Amanda Kraft Archives

Sound Advice For Flustered Photographers – Stop Editing, Start Living: Part 4

September 24, 2013 by Amanda Kraft Leave a Comment

Amanda Kraft is a photographer and holistic health coaching living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She photographs high school seniors and recently created Stop Editing, Start Living to help creative professionals regain control of their businesses, so they can live the life they have always dreamed of. Most days she can be found coaching her clients, preparing gourmet dinner, relaxing with her husband or enjoying the open road in her jeep. Read part 1, part 2 and part 3 of this series before continuing ahead.

Visualizing A New YOU!

We've discussed taking back control of your schedule, setting up boundaries and now getting back to the basics of eating.

Remember it took you awhile to reach this point in your life and an overnight fix isn't the answer. You will need to chip away each day until you find the right work/life balance for you. What works for me and my family might not be right for yours. It's going to take a bit of trial and error, until you are headed in the direction of your desired goals. Hopefully my suggestions have put you closer to finding the balance.

It is easy to become consumed with our businesses that we forgot that they are only an extension of who we are. We are on some level or another deeper than our craft. If you are unsure of who you are without your photography, graphic design, web design or videography business than one exercise I suggest you do is create a vision board.

Schedule a “personal day”, listen to your favorite music and day dream about the life you want to live, remove your business from the picture. Simply focus on everything that you want to experience, own and embrace in your life. Take those dreams and put them on paper: maybe you want to vacation in Hawaii during the off season in a little hut on a cliff overlooking the ocean, learn to paddle board, treat yourself to a designer purse, fit into your skinny jeans again. Whatever your dreams are, find photographs that represent what you desire and incorporate them to your board.

Each day, when working at my desk my vision board is within sights and it is amazing all of the “visions” I have included that have come to fruition. Think back to when you started your business and you created some sort of vision for your business from the logo, website style, colors and tag lines. It's time to use the same concept for creating the vision for your life.

I hope you have found this series helpful to you and that some or all of it has resonated with you. If you would like to learn more, I am here to help you. Feel free to contact me through my website.

I am also giving away one seat to my next Stop Editing, Start Living workshop. To enter, simply follow the prompts below to follow both me and Seshu on Twitter and LIKE both of our Facebook pages. One random winner will be drawn on September 30th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sound Advice For Flustered Photographers – Stop Editing, Start Living: Part 3

September 11, 2013 by Amanda Kraft 2 Comments

Amanda Kraft is a photographer and holistic health coaching living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She photographs high school seniors and recently created Stop Editing, Start Living to help creative professionals regain control of their businesses, so they can live the life they have always dreamed of. Most days she can be found coaching her clients, preparing gourmet dinner, relaxing with her husband or enjoying the open road in her jeep. Read part 1 and part 2 of this series before continuing ahead.

In Front Of The Lens

Have you ever become the subject of a guests camera at a wedding? You know, the crazy uncle who wants to take a photo of the photographer taking photos. I never understand the importance but, that isn't the reason for this post. A few years ago, I was the unfortunate subject of a guests camera and my super sweet bride mailed a copy of the photo to me. I was instantly horrified! How did I get here? I knew I gained some weight, but I looked like I ate an Olsen twin. For those of you who aren't photographers and maybe had head shots taken recently and weren't exactly thrilled with, you might be able to relate to this.

Truthfully, my diet was pure garbage. Leading up to an event I would carb load in order to make it through the day. In my mind, I thought I was preparing to compete in an ironman competition and having HUGE pasta dishes were what I needed to make it through an 8 hour day of shooting. During the week, I was sitting on my butt editing and eating whatever I wanted, because in my mind, I had “worked out” enough at the wedding over the weekend. My diet consisted of sodas and carbohydrates – not discriminating between products that lived in a box or a bag. Saying that I was “too busy” became a convenient excuse to do not do something about my health and wellness. Along the way, I allowed my business to swallow me whole. Every dime I made was invested back into my business for a new piece of gear, another set of actions or template that I didn't really need or a seminar that wasn't exactly aligned with the direction I wanted to take my business in. In retrospect, a portion of my profits should have been invested into my personal development along with getting me well both physically and mentally.

All of this lead to a massive meltdown on my closet floor one evening before my husband and I attended a birthday party. In that moment of crocodile sized tears, clarity set in and if I didn't regain control of myself, my business would never survive. The moment I cleaned up my diet, made morning workouts part of my daily routine, my overall attitude began to change. Email requests, phone calls or deadline that had once bothered me no longer frustrated me, I had massive amounts of energy, began to loose weight and clients who had booked me months prior took notice. If that wasn't motivation enough, I don't know what could be.

You're asking yourself “How do I get from burnt out, stressed out and a to list longer than my arm, and maybe a few pounds heavier than I want to be to living the life I have always wanted?” First of all, you have to want to change. If you don't have the fire from within to change your life than no one can help you. One of the easiest ways to start to feel clearer, lighter and happier is to change what you are eating. Now, let me say that I am not suggesting that you become a vegan, vegetarian, juice junkie, go paleo or only surviving on twigs for the rest of your life*. What I am guiding you toward is eating whole foods that are not only going to fuel your body, but allow you to appreciate real food again. With all of the changes I've suggested in the previous posts about getting your business under control, it makes sense to slowly transition into cleaning up your diet. You will be amazed at the amount of clarity and focus you will have throughout the day once you stop treating your body like a trash can. New levels of energy are going to push through and your going to sleep better than you have in months. Let me caution you by saying this: Just because you defined your schedule, created boundaries and are now on track to eating clean doesn't means that you can put in one week of effort and then slack off. This is something you will need to work out until it becomes second nature.

Getting Back To Square One With Your Diet

Start Drinking Water – what a concept right? One that so many people over look. I was a 2 liter of soda a day kinda girl. No wonder I piled on the pounds and couldn't sleep at night. I had claimed for years that water didn't taste good. One day, I quit drinking soda cold turkey and became a water-holic. On a rare occasion, I will treat myself to a soda and the moment I do, my body feels sluggish, my sleep pattern is effected for days and all of that isn't worth the few sips of the cola.

Get Walking – it's quick, easy and free. Take an early morning walk with your dog, friends or your kids. You know those friends or neighbors you never see because you are editing non-stop, now it time to catch up and do a non-work related activity. Silence all of the notifications you get on your phone and soak in the moment and enjoy the fresh air. The emails and texts will still be there when you get back.

What's On Your Plate – this is where my tough love is going to come in. I am going to keep it real for a minute. You are big, bad ass and awesome enough to run your own business, than you are big, bad ass and awesome enough to control what you put on your plate. What you eat, order and pick up at the grocery store starts with you. If you allow the processed junk food into your house than guess what you are going to eat … junk food! Of course, no one is making you fill the bowl to the top with sugary cereal or throw down a double bacon cheeseburger with a jumbo sized fry. If you truly want to get healthy than you need to be aware of what is going on your plate and into your body.

What's For Dinner – Plan, Plan and Plan some more. If you find yourself ordering take out 5 nights a week – something needs to change. Two things are happening: you are consuming an unbelievable amount of calories and you are draining your bank account. Think back to when you were a kid, dinners out were a treat. Maybe you went out and celebrated a parents new job or an “A” on a test you had been studying really hard for. Not because mom was “too busy”. How many hours do you spend on Pinterest looking up dinner ideas – yet, you haven't made a single one for your family. Stop pinning and start cooking!

Once you start to take responsibility for yourself and what you put into your body amazing things are going to happen. Honor yourself by fueling your body and mind with foods that are going to provide you with energy and longevity, not those that weigh you down physically and mentally.

*I completely support vegan, vegetarian, juicing, paleo and clean eating lifestyles and want you to realize that not one lifestyle works for everyone. You will need to do a bit of research to find out what works best for you.

Sound Advice For Flustered Photographers – Stop Editing, Start Living: Part 2

September 6, 2013 by Amanda Kraft Leave a Comment

Enough With The Head Trash

Mental head trash is more than likely what got you into this mess. You started to feel that your images weren't good enough or investing a few more hours than necessary editing a particular design, photo or video to make it absolutely perfect, or maybe an unhappy client has left you jaded. Please know that you are not alone and those who you view as industry rockstars have fought the same battles along the way. This is when you have to dig deep and learn to recognize your self destructive ways. All of the head trash you allow in your mental space starts to manifest and instead of attracting the positives you start to attract the negatives. Ever notice how one bad thing leads to another, it is because you are investing more time on the negatives instead of focusing on the positives.

1) Stop Comparing Yourself – Jealously is an ugly monster and we often look for fault in others successes. In our minds we try to come up with reasons our competitors or industry rockstars have it easier than we do: we think of all the “easy” ways they might have become successful, claiming that they are trust fund babies, their husband must make a lot of money, maybe they won the lottery or have a huge inheritance. We have all fallen victim to this. Personally, this happened to me years ago when I would compare the number of bookings with my circle of friends. It felt like we were in a competition to see how many bookings we could get. It didn't matter if the client was a good fit, we wanted to have more than the other person. If that wasn't the stupidest thing I had ever done. I completely took myself, my brand and lifestyle out of the mix and purely did work that didn't make me happy. That is the beauty of what we do, we can choose when we photograph, who we photograph and why we photograph. Another wise line told to me by a photographer friend – “there is the right photographer for every bride, and the right bride for every photographer.” Stop comparing everyone else and start comparing your business to the life you want to live.

2) Go After The Work That Inspires You – I can't begin to tell you how freeing it has been removing weddings from my business and turning my attention to high school senior portraits. What is the point of doing work that doesn't make you happy? You'll argue and tell me that you HAD to take on a booking or client that you weren't a fit for because of the money and now you are dealing with an unhappy client. Is it the client at fault or are you at fault for not declining the booking? If you have been shooting, designing, or programing for a while you will know what elements inspire you about a project. Maybe it is the location, the connection with the client and hopefully the client is not even flinching on the rates you are worth. Find three key elements that every project needs to have and then it will be a no-brainer that the gig is the perfect match for you and your business. I call this the booking trifecta.

3) The Power Of NO – When my business was still in it's infancy, I never used the word “NO”. I would cave to my clients requests for fear that they would ‘hate” me if I didn't give into their request. My clients didn't hate me, I hated me. The moment that I began to push back and set boundaries with my clients the relationship between us changed and for the better. We all have an understanding of each others expectations. If you are uncomfortable with saying “No” then say “Yes”, and attach a price to the request to make it worth it for you.

4) “Surround yourself with people who will lift you higher” – a great quote by Orpah and in our industry there is so much truth to this. If you find yourself surrounded by a lot of negative nellies, it is time to remove yourself from the toxic black hole you are being sucked into. Same goes for your family and non-photography friends – if the relationships you are investing time are negative, or make you feel badly about yourself and your work than it is time to walk away. Why do you think you keep seeing the same successful, go getters together all of the time, because they are aligning themselves with like minded people who lift them higher.

Sound Advice For Flustered Photographers – Stop Editing, Start Living: Part 1

August 22, 2013 by Amanda Kraft Leave a Comment

Introduction

I've been on the receiving end of text messages that go something like this: “OMG, my to do list is kicking my butt, who did you recommend outsourcing editing to?, Is it November yet?” My group of photography and designer friends are all hitting mid season burnt out and we are only in July. While my shooting season is just getting started I am feeling cool as a cucumber. The same feeling I have been experiencing for the last three years. Your going to say to yourself… isn't that great, she probably isn't shooting at all! Wrong! I am shooting, but on my own terms. For the first 7 years of my business I was a manic one woman show; completely unhappy, working countless late nights and traveling non-stop. Every ounce of me went into building my business and the only thing that I received in return was a bigger waist line and major headaches. Fast forward to three years ago when I finally woke up and realized that I might have the career I have always dreamed of, but the life I wanted to go along with it, clearly wasn't happening.

When I actually decided to Stop Editing and Start Living my life changed and over the next few weeks- I am going to share my top tips to help you to regain control of the business that you love so much, so you can live the life you have always dreamed of.

Create Structure

a) Take a social media vacation: Allocate 30 minutes a day to check in with your social media accounts and then close it down for the rest of the day. You will be amazed at how much work you can accomplish in a day when social media distractions are taken out of the equations. I remember sitting in a photography seminar with Travis Guggleman speaking and he said something that really changed my life, he said “In 40 years, when you are sitting on the front porch with your husband/wife, it isn't going to matter who won this past season of the Bachelor or American Idol” and he is completely right. All of this extra “stuff” we distract ourselves with really has no bearing on our daily lives. Sure, who doesn't love a good YouTube video, but if you are already feeling overwhelmed, watching the video isn't going to help cross off tasks off of your to do list.

b) Create a schedule: Take 15 – 20 minutes to create a schedule for the rest of the year! Yes, for the next 6 months. Start with scheduled weddings, events and sessions you already have contracted. Then add in family obligations and a few “personal” days. Determine which days of the week you want to designate for shoot days, admin days and editing days. Don't tell me that your clients won't understand or your business won't survive. Trust me, it will and by limiting yourself to the days you shoot for your sanity will only put you in greater demand. For my business,Monday and Wednesday's are shoot days and are the only two days given when a client calls to book a shoot. On a very rare occasion, I will open a Thursday if I am planning to be out of town for a few days, but I control my schedule not them! When you go to the dentist or doctor, you are on their schedule, so why do we as photographers feel the need to cater to every whim of a client?

c) Hours of Operation: If you aren't creating defined business hours than you are doing yourself a major dis-service. You can't expect clients to adhere to your boundaries if you haven't set them for yourself. If you choose to work from 9 – 5 daily than don't email your clients at 11pm at night and get mad when they start an email conversation back and forth or worse yet, call you on the phone! Once you have created your defined business hours and shooting schedule, start to leave the “office” at quitting time. All of the “extra” hours you are putting in more than likely aren't greasing your pocket in overtime pay. So, why work and put in all of these extra hours working for “free”?

d) Do one thing for yourself everyday: Take a 30 minute walk in the morning with the dog, stop by the driving range and hit a bucket of golf balls or try a new fitness class. Better yet, prep dinner for that evening in the morning before your day starts, so you actually have something healthy to eat. For most of us, we wanted to have our own business to allow freedom and flexibility in our lives, so don't feel guilty by actually taking the time to workout or do something other than edit photos.

e) Sweet dreams: Ask yourself when you last had a great night of sleep? Spending countless nights working til the wee hours of the morning isn't doing you much of a benefit. More than likely you are oversleeping in the morning, running behind schedule and never feeling caught up. Get yourself back on a normal sleep schedule. Bed by 11 and up by 7 or whatever works for you. If you set your office hours to start at 10am imagine what you can get done before 10 each day.

Come back here in a couple of days to check out the next installment in this series by Amanda Kraft. If you would like to share your experiences, please comment below!