Tony Robbins, arguably the biggest motivational speaker who ever lived, was the closing speaker at the four-day business and marketing conference I spoke at last week.
Yes, little old me, mama of three college kids who's just a photographer got asked to speak on the same stage as Tony Robbins.
How amazing is that?
Friend, if you're in a season where you're feeling stuck right now, here are five powerful shifts you can make today so that you can create the photography business you want for you and your family.
1. GROWTH AND CONTRIBUTION ARE THE ONLY SUSTAINABLE PATH TO HAPPINESS
Most people are looking for happiness and can’t seem to find it.
This is why I'm so passionate about teaching portrait photographers the boutique business model.
Because I truly believe it is the most direct path to happiness as portrait photographers.
We are creating artwork to lift our clients up.
We're living a life that has meaning.
I want to make a difference and I know you do, too.
If you want to be happy, invest in your growth and contribute to the world.
2. WHERE YOUR FOCUS GOES, ENERGY FLOWS
Are you just moving through life like a little zombie?
Sometimes in life, we have to be in survival mode and we're lucky just to get through the day and that's checking a very big box.
But as time goes on, if we want to make change in our lives, we have to put our focus on it.
If there's somewhere you want to grow or change in your business, put your focus there and that's where your energy will go.
When you put your focus and your energy on your business every day and you make it your goal to fix your life by creating a profitable business, it can give you the time back in your life and it can help you create a career that builds you up as a leader and creates meaning in your community.
3. DON’T NEGOTIATE WITH YOURSELF
Most of us would say that we would love to have a photography business that's our main income.
You talk about all these dreams and then when you get the opportunity to build your business, you negotiate yourself out of it.
You say that you don't have the time, money, connections, etc.
Stop negotiating with yourself.
Put the activities that you want to accomplish on your calendar and show up for yourself.
4. YOU GET WHAT YOU TOLERATE
Are you tolerating being in a relationship with a friend who is toxic and treats you terribly?
Your kids talk back to you, because you're tolerating it.
I would rather get through some short-term pain to fix whatever it is in my life that's broken than have long-term suffering.
Think about that.
Tolerate less.
Quit justifying why you aren't living your best life.
5. TRUST YOURSELF
I want you to look at yourself as that best friend that you have.
Think of your most trustworthy friend.
The one that's always there for you, always positive, that always says exactly what you need to hear.
And I want you to be that for yourself.
You have gifts that the world needs.
You are meant for more, portrait photographers.
Your dreams were planted into you for a reason and you have to trust that vision and not all of the negative voices coming at you.
But you know where the worst and meanest messages come from?
They come from you.
I want you to start trusting yourself.
And when you start trusting yourself every day and you practice trusting yourself, that's where the magic starts.
Look, I get it.
It's hard.
It's scary to put yourself in what you want first.
But if you surround yourself with the right people who have been there before, who can hold your hand through the fire, you cannot imagine what you can accomplish.
We all need someone to believe in us more than we believe in ourselves.
We live in a day and age of unlimited possibilities and your own beliefs about what you can and can't do are the only thing holding you back.
