Photographers: The mindset you need in a chaotic world

Video transcript:

What do you do when the world around you is going crazy?

One thing that I think is absolutely important in the midst of all this stuff is that we have the right mindset, or the right attitude to things, so let’s take a closer look at mindset and why it matters!

Now before we do that I want to thank our sponsor for this episode, Urbanimmersive.com. Given all that’s going on with the coronavirus outbreak, photographers are seeing much higher demand for 3d tours of homes because they allow buyers to look around a property without actually visiting, which some people are a little fearful of right now.

So if you’re looking for a way to do that then have a look at what Urbanimmersive call Pocket Websites. These are walk-through 3D tours, they work on every device, there’s no monthly fee like some other services, and you can make them really easily with a Ricoh Z1 which costs about $1000.

So if you’re looking for a way to sell your photography to agents in your area, then this is definitely worth considering, and it looks like it has quite a few advantages over other options so go and check it out.

What's the right mindset for photographers in 2020?

So things are pretty chaotic right now with this pandemic, and it can be really, really tough as a small business owner to not feel overwhelmed.

So what can you do?

The very first thing is to adopt the right mindset, and a big part of that means you must refuse to be defeated.

So for example, if your business goes completely quiet for the next month or more and you have zero photo shoots, you remain positive and you look for the opportunities in that. For example, maybe you could use that month or two to work on some things in your business that you’ve been putting off because you just didn’t have the time to get things done.

So maybe you redesign your website, you build a contact list of dream clients, you plan your social media content for the next 6 months, you learn new skills so you can diversify your client base when this season of chaos is over. Whatever it is, you remain positive and you see this as an absolutely fantastic opportunity to set your business up to be stronger than ever.

I chat with so many photographers who say that they don’t have time to work ON their business because they’re too busy shooting – well maybe this downtime gives you that opportunity.

How do you respond when a client complains about your photos?

Alright, let’s look at another example of where your mindset matters … let’s say you’re shooting and you have a client complain about a photo shoot - instead of blowing up and getting angry, you deal with the situation and fix things up, and you move on.

Whatever happens, don’t dwell on it and think that you must be a failure and let it hold you back, because in spite of that complaint from the client you’ve got to know that you’re good enough to make it in this game … so instead of getting all bitter about it, you’ve got to stop judging yourself and put those mistakes or difficult clients behind you.

Look, you’ve got to remind yourself that the superstars in photography, in business, in music, in sport – the superstars all have something in common – they’ve all been broken or rejected at some stage.

So brokenness and rejection is not the end for you, it’s just something you know is coming. You should expect it because everyone experiences it.

Running your own business is like a game of football, you know the hits are coming, but you’re out there in spite of the hits. You’re out there because you like to win. It doesn’t matter how many times you get hit by the opposition, you get back up from that tackle and you keep on playing. You learn from what happened, you learn why you got taken down, you change your game, and you look forward to the next win.

The problem is that a lot of photographers find it easier to fail. It’s true. People find it easier to be mediocre, complaining about their competition and their clients and everybody else.

You don’t have to go down that path. You find solutions, not excuses.

Find solutions, not excuses.

Make the switch to a different mindset, decide that you’ll no longer complain about all the negative stuff going on and be determined to always find a way forward, and when you do then you’ve got the kind of attitude that can take you far in your business. You’re now looking for solutions – you’re looking for the positives in any situation, and you want to make things happen.

Take action and get stuff done:

So the next thing you want to do is to take action and get stuff done, and that’s because there’s no point thinking good things if you’re not doing good things.

Now when you’re looking at all the things you need to do in your business it can seem pretty huge – you might be looking at creating more social media content, setting up marketing sequences, engaging with prospects, creating new products and services …

It’s huge, and too many photographers get overwhelmed by the enormity of what they see, but the mistake they make is that they look up and they see a mountain, and the mountain is massive and scary and you can’t see how you make it over the mountain and down the other side.

But you don’t need to climb that mountain today – all you need to do is take one step. After you take that 1 step forward you still don’t need to climb that mountain today – all you need to do is take 1 more step.

And no matter how big that mountain is, the next step forward is all you need to do. Just the next step forward – one little action step, one small thing to do, that’s all it takes for now.

I spoke about this a lot more in a video I did a couple of months back on a 3-step action plan, where you block time out in your calendar, you list one thing you’ll do for each category of photography, marketing and pricing, and then you aim to complete all of those activities in 30 days or less.

You see, the future is all yours, and if you want it then Step 1 is to take the right attitude, and step 2 is to shrink that mountain down to a series of small steps and then get stuff done, and if you do both of those then big big things will happen in your business.

Do you need some help?

And look, whether you find it easy to take on a different mindset and you’re ready to launch big, or whether you find that really hard and you need some help with that, it’s ok - I’m here for you.

Reach out to me, send me a message and say ‘Hey Darryl, I need a coach. Can you help me?’ and we can get started in the next couple of days.

Alright, that's it for today, so I hope you've found that helpful, and if you have, then drop a comment with this video or send me an email and let me know what you've done. Bye for now!