SHINE35: an exercise in becoming a confident, in-demand photographer.

A fundamental truth I believe: WE WERE ALL BORN INNATELY CONFIDENT

Confidence is a driving force for us to fulfill our individual life’s mission. Becoming confident is primarily stripping layers that have blanketed and weighed down our natural confidence over time. Strip layers of dirt off of a diamond and the diamond was always there, brilliant and strong. Now it can shine. Then, adding things like education complements our confidence with information and strategy, and that power couple makes us unstoppable!

Inspired by Andy Frisella’s 75 hard program (that he refers to as an Ironman for your brain), and modelled through my ShineSparkL 5-pillar approach. This isn’t an endorsement to do the 75 hard program; it’s simply a structure that I’ve taken inspiration from, to build a challenge that has the power to transform your photography business (and you!)

Industry experts say it takes about 30 days to change a habit. My take is that if we can meet our goal of 30 days and then stretch it for another 5, it can cement our commitment. That instead of looking for the finish line, we slay and go beyond it. In doing so, effecting permanent changes because the challenge actually transformed you. Also, 5 represents the 5 pillars, so adding a symbolic 5 days aligns with this holistic approach to life and business.

For 35 consecutive days I am consistent with the plan I have committed to. Start date? Up to you. My reco? START TODAY.

Shine35 Core: Create a micro-marketing plan

Choose 3-5 marketing activities you’d like to focus on and set a 35 day schedule:

Examples:

Post on Instagram 3x weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

Publish one blog post weekly every Tuesday

Send out a newsletter every week on Thursday

Reach out personally to one former client (email, phone call) with an offer every weekday morning

Record a live on one social media channel 2x a week on Mondays and Fridays

Sky is the Limit! Pick activities you’d like to be more consistent with, or try something new.

Add the SHINE35 Pillars

Intuition Pillar | Journaling | Daily

Journal every day (length up to you) and include a gratitude list of 5 things in each entry. Don’t skimp here, we can all find 5 things to be grateful for. Practicing gratitude interrupts negative patterns that tend to preoccupy our thoughts. Living in a place where we are thankful and aware of all that is good is an internal environment that promotes your natural confidence.

ShineSparkL it!

Specificity matters. Research shows that expressing gratitude activates the reward centres of the brain, enhancing our feelings of well being and reducing stress. It’s easy to stay on the surface and write things like “I’m grateful for good clients” but we can get more beneficial effects if we go deeper: “I’m grateful for the wedding clients that happily left me detailed Google reviews that will boost my future bookings.”

Body Pillar | Silent Walk | Daily

Take a walk outside every day rain or shine; snow or summer. Your own time and pace. Location is up to you but nature bathing is preferred to stimulate your senses, refresh your body and connect you to the earth. This walk is SILENT so leave the phone at home. While walking, take 5 DEEP BREATHS. Deep breathing has amazing positive effects on our mental and physical health. Getting out of our heads and being in our body allows us to physically feel our confidence.

ShineSparkL it!

Because the walk is silent and without any other distraction, take the opportunity to hone your photographer’s eye. Watch light, notice textures and patterns, observe people. This is artistic training! If you see something interesting, return to the same path at another point for a photowalk to stimulate your creative senses and inspire new technique!

Mindset Pillar | Mind Training | Daily

Listen to one short video on mindset daily. Search YouTube for guided meditation or affirmations on success, confidence, growth, abundance, productivity, gratitude, clarity, removing fear or impostor. Choose topics related to how you are feeling or where your own blocks are. This promotes subtle re-programming of automatic negatives tapes that unconsciously undermines our confidence. Stripping the layers to expose our diamond that’s eternally shining underneath the crud.

Do not be tempted to use your daily Body Pillar walk for this mind training exercise.

The Shine35 walk is intended to be silent. You can do this mind training exercise while taking another walk (like walking the dog), while cleaning, cooking or waiting somewhere, in your car instead of listening to the radio. Or, just carve out some quiet time in your day, as an opportunity to meditate and relax your body!

ShineSparkL it!

Write one “I am” statement from your daily topic onto a sticky note and post it somewhere you can see. For example, if you listened to a guided meditation on confidence, write out one of the messages: “I am a confident photographer.” Add a note daily until you have a wall of positive messages to reinforce the new mindset you are developing.

Wisdom (Business) Pillar | READING | WEEKLY

Read one ShineSparkL blog post each week. Use the search box on the page to look up topics that you need specific help with, or browse by pillar. This promotes a learning lifestyle. Micro-learning is a trend where you replace an activity like a doom scroll with a piece of education. One small change builds on itself and before you know it, you know it! Knowledge builds confidence and implementing that knowledge builds demand.

ShineSparkL it!

Write out one lesson you have learned from your reading and find a way to implement it into your micro-marketing plan for the following week.

Energy (Brand) Pillar | Personality and Voice | WEEKLY

Look up one word a week that you believe matches your style/ brand. Use tools like thesaurus to explore different words with similar meaning that could be a better fit. Then, find a way to incorporate it into that week’s micro marketing plan activities or into a photography session. This helps you expand beyond the traditional vocabulary that so many of us use (natural, timeless, precious) and deepen your brand energy. Feeling at home and aligned with your true energy makes you unstoppably confident!

ShineSparkL it!

Do a vision exercise before you choose a word. Close your eyes. Imagine yourself in a different scenario every week. For example, week 1 you are imagining a day working at home. Week 2 shooting with an ideal client. Week 3 working with a vendor. Week 4 being on a bucket-list vacation with your family. Immerse yourself with every detail of who you are, how you interact, what things surround you, what you look like and how you feel. Stepping into this version of yourself will prime your energy and infuse the words with that energy. They will be that much more powerful when used in your micro-marketing plan because they will be fully activated!

The Hard Part: Stick to it

In the 75 Hard program, if you miss one day, you start over at day 1. We aren’t going to be so militant here, but we do want a soft consequence to keep us on track.

If you miss one thing in one week, add a week to the end of 35 and DO ALL THE ACTIVITIES during that week; not just the one activity you missed.

The Transformation

Take note of what happens over your 35 days. You can do so in your daily journalling and then look back, or you can track increases in activity in your micro-marketing plan. If you see and feel even a small positive shift, you may decide that Shine35 isn’t just a challenge, but a new and permanent way forward for you.

Stay Accountable

This challenge is yours. It’s free of charge, but similar to 75 Hard, not free of cost in the form of time, effort and discipline. You’re doing this because you know you need a shakeup, a wakeup, a or a makeup. But, you can join and report progress in the Confident, In-demand Photographer Facebook Group.

Are you up for the SHINE35 Challenge?

Ready for inspired action? Marketing education for photographers, the ShineSparkL way, is at your fingertips!

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