When you feel like a failure

You’re in a meeting with an award winning advertising creative, or an agent you’d love to rep you, and they ask the dreaded question;

‘What have you been up to recently?’

What do you say?

Do you suddenly draw a blank, forget everything you’ve been doing, decide you’re an abject failure and make excuses for your tardiness?

The other day I asked a photographer this and that’s exactly what happened.

But when we dug into it he had been doing things.

He’d been shooting his personal project.
He’d been rebuilding his website.
And he had shot a job or two with some clients.
He was working on a collaboration.

Holy moly he was a machine! But when put on the spot he had ended up focusing on the negative.

You never know when someone who matters will ask you that question, or something like it.

Don’t wear your sense of failure like a badge, especially when you’re talking to potential clients and reps. They won’t appreciate it, no matter how genuinely you feel it (and don’t get me wrong, I know it can be hard sometimes.)

If you’re a photographer who swings towards glass-half-empty and struggles to be positive this is the month to work on it.

Get into the habit of regularly writing down what you achieved yesterday, last week, this month, this year. List the things that are working, and the people and other things you are grateful for.

At the very least do this intentionally before any meeting or call with a client.

It will help enormously, and remind you that you really are amazing.