How do you model being petite

A girl on Myspace asked me:
hey i just wanted to ask u for some tips how did u start your career cause my dream is to become a model but i started going to barbizon but it seemed like a total rip off so i stopped going i will really appreciated it thanks.

My reply:
First I hate modeling schools and good job to skip that. Instead focusing on getting quality photos, a quality headshot and compcard made.
I started modeling with agencies and brands by thinking about what I have that the advertising industry could use, by this I mean, what do I have as a model that could be applied to ads, commercials, and ad campaigns? I started to make sure my photos shows my personality not just skin for no reason. I strived to get professional photos. I overcame my mistakes, and I focused on marketing myself well in areas I COULD excell. I am a great model, I model products very naturally. I have great skin. I am proportioned and can look longer in photos. I focused on what I DO have that could be applied to print ads. And I thought about what type of products I could model. I focused on getting nice smile shots, headshot,s shots that show my personality...which is what a print modeling agencies wants to see. I structured my photos to bring out the best in me that a modeling agency could see would work towards modeling for commercial brands and products.


The more I worked on my photos and shaped them to share what I "could" model the better. The more you focus on creating photos that market you towards the print modeling world, the better. A girl who is short should focus on print modeling. And her photos should involve smiles, energy and personality. If you are just shootin a photo for fun, you are not really modeling. Until the photo is sellable to the commercial print modeling biz you will have a very hard time getting ahead. So when you craft your photos think. How will an agent see this?


And I did not give up.