I'm very selective to whom I discuss my photography with.  I really am afraid to take on new clients.  Yes, it occurs to me that I will not ever be successful in business if I am afraid to actually do the work.  First, I'm afraid to disappoint them.  Although, in my defense, none of my clients have been disappointed.

Anyway,  I'm scared to find new business. Like, for example, I won't advertise, I won't talk to the YMCA about photos for the games or teams.  I guess I don't feel good enough to compete with the others, so I stay on the porch.

I'm right there with you. After putting my business on hold last year due to illness...now I have been well enough to work again for a couple months, I am having trouble with fear.  Fear of my businss taking off again only to get sick again is part of it... I can't believe just typed that, it is something I am terribly afraid of and have not said it outloud or typed it before. So different reasons then you I'm sure but I just can't seem to jump back in. Nor do I really know how to jump back in.

My clients before were lower end clients. I know I want to cater to high end clients now. I can't do low end, high volume work. I have decided that I need to have low volume, high end work to be able to make it worth it to me. Limiting my amount of sessions with higher fees. How to go about that, is my problem. I have confidence that my work is worth it but marketing is not my strong suit and something I am trying to learn about.

Didn't mean to go off on a rant but although I am coming from a different point of fear, in the end the fear is the same of getting new business.

I am not a psychologists but I bet if you bring this question to one they would say that you are not scared of new business but you have a fear of success. I say this because you can't control the feeling of others, if they are disappointed and you are proving quality images and services then that is on them not you. Just my two cents

That's my same analysis PatricksDad.  I like and want to do the work. I just don't like being in the spot light.  Am I more afraid of success or failure?  I've been poor and a failure my whole life.  So I can't get any worse off than I am right now. Success wise anyway. 

Success and failure are relative. 

treksouth:

......... I like and want to do the work. I just don't like being in the spot light.  Am I more afraid of success or failure?  I've been poor and a failure my whole life.  So I can't get any worse off than I am right now. Success wise anyway. 

Success and failure are relative. 

As a friend of mine once said......

......."If you ain't the lead dog, the view never changes........."

If you keep on doing what you've always done, you will keep on getting what you've always gotten.  Get off the fence - all you accomplish by staying there is wearing a hole in your pants, maybe worse.

One step at a time - go for it.   If you succeed then you are on your way.  If you fail then you have a reason to certainly try again.

 

If you have been a failure your whole life you must be the most intelligent person in the world. Everyone knows that you learn from failure not sucess...

Treksouth,

I have been there to!   Maybe it will help if you look at it this way.  Unless you were raised around business owners, alot of the actions of running a business are going to be mentally and physically new to you.   When you come home from work, you take off your shoes, coat , and place your keys in the same place every day.  Notice how some days you don't remember doing it but your keys are right where they should be?   It has become a habbit.

In business you have habits also. the good news is if you cannot have "bad" habits if you do not have any habits to begin with. 

Ease yourself into your new business habits.  ( Make sure you call them habits so that it is " OK" in your mind to give yourself time to prefect them.)

Start with some business cards.  Just get some printed up and set a goal. to hand a card out every other time you meet someone.  - this will take pressure off of you to think you "have to " give a card out every time.

 

 

 

Ya know Patrick... you give good advise :)

Cards are on the way.  (vistaprint - see various other threads :))

Thanks for the tips and support

ShaLee:

Ya know Patrick... you give good advise :)

 

Thank you . That means alot

Fear is a powerful thing but it is amazing how good it feels when you take back that power... I am a psychotherapist for my day job and I know that it is very hard to take that first step... I have been officially in business for 2 1/2 years and my first print ad comes out today. I have been scared of myself, living up to my clients expectations have typically been easier then living up to my own.... The good news is your not crazy and you are not alone, I think most people have fear in them, just some do a better job at suppressing it then others.

Congradulations on ordering the business cards....

I know what you mean. I think sometimes that the only way you can break through it is to do something really difficult, and when you succeed at it, you'll gain a lot more confidence. My sister-in-law pushed me into shooting a commercial job for a six-day project. I was scared to do it, and the first day was difficult while I was feeling my way through it, but by the end of the last day I had become much more comfortable. The clients were very happy, and that gave me just the little boost I needed to launch my business.

I think that when you get in a rut, or you hit that wall of fear that limits you, sometimes you have to jump into the deep end. I always repeat to myself, "What's the worst thing that can happen?" Usually, the worst thing isn't all that bad. It's not like you're shooting bullets, they're just pictures after all!

 You can do it!!
 

There is no such thing as failure....it's a stepping stone to success. Here's a list of people deemed failures at one point... :) You CAN and WILL do anything you want! Take a moment and write your goals down, it's an amazing feeling to cross them off one by one. A fave quote of mine is "A goal never written is merely a wish". Put get business cards on there....mark it off....feel that? It's the steps to success!!!

 

* Thomas Edison's boyhood teacher told him he was too stupid to learn
anything.

* Louisa May Alcott (author of Little Women and numerous other novels)
was "told by an editor that she'd never write anything that people
would like."

* Playwright Eugene O'Neill spent only nine months in college before
he dropped out.

* The famous tenor Caruso was told by a voice teacher that he couldn't
sing at all.

* Leo Tolstoy (author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina, among
others) flunked out of college.

* Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald flunked out of college

* Isaac Newton was a poor student in grade school.

* Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.

* At age ten, famous artist Pablo Picasso stopped going to school
because he was barely able to read or write. His father hired a tutor
for Pablo, but the tutor soon quit, saying that the boy refused to do
math.

* Beethoven's music teacher once said "as a composer he is hopeless."

* Abraham Lincoln entered the Black Hawk War as a captain and came out
as a private.

* F.W. Woolworth's (of the five and dime store fame) employer wouldn't
let him wait on customers because he "didn't have enough sense."

* A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney, saying he lacked good ideas.

* Winston Churchill failed the 6th grade.

* Steven Spielberg dropped out of high school. He did return later,
attending a class for those with learning disabilities, but after only
a month, he dropped out of high school again.

Fred Astaire was described as follows at an early screen test: "Can't
act. Can't sing. Balding. Can dance a little."

Elvis Presley was fired after just one show at the Grand Ole Opry and
told "you
ain't going nowhere, son."

One of John Lennon's school reports said he was "on the road to failure".

And there are SO many more from the past to the present....

I forgot to add...

6 years ago I had a fear of not only failure, but public speaking. I went to a home party at a friends house and decided then and there that I loved the company and wanted to sign up.

I did.

You can't do home parties if you can't speak in front of people....esp the kind I do! I took baby steps and made index cards, stuttered a lot the first few shows and each time it got easier.

That was 6 years ago, today I'm an Advisor and team leader with the company and have a great team of super women (and men) that all started out a little nervous too.

 Love those last 2 posts, Karma. I think fear is normal. I am scared every time I go to a shoot with a new client. I know how important it is that I do well because I am just starting. So far, so good. I think it will be awhile before the nerves subside though.

Photography is something that I am really proud of, and care a lot about.  I'm very hard on myself.  I don't think I'm good enough yet, but I keep getting work.  I'm afraid that I'll take on someone I can't please, and have to repay them. I wait a week after the pics are delivered before I spend a dime just in case I have to repay them. 

Thanks, ya'll.  I've felt a little left out lately.  You guys made my day today.

WOW, Karma.....that is so inspiring.  I would love to just meet you and give you a hug.  Thanks!

I read everyone of those and they prove once again that we can do anything that we set our minds to doing with or without the approval of others!

Oh, and jump head first in there and get your business started.

Awww thanks you all....I just get my happiness from sharing ideas to help others find theirs too....it took a long time for me to get there...I used to be rather self-absorbed (and yeah, I am still at times....I think everyone is at times)...then I went through the "please leave your footprint on my forehead" stage....I think I have found a happy medium now LOL

You need to think about where you want to be in 6 months, then a year and 3 years... break it down into steps, then take the first step, without worrying about the rest of them.. then another.. and another. I'd be surprised if you didn't stumble once in a while, but, so?

Do you want to stay where you are or move on?

I like to think about what's the very worst thing that could happen. And how bad that would be. In your case, if you got a client and they hated the pics, then what? Do a reshoot? Lose a few hours? Refund sitting fee and lose $50 for prints? Doesn't sound so bad.

The upside is you rock it, they tell all their friends how great you are... Once you start having little successes, the big ones will follow as you develop confidence and the habit of winning.

Go for it!

Dave

 

I wanted to add.....

Over the last couple of years or so, I have been attempting to build a business dealing only with  fine art photography, which is totally different from the full-time studio I had many years ago.   I have been quitely testing the waters and working to get the business going.   I have had some success, although it certainly hasn't happened the way I expected which I will explain later, and have even sold some nice prints along the way.

For the last few months, the focus has been on getting the name out there by entering and getting accepted into some art gallery exhibitions and showing some work around at different places.  I joined the local photography club and have gotten some response because of that.  I had business cards and brochures printed that arrived this week and after a few have seen them, they have come back and gotten copies of the brochure to send to friends and family, etc.  I don't know why and I don't care why - I just know my stuff is getting shown and that is all that matters at this point.

Now the explanation.   Most of the profits in my business this time around have not come from fine art work but from other general photography work.  I have done some senior portraits and will be doing some senior portraits.  I have done some corporate work (great places for fine art prints) along with providing some specialty print services.

My point from all of this is that once you get your name out there, people seem to want to see what you are all about.  A few will test the waters with your services and if everything works out (and you know it will if you trust your skills) you will gain more customers.  Even though I am not trying to do anything but fine art, the other just seems to find me somehow. 

One this is for sure, if you don't start, you won't ever succeed.    And if you fail, then take that as a lesson learned and try again.

I really liked Greys Anatomy last night, it was about this situation in a way. Izzy got her butt kicked in a surgery points thing. The Chief told her she was in a lion fight, and she lost. But she fought. And she was still going. So she should be proud, not licking her wounds, but wearing them as proof she'd been in it and given her best.

If you don't try, you'll never succeed. If you do try, more than likely you'll succeed if you give it your all.

Go for it.

Dave

 

treksouth:

I'm scared to find new business. Like, for example, I won't advertise, I won't talk to the YMCA about photos for the games or teams.  I guess I don't feel good enough to compete with the others, so I stay on the porch.

I know exactly how you feel. I have a huge fear of other people judging my work as poor. I can find things wrong with every photo I take. I am sooo hard on myself. Then I see fabulous photos on this foum and judge myself inferior again. It is so easy to find reasons to judge yourself as inferior. I just started in the photography business so business is slow. I also live in a, shall we say, financially challenged area. Photos are a luxury item and not many people can get them. All this means my business is growing very slowly. I know all these things in my mind. I also know in my mind that I am passionate about photography and that I do good work. Sometimes in my heart I feel like a failure at photography, and in my heart, that justifies why my business is growing so slowly.  It is not always easy to keep my mind in control. Sometimes my heart takes over and then the feeling of being inferior returns. When it comes to photography, it is hard to keep my mind in control. Art is more about feeling than intellegence for me.

vmaxguy:

 I can find things wrong with every photo I take. I am sooo hard on myself. Then I see fabulous photos on this foum and judge myself inferior again. It is so easy to find reasons to judge yourself as inferior. I .

yep and we all d