Did I ever tell you about the time we thought the walking dead had come to life?

I was in high school and lived two blocks down from my best friend, Lindsey. She lived across the street from a huge cemetery, oh yes so true. It was halloween night and for some crazy reason we both decided we were to old to go trick or treating. So we rented the original Night of the Living Dead (1968) film, yep the black and white version. I mean really, how scary can an old movie be!? Towards the end of the movie, a huge thunderstorm rolled in and of corse we lost power.  As Lindsey and I sat in the living room watching the storm the gate to my yard began to open. We both crouched down and watched, scared to death, did I mention we were home alone. Then a tall figure in a black hat and long black tench coat started to walk towards my living room door! And me and my best friend began to scream as if someone was murdering us. If it had been the living dead we would have been goners for sure. We were scared stiff.

Turned out to be one of our friends coming to find out why we were not out with everyone on halloween… needless to say we did not live that one down for a while.

So that scared stiff feeling, that is exactly how I felt the first time we ever went to a bridal expo. We had a beautiful booth, great photos and super cute outfits but I had no idea how to really show the brides who we were. Then I took a deep breath and told Brandon we are just going to be us. No fancy selling techniques and no pre planned pitch, just us!

I wrote a blog post called FINDING YOUR 4 KEYS TO SUCCESS along with 7 questions to ask yourself to help reveal + understand those keys. Today I wanted to explain how we intergrade our 4 keys for success in to social media – this can be everything from FB to pinterest and carried on into bridal expos + styled shoots.

Our 4 personal keys to success are (the reasons we have succeeded):
1. God has allowed it + given us the talent to capture His creation.
2. Amazing people have entrusted us with the biggest moments in their lives.
3. Grateful is the number one thing we strive to be everyday.
4. We have embraced who we are and how we are uniquely created.

We intergrade these keys into social media by openly sharing about them. Here is how:
1. God – our tagline is “Capturing moments of Gods Glory” this tells people strait away that we love and believe in God. I have started a blog installment called “Glory Stories” to share how God works in our lives. Each week I post a quote from a Saint on our FB page and twitter. I often post photos of amazing churches we get to visit during our travels on Instagram. When we meet new clients or business associates we share that we run a Christian Camp during the summer and are involved in youth ministry. Basically we let our LOVE for God shine in all we do. And most importantly we treat others with LOVE.

2. Amazing Clients + Vendors – each and every person we work with we view as a blessing. A true gift from God. And because they have entrusted us with the the biggest moments of their lives we publicly thank them. I will post about all of our clients, how awesome there are and how they have touched our lives. I do this on FB, Twitter and Instagram. When we are at a bridal show their photos grace our booth and I get to share with new brides how amazing our past clients have always been. I also get to share with them vendors we recommend who also love taking great care of their clients.

3. Grateful – on FB, Twitter, and Instagram I always take time to count my blessings and say thank you! There is so much to be thankful for every day, why not share it. We also have a blog installment call “Peaks & Valleys” to share what we are grateful for. Being thankful also keeps us humble… we succeed when we realize we can’t to it all by yourself.  We are designed for community and it is with community that we can achieve amazing accomplishments.

4. Be Ourselves – this can be the most difficult at times because there is a little voice that likes to whisper “your not good enough“. Lets face it, everyone hears this voice at one time or another. But heres the thing, that little voice wants nothing more then for you to fail so we must take a deep breath and exclaim – “I am enough… we are enough and we are loved!”. It’s ok if not every single person you meet loves you and your work. We all have different styles and that is a very good thing. Life would be pretty boring if we were all the same. Don’t take it personal and keep keeping on with who you truly are. Life is so much sweeter that way.