Stop dragging your feet

Despite your own hangups about your appearance…

…it’s important to stop dragging your feet and invest in photos that help you grow your business.

As someone who hated being in front of a camera for the vast majority of his life, I understand how some experts hate portrait sessions. 

Photo after photo, it feels like a magnifying glass is zeroing in on every perceived imperfection that you’ve obsessing over for years, perhaps all your life. 

I know - it’s so painful that it becomes something, for many, to be avoided. 

With that being said…

(John slides his soapbox into view and steps on top of it…)

You’ve spent years working to establish a knowledge base on a topic that is of the utmost importance to you, for one reason or another. Perhaps you believe in the mission it sets out for you, or the information itself has transformed your life, or (fill in the blank with your passionate why) …

As a result, you’ve established a comprehensive expertise in an area that can help a lot of people get past that thing that’s holding them back. 

You have a business model that allows this expertise to be shared in a variety of ways, be it through speeches, workshops, courses and online communities. 

You desire to grow your business in a way that allows you to live a lifestyle you want for yourself and your family. 

So what am I getting at?

Stop dragging your feet - your photos are too important a purpose for you to put them on hold. 

Much like any challenge that you face within your business, you meet it head on with a plan of action that will produce valuable results. 

Of course, all plans of action aren’t created equal. 

But, having a plan gives you something to clutch to when the anxiety and uneasiness pops up.

Perhaps:

• You need to pump yourself up with a series of “I am…” affirmations

• You need to exercise, drink more water, sleep and feel generally healthier than you are today

• You need to talk to a friend, colleague or family to share your uneasiness with them

• You need an extra hour or two with your therapist

Or…

Perhaps you simply need to be reminded that the thing that drives you crazy about how you look is based on a story that only YOU tell yourself, and no one else cares about in the slightest. 

Do people care that you have one eye smaller than the other? 20 pounds heavier than you’d like to be? More wrinkled than you’d care to share? Or… (insert perceived imperfection that bothers you)?

Notice? Maybe, maybe not.

Care? Nope.

At the end of the day, when they investigate more about how you can help solve their problem, they’re thinking about THEMSELVES, first and foremost, not YOU.

The point being is that the story inside your head is yours, and yours alone.

While it is challenging to get past these self-defeating thoughts, there are ways in which to do so for the greater good of those your serve, yourself and your family. 

So get over yourself and do to work.

Think of standing in front of a photographer’s lens as a victory for your business and for yourself on a personal and emotional level, and some kind of tortuous exercise that will leave you drained and miserable afterwards. 

You have a lot of people out in the world waiting to discover you.

Don’t keep them waiting, or they’ll simply find someone else that may or may not deliver the same experience of transformation as you do. 

Don’t even give them a chance to find out. 

You’re better than that, and you know it.

(John steps off soapbox and walks off into the distance…)

Over to you…

What are your feelings on being in front of a camera? What comes up for you? Or, what’s holding you back from booking a session?

Please share your story in the comment section below.