It felt early. EARLY. That I-just-woke-up-and-possibly-got-hit-by-a-bus kind of early. It was the last morning of our second conference in two weeks. We’d been revving our internal engines on red for almost ten straight days. Attending classes all day. Working on our business all night. Sleeping when we could. And eating McDonald’s from the MGM Grand food court out of principle, because it was the only place that had anything priced in the single digits. Needless to say, we were tired. We might’ve had scurvy, too. You know… scurvy. We hadn’t seen fruit in daaays.

We were practically pirates. And the late-night karaoke under the bright lights of The Strip hadn’t helped either. That’s for sure. But we couldn’t miss our chance to do a stone cold sober rendition of I Want it That Way with fellow photographers and friends. It even included hand motions. Oh, the hand motions…

So, the next morning that morning, that oh-so-early morning, we willed ourselves to an 8:30 a.m. class with the same friends who’d done hand motions with us the night before. It had all the trappings of a recovery day. Sunglasses. Skinny vanilla lattes. Minimal words being spoken. We’d planned to sit back, relax, watch other people teach from platform stages, and jump on a flight home that night.

And then our friend tapped us on the shoulder. And in a hushed whisper, leaned in to say,

“I lost my voice last night singing karaoke and I’m supposed to speak on the trade show floor at 12:30 p.m. Can you guys fill in for me?”

Inside, a flash flood of nervous adrenaline started rushing through us. We stayed calm until the class ended, trying to stay focused on the incredible speaker on the stage, but we couldn’t, because in a few hours, WE’D BE THE SPEAKERS! Except, unlike everyone else, we didn’t know about it for months, we hadn’t prepped for it, and we couldn’t help but look around at the world-renowned photographers who were real speakers and think, Are we even qualified for this?!

By the time the class ended, we still had to check out of our hotel, eat breakfast, and get to the trade show floor. By that time, it was already noon. We literally had 30 minutes to prepare a 30 minute presentation. So, even though we were a little bit dazed and running around like chickens with our heads cut off, we made our way to the Shoot & Share booth where we’d be speaking and almost passed out when we saw our names on the schedule screen sandwiched in between some of the industry’s best. In the chaos of the trade show floor, which feels like a bazaar that married a car auction, we found a seat on the actual floor in a corner, and searched frantically for a presentation we’d done two weeks earlier for an online webcast.

We searched… and searched… and searched… but couldn’t find it. That’s when panic started to set in, and a little bit a lot of fear.We couldn’t go on stage at the largest photography trade show in the world without a solid presentation. People were already starting to take their seats. If nobody showed up, we could’ve just done a Well, it looks like you don’t need us after all routine and we would’ve been out of the woods. But people were already there, and the only thing worse than people not showing up to your presentation, is people leaving your presentation once it’s already started. We had visions of speaking to empty chairs. Maybe it wouldn’t have been that bad, right? Don’t mind us, we’re just practicing for later! 

The guys started attaching battery packs to our belts, running cords down our backs, and fastening Britney Spears headsets around our ears, when all of a sudden, Jordan whisper-screamed, “They’re in my trash! Check the trash!” Amy moved the cursor to the bottom of the screen, double-clicked on the silver bin, and found what we’d been looking for. She USBed it to the tech master and he loaded it into the computer just seconds before we walked on stage as if we’d planned and rehearsed it a million times before…

Luckily, our sweet, fast-thinking friend, Taliah, grabbed our camera and froze this insane moment in time for us, and we couldn’t be more grateful!

We started our presentation by explaining that at the beginning of 2013, we’d never been featured in a national publication before, so we set a goal that year to be featured in ONE national publication. Twelve months later, we’d been featured in FIFTEEN national publications.

As former teachers, one of our passions is helping others learn and grow — especially photographers — so we spent our 30 minutes explaining our five-step process to getting published and how it exploded our exposure and business.

We didn’t get to see Britney Spears perform while in Vegas, but standing on a stage, wearing a Britney-esque microphone, and being in Las Vegas at the same time made us FEEL like her…minus the python around our necks and bare mid-driffs… we’ll save that for our next talk.

We loved talking to other Shoot & Share photographers about how we use PASS to quickly and easily share images with the creative team who collaborated with us for publication so they can promote their businesses, too.

Another tool we talked about is Two Bright Lights. It’s what we use for 99% of our publication submissions. In the past, every publication had its own submission process, so if a publication passed on your submission, you has to start the process all over again, which was very time-consuming. Two Bright Lights streamlines that process. You can submit a feature for publication once, and if it’s rejected, you can make a few tweaks and re-submit it. Another great reason to use PASS? Almost any blog that doesn’t work with TBL happily accepts a beautifully organized PASS Gallery for submissions!

When we met, Jordan was much more comfortable speaking in front of people than Amy, but it’s amazing what four years of standing in front of fourth graders speaking for 4-6 hours will do for your confidence!

Although sometimes our life feels stressful and chaotic — and we do have our fair share of breakdown moments from time to time — we’re reminded over and over again that, on our own strength, we’re not enough, but when we lean on God, we have all we need.