Finding the Ideal Client.

In the industry I name as my own, we spend our time, or thoughts our efforts finding the perfect client.

The ideal client.

We search for that perfect senior girl.
You know the one. She has the perfect complexion, the perfectly curled hair and the perfect size 2,
just-stepped-out-of-the-abercrombie-magazine look.

Or maybe you're a wedding photographer.
You are looking for the ideal client.
Translated: Only accept the client who is getting married at the ritzy country club.
At sunset.
In Malibu.

Maybe this is part of the reason I always find myself getting a little nauseous when I hear this kind of advice given over and over.
And over.
It's almost as if the mindset is this- If they don't have the money? They don't deserve beautiful pictures.

Gag.

See...here's the deal.
In God's industry? He challenges us to find the opposite.
We find ourselves seeking out a different kind of client.

We search for the needy, the outcast, the neglected, the unpopular, the orphans, the widows.
The ones who have nothing to give back to us.
And those are the ones we invest our time into.

As opposed to our businesses, we do not do it to earn a name, more money or more prestige.
We do not do it while pasting pictures up on a dream board longing to be published in a magazine or featured on a blog.

No, no.
We do it it for one purpose, and one purpose only.

To bring glory to God. 

Because in our businesses while we do obviously serve people, we are doing it to build a portfolio.
We are doing it to earn money and to gain more fans.
In our ministries, we do it to gain Christ more fans, to build a whole different kind of legacy.

Different altogether, yes?

So as I push myself to dream bigger. To push harder. To go further.
I have to ask myself.
Is what I am dreaming for going to last forever?
Is how I am affecting the next client, friend, person...going to to impact them for eternity?
Because after the pictures are taken, and the album is given.
Then what?

Maybe the next time I start thinking about my ideal client, I will imagine what kind of a client I am viewed as.
I don't want to be chosen based on my looks, my money or my connections.
I want to be chosen based on my need.
Do you know what God says about the needy?

He defends the cause of the fatherless. He is a refuge for the oppressed. He arises and protects the needy. He defends the widows.  He provides for the poor. 

That is my God.
I want to be just like Him.

I want to make a difference not just for the time we have here on earth.
It is so short.
I want to make a difference for eternity.

Dream bigger.
Push harder.
Go further.

So you go find that ideal client.
But push yourself a little harder this time.
Maybe instead of looking on the cheerleading squad for your girl, look at that table in the cafeteria.
You know the one I mean.
That one in the back. With just the one girl sitting at it.
Ya. She may be just the exact person for you to reach.

Let's find our ideal clients...
One needy person at at a time.

Eternity is calling.