Creative crisis to catharsis
Having trouble figuring out how to solve the problems of those you serve?
Instead of looking outward for the answers, look within.
The first few years of my photography business was a shit show, there’s really no other way to put it.
In addition to shooting anything that had a check attached to the end of it, I was creatively all over the place.
I refer to this time in my life as my creative crisis.
During this time, I spent a lot of days on social, following all types of portrait photographers from around the world, watching what they were posting, and trying my best to replicate what I saw in order to build my business around what they were creating.
So, every week, I’d book models and ask friends to pose for me as I experimented…
And experimented…
And experimented some more…
And you know what happened?
While I had a growing portfolio of work, I felt disconnected from what I was creating.
For months, I felt lost, dejected and defeated.
Why?
I turned myself into a camera monkey, churning out work with no real purpose - I really didn’t know who this work would benefit.
By spending all my time looking outward to replicate work that’s already been done, I never looked within to find my own style, approach and visual voice.
Truth be told, I was afraid that if I focused on what I wanted to shoot, no one would care and I wouldn’t be able to book any work.
By the same token, the copycat photographer life felt lame, unfulfilling, and defeated the purpose of quitting my TV career and starting my own thing.
Oh, and this approach wasn’t booking any clients whatsoever.
Long story short, I was quite a pickle. I knew I had to put on my big boy pants and do something about it.
So, one day, I decided that I was going to ignore what every other photographer was doing by deleting all of them from my social accounts, and look within for direction and guidance.
Man, that shit was scary, but I did it anyway.
And I’m glad I did.
It was shortly after I made that decision that I had an epiphany:
By combining my experiences behind a video camera with my passion for headshot and live event photography, I realized that this combination could really produce some interesting work.
And then, it really started to take shape the moment I started talking about the idea with actual expert business owners.
As I would kick the idea around with various folks, I’d hear about their particular image needs based on why, what and how they communicate with their audiences.
Those answers helped immensely to tailor my style and approach to shooting portraits in a way that directly helps solve problems for people with whom I wanted to serve.
And that was the spark that started the whole damn thing :)
I bring this up because when I work with a lot of emerging speakers, authors, consultants, trainers and other expert business owners, they spend a lot of time comparing themselves to other experts in their space.
They check on their every move and figure out a way to replicate what they’re doing.
And in many cases, then spend an inordinate amount of time spinning their wheels, gaining zero traction, because what works for one expert is a wrong turn for another.
Skip that time-sucking experience by looking within to identify your very own secret sauce.
Listen carefully and intentionally to the needs of those you serve in order to sharpen and focus how your flavor of expertise solves their problems.
Easier said than done, but you know what?
It’s an amazing journey of self-discovery that leads to a fulfilling path of service…
…that is uniquely yours and yours alone :)
Long story short, the juice is worth the squeeze.
Your turn…
What challenges did you face when you first started formalizing the structure of your expert-based business? What was standing in your way? Please share in the comment section.