Four Keys To Freeing Your Photography Business
Summary: "Four Keys To Freeing Your Photography Business"
Getting stuck in your business is not something to be embarrassed about, in fact it's a natural by-product of being in business, and a good sign that your business is evolving. The key to solving these problems is four-fold and requires passion, determination, dedication and focus, but it can be done!
I’ve spoken to several photographers over the last week, who have asked me to be their photography coach, working in a variety of disciplines, who have all expressed a great deal of personal anguish over the state of their businesses.
A common thread to each of these situations is that the photographer somehow feels inadequate or woefully unfit to run a business. They’re overwhelmed by some aspect of their business, whether it be marketing, sales, or pricing, and they become “stuck“. In many cases, the problem is that they just want to know how to start a photography business.
Being Stuck Is Natural!
This is where my role as a business coach comes into play – to help the photographer sort through the confusion in order to facilitate the changes they need to make in order to break through the blocks and move forward.
One very important thing to bear in mind is that becoming stuck in business isn’t necessarily something that happens to you because you’re a poor businessperson. There certainly should not be any stigma attached to the idea of finding oneself up against challenges or obstacles. These are a natural result of being in business and should actually be taken as a good sign! The fact that you’ve hit a stumbling block, or found something that causes you to get stuck is an indication that you’re at least moving, and not stagnating.
Hopefully, you’re moving in the right direction!
In this brief article, I would like to share with you four basic keys to freeing your photography business from the mud and getting it moving again. If you follow these four steps with purpose and dedication, I promise that you’ll be able to solve just about any problem you have.
#1 – Recognize, Study And Understand The Problems
As with most problems, the first step is often the hardest – recognizing the fact that there is a problem, and openly acknowledging it. Facing it head on, squarely in the face, can be difficult for many, and this is the one thing that keeps so many people stuck exactly where they are.
Often times, the underlying problem might be something deeply personal or uncomfortable to deal with. This can lead to delays in dealing with it, or even attempts to sidestep the issue completely in the hope that “doing something, anything” will make the problem go away.
Unfortunately, the “something” they find to do is not usually the right thing that needs doing.
It’s during this stage that the subconscious mind can play devilish tricks on us, as it will do everything it can to deflect us from making the necessary changes. For example, it will attempt to use such excuses as:
- I can’t afford to invest in what I need to make a change
- I’m not good enough to get to the next level
- I don’t have the time, because I’m too busy battling the business
- The problems are outside my control (a huge falsehood)
- It’s the state of the economy
- No one else is succeeding in my area, so how can I?
- … and so on…
You must realize that you have to take responsibility for your own destiny, as no one else can do that for you. If you want your business to succeed, then the only person that can make that happen is you.
So, you must take a good, long, objective look at your business, with as much detachment as you can possibly muster. Understand where the problems really are, what areas you might be weak in, and attack them with all ferocity of a predator.
#2 – Have The Courage To Take Action
Having identified where the problems are, having studied them in as much detail as you possibly can, you’re now ready to formulate a plan of action to correct them. The only difficulty here is that it takes a lot of courage to actually take action.
Many of the photographers I speak to already know what it is that they need to do. They understand where the problems are, they see a possible solution, and know the way forward.
But they stay exactly where they are, paralyzed in fear, and unable to do the very things that would set them free.
Why is this?
How come we can know that we need to get out there and do more face-to-face marketing, make more telephone calls, or work on improving the web site, yet do nothing?
It’s our old friend again – “fear“.
Our subconscious mind can smell change coming on the wind and it doesn’t like it. So, once again, it tries to keep us chained to the devil it knows by making us fearful of what might happen if we dare to try:
- People won’t respond to me
- I don’t know how to approach someone
- I might look foolish
- People will get mad at me for calling them
- It probably won’t work anyway
- … etc.
This step claims another large chunk of those who might get this far, people who fail to muster the courage they need to move on. It’s a crying shame, because those who have done it will tell you that it was never as hard as their own minds would have had them believe it to be!
The subconscious mind is a powerful beast, to be sure, but in the end it’s all nothing more than smoke and mirrors.
Dare to break free – I know you can do it!
#3 – Develop The Necessary Focus To Make Change Happen
If you’ve made it this far in the process, then you’re doing really well, far better than the vast majority of those who start out on this road. But, nonetheless, you can’t afford to let your guard down, even for a second!
Once you’ve decided on a course of action, or a new path to take, and have the courage to follow it, no matter what happens, you must remain focused on attaining the end result.
As photographers, we’re all highly familiar with the concept of focus, when it comes to a photograph; it’s that point at which every detail is sharp and clearly defined.
We need to translate this concept into our own thoughts, and in the way we tackle the challenges we’re facing.
When you reach this stage, nothing must be more important to you than the goal you seek. Focus on it as though it were a destination that you could not bear to miss.
As you begin to make progress, you’ll start to notice that your mind wanders, your thoughts try to latch on to other things, or that something enticing keeps trying to grab your attention. We often call this “shiny object syndrome“, and it can sometimes manifest itself as exactly that. For example, I hear again and again from photographers that they could find success “if only I could afford to buy a new camera” or the latest new gizmo.
Sure, a new camera would be nice to have, and you probably will have it when the time is right, but for now it’s nothing more than a distraction, picked up on by your subconscious mind as a means to deflect you from your true purpose.
It’s amazing just how convincing and reasonable our own minds can sound when engaged in this type of behavior.
Just stay focused, and ask yourself the question, “does this thing move me immediately closer to my purpose, and can I achieve my purpose without it?” Be careful how you answer the question, because the one person who will be able to mislead you is, well, you.
#4 – Progress In Quiet Confidence
When you decide on a solution and take action on it, you should keep it as much to yourself as you possibly can. Why is this? After all, a lot of people argue that sharing our goals helps us keep accountable to ourselves, but this is not actually true.
By sharing too much of our goals with others, we run the risk of diluting our passion and energy, as well as opening ourselves up to the opinions of those who neither understand the personal problems we’re trying to solve or even believe in the solution.
By being too open about what we’re doing, we become vulnerable to being swayed by the predominantly negative contributions of those who believe they are helping us with their unsolicited advice. It’s not that they mean badly, quite the opposite, it’s simply human nature to look at what someone else is doing and wonder if they are really doing the right thing. They seek the extra spark of drama that possible downfall might bring, and so they can’t help themselves in giving us their opinion.
Since we’ve just come through the very difficult, and possibly traumatic, experience of identifying the problems, working up the courage to proceed with the solution, developing the focus necessary to carry out the actions, it’s no wonder that we might be a little fragile and susceptible to peer pressure.
It’s at this point that our subconscious mind can make its last stand. If we aren’t careful, we can be compelled to stop in our tracks, second-guess ourselves, and go right back to where we were. The only thing is, next time we try to break free, our subconscious won’t have to fight as hard to get us to stop.
So, whatever you do, keep your progress and ideas to yourself for as long as you can. If you must discuss them with someone, then let it be with your coach or someone else who’s opinion and input you trust implicitly.
What Are You Waiting For – Get Started!
As I hope you are by now aware, these steps are not for the faint-hearted, and you must approach them with the utmost respect, passion, and determination of purpose. This is where having a business coach can be indispensable, because the coach can help to ensure that you remain on the path, and provide much needed accountability and encouragement on the journey.
The main secret, “point zero” if you like, is to do something and get started!
You know what to do – it’s all here on this site, available to those who have the dedication and passion to change.
I hope that this article has been useful to you and that you’re able to put these steps and ideas into use for you and your photography business. As always, please do share any comments or thoughts you might have – I don’t profess to have all the answers, and there are always other perspectives, which I would love to hear!
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