Not to be a dummy, but “if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.”

Ask any photographer I’ve coached, I’m big on challenging comfort zones.

For 13 years I’ve asked folks, “What’s the biggest challenge holding you back today?” And I’ve gotten hundreds of not thousands of answers to that question.

Some markets suck, straight up – there are towns and cities in America and around the world that are absolute black holes for reaching a full-time income as a professional photographer.

But…that’s almost never the biggest obstacle for folks.

(My photography company, Outlaw Photography, has thrived in rural Texas towns from populations 900 to 1,850, though I’ve never been afraid to reach into the markets like San Antonio and Austin!)

What’s holding you back is almost always the internal game.

“I’m not good enough… I’m not getting better fast enough… It’s already too late… I don’t have time / talent / camera gear / social media skills / sales skills… Everybody has a great camera on their phone today… I’m too old/young, too boring/nerdy, too introverted, too awkward, too YouNameIt.”

Just a word of encouragement today: your obstacle is your opportunity.

Where you feel like quitting is where most photographers want to quit. Why you want to quit is why most photographers do quit. And that’s why you have to learn to love the obstacles you face, internal and external: because they’re barriers others refuse to break through, mountains others fear to climb.

If you can fight past what’s holding you back today, you can reach rare air, where there is less competition and even more opportunity (clients, creativity, cash!).

Do that enough times, and you can own your zip code as a professional photographer.

Do it more, and you can own your area code and beyond.

The opportunity is there. The universe will definitely test your resolve, how serious you are about making your dream come true.

Let me encourage you today to stand up, fight forward, and pass that test.

Scared? Self-defeating? Self-sabotaging?

E-mail me and let me know what you’re feeling. We’ll work together to get you the breakthrough you so desperately need.

James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.com

P.S. You asked for tactics? I got tactics! When was the last time you called your past clients to check in with them? Ask about how they’re enjoying their photos, if they need any extra prints, and if they’ve thought about their next photo shoot – fall is coming this month, leaves will be turning, pumpkin patches will be popping up, Halloween costumes are on sale now… Sounds like great opportunities for some discounted ‘event’ shoots, such as partnering with a local church pumpkin patch or school fall festival, to tease your clients back in front of your camera. Want to brainstorm ideas? E-mail me and let’s talk. Similar Posts:

• What’s the point of being a photographer?
• Climbing the mountain of success – Part III: Quitter
• What’s the biggest challenge holding you back today? 2021 Edition
• Why does photography feel so good?
• Who are you doing this for?

Even what you say to yourself is a bad habit meets a need. It may be a non-conscious one, but some result is sought, even if it’s destructive but comfortingly familiar.

Are you shooting as much as you want to be?

Are you reaching out to your market to get more paying customers?

If you’re trying to become a more successful professional photographer, but you’re not doing the things that lead to that result, the question is an obvious…why not?

There’s a sense of safety in doing nothing…can’t take a bad photo if you take no photos. Can’t get a bad client if you have no clients. Can’t have to give someone a refund if nobody pays you.

The brain is really good at survival, but it hasn’t evolved as fast as the world has.

We fear failure and rejection like we fear being eaten by a tiger. Same fight or flight response. Same adrenaline rush and sweaty palms. Same overthinking worst-case scenarios until we’re paralyzed, or just slip away into distraction so we don’t have to confront our (purposive!) limiting thoughts and actions.

My encouragement today is to bring your non-conscious motivations to light, and make them answer to you for how they are stopping you from achieving your professional photography dreams.

“Why don’t I do the things I know I need to do to get what I truly want?”

If you’d like to turn this exercise into a conversation, just e-mail me and tell me what’s going on – what you feel is holding you back. Or if you don’t even know what’s holding you back, or why you’re not doing the things you want to do. It’s okay…it’s normal. And a good conversation can help get you unstuck.

James Michael
www.parttimephoto.comSimilar Posts:

• Focus on your strengths first
• Climbing the mountain of success – Part III: Quitter
• Climbing the mountain of success – Part IV: Next
• Productivity For Photographers: Mindfulness
• Learn what works, then multiply by your uniqueness

“Why does this have to be so hard?”

“Ugh I’m SO not excited to work on this…”

“I’m so tired of nothing getting better.”

A pastor I’m studying with talks about a concept called convergence:

Where your talents and skills align with your passion. Where what you’re good at aligns with what you’re interested in; professionally, a convergence that leads to something people will pay you for. (I can’t convince anyone to pay me to be mediocre at playing videogames…hmm…)

If your back were out of alignment, you’d feel pain, and do what it takes to get it right.

I want to set you free tonight.

I don’t know who this is for, but it may be you.

You don’t have to do it this way.

Let that sink in… It doesn’t have to be this way. Chasing your dream shouldn’t hurt all the time. It shouldn’t be a grind.

I want you to let it go.

Let what go?

Let go of whatever you’re stuck on. You’ve wrapped your thoughts, imagination, fears and anger around something… Something you think is absolutely essential.

You’ve convinced yourself.

I want to free you from the lie that’s holding you back.

“BUT JAMES MICHAEL, my photography sucks! I can’t get clients! They won’t pay! My web site is a mess! I’m a has-been and an imposter! There’s nothing I can do!”

I know. You’ve been telling me for 12 years.

I promise you… It’s okay. I just need you to let it go.

Your art is good enough. Your skills are good enough. Your people are out there…you just need to connect with them, and help them. Help them get what they want…what you have to give. You can start simple, start small, start today (or at least this weekend). You can take steps toward where you dream of being.

It’s that easy. (And that complicated.)

My encouragement: get clear on how you want this professional photography business to make YOU feel. What needs to happen to make YOU feel that way? What needs to change? What steps can help?

Does that make your path a little clearer?

Whether it does or doesn’t, please, e-mail me and let me know where you’re at in your journey, and what you’re feeling about where you’re at today.

I’m here to help.

James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.comSimilar Posts:

• Focus on your strengths first
• What’s holding you back is your source of opportunity
• Nobody believes you
• Here’s how to get your Next Step done (finally!)
• Why does photography feel so good?

(if you’re not subscribed to my e-mail newsletter, you can get on the list using the sign-up box on the right side of any page of PTP, or just drop me an e-mail and I’ll add you

Maurizio is capturing in photos this historic pandemic experience from the epicenter of its outbreak in Italy. He’s working on a book in both Italian and English, which I’ll share with you guys as it’s available, if you’d like to see how one fellow PTP reader is turning what could be a downturn into a new opportunity.

Penny responded and said she’s anxious about getting back into photography in 2021, doubting her ability to perform behind the camera.

I’m sure hundreds (thousands?) of us feel the same.

I know you’ve read it many times before, but I’ll share again Roosevelt’s wonderful analogy of the arena:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

My take:

The quickest and surest way to overcome photography anxiety is inside the arena.

The longer you are outside the arena staring in, wondering, imagining, not knowing, the greater the resistance you’ll build until you finally choose never to step in the arena at all.

“Not worth it,” you’ll convince yourself. It’s easy. We’ve all done it. Many times. Many regrets there.

My encouragement to you today, is if you’re anxious about getting back into the arena of professional photography here in 2021, stop trying to overcome that anxiety from the outside in.

Step into the arena, and realize your fears were shadows, trying to keep your blessings locked away from those who would be most blessed by them – your subjects, your clients, your family through financial boon and your joy of creative expression.

Once more into the breach, to quote another famous line.

What’s the biggest challenge holding you back today? E-mail me and let me know.

James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.com

P.S. Start small. Photograph a friend. Have fun. Less stress and perfectionism, more curiosity and wonder. Invite your favorite clients in for a shoot. Practice social distancing, wear a mask, be safe, but again, have fun. You’re a photographer because you choose to be – never forget that.Similar Posts:

• Read this if you’re socially anxious
• Shifting gears from starving artist to entrepreneur
• Three practices for progress without procrastination, perfectionism or paralysis
• Testing your faith as a professional photographer
• Testing your faith, or faithfully testing? Three months to a better photography business

What’s the biggest challenge holding you back today?

It’s been a minute since I asked, so I thought I’d touch base – let’s talk, shall we?

Whether you feel stuck in your art or business or both, I’m here for you guys. I don’t write as much as I used to, but I’m always praying peace and progress for you, standing by at the ready to ask annoyingly direct questions that get at the heart of why you’re not where you want to be as a professional photographer.

Again, for probably the 1,000th time (plus):

What’s the biggest challenge holding you back today? E-mail me and let me know.

James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.comSimilar Posts:

• What’s holding you back is your source of opportunity
• How to get a photography mentor who will change the course of your career
• Decide and move on
• Photography, and inspiration in giving
• It’s your business and you can cry if you want to

Faith in yourself, faith in these possibilities, faith in whether or not you should even bother trying so hard.

Instead of testing your faith, how about we faithfully test?

Just for a few months…

If you feel stagnant and frustrated, here’s my challenge to you:

1. Choose a path forward:

Whatever you feel is holding you back from making better photos and earning more clients, choose a path to solve the problem. Stop trying to be perfect, stop trying to figure out every possible outcome, stop having FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) about all the things you’re NOT choosing so you can follow this path forward… And choose how you’re going to take bold, clear, tangible action to fix what isn’t working – OR to test something fun, fresh, new, different, to see if it DOES work for you. This is your TEST.

2. Commit to this path for the next three months:

Whatever you’re testing – photography techniques, bravery challenges, how you ask people to do business with you and how often (protip: more is good) – COMMIT to test this path for the next three months. ALL IN. Burn the boats, there’s no going back. Just commit your full energy, attention, available time, and heart to really giving this test everything you can give it to be successful.

3. Evaluate at the end:

Set a calendar reminder on a day you can set aside 30-90 minutes and EVALUATE your results. What were you trying to accomplish? What were you trying to make happen? What was different because you chose this path and committed fully to it? Did you see the results you wanted? Why or why not?

And, vitally…

4. Pivot:

What worked? What didn’t? What do you want to TEST differently for the next three months to see if it works better, based on this new knowledge – new data – you have to work with because you really gave it your all over the last three months?

Simple, but not easy.

The Resistance will show up. Distraction will lure you away. Self-defeat will try and reign.

It’s okay for this to be hard. This is your opportunity to overcome where others quit. This is where you hurt, but learn, and grow, and get better.

“I want to be better.”

Choose. Commit. Try hard. Be patient. Have faith. Test and evaluate and pivot.

Be better.

What’s stopping you? E-mail me and let me know.

James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.com

• Testing your faith, or faithfully testing? Three months to a better photography business
• Testing wordpress post
• How practice overcomes perfectionism
• Read this if you’re socially anxious
• The Rolling To-Do List

It’s not your fault – spammy marketers have burned out consumers on “value.” Everybody’s product or service is the best ever.

But…

Ever bought anything on Amazon?

Figuring around the same price, do you buy the 3.5-star widget, or the 4.5-star widget?

This is social proof. Social proof is how you really prove your value to someone who has never worked with you. Social proof is massively powerful. Social proof proves results – social proof proves promises.

Social proof is testimonials.

Real people, real clients, sharing real experiences with you and your photography.

No joke: if you don’t know what you’re doing with marketing, if you don’t know how to market yourself, if you’re out of ideas or sick of gimmicks, just start by sharing client testimonials. Anything nice anyone has ever said about you and your work.

“What if I don’t have any testimonials?”

Get them. Ask your past clients, free or paid, anyone who has worked with you. Ask them if you can interview them about their experience with you, so you can help them write a testimonial to share with other folks who might be in the market for professional photography.

“What if I don’t have any clients?”

Then, like I talk about in Freemium Photography, get busy. Get booked solid with any mix of free and paid clients. You need momentum so you can practice your photography and your business skills, and so you can plant seeds of experiences that can grow into great testimonials.

“What if I’m scared to ask for testimonials? Why can’t I just wait for them to come in organically?”

For the same reason it’s so hard to passively get the phone to ring with new business. Proactive success almost always precedes passive success. Why shoot with 10 clients and get one testimonial when you can shoot with 10 clients and get nine testimonials? The only difference is being brave enough to ask.

Three questions:

1. Are you currently flooding your marketing with testimonials from happy clients?

2. Why not?

3. What can you do to change that?

If you’re stuck, e-mail me and let me know – I read every e-mail.

James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.com

• Winning as a pro photographer looks like Work + Busyness + Farming
• Are you a professional photographer or an information collector?
• What to ask your photography clients for a great testimonial
• Why do I feel like I’m getting nowhere with my photography business?
• How do I keep people from printing my low-res photography files?

You have one hour from the time you read this blog post to finalize (for now) your pricing, policies, and “all the other details” you’ve been hung up on.

There are no right answers, so trust your gut.

You can change everything anytime.

But you need to get past the stagnation of being “baked in the squat” as Ziglar would say – 100% of your time and energy should be going into getting people in front of your camera.

Absolutely everything else will evolve with experience, but that evolution won’t come if you’re not actively shooting. You will read and research and discuss and debate and ponder and think your way into photographer limbo.

Take action right now to choose anything, commit to stick with it long enough to see how it does and doesn’t work out, and then immediately redirect all of your energy toward getting and staying booked solid.

Dare ya.

E-mail me and let me know what decisions you made because of this post.

James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.com

P.S. This applies to everything in your life: your relationships, your friendships, your job, your home, your self, your health, your project, and your photography business. Being stuck anywhere in life leaves you stuck everywhere else in life. Somebody needs to hear this today… What decisions do you need to make right now to get your life back in flow?

• Are you an artist or an attention whore?
• What’s the biggest challenge holding you back today? 2021 Edition
• It’s time to Do The Work
• How to prepare for your first photography client’s call – Your First Customer Series, Part 5
• How to get a photography mentor who will change the course of your career

“The problem isn’t that we’re lazy or incapable – it’s just that we’re not doing the work that’s going to enable us to thrive.”

Do you want ease or fulfillment?

Listen, you know where this is going, and I’m first in line to be convicted of this unconscious seeking of comfort.

You’re not working on what matters most.

You’re not doing the work that will make a difference. You’re doing the work that’s easiest.

You are on the path of least resistance.

I totally get it – that downhill path is soooo easy to walk. You don’t even break a sweat.

The problem is, you and I are artists, and we’re entrepreneurs. We don’t get fulfillment from a life of ease – our fulfillment comes from breaking things. Creative breakthroughs. Breaking through walls, through obstacles, through crowds of naysayers and doubters. Breaking through those old voices in our heads telling us the same old crap about how we can’t, we shouldn’t, and we never will.

Make a choice. Now.

Do you want ease or fulfillment?

I bet you know what to do next.

Want to talk about it? E-mail me and let me know what’s on your heart. I read every e-mail, and I’m always in your corner.

James Taylor
www.parttimephoto.com

• Ease vs. fulfillment as a professional photographer
• Read this if you’re socially anxious
• What’s the point of being a photographer?
• Testing your faith, or faithfully testing? Three months to a better photography business
• Three practices for progress without procrastination, perfectionism or paralysis

“The problem isn’t that we’re lazy or incapable – it’s just that we’re not doing the work that’s going to enable us to thrive.”

Do you want ease or fulfillment?

Listen, you know where this is going, and I’m first in line to be convicted of this unconscious seeking of comfort.

You’re not working on what matters most.

You’re not doing the work that will make a difference. You’re doing the work that’s easiest.

You are on the path of least resistance.

I totally get it – that downhill path is soooo easy to walk. You don’t even break a sweat.

The problem is, you and I are artists, and we’re entrepreneurs. We don’t get fulfillment from a life of ease – our fulfillment comes from breaking things. Creative breakthroughs. Breaking through walls, through obstacles, through crowds of naysayers and doubters. Breaking through those old voices in our heads telling us the same old crap about how we can’t, we shouldn’t, and we never will.

Make a choice. Now.

Do you want ease or fulfillment?

I bet you know what to do next.

Want to talk about it? E-mail me and let me know what’s on your heart. I read every e-mail, and I’m always in your corner.

James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.com

• Do you want ease, or fulfillment?
• Read this if you’re socially anxious
• What’s the point of being a photographer?
• Testing your faith as a professional photographer
• Testing your faith, or faithfully testing? Three months to a better photography business

Faith in yourself, faith in these possibilities, faith in whether or not you should even bother trying so hard.

Instead of testing your faith, how about we faithfully test?

Just for a few months…

If you feel stagnant and frustrated, here’s my challenge to you:

1. Choose a path forward:

Whatever you feel is holding you back from making better photos and earning more clients, choose a path to solve the problem. Stop trying to be perfect, stop trying to figure out every possible outcome, stop having FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) about all the things you’re NOT choosing so you can follow this path forward… And choose how you’re going to take bold, clear, tangible action to fix what isn’t working – OR to test something fun, fresh, new, different, to see if it DOES work for you. This is your TEST.

2. Commit to this path for the next three months:

Whatever you’re testing – photography techniques, bravery challenges, how you ask people to do business with you and how often (protip: more is good) – COMMIT to test this path for the next three months. ALL IN. Burn the boats, there’s no going back. Just commit your full energy, attention, available time, and heart to really giving this test everything you can give it to be successful.

3. Evaluate at the end:

Set a calendar reminder on a day you can set aside 30-90 minutes and EVALUATE your results. What were you trying to accomplish? What were you trying to make happen? What was different because you chose this path and committed fully to it? Did you see the results you wanted? Why or why not?

And, vitally…

4. Pivot:

What worked? What didn’t? What do you want to TEST differently for the next three months to see if it works better, based on this new knowledge – new data – you have to work with because you really gave it your all over the last three months?

Simple, but not easy.

The Resistance will show up. Distraction will lure you away. Self-defeat will try and reign.

It’s okay for this to be hard. This is your opportunity to overcome where others quit. This is where you hurt, but learn, and grow, and get better.

“I want to be better.”

Choose. Commit. Try hard. Be patient. Have faith. Test and evaluate and pivot.

Be better.

What’s stopping you? E-mail me and let me know.

James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.com

• Testing your faith as a professional photographer
• Testing wordpress post
• How practice overcomes perfectionism
• Read this if you’re socially anxious
• The Rolling To-Do List

“To do what is just with all one’s soul, and to tell the truth. What remains for you to do but enjoy life, linking each good thing to the next, without leaving the slightest interval between them?” – Marcus Aurelius

Danielle LaPorte’s The Desire Map has been my most recommended book of 2018.

So many of us have some system in place for goals, but often those goals are technical: I want more clients, I want more money, I want to make more and better photos with more confidence.

Good goals, of course.

But a powerful shift I’ve experienced in 2018 has been redesigning my life goals around how I want to FEEL.

Three powerful questions to help you prepare for 2019:

1. What were some experiences this year that made you feel a way you DON’T want to feel?
2. What were some experiences this year that made you feel how you DO want to feel?
3. What can you do differently in 2019 to feel LESS of what you don’t and MORE of what you do want to feel?

This is some 30,000-foot work, as Covey would call it. And unless your body and being and balance and business are exactly how you want them, there’s worthwhile work to be done to get at HOW you’re going to make 2019 better than 2018.

Write out your thoughts on these questions, and/or e-mail me at james@banderaoutlaw.com and share them with me – I read every e-mail, and I really am here to help however I can.

James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.com

P.S. ProTip: If you want to engage this exercise but can’t right now, open your calendar app and block the time to do so, as soon as possible – tonight if you can. This may be the most powerful thing you do to reprogram how good your new year is going to be.

• Nobody believes you
• Who are you doing this for?
• Why does photography feel so good?
• Is photography really 90% business and 10% art?
• What’s your (distraction) drug of choice?

Let’s take off our masks for a minute. Get real with me, raw, honest, vulnerable, no ego.

Are you really a professional photographer?

Or an information collector?

You know what I’m talking about…the fact that you’re reading this blog right now might itself be a sign that you are more collector than photographer.

Pop quiz:

1. Do you spend more time making photographs or reading about / watching videos about making photographs?
2. Do you spend more time talking to potential clients or reading about what to say (sales & marketing) to potential clients?
3. Do you spend more time talking to strangers about your business or talking to your friends about your business?

Eeeeeeeeeesh… I am 100% convicted by every one of these questions.

Which is why my dear friend Steve Arensberg recently had the “come to Jesus” talk with me… That talk broke my pattern of mental masturbation (should I do this or that? what’s the perfect next step? what’s the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?) and got me to DO THE WORK and hit PUBLISH on my art, my new book, Freemium Photography.

One of my beta readers, Laci Reynolds, said this was one of the most powerful lines in the whole book:

“Your photography can’t change anything for the better – not your life, not your family, not your friends, not your community, not your market, not the world – if you never do anything with it.”

This is why I ask the hard question of you today, my friend:

Are you a professional photographer or an information collector?

If you’re the latter today, it’s totally okay: the very first step is admitting you have a problem.

The next is to do something about it.

A powerful challenge: stop reading, stop watching videos, stop buying books and workbooks and courses – including mine… And don’t consume one more word of ‘information’ until you are ready to implement and take action.

Read one word, one sentence, one chapter at a time, and then take action on it.

Watch one video at a time, then take action on it.

Read one blog post, or e-mail, then take action on it.

Stop the mental masturbation of consuming information and feeling like you’ve made progress because of it.

Proof is in the production, right?

What action have you produced, what change have you produced, what client- or market- or even self-facing improvement have you produced as a result of what you’ve just read or watched?

Sometimes that production is private: “I am making the personal rule right now that I will not consume one more e-mail, blog post, book, or video unless I’m ready to stop and take action on what I learn.”

Sometimes that production is public: “I am calling Stacy right now to ask if I can interview her for a testimonial, and then I’m putting that testimonial with her photo on my web site and social media pages.”

But there must be fruit for all the time you’re spending in the garden.

If there’s not yet, or very little to show for your time, that’s 100% okay – there is no time like right now to change.

It can be scary. And confusing. And frustrating.

But you can do this.

I’ve done it. I’ve drifted and had to come back and make that change from consumption to creation and connection over and over again. To err is human, right?

Grace. Forgiveness. But, then, change.

Don’t know how? E-mail me and let me know.

James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.com

P.S. Ready to ‘start over’ and take action? Pick up a copy of my new book Freemium Photography, and work your way through chapter by chapter, taking notes and action every step of the way.Similar Posts:

• Light the fire
• One simple system for success
• Are you an artist or an attention whore?
• Make 2013 your year of Inspiration
• Want to make money as a part time photographer?

You can’t.

Yes yes, you can bring to bear a few dozen technical measures (watermarking, disabling right-clicks, image tiling, image masking…) and put the most threatening language on your web site, contract, and license…

But you can’t stop people from doing pretty much anything they want to do.

And when they do violate your rules, you can seek every venue from public shaming to legal letters to lawsuits to punish them for their transgression.

But…

Dang…

Call me a free-lovin’ hippie, but that’s a lot of negative vibes, maaaan.

Let’s shift the conversation from prevention and punishment to enabling and encouragement.

Here’s what’s worked for me:

1. Give people what they want.

2. Give it to them at a price they can afford.

3. Give them the knowledge and understanding they need to see the value.

Here are some examples of what this may look like as your photography business grows:

Startup: In the early days as a professional photographer, the shortest path to success is the one with massive acceleration. So shoot for free, give people digital files, encourage them to print big and hang on the wall so they get the maximum social and emotional value out of their art. Do in-person proofing and ‘sales’ even if you’re trading out the files for practice, portfolio pieces, and social capital (testimonials, introductions, etc.). This keeps proofs offline, encourages the purchase or appreciation, and gives you the opportunity to educate the client on how best to enjoy the art you’ve made together.

Intermediate: If you’re digital-centric like me, learn to make a wide variety of great images fast, and sell digital packages full of photos your clients “can’t live without.” If you want to shift to print, start the process of evolving your art, the language around your work, your target market, and your sales sessions to focus on the experience and value of big prints.

Advanced: Level up your art until the demand is high among the more discerning clientele in your market. Sell digital files at wall art prices. Or sell wall art at wall art prices. Make fewer, better photos.

Keep in mind, clients aren’t buying your photographs; they’re buying the feelings your photographs enable for them, and the experience that’s crafted to elicit and explore those feelings. The more you focus on the feelings of your work rather than the facts of it (size, discounts, paper, ink, session length, megapixels…), the faster you’ll connect with your market and see the success you’re hungry for.

Not sure how to do this? E-mail me and let me know.

James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.com

Similar Posts:

• Debate: Is longevity the selling point for photography studio prints (and their prices)?
• Learn what works, then multiply by your uniqueness
• How to choose the right photography products to sell
• Help! My photography prints don’t look like what I see in Photoshop
• Culling and post-processing your first photo shoot – Your First Customer Series, Part 8

But who else are you doing this for?

I make art for myself… I think I’d go crazy if I didn’t spend most of my waking hours creating.

But I also make art for my kids… So they see the example of embracing your inner truth, fighting the resistance, and putting your heart and soul out there against all outside (and inside) pressure.

And I make art for my clients… I’ve been blessed with the talent and interest to make photos people are grateful to have, and to write words people are encouraged to read.

And I make art for my community… The financial boons of staying the course through the free season and into paid work gives me more to give back to the good causes in my city and world.

And I make art for my God… Grant Cardone, longtime sales trainer, talks about how it is one’s ethical duty to take what you have to offer the world and get it into the hands of as many people as possible who would be blessed by it. To shy away from this calling because of internal fear or external adversity is an insult to the creator who endowed you with the seeds of talent, opportunity, and inspiration. For the less spiritually inclined, Gary Vaynerchuk preaches that being alive at all is winning the ultimate lottery, and if you waste it, “You suck.”

This to say, your dream of success as a professional photographer is anything but selfish.

Yeah, the vision in your head might be of big checks from clients and recognition from your peers, of expensive camera gear and the best studio equipment and a personal assistant…but the impact of your success is a waterfall of blessings that pour out on you, your family, your clients, your community, and our shared world.

Take a minute to feel good about this. What you’re doing is pretty awesome.

Having a hard time feeling awesome in your journey? E-mail me and let me know.

James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.com.Similar Posts:

• How to slay anxiety as a photographer going into the New Year
• The Selfish Part Time Photographer
• How to overcome limiting beliefs about sales and marketing
• What does a successful part time photographer look like? – Startup Series, Part 4
• Are you an artist or an attention whore?

“I am my own worst enemy.”

Let’s flip the script:

“I am my own greatest hero.”

What would that look like for you? To be your own greatest hero in this photography journey.

E-mail me and let me know.

James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.com

P.S. Book 2 in my Freemium Photography series, The Photographer’s Journey, will address this powerful internal shift. If you haven’t picked up your copy, you can grab Freemium Photography for only $5.Similar Posts:

• Your feelings probably aren’t helping you win as a photographer
• How practice overcomes perfectionism
• Why so serious?
• How to get your first client in a new photography business – the Your First Customer Series
• Climbing the mountain of success – Part II: The Dip

One of my biggest frustrations in life is a lack of time.

So many people to talk with, so many projects to undertake, so many ideas to make real, so much art to make, so many artists to help, so many books to read, so many blog posts to write, so many e-mails to send, so many games to play, so many movies and YouTube videos and music videos and CreativeLive courses to watch…

The math equation to determine your level of frustration is:

Ambition X Busyness

And don’t forget to carry the “I have barely enough energy to scroll through Instagram…”

I’ve written before about essentialism – the art of doing the most important work first. And I’ve written a series on time management and prioritization and motivation.

I’m re-reading the book Scrum by Jeff Sutherland, and here’s just one trick from that powerful organizational system:

The Rolling To-do List

(or Backlog, in Scrumspeak)

Emma has two boys, both under the age of 3 – both are napping less and less as they get older, which is leaving Emma hurting for time to work on her photography business.

She e-mailed me recently asking the ultimate time management question: how do I get more done in less time?

Particularly when that time isn’t consistent…15 minutes here, 2 hours there…

I’m a big fan of time blocking: scheduling chunks of time, usually 90 minutes, to deep dive into the Next Steps work of your art and business. But that won’t work if you have woeful little control over your free time. (I’m trying to get this e-mail out in the next 16 minutes before I need to wake up my youngest from her nap and fetch the eldest from her color guard practice.)

I’m compelled to turn this post into a 10-page course on Scrum Lite For Photographers, but let me focus on the rolling to-do list.

• Step 1: Create your backlog. List every to-do list item you could possibly dream of here. Nothing is too big or too small.
• Step 2: Roughly prioritize this list by putting the most important stuff at the top. (no perfection here, you can change it later)
• Step 3: Break down your top 3-5 to-do list items into baby steps: the smallest bite-sized, doable version of Next Steps to complete and achieve arguable success with that project or action item.
• Step 4: Anytime you have time, from 5 minutes to 90 or beyond, just bring up your list and start working on Item #1. Don’t think about it, don’t ponder the perfection of it, just Do The Work. If Item #1 is a beast that you can make no tangible progress on in 5 minutes, and you only have 5 minutes, grab the highest-level item that you CAN make progress on in the time you have.
• [Advanced: Next to each item, assign a Fibonacci number equal to the item’s perceived requirement of effort: 1 for fast and easy (a 1-5 minute task), 2 for harder, 3, 5, 8, 13 for the ugliest frogs to swallow. Or, if you prefer, rate by dog: Chihuaha, Shih Tzu, French Bulldog….to Great Dane.]

Test this for 30 days. See if you’re not making more progress with what little time you have on the most important actions that will move you forward in your art and business.

Then, change anything and everything about this system you want, to make it work FOR YOU. Have the confidence that you’re smart enough to see what is and isn’t working, and to change things and test them to see how to make it work better.

And, yes, this does mean you have permission to go out and buy a bunch of colorful sticky notes and turn your wall into a makeshift Running To-do List or Scrum board.

Have fun.

What’s your biggest hesitation to testing this system? What is and isn’t working for you in time management? E-mail me and let me know.

James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.comSimilar Posts:

• Productivity For Photographers: What Gets Scheduled Gets Done
• Want to make money as a part time photographer?
• This five-minute practice will change your story
• Productivity for Photographers: Kaizen
• Light the fire