ShootQ Grant Winner in Congo

Please keep ShootQ Grant winner Sherrlyn Borkgren in your thoughts and prayers as she tells the stories of women and girls whose lives have been scarred by warfare. I spoke to Sherrlyn before she departed for Africa, and she was hopeful about her opportunity to shed light on individual stories in the midst of a dark period of civil unrest.

The tension in Congo has increased and news reports share stories of innocent civilians fleeing refugee camps in search of safer havens. Sherrlyn's unflappable optimism and spirit of service inspire us! She never underestimates the power of compassion and hope.

We are confident that her journey will inspire you to get involved and serve the global community. Thank you for supporting documentary photography and ShootQ's vision to empower photographers.

You can follow Sherrlyn's journey through her BLOG

This post is syndicated from the ShootQ Blog. CLICK HERE to comment.

ShootQ Founding Memberships!

ShootQ is inviting a limited number of users to join a community of Founding Members. This opportunity is available to the first 100 studios who reserve their ShootQ Founding Memberships. For an up-front investment of $595, Founding Members will use ShootQ without ever paying anything else. It pays for itself in less than a year!

Just like all ShootQ members, Founding Members must receive training, currently available through our Setup Party Tour. Video training will be available with the release of ShootQ 2.0 this fall. To learn more, visit the Founding Membership portion of the ShootQ website.

If you can't invest in a Founding Membership, ShootQ will still be offered on a monthly subscription basis.

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Meet Mr. Q: Man of Mystery

ShootQ has hired a full-time software Development Manager! Due to his current role as Development Team Leader at a prominent software company, Mr. Q’'s identity must remain a secret.

Mr. Q is a clever devil who brings over ten years of development experience to ShootQ. With a self-proclaimed passion for dynamic languages and open-source technology, Mr. Q wears his geek hat proudly.

An accomplished programmer who has created applications that run many of the country’'s hospitals, Mr. Q understands the unique challenges inherent in managing sensitive client data. This wealth of knowledge will allow him to create cutting edge web-based software and build features to develop our community at ShootQ.

Beyond his technical qualifications, Mr. Q is that rare breed of computer dude who is actually a people person. Which means he loves to interface with clients and collaborate on new features that users will, well, use. And love to use. So share your next great idea for ShootQ and he’ll try to oblige!

When not attached to his Mac, Mr. Q likes to spend time with his lovely wife and two canine kids. On fall Saturdays, Mr. Q can be seen sporting white and gold as he cheers his alma mater, the Rambling Wreck of Georgia Tech, to victory.

Mr. Q will officially join the ShootQ team and tour in August, so many of you will meet him in person! Stay tuned to LaCour's blog at http://www.lacourphoto.net/ where Mr. Q’'s identity will be revealed soon. We’'re honored to have him!

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Westward Bound: New Cities!

We've received your emails, letters and singing voicemails. Due to popular demand, we're extending the ShootQ setup tour, adding seven new stops! In addition to current stops in Atlanta, Phoenix, Asheville, Chattanooga, Chicago, Indianapolis, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, New York and St. Louis, ShootQ is announcing the following additions:

9/6: Orange County
9/11: Los Angeles
10/1: Seattle
10/2: Salt Lake City
10/4: San Francisco
(date rescheduled)
10/9: Austin
10/10: Dallas

Seating is limited: to reserve your seats, visit THE SETUP PARTY TOUR WEBSITE!

ShootQ loves Asheville

Asheville is fantastic! We're here for the ShootQ Set-Up Party, hosted by our friend Corey McNabb.
Corey's studio is filled with vibrant imagery that reflects his vision and his clients' style! We also had a chance to enjoy a great Indian meal at Parker and Missy's favorite spot! It was fun to hang out with Corey, Jill, Parker and Missy for dinner and drinks. Thanks guys for being such wonderful hosts for ShootQ! Photos from our visit in Asheville, courtesy of Corey's blog.

ShootQ FAQs

We've heard from many of you this month about ShootQ. Thanks so much for your support! We look forward to seeing you at the ShootQ Set-Up Parties. If you haven't had a chance to sign up, put your name on the list. It's free, but seating is limited.

ShootQ FAQs:

ShootQ is the result of a need LaCour had in our studio. We were struggling to organize our inquiries, keep records of client contact, organize our production/projects, and close sales. So, we designed a database-driven management tool for LaCour. We discovered that our photographer friends really needed this tool, so we began to develop it for multiple users.

ShootQ is designed to make photographers' lives simpler and their studios more profitable by allowing creative people to focus on what they enjoy doing while also allowing them to have more free time. In short, ShootQ is designed to improve your overall quality of life. It does this in three ways:

1) Organization and Efficiency. ShootQ is a tool that is designed to do the tedious work for you -- from filling out contracts and invoices to keeping track of sales leads.
2) Community. You can share leads with other photographers who use ShootQ. If you're booked already, share the wealth with a friend! ShootQ will foster true collaborative community -- we'll train photographers at ShootQ Setup Parties to use the software. We always want an experienced ShootQ user to be just one phone call away.
3) Understanding your studio inside-and-out. You amass a lot of data by using ShootQ, why not analyze it so you understand your business more fully? We designed ShootQ so that you will be able to analyze product and package profitability, referral sources, and to record vendors you've worked with for future marketing efforts. This functionality will be available in the near future.

Click here to watch a video demo.

1) ShootQ is cross-platform. It currently works with Safari and IE/Windows, but we're working on FireFox compatibility now.
2) Training. ShootQ is currently available to photographers who are trained during ShootQ Setup Parties that we're hosting in select US cities. We will be adding a few dates to the calendar, including many West Coast dates. To be notified of new dates, please sign up for our mailing list by clicking here.
3) Price. Normal pricing for ShootQ is $40 per month with an initial setup fee of $200.

We are offering a limited number of ShootQ Founding Memberships, which are lifetime, for $595. Currently, we're limiting all ShootQ memberships to those who have attended a Set-Up Party. We wish we could release to everyone immediately, but we want to carefully forge a strong community, which takes time to build and nurture. Also, we want to be sure everyone receives the support they need.

To be notified about future ShootQ developments & announcements via email, sign up on the ShootQ homepage. Also, watch the LaCour blog for the announcement.

We're excited about the future of ShootQ. Nearly everything in life is done online today -- we are literally a global community. We want to access our information from anywhere, anytime. ShootQ allows us to do this.

ShootQ has gone to the Dawgs

Our friend Emilie Sommer posted this hilarious video of her dog, Dakota, gnawing on a ShootQ "Sport Flyer" (can't use "Frisbee" b/c it's a registered trademark!) I think we should hire Dakota for our next promo!
CLICK HERE to see the video — but I warn you...there's lots of slurping!

ShootQ's First Setup Party!

The Atlanta ShootQ Party was a hit! People drove from Birmingham and North Carolina to hear about ShootQ. Thanks so much to everyone who joined the party. It was fun to meet you all!

ShootQ World Tour!

Come party with us!
• During ShootQ Set-Up Parties, the crew will teach you how to use ShootQ to simplify your life.
• The tour is Free-of-Charge.
• Seats are limited, so sign up today.
• Bring your Laptops!
• You will be invited to keep your ShootQ account at the end of the party.
CLICK HERE to learn more!

Introducing ShootQ

After three years of development, we are excited for you to meet ShootQ, an innovative web-based studio management tool designed to free photographers from the tedious tasks of office work!

ShootQ will streamline your studio -- easily organize and track job inquiries, instantly share leads with your colleagues through your online "Q-Club" community.

What will you be doing while ShootQ is working for you?

Take a video tour of ShootQ:

http://www.shootq.com