Keeping your eyes on the prize.

Yesterday, a friend, whom also happens to be a photographer, IM'ed me on Facebook with one of these.... :( When I asked her what was wrong...she told me that she was unhappy with her website, blog, whole brand, everything...and she wanted to re-do it all. I was baffled. She had literally JUST re-done her brand very recently and it looked great! I loved what she was doing with her business. And just a few weeks prior, she had been happy too. So where was all of this coming from???

And then I knew.

I asked her, "Be completely honest, does this have anything to do with other photographers you know making advances in their businesses lately?". She then admitted that yes, this was a large part of it. She saw how well her peers were doing and rather than celebrating with them and using this positive energy to build off of and improve her own self...she just felt left behind...

I COMPLETELY understand this feeling. I've been there more times than I care to say. And I still find myself there occasionally, when I let my guard down. Hearing about someone else's success...how booked up they are, while your own calendar is left un-marked, seeing their brand new website, mind-blowing photographs...and feeling like...why not me?

This conversation with my friend really got me thinking about this and how much I have improved in this area over time. I think it happened one day over the summer when I wasted an entire day looking at other photographer's blogs. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE looking at blogs. But this was different...and I had been doing it off and on for awhile. I wasn't checking in on a friend's blog to see what they've been up to. I was looking at everything in comparison to myself. Looking at blogs from photographers with YEARS of experience on me, making myself miserable thinking about how long it would take me to get as good as them. I wasted all of those precious hours, that I could have spent shooting, blogging, or just doing ANYTHING productive....agonizing over everything that I wasn't.

After that day, I took a break from paying attention to everyone else and brought my focus back 100% to where it belonged. ON MY OWN BUSINESS. Things changed then. My outlook was a million times more positive. I'm back to my regular blog-surfing now, but it's all in a different light. I don't look at what others are doing to compare it to my own progress. I look out of pure interest and admiration. I see people thriving all around me...my peers, my friends. And never once since my "blog-detox" have I felt left behind. Why? Because my dedication is to my own growth, not just sitting back and watching everyone elses. And truthfully...I like to believe that success is contagious ;)

So what I told my friend is.....Don't worry about them. Worry about you. Their success certainly was not bringing her down and she knew it. She actually was happy for them. The only thing that was getting her down was her attitude towards her own business. So my hope is that this very lovely friend of mine will take my advice and remember just what this whole thing is about. Moving forward at her own rate, even if it's in different ways and at a different pace than her peers. (Friend, you know who you are! And I happen to think you're doing amazing!)

So is it a competitive market? WELL DUH!! We all know it is. Even the best of friends are competing for clients when they're in the same industry, whether they believe it or not. But here's a little something to think about...when you first got started in the business...was your goal to give your utmost best to your clients, and produce photographs that they will forever cherish? Or was it just to compete with the other photographers around you and make sure you're always doing better? I'm assuming it was and still is, the first one. If your main priority is the second one and you're aware of it and okay with it...well then maybe you should re-think your direction/purpose in this industry! Ya feel me?

All I'm saying is....Success should not be relative. If you're doing good, you're doing good...no matter what everyone else is doing.

And uh...yeah, that's all! :)

Well since I refuse to blog without atleast one photo...I went digging through my hard drive for something to share and came across this. And it made me laugh! Shannon Morse snapped this at a wedding she was shooting with me over the summer. I was showing the little girl the picture I took of her, and I love her reaction! :)