Brand is grand - until you realize your mindset is in the toilet
There are many experts and educators out there. Their sites are beautiful, shiny, and filled with images of them being successful and telling you that you can have it all too.
And then there is the reality when you feel the world is against you, that you can’t do it and wonder what magic those experts sprinkled onto their businesses that things neatly fell into place. Why ease in success seems accessible to them but elusive for you. You’re sitting there feeling disheveled, uninspired, and then all you want to do is to eat a box of cookies while watching Netflix.
Last week I announced a re-brand of MBP. A cascade of things happened to me over the last while that got me to the point where I felt a re-branding was necessary and I was excited about it. I really want to see success with this initiative because I’m invested in marketing and psychology on a personal level, and keen to help other photographers with the marketing and business aspects of their business.
I left things on that last post as getting on the road of finding inspiration for the aesthetic for the brand. Next day, I settled down with a few old magazines and my phone to do some searches; eager to hit on some magic. Vision boarding, here I come! Hours later, my motivation was deflated. I thought that the inspiration would come rolling, the way my ideas about re-branding came. But it didn’t. If felt forced. My magazines, already cut up from previous activity, felt tired and spent. I felt tired and spent. Nothing interested me. I flipped and flipped, and just threw it all in a pile eventually.
We all have our dark times
No process is fully clean and easy, but often the Internet shows us the curated story. There is nothing wrong with that - curation is a necessary and powerful tool to help us get to where we want to be and I advocate for it in a lot of instances, but sometimes when we get down, it makes us feel alone in the battle. Everyone else has it together but me.
Since last week, my brand visioning has been in the toilet. That’s 100% honesty. It confuses me after a strong start. But like the “hot hand’ phenomenon tells us, things can’t be winning all of the time - after a streak there is nowhere to go but down. And there are ups and downs not only with our motivation but with our mood.
Find the Lesson
So things aren’t going well. Should I take this as a sign to give up? Should I sit here and allow the negative thoughts to gnaw at me? Should I leave the success, wealth and accomplishment with those that seem to have it all in hand? Hell, no. It’s normal. It’s expected, even. Life isn’t linear, and neither is business or marketing. I have to believe that while one part came easy, another may not, but it’s not a sign to give up but to keep pressing, because there is an imminent lesson to be learned.
Sometimes the intersection lights on the road to success are all green and you find yourself sailing through. Maybe coming off of a streak like that it’s especially hard to tolerate a red light which feels like a complete stop and a cosmic “fuck you” from the universe. But maybe it’s also telling us something else. When we’re green-lighted, something is meant to happen for us and we’ve already done the internal work to be prepared to handle it. Conversely, if the universe stops us with a red, it’s a time to reflect, and a time to take a breath after speeding through a bunch of greens (because of the exhilaration that comes with it). It’s a checkpoint, maybe time for some tough decisions, maybe for some more learning, before heading back onto the road.
Pivot!
I often say action quells fear. I learned over the last week that action also quells crappy mindset. I wasn’t feeling great and my tendency was to fall away into the endless scroll of social media, to self-torture by viewing everyone else’s seeming success. Change direction! I opened up a new blog post and wrote this. From the start of this article to now, some of my negative feelings have dispelled. It works! I interrupted the cycle of negative thoughts that was pulling me down like a boat anchor. I feel better writing it down and although also feeling vulnerable, feeling encouraged that I will share with others because they will understand and empathize (because if you’re here trying to learn marketing and business, you may feel like this often!). So my advice if you’re feeling rather terrible about your own lack of initiative, or success, or understanding of next steps, pivot! Step away, shake it off. Go for a run. Write a blog post. Edit some photos. Just.do.something. Change pace. Will be hard at first, but the stress and crap can slowly start to melt away. And then when you feel better, you can revisit everything with fresh eyes and see what the next step will be.
Next steps
My daughter asked me to take her to the pharmacy later. I decided that I will pick up a few new magazines to poke through and try again. I have to give some space and grace - maybe I did things too quickly in my excitement and there is more pre-work before I get to defining the brand aesthetic. I will take that one baby step and see where I land next. Stay tuned and feel free to share your own trials and tribulations with your business below. I’ll be there for you!
Nothing is perfect. I’m still going to eat a cookie.
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