It’s refreshing to see a photographer out there making things happen.  We just got a great call from a photographer stirring up some business.

After a little research, she found a few local Facebook pages with poorly done profile pictures.  She spent a morning taking shots of the local businesses, and then presented her photos to the businesses with her iPhone, although she wishes she had an iPad.

Almost every business used her photo as their profile picture.  Her watermark was on the bottom, and she left a few cards with each business owner.  Although she only started this a few months ago, she already sees strong results.

Another photographer went out on a limb and tried something new. He does graduation portraits, and saw a pretty steep decline over the last few years in orders. To try something new, he put his images into “Archive” state immediately using his MorePhotos shopping cart. He charged $10 for access to the images, which included a $20 gift certificate. Of course, almost everyone paid the $10 to see the images, and with just a little skin in the game, most of those people make a purchase. His sales doubled from last year, making the event super profitable once again.

At a recent trade show in Chicago, this shoe shiner didn’t take no for an answer. He ran beside us for an entire block until we stopped for just a second to figure out which way to to turn, ignoring our countless no thank-yous followed by NOs. Ivan said no very sternly but when he looked down, one shoe was already halfway done. A couple bucks earned. I really wanted to hire this guy to work at our booth.

As markets evolve, it often pays off to take risk and try new things. Nobody knows exactly what will have the best payout, but if your are relentless like the shoe shiner, you will learn your market and make a few bucks in the process.