Make a list of all the great things you can do…yep that’s right. I want you to focus on the positive not the negative. Kind of refreshing, eh?
We have a tendency (especially us women) to look at all we cannot do. What we didn’t get to. What we forgot to do. What we aren’t able to do. Or even to focus on things out of our control. The saturated market. The lack of affordable studio spaces. The population who can’t pay what we are worth.
We are basketball fans around here and so the name John Wooden comes up often in our home. He had this ability to take a team, teach them to play to their strengths and not worry about what other teams did or didn’t do. He knew he couldn’t control that. He could make adjustments to his own squad to match up with their opponents but worrying about what they did or didn’t do was a waste of energy.
We could learn from good old John. Are you constantly worried about what your competitors are doing? What clients they are booking? How often they are shooting? If they are scouting locations ahead of you? Is there anything you can do about these things??? Nope. Nada. Nothing short of kidnapping them and holding them hostage in your basement (which I would STRONGLY advise against 😉
So why waste your energy on things you cannot do anything about? What you can do is ramp up your marketing efforts. You can provide an experience clients can’t get anywhere else. You can take a class to refine your editing or add a new technique to your repertoire. You can create genuine relationships with people. No one can take these away from you, except you. And if you are constantly using that same energy and time worried about what so-and-so and so-and-so are doing, you are only shortchanging yourself and your business.
Along with this is beating yourself up for what you can’t do. Perhaps you have a baby and you can’t be gone for more than 2 hours at a time. Does crying over the destination shoot of a fellow photographer help you in any way? What if a new photographer has a CEO husband who gave her $10,000 to start her photography business so she has 2 brand new camera bodies and every lens you could ever dream of? Does that make YOU less of a photographer? Does that mean what you produce is less than what she does? NO!! They truly have nothing to do with each other. They are independent factors in the universe.
Let it go! There is enough to go around. Give yourself credit for how far you’ve come and then set your own personal goals for growth. What you cannot do only defines you if you let it. And if there are things you WANT to do and cannot, DO THEM!!! Set a goal. Break it down into baby steps and make it happen! Don’t tell me you can’t afford it-that’s an excuse! Don’t tell me you don’t have enough time-that’s an excuse! Not one student has EVER told me a goal that was impossible. If you are willing to learn, willing to work, willing to hustle, willing to try, then it can happen!!
Find that can-do attitude!
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Feel free to pin or post a link to this article and share your thoughts on it. If you have ever wanted help with your business, I’d love to sit down and find out what’s working and what’s not. Together we can create a plan to move you toward your goals. Check out my classes and mentoring.
