Photography Business Help – Failing at Life? Feeling Down?

Professional Photographer Business Help – Failing at Life?

Here we are, September. The last mile for the wedding photographers that are coming down from their crazy season, and the revving up for the portrait photographers who are just going into their busy season.

No matter where you’re at in your professional career, chances are, at one time or another, you’ve experienced burnout.

Call it whatever you’d like – a rut, a slump, the BLAHS, or burnout. It doesn’t have to be from working overtime, it doesn’t have to be from a specific set of circumstances, but usually comes with a case of the I SUCKS.

That’s what I call it – the I SUCKS.

We have all faced this at one time or another, and as artists and creative entrepreneurs, we are especially susceptible to this. We go through seasons where we are feeling fantastic – creating beautiful things, making a difference in our clients lives and YAY! Making a living at the same time. But then there are the darker seasons that we don’t talk about very much… where we look at our work and just rip it to shreds. When we feel like everyone else is doing better than us, creating more than us, winning at their businesses while we are struggling.

We ALL have those days where we feel like we are just failing at life.

I recently asked in one of my photography groups to see what others do when they’re feeling the I SUCKS. I got a variety of answers, and all of them are great – but several of them require more effort and time to put together. Styled shoots, creative endeavors. Some were more immediate, especially the wine – there’s one I can get behind! Chocolate, reading… all great answers.

But can I present to you something that can be cathartic, get you past the I SUCKS and takes just a few minutes of your time?

Granted, this will take some time to actually collect up front, but as a business owner, this should be something you have been doing anyway!

Do you have a place that you collect all of the testimonials and raves that your clients send to you? Maybe it’s an Evernote note (guilty) or a label in your Gmail inbox. Maybe it’s a page on your website, maybe it’s just a file that you have that holds thank you cards.

If you DON’T – I encourage you – no, order you – to go put one together. Seriously, just throw everything together. We’re not talking about writing a book here, it doesn’t have to be grammatically perfect or even in chronological order. Just gather all of the nice things that people have said about you, your work, and their experience with you. And put all of that information in one place.

And when you’re feeling particularly shitty, go to that place, that note, that label, that file – and read it. Just set a timer for five minutes, and really read through it. DON’T SKIM, like you might be tempted to do with this blog post and everything else – actually sit down for five minutes and read it.

Remind yourself WHY you do what you do. Remind yourself of what is important to you in your work. Remind yourself of the lives you have affected in a positive way.

It is amazing how uplifting that can be.

I call mine the Cheer Book. Remember the Burn Book in Mean Girls? This is WAY BETTER.

And then, because every post is better with a photo and well – he’s so freakin’ adorable, go snuggle puppies if you can. I highly recommend finding a foster family that will let you swing by for drive by snuggles.

So go read your cheer book and snuggle with puppies, and I dare you to still feel the I SUCKS like you were beforehand. Yes, it takes some time for them to go away. Like I said before, there are seasons to being a business owner and entrepreneur, and not all of them are amazing. But taking these little steps will help SO much!