Zenologue

How much do you believe in stereotypes?

Do you think you fall into any particular stereotype category yourself? If so, how do you think it might affect your success in the photography business?

A favorite radio show of mine is Radiolab from WNYC and I was listening to one of their not-so-recent podcasts this morning while out driving. The podcast in question is called “The Obama Effect” and posed some interesting ideas.

Having listened to this, I asked myself the question, how much do our subconscious stereotype tendencies affect the way we behave in business, and what bearing might they have on our ultimate success or failure?

Believe In Yourself

We’ve all heard some variation of the motivational phrase, “Believe in yourself first. Only then will others will believe in you…” Obviously, it makes sense. If we don’t believe in what we’re doing then how can we expect to sell ourselves to someone else?

It’s easy to say, “of course I believe in myself and my work” but how much do we really believe it? Do we believe it as strongly as we do that the Earth is not flat, for example, or is our faith in ourselves not quite as unshakeable as we might think?

The majority of us probably like to think our self-belief is very strong but, in reality, there are still those nagging doubts and insecurities lurking in our psyche, just waiting for the right time to whisper words of discouragement in our minds to justify why we’re not performing as well as hoped.

Monsters Of The Id

As they point out in the podcast, these inner demons and gremlins are mostly effective when the going gets particularly tough. It’s at that point that we say to ourselves, “well, we tried, but this is very hard, and the chances of success are probably 1 in a million anyway, but at least I tried…” etc.

But, what would happen if we made a very conscious decision at the outset of any endeavor to rid ourselves of as many as possible of these stereotypical tendencies? We could simply acknowledge their presence, yet choose to ignore them from the beginning. I believe that this is one of the differences in some of the wildly successful people in the world. Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Stephen King, Thomas Edison, Walt Disney and a host of others all suffered defeat and failure many times before they found success and became the icons we know them as today. Did they feel frustrated and tempted to give up at times? You bet they did! But they chose not to.

I wonder what the photography world might be like today if Ansel Adams had given in to those inner demons, and not doggedly pursued his goal of the perfect print in the darkroom. What if he, like many, had simply settled for “good enough”? If he had, we might have been robbed of some of the most beautiful and inspiring works of photographic art ever produced and there is no doubt that the art and technique of photography might have suffered as a result.

Eradicate The Gremlins!

So, today, when business seems like it might not be going the way you want, or you’re having trouble with composition, lighting, posing, marketing, selling etc. don’t give up! Become consciously aware that none of us are perfect, not even the successful ones amongst us. Take that knowledge and use it to shine a light into the dark corners of your mind to illuminate the gremlins and show them up for what they are – excuses and justifications for failure. You can do this! You can succeed…

If you found this piece inspiring or useful, please pass it on to someone else who might benefit and enjoy reading it. Click on the “Tweet” button at the top of the page and help spread the word… Thank you for taking the time to read and your comments and suggestions are always welcome…

Here are some links to the podcast mentioned at the beginning:

Radiolab “The Obama Effect” - http://blogs.wnyc.org/radiolab/2009/01/27/the-obama-effect-perhaps/

There is also an interview with Ray Friedman - http://www.thetakeaway.org/2009/jan/26/obama-effect/

Motivation obama effect, photography business, self-belief, success

As mentioned in a previous post, fear (in its many forms) is probably the number one thing holding many of us photographers back from success in their business. Few people are completely immune to its effects, but there are ways to combat it and keep our fears in perspective 

Think about your favorite successful entrepreneur for a moment. Mine happens to be Sir Richard Branson, but you can pick whomever you like. Imagine them facing the challenges they’ve had to overcome in order to be successful…

Now, do you think that person has ever experienced feelings of fear in their business ventures?

Of course they have.

The difference between the successful business people and the failures lies in how they respond to what happens to them and how they deal with those things that cause them fear.

For most of us, fear connected with our business comes from insecurity or lack of confidence in our ability to succeed.  It manifests itself as indecisiveness and procrastination, or the tackling of tasks half-heartedly. We may even put off trying something completely, finding one excuse after another not to face the possibility of failure through simple fear alone.

I believe the secret to fighting this insidious enemy of our success is to firstly acknowledge that we are experiencing fear and then to examine it for rationality. How much risk is there really? What are the chances of us appearing foolish? What are the rewards for success? Where can we draw more confidence to try?

Assuming that we want to press forward with whatever it is we’re going to try to do, we can break it down into manageable chunks; slice it and dice it into pieces so small that each one is nothing more than a simple step. Yet each of those steps brings us closer to achieving our goals. Furthermore, with each step we take, our success looks brighter and fear shrinks further back until in the end it’s gone completely.

I am sure that Sir Richard Branson, and others like him, have all faced significant fears in the pursuit of their endeavors. However, they have all faced those fears head on and taken on the challenges to become the successes we know today.

Motivation business, encouragement, professional photographer, professional photography, success

The biggest enemy you face in achieving the success you deserve in your photography businesses is “Fear”.

It comes in many guises and can strike even the most experienced, and it can be so powerful that it can mean the difference between life and death for our business:

• Fear of losing clients because our prices are too high…
• Fear of creating inferior work…
• Fear of facing client objections or complaints…
• Fear of an idea that seems good but may not work…
• Fear of appearing foolish …
• Fear of closing the sale…
• Fear of dealing with people…
• Fear of dealing with children…
• Fear of messing up someone’s wedding…
• Fear of setting goals that we might not achieve…
• Fear of a failed marketing campaign…

The list is endless…

For example, experts might tell us that our prices are too low and that we should raise them. It sounds like good advice (which it more than likely is) but the voice of fear pops into our minds with doubts like “What if I can’t get any new clients? What if my existing clients complain? What if no one buys anything? What if I can’t compete in the market?”

Such reactions and thoughts are a natural response to change, but we must overcome them if we are to succeed. As we start off this new year, there’s much talk of setting goals and objectives for the future – but we need to be mindful and not allow fear to creep in the back door and undermine what we set out to achieve.

Don’t allow your goals to be slowly eroded away to nothing, like most people’s New Year’s resolutions seem to, by falling prey to the little voice of fear.

It is entirely possible to be bold and adventurous without being reckless, and fear cannot easily take hold of a mind that knows that it’s in control.

Motivation business, professional photographer, professional photography, success