Start Your Upcoming Photography Workweek  Right!
Video Length: 8 Minutes 17 Seconds – Blog Post Length: 241 Words

Some Notes From The Video:
Get enough leverage and interrupt the pattern, people can change. Associate pain eventually someone must change because the pain is so intense. If there is enough pleasure associated with the change, you’ll want to change. What equals pain and pleasure is what you associate the two with. Your brain may tell you one thing but your gut tells you another. Proper linking of pain and pleasure is done through a neuro associative change. You may link pain to exercise when it’s important to change your association. No matter what it is in your life when there is enough pain from something, you are likely to say “I have had enough” and move forward.

This is my personal add on: The pain of no action and being lazy about accomplishing your goals can be changed by taking massive action to start achieving your goals. Life is not easy. You have to decide to change and make it happen.

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“STOP thinking and START doing!” – What a great title! I hope you find some inspiration from this short video to get your week off to a great start.

Video Length: 3 Minutes 12 Seconds

The post Motivation For Photographers: Motivational Speech – STOP thinking and START doing! – Mary Kay Ash first appeared on .

If you haven’t figured out my pattern for “Motivation For Photographers” just yet or this is your first time seeing one of these posts, I am posting videos on Sunday that will hopefully help motivate you in your photography business for the week ahead. If you are not already getting the blog updates by email, please enter your email above and subscribe to updates.

Today’s video is “Warren Buffett’s Top 10 Rules For Success” which I have listed below. What I have found consistent with those who are successful is #4 “Read, Read, Read.” But there are also things on the list that other successful people do as well. Success is not defined by being a billionaire like Warren Buffet. You are probably a photographer or want to be a photographer because of #1 “Passion.” Chances of even being a millionaire as a photographer are pretty slim but not impossible.

Learn more by spending less than 8 minutes watching this video. If you want to let it sink in, watch it more than once and take some notes. Enjoy your week ahead.

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As a young freelance photographer with my first full time run of steady business in the Fall of 1987, Zig Ziglar cassette tapes were a regular part of my travel. I believe that I covered 7 states that Fall in a period of about 12 weeks. This was before the cellphone and social media world that we live in today. So Zig Ziglar kept me occupied and motivated in my travels.

It’s important to evaluate where you are both personally and professionally. My goal is to provide professional insight as ti relates to photography. You’ll have to work on the personal side yourself and through other resources. However, this short video can help with the personal and professional side.

Here are 7 things that Zig Ziglar covers in this video and asks for those listening to put either a PLUS or a MINUS beside each one:

Are You Happy?
Are You Healthy?
Are You Reasonably Prosperous?
Are You Secure?
Do You Have Friends?
Do You Have Peace of Mind?
Do You Have Good Family Relationships?
Do You Have Hope?

Some Notes From The Video: Most people really never evaluate where they are. You have to know where you are in order to determine your chances of getting what you really want. Learn more by spending less than 5 minutes watching this video. If you want to let it sink in, watch it more than once and take some notes. Enjoy your week ahead.

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Tomorrow is another Monday. Is that a good thing for your photography business or a bad thing?

You have the option to decide what today, tomorrow and the week will be like. OK that may be limited by things you cannot control, but at least you get the general concept.

Choose to make the coming workweek a FEEL GOOD week. Yes, feeling good may wear off and is often easier to be depressed and angry rather than feel good all the time. Feeling good is better than the alternative, but without some real actions, you may not actually grow your photography business. But making yourself feel good is better than a Monday morning pity party about how terrible the week ahead looks because you don’t have any photography work on your plate or you only have one project all week.

The key is to make yourself feel good enough to stay motivated about taking some key actions to get your photography to the next level. So what action will you take right not to change your photography future for the better?

Some Notes From The Video: You don’t need an excuse to feel good. Normal is not depressed and frustrated. I feel so down all the time. I feel angry all the time. Once you are in that state, you’ll continue to do things that make you feel that way. The key is to find the right state (the good one, the positive one) and continue staying in that state. You have a choice. Which will you choose? Learn more by spending less than 2 minutes watching this video. If you want to let it sink in, watch it more than once and take some notes. Enjoy your week ahead.

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Are You Setting Photography Goals For 2016 Or Throwing In The Towel?

You first have to ask yourself these two questions: 1) Do I truly love photography so much that I am willing to D.W.I.T (Do Whatever It Takes – within reason without sacrificing my personal life completely) to be a full time professional? 2) Am I just kidding myself and should I really just be a part-time hobbyist and go find a real job? – Only YOU know the answers to these two questions deep inside your inner being. In my case, I would not be happy doing anything else and I’m willing to D.W.I.T without sacrificing my 26 year marriage.

No Different…

Photography is NO different than any other industry. It has its ups and downs and you have to find ways to stay motivated if you want to stay in the industry. If you are going to be self-employed, you have to push yourself hard to make it happen no matter what you do. Not that working for someone is a piece of cake, but being self-employed is definitely a lot different.

Sell Something…

Back in the 80’s, I traveled multiple states doing photography. One of my favorite things to do while traveling was to listen to Zig Ziglar cassette tapes. They kept me motivated. I remember one specific sales piece Zig mentioned back then that still applies today. It went something like this: “If you are in a sales slump, go out and close any size sale you can because selling something is better than selling nothing. The one small deal can help get you motivated.” That’s a very rough paraphrase, but hopefully you get the point. So go out and close a deal that may be low end, may not be your ideal gig, but it’s revenue and you get to use your camera doing it. Then, repeat, repeat, repeat until you close bigger and bigger deals.

Don’t Compare Yourself…

If you compare yourself all the time to others that you think are successful in photography or maybe really are, you can spiral down a path of losing motivation. Here are some examples: “Oh, look at all that gear that photographer has and I just have this.” – “Oh, he/she just shot for XYZ and I would love to be doing that.” – “Peter Hurley gets $1,200 for a headshot and I can barely get $100 on a good day.” ———- Hey, break out and be you. Build your own brand. Worry about you and not everyone else. Make It Happen! If you truly want it, you’ll find a way.

You Have To Take Action…

You cannot just sit back and expect things to magically happen. You have to find ways that you can make it happen. If you are broke or feel broke, figure out ways to network, cold call, stop by a business, use your circle of contacts, work social media until your fingers hurt, get up at 5 a.m. on a Saturday and write a blog post, etc. Make It Happen! It’s not going to fall like a meteor out of the sky and hit you on the head.

In Closing…

Those around you that are staying busy in the photography world are no different than you. They started from scratch in most cases. They did not have it handed to them on a silver platter. They likely started with minimal gear. They probably invested countless hours and even money in their business. In other words, start with what you have, do what you can and decide if photography is REALLY, TRULY, DEEPLY what you want to do because for me, I know it is. I would not be happy professionally otherwise.

NOW…Either set those goals for 2016 or throw in the towel! It’s your choice. 

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