Lesson Info
19. Motivation
Lessons
Class Introduction
08:45 24 Reasons You're Failing
08:49 3Your Brand and Style
15:18 4Social Media
14:20 55 Keys to Social Media
23:34 6The Client Experience
26:15 7Keeping Clients Happy
08:51 8Effective Communication
19:10Lesson Info
Motivation
We're going to end with a little bit of truth, a little bit of truth. This is one of my quotes that I love from Dave Ramsey, he says, work is a surefire, money-making scheme, and I love that, because we just talked about all these ideas, I gave you all of these plans, right, but you've got to do the work for this, it doesn't just fall in your lap. You know the ones that rise to the top are not the best in the field, remember. I look at other photographers, and I'm crazy jealous of the work that they do, and the photography skill they have, but it's not necessarily the ones with the raw talent that succeed, it's the ones that work the hardest, that work the best, and I'm gonna give you three ways to outwork anyone, all right, and I get this a lot of this from Gary Vaynerchuk who, he says, not the tips on how to outwork anyone, but just the idea that you can outwork anyone, because he talks about how he was raised, and we're thinking immigrant family, and they came in with nothing, and n...
ow he has a multi-million dollar business, both him and his father, and it's about the work. He can outwork anyone and so can you guys. So you are going to work motivation. Now, you're not going to work until your, or you're not going to work if you're motivated, you're going to work until you're motivated. We are creatives, we go through these ruts, sometimes, we can clean the entire house in one day, right, we can do all of our work in one day, and than other days it's just like, ugh, but you can't only work if you're motivated, only when, you know, you wake up happy that morning, and feeling like it, and you've got like this perfect sunlight coming in on your Pinterest worthy desk with the bonsai tree in the corner, and everything's white and clean and wonderful, it doesn't work like that. Your office is not an Instagram office probably, right? I'd like it to be, mine is not at all, it is a mess. There's 17 coffee cups and plates on my desk at all times, and most of these mornings, I mean most of these mornings, I just wake up and I'm like ugh, I don't want to, I don't want to do this. My husband, my poor husband, sometimes I wake up and I just lie on the floor, like I'm just, can I go back to bed, I don't want to do it today, but here's the thing, you may be paralyzed by your lack of motivation, but you have control over what you do and what you don't do. So it doesn't matter how you feel, even though I told you it's a very powerful factor through all this, but for you, it doesn't matter, you can decide. Sometimes you're sick, and you have to work through it anyway. Sometimes your kids are sick and you're up all night, and you have to shoot a wedding the next day. Sometimes you party way too hard Friday night, when you had a wedding Saturday morning, but you're gonna get up anyway, because you know how to do the work. Secondly, you have to work smarter. You have the same 24 hours as everybody else, so you need to learn to manage your time efficiently. We already went through that. I showed you lots of ways to work smarter, but you ultimately choose what to do with your time. It is my biggest pet peeve when I hear people say, oh I don't have time, I don't have time, nope, that just means you're not working smart enough. Now everyone has different situations. Some of you are single mothers, some of you have, you know, six jobs to fund this photography career that is your dream, and you don't have a lot of time, you just have to outwork. You have to find ways to work smarter. Please, do not tell me you don't have time to work on your business, on your wedding photography business, but you're totally caught up with like, This is Us, no, that's not cool. Turn off the T.V., cut the cord, and get to work, and than finally, work the hard stuff. It is very easy to spend your day busying yourself. Do you know that busyness is a form of procrastination? Have you ever found yourself doing that? I am just busy, busy, busy, all day, doing all the things 'cause I really don't want to do that thing, all right. You have to work the hard stuff. Don't just do what you're comfortable with each day. You need to do the hard stuff. I recently went to a wedding event, one of those wedding industry mixers, oh my gosh, personal nightmare. I know, because I'm a public speaker, I might seem like an extrovert, I am not. I would rather be, like in a black hole, other than like, in a networking place where I didn't know anyone. So, I go to this networking event, it's a great opportunity to be there, tons of high-end wedding vendors, planners, florists, halls, everything, and I went with a couple friends of mine, and like 20 minutes in, I notice that I'm sitting here still talking to the couple friends of mine, and what a waste. I didn't go to a mixer to talk to friends of mine and not network at all. So I looked them in the face, and I said, I'm so sorry, but I'm going to pretend I don't know you now, and I turned around, and I acted as if they weren't there, and I walked up to as many people as I could, and awkwardly introduced myself, and I ended up making great connections that night, one that ended up with me in an Instagram pod with a bunch of these high-end planners, another one that got me a personal invitation to one of the most expensive wedding venues in the country, just because I worked the hard stuff. If it were easy, anyone would do it and be successful at it, but you working at the stuff that makes you uncomfortable, getting rid of those safety nets, getting rid of the delusions, oh my gosh, when I was walking through there, all I'm thinking in my head is, they're judging me on my clothes, they're judging me on my shoes, I'm not like wearing this or talking this way or whatever, just get rid of all that and work all of the hard stuff. You don't want to be paralyzed by all those thoughts of imperfection either. Work the stuff that you just have to get done, 'cause done is better than perfect, right, especially when we're talking about art clients, done is better than perfect, but the real work is not easy, or anyone would be doing it. You have to work the hard stuff. This is what the rest of that journey looked like. I started off with that $500 wedding, and not knowing anything in 2008. I was shooting weddings before than, but 2008 is when I started my photography business. Before that, I worked under another photographer for five years. Worked under him, and then eventually started shooting. I went to hundreds of classes and workshops, and online education, and always learning, and always spending money on it. I bled photography, and I sweat, I sacrificed, I cried, I thought about quitting, and I worked my butt off, but I loved it, and so will you, if that's what you want, in that successful business. The joy of all of this, it's in the climb, it's not in the destination. If it's only the reward that you love, than you don't love this. You want to learn to love the process of owning this wedding photography business as much as the result. If you don't want the work, than you won't get the success. This is that bride that fired her (mumbles) photographer for me, by the way, and this is that same bride that I gave those bridal shower images to, and that is a number I am darn well proud of, in the end. So, I'm really, really hoping that I give you guys the motivation to be as excited as these couples are during their wedding day, when they've just made a massive decision in their lives, and they leave, and their excited, I want you guys as pumped, and ready to work, and make things happen, like these guys to be successful in this business, because this is what it's all about. Getting excited, doing something that we love, and than gaining the success in your business. That will give your freedom, freedom in life to be there for your friends and family, the ones that need it most, because that's what it's really about. Having those moments, the ones that we work to capture for our clients, having those moments, for yourself, in your life too.
Ratings and Reviews
Célia Gomes
I loved this class! So inspirational and useful tips! Congratulations Vanessa. Thank you so much for sharing your experience! And thank you Creative Live for opportunity of watch the class for free. Célia Gomes, Portugal.
angela warmington
Great course. Full of great business tips and practices that are adaptable to your own personal style of business. She has such a passion and love for her work and it comes across very clearly as she teaches. I am new to wedding photography and am so glad I purchased this course!!
Marleen
I loved this class and got some great new ideas and insights thanks to Vanessa, thank you so much! Love from Holland
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