You are a saboteur - kick that person to the curb!
It really surprises me how easily photographers can talk endlessly about their fears, doubts, insecurities. Am I good enough to charge? I don’t know how to market. I’m scared of flash. Someone challenged me on my services and I don’t know how to handle it. But if I were to ask what makes you amazing, you might stutter and be silent. This is not a photography issue; it’s a human issue. And we allow these human issues to get into the way of our dreams. Imagine every time you said “I want to follow my dream and be a photographer,”, someone slapped you in the face. Well, every time doubts and fears rear their ugly head, it’s YOU, slapping YOURSELF in the face. Would you tolerate that from someone else? Would you think they’re mean, a bully, violent, and that it’s an unacceptable behaviour?
Here is where to start.
Tell that person (a part of YOU) that this behaviour is unacceptable, and to stop getting in the way of your dreams. Self-sabotage is is a billion times worse than what any competition can do to compromise your success. Even an army of amateur photographers offering 10$ minis with 100 images included can’t do as much damage as you can to yourself and your business. I LOVE this quote from Mel Robbins because it’s so true:
“There will always be people who can’t see your worth; don’t let it be you.”
Anyone can follow their dreams and succeed; it’s not like everyone you perceive as being successful (I say perceive because they can create any kind of story they want and it may or may not reflect the truth!!) were born special snowflakes with business prowess, and you are the world’s exception. Success is available to anyone - ANYONE. If you need help with confidence and self-esteem, therapy or some inner work on your own is important - independent from photography. It’s the first step to changing your mindset and it will be very hard to move forward if you don’t exorcise the demons. Then, separate from that, forge your way in your business and passion, unapologetically. How do you know you’re really, really worth it? Because you exist. That’s enough.
So let’s return to that question that no one seems to answer - what makes you amazing? This may be challenging if you’re still in the other mindset, but there is part of you that may already know. That part that you hide, because it sounds self-indulgent, right? Selfish? Egotistical? Those words are associated with that bullying voice. Barring the search for the perfect therapist, one way to quell that voice is simply to state your amazingness out loud. Do it, right now! See how it makes you feel. It might be hard at first, but like any habit, if you do it consistently it folds itself into your life and becomes the new normal. Tell yourself in the mirror every morning “I can do this, I’m good at what I can do and I will have success” (or whatever version and words fit you) and you may be surprised at how you might start believing it. Isn’t better to believe THAT voice than the other one?
Be brave and tell me in the comments below what you’re amazing at.
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