As I work on learning the art and craft of photography and on creating a business doing what I love, I am learning a lot about myself and a Dragon called “Resistance.” Resistance shows up every single day of the week in many different forms and guises. The latest form that had me down for a couple of days was when I started working on a 12-month cash flow analysis for my business and the initial numbers looked abysmal. Before I knew it I was in a funk and whining to myself and anyone else who would listen about how it was impossible to make a living doing photography. I stopped working on the cash flow analysis and started looking at software engineer job listings online. “Maybe I’m not cut out for entreprenaurship,” I thought. “Maybe I should rethink this business plan of mine. It would be safer to look for a job or a contract writing software.”
Fortunately I happened to pick up a great little book from the library by Steven Pressfield the next day. The book is called, “the WAR of ART: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles.” Pressfield says, “Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.”
“Ahhh…I said to myself, this funk I’m in is resistance. I don’t know that I can’t make a living making photography. I haven’t even figured out how I’m going to price my work or where I’m going to sell it.” So I picked up the phone and called to set up a meeting with my business advisor at WomenVenture. She laughed when she saw my first take on the cash flow analysis and said, “In all my years doing this I’ve never seen such conservative sales projections. You need to do some research and run the numbers with several different scenarios.” Along with that advice I came away with a long list of other ideas on how to focus my research and efforts. The Dragon called Resistance is defeated, for today at least.
I’m planning my first exhibit of photographs at Three Sisters’ Sludge Coffee Shop in Minneapolis Sept. 1 – 30. See the photo collage I’ve inserted below for more details.
0 Comments