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What Happens If There Just Aren’t Enough Clients?

July 10, 2015 by The FCA 3 Comments

What Happens If There Just Aren’t Enough Clients?

Do you know what scares me witless?

That one day I will wake up and find that the people I LOVE working with have run out.

That’s it, no more photographers, creatives, artists, free spirits, intelligent free-thinkers who understand their photography and creativity can be used as the most incredible GIFT and TOOL FOR CHANGE in their lives.

Because what happens?

What happens to you then?

When you wake up and realise that there actually, just aren’t enough clients?

That one day you wake up and there are just so many fabulous other photographers out there and you *forgot about taking care of your marketing and instead spent all of your money on kit just like every other photographer and then all of a sudden you went from standing out to being just like EVERY OTHER PHOTOGRAPHER, just another product for sale, swimming in an ocean overrun with other photographers

And you think you can just about scrape by if you drop your prices but the reality is THERE JUST ISN’T ENOUGH WORK TO GO AROUND now

Not without struggle

Not without fight

What then???

What happens when you just can’t get clients, because you don’t think there are any??

Is that it??

Is that THE END for your business; for your dreams of success, for your pride, because let’s face it everything else would probably recover but our PRIDE and our HEART???

How would THAT truly heal?

And what else would we actually bloody DO?!?!

I mean, you know you’d think of something. Something always comes up, right?

But it wouldn’t be this. This thing you have fallen head over heels for, ploughed time and money and hopes and dreams into.

BUT- what WOULD you do if your clients ran out?

Tell me.

Or – don’t tell me – tell yourself.

Not sure?

Look, this post isn’t to scare you.

It’s to show you something else.

What if – you were to use this fear – this fear that actually, there just might not be enough clients out there for you – and use it to actually help you?

IF you got to that point in your business where you were to look back and say – I literally don’t have any clients or whatever your big fear is– and you could rewind time to six months earlier to change everything –

What is it that you would need to change?

Or-

what is it right now that you NEED to FEEL in order to MOVE TO WHERE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE?

We are taught to be so risk- averse.

To always have plan B’s.

Back up plans, pensions, savings account.

But don’t you see?

The world is changing.

Like all of those people here who have brought over their entire life savings here to Cyprus, believing it would ‘go further here’, and then overnight the banks literally took the savings of EVERYONE who had over 100k in their account.

Literally – people’s entire pensions, house sale profits, entire life savings – gone when they woke up one morning. With no warning.

Their Plan A AND Plan B – gone.

‘But the banks are safe! Corporations look after us! I have an insurance policy! I’ve bought a house!’

And your bank might be fine and they might do and everything might be fine-

But the sooner you realise

Nobody else is going to be your Plan B

Only YOU

Because you just don’t know what is going to happen, and yes, one day the day might come when your worst fears about your business are realised.

What then??

The thing is –

You won’t know what then.

You can’t predict or control the future with any level of real certainty.

You’re not supposed to be able to.

So what CAN you do?

What can you do when actually, it seems like this job is often WAY harder than it is meant to be and actually the what-if FEARS are sometimes so big and scary that you completely hold back and play it small and never really fully embrace all that your business IS and COULD BE??

WHAT CAN YOU DO???

THIS is what you can do.

You can take your fears.

And you can use them.

To show you the way.

WHAT are you REALLY running from, and why?

Is it fear of the future? or fear of the past?

Fear of not standing out? being judged? of standing out and being hated? or being lonely?

Fearful of losing money?

We are ALWAYS taught to avoid risk, and so with risk comes fear.

But what about when you wake that day and you stare fear full in the face and you say instead of ‘i’m worried about this’

You say
instead

‘Thank you’.

Thank you for your teachings, for your guidance, for your insight, and wisdom.

Thank you for SHOWING ME THE WAY

Because if you listen to your FEAR

It will tell you

Exactly what you SHOULD BE DOING

In order to avoid its presence in your business + life.

Whatever that is – whatever it looks like –

Whether that’s marketing more or praying more or building relationships more or WHATEVER IT IS THAT YOU KNOW IS THE TRUE ROOT CAUSE OF YOUR FEAR

The root of fear lies within us.

We aren’t born fearful, or afraid.

So what is it you are running from?

Or fearful of?

How can you EMBRACE that fear, and what it is that you KNOW that you need to do, to eliminate that fear?

Perhaps this isn’t about eliminating risk, about forming a plan B

But instead about jumping without a safety net

Without fear of failure

Or loss

or the future

Or what might be and what might never be.

Focussing on your Plan A for you – your loved ones – and MAKING IT WORK

As if there was no ‘Plan B’!!!

Focussing on your Plan A- ONE HUNDRED PER CENT

GIVING IT EVERYTHING NOW

GIVING IT YOUR ALL

Stop waiting for your backup plan to materialise

For your work-life balance to exist

And just. start.

As if there is no tomorrow.

Use your fear not as your primary driver (this should always be Love)

But as your guide, your companion, your ally.

What are you NOT doing? Running away from? Why?

How can you USE this as a tool to understand and completely focus on your Plan A?

Are you focussing on your society-determined Plan B, when really, all you need to do is dedicate yourself to you + your plan A?

I examined my fear and realised that beneath that fear of my clients running out

Was the fear of blending in. Of not being noticed. Of falling away.

Which is strange as I am a massive introvert who actually hates standing out, but perhaps it is the fear that after I am gone, people will never remember that I even existed maybe, who knows? You can go as deep with this as you want. 

What my fear showed me – is that I need to release my true voice. To speak out. To not be afraid of haters, of trolls, of anything whatsoever.

It won’t mean that I will be remembered after I am gone. But just that while I am here – I can reach those that need to hear me. 

Which is how – my clients will never run out. Because there will always be someone that needs to hear you. To see you + your work. To know you. 

Which is why I am posting more, my words are often strong (though said in love) and I write huge long posts like this which have gained far more shares and Likes that my posts ever have before DESPITE the ENTIRE internet world saying ‘long posts don’t work any more’ and ‘people get bored’.

Not MY people

Not MY tribe

Not those that need to hear MY voice

And that’s what I learned from staring fear in the face

Working to understand it

Where it comes from

and then EMBRACING IT

And letting go of Plan B.

So can you do it? Right now? The same thing? 

Not run from your fear anymore

Release your Plan B

and EMBRACE whatever it is that you need to, in order to finally claim the business + success that you deserve?

What do you KNOW you need to concentrate on TODAY so that in six months time – or whenever the worst happens- you don’t need your Backup Plan?

DO IT.

START NOW.

PS.

This will never be easy. It’s ingrained within us to be risk-averse. ‘be careful!’. This takes work every single day. But it is entirely WORTH IT.

To no longer need catching when you fall.

To no longer live in fear of fear itself.

To understand that you have been given the power to choose.

So now, all you need to do – is choose yourself. 

 

Love + Light x


 

 

Want to truly get over your fears and start to TAKE ACTION in your business NOW? Check out Shining Lights here.

Filed Under: Editor's Letters, INSPIRE

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Andrea McLaughlin says

    July 19, 2015 at 1:57 AM

    I have a successful photo business.

    I HAD a successful photo business 15 years ago too. But it was a photo lab business and, as you may have noticed, most photo labs are out of business now. So there I was, 15 years ago in a business where most of my competitors were going out of business!

    Photo labs everywhere were going out of business because they were selling things (film processing + 4×6 prints) that people did not want any longer. My job, in order to stay in business, was to figure out what people wanted to buy.

    I liked the ideas of Steve Jobs so I followed the process of creating products and services that I myself would buy. I can’t say I was confident or believed in myself. I can only say I tried a lot of stuff and most of it failed! I listened to my customers. When they seemed to like something I was doing I put my energy into that direction. And when tastes and styles changed I followed the change to give my customers – as well as new customers – what they were looking for. This way we found a selection of products and services that work well together. At least for now.

    This concept is called pivoting in the tech industry. It’s how Instagram came to be.

    These days, my team and I work with many wonderful photographers, doing high quality large and small format photo printing.. Five things I think successful photographers do consistently well to be successful are: develop a unique visual style, find a niche market where they fit well, do lots of marketing including having an awesome website, continually come up with some new products and services, and attended workshops and conferences to improve their craft.

    I hope this helps you create a wonderful, successful photography business!

    Andrea McLaughlin
    photolaboratory.com

    Reply
  2. Elizabeth Veysey says

    July 21, 2015 at 5:23 PM

    Hello. I am a budding photographer trying desperately to start my own business. I just wanted to quickly say that this article really inspired me. You hit home on a lot of MY fears. I will probably save it to read again and again. So thank you and keep writing!

    Reply
    • The FPA says

      July 21, 2015 at 8:27 PM

      Hey Elizabeth,

      Thank you SO much for leaving your comment. It is tough to set up in business but the good news is there is a LOT of useful info and so many incredible photographers out there who can help you shortcut your route to success. If you have any questions, just send me an email- I’ll always try my best to help you.

      Love + Light x

      Reply

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