So you know, that show the bachelor? I guess I should admit, I don't really know that show very well, I've never watched it. I kind of understand the premise. But more than anything, I understand it, because it's just out there in the world these days, right? There's the single guy. And then there's a whole bunch of women who are competing to marry him. That's basically the idea, right? Well, I realized that the Bachelor is just a show. But the whole idea of that show just
totally weirds me out. Like, what if this guy's a douchebag? Right? In fact, I essentially assume that he has to be one, given that he has voluntarily gone on a show where the whole thing is that a bunch of women are going to compete for his attention. I just feel like that. It attracts a very particular kind of person. But I think about what must go into the minds of these women who sign up for the show, you know, how many of them go in thinking like, oh, this will be fun? Or
maybe I'll win some money? Or maybe this guy will turn out to be great, who knows what's going through their minds, right? But what are the chances and what must they think the chances are, that they will actually fall in love? Given that setup, the whole goal of the show is that you are there to compete for some predetermined dude you've never met? Like, you have no say in the matter in terms of who it is you're competing for. Right?
So what if you hate him? I promise that there's a reason that I'm talking about the bachelor. And I'm gonna get back to that at the end of this short show. But in the meantime, let's Cue the music. And then we'll get started. Welcome to this can't be that hard. My name is Annemie Tonken. And I help photographers run profitable, sustainable businesses that they
love. Each week on the podcast, I cover simple, actionable strategies and systems that photographers at every level of experience can use to earn more money in a more sustainable way. Running a photography business doesn't have to be that hard. You can do it. And I can show you how. So if you're listening to this one, it drops Happy Valentine's Day, I figured we'd start with something a little silly because love is in the air. It's kind of
a silly holiday. And that got me thinking about the tagline of this education business, right? This can't be that hard tagline is helping photographers run profitable, sustainable businesses they love. There's that L Word. And no matter if you're listening to this, while you're you know, snacking on chocolates from your boo on February 14, or maybe you're catching it some other day of
the year, no problem. But I figured that it's as good a day as any to talk about that last little bit of the tagline. Because I think that when people find this podcast, and they hear the tagline, and they know that it's a business podcast, they figure like the profitable and sustainable parts are the important parts, right? They they seem like the more important aspects to running a business, I would actually argue
that that's wrong. And if it didn't sound so awkward, I probably would have written the tagline to be, you know, helping photographers build a business they love that's also profitable and sustainable. That just does not roll off the tongue. But the fact of the matter is most of us get into photography for the first time, like into the business of photography for our
love of the art form. I mean, you know, there are those people out there who look at what a photographer does, they like taking pictures, and they're like, Oh, that looks like an easy way to make a quick buck. Those people are out of business very quickly, because they get into business, they go through a couple of, you know, weeks or months, then they realize there's a lot more to it than just fistfuls of cash. So you
know, they're out. The rest of us are just hoping to build a small business that earns us a reasonable living doing something that we love a lot. And that is an absolutely wonderful goal. I think the fact that I have been able to do that in my own life for the last 13 years, gives me a lot of joy. I talk to my kids a lot about how fortunate I feel, and how I encourage them to try to find that kind of balance in their
adult lives. Because there are a lot of people out there making their living doing something that they hate if you can make it work profitably such that you can do this as your job. It's like winning at life as far as
I'm concerned. But what I've seen over and over in the photography industry and actually what I have experienced myself at various times in my own career is that when you are in business, right once you move from hobbyist to business owner and actually sometimes even before you get into owning your business, unless everything is going like 1,000% Perfectly you feel super confident about every aspect of your business which does not actually happen all
that often, right? When you have those points of vulnerability, it's really easy to look around at what other photographers are doing, and what other photographers are saying and listening to them and starting to lose sight of your own goals. So I was talking to one of my students recently, and she mentioned how hard it is, as you grow your business to kind of keep your eyes on your own journey, instead of comparing
yourself to other people. And I that resonated so much with me, it was actually the like, seed of inspiration for this entire episode. But her point was like, you look at these other people, and you think, Oh, am I supposed to be doing that too? Is that
what success looks like? So you start to make changes, you change maybe your style of either your photography itself, or maybe your editing style, you might start to shift your subject matter a little bit, you redo your offers you redo your pricing, whatever, because you see someone else who appears to be doing well. And your brain says, Go do what they're doing, right? I'll have what she's having. But the fact of the matter is like, what if that person's goals are totally
different from yours? What if their market is totally different from yours? What if the thing that they're really, really good at is different from the thing that you're really, really good at, right? Or maybe they work 40 hours a week, and you work 15 hours a week, I mean, there are so many variables that are essentially impossible to see from the
surface. And so when you assume based on something, probably pretty arbitrary, that somebody else is doing better than you, there's no way you know that changing one element of your business is going to get you in line and get you the same results. You've probably heard me talk on here before about your preferences and your parameters, those things that kind of are the foundational guiding principles of your business?
When you're setting it up? You know, what are the things that you want to do with this
business? And and what are the things that constrain you whether it's time or money, or anything else, those two things, your preferences and parameters always always need to be your north north star, not only when things are going well in your business, but actually, especially when you have hit a rough patch, it's really easy to start to question your own preferences, or try to push your parameters and say, Well, I don't actually need to make that much money, or like, I can
probably stay up until two o'clock in the morning. But that is a recipe for the profitability and the sustainability pieces of your business to disappear. So today, I want to invite you to check in with your why why did you get into photography? What did you love most when you got into photography? And if that wasn't, you know, in the last year or so, what is it that you love most? Now? What would you love to be able to offer to your clients? How much would you
love to work? Right? Not how much do you have to work in order to make your I don't know your rent at the end of the month? But like, how much work would you do? If you didn't have to worry about the rest of it? And how much money would you make? If you got to pick. I'll say like, keep it reasonable because I don't want to I want this to be an
attainable goal. Because I think that there are most photographers have absolutely have the capacity to build a business that pays their bills, pays them a reasonable salary allows them to save for retirement, all of those kinds of things if they set themselves up correctly. So I want you to aim high, but also aim reasonably. And then once you get those things set in your mind, I want you to look around your business and do a check in
with yourself. Are you allocating your resources, your time, your money, your energy, all those kinds of things in service of your goals? Or are you chasing someone else's dream? Are you out there searching for your true love? Or are you competing with a bunch of you know, other photographers hoping that somebody else's definition of like a hunky dude gets down on one knee and asks you to marry him? Because
honestly, what if he does? What if you go building somebody else's dream business, and you hate it? Right, who wins then? All right, everybody. I hope you enjoyed this short and very silly episode, if it's Valentine's Day when you're listening to this happy holiday, and I will see you guys next week. Well, that's it for this week's episode of This can't be that hard. I'll be back Same
time, same place next week. In the meantime, you can find more information about this episode along with all the relevant links, notes and downloads at this can't be that hard.com/learn If you liked the podcast, be sure to hit the subscribe button. Even better, share the love by leaving a review in iTunes. And as always, thanks so much for joining me. I hope you have a fantastic week.