It’s the biggest goal to move towards, or the butterflies-in-your-stomach dream. Maybe you are still using a spotting scope to locate this wish far off on the horizon, or you’re within months of making it your reality; no matter where you sit on the spectrum or pursuing your passion, being able to make photography your full time income is something that I am asked about often, especially with my one on one mentees.
How can you take something that you love, but is only currently making some, if any money at all, and turn it into a career that supports you, or even supports your entire family?
For me, I still believe that I was quite obviously pointed in the direction of making this happen for myself, without anything to fall back on. And I will get into that a bit more right away, but let me first say that the way that this all happened for me, isn’t going to be the path for everyone. I think especially so, now that I’m a parent, I know that there were countless elements that were all working in unison in order for my path to take the shape that it did at the time that it did; but like anything else in life, a lot has changed in ten years, and bringing my dream into fruition ten years ago, will definitely not be the same as bringing a dream into fruition today.
Tune in to learn about the retailers that wouldn’t hire me as a part time employee!
At the time, I had a mentor-turned-friend who I could turn to for anything and everything. We talked and spent time together regularly, so having her as a voice of reason, as well as someone who was a few steps ahead of me in the entrepreneurial world, I often used her as a guidepost within my own business.
Find a mentor that you really connect with
I think that a lot of the time we hear “find a mentor” and we start reaching out to our idols and then can easily become saddened if it doesn’t work out how we had imagined, or worse yet, we are sending messages about “picking your brain” and that we would love to connect over coffee. And as well intentioned I KNOW that those messages are, it’s often not the best way to go about finding a mentor that is going to be the right fit for you. I think that it’s important to not rush things. Start with where you are. Is there someone in your life already that could fill this role for you?
From my own experience, I did reach out to one of my idols, and because of where both of us were in our lives, we both had the time and the space to grow into becoming really great friends. When we met, it felt like we had known each other our entire lives. I think we know, without me explaining it, that sometimes that happens, and other times it doesn’t, it can’t be forced.
This isn’t to say that you can’t hire a mentor. I can’t speak from experience on the mentee side of things, but I can speak as a mentor to the fact that--especially because my mentoring programs are so intensive and all-inclusive--that I get to know my students so incredibly well that I develop a care for them unlike anything else.
Just because you hire someone, does not mean that they will not be in your corner just as much as a dear friend would be. At least I know that true for myself. When I’m hired to mentor other business owners, I am IN IT for you. I am there for you, holding space for you, and supporting you every step of the way.
2. Hone in on your branding, both internally and externally. What I mean by this, is that your brand is FAR MORE than whatever it is that you’re putting out as a service or a product. Without a purpose, you will not build something that is sustainable.
As someone who has spent COUNTLESS amounts of money altering my website and visuals every two seconds of the first seven years of my business, trust me when I say that you will flux and flow repeatedly until you are tethered to a purpose for why you’re doing whatever it is that you’re doing.
If you’ve been around for a minute, then you know how passionate I am about uncovering your purpose; I’ve built a whole five week course around this process, so obviously it’s important to me. I thought that it might actually be really neat to dive into my processes for a moment so that I could express more clearly what this mentoring process with me specifically is like.
Over the last four years, i’ve developed a proprietary process, which combines an actual process with who I am a person, and I’ve been able to curate custom belief statements for my mentees that are literally strung together with seeds of truth and purpose that are original to each and every single person that I work with. Almost always there is tears, shifts, uncomfortable feelings, truths, epiphanies, and ultimately a deep uncovering of who you’ve always been.
Together, we bring this to the surface and it becomes the guidebook and the backbone of who you are and why you’re doing what you’re doing. It might be interesting if I can share some examples of a few of the belief statements that I’ve curated in the past
Tune in if you’d like to hear some custom belief statement examples that I’ve created for my mentees in the past.
Paired closely with visuals following this process. I work closely with Emily Oud, who is a total visual branding magician, and can take your thoughts and words, and breathe life into them visually.
She will extract whatever it was that you were envisioning in your mind, even if you weren’t envisioning anything. Working through my own program and then moving over into her program is honestly a super powerful brand foundation.
Having your purpose and your visuals cemented and structurally sound, you will truly feel such a renewed or inspired sense of passion into all that you do from here on out. It will drive your decision making process, it will aid you to hone in on your ideal clients, and it will give you the capabilities to build a template for what you want your business to be or grow into.
3. You know what you’re wanting to photography ideally, but it’s not realistic to only commit to shooting that right away. Shoot what you need to shoot, but only share what you are wanting to shoot moving forward You will continue to get inquiries for whatever you are putting out there, regardless of what people are reading or what words that you’re sharing.
How to practically transition out of your day job and into your dream job: Embrace the season of hustle that you’re in
There is a time and a place for the hustle, it will not last forever, but it is right now a necessary part in the process. Be flexible and open to working outside of the regular hours.
Get comfortable with your numbers
How much do you need to make in order to be able to pay your bills? Is there any excess that you could trim? Are there sacrifices that you could live without for the next little while? Netflix, Spotify premium, etc etc. How much are you currently making? Could you make it three months from now? Looking at things in twelve month increments is too big of a chunk of time to think about. Focus on three months at a time. More money will come as we grow and progress; we don’t need to currently have all of the money that we need to make it a whole year. Focus on the next three months. Focus on the next 100 dollars. One step at a time.
In the end, this comes down to a few things: what is practical for who you are and where you are right now, while also having the awareness to recognize if what’s holding you back is actual importance logistics and consequences, or if it’s fear. Fear can disguise itself as many other things, so I would welcome you to sit with your fear, and get to know why it’s showing up for you. I would also suggest going back two episodes to Season 2, Episode 7, where I talk about transcending your fears. If today’s episode resonated with you, I would be so so appreciative if you could take two minutes and leave me a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts. I would love to be able to continue to share and encourage other entrepreneurs to be brave and pursue their passions, so by sharing and rating and reviewing the Curated Club, you are helping me to share these messages!
Thank you so so much for tuning in, and come back next Tuesday for the last episode of this season!!
Comentarios