Being a military family for 30 years meant constant reinvention…living arrangements, jobs, schools, friendships…heck even where you shop and the foods you eat.

Today Kevin headed out to get his international driver’s license because he has an upcoming work trip to Japan. It’s been a while since we’ve needed one of those. We laughed as we relived our years in Japan and driving on the other side of the road in our Bongo van…this was circa 2000. We had all just survived Y2K (if you don’t know what Y2K is…google it…you’ll crack up laughing…it was serious at the time…but laughable now) anyway…we loaded up Grace, who was 14 months at the time and moved to Iwakuni Japan. It was a crazy fun experience of being absorbed into another culture and the language, and the food…just so much fun!

Instead of being afraid of what this would do to our lives as we knew it…we embraced having to reinvent our lives in a foreign country. Nothing we did was familiar or part of our known. But we just went for it and figured it out as we went along.

That’s basically what you do when you are learning to drive in a foreign country…you take the test and if you pass, you get a driver’s license and off you go….hoping for the best and figuring it out as you go.

But here’s the thing…yes, you might get in on the passenger’s side that is actually the American driver’s side from time to time…but your muscle memory kicks in and you adjust. Curves can be a little tricky hahahahah. I often ended up on the wrong side of the road facing oncoming traffic, but I would quickly course correct and get back in my lane. It’s not as hard as you think. And the more you do it, the better you get and before long it’s like you never drove on the right side of the road.

However, I knew people that got over there and never learned to drive. They didn’t allow their lives to be reinvented. They stayed steadfast in the safety of their “known”. They didn’t venture out to explore, they didn’t try new things or new food or meet the people. They maintained life in their bubble. And I was sad for them… they were missing out on such joy and fun! There was a whole new life they weren’t able to live because they wouldn’t just try it.

I often hear from photographer’s I’m coaching that they’ve fallen out of love with what they are doing. They find themselves in a rut. They know something should change. They feel the tug for something new. But they are afraid to let go of the known and try something new.

And sometimes it’s that their season of life has changed and the business they’ve built no longer fits into their new season. Instead of going back to the drawing board and creatively looking at where they can make tweaks and changes to their current business model, they burn themselves out or simply walk away from it all. We don’t want either of those things to be true.

I knew several years ago that a big life change was coming. We were going to be empty nesters and I was ready for a business refresh. I’ve loved every season of my business, but I was beginning to feel the pull to something different. I took my time, listening to my heart, my creativity, the local market, the online market space, and I took small actions, then BIG actions to begin moving in a new direction.

At some point, it was like driving in Japan…I just had to get out there and do it…learning as I tried out this new skill daily. The pivot into Brand Photography has been such a delight. Some of it behind the scenes over the last few years and some of it forward facing as I began booking clients and perfecting my systems.

I thought I’d share a few things I learned as I’ve made the brand pivot over the last few years:

#1

It’s fun to learn new ways to use your passion to serve your community!!!! I still love to shoot my camera…and it has been so fun to use it in a different way from when I was shooting families and seniors. It’s like stretching a muscle that hasn’t been stretched in while…kind of like driving on the other side of the road in Japan!! You know how to drive a car, but everything is in a different place inside the car and you have to learn to keep the car on the other side of the road. In the beginning, I was turning on my windshield wipers when I was trying to put on my turn signal…hahhaaha…I was a sight to be seen! But over time, you train yourself in this new way of using your skills and you see success. The same is true when you make a pivot in your photography business. You can tweak many of your systems that you already have in place, you can recreate your client guides, you can redraft your contracts, you can rebrand yourself and your marketing..and soon, building out this new genre is no longer a challenge.

#2

The client contacts you had before simply grow and multiply. Let’s say you were a wedding photographer, I was bet that several of your brides and grooms own businesses or their parents do. Tap into those immediate circle of contacts that you already have. You have gained their trust, you’ve given them a wonderful client experience, and now you have another way to serve their sweet family in the future. If you are a family photographer, think about how many of those families are mamas with side hustles or want to jump into entrepreneurship. They are your new ideal client in brand photography. I’ve watched so many photographers I’ve coached make this simple pivot doing just that!!!

#3

Just go for it. What does it hurt to put it out there and give it a try. I had a recently Brand Photography Roadmap student do a simple instagram post and literally fielded inquiry calls for two weeks…booking many of them as new branding clients. They had been her family photography clients, and now that they saw she was offering branding photography, they jumped at the chance to work with her again. And several former clients suggested her to their friends who they knew could use her services. This new branch of her business bloomed effortlessly by simply putting it out there. She got behind the wheel of this new offer and it took off!!!

If you are a photographer or a small business owner, looking to make a shift in your offerings or an entire brand pivot, I’d be glad to help you look out ahead of you to see how you can build this new idea out. You can contact me here to set up a free consultation to chat about how I can help you!!! You can also get on the Waitlist for the next round of The Brand Photography Roadmap Course and Coaching Program…we begin again in April!!

I can’t wait to cheer you on as your business grows and changes and brings new adventures to your heart and family!!!! And remember, Reinvention: It’s Good to Try New Things

Blessings,

Corry