Business for Photographers: 3 ways to overcome impostor syndrome
Image by: @drew_hays
There seems to be a post about impostor (imposter) syndrome every other day in different photographer groups. It can be a terribly debilitating thing to deal with, and it also has power to undermine our work efforts, making it something that can cause real harm to our attempts at launching or advancing the business of our dreams. I have conceived of three ways that I keep my own impostor syndrome at bay. It’s not as bad for me as for others, but it rears its ugly head once in a while. A note that these are good and positive elements that not only counter impostor syndrome but also help move you past fear and doubt (the nasty cousins of impostor syndrome).
3 ways to counteract Impostor (imposter) syndrome:
Take Action
Place one foot in front of the other and do the work. Create a schedule of things to work on: blogging, editing, administration, planning, vision work etc. Your brain isn’t idle but is tasked with activities, so it doesn’t have time or capacity to start wandering into unproductive thoughts. If impostor thoughts do start intruding, immediately put up a mental stop sign in your head and refocus on what you were doing. Remember that it’s your mind, your tool, and you don’t actually have to entertain rogue messages that it serves up. Our brains get inundated by lots of information, fake, real, interpreted correctly and incorrectly and we can choose to quiet it. Say no, even out loud when a negative thought intrudes, and state those thoughts are not welcome and refocus. This approach engages mental re-training and then you are also taking productive action which advances your business by virtue of simply being done.
Compartmentalize
While we may not want to box each piece of our lives away from others, sometimes a degree of compartmentalization can be healthy in order to find and/or maintain your boundaries. Create separation of your feelings/ the artist and your business by replacing “me” or “I” with “the business.” Such as “what does the business need to charge?” Or “what is the business policy on this request?” This helps to disentangle yourself from being so personally implicated. You are part of your business by being the photographer and the manager, but being too personally involved clouds our judgement. If you were working as a greeter at Walmart, you wouldn’t think that you are the role - you greet people for your shift, submit your hours and go home. More on this separation here.
Pretend or act ‘as if’
You are the boss and manager of a business. If you were managing the business for someone else then you would likely have no issue doing the things that the business needed to be run and to succeed for the owner. If you can’t muster feelings of being successful for yourself then pretend it’s not your business; that you have been hired to manage another photographer’s business. It can help maintain the separation discussed in point #2. While you do that, challenge yourself to answer why you might do better in succeeding for someone else but not yourself. Conquering those thoughts will help will seeing that you deserve to succeed as much as anyone else and that it is right and good and not greedy to care and love yourself and want success. It’s funny - if we snag our dream job for a dream salary from an employer we are over the moon and so are our loved ones. We are proud, happy and enthusiastic to give it our all. But start a business and people (including ourselves) think that we should give away our skills for nothing, and feel awkward accepting money and start harbouring resentment for not being paid well. Weird right? Be an amazing boss. Give yourself your own dream job and salary.
Humans should run on feelings but businesses should run on objective systems. When you are interacting with clients you are human and you serve them from that place. You use all of your creativity and artistry towards their photographs. But when it comes to all other aspects, create and rely on objective systems; money being one of them.
There is a 4th way to quiet impostor syndrome and it’s covered in this blog post.
Here’s to recognizing that there isn’t actually an impostor; it’s just you. Re-frame your thoughts and focus on your actions and the impostor fades away, leaving a strong, empowered person who is pursuing their dreams.
Linking the other pillars
If your mental stop sign starts weakening and impostor thoughts continue to intrude, do something a little more drastic, such as walking away from the work and indulging your body pillar: Exercise, a hot shower, intimate time with a partner, time with family.
The actions you take should be high-impact, income-producing ones. Reserve things like reading and vision work for your Intuition pillar, and focus on things like improving your SEO, blogging, and emailing past clients with an offer.
The definition of an impostor is someone who is not you. If we humans are all different then it stands to reason that an impostor energy isn’t the same as yours. Because the impostor is unwanted, then the energy is unwanted too. By virtue of quelling the impostor, you help to protect the integrity of your brand energy. It SHOULD be protected, even (and especially!) from yourself!
If your thoughts are racing and you can’t focus on income-bearing activities, then do some Intuition work like reading, or doing a Present Vision Board that’s found by clicking here. Tapping into creativity is a terrific way to feed and boost the positive things in your life, counteracting the impostor.
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