No one achieves success alone. No one. Behind every successful person is a team. We all need a team to accomplish great things in life.

Even as an entrepreneur, I am no different. I have spent the last eight years building my “team.” I have attended many photography workshops and seminars to garner my team of photography experts. This team is not with me physically on a daily basis, but they are with me—in my mind, spiritually. I can reach out and refer to a particular moment of learning to further my own business and photography craft. My team is exceptional. I have hand-selected them over the years and invested in them wisely. Each has contributed to my continued growth and is partly responsible for my successes. Whether or not they know, they have ownership in this.

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This past week, I added a valuable member to my team—Austrian-photographer, Fabrizia Costa. She literally opened her toolbox for the workshop to share all the secrets she has learned in operating a successful photography business. After years of working as a magazine editor, the tail end of a marriage, and a mountain of debt at her feet and considerable monthly expenses, she successfully started a wedding and portrait photography business in the mountains of Austria in a farming community where people didn’t usually get portraits made. She didn’t speak the dialect of the native language, didn’t have a studio, didn’t have any startup cash and had many other “obstacles” in her way. She did not let any of this stop her.

Fabrizia Costa, Out of the Box

Fabrizia shared many personal stories of how she overcame hardships, solved problems for clients or even saved a friend’s life with her photography. She gave me many, many actionable items that I could start implementing into my very own business—so many, in fact, that I was tempted to skip out on the second day of the workshop and get straight to work. I was glad I didn’t. If I would have, I would have missed the heartfelt opportunity to cry. I’m no masochist, but I do secretly enjoy hearing a sad story… as long as it ends in utter happiness. 

I was on the fence for months about attending this workshop. I’m glad I got off the fence and jumped into the box—just so I could get out of the box!

The truth is that there is strength in numbers. Together, we become stronger… we become a powerful team. 

These are the lovely ladies that joined me in the Out of the Box, English edition with Fabrizia Costa. From left to right, Melissa Valenzuela, Mary Larsen, myself, Fabrizia, Dora Vera, Shannon Craven Bright, Melissa Ashby and Jennifer Denton. Missing from the group picture are Heidi Smith Hagelstein and Angel Coggins.

This is Linda Rukavina of Rukavina Photography in Boerne. For years, she has been deeply immersed in the world-wide photography community and has been vested in bringing the world’s masters to us right here in San Antonio. She has continuously convinced some of the world’s top wedding and portrait professionals to come teach here, offered her studio as the classroom and done everything in her power to try and keep the costs as low as possible. She is also a valued member of my team. 

Linda was also gracious enough to give us all a complimentary head shot session.

My Biggest Nugget:

I’ve been doing all the right things… blogging, branding, great customer service, great products, great education, consistent social media, networking. But what I wasn’t doing is trying to make things happen… looking for extra opportunities. I’ve been sitting at my desk and waiting by the phone expecting my goals to fall in my lap. Wrong. I need to climb on top of my desk and reach for my goals. My advice to myself… get out of your comfort zone, make things happen and claim your destiny! Grab it by the damn horns and take it! Don’t wait for it to fall in your lap. Make it yours. Do something spectacular. Leave fear behind, Tammy. 

The post, No One Achieves Success Alone, first appeared on Ata-Girl Photography Co.’s website and blog. Please feel free to comment here, or share this post with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Please email me if you have any questions about this article or want to share a neat idea for a future blog post with me.