Are you motivated by the success of other photographers or do you get jealous and some little voice in you wants to see them fail flat on their face?
Just because some photographers may seem like money magnets because they stay busy doesn't mean that you cannot achieve financial success in photography as well. If you are in photography solely because of the money, you may need to rethink your strategy. However, if you are in photography because you have a passion for it and would like to make a comfortable living doing photography full time, that is completely possible with a commitment to ongoing hard work.
I was on the phone recently with a photographer that I have seen grow his business drastically over the last 3 years. When I first connected with him via LinkedIn, he had only been doing photography for a few months. On the call, he said that I hope this doesn't seem like I'm bragging, but I've generated $6,000 in business over the last two days. FYI, he has no studio, no 1099 contractors and no employee's which I must admit even makes me stop for a minute to think about my overhead vs. his. However, I was not jealous of his financial success but happy for him. It motivates me to push myself. I know that he has worked hard to build his photography business. He hasn't achieved it by sitting around waiting for it to happen.
Another photographer that I know is just hitting his 1 year anniversary and staying very busy, but he is willing to drive all over the United States to do it. Yes, DRIVE! He is just about to or just did finish up a 12 day driving, multi-state, lots of shooting on the road venture. This photographer is willing to do things that I'm not willing to do. Yes, I do travel on a regular basis, but I'm not willing to drive thousands of miles on a 12 day stretch and sleep in the back of my truck. On the other hand, it doesn't make sense for me to sit back and be jealous of his success if I'm not willing to do what he does. However, his determination to do whatever it takes to stay busy does motivates me to do the things that I am willing to do like consistently write content (as one example).
Joel Grimes is a nationally recognized photographer. Although I don't know him personally, I have hear him say on a video that he did hundreds of cold calls in the early stages of his career and that he would not have the level of success that he does today without all those initial cold calls. Are you willing to cold call hours a day to build your photography business? I'm not. I hate getting cold calls and I hate doing them. But if I get jealous of Joel's success knowing that beyond his massive amounts of hard work and his creativity that he made hundreds of cold calls to build his business that I'm not willing to make, then I'm not being productive with the things that I am willing to do to grow my business.
Moral of the story: Work hard, be willing to do what others have done to get where they are at and stop being jealous of the success of other photographers. Get Motivated! Make It Happen!
David Williams
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