8. Find Your Why
Starting out you need to figure out why you do what you do! This will drive and direct where your photography business goes. Your passion will carry you through when times get hard. The “why” behind what you do will keep you going when all else seems unclear! Figure it out early on and let it direct and pave the way for your business! Without passion you won’t survive the first fall, negative feedback, and the late nights that seem to have no end. You can read about my “why” and what drives me on my website.
These are two of my main whys that define my business!
1) Love. First, I have been loved in the most pure and full way from my Savior, God. Second, I have not only experienced this great love from my Spiritual Father but also here on earth. It is powerful and I have felt and experienced it change my life. Love is something for me that first fueled everything from the very start. Because I have been loved I can therefore love in return. Third, I have an ongoing unconditional love in my marriage. My marriage has fueled so much of where I am today. And even now I feel tears coming because every time I think about my husband I think about how blessed I am. He makes my heart flutter everyday. In all the ordinary and simple moments as he goes gets me drinks, takes care of my car, rubs my back, drives me places, sends me good morning texts; for all the romantic moments, when he kisses me and holds me close for every hello and every goodbye, writes me love notes, holds my hands when as we take our adventures; and for all the big moments, building me a website, editing my articles, researching the very best options for me, surprising me with a new camera, praying for me, gently leading me, always putting me first and choosing to love me, coming along on my shoots even when he doesn’t want to, and SO many other ones. Because I have and still to this day am experiencing such a great love I have so much love to give. Why do I do it, because of love. I know it is real and one of my favorite things is meeting couples completely in love. I love to be the one that gets to capture that story and put it on a beautiful display for celebration! I love being an example of a loving marriage for my couples by the way I talk about and to my husband, to the way we support each other, and the way they see us interact and deal with each other on the spot while we are working. I love investing and cultivating that love for their new marriage. This is one of my whys!
2) What I can leave behind. For me photography is such a great opportunity to create a timeless memory for each of my couples. I don’t just capture someones wedding day for them but also for generations to come. For them to one day show their children and even grandkids. Something for them to look back on on their 10 year anniversary, something that can rekindle their love when times get hard or the memory starts to fade. Creating quality and creative art that they will have for the rest of their lives that celebrate their love story. They could have had an amazing wedding but memory will one day fade, one of the things I value most is creating that timeless memory that is going to keep that love going strong for generations to come! In addition that that I want to leave a part of my love with every person I come in contact with! I want to leave people better then I found them. I want to change people’s lives.
9. Keep Going
The first year can be hard for many photography businesses and many times you won’t even make much money. You will have to constantly fight to get your name out there and get a good reputation. It is hard to build that, even if your pictures are better then people who have been doing it for 13 years. It can be really hard to get started. Don’t give up! Keep going! There is so much good yet to come so stick with it!! Find other photographers or creatives that can encourage you to keep pushing your quality of work and that can challenge you to always be better! Do not isolate yourself because you will only get more and more discouraged! You need encouragement, you need people!
10. Community over Competition
I find this point to be one of the most important things of all. If you have never heard it before I am telling you now, it is all about an attitude of community over competition! There is something truly beautiful when photographers (or really any person for that matter) can come together and encourage each other! At the same time though I have seen so much destruction and discouragement come from negativity that competition and jealousy bring and that is truly heartbreaking. One thing that can happen to photographers is that they become isolated and lonely because a competitive spirit fills their heart. All of a sudden now every other photographer is a threat and in competition with you instead of a source for inspiration and encouragement. What a travesty.
Competition tears you down, community builds you up.
Jealousy sucks, we all know this. It can tear you down and make you feel discouraged and not good enough. But lets be honest, it can often be our natural instinct to react with envy when we see someone else doing something great, we must fight against this. It is something that is even harder to do now in our culture of social media but this is why we must always pursue a life of community that builds up and encourages rather then one that tears down. We all will feel discouraged and down at times but let that push us to be better and to build up one another! It is SO easy to put up a wall up towards people you feel threatened by. To the core we can be pretty selfish people, people who want glory for ourselves, so when something comes in the way of that or there is an opportunity for someone to outshine us we feel threatened and sometimes the only thing left for us to do is hold onto bitterness and take them down.
There are a few ways that we can respond to other people’s successes. First, we can fear that their bright flame will overshadow us so we try to put it out so that we will look all the more brighter. Second, we can become bitter about their success and do everything in our power to tear them down. Third, we can jump up for joy and get excited about what someone else is doing because what they are doing is lighting up the world and we just want to be a part of it! Did you see that? That’s community! Isn’t that crazy that we have a choice on how we are going to respond? We can resent people and do everything we can to put out their fire or we can go dance by their flames! So just like Mary Marantz says, lets, “go stand near the fire. Do everything you can to fuel someone else’s flames. And just see if you don’t feel that light in you grow brighter too!”
Something really powerful happens when you cheer people on and most of the time the biggest change will be in you! Celebrate other people’s accomplishments instead of using them as chances to become bitter through comparison, what a joy stealer! Surround yourself with people who are positive and encouraging and who can also guide and support attitudes of optimism! Together lets choose a life that pushes community over competition!!
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