What is the key to success for your business? I love teaching strategies on the podcast, in my paid programs and in our Facebook group.

There is something that I’ve noticed so many people do, though, it’s the mistake that is so common that it’s actually keeping you from having the business and meeting the goals that you keep telling me you have.

You’re not being consistent; instead, you’re giving up before it gets good. You’re quitting right before your breakthrough.

And that’s a big deal.

90% of you going through your days and experiencing success is your mindset, right? 10% strategy, 90% mindset.

This is something that a lot of entrepreneurs say, but it is something that I can tell you is true.

Mindset plays such a role in the key to success in your business

If you lack the mindset that you are capable, that this is something you can achieve, you’re going to struggle with reaching your goals. It starts in your head, running a business is not easy. We can’t just stay comfortable; we can’t stay in a box. And we can’t do the same thing over and over and over again, and expect there to be different results.

That’s the definition of insanity, expecting something new to come out of the same old thing over and over and over and over again. So right now, if you are experiencing a lull in your business, you’re having a hard time meeting your goals, booking clients or getting consistent clients or whatever it is in your business that you’re struggling with.

I can guarantee you it comes down to being consistent, something has to change.

You can’t just read this blog or listen to the podcast, feel better, and stick to the same strategy of hopping around everywhere, showing up when you feel like it and hoping that one day your business will just click, and it’ll just happen. That you’ll find yourself having success. That’s not how it works.

The key to success in your business is finding a strategy that works + consistency

Here’s the hard part: you have to do both; you have to have both at the same time for it to work.

Yes, you need the strategy, but you also have to be consistent with that strategy. They go hand in hand, you can’t have one without the other. If I tell you to be consistent, and you have been consistent with this strategy for a solid year, and then you’re like, this really is not working for me, I’ve tried it all. I’ve shown up for 365 days, I gave it my all but it’s still not resulting in what I want, then we look at changing the strategy.

What a lot of you are doing is you’re listening to five plus different podcasts, from different photography educators, you’re enrolling yourself in multiple courses and programs and mentorships; and you’re consuming information from multiple avenues & you’re trying to make multiple strategies work at the same time. Stop.

You’re not doing 100% in any area. You’re giving a little to this and a little to that, but you’re not committed to ONE or being consistent with ONE. I really want to challenge you this year, open yourself up to commitment; commitment to your business, commitment to your niche, commitment to one educator, and try it out for a year.

Commit to that person for a year. Follow their strategies, follow their advice, figure out if that truly is works for you.

Choosing your educator

When you’re choosing educators, I want you to dig in and do the research.

• Does that person actually have the business and the lifestyle that you want?

Pay attention, because there’s many of us that have very different lifestyles; some people are working 24/7, and they love it. They want to teach you how to do the same exact thing, while bringing in however much money they’re bringing in and some educators are living a well-balanced life. Balanced does not mean that everything is perfect, and you’re showing up to all things equally, balanced means that you have looked at what’s important to you, and you’re happy with the amount of effort, energy and attention going to all the things in your life.

Make sure to pay attention to who you’re taking advice from. Dig into their lifestyle, their business, do they actually have success? Or do they just claim that they have success? Are they just saying that they can help you because they have a big following.

Do the research, and be consistent and committed to one educator this year.

Or for at least six months before you try something different.

Hustle culture is a fallacy

Our society is teaching you & pressuring you to have a right now mentality. That isn’t how business works. You don’t get to just wake up and get a consistent booked clientele, awesome client experience and traveling the world. You have to work for success, despite what society is telling you about getting everything handed to you immediately, never taking breaks and without waiting. This is why so many give up so soon, because it doesn’t just happen.

In reality, you’re on the right road, the right path, you simply need to stick with it. You need to follow that strategy to a tee, figure out what works for you. show up and be consistent for 365 days before you tell yourself that you’re not good enough to run a business because that’s not true.

Success is created through consistency, that is taking action every single day rain or shine, showing up when no one else is showing up for you. Continuing to write your marketing strategy, showing your face in your Instagram stories and connecting with the people that you want to book you.

The key to success in your business is a long game route

You have to commit to the long game, set yourself up so that this business can last you 5,10,15, 20 years down the road. So, maybe one day, you’ll pass this business on to one of your children, or you’ll get to sell your business, or you can walk away from it and close the doors one day when you are happy to look back and see the successful business that you had with photography.

Again, it’s a long game, we are looking for people who are committed to being consistent and who are committed to showing up for themselves over and over and over and over again. You have to build the momentum for your business one day at a time, one action at a time, one client at a time and one booking at a time.

Success, progress, growth

Those of you that are committed and are going to be consistent, you will see success, progress, growth, and you will get to sit in that goodness. You’re also setting yourself up to have that profitable and sustainable business and this time next year you’re going to get to ride some of that momentum that you built in this year.

I want to ask you a couple of things, and I want you to take some time to evaluate and think about your business and figure out what needs to change.

• Are your processes and workflows consistent, from client to client and session to session?
• Is your editing and style consistent? Is it recognizable? Would you say that 90% of your galleries have an identifiable editing style? Is it recognizable to those who have never booked you?
• Are you marketing your business consistently and staying committed to the one or two platforms you’ve committed to, you cannot platform hop from week to week, month to month season to season; instead, you shouldn’t be picking where you’re hanging out, you should be doing the research to find out where your ideal client actually is.
• Speaking of ideal clients, what do they prefer? Is my messaging reaching them?

I teach all of this in both the Marketing Academy and the Blueprint. It’s very important.

One of the things for 2022 is a massive shift from 2020 and 2021; you had the ability to kind of choose if you wanted to participate in video marketing, but that’s no longer an option. And I hate that. I’m not excited about that. You’re probably not excited about that.

This is going to be our primary focus in the From Broke to Booked Blueprint group in 2022.

How do we pivot? How do we step into this era of video marketing when we really don’t want to your even know how.

A few more questions:

• Are you investing in your business on a consistent basis?
• Are you implementing what you are learning? This is another major mistake that I’m seeing. We are so quick to invest, buy a course, do a mentorship, whatever, we get so excited because it’s shiny, it’s sexy, it’s fun. We love it. But then after it’s over, right after that experience is over, are we actually implementing it?
• Can you truthfully say you’re you sticking to it?
• What about going back to the things that you’ve purchased, are you doing that?
• How about actually watching the lessons and taking notes and then applying that to our business?
• Are we taking advantage of the coaching that somebody offers?
• Are we missing out just because we’re choosing not to show up?

The key to success in your business, it’s all mindset

It’s so much about the mindset game. The journey to success, it’s not sexy, and that’s why very few people are actually being transparent with you about their journey. They wait until they have the flashy follower account. And then they’re like, I’m going to be an educator. Today, I’m going to talk about all the success I’ve had. They wait until they’ve made it before they start showing you any part of their life. And then all you’re left wondering is how did you get there. And this is one thing I’m challenging myself is to pull back the curtain and bring you guys back to what did my business look like 6, 7, 8 years ago, when I was the little fish in the sea, how in the world did I climb my way out.

Of course, these are things that I share in my paid programs. But I want you to relate to me, I want you to know that I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I did not get handed a camera and a massive clientele with the ability to price myself at the price point I’m at. That’s not how it happened for me, I started at the bottom of the totem pole just like you, I started with no one. And then I built a business. And that is what I’m helping photographers do every single day.

From broke to booked

Get committed to your business, committed to yourself, get consistent, show up, take action every single day. Even if it’s one thing, you’re doing one action a day, you will have a completely different business 365 days from now.

If you’re finding yourself pumped up right now, and saying, “I am ready, I want to be committed and I want to be consistent”.

Come join us in the From Broke to Booked Blueprint Program. I coach in there every single week. One of the tightest knit, honest, genuine group of photographers that you will ever meet inside of the student Facebook group. We are just waiting for you to get your booty in there. We can’t wait. I want massive success for you.

I want to hand you the strategies to apply to your own business and all of that is inside of the blueprint.

This is your year. Commit to it. Be consistent, show up for yourself even when it seems like you’re so far away from the goals that you have set for yourself. You have to start somewhere. So, start right now today. In this moment.

Want more on the key to success in your business? Tune into the Book More Clients Photography Podcast.