It’s All In HOW  You Say It.

This is a two-part lesson aimed to highlight the difference between talking about your business and selling your business, then we will dive into harnessing your vision for your business’s future. The secret to a “successful business” these days might not be achieved exactly how you thought. I, for one, am the type of person that loves to have all of the back-end research, organization and planning established before I dive into any endeavor. This isn’t particularly what I would recommend, but before you just grab your Rebel and say you are going to professionally shoot weddings, hear me out. I believe it is a default mechanism of perfectionists to get things set up just right before they begin something because that preparation gives them confidence and motivation to succeed. The problem is this type of preparation doesn’t guarantee success and you might be better off seeking out a particular experience in another creative way. What 99% of the time will guarantee success is putting in the work, getting experience and deciding what skills and techniques you want to specialize in before ransacking Adorama and B&H. 

A Little Side Tangent

When I decided that I wanted to start baking/designing cakes as another creative outlet, I bought all the tools – utensils, icing tips, fondant and cake cutters, cookie cutters, molds, dye, ingredients, marshmallows and sugar (LOTS of marshmallows and sugar), dowels, cake pans, decorator plates (phewph – you name it, I had it). I watched tons of YouTube videos teaching me different techniques, read books about recipes and decorating skills. I was READY. I did put the investment to good use, and the skills I developed are still with me today, but I realized that cake making was not as practical or satisfying as horseback riding, or painting in the end. So I stopped baking as prolifically as I had been for a few years.

I tell you that story because I spent a lot of time preparing for something that, yes, I did thoroughly enjoy (my poor husband might claim otherwise, haha), but wasn’t sustainable (creatively, hourly or fiscally) for me at the time. Yet, I had invested so much time and money into getting myself ready to conquer anything cake-related that I lost sight of the bigger picture. Maybe I never had a bigger picture to begin with (in my defense, I was doing it for fun). The point is that now 95% of my decorating supplies sit in a three-drawer storage container in my garage. When it comes to a business venture, it’s more about talking the talk and walking the walk. You don’t need all the frills in the beginning (or EVER if you choose so)! You just need to understand how to take high quality photos, deliver consistently, speak professionally about your services and KEEP LEARNING along the way.

You must have heard the phrase, “Fake it till you make it” before, right? Well, in our case this, too, applies. You might not be ten years into your business, you might not be making six figures, you might not have the connections you desire yet, but people don’t know and don’t care about that if you are able to provide them with “ten-year-experience” quality images and a six-figure salary/seasoned photographer session experience. Make sense? The numbers don’t always correlate with value, so stop comparing yourself to who you will be down the road – start right here, and BE that photographer right now.

If you’re the type of person that gets bogged down thinking, “But I’m just starting out, I don’t have enough of a portfolio to entice clients (or whatever the story).” To you I say, “There are always opportunities for those who seek them out.” Perhaps you start by working for friends and family who trust you, or you style your own shoot (or team up with other creatives, or pay for a day session on someone else’s shoot) and create amazing images to use for your portfolio – that one session can bring you tons of work if executed strategically. Maybe you second shoot for another photographer and they allow you to use the photos for your portfolio. There are ways to work around the “lack of content” dilemma. Seek it out. Make it happen.

 

Use Your Creative License

Did you know creatives are entitled to free license along with their a driver’s license? It’s a creative license! (Ok, ok, yea, that was a pretty bad roll-your-eyes joke, even to my standards). Anyway, people are free to use “creative license” to describe and interpret something’s meaning. This is probably another idea that you are already familiar with, or use (maybe unintentionally) in your business. Have you ever felt after reading or hearing a story you wished it was your life? (I can’t be the only one, people.) Maybe you’ve watched a rom-com or epic hero movie and walked out thinking, “I wish my story was that _(insert slightly jealous adjective)_.” Well, I’m here to help you write your script. We all have the ability to influence others in a similar way. We all have the ability to speak about our story and successes in a way that evokes excitement, awe and (hopefully) motivation in others. Use creative license to your advantage!

Essentially, using creative license as a figure of speech highlights the goals we have actually accomplished in an ultra-positive way, while leaving out the nitty-gritty details that could otherwise devalue our achievements. Just like a movie – we only see the parts of the story that the director wants us to know. Do you really think that The Notebook would be as romantic if we saw each and every day of Allie’s Using this perspective to describe your accomplishments will make you sound like a rockstar, and sometimes that’s the little push we need to believe in ourselves and know we are worth it, and this dream is worth all of our blood, sweat and tears.

Get Real: Recognizing Achievement & Celebrating Victories

Let’s put “creative license” and the power of ultra-positivity to the test. Here is an example of some nitty-gritty background info:

You’re in your first year of official business. Sales are alright, but nothing to really brag about being it’s your first fiscal year, especially since your expenses and debt are eating majorly into profits. You are optimistic about the coming year, and you enjoy what you are doing. You shot a few weddings already, booked 3 weddings for the following year, and are working with other photographer as a second shooter. You shot an engagement session that turned into an unexpected booking for a wedding in another state. You also wanted/needed more streams of revenue, so you tried your hand at other types of photography like family, newborn and commercial.

Sounds epic, right? Yea, not so much. Your jumbled monologue doesn’t really have the vigor of an entrepreneurial success story. But could it? Here’s how I would use creative license to make you sound like a rockstar. It’s all about what you say and how you say it; now make it memorable.

 

“Oh! You just started a photography business? How was your first year?”

Instead of sounding “too realistic,” like the above background info, get excited about your accomplishments and amp them up!

“Yes, I did! It’s been going great. I’ve only been official for six months, and I’ve already shot a handful of weddings and I’m booking up this coming year as well. I’ll even be covering a destination wedding this summer! I’m up to second shooting my 12th wedding at this point and there have been several other cool opportunities surfacing too. Recently, I’ve branched into family, newborn and dabbled in commercial photography as well. I love it all! It’s amazing how much this industry has to offer; It’s a total creative outlet. I’m really looking forward to everything I have planned this year. Let me know if you find yourself needing a photographer!”

OK, didn’t that make you think, “wow, that’s awesome; I wish that was me,” right??

If so, do you think you would have been thinking this if I just told you the “background info” story? Probably not. Everything about what I said was true, it’s simply how I said it that makes the difference. Just a little tweaking and some positive energy and you have literally “re-branded” yourself. Everyone wants to be around and work with happy, energetic people. They are attractive, edifying and exciting. Use ultra-positivity and creative license to your advantage! It’s all part of your brand and marketing strategy and you will book more sessions.

PART II: ESTABLISH YOUR VISION

Similarly to talking about yourself in an ultra-positive way, establishing a motivating, authentic “why statement” will help attract more of your ideal clients and contribute to the ease of making cohesive business decisions. This is probably the simplest, most straightforward step in your business process that doesn’t need much explanation, so I will keep this short and sweet. I know you have your reasons for doing what you are doing, but try to dig deeper. Remember, this is a comprehensive statement that justifies your business venture. It should inspire you and keep your mission clear.

The importance of your “why,” or vision statement, cannot be highlighted enough. It is the bedrock of your business. It is the lens by which clients view your work. It is the sounding board that you bounce all questions and ideas off of to direct your business, and it is the reason you do what you do every day. Your why is your vision for your business’s impact on the future, and it’s what will keep you going even when the going get’s tough.

One final note on vision statements. As your business grows, and you grow, and time passes, it is inevitable that your goals, needs and perspective will evolve and your vision statement will evolve with it – let it. This is imperative for greater success and lasting impact.

THE AMP’D RECAP 

[Download your strategy worksheet, HERE]

PART I: Creative License

  • Like the story we portray through our photos, we have the power to influence people’s perception (and ourselves) of our stories through how we speak about our businesses and accomplishments.
  • Each of us have successes to highlight!
  • Creative License: A way in which we speak about our personal and professional lives that highlight the goals we have actually accomplished in an ultra-positive way, while leaving out the nitty-gritty details that could otherwise devalue or distract from our achievements.

PART II: Your Why

  • Vision Statement: A comprehensive statement that justifies your business venture and its impact on the future.
  • As your business grows, and you grow, and time passes, it is inevitable that your goals, needs and perspective will evolve and your vision statement will evolve with it – let it.

TAKE FIVE

[If you haven’t grabbed your worksheet yet, get it HERE!]

Part1: Let’s practice with Creative License

I created a worksheet that will guide you through thinking about your story and rewriting it with an ultra-positive lens. Grab that free download and get started!

Part 2: This is the most important one. Use the next section of your guide to get real with yourself and answer some big-picture questions. Using these answers we will piece together an empowering vision statement filling in the blanks of the sentence:

“I desire to _________, so that ___________ .”

 

Grab your guide and let’s get going! (or, grab the full guide, that compiles all three parts of this mini-series!)