Photography burnout happens when you deny your nature
Are you scared that if you go too deep in the weeds with the business, marketing, and sales side of professional photography, that you’ll lose your love for making art?
It’s a valid concern.
I get so wound up about my work - both day job and coaching photographers.
I sometimes catch a bad case of the “shoulds” - I “should” make more sales calls, I “should” work on that magazine project, I “should” offer a small team coaching program, I “should” start doing YouTube videos, I “should” be on social media, I “should” blog daily, I “should” plan a new photography project…
Here’s what I’ve learned, through all of my creative work in newspaper, business, photography, writing, and coaching:
Burnout happens when you deny your nature.
You try to make art that isn’t yours.
You try to adopt business models and prices and philosophies you don’t believe in.
You try to be the photographer you think other people think you should be.
Instead of standing on the solid foundation of your natural strengths, you drift further and further away from your dream, your vision, your values for your art and business. You teeter on the edge, and the constant stress of being out of balance makes you want to call it quits.
If you’re scared of this burnout, check in with yourself often. Call a time-out, stop long enough to look and listen, and make sure you’re building your art and business on your natural strengths.
(daily journaling - I’m partial to bullet journaling - keeps you honest here)
If you’re already burning out, break down the scaffolding you’ve built away from those strengths, take the recovered materials of what you’ve learned, and rebuild from your strengths up.
Not sure what your strengths are? E-mail me and let me know.
- James Michael
NEXT STEPS
Journal on these questions:
1. What are you doing with your art and business that is stressing you out? What feels out of alignment?
2. What if you could ditch the stuff you hate and focus on the parts of professional photography you love?
3. If you had to, how would you make this work?
Starting your photography journey with the end (the real end) in mind
"NONE said they wished they'd watched more TV. NONE said they should've spent more time on Face Book. NONE said they enjoyed fighting with others. NONE enjoyed hospital." - Alastair McAlpine, pediatrician to terminally-ill children
This thread of tweets is one of the most powerful things I've read in months:
https://twitter.com/AlastairMcA30/status/958992792004579328
In it, Alastair shares what his patients, terminally-ill children, told him they wish they had more time to enjoy with their lives.
Pets.
Kindness.
Books.
Ice cream.
I'm a single father of three kids ages 7 to 13, so this just put my heart in a vice.
I immediately went to my journal to ask myself hard questions:
- Am I investing my life into the people and projects that truly make a difference? Would I die tomorrow - or in 10 years - with regrets?
- What would my days look like if I just hit the big Reset button and lived life by the wisdom of these young people?
- What am I grateful for right now? (and every day) How do I get more of that into my life?
If you are an artist - if you feel a gut-level need to create and impact and serve with your photography - you need to give that reality the space it deserves in your life. Becoming or being a professional photographer isn't just a hobby or project or scheme to make money for you.
You're an artist.
Making photos, getting better, affecting people with your work - is as much a part of your base needs as eating, sleeping, and breathing.
One day you'll be on your own deathbed, no time left to procrastinate or put off until 'someday' or 'the right time.'
Are you living your life - and honoring your artistic creativity - today, and every day, in a way that you'll look back without regret?
Choose. Commit. And act.
What's the biggest challenge holding you back today? E-mail me and let me know.
- James Michael
NEXT STEPS
1. Journal (write out your thoughts, digitally or on paper) on this question: "Am I living every day in a way that I could die tomorrow, or in 10 years, with no regrets?"
2. Open your calendar. Block an hour to work on your photography this week. The sooner the better. When you commit to and then honor that time, look at your calendar again; find another hour, and block it off. Repeat until photography is once again a consistent part of your life.
3. Meditate on "memento mori" - remember death. "Let us prepare our minds as if we’d come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life’s books each day. … The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time." - Seneca. Remembering that you could die at any time instills a healthy and powerful mindset that time is precious, and fleeting. Do what's most important today - and every day.
Does money matter to a professional photographer?
Money matters.
Other things matter more - love, health, service.
But money matters.
Money can’t buy you happiness, true, but it’s hard to see the happiness through the collections calls and tax liens and tears in your kids’ eyes when you can barely afford beans and rice for supper, much less Chuck E. Cheese.
Money matters when you’re so busy and stressed figuring out how to pay the bills, that you’re not present - much less emotionally available - for your spouse and kids and friends.
Money matters when money stress creates a downward spiral in your health, self confidence, and relationships.
Money matters when you begin to look at people with more money - not even a lot, just more - with anger, frustration, and envy...maybe jealousy. “I work just as hard if not harder than him, but he just bought a new car, and I can’t even pay my electric bill this month. What the hell?”
Money matters when you can't get by each month without the charity of others.
Money matters when you’re stealing out of the kids’ piggy bank to pay for groceries.
Money matters when you can’t live a peaceful, humble, grateful life through the shame, and fear.
I have lived every one of these experiences, some during my childhood and some since I became an adult. I have felt this pain intimately. And can we just be real for a minute and say out loud, "It sucks."
They say what got you here won't get you there.
It's true of taking the next steps in your photography business. Whether you need to get to launch so you can start getting paid for your art, or you need to put more clients on the books, if what you're doing now isn't getting you to the place you need to be, you need to change the game.
The two big questions:
"WHAT do I change?"
and, of course,
"HOW do I do it?"
That's different for every photographer. Maybe you need some help being brave. Maybe you need to rewrite internal stories of low self-worth. Maybe you need a purposeful sales funnel and, for now, a free way to fill it. Just to get some momentum. Maybe you need some help overcoming fear, stagnation, and procrastination. Maybe you need a 30-day plan. Maybe you need to ask yourself some hard questions.
What's the biggest challenge holding you back today? Drop me an e-mail and let me know.
- James Michael
What's the point of being a photographer?
“That’s the point of being an artist, right? You feel something and you have to get it out.” - T-Boz, of the band TLC, as interviewed by James Altucher
Some folks I visit with here on PTP are money-first: they got into professional photography to make money with their cameras.
But for the vast majority, there's something inside that burns like embers, just waiting on a little air and fuel to ignite.
That deep internal fire - creativity, expression, vision, fulfillment - is what makes us artists. Like T-Boz says - you feel something and you have to get it out. We photographers do this with our cameras, lenses, and Photoshop.
What's the point of being a professional photographer?
Money is good.
Creativity and service are better.
Fulfillment is best.
The resistance hits us when the art we make doesn't come out the way we hoped, and our phone doesn't ring with new clients. It's a long, confusing, windy road from where we are today to the art and business we dream of making. And every time we hit an obstacle - unhappy client, panicky photo shoot, art well below our expectation - it's like a raincloud forms and douses that fire burning inside.
"Why can't I figure this out?"
"I shoot and I shoot, but I don't feel like I'm getting any better."
"I will never be as good as I dream of being."
Do you feel like you're running on steam right now? Or is your internal fire raging, and you just need help directing that powerful energy?
Drop me an e-mail today and I'll help you figure out what's next.
- James Michael
"I feel guilty making the same photos for different clients..."
PTP reader Aimee writes:
---
Hey there - I finally had a light bulb go off (and it's 'easier' to ask here than in one of the thousands of social media platforms where I would be subject to potentially hundreds of different opinions...): I think I overthink changing things up with every single shoot.
I try so hard to find different, unique spots and different poses but maybe that's not even necessary? Sadly to the point where it causes a lot of undue stress. Do I really need two dozen 'go-to' spots and countless different poses to pick from?
---
I know exactly how Aimee feels - I've felt guilty about repeating the same photo with different clients, especially at the same location. Not very creative of me!
But that said...
There's a fence line at the City Park in Bandera, Texas, and I have shot hundreds of the exact same photo on that fence line. Kids, seniors, families, couples.
Not only has no one never complained...I've had many ask me, "I love this photo you made with the Smith family. Can we shoot there, too?"
It's the inside ball thing...
Us photographers cus and spit and holler about a thousand topics that mean absolutely nothing to our clients.
At least when you're early-stage, consistency beats creativity. Far more important that I can consistently reproduce one, three, ten specific shots with any client, than to be 'wildly creative' and fresh with every single client. If I've got an hour with a client, I'll spend 45 minutes getting my must-have shots, then 15 minutes just freestyling and having fun.
Aimee told me this advice was exactly what she needed to hear.
"I only wish I would have saved myself a few extra gray hairs and realized this much sooner in this journey... I feel like I was nearly killing myself with trying to be fresh every - single - time. Those days are officially over!"
What internal stories are holding you back from growing your art and business with peace and grace?
E-mail me today and let me know.
- James Michael
P.S. If you don't already subscribe to my newsletter, drop me an e-mail and let me know you'd like to join. It's been free since I started PTP in 2009, and I respond to every single e-mail. Don't hesitate to reach out and let me help you get unstuck. Your art and business are important, and bring blessings to your family and community. It's my honor to help.
How to charge for your photography without confidence
Shush and smile.
This is how you charge for your photography without confidence.
The Holy Grail for many startup photographers is "confidently getting paid what you're worth." This is a noble cause, one you definitely work toward in the Photographer's Journey, but there's a chicken-egg conundrum here - how do you feel confident about something you've never done?
The transition from free 'portfolio-builder' shoots to paid shoots is a HUGE one. It takes so much bravery, and the internal battle rages:
"How much do I charge? I don't feel like my art is worth anything."
"Why would anyone pay for my art? I'm going to look foolish for asking."
"Every time I try to tell people my prices, I chicken out, and immediately start apologizing and discounting."
I had a great conversation with PTP reader Sherry yesterday. In my last newsletter e-mail, "You have what you need to get started as a pro photographer," I asked as always for readers to Hit Reply and let me know what was holding them back.
Her response?
One word:
"Confidence."
This led to a great exchange about pricing, clarity, self-worth, and how to overcome those deep-seated demons that tell you "you're not worthy."
Here's a two-part solution:
Step 1: Shush.
Step 2: Smile.
These are the two steps you take immediately after sharing your pricing with a potential client.
"I charge no session fee and have no minimum order - you just buy what you love. Prints and files start at just $10, and my average client invests around $100, but again there's no minimum."
And then you SHUSH, and SMILE.
EVEN THOUGH your gut is clenching, you can't find air, sweat is forming on your brow, and your tongue is RACING to wag and begin apologizing and discounting and offering your art, heart, and soul up for free.
Just SHUSH, and SMILE.
(Pro-tip: When you do next speak, the only thing you say is, "Would this Saturday or Sunday be a better day to set up a shoot together?" ... then shush, and smile!)
Let me challenge you to test this this month. If you're Post-Launch in the Photographer's Journey, but you're struggling to say your pricing out loud to potential clients and stand by it, just test this method for 30 days. Every time you have the chance to share your pricing, do so then SHUSH and SMILE. Commit to letting the world explode into a million pieces around you. May velociraptors gnaw at your elbows before you say another single world. But whatever you do, SHUSH and SMILE.
You'll be amazed at how many of your unspoken fears of judgment and rejection don't come to pass.
What's the biggest challenge holding you back today? E-mail me today.
- James Michael
How to get a photography mentor who will change the course of your career
When I launched Outlaw Photography in 1999, the online photography forums were a wild and dangerous place. The digital revolution had just begun, and established photographers were out for blood - the blood of the newbies, the unwashed masses, the "shoot and burners."
I got cussed out, discouraged, run off, and hated on.
There are a lot more photographers out there today willing to help (99% "for a price...").
But still today, most established photographers aren’t going to mentor you.
That’s okay - they’re busy, like most folks, for a thousand reasons. Add on the opportunity for them to a) see you as competition, b) hate your guts (unreasonably) for ruining the industry, and c) probably give you terrible advice that does more to hurt your success than encourage it, and truly - it’s okay if they don’t respond.
[I'll never forget the one PPA-approved photoguru whose entire business model was doing whatever it took to ensure no client left the sales session with money left for groceries. I all but wretched.]
But the one?
That one photographer who, with just a few wise words, could change your life?
They're worth fighting for.
So we’ll play a volume game. If you have to reach out to 250 photographers, 80 respond, 10 respond more than once, to get to one photographer who will really take an interest in your success, and become a key part of it...would you do it?
If so, here’s Ramit Sethi’s advice [not an affiliate link] for that first-touch e-mail to a potential mentor:
“Hey James, I love your article about XYZ.
I noticed you said I should XYZ in that article, and so I tried it. I’m stuck due to XYZ. So I’ve come up with 3 possible routes:
Option 1
Option 2
Option 3
Which do you think I should do?”
The topic can be your artistic technique, sales funnel, portfolio, whatever is your greatest immediate challenge - a place where you truly, after all your best and creative efforts, are stuck.
Whatever their response, DO IT - there’s nothing mentors hate worse than taking the time to invest in someone who never even attempts the advice.
Then, once you’ve done it, and really exhausted your efforts with it, e-mail a follow-up. Report back with your results. Research what your mentor photographer’s current project is (professional or personal), and make an offer to help them with it based on your unique skillset.
If you make homemade jerky as a hobby and your mentor is trying a slow-carb diet, offer to send a batch of your best. If you know a guy who’s a whiz with responsive web site design and your mentor’s site comes up all snickerdoodled on your iPhone, make the connection. If you’re a stay-at-home mom who has mastered math games for elementary-age kids, and your mentor has kids, show them a few of your favorites.
Is your biggest challenge today artistic or in business?
Have you exhausted every idea you can in solving that problem?
If so, identify as many photographers as you can from anywhere in the world whom you think could solve your problem. E-mail all of them. See who responds, what value you can give, and with whom you build the rapport needed for a real, mutually-beneficial mentorship relationship.
250 e-mails; 80 responses; 10 who go deeper; 1 who changes the course of your photography career for the rest of your life.
That's the challenge.
As in, yes - right now, or in your next time block, start collecting e-mail addresses and sending those e-mails. Reading this post won't change anything until you take action.
What’s the biggest challenge holding you back today? E-mail me at james@banderaoutlaw.com and let me know.