Hey guys! Im getting better at my blogging. Tonight I'm sititng up and I'm scrolling through FB and Twitter and I see most of my counterparts(MUA's) had alot going on this weekend. So I really noticed this on Friday but just continued to watch and observe. I asked myself why am I observing and not BUSY!? Why dont I have any gigs lined up? It's wedding season for crying out loud. So once again I started pulling long hours on the computer and researching, googling and back and forth between the two sites and ofcourse my lovely You Tube. Some You tube videos on branding yourself I had watched a thousand times over. One particular Guru I watched hasnt been on YT in months but has posted to fb and has been busy so I felt maybe her insight might be of some help. One thing that she said that I took and thought that I had learned was to trade services with phtographers. Well honestly and I'm just being honest....hey it is my own blog I can say what I'm thinking right! As I was saying honestly I did that! So it got me to thinking well maybe I didnt do it long enough. I traded services for a little while with photographers didnt I? Wasnt that enough? I've networked right? So I thought it through thoroughly and realized maybe I gave up too easily with the trading services. I guess I looked at it like this....I've invested so much money into my kit I needed to see a return and quick. So I stopped going on Model Mayhem, I turned down free gigs and basically was waiting for work to fall in my lap. I'd participate in a few but really didnt want to do free gigs. Also I shoud mention this particular guru's make up seemed to have gotten better. Not that it wasnt good to begin with but each pic seemed more and more detailed. Then it came to me! PRACTICE! Whether she was doing free gigs or paid gigs she got the practice! Also I assumed that with a few trade gigs she developed a repore(sp) with some models, photographers and stylist or whomever and began to get paid gigs. So I realized that sometimes you have to do things for free to gain knowledge in your skill and also work. So I decided to go back on Model Mayhem and search gigs even the negotiable ones and Tf/Tfcd and just see if there would be something that I was interested in. Needless to say I responded to a casting call that was paid but the photographer contacted me back saying that it had ended but he liked my port and would consider me for future gigs. Well within a day he inboxed me back and has a gig for me this weekend! I was excited until I realized my anniversary is this weekend but I worked it out and now I have work! Heuleluah! Lol This industry is rough at times but it's my passion and I love what I do. Like anybody I get discouraged at times with it but even though I want to give up something inside of me says keep going, keep striving, keep researching, keep googling, keep practicing and just keep going! I hope this can help someone. Also if there is anything that you'd like to add to this please do so. Also if you may have any suggestion for me on how to obtain work I'm eager to listen and also learn! Have a great evening! XOXO