Burnout is Real and It's Killing Your Creativity10/11/2024Hey Reader, You may feel that what you put into your work is more than what you get out of it. You may feel pressured to hit goals you set for yourself. You may feel like you're not getting enough content created. You may feel pressured to hit metrics that are not in your control. You may be considering quitting content creation because you are not seeing results. And much more. They take a break. They quit altogether. They keep going. In the last month and a half, I've burnt out, and I did one of these. It has challenged me to levels I've never been challenged before and it's forced me to reprioritize. I considered quitting content creation. I started shutting down services that I was paying for because I started pulling back to save money. I realized that if I'm to reprioritize my life, I need to start cutting the fat, like I normally do. I no longer stressed about posting content for the day. I even skipped more than 5 days at one point, and no one seemed to notice. I realized that the immense amount of pressure I had on my shoulders was causing me to shed the weight. I pretty much was on the brink of giving up on the creative journey, on my business. A business that honestly is not performing any better than 6 months ago. So I thought, "F*ck it, it's not doing well anyways." All of this was an emotional response to what I was, and am still, going through. "Why am I doing this? "What am I trying to achieve?" "Who is this for?" When I asked myself these questions, I was grounding myself. I decided that I needed to keep going. Sure, I broke my streak of never missing a day. But I've made up for those missed days despite how uneventful my performance has been on that content. The core of my journey is doing what I love. And If I had given up on that, I would have hated myself for it. So what changed? When I asked myself those questions I also realized that this content creation, my photography, all is an escape for me from the realities of life. It serves more than one purpose. It's my outlet. I've been discouraged to promote myself in the last 6+ weeks because I felt that it was useless. All external factors were pointing down and to the right. Declining. I don't know where you are at in your own journey, but if you're going through a rough patch like I have been, I recommend taking a step back and think about things more objectively. Yes, have emotion. Don't be a robot. Just make sure you're making the right decisions in the right state of mind. Because you never know what you could be giving up. It could be something that means more to you than you realize. It could be something that is your outlet and helps you cope with your situation. And before you give that thing up, make sure you are giving yourself the chance to really think about it. I've been journaling throughout my 100 days of good habits challenge and now at the end of each entry I write: What Can I Help You With? |
Showcasing my photography journey to help inspire other photographers
The 3 Pillars of Content Creation 12/20/2024 Hey Reader, Today I'm going to lay out the 3 major content pillars that you should be focusing on when you create content. These pillars are the framework for you to make engaging content that provides value to your audience through different methods. You implement these 3 pillars in your content you will see a difference in the response you get from your audience and you will have more fun making content. That's the whole point, right? Let's get...
This is Your Sign to Go For It 07/05/2024 Hey Friend, Welcome to the first newsletter of July. We are now over the 6 month mark for the year 2024. At the beginning of this year you likely made some resolution or goal for yourself. How is that going?I know, things get in the way, goals fall to the waist side, and your 2024 resolution will likely turn into your 2025 resolution.But that doesn't have to be the case.Back in 2011 I was a junior in high school and I was not wanting to be a 9-5...
How I get photo clients 04/26/2024 Hey friend! One of the most asked questions I get is “How do you get photo clients?” Being an automotive photographer for over 6 years I’ve only ever really gotten photoshoots through friends and family or at local events. I’d post my work and those friends and family would share my work which would generate leads for me. I would reach out to people and offer to take photos of their cars. Most of the time it didn’t work out and eventually I was tired of...