Hiting my numbers -

Today I weighted myself and for the first time in a very long time I saw 221. Soooooo that means I have offically lost 19 lbs in approx. 6 weeks.

See one more pound and I plan to reward myself with a present. I had a whoe bunch of ideas when I started to lose weight.

Super duper buffect and hockey all you can eat sushi

Mardarin on a Sunday - crab legs not dipped in butter but drenched, soaked in butter

ruth chris steak house for a 100 oz steak.

Anyhow you get the idea.

In the end I've decided to upgrade my membership at the gym. Instead of the regular showers and locker room I want the executive. No more showering with the peasants!

In fact, I am looking so forward to not having to bring a huge bag with my towel and shaving kit that I had a dream about it last night.

Of course there were no guys in the executive locker room. And there were a set of twins I saw once on Homwrd Stern. ahh I love dreams
 

This is actually a quick Blog

What hat means is that from within the dashborad on the iMac, I've installed a plugin where I can quickly write a note and publish. 

I have a bunch of cool stuff in the dashbooard. Basically, I click on an icon and supe imposed over my desk top these little programs all appear. 

I have a calculator, toronto weather, my stock index, itunes quick lauch, a huge old style calander, a hugh analog clock, quick google search, CNN.com top stories, a mirror - attached to my icam I can check my teeth, and last but not least solitaire. 

Pretty cool stuff. 

Of course Google has a similar thing called widgets I have installed on my office PC. - no solitaie there though :(

Only a few more days until I'm off again!! woo hoo

We work hard. I can honestly say that as I sit in the studio at 11pm on a Monday night. I'm taking a break from ordering some photos to write this post. The cool thing about working hard is that i can play hard and not feel guilty.

Seriously - there are times when I'm upset that I can;t finish a project and I wake up in the middle of the night , open up the laptop and get to work.

Were off to Montreal to meet some clients and a franchise of ours. Kind of a vacation/work time off with the kids and Marianna. Should be fun. I love Montreal. In fact, I speak french fluently. We always stay at the same 4 star Shereton in Laval, we always have sushi at the same restaurant in Pointe Claire. And we alway go for breakfast at D.A.D.s bagels in Westmount.

We have 4 weddings this weekend so I'll definitely be needing a few days off. We have been expanding TorontoHomeMovies.com every month for the past 8 months and as I mentioned before we go National starting September 1st 2007.

Now this is cool.


When I first started doing transfers (converting old movies 8mm, super 8 and 16mm to DVD) it was over 8 years ago. We would do about $800 a year. Now we that in day. I love how a simple idea can grow into something so huge. The thing is though that you have to excel at 5 things.

1. Quality - No matter how fast you are, how cool, how cheap - Quality is the key to a successful business.

2. Know your process. - 95% of problems occur when a failure in the process happens. We have set up very stringent process for every possible outcome. This way ANYONE can handle nearly any problem and the business is not tied to tightly to one person.

3. Innovation- there are 1000's of photographers, videographers, webdesigners and digital specialties. At TorontoHomeMovies and CanadaHomeMovies.com we have changed the way that business is run with 2 major innovations. 1. We go straight to digital. Where our competitors run the 8mm footage to VHS then convert to DVD. We have created a process where every reel is capture DIRECT to digital .avi in the computer. This allows us the ability to colour correct, sharpen and even edit all footage BEFORE burning DVD. We even included a menu where other companies charge more money. Oh - were 15% cheaper too.

The second innovation we market nearly 95% by way of the Internet. Our customer find us and contact us through our website. We are only today, beginning to work as wholesalers.

4. The forth key to our success I believe is accounting. Proper tracking of orders not only keeps us in the black but by adding additional fields to our forms we are not about to see which ads we run are more successful than others. We know which type of film is in the most demand. So when we raise our prices we will not raise all our prices but only the 3" reels that account for 75% of our transfers. By doing so we will increase revenue dramatically while increasing the price by a very small margin.

5. Marketing. I mention the website, but its more than that. By identifying not ultimate use of the footage being transferredwe were able to increase revenue by %20 last month. Let me explain. In the month of may if an order for transfers came in we would quote them the price for the conversion and the DVD encoding. Done.

That would mean a customer would get their old film converted to one or 2 DVD disks and leave. By requiring all staff in the studio to ask the following question " what is the ultimate us for this footage?", we have been able to add uncompressed MiniDV tape for those people who plan to edit the footage. Slideshows for birthday parties and anniversaries. Even, booked a number of video and photo assignments.

Lots of posts today. sorry I'm excited.

I'm adding some images from the past 9 months that I really loved. If you click on any of the photos in this blog you will see the full size image.

Marianna is looking for a car. Its driving me absolutely crazy. We are sitting at the dining room table. Think of one of those old Italian lacquered sets that seat 8 people. She is at one end with the iMac and I'm way at the other working on my laptop.

So everytime she sees something new on auto trader or BMW, Audi or Infiniti's website she goes wooowwww that beautiful... Wooooo sooooooooooexpensive.

I have hear the above sentence a lot with -- wow I like I like wooowwww that beautiful -- stunning oh I like that one, then she tells me everything about the car - leather seats, cd etc -

then




then
Wooooo sooooooooooexpensive. hhhhuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnn.

Yikes.

So it been fun reviewing my blog. Mostly because nearly everything I had planned on doing over the past few months. The web site has been rebuilt. The slide shows kick ass. We have booked tons of weddings in January February and March. TorontoHomeMovies.com has increased market share every month for the past 7 months and will be going nation wide as CanadaHomeMovies.com starting in less than 11 days. The kids are doing great. Sammy is in his last week of camp - guys - this camp is unbelievable. I can't describe it without tearing up. What a lucky bug. Isaac is toilet trained!!!!! Only a few accidents a week. (very cool)

We are moving again - not the studio. We purchased a place at Baturst and Hwy 7. Most likely our last move for the next 3-4 years, except for Florida of course. I've lost 17 lbs in the past 6 weeks - yippee. I've been going to the gym - 5 days a week. Started with walking on the tread mill and on Friday ran 2 miles in 23 minutes. Slow but the pounds are coming off. South Beach diet has helped.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enough looking back.


So we have turned away 37 couples so far for 2007. Now we are entering booking season again I want to set my goal today. OK. We have improved the site. We have a new video demo almost ready. Need to clean up the dgvideo.ca - theatre.

The goal for the end of October is to increase the turn away number to ---- 67.

Let me clarify what we mean by our turn away number.

We know we're good. Very good. But in this business it's not enough. There are tons of good photographers and the schools are training more. And the differences between a great photographer and a good photographer are not usually known until after the event. Our job is to convince potential customers that our experience combined with their view of their special day - match.

When a customer inquires if we are opened for their day we do not count this as a turn away. We get 10-15 inquires like this every week (30-40 in sept,oct, jan and feb). No a turn away is when I get a message like I received a few days ago.

"Hi Jean!! We loved the job you did at _____ wedding a few weeks ago. And we decided we want to go with you for our wedding next year. Could you give us a call back so we can come in and give you a deposit and book the day."

Seriously, as soon I realize that we are not available for their day I'm really sad. Not because of the lost business but I really get to know everyone at the weddings we do. I learn their names, I get to know about their dreams, I am part of their family's memories. I know that I am missing out. There's nothing so cool as shooting a wedding with 5 or 6 other couples attending the wedding and knowing that I shot their weddings too. It shows, they truly believe we are the best choice.

Now the business person in me LOVES to turn away business. It means we are doing things right. We are going to see nearly 200 couples in September/October/November. As of today we have only so many spots. (gotta check exactly) So supply and demand means that based on our high booking rate people are going to be turned away. So, rather than emulate other photographers that concentrate on booking numbers we work on turn away numbers. The difference is the RAVE factor. I'll talk about this another time.


I notice I'm jumping all over the place. This usually happens when I get excited, or overworked. I think I'm both.

Just finished reading my old posts.

Wow, its been over 9 months = you can make a baby in that time. - not.

Here are a few important notes:

1. Bridal Show dates for the next few weeks.

national bridal show - Sept 8,9,10

http://www.nationalbridalshow.com/


canada's bridal show - Sep 29 - 30 Oct 1st

http://www.canadasbridalshow.com/


multicultural show - Nov 4th and 5th

http://www.cmwshow.com/



2. We are not available from August 28th to August 31st.

3. If you have proofs outstanding you need to get the order in before Oct 14th 2006 to get them developed and back to your for Decemeber.

4. We are not in Toronto for ALL of December this year, back to work in Florida. We will return first week of Januray.

The last weekend ---- :)

I remember the last few weeks before school was to start up again with dread. The CNE would open up. My mom would by a back to school binder and new pens for me and my brothers.

Well this year if feels that way for me again. Only it begins the first week of Septemeber. I don't even get labour day weekend. Yea yea most of you are going oooohhhh poor baby.



I am leaving town on August 28th but will be back a few days later for Monique and Mikes wedding. Then we have 2-3 functions every weekend until the end of October. Including 3 bridals shows. Scheduling will become even more difficult. If you need to meet with Marianna or myself try to make the appt during the day. You will probably get it to see us in a few days rather than weeks.

Wow I'm inspired.

If you don't get inspired by this video.



Your made of rock.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2306376850295808016&q=dick+hoyt

wow.

Its your day - so plan plan plan

It's interesting. When I compare how one couple plans vs another I can clearly see how culture, education and personality really affect how ones wedding is played out.

Here are a few suggestions to make your day as smooth as possible.

1. You are paying big bucks for your Hall, DJ, and (hopefully) your photographer. Use them. Ask their advice on when things should happen. ie. Ask the DJ to explain how he thinks the reception should be planned out. Ask the photographer when parent photos will be taken at each of the houses ..etc. -- oh yea - take their advice.

2. Be confident in your own opinion. If you envisioned your day to pan out in a certain way. Don't let friends or family influence you to change it based on their conveniences.

3. Let everyone in on the plan. Once you have mapped out the day (figuratively and graphically) email the plan to everyone. Include the entire day to everyone. You won't believe how sharing the morning schedule with everyone involved will generate new ideas.

4. Pack a care pack. Once about 7-8 years ago I shot a wedding for a great couple Claudia and Rick. (Lead to 3 other refferal weddings). Anyhow, she was so organized it scared me a bit. When some kids running around uncontrolably at the Etobicoke Centennial greenhouse. On of them ran over her dress and basically ripped the bottom off. After a small freak out session, she sent her maid of honour to the car for a sewing kit. Spent 10 minutes in the bathroom and proceeded to resew the dress.

5. Get your Bridal Party involved. This weekend we were at the Royal Ambassodor again (kicked ass). The bride was like a general. She told one person in the Bridal party to get the family together and bam, there they were. I remember a wedding a few years ago where all that could go wrong did. The bridal party was there in every case and the bride smailed all day.

After 3 functions I expect to sleep in

What a weekend. I hoped to sleep in but Monday was a disaster. Marianna and I ran around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to keep up with a bunch of orders.

So I had this idea that we would all sleep in until 7:30 am instead of getting up at 6:00.

Funny how life works. Its 6:21 and Isaac, Sammy and I have been up for almost an hour and a half.





Had another wedding at the Royal Ambassador in Caledon. OK, couples. I am not the best person when it comes to speeches, but Donna's speech on Sunday night was the best one I can remember. Anytime you make the photographer tear up you know your speech was a hit.

Either that or he's a suck. Which I have admitted I am.

Opps forgot to update.

There is a new slideshow that wnt up on Friday night. Wonderful, emothionaly wedding with lots of drama. Beautiful couple from New Zealand. Shot at the Royal Ambassador in Caledon.

Outdoor weddings are alway beautiful. Especially when it doesnt rain. heheheh.

Back there tomorrow.

Anyhow - click on the link below to go the the slideshow.

http://www.excellencephoto.com/2006site/couples/2006/Rina_Tim/

Something wierd is happening on my imac - firefox is blocking pop up from locations Ihave marked OK. So no photo. I'll add some images later tonight to make up for the lack of photos over the past few weeks.

Funny stuff

check out this video -

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5430343841227974645

Funny thing is I was planning some changes for the DGVideo.ca site for this September and most of the changes involved add way more video.

It's official I'm a suck.

Just watched 10 minutes of my own wedding video and I'm bawling like a 2 year old.

I suck.

Congratulations - Dianne and Kevin

I started a poll of 4 images ( to see the images)http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif and the winner was photo number four with 570 votes.

Dianne and Kevin will receive an 8x10 portrait absolutely free.


But here is the part tha makes me freak out. 706 people voted!!! That is nearly 23 people every day. And these results were on the first month where no one really knew where to look. Exisiting couples rarely visit the main index page - especially the bottom of that page.


coool.

New poll this month and I'm increasing the size of the portrait to 11x14 with canvass finish and UV lustre spray protection. This portrait is valued at $795.00. So please take the time to vote.




Voting Booth Results


July 1st 2006

Photo # one (93)
Photo # four (570)
Photo # three (13)
Photo # two (30)
Total votes:706