Mindset Success Strategies for Photographers

‘Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right’. – Henry Ford

Have you ever felt like you’re doing all the right things to attract clients to your photography business, working as hard as you can, but despite your best efforts, you’re still not making the progress you’d like, or the money you need?

Then it’s time to review your mindset and take back some control over its impact on your life and business.

To be clear, this isn’t a case of ‘think positively people and everything will work out fine’. Having been in a position of working myself into the ground and still not achieving the success I wanted or being able to do anything more than scrape by each month, I fully understand how soul destroying the constant anxiety of wondering where the next client (and payment) will come from is. And, if someone had come along in my darkest hour and told me to ‘think better thoughts’, I’d probably have strangled them. Changing my inner programming around success has been as the result of consistent work and it’s still (and will always be) a work in progress, but it’s been worth it.

What’s constantly trotting through your mind is the place to start. Your reality, in both life and business, will be a reflection of what’s happening inside your head. If you spend a minute now looking at what’s happening in your photography business in terms of client bookings & income and compare that to the thoughts you think most regularly, I’m 99% sure you’ll see a correlation.

Whilst I’m fully aware of the impact COVID has had on many creative businesses and that there are a lot of photographers who are struggling, there are also plenty of photographers and creatives who are thriving.

Success is down to the ability to adapt quickly as well as mindset and the good news is with some self discipline and self awareness you can shift yours.

‘80% of success is just showing up’. – Woody Allen

Self belief and self worth (which is what the thriving photographers have by the bucket load) are mindsets you can develop, think of them like new habits that you’re forming to replace the old habits of negative thought patterns.

Here are the points I recommend you look at to start shifting your thought processes so they serve you better and help you achieve what you want out of life:

• Start by taking some time to accept where you are right now. We’re constantly working towards new and better things: more clients, more money, a better car, a better camera etc etc and consequently, we’re essentially fighting against where we are now because it seems so far from where we want to be. But could you come to terms with and appreciate where you are and what you’ve got right now? Rather than feeling inadequate about the fact that you don’t drive a Porsche, could you cultivate gratitude for the fact that even if your car is old and has a few dents, it works?

• Pay attention to what you spend most of your time thinking about – if you’re constantly on the worry train, can you stop it in its tracks before you allow the panic to set in and take over? Worry and anxiety are all consuming and paralysing. It’s impossible to take any productive or useful action when you’re constantly second guessing yourself and assuming the worst.

• Think about where it is you want to be in your career or what it is you’d like to achieve. If you put yourself in the shoes of the person you’re aiming to become, how do you need to think and show up differently in your life and business to get yourself there? What does a full time photographer who earns £100k a year do differently to one who earns £20k a year? How can you start taking £100k a year action right now?

• Question your beliefs about success and what’s possible for you. We’re the product of our upbringings and families. If you were constantly told that money is hard to come by or you saw a parent working really hard to earn a living, you’ll likely be unconsciously running those programs too. List out the beliefs that come up for you, question if they’re even really true and then switch them around into more positive statements that will counter the belief.

Get some support if you need it. If you’re really battling with depression or anxiety, see your doctor. If you’re stuck with your business, go on a course join a supportive community or find yourself a coach. As someone who spent way too long trying to figure things out on my own, working with a business coach was transformative.

It’s important to remember that whilst external circumstances are particularly tough right now, they won’t last forever. The action you take now will pay off in a few months time, so working on your mindset really will pay off. I talked more about this in my recent Masterclass with Hunters of Light which you can find here.

When you feel more confident you’ll take better action, the action you take will be more consistent and consequently you’ll see better results. The hard part is getting into a more productive headspace which can be a bit of a push to start with. Give the tips I’ve shared here a try for a week or so and let me know how you get on.