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When It’s Hard, It Doesn’t Mean You’re Doing It Wrong
55 Plays16 days ago
Episode Summary:
In this episode of Empowered, we’re getting real about the often-glossed-over parts of building a photography business. There’s a lot of talk about ease and alignment and while that’s the goal, the road to get there isn’t always smooth. I’m breaking down why it’s okay for things to feel hard, how toxic positivity in the entrepreneurial world can be misleading, and why you shouldn’t let early challenges make you question your path. This is your reminder that growth takes time, and hard doesn’t mean wrong.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- Why hustle isn’t always bad—and how it shows up differently at every stage
- The danger of unrealistic advice in the photography education space
- How to use mistakes and hard moments as fuel for learning and growth
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Empowered' Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
hey Hey, hey, Welcome back to Empowered, my private podcast experience. I have been enjoying recording these for you. i am really hoping that these short little bite-sized lessons are resonating.
00:00:13
Speaker
And today, i want to talk about something that's just a little real talk.
Reality of Running a Photography Business
00:00:18
Speaker
I just want to say that sometimes running a photography business is going to be hard and that doesn't mean that anything is going wrong.
00:00:27
Speaker
I hear a lot of toxic pos toxic positivity in the entrepreneurial space. and I'm not going to mention any names but we all know the super entrepreneurs that will say, you should learn to work from a place of rest and you should not subscribe to hustle culture. Now, I'm not telling you to subscribe to hustle culture and I'm not telling you to take, to not to take breaks.
Critique of Privileged Entrepreneurial Advice
00:00:49
Speaker
But I think that when those people say that, they are saying it from a place of privilege and not a place of reality. They're not remembering what it was like to be in the earlier stages when you were having to work a little bit harder. And it's that, that mindset of like, oh, you should never have to work hard.
00:01:07
Speaker
is letting those earlier people down, the earlier people earlier on in their journey down because it's letting them down because they're thinking something must be going wrong. This is so hard and they're not being relatable. They're not allowed reminding you that they've been in business for 10, 15 years and they have a team behind them and all of the experience behind them to get to that place of being able to work from a place of rest.
Debunking the 'Perfect Client' Myth
00:01:32
Speaker
I just want to remind you that running a business sometimes is going to be hard and sometimes things aren't going to work. And that is okay. That doesn't mean it's going wrong. The idea that every single client will be a dream client and that every single photo shoot will be portfolio worthy is toxic.
00:01:52
Speaker
Not every client is going to be a dream client. Are most of your clients hopefully one day going to be dream clients? Yes. Are you going to get to a place where you're experienced enough that almost every shoot you have, you feel like, okay, that was a portfolio worthy shoot? I hope so.
00:02:05
Speaker
But in the beginning, or even in the first few years, that may not be happening.
Pricing and Growth in Early Business Stages
00:02:10
Speaker
the narrative that you should charge a bazillion dollars so that you only do a few shoots a week and barely work is often unrealistic i'm just gonna say that i know that that is like not popular in the education space you know you've got these photographers that are teaching new photographers to go out and try to charge ten thousand dollars a session on their first session if you can do that amazing i'm proud of you
00:02:37
Speaker
but i don't think that that is a realistic narrative it is often a little bit of a build in order to get to where you can charge thousands of dollars per session and for some of us running a photography business is going to require us to do more than one shoot a month or whatever whatever it looks like just a few you know shoots a month or whatever so i think that that narrative is unrealistic I am in my 13th year of business and I will be honest, yes, in this stage, in this season of running a business, my business does run pretty easily and I do feel like most of my clients are dream clients, but it wasn't like that in the beginning and I'm not going to stand here on my high horse and tell you that because it's hard, it means that you're doing something wrong because I don't think that that's true.
00:03:26
Speaker
When we buy into the story or the narrative that it should always feel easy and that it's always going to feel aligned, we make limitations for ourself and we forget that getting to a place of alignment and ease is going to take some work.
Challenges as Learning Opportunities
00:03:43
Speaker
Not every single challenge that you face means that something is wrong. It's just information. If you have an unhappy client, that just gives you the opportunity to tighten up your communication, to figure out where the miscommunication happened and that they became unhappy.
00:04:00
Speaker
All of your clients are not going to be dream clients and all of your shoots are not going to be amazing. That's just the way that it goes. If you have a photo shoot and the lighting fell short, something went wrong with your posing, etc. It's not that something went wrong. It's just an opportunity to learn and to grow.
Growth, Hard Work, and Hustle Culture
00:04:18
Speaker
You do have to work long hours sometimes when you're in the building phase. That is normal and can be expected. So don't feel bad about it.
00:04:30
Speaker
In the current climate of constant personal development and tons of educational offers telling you that you must do it right, we forget that sometimes things are going to go wrong and sometimes things are hard.
00:04:45
Speaker
And that is okay. I just want to tell you that. It's okay if things are hard right now. I think that when things are going wrong, it's an excellent opportunity to learn.
00:04:56
Speaker
It's an excellent opportunity to do better. I really firmly also believe that you can't rush your come up, that you do have to work hard to become a good photographer and you do have to learn how to become a good business owner. It takes time.
00:05:12
Speaker
Now I'm not saying that you should subscribe to Hustle Culture. I'm not saying that you should never sleep or that you should have no time with your loved ones or any of that. I'm just saying that things are going to go wrong sometimes and things are going to be hard sometimes and that doesn't mean that it isn't working and that certainly doesn't mean that you should give up.
Perseverance in Building a Successful Business
00:05:32
Speaker
So keep going, keep building, keep learning, you've got this. When something goes wrong, it is just information. Despite what the super entrepreneurs are telling you about working from the beach and finding balance, blah, blah, blah, blah.
00:05:48
Speaker
You're gonna have to work hard from time to time, even more so in the beginning, and that's okay. Building a photography business takes work, but I'm here to tell you that it's worth it.
00:06:00
Speaker
Keep going.