This time last year, I took a big huge risky step that I still can’t believe I even did.  I wrote a book and launched it.  Even writing that… “I wrote a book”… I’m still in shock most days.

The book is for photographers and it’s about trusting God with your photography business.  It’s about recognizing that this gift of photography is bigger than yourself and our own creative passions, and letting Jesus be the CEO of how you run your business.  It’s about prospering, not according to the world’s definition of fame and finances, but prospering according to His kingdom in how you use your gift to serve in the lives of others.

Following the launch, email after email came pouring in with one thankful heart after another, most crying tears as they wrote the email, simply sharing their story with me and how Prosper was the exact thing they needed to read at this exact moment in their life.  But I hate to take any credit for it.  It truly was a God thing.  I fought Him many times to not want to finish it, but through the support of my amazing husband, I finally gained the courage to hit the “Publish” button that launched the announcement of it all.

Now a year later…… it amazes me how it still lives on through a group that has grown dear to my heart.  This is a group of Christian photographers who meet in what’s called The Prosper Community to go along with the book.  In this free group, they support each other, pray for each other, seek photography and life advice, and simply do life together walking hand in hand one sister and brother in Christ together, who happen to share a creative passion for documenting people’s memories with photography.

Today in The Prosper Community, we started over with Day 1 of my Prosper 40 Day devotional.  Some are rereading it, some are reading it for the first time…. And I wanted to invite YOU to join us in the group to do the book study with us.  Since we can’t all meet  in a real bible study, it’s great to be able to connect digitally and be a support system for each other.  If you are a photographer overwhelmed trying to run your business your way, and are ready to let God take control to dream up dreams for you that you could never imagine, please join us!

Below is a video that explains my heart behind the vision of the book.  You can get your copy at: http://choosecommitprosper.com!

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” ~Jeremiah 29:11

Stephen and I hope that you had a blessed Thanksgiving!  One thing we are thankful for is our blog readers, and that includes YOU!  As part of how thankful we are for you, I want to extend a Cyber Monday deal on my prayer devotional book I released earlier this year.  As we all approach the end of this year, and start to prepare for the upcoming new year, I challenge you to take my 40-Day Prayer Journey for your photography business to seek what plans God has in store for your 2013!  Your 50% discount has already been applied, but it’s only reduced for 24 hours!  Click here to get your copy of the book now!

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING:

“My husband and I are on day 22 of your book!! I can’t speak for him, but I am so amazed how you take the thought right out of my brain!!!  Thank you so much for writing this book!  A true blessing!” ~Megan Gray

“I have finished day one and two, and God is on the move with so many things. I feel refreshed and renewed in my faith and in my business and I am so excited to see what the next 40 days will bring!” ~Sara Purdy

“Thank you Scarlett!  Your book was such an answer to prayer that came at the exact moment my husband and I needed it the most.” ~Beth Werch

We hope you find this discount helpful!  Have a fabulous day!

Last year, Stephen and I got invited to speak at the Dallas Professional Photographers of America monthly meeting.  But we turned it down.  Having just gotten married and merging our businesses, we wanted to wait to make sure that now together, we first and foremost could build a strong foundation of running our business before we got into the speaking scene again.  Now having been a year since we officially teamed up, we finally gave in and agreed to visit Dallas to speak at their DPPA meeting.  And what a great meeting it was.  We truly enjoyed watching their print competition, meeting some of the best artistic photographers in the industry, and sharing our hearts with them about what we learned about customer service having just been a recent bride and groom on the other side of the experience.

While in Dallas, we also were asked to host our Scarlett & Stephen Workshop to a group of not just local photographers, but photographers who flew and drove in from all over the United States.  I still can’t believe people would go to such distance just to attend, I promise we aren’t that cool, but we were thrilled to hear at the end of the day that their brains hurt with business info and that they’re lives were forever changed.

Here’s some of our favorite photos below from the shoot in the old fashioned streets of McKinney, Texas.  What we didn’t tell the attendees was that the model, Brittany Nicole and her boyfriend were also Dallas wedding photographers.  It was fun to surprise them at the end and have her give them feedback on pros and cons of how the shoot went from the client experience.  It was also a neat surprise to to have world renowned award winning photographers, David and Luke Edmonson AND Paul Ernest pop by to say hello to the attendees at the end of the shoot.  All three of them have won pretty much every award you could win at WPPI and more, and we are honored to call them our great friends.

As mentioned in the previous entry about our Myrtle Beach workshop, we love sharing our hearts in cities we are invited to host workshops.  If you are interested in bringing us to your hometown and know about 5-10 photographers who could benefit from how to set up their photography business with a strong foundation, please email Stephen at stephen@scarlettlovestephen.com for more info!  A few of the Dallas workshop attendees posted thorough reviews of the workshop.  Click below to read their blog entry about what they walked away from and learned:

Michele Shore’s workshop review

Kellene Maynard’s workshop review

For our first Scarlett & Stephen Workshop here in the states, we visited Myrtle Beach, SC on our way back from shooting a wedding in Greenville, SC.  We had a great time meeting the Southern photographers who attended as we spent the day sharing our hearts with them about everything from being just as passionate about running a business as photography, to SEO, to marketing and branding, and how we’ve changed our business model in the past year to generate more wall canvas prints hanging in our clients homes.  We had a gorgeous couple come model for us who got married 2 years ago.  It was sad to hear from them that their own wedding photographer wasn’t around to capture their First Dance, so we ended the shoot with playing their First Dance song on our iPhones to help them relive that moment to give them another chance to get some First Dance shots.

Here’s some of our favorite shots from the shoot, as well as some of the reviews that were posted afterward on the attendee’s Facebooks.  While we don’t have goals of becoming touring workshop photographers, we do love helping to share our knowledge in cities like Myrtle Beach where we were invited to host a workshop by the fabulous stylish children’s photographer Lindsey Mills.  If you are a photographer who is interested in hosting us in your hometown, and know about 5-10 local photographers who could benefit from it as well, please email Stephen at stephen@scarlettlovesstephen.com for info!