CHRISTINA GREVE - Lifestyle Photographer, Stylist & Coach
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Tag Archives: Entrepreneurship

From Overwhelmed to Empowered

9 / 14 / 172 / 10 / 20

Are you sometimes overwhelmed with negative thinking – perhaps being downright rude to yourself? Criticizing yourself for not doing enough?

I guess we’ve all been there; having bad days and moments of self-doubt. Days in which you fall short of your own expectations, and instead of treating it as a learning opportunity, you beat yourself up about it.

The frustration that comes from trying to turn your creative passion into a profitable business can quickly turn into a long rant of self-critique.

The pain of being the starving artist, the struggling creative, overworked with little or no money is REAL.

Fighting to figure out how to do it. Constantly looking for the missing piece to get clients, build an audience and harvest a great income. It´s scary, it´s frustrating, and it´s the situation for so many creatives out there.

I get you! I’ve been an entrepreneur for 28 years. I launched my first clothing line at the age of 15. Started my own dance studio at age 18. I´ve been a full-time artist, a personal trainer, an interior designer and created three 6-figure businesses, including a coaching business, a photography business and numerous of online training programs.

Bringing my creative ideas out into the world is my passion – I love to see my vision grow into empires.

And if there’s ONE THING I’ve learned from my many years as a creative entrepreneur, as well as from coaching thousands of clients, it’s this: 

There’s absolutely NOTHING wrong with YOU!

If you struggle with growing your business, it does not mean that you are incompetent or incapable. Not at all! It simply means that you are an entrepreneur without a compass. It´s that simple.

Going from struggling artist/creator to a running a profitable business isn´t so much about hard work, brilliant plans, talent or luck as it is about confidence, thoughts, and emotions. 

With the right mindset in place, there ain´t nothing you can´t do!

I want you to remember:

YOU can start over, each day. The best time for new beginnings is NOW. It´s okay to have setbacks… it´s okay to draw a line in the sand and start over. Just make sure you are moving the line forward – in a positive direction.

Move in the directions of your dreams and goals. Take baby steps, but take steps that stop you from being stuck.

We all want to reach the top of the mountain and feel that we have achieved something amazing. We want to feel alive, happy and excited. We want to be financially independent and work with what we love.

Whatever you are working towards, and however far you still have to go, let me tell you that; YOU CAN DO IT!

Keep chasing your dream. Don´t give up! It doesn’t matter if you are moving fast or slow, only that you keep moving AND that you STOP criticizing yourself!

Because the truth is; every time you criticise yourself you take a step back – away from your desired destination called your dream life.

When you Play BIG in life fear will be a constant shadow following your every footstep.

Fear will show up asking if you’re sure – if you’re really, really sure you want to take this big risk? And you start to feel shaky.

You start to fear entering unknown territory. You think of all the things that could go wrong.

But, If you spend your life playing it safe, sticking to what you know and what’s comfortable (even if those things cause you unhappiness), you’re missing out on the incredible possibilities of what could be.

Sometimes the biggest risk is taking no risk at all. And oftentimes in taking the biggest risks, you find yourself living your dream life.

Here’s the thing…

The quality of your life and the success of your business is directly affected by how you FEEL about yourself, and how you THINK of yourself?

That’s why I want YOU to make a firm decision TODAY to boost and improve your self-esteem! Give yourself some credit for ALL that you DO and ALL that you ARE.

Doing so will empower you to do more, love more, give more, become more and live more.

All success in life comes from a place of self-confidence. A deep trust in yourself, that you are worthy of it all and that you deserve the best in life.

Abandon the idea that you are not good enough. Stop trying to ‘fix’ yourself; you’re not broken. No one is! You might have some bad habits, you might be a bit out of sync with yourself from time to time- just like the rest of us. But you are not broken, and there´s nothing wrong with you.

You are a perfect, beautiful, unique human being with perfect imperfections. Instead of telling yourself little lies about who you are and what you can and cannot do, focus on your potential, your passion and spread your message with the world.

With love and excitement,

What it Takes To Go From Hobbyist To Full-Time Photographer

8 / 18 / 162 / 24 / 20

I am going to be honest with you; taking your photography hobby to a place where you actually make a good living takes a lot work. But if you do it the right way, you will have a FUN, life-changing and exciting ride! When I made the decision to go Pro, my business grew very quickly. In fact I could hardly keep up! But my success was not because of my talent, camera gear or connections.

When I first started out, these were my odds:

  • I had a cheap beginners camera + one lens
  • I knew nothing about camera settings, lighting, posing or anything related to photography
  • I knew no one who could help me out
  • I knew nothing about blogging or branding
  • I had no connections in the photography industry
  • I knew absolutely nothing about the photography industry
  • And as a native Dane, my English was poor—and it still is 🙂

So how the heck did I do it?

My strengths that came in handy

  • Passion – It might sound strange, but I don’t believe that talent is enough; I believe that passion is the fuel and I am deeply and madly in love with photography.
  • Determination and willingness to learn – I spend hours, days, nights and months practicing.
  • Ambition + vision – I knew I wanted to help women in photography (in front of the lens + behind the lens) to believe in themselves.
  • A creative mind – In the past I’ve crossed paths with fashion design, interior decoration, styling and art in many form.
  • Business know-how – This was due to running my former life coaching business.

Now, let’s focus on YOU!

Do you have what it takes?

What it Takes To Go From Hobbyist To Full-Time Photographer

1. You have PASSION

You LOVE photography so much that it’s ALL you think about (besides your loved ones, of course). Your camera is your baby and the only thing you want for Christmas is a new lens! You wake up, excited about what you do.

2. You are WILLING to do the work

  • You are ready to put in the hours.
  • You are willing to put a minimum of 10-15 hours a week into learning, creating, and building your business.
  • You can build your business while you still keep your day job, which is what I did the first year. Some mornings I would get up before my children, to get a few quiet hours of work done. Other times I would sit up all night to practice photoshop. You are willing to do what it takes, because you know it will change your life.
  • You are realistic and understand that nothing comes to you, without you taking ACTION.

3. You LOVE to learn new things

As the owner of a photography business, you need to master a lot more than the camera. You must be willing to learn how to design your blog, run a Facebook page, book yourself solid, connect with clients and so much more.

Personally what I love the most about photography is that there is always something new to learn. I never get stuck in “I-know-it-all-and-now-I-am-bored” land.”

If you want to be a success, you’ll want to love learning more than just how to take photos—it’s an entire business and lifestyle to embrace and enjoy.

Christina Greve Photography

4. You know your strengths and understand how to use them

One of the keys to success in the photography industry is to choose a niche, a passion that you combine with photography.

If you love dogs, for example, and know everything about them, you might want to consider specializing in dog portraits. If you are the master of cake baking and love decorating cakes, you might want to consider specializing in photographing pastry. If you love nature, sports, weddings, beaches, traveling…you get the idea. The possibilities are endless!

Your niche might shift during your growth as a photographer—mine certainly did many times. I started with boudoir photography and then moved into fashion and glamour-inspired portraiture. Now my niche has shifting again to lifestyle images.

My main niche is to inspire and motivate women around the world to believe in themselves, whether they are my clients, my students or my readers. No matter what I do, that will always be my core niche!

Choosing a niche will not make it difficult to get clients; rather your focus will attract clients to you. More importantly, it will help set you apart from the competition.

What it Takes To Go From Hobbyist To Full-Time Photographer

5. Build relationships with clients AND like-minded photographers

When I first started out, I didn’t know any other photographers. So I started networking on flickr and by being very active—liking, commenting and sharing tips—I gained a whole new group of friends. With their support and the inspiration I felt from these relationships, I started to grow really fast. Soon after that I created my blog and then later my Facebook page.

If you truly want to grow your business, take your time to to connect with people. Show your support, write comments, cheer, be positive and say “THANK YOU” when people care about you and take their time to like your work. Be nice and give people a reason to care.

How you treat people will determine how well your business will do.

6. Walk through your FEARS

The truth is: you can never actually be completely fear-free. So that’s not really the goal here. The true goal is to ACT, despite the fear you are feeling.

Ninety-percent of the time, fear is just thoughts running through your mind, and has nothing to do with reality.

The best thing you can do, in order to propel forward, is to IGNORE your fearful thoughts and start putting one leg in front of the other. As NIKE so clearly puts it: Just Do It!

When you act despite your fears, the fears will slowly die and leave you alone.

New fears will pop up as you move forward, but with time, you become much better at dealing with them.

Never let your fears stop you from creating the life you truly want for yourself!

YOU deserve the best of the best. Now go for it, girl!

Take care,

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