For the last 16 months, I’ve been steadily building momentum toward becoming a healthier version of myself. I’ve been drinking more water, exercising more regularly, and choosing foods that make me feel good. As a side effect, I’ve lost 60+ lbs that I gained during my pregnancy. I want to be clear, I love my body at EVERY shape and size it is and has ever been, but this side effect of weight loss felt really good to me for three main reasons:
1. I am able to move my body more comfortably and chase my kids around with more ease.
2. I’ve had more strength & energy throughout my day to do the things I love.
3. I’ve been sleeping much more deeply.
Six months ago, after getting within 15 lbs of a goal weight, I started to gain the weight back again. And for the last six months, I’ve gained and lost the same ten pounds over and over again and making absolutely no progress. What’s up with that? (Can’t be the quarantine life, can it?)
For the last six months, I’ve been wondering: what is stopping me from reaching the goal? What am I afraid of?
This morning I had an epiphany and I wanted to share–you’ll understand why at the end.
If I were to set a goal and reach it, that would mean I would have a new level of accountability. When I dug deeper I realized I was scared about having to “maintain” a goal weight. In fact, I’m sabotaging myself from even getting close to a goal weight, because I don’t trust myself to maintain that new level of transformation. It’s much easier and way more comfortable to just stay stuck here at the same weight gaining and losing ten pounds.
And, what would that mean about me if I didn’t maintain the goal? What if I hit my goal and then gained the weight back again? Would that mean I’m a failure? How would I feel achieving something only to have it taken away? What would people think? These fears swirled to the surface today.
Why am I sharing this?
I realized the SAME EXACT fear transcends into our business operations and keeps us stuck in old pricing and business practices that don’t reflect our current value and current self-values. The fear of not being able to maintain our goal and our new level of success…
What if we reach our business goals only to find we can’t sustain them?
What if we raise our prices and a pandemic hits and no one can afford our new rates?
What if it’s a lot more work to keep up with a business that is thriving?
What if we build our business strong and newer, younger, and more talented photographers come along and take all of the clients by charging less?
What would happen if we raise our prices, get told NO, and need to lower them again?
What would that say about me? Would I be a failure? What would people think?
Do any of these fears resonate with you?
I might not have the weight goal thing figured out yet, (and to be honest, I’m not sure if I care yet! HA!), but pricing, sustainability, and running a thriving business are something I’m confident in. For more than eleven years, I’ve held the passion of encouraging other wedding photographers around me to do the same: BE CONFIDENT IN THEIR BUSINESSES, THEIR PRICING, THEIR VALUES. I’ve busted through unreasonable fears, pricing myths, and caring what others around me think and helped countless other wedding photographers around me understand the JOY of running a sustainable business model.
There are only a few spots left for my August Enrollment of 1:1 coaching where what I’ll be working on with you will on average allow you to start booking your next weddings at $600-$1000 more per booking. THINK ABOUT THAT FOR JUST ONE MINUTE. If you start making just $600-$1000 more per wedding you book for next year, and you book ten weddings, that’s $6,000-$10,000 more dollars in your pocket in just one year. Times that by the next ten years. And times it by the amount you’ll continue to raise your prices as you continue to grow in your business and craft.
If you want to know more about my 1:1 coaching program and find out about the real return on investment of working with a wedding photography pricing coach, book a complimentary call here to get started.