a compromise to fashionable framing. The children enjoy it and it's like opening a time capsule for parents.


    Watch for Special Offer for A No Cost Business Planning Session!
    Doug Emerson photo

    I work with Professional Horsemen who are struggling with the business half of the horse business.

    Just like a top performing horse has a strong foundation, so does a top performing horse business.

    If you've had enough with not enough: time, money or the right people in your horse business, watch for an upcoming announcement for a limited offer of a no cost business planning session with me.(Shhh, don't tell anyone else, but no cost means f.r.e.e.)

    Welcome to new subscribers this week. If you know other horsemen who would enjoy this newsletter, please forward it to them!

    I appreciate your help !

    Doug


    Last Call For Your Class--Horse Business Workshop
    gvrdc chalk

    I just checked and there are a few seats left for the horse business workship in West Bloomfield, NY organized by the Genesee Valley Riding and Driving Club and the Genesee Valley Breeders Association.

    If you live in Western or Central New York State,

    click here for the details.

    P.S. You'll find that "one thing" you needed to know about your business that makes all the difference. It always pays to invest in yourself.

    Click on the links below for more information

    Profitable Horseman Web Page

    Past issues of Profitable Horseman newsletter

    Don't Look Back Professional Horseman's Blog- More Free Business Tips Click on the link.



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