Why would I need a mentor? What can someone else do for me and my business? What are the pros? Do I need one now? Maybe I need one in a year or so…
I have a feeling these thoughts have crossed your mind at least once since starting your own photography business. Read on to find out my top three reasons why YES! You would absolutely benefit from a mentor!
I’ve been where you are! The only difference is I was there a few years ago. I stumbled and fell and got back up and learned so much in the journey, which, I’ll admit was all amazing. However, I also need to admit – it was hard and long! I spent years honing in on how to get that perfect shot, or how to market my business; doing all sorts of research necessary to get me to where I am today. I had my own mentor as well, and the differences between before and after are amazing. It gave me the confidence I needed to find my style and my ideal client. It allowed me to justify how much I charged. It made me work towards the goals we set together. I’m here to pay it forward, I have one-on-one mentorships that can help you get to where you want to go. Don’t believe me? Entrepreneurs are more likely to give up on their business without any mentorship. More than half of those that have had a mentor feel a positive impact and actually see profits directly related. And finally, almost 75% of businesses can report increases in productivity.
Wild right? There’s actually research backing up why having a mentor can boost your business from where you are now, to reaching those goals of where you want to be.
Knowledge and Experience
The biggest benefit is how much knowledge you would gain from having a mentor. Potentially skipping the whole trial and error part of owning your own business; saving you time, energy and money – all things I know I hate wasting. Our time is valuable and we only have so much of it, we can’t be wasting energy and money instead of investing in ourselves. Here’s the thing; when you hire a mentor, their career should be where you want yours to go. They’ve done the whole trial and error scenario already. A good mentor is there to help guide you in reaching your goals, giving you advice and sharing their experiences, in hopes that you can learn from them. Whether it be how to market your business, or how to get those perfect shots with kids running around, or even both; having that experienced mentor to help can make the world of difference, and save you so much time, energy and money potentially being wasted.
Accountability
Another amazing reason a mentor can help you reach those goals? The accountability that comes with having a mentor. A good mentor will find out what you’re struggling with, and help guide you through attainable steps in reaching your objectives. Between your communication, there should be a clear pathway and specific goal-setting discussions. This can be specific skills in your photography, and perfecting the style you wish to achieve, or else your business skills, and how you want to market your photography. This can also be who your ideal client is, and how to book them!
This is someone you are hiring to help you! Having the support in clarifying your goals should make you want to be accountable. This is a perfect time to work extra hard and ask all the questions you may have. Think of a mentor as a teacher, when you were in school, you had to hand in your homework right? A mentor can expect the same, just on a more personal level, which is so much better, don’t you think? Once you start attaining those goals you have set out to reach, you’ll feel that much more empowered when you start taking the most beautiful photos and running the most successful business.
Community
Accountability and knowledge at your fingertips truly are great resources for anyone to have, regardless of where they are in their photography journey. It’s building a community of cheerleaders who have your best interest at heart. It allows you to have people in your corner who you can reach out to whenever you need that second opinion, or extra push…and sometimes even that shoulder to lean on. Having a support system outside of photography is absolutely wonderful, I know my husband is a huge support, and an even bigger fan, however having the support from other photographers is unparalleled. That type of support knows exactly where you’re coming from, and can help on the hardest of days, or else they’ll cheer extra loud since they know just how much you worked towards that dream of yours.
It also means you get to be a part of a team. If you need another photographer, you have someone you can rely on, who understands your style and will work towards your desired objectives. And vice versa; this means you get to help someone else and potentially photograph subjects that otherwise you would have never been able to do. Growing your portfolio and helping someone dear to you. Talk about an amazing arrangement.
I have loved my mentors, and they are still such an important part of my photography journey. I truly believe everyone can benefit from having more people in their corner cheering them on, and to be honest, if you’re here reading this, just know that I am fully here supporting you in your journey, whatever that is.
