Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Hi, and welcome back to another episode of sustainable photography. I'm Ingvil Kulnas, and I'm sorry that the audio has been a bit off on the last few solo episodes. My headphones weren't working, but luckily I have an excellent tech guy who told me exactly what to do or fixed the issue for me. So thank you to my boyfriend, who listens to all of my episodes, which makes me really happy. So he's also the one who told me that the audio was a bit off. So if you have any feedback to give, anything that's not working, do let me know, and I'll do my best to take care of that. I've been talking about goals and failures and testing and trying things lately, and I wanted to talk a little bit more about that.
[00:00:48] Basically, I want to do all the things. And, you know, when you want to do everything all at once, it's really easy to just get a bit paralyzed and not really get anywhere. And right now, that problem is actually more to do with my home life rather than business. We're in the middle of remodeling, and it's a project where just one thing kind of leads to another. And what started off with us renovating a laundry room and making it kind of into a bathroom laundry room has now kind of led to remaking the entire front door area, which is starting to evolve into kind of a greenhouse project.
[00:01:35] And now all I want is that greenhouse, but that's kind of far away because we still don't have that bathroom. And, you know, one thing really leads to another. And I know that sometimes it's the same in business where, you know, you want to do all the things, but there's not enough time. You can't do everything, at least not everything at once. You have to prioritize one thing over another, and you have to remember that the goal shouldn't be the finish line and it shouldn't be all about the goal. Even though I love goal setting and I want you to set big, powerful goals, you don't want that to be the be all, end all. And you need to enjoy the process. You want to make sure that what you're doing now is something that you enjoy, even though you're not at that end stage yet. First, let's kind of detangle this.
[00:02:40] If you're feeling stuck and you don't really know what you want, then you're in the same place that I am right now, because I want to buy a van and go have more van. Life. Life. I want to have a really nice home area. I just bought a boat, actually, I bought the other half of my boyfriend's boat, but still, it's a boat and I have my business and I need to have time to do it all.
[00:03:14] And if I just keep on adding on more stuff, then there's not going to be enough time and I'm not really going to get to enjoy all the things or do all the things. So I have to make some choices.
[00:03:27] And it's the same in business as well. Maybe you want to do all the different kinds of photography. You want to just do one thing after another. And while there's nothing wrong with doing a lot of different things, if they're too different, you're gonna end up confusing your clients. If one day you're all about bright colors and a vibrant look, and the week after it's all dark and moody and it's just not gonna make sense for your client.
[00:03:58] And when you have a business, you need to think about your client.
[00:04:03] And having a creative business can be really hard because when you're a creative, you want to be creative and you want to create all the stuff, you want to do all the things. But for your business to stay afloat, you have to think about your business first, unfortunately. And that's where I come in because that's what I'm good at looking at the business side, and that's what I want to talk about today as well. So if you feel like you want to do all the things and you just can't decide, I want you to ask your clients and your potential clients what they want from you. Because just because you want to do something doesn't mean that there's a market for it that people are willing to pay. So I want to urge you to reach out. Do a poll on your Instagram stories. Send an email to your email list. Ask clients that you worked with previously, or even people that you know that you think would be excellent clients for you. Ask them what they think and what they would be most interested in. You can still do all the fun projects you want and try all the creative things, but that doesn't mean that it should be part of your business. And then once you've decided what you want to focus on, I want you to just do it. Figure out what it's going to take for you to actually make it happen and just do it.
[00:05:32] Think about what you can do now to make it a reality. Can you make a plan around it? Check how much it's going to cost to get you to the next level. How can you start marketing it? Can you schedule it into your calendar somehow?
[00:05:47] Because in my experience, we kind of just wait too long. We don't take enough action. We want kind of to figure everything out before we get started or get moving. And we think we're going to figure everything out on our own.
[00:06:04] But I bet that your biggest obstacle is you. It's you telling yourself that it's going to be too hard, that it's not even possible, maybe that you won't make enough money. It's too scary. And if you sorry. Since you really know what you want, now it's time to act. So go on Instagram. Start talking about the kind of photography you want to offer. Get a va, get someone to help you out. Show your face and your life on Instagram and hire a mentor, a coach. Someone that's going to help you get there. Quit your day job. Get a new website made. Figure out whatever it is you need to get to where you want to be and do it. Make the next move.
[00:06:52] I want you to stop playing small and really realize your potential.
[00:06:57] If you want, you can even book a call with me and let's talk.
[00:07:01] Just go to englekolners.com, call and see when my next availability is, or send a DM on Instagram. And maybe I can help you get unstuck. Maybe I can give you a little bit of a boost. And let's just get you to where you should be. I know that a lot of your photographer friends or business friends, or even just normal friends will tell you that it's all going to work out and you're doing excellent and all the things. And it's really nice to have those supportive friends who are always cheering you on. And while I definitely want to cheer you on, I'm also the kind of person who's going to tell you. As it is, I'm going to tell you I can see what you're trying to do, but what about trying this instead? I'm going to tell you like I see it because I think you'll get further if I'm honest with you about what I see and what I think you can do to improve things. So just don't hesitate and just reach out. So to sum it up, make sure that you're enjoying the process. Try to get unstuck and figure out what you want and then just do the thing. I'll talk to you again next week.
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