By Sara Urquhart. Photography of Chanel Paris week fall 2012.

Being a successful blogger means you also need the skills of a great entrepreneur. Here are ten skills to hone as your business grows.

1. Take risks. A willingness to try things—and fail—is at the heart of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs are comfortable with uncertainty.

2. Manage pressure. When things get really intense, successful business people have the ability to stay sane, maintain family relationships, and sleep at night, even under serious pressure.

3. Have confidence. Believe that what you’re offering is what people want. It sounds simple, but it’s that kind of conviction that leads to success.

By guest contributor Maddy Hague. Artwork by Nifty Swank.

I am a big proponent of collaboration in all forms. Collaborative projects are a huge creative outlet for me, as well as a great way of meeting new people and gaining new experiences. I have met some of my closest friends through all of the shoots and sites I’ve worked on. Through collaborations, I’ve been able to develop my reputation and have gained print and blog press.

At the start of any project, I run through the same process over and over again. I like to make sure whatever I throw myself into is not only worthwhile for myself, but for my collaborators and my audience as well.

Here’s how I do it:

Develop the big idea
Whether it is a website or a shoot, I usually write down an “elevator pitch” for the project. An elevator pitch is a summary of the idea explained in a short, concise way. It should be short enough to be delivered in the length of time it takes to ride an elevator. It helps prevent me from being verbose, and thus obscuring my big idea. This is especially helpful when most pitches occur over email.

By guest contributor by Lexy Ward. Photography by Saipua.

I can’t stress enough the importance of the photography on your site. Along with beautiful graphics, beautiful photos are what make your readers want to come back for more. These last few months I’ve become more aware of the need to not only have great content on your site, but also for that content to be aesthetically pleasing.

We’ve discussed Elements, and how any blogger can benefit from it’s photo editing tools. This post will discuss one of your best and easiest free options: PicMonkey! PicMonkey is a wonderful option simply because it is easy to navigate and has a variety of effects available.

Here are the tools that I use each time I edit.

Play with exposure
Bright photos are happy photos. If my photos seem a little dark when viewing them on my camera, they will definitely be dark when viewing on my computer. I usually tweak the exposure anywhere from 5-12 points brighter. You can also tone the exposure down by reducing it a few points. This is helpful if your image is a little too bright. Be careful – if you change the exposure too much, your photo will appear clouded and unclear.