The 3 Secrets To Staying Motivated In Your Job While You Build Your Photography Business

I know many of my readers are working at photography as a second job – an income source – while they pursue their passion in photography.

That’s how we started too.

When we first decided to become professional photographers, we were working in corporate America, handling the 9 to 5 during the week, and working at our photography nights and weekends.

We did that for several years as we learned more about photography, more about being an entrepreneur, and discovering that we wanted to move beyond part time into the full time status.

When we first started out, photography was our “fun”; it was something we did together on the side. We didn’t think it would become a business. We just enjoyed doing it and wanted to be the best we could be.

Then Andrew lost 3 jobs in three years.

I watched my Dad die – constantly living with the stress of worrying about whether his 30 year career would be there the next day.

And I started listening to the people around me. I remember working with people my age saying things like “3 years down, 30 to go”. And even then I knew deep inside that was wrong.

So I started thinking about me. Actually, Andrew and I started thinking about we.

And we decided we didn’t want life in the normal way.

When you look at it, you have around 80 years on this planet. That’s 960 months. Or 4,160 weeks. If you take away your childhood years, school years, and retirement years, its more like 2,080 weeks. That’s it.

It doesn’t sound like much when you say “I have to work 2,080 weeks in my lifetime.”

And watching other people hate what they did, or actually counting down their lives as quickly as possible wasn’t doing it for me. So I looked at it differently. Even while I had to work at the corporate job while we built up our photography business, I decided to do things a bit differently.

Motivation Secret #1: Stop Caring So Much

Many people today work 50, 60 hours a week because they are worried they might not have a job tomorrow. They commit to overtime, weekend work, and even forgo vacations, all because they are worried “the boss” may lay them off due to budget cuts and financial problems. They want to “look good” in the company’s eyes.

Guess what? I know many, many people that had that attitude and ended up with a pink slip anyway. [Read more…]

How To Fall In Love With Your Photography Again

Ever get to a point where you’re just not having fun any more?

The images you used to take that thrilled you – now just feel like you’re in repeat mode, taking the same things again and again.

Even the clients you used to love now seem to get on your nerves, no matter how hard you try to appease them. And even the littlest of tasks have become tedious and boring.

Is it time to quit and start something new?

A business is a lot like a relationship. When it’s new and fresh, you are passionate about each other and can’t wait to spend time together. But when you’ve been together for years, it takes more work, more spontaneity to keep the passion alive and burning. It’s not that its not there; it just takes time and dedication to keep it alive.

To keep your business alive, maybe its time to do something a bit different. Something that will help bring back the passion you felt when things were brand new.

#1 Learn Something New

People usually get stuck in a rut when they continue to do the same things again and again. So the easiest way to get out of your rut is by changing what you do.

Head over to Google and start searching for classes in your area. You can head to a community college – they usually have adult education classes that last anywhere from one evening to a multiple week program. Look for chambers or other networking groups, and find out what seminars are coming to your area in the next month. Or find some photographic groups that meet in your area, and sign up for something you’ve never tried before – a Photoshop retouching class, or even a course in a new niche.

It doesn’t matter if its photography related or not; just something that gets your creative juices flowing again. It’s a way to look forward to your day again instead of feeling lost and on the path to nowhere. [Read more…]