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?