Whats a BURN OUT? The burn out can happen at anytime/anywhere. And it’s that feeling of not wanting to do it anymore. My burn out hit me yesterday, MID WINTER! For me the burn out feels like you’ve worked so hard and you hustle so hard and you’re just tired. You’re not making money, you’re not booking shoots. For goodness sake its WINTER! You’re not going to book shoots the same way you did in the spring or fall or even at Christmas. That’s a really hard thing to deal with. It’s one of those things as a photographer that you’ll never get use to. So how do you overcome the burn out? Well, one way is to take time. Time to do a few things. Call it distraction or, preparation even, but take time for yourself. When you take time off you learn how to be normal again. You learn how to be with your family again, you learn how to re-prioritize again. And take time to ask yourself important questions. What am I doing with my business? Why don’t I have photography things to do? What am I doing wrong? You’re not doing anything wrong, this is the slow time of year for everybody. If you have a studio you’re still going to have a slow time of year! Clients don’t think… Hey it’s 20° outside, I think I want to do a photo shoot! Most likely the shoots you’ll book right now are head shots, newborn sessions and weddings (which are usually booked a year in advance). Weddings are a huge Booker right (we’ll talk more about weddings in the future! a lot more) now because they’re planning ahead and this is the time for bridal shows. All the bridal shows are in January/February not only because it’s the beginning of the year, but because it’s the entire industry’s down time.
So How do you beat the Burn out? it’s all about taking your time and having positive thought. Take time for yourself, go get your nails done, go on that vacation. Do what you need to do so when you are inspired and ready to shoot your fully rested. I never expect anyone to completely forget about their job. As nice as it would be its not possible. So make positive time and energy for yourself and when your boss lady brain kicks in listen. Strategize, and goal set, that’ll keep you going. But overall the burn out doesn’t have to be depressing. Now I will be the first one to admit the first week of my burn out is pretty severe. I’m depressed. I’m anxious, I don’t know where I’m going or where I’m heading, and my first instinct is not to pamper myself. I go into full boss lady mode and try to make money fall out of the sky as if its going to cure me. But after all the effort and depression the only thing that helps me is taking time to reflect. If you take time to reflect and really ask yourself, where do I want to go from here. You’ll be able to answer yourself and strategize to get yourself there. GOAL SETTING! At the end of the day if your hitting a burn out it means that you worked really hard. Really, really hard. And now its time for a reset. so listen to your brain, and try to stay away from editing lol. Give yourself time to energize for the spring swing!
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