What is a Freedom Based Lifestyle? Can Photographers Have One?

//What is a Freedom Based Lifestyle? Can Photographers Have One?

What is a Freedom Based Lifestyle? Can Photographers Have One?

A question for you: What does everyone want? It’s hard to define and different for every person. The Answer! It’s a Freedom Based Lifestyle!

Eons ago, when Sondra approached me about working with her to help business owners become more successful, we talked a lot about “living the life of your design”. In the beginning, that was our battle cry. It was our way of telling business owners that their businesses should work for them, not the other way around.

Fast forward to now. Over the years, our terminology has changed. With the same beliefs firmly in place, we now advocate Freedom Based Living! What is it? Let’s explore…

Freedom Based Living or a Freedom Based Lifestyle is the philosophy of getting up every day and doing exactly what you want to do while providing for yourself and your family in a way that makes you feel great and fulfills your sense of being! Was that too 1980’s? That really is a great way to describe it!

Freedom Based Living means that you’re doing what YOU want to do and getting paid what YOU want to get paid AND you’re doing it when and where YOU want to do it! Living your “FBL” shouldn’t be a once in a while occurrence; it should be your life! Think of it another way, it’s like living a vacation every day. I know how that sounds, I really do, BUT it’s possible and in my opinion, it’s how we’re supposed to live!

So, based on a very basic description of “what” it is, let’s look at the question, Can a photographer live a Freedom Based Lifestyle?”

OF COURSE photographers can live Freedom Based Lifestyles! Are most photographers doing this now? Definitely not! From what we hear every day from photographers, lab owners, vendors and other industry experts, photographers are trying hard to survive! Why? We feel it’s because most of the industry is too busy following each other. There’s too much time dedicated to crying about newbies and moms with great cameras and price shoppers! Guess what? All of those issues have been around in one form or another!

If YOU want to live a Freedom Based Lifestyle, here are some basic first steps to follow!

1 – Define in great detail, exactly what YOUR version of a Freedom Based Lifestyle looks like, sounds like, smells like, tastes like and feels like. What will you do each morning when you wake up and what will you spend your day doing? Write out every detail.

2 – Explore and evaluate your art. This is where TONS of photographers fall short. Does your art look like everyone else’s? Do you work every single day on your craft? Are you creating images the majority of your time? YOU SHOULD BE! If you’re a photographer and you want to stand out in your market area, you MUST be better at creating images than the others in your area! You MUST create a UNIQUE ARTISTIC POINT OF VIEW. You need to establish a style that sets you apart!

3 – Create income generating activities. These include lead generation, session generation, relationship generation and brand awareness campaigns. (More about income generating activities in a future post.)

4 – Evaluate what you can pay others to do! Those already living their version of a Freedom Based Lifestyle know what their time is best spent doing. They have learned that no one can duplicate their artistic skills, but they can outsource their production tasks. Evaluate and define what you can outsource.

5 – Define when, where and how you want to create your art. Your clients WILL come to you IF your art is unique; your service is exceptional AND you provide them with something they can become emotionally invested in! That’s the key!

Start with these five basic steps and you’ll be on your way to your version of a Freedom Based Lifestyle! Will it happen overnight? Probably not. Can you, as a photographer, live a Freedom Based Lifestyle? The answer is YES! If you need help building YOUR Freedom Based Lifestyle, let us know. We’ve helped others achieve it and we can help you too!

Jerry

By | 2018-04-10T21:34:13+00:00 April 1st, 2018|Business Coaching|1 Comment

One Comment

  1. Jay Goldman January 25, 2016 at 1:15 pm - Reply

    Fantastic post. Thank you for giving it a cool term.
    Number 2 on the list is certainly a tough one.

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