The other day, we were at the grocery store, and met Tiny. She was standing in the aisle, and although I don’t remember the comment that started the conversation, soon we’d been standing there for ten minutes, talking and laughing together. She is a writer/poet, and was interested in getting some of her work seen. We had just published our books, so we invited her over so we could talk more in depth about her work, and give her some leads to help her in her searches. She doesn’t have a computer (I know, we were shocked, too) so she had no idea there were various publishing sites available.Tiny arrived at our place, book bag in tow, stuffed with notebooks, paper falling out of them. We sat in our living room and talked for quite a while, sharing stories and making a new friend.While she was sitting there, talking to me, I noticed Robert kept looking at her, like he was studying her. She kept talking, her expressions animated. Her life is filled with pain, both emotional and physical, yet this strong woman still has a streak of confidence and happiness. A plain looking woman, however her passion sparks a special beauty in her. He saw that, and wanted to capture it. I asked her if she was interested in getting some pictures taken, and I explained the basics of stock photography to her. She was interested, so we planned a shoot and I gave her a contract to take home and read over with her husband. We talked more about her work, and I gave her some pointers on how to organize herself.We discussed Tiny long after she left. Not sure that we could jump straight into commercial photography, he decided to run some test shots on her, to see how she worked with him and the camera. Some people are naturals in front of the camera, and some need to loosen up a little. Besides, he wanted to see if he could capture some of what he saw.She showed up for the shoot, excited to be getting real pictures done. When we went through them at the end, she was floored and excited. She had never seen herself like that before. We feel they capture her quite well.This is Tiny, her beauty, her softness, and her essence.
Over the last year, we’ve spent a lot of time dissecting and analyzing ourselves as artists, as spouses, as individuals. The one thing we have agreed on, completely, is that understanding is the most important part. Learning how to understand our triggers better has brought an odd peace into our home. Odd, because we are still faced with the same worries and issues as before, but more peaceful because we understand how these things affect us, and make a choice to not be affected. As long as you understand you have a choice, you can make one. “We are the result of our experiences both good and bad. There are numerous factors that create the people we become in life. Some of these events we have direct influence on or control over, while others are a matter of timing and fate. Everyone, each person in this world, has an individual perspective and their own unique story to tell. From the lucky and successful, to the disaster ridden and misfortunate, every path has a personal amount of choice and its own measure of the unexpected.” – excerpt from “Controlling Your Future” by Robert Gebbie.Learning how to take more control of your life and those things that influence you is part of the focus of this article. To see this article, and many other self-improvement articles, be sure to see Robert’s page at –eHow.comassociatedcontent.combukisa.com
Wednesday 05/06/09 TwinPsychics Radio shows on www.TheMixTalk.com - An Interview with Robert & Lori Gebbie from RGebbiePhotoRobert’s inspirational writing has touched a wide audience, and among them is the Twin Psychic’s Network (http://www.Myspace.com/Twinpsychics). We were pretty happy when they invited us to do a radio interview! Sunhee is such a positive and encouraging force, we couldn’t help but jump at the chance of getting to know her better!“I, Creator – a personal journey” (http://www.blurb.com/user/RGebbiePhoto) has caused quite a bit of interest, bringing words of hope, guidance and inspiration to many. Knowing that we are helping others with our words of encouragement means a great deal to us. Sunhee has asked that we talk a little about the book, but also that we tell the story behind the creation. We hope you tune in and join us!
Robert’s daughter, Crystal, is a really great young lady. I’ve known her for the last six years, and at age 22, she’s really come into her own. She’s made some good choices in her life, and has a great heart. This year, she’s decided to give back a little to her community, and to help in a wonderful cause. She is the Captain of a Relay for Life team, “Chasing Hope”Relay for Life benefits cancer research and celebrates the lives of those who have battled cancer, and to remember loved ones lost. It is a touching event, many people are there to tell their stories on survival or loss, groups of people walking a track, laughing and crying together, celebrating life and lives. This event touches our family, as Robert’s step-dad is battling cancer.So far, she is the top earner in her team, and we’re real proud of her! We’d like to share her team page with you, and hope that you’ll at least visit to see what the organization is about. Should you wish to donate, your efforts will help the American Cancer Society fund groundbreaking cancer research, provide up-to-date cancer information, advocate for all people to have access to screening and treatment, and offer free programs and services to improve the quality of life for people facing cancer.Relay for LifeWe hope you check it out!
We talk a lot about expanding and growing to keep competitive. We push this issue, because we see the benefit of it, first hand.When we started RGP, we were photography oriented. It was all about the images, and building our stock portfolios online. But we realized quite soon that we would need to expand, to keep competitive. Robert was always an illustrator, so we added Vector illustrations to our portfolio. We started a commerce site, one where we could sell our prints and merchandise, as well as have galleries for our clients to review their images. This was a good step for us, it gave us a new avenue for revenue. But this avenue would do nothing, unless we promoted it.We hired someone to help us out with our sales and networking, however that didn’t pan out as well as we wished. The lack of effort on their part was astonishing to us! For someone who had talked their skills up, we couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t make a move without us handing them a direct lead. This relationship was shortly terminated, and in an effort to recoup our losses, Robert made an attempt at marketing and networking himself. It’s possible that he did this out of necessity, but more probable he pushed himself out of spite. But in 2 months time, he pushed himself and our company to the large network of friends and associates we now hold. We also started writing. Everyone has a story, some stories are easy to relate to or learn from. We started with our blog, and ended up with our book (I, Creator ISBN# 978-0-9824214-1-3) and several motivational/inspirational pieces that we have up at different sites online (eHow, Associated Content, Bukisa, etc). At this time, we are being asked for radio interviews, directly from the interest of our book. We also receive emails daily from others, telling us how we are motivating and inspiring them to keep going, to not let the small stuff get them down. The word seems to be getting out, and our readership is growing.We feel, at this point, that we have created a concrete base for our business to grow on. We have done our research, and progressed slowly and wisely. But, while money seems to be a motivational factor in most businesses, in ours inspiration, growth, and ethics are most important. We aren’t sure what’s coming up next, but let me tell you, we are open to the next suggestion, and look forward to the challenges it may bring!
