This article by Danielle LaPorte, “What’s one dumb thing you used to believe in?“…took me back to the early stages of my business and some of the things that I used to believe that over time proved themselves to be completely untrue. I wasn’t the only one thinking these things, I had tons of people surrounding me that thought the same thing. Wanna hear?

Dumb thing #1: “You are an amazing photographer, you should do this as a business!”

Totally fell for this one. If a friend or family member tells you that your work is awesome and you should go into business, this isn’t a confirmation that you are ready for business. This is a confirmation that you have something wonderful that others enjoy. You may have the photography skills, but photography skills alone do not qualify you to run a business. Encouragement is a wonderful thing, as it gets you through hard times and it lifts the spirits. But it should not be a confirmation that this is your life calling. YOU and you alone need to be the one to have the confidence that you should be in business.

Dumb thing #2: “Figure it out as you go — just get started!”

Yes, fools rush in. Within 3 months of getting my first DSLR, I was in business. It took me a whole year before I was legally set up to be operating a business and accepting money. I stuck my toes into the business pool to see what it was like and before I knew it, I was a full-fledged business and I wasn’t ready and I had no idea where to start. Strangely, most forum talk about business is about pricing or something like that, but no one seems to be excited to talk about business legalities. I was clueless about where to go for the answers, so I just hoped they would just magically come together.

That first year of trying to sort out taxes and all the legal matters was something I don’t ever want to relive. If you want to be in business, take care of the legal matters. It won’t hurt anything if you decide a month down the road that maybe you don’t want to be in business. But it will hurt six months down the road when you still don’t have legal matters taken care of and you start losing track of time. I’ll even help you — just sign up for the free Business Basics course and voila! You’re set.  

Dumb thing #3- “Business Plans are only for those who are making lots of money or who want to make lots of money.”

I used to think that because my business was a temporary means to provide an income, and thus wasn’t something I was planning on doing long term, that I didn’t need to know where I was going with it. I just needed to survive.

It doesn’t matter if you are driving across your state for the first time or taking a trip across the country: you need to know where you’re going! You need a map and you need to know what is going to be required of you so that you can make sure you have all that it takes to make it there in one piece.

Please — I don’t care if you use my business plan or someone else’s — write your thoughts down and make a solid plan of action that gets you through the coming months. Snag the free chapter here.

5 more dumb things I believed, my friend.

And yes, I’m limiting it to just five so you don’t think I’m a total moron.) 

Dumb thing #4: If someone doesn’t value my photography, they don’t value me as a person.  

I have lots of friends and family who still love me but will never pay me for what I do because it’s not what they value. I am still loved, and so are they. 

Dumb thing #5: Everyone who loves what I do is a potential client.  

Not necessarily. If your whole mommy playdate group is encouraging you in what you do, don’t count on them to be paying your bills. Count on them to keep encouraging you whenever you need the boost.  Loving your work and buying your work are two separate things.

Dumb thing #6: The naysayers are right.  

Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t — but believing the naysayers is a dangerous path to tread. If everyone else is telling you that you can’t do something — listen, heed their advice — but don’t allow it to make you afraid to take risks. Don’t allow someone else’s fear of failure to feed your own fears. 

Dumb thing #7: Forums and Facebook are the best resource for feedback on business decisions.  

They’re not. Unless of course, you have a highly successful business guru who is willing to take the time to give you the feedback— most of the people who are giving their .02 cents are the people who are probably in the same boat as you. Kind of a blind leading the blind kind of thing. 

Dumb thing #8: If you are an amazing photographer, you don’t need to market yourself.  

The word of mouth will just come rolling in on it’s own, right? Wrong. No matter your skills in photography, expect to work very hard at marketing — and then expect to have your patience tested while you wait for the marketing to do its work. 

What about you?? Tell me about your dumb thinking in the comments so we can laugh about it together!