Who are you doing this for?
It's okay to do this for yourself - to pursue a career in professional photography for the sake of your own creative expression, social expansion, and financial betterment.
But who else are you doing this for?
I make art for myself... I think I'd go crazy if I didn't spend most of my waking hours creating.
But I also make art for my kids... So they see the example of embracing your inner truth, fighting the resistance, and putting your heart and soul out there against all outside (and inside) pressure.
And I make art for my clients... I've been blessed with the talent and interest to make photos people are grateful to have, and to write words people are encouraged to read.
And I make art for my community... The financial boons of staying the course through the free season and into paid work gives me more to give back to the good causes in my city and world.
And I make art for my God... Grant Cardone, longtime sales trainer, talks about how it is one's ethical duty to take what you have to offer the world and get it into the hands of as many people as possible who would be blessed by it. To shy away from this calling because of internal fear or external adversity is an insult to the creator who endowed you with the seeds of talent, opportunity, and inspiration. For the less spiritually inclined, Gary Vaynerchuk preaches that being alive at all is winning the ultimate lottery, and if you waste it, "You suck."
This to say, your dream of success as a professional photographer is anything but selfish.
Yeah, the vision in your head might be of big checks from clients and recognition from your peers, of expensive camera gear and the best studio equipment and a personal assistant...but the impact of your success is a waterfall of blessings that pour out on you, your family, your clients, your community, and our shared world.
Take a minute to feel good about this. What you're doing is pretty awesome. :)
Having a hard time feeling awesome in your journey? E-mail me and let me know.
James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.com.
"I am my own worst enemy..."
So many of us photographers say it:
"I am my own worst enemy."
Let's flip the script:
"I am my own greatest hero."
What would that look like for you? To be your own greatest hero in this photography journey.
E-mail me and let me know.
James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.com
P.S. Book 2 in my Freemium Photography series, The Photographer's Journey, will address this powerful internal shift. If you haven't picked up your copy, you can grab Freemium Photography for only $5.
The Rolling To-Do List
I'm a single dad of three kids, work a full-time job, and love spending time with the people I love.
One of my biggest frustrations in life is a lack of time.
So many people to talk with, so many projects to undertake, so many ideas to make real, so much art to make, so many artists to help, so many books to read, so many blog posts to write, so many e-mails to send, so many games to play, so many movies and YouTube videos and music videos and CreativeLive courses to watch...
The math equation to determine your level of frustration is:
Ambition X Busyness
And don't forget to carry the "I have barely enough energy to scroll through Instagram..."
I've written before about essentialism - the art of doing the most important work first. And I've written a series on time management and prioritization and motivation.
I'm re-reading the book Scrum by Jeff Sutherland, and here's just one trick from that powerful organizational system:
The Rolling To-do List
(or Backlog, in Scrumspeak)
Emma has two boys, both under the age of 3 - both are napping less and less as they get older, which is leaving Emma hurting for time to work on her photography business.
She e-mailed me recently asking the ultimate time management question: how do I get more done in less time?
Particularly when that time isn't consistent...15 minutes here, 2 hours there...
I'm a big fan of time blocking: scheduling chunks of time, usually 90 minutes, to deep dive into the Next Steps work of your art and business. But that won't work if you have woeful little control over your free time. (I'm trying to get this e-mail out in the next 16 minutes before I need to wake up my youngest from her nap and fetch the eldest from her color guard practice.)
I'm compelled to turn this post into a 10-page course on Scrum Lite For Photographers, but let me focus on the rolling to-do list.
- Step 1: Create your backlog. List every to-do list item you could possibly dream of here. Nothing is too big or too small.
- Step 2: Roughly prioritize this list by putting the most important stuff at the top. (no perfection here, you can change it later)
- Step 3: Break down your top 3-5 to-do list items into baby steps: the smallest bite-sized, doable version of Next Steps to complete and achieve arguable success with that project or action item.
- Step 4: Anytime you have time, from 5 minutes to 90 or beyond, just bring up your list and start working on Item #1. Don't think about it, don't ponder the perfection of it, just Do The Work. If Item #1 is a beast that you can make no tangible progress on in 5 minutes, and you only have 5 minutes, grab the highest-level item that you CAN make progress on in the time you have.
- [Advanced: Next to each item, assign a Fibonacci number equal to the item's perceived requirement of effort: 1 for fast and easy (a 1-5 minute task), 2 for harder, 3, 5, 8, 13 for the ugliest frogs to swallow. Or, if you prefer, rate by dog: Chihuaha, Shih Tzu, French Bulldog....to Great Dane.]
Test this for 30 days. See if you're not making more progress with what little time you have on the most important actions that will move you forward in your art and business.
Then, change anything and everything about this system you want, to make it work FOR YOU. Have the confidence that you're smart enough to see what is and isn't working, and to change things and test them to see how to make it work better.
And, yes, this does mean you have permission to go out and buy a bunch of colorful sticky notes and turn your wall into a makeshift Running To-do List or Scrum board.
Have fun. :)
What's your biggest hesitation to testing this system? What is and isn't working for you in time management? E-mail me and let me know.
James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.com
Why so serious?
Are you okay?
This is what my coworker asked me last week as I glared intensely at my computer screen, tight in the shoulder and hunched in the back.
I bet as you're reading this e-mail, if you check in with yourself real quick, you'll realize where the tension is settling in your body. Shoulders, back, gut, arms, hands...deeper, head and heart, right?
My pastor on Sunday likened that tension, worry, anxiety, to sitting in a rocking chair.
Back and forth... "Oh Lord, here we go, I bet this is going to turn out badly..."
Back and forth... "This client is going to hate my photos, I know it..."
Back and forth... "I shouldn't ask that person to shoot with me, they'll think I'm crazy or a weirdo..."
Back and forth... "Gosh I can't believe how imperfect my art / pricing / web site / business cards / personality / sense of humor / awkwardness is..."
Stop.
Take a breath.
Shake out that tension.
Get up out of the rocking chair.
And...have some fun.
Did you forget that you own your business?
Did you forget that you are in charge?
Did you forget that you can do more of what you enjoy and less of what sucks?
Did you forget that you're on this journey because you WANT to be?
I forget - trust, I forget all the dang time. That's when I find myself in the rocking chair, back and forth, tensed up like a dog who just ate a pair of momma's nicest shoes. That's when my coworkers or friends ask me, "Dude, are you okay?"
Are you having fun with this journey?
How can you have more fun as a professional photographer?
Not sure? E-mail me and let me know what you're dealing with. I'm always here to help.
James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.com
P.S. My Freemium Photography book is now available for only $5. In it, I get out of the way, and give you the best business model (from how to make better art, to how to get booked solid, to how to launch) I've seen and tested and refined after 18 years of professional photography. It's simple, practical, and works. Hallelujah, right? :)
Read this if you're socially anxious
I’m not going to tell you to get over it. To just brave up and get outside your comfort zone. Nor to accept defeat.
If you suffer from severe social anxiety, it’s a non-starter to suggest you start cold calling potential co-op partners or approaching strangers at Starbucks. I encourage this kind of direct engagement because it gets you booked solid faster.
But it’s not the only path to success.
I have a lot of heart for my fellow artist-entrepreneurs who suffer from social anxiety. How to grow your art and business when so many ‘normal’ social interactions are anywhere from hard to impossible?
It’s okay. Your path just looks different.
Your path is more passive. Your path is more digital. Your path is slower, but equally persistent, with just as much hustle, and potential.
I know you’re not using social anxiety as an excuse to be lazy, or to not ‘brave up.’ I know that just answering the phone or being the first to reach out by text or e-mail is a BIG deal, with powerful physical and emotional reactions.
Some of us are in wheelchairs. Some of us have weird senses of humor. Some of us are almost blind. Some of us are socially anxious.
- Step 1: Give yourself grace, and let go of the sense that you even need allowance or forgiveness for your social anxiety. It’s just a reality, one ingredient in the recipe that makes you the unique artist and person you are.
- Step 2: Let go of all the BS stories that make you feel bad for how you are, that make you feel unworthy or incapable of success. If you wouldn’t tell someone in a wheelchair or with no hair or with a lisp that they can’t be a professional photographer because of how they are, then stop telling yourself the same.
- Step 3: Let’s brainstorm. If you accept your social anxiety and stop feeling bad about it, if you let it be okay, what are the new rules of your game as an entrepreneur? How are you going to rewrite your story and game plan and road map as a professional photographer to work with your social anxiety instead of through or around it?
Take this idea as far as you can for now. Then start executing on it.
Stuck here? Not sure how to untie this knot? E-mail me and let me know, and we’ll work on it together.
James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.com
P.S. I have a book in the hopper on how to deploy my Freemium Photography business model specifically for those with social anxiety. Would you like to see me move that book up in my writing queue? Drop me a line and let me know!
How practice overcomes perfectionism
Perfectionism is a killer as a artist-entrepreneur.
We pour so much of ourselves into our work, then tie our identity closely to that work. We get scared to "sell" ourselves because we identify so closely with our art and business - a rejection of our work is a rejection of ourselves.
That hurts.
I'm a people-pleaser, so it's doubly painful for me - not only do I fear rejection, but I don't want to do be a bother, to annoy, to harass. (all fears we hold around asking people to do business with us)
A concept I learned in the audiobook The Practicing Mind is the self-soothing saying of "I'm just practicing."
If we're Mr. or Ms. Big Shot Professional Photographer, there's no room for imperfection.
But if we're "just practicing," imperfection is expected. Even embraced, because we're 'failing forward' - we're trying and testing and learning and growing.
Whenever I get too caught up in my own head and ego, I catch myself, stop, and say, "I'm just practicing."
We'll never be perfect.
We're going to fail - and thus learn - a lot along the way.
And every time I run into a wall, despite the emotions around that, I know I'm facing both a challenge and an opportunity to carry on where others would quit.
Every time I persist, and every time I make progress.
Hey.
It's okay.
Whatever is scaring you, or holding you back, especially if it's your own thoughts and feelings...
It's okay.
Give yourself grace, and tell yourself, "I'm just practicing."
See if that doesn't help get you unstuck and having fun again with your photography.
What's the biggest challenge holding you back today? E-mail me and let me know.
James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.com
P.S. Laci read my new book Freemium Photography and said "This was an awesome read that pushed me to really think about what I am looking for in my journey as a photographer. It kept me scrolling and wanting to read more and it was perfect timing for where I am at currently." Freemium Photography is now available for immediate download right here.
What's my professional photography niche again?
A conundrum:
One of the fastest ways to gain traction as an early-stage professional photographer is to tighten your niche: who specifically do you serve, and in what unique way?
But...how do you know what niche you want to serve if you haven't worked with enough clients?
Coaches of coaches Greg Faxon and Toku McCree were talking authentic sales and marketing last week, and Greg brought up the concept of the niche spiral:
Instead of looking at choosing your niche as a final and inflexible sentence, look at the process of defining your niche as a spiral. You start on the outside with a rough idea of what kind of niche you want to serve, and as you do shoots and gather data, as you work with different kinds of clients, you begin to circle in on the kinds of clients you most love and want to serve.
Start with your obvious preferences: if you hate kids, don't be a family photographer. If you love kids, start with them. If you love moody, emotional, moving black and white relationship portraiture, make that. If you hate that moody stuff and love wild colors and pillow fights and big laughter, well...make that.
If you have no clue, try this:
1. What kind of photos are you drawn to? If multiple kinds or styles, how could you synthesize and remix those styles together for your own vibe?
2. Think back to a time when you experienced and overcame a hardship. How can you connect that experience, those emotions, to the kinds of clients you might like to serve? This offers built-in empathy and understanding with your clientele.
3. What are your hobbies and interests outside of photography? What's your best friend's personality like? Where does he or she shop or hang out? Build an avatar of your ideal client from the people you most like to spend time with.
From here, make something up and test it. Form a thesis: "I like portraits of kids having fun being kids, with lots of color. I remember being the nerdy but creative theater kid, and what that was like in school. I love music and video games. My best friend and I love to crack wit, solve problems, and talk about health and fitness. We shop or hang out at Starbucks, Vitamin Shoppe, Planet Fitness, Barnes and Noble, and Texas Roadhouse."
That paints a pretty vivid picture of a niche to test, right?
Do what works for you to get some clarity:
- Mind map these words and ideas, see how it all connects for you;
- Print out a bunch of images that represent these truths for you, lay them out on the table or floor, and start moving things around to see the relationships;
- Talk this out with a good friend and see what they see that you can't see clearly.
Once you have a grasp on the niche you want to serve, just keep that front and center: make sure your art communicates your love for that niche; also your portfolio, your web site, your blog and e-mail newsletter, your business cards, the places you advertise and leave your flyers and volunteer.
Test for 3-6 months. See what hits, what misses. Iterate.
And when and if you want, change it all up. Remember, this is your business: you can change anything and everything you want, anytime. Test. Learn. Adjust. Pivot. Grow. Change.
Your niche is a direction, a focus, a love letter. It's neither a cage nor a death sentence. It's a way of telling yourself, and your market, "FOR NOW, this is who I serve, why I serve them, and how I am the uniquely right photographer for them."
What's the biggest challenge holding you back today? E-mail me and and let me know.
James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.com