5 signs you’ll be a successful photographer.

Speaker A: So today I'm going to give you five indicators that you're about to be a very successful photographer in the industry. Now, I have coached hundreds, if not thousands of photographers. Now, I can usually spot the winners from the losers from about a mile away. So I ask myself, what are these traits of a successful photographer even before they become the successful photographer? What if I made an episode all about that and then actually another podcast I listened to did an episode kind of like this. So I thought this would be really interesting to do specifically for photographers. And the good news is, even if you do not currently have these traits, you can develop these traits. Okay. You can change. You have the power within yourself to change. So this isn't like a, uh, if you don't have it, you're stuck. No, not at all. I actually used to not have a lot of these things. Okay. And then I changed. Okay. So if you already have these traits, by the way, then this episode will probably just be a nice confirmation and encouragement for you. Hopefully. These are the signs. Take them or leave them. Um, and, uh, I'll just say this, the last one is the most important one, so stick around for that. Okay. Number one up first, really successful photographers, even before they're really successful. The sign that they have number one is that they are doers, not just listeners. This one is so important, especially for our time that we're living in right now where we have this, like, content gluttony happening. We have, like, so much content on Instagram, so much content on TikTok, so much content being posted, pumped out of podcasts, on YouTube, hey, hey, courses, books, like, everyone's listening, listening, listening, consuming. But my big question, and so many of these, like, consumption platforms is, is there action being taken? And something I notice over and over again is that winners, the people in the winners category in the successful photographer world, they're taking action on what they're listening to. They don't care to just listen, listen, listen. Uh, they're not just here for like, oh, I want the listening. No, like, they are hungry to take the action. I would also say there is an action taking in listening as well. I get that. And I think that's important. Like, part of taking action is first listening to what action you should take. Right? But you also, once you hear something, like, once you listen to me, I hope that you are also taking action in what I'm teaching you and you're putting into practice what I'm showing you how to do. Right. I always talk about the photographer who's just like sitting behind his or her screen, screen all day. And I don't know why I have this vision of that photographer. Probably because back in the day I used to be that photographer. It was just like always behind the screen, I was like clicking buttons and like trying to do my website a little better and like trying to post a little better on Instagram. It was like, dude, you're not out enough, you're not shooting enough, you're not creating enough, you're not getting out to meet people in your industry. You're not getting outside of your comfort zone. You're not putting your camera on yourself to take a reel of yourself and create some sort of content. Even like the needle's not moving, you're just sitting behind your screen. The action has to be taken, right? So if you can get obsessed with taking action, that will solidify you, I, uh, guarantee it as a successful photographer. So my homework for you on this point is when you listen to a piece of content, maybe like a podcast like this, give yourself one action item to do per piece of content. Something you will do different based on what you just heard, right? Like, uh, how many of us just save something on Instagram? We save it and we never come back to it because it's like, well, I don't have time for that now. I'm like, don't save it if you're not going to do anything with it, right? Like, save it, take action on it later if you're going to do something. But don't just dupe yourself into believing that you're consuming and getting something out of that if you're not taking action. This is also why, like my coaching program specifically is so action based. I give people assignments because sitting there consuming and waiting, like, I. I've taken courses like that before too. I've listened to podcasts like that before too, where I'm like, well, that was cool. That made me feel great about myself. And um, anyway, that didn't really change anything about my life, right? That just keeps you stuck. So taking action makes the difference. The successful photographers, I'm telling you right now, they are action takers. Okay? Number two signs that you will be a successful photographer is that you invest and make decisions for where you want to be as a business owner in multiple years time, not just based on where you are now, like a hobbyist would. Okay? This separates for the winners from the losers. I'm telling you right now, there is little that trumps a photographer's ability to think two to three years out. Telling you Right now, I just see this all the time. Like, a photographer's ability to visualize where they want to be years from now, and then not only visualize it and, like, see it in their mind's eye. Like, I see myself doing that thing. I see myself as being in that position, but then they act as if they're already there. Let me give you an example of this. I used. I'll, uh, use myself as a scapegoat, my old self. Because I was such an offender of this. I used to think, well, when I was first starting in photography, I'm gonna wait to invest in my gear and just, like, use my old gear, my little camera. And I'm gonna. I'll probably just, like, wait to get a CRM, like, honeybook. And I'm just gonna, you know, wait to not get an unlimited plan for my galleries. And I'm gonna wait until, you know, whatever time when I get enough money to then invest in coaching or a course, or I'm gonna wait to build my social media account. That will come later when my business start. I get the money for it until I get momentum. So instead, what did I do? Well, I, um, I don't know. Worked with one or two. There was a time where I was working with one camera body. Oh, my gosh, like, trying to run a business with one camera body. Um, and it wasn't good enough. Like, it was. It, yeah, just. It really held me back creatively. I, uh, was running my business through emails on Gmail. I was using, like, a free version of DocuSign for contracts. It was awful, and it was so clunky for my clients. And I think the contracts I was using was probably from Google. They probably weren't even verified. They probably weren't even legally legit. Like, I don't even know if it was covering me at all. Um, people were paying me either with, like, check or Venmo or some janky thing that I was using. Maybe, like, cash. I was, yeah, doing a lot of free plan stuff. Like, free plan of whatever my gallery hosting service was, whether it was, like, Pixies that are pic time. Just, like, the free plan. I could only store, like, three galleries on at once. And then I had to, like, delete those galleries and, like, tell my clients, you need to get rid of the gallery. You need to download your gallery. Because I need the space. Like, it was so bad. Um, I only ever downloaded freebies or podcasts, free podcasts from, like, the coaches and the educators that I looked up to. I played it so Safe on social media. And guess what? Nothing changed for my business. Go. Go figure, right? Until I said. Until I started saying, in my business, in three years, who is the guy I want to be? What is he doing? And then I said, in that spot three years prior to being that, I was like, yeah, how about I just act like that dude now, right? And so my behavior, as if I was already that guy three years in advance, just pulled me into where that guy, my goal guy, my goal self, actually was. And then you know what? It didn't even take three years. It took a lot less than three years to get where I wanted to be. So your homework is on this point. When you have a decision to make, when you have a thought process to make, I want you to be thinking, where do I want to be in two to three years? Can I visualize that? If I can, uh, good, because what would he or she be doing? Or what is he or she already doing in that spot? Do that. Do exactly that thing. And that is what, again, will separate you as a winner from the losers is your ability to visualize what you want to be and act as if you're already there. Okay, number three things that, uh, this is a trait of a winner in the industry. This is a trait of a successful photographer, someone who puts aside their ego and someone who is teachable. And also maybe to add, someone who looks for, invests in education, someone who trusts mentors. This is another hugely important one. If you are not, Let me say it this way. If you are a photographer and you are not willing to say these two things about your photography business, I would be shaking in your boots. Here they are. A, I don't know everything, and B, someone else already does, and I need their help. The ability or inability to say these two statements splits the winners from the losers. I am telling you right now, ego does not win. Ego loses, Humility wins. I see this over and over again. The humblest, hungriest, teachablest, if that's a word. Photographers always win, and they win the quickest. And I'll just be honest with you, uh, because I used to be this person. Some of your frugality of. I don't need to invest in any help from anybody because it costs me money, is just hidden ego. Again, I would know I used to be that person. Or like all the industry sour pusses that tell you all the podcasts are just full of fluff, or all the courses and the coaching programs are just scams, or that person's just trying to get money out of you to mentor you. Okay, guys, most of these people are dead broke. They are the scams. I don't know a single successful business owner who never had a mentor of some kind or someone guiding them on their journey to success. Never once. And the ones who obviously had one or many mentors. I'm one of those people. By the way, many mentors still have mentors. They always had a lot quicker success than the ones who never asked for help. Someone has already gone where you want to go, I promise. Stop trying to like hack your way, machete your way through a forest to get to where you want to go when there's literally a paved highway right next to you right there. You could be walking on it. Be teachable. Listen, find mentors you can trust and then trust them. Their process, please. I don't know, it doesn't even have to be me. I'm just saying find people you can trust, trust their process, do what they tell you to do, and be teachable. It's going to separate you from the winners. Um, excuse me, from the losers. And it's going to make you a winner. Hey friend. Really quickly, if you love what you're getting in this episode, and maybe you've been an avid listener for a while now, I want to quickly tell you about my signature coaching program, the Business Blueprint, which is built for photographers and videographers just like yourself who want to take their business seriously and actually create a sustainable and financially free lifestyle with this career. It is a step by step result based coaching program with assignments, checkpoints, group coaching with me and an incredibly supportive community. So you don't have to go this alone. I only take a very limited count of members, but you can find out next open enrollment for the Business Blueprint by clicking the link that says the Business Blueprint in the episode description below and it'll tell you the next time I'm opening it up. And by the way, while we're at it, it take mental note while you're on this episode and in other episodes, when and if I help you make more money, change your mindset or organize your business better just with these free episodes. And if so, that should tell you that the Business Blueprint is an amazing next step and investment for you. And by the way, I try to keep these episodes completely sponsored free because if I'm going to promote something to you, I'd rather just be the very thing I can recommend with my full chest because, well, I created this program so I hope to see you in the business Blueprint one day. And without further ado, get back to the episode. Okay, number four. People who are successful in the photography industry, they think in terms of advantages, in terms of opportunity, in terms of positive thinking, rather than disadvantages, roadblocks, negativity, and complaining. So for this, let me give you an example. Sometimes people will, because I coach a lot of people, sometimes will. People come to, will come to me for help or for advice or on a coaching call or something like that, and they will just vomit all their problems and complaints out to me, et cetera. Right? Which, which is fine. Like I'm, I'm here for it. I'll listen. Um, but it's just like complaint, complaint, complaint, complaint, complaint. Sometimes in, in some of these things, like, I can't even find a question. So I will ask them, I'll be like, uh, I'll, I'll listen to their question and then I'll say something like, okay, so, so what, what is your question here? Because sometimes it won't even have a question. It'll just be like all these complaints that they spit out at me. And it's so interesting because conversely, there will be other people who I notice have like literally the same or a worse predicament. And they will come to me and they will say this. Hey, Nate, I am, uh, you know, I'm struggling with this, this and this. I think it might be because of this that I'm doing. I'm not sure. So I'm kind of thinking that maybe if I change things like this and I change this over here and maybe try this, I can fix it, but I'm not sure. What do you think? Do you have any ideas, Nate? Oh my gosh. Like night and day, completely different. And I am telling you right now, I can spot it from a mile away. That second person is almost always going to be a winner. They're going to figure it out because person A is saying I'm the wrong age. I'm not good looking enough. Uh, my personality is just not as good as my Instagram account, doesn't have enough followers and I just don't have that many vendors in my area. I don't. Everyone knows everyone, but no one knows me. Right, but. And person B has the same situation and they're like, you know what? I'm a different age than most people. That might play in my favor because. Or I'm no, I'm no drop dead model, but I don't need to be. It'll actually make me more relatable that I'm not so dang attractive or I'm not that charismatic. But you know what? I can listen to people. I can, I can make people feel safe around me, you know, or my Instagram account has so much room for growth. And you know what? I don't have tons of followers, but I have plenty of followers of what I do have to book at least like 20 of those people to book out my whole year. I can do this, or I'm not in that vendor group, click, whatever, yet. But I'm gonna do this event that I've never done before, this like, vendor event, and I'm gonna introduce myself to them. Okay? Like, it's such, it's the same predicament, it's the same situation, completely different camps of how someone approaches it. And I'm telling you, complainers, uh, they struggle, they struggle to ever get beyond their complaint. They truly do. But positive thinkers and opportunity seekers, I'm telling you right now, I see it over and over again. They are the winners. They like, they win. It's just a matter of time. Literally. There's certain people that I've coached where I'm like, this person's not winning yet, but it is just a matter of time. Like, I am just waiting for them to tell me that they have just like booked out their year. They booked their biggest package. I'm like, I just know because it's the way they behave, it's the way they absorb, digest, uh, metabolize what's happening to them. It's in a positive mindset and it's an I can do this mindset. And I'm telling you, those people win. It just happens every time. Okay, last but not least, but probably the most important of these five, number five is successful photographers look to change their mindset, not just their tactics. I notice that so many people are always looking for the steps and the how to's, and that's fine. There's a time and a place for that. It's important to a degree. But if you really want to know what the business, the biggest business owners are talking about up in like the, uh, the big mastermind groups and like, you know, just like the higher thinkers at like the million dollar plus level, I'm telling you right now, it is not tactics. Tactics are like 30% of the game, maybe 40%, 60 to 70% of the game mindset. That's what people are talking about. That's how people connect. Okay? And, and some people will hear me say all of this and they'll just roll their eyes and they'll be like, mindset is everything. Yeah, we've heard that before, blah, blah, blah. But what are the steps, Nate? Like, what are the hacks? Like, what's the quick fix? And the thing is, you got to stop thinking that way, because if you think that way, you're not in the winner category, I promise. Like, winners are not just looking to change their ways, even though that's important too, right? We talk about action taking. It's important to action take. But winners are looking how deeper to change their mind mindset. First example of this, um, I give out a freebie, which is an email template. Okay? It's an email template. You can get it in the description where it is absolutely free. It's how to respond when someone emails you for inquiring for their wedding or for their whatever it is. And then I give you this email template that shows you how to respond. Like, literally the words. Like, it's a template, right? This is a very important piece. It's a tool. It works. It's a good step. It's a tangible thing, right? But what I also give you is a, ah, video tutorial on why. Why are we saying what we say in this email? Because if I can give you that, then you know how to function per unique situation, per unique client. Because I don't want to just teach you how to act in a specific one size fits all scenario. I want to teach you how to think. Okay? And I've had so many very successful students, like, even come to me after coaching them for a while or taking my program. And a lot of them I'll ask, like, so what's your biggest transformation? Like, what's the biggest takeaway? What changed everything for you? And many of them will tell me. They'll be like, nate, I know this sounds silly, but it's the mindset. I had to change my mind even on certain things that I didn't think I had to change my mind on. Some people are like, I thought my mindset was healed. What the heck? And they're like, you helped me change my mind, and that changed everything. Okay, so those are the five. Uh, I will just say this. I wrote notes for this episode so fast because this was so easy to identify the signs of the winners versus the losers in the photography industry, because I've just worked with so many people. Um, and I'm just telling you right now, these traits, these signs, they're real. I am not BSing any of this. It's just, I'm delivering the mail to you, so please take it or leave it. And I hope that you will, even if you don't have these things, you will change, and you can start building these traits today. All right, thanks so much for listening, and I will see you guys next time.