Blocking yourself

I read on one of the photo forums a post from a photographer who said that he would love to get better clients and better paying projects, and that he tries to do just that, but that he has to keep marketing to the cheap-o clients to keep getting enough work to make enough money. He is blocking himself from really pursuing and achieving his stated goal.

Imagine being overweight and deciding that you want to lose the extra weight. You make that your goal–to lose 20 pounds in 4 months. It’s doable, but it’s going to require work on your part. Now, imagine saying, at the very same time, that you aren’t going to cut any calories; you won’t eat less, because you’re afraid you won’t get all the vitamins and minerals you need if you reduce your intake at all.

Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? I mean, I guess if you worked out a ton you still *might* lose the weight, but it’s a damn hard way to go about it. And the whole theory is based on a false premise–that you will put yourself, your health, in danger if you eat less–when in fact you can often get even better nutrition from eating less (eat more fruits and veggies and drop the chips, for example).

Well it’s just the same when it comes to your business. If you want to get better clients, you must stop going after the crappy ones. They don’t feed your business well. When you market to them, better clients will be at best disinterested and more likely repulsed by the kind of work you have to show to attract (or, better put, not scare off) the el-cheap-os.

Also, if you book yourself busy with crappy, cheap clients, you won’t have the time or energy to do what you need to to go after the good ones. It’s damn hard to think of creative marketing ideas when you’ve been shooting uninspired crap for lousy clients for too many hours and not enough money. It’s the creative equivalent of becoming a couch potato.

So, if you want to get better clients, do better work, and get better paying projects, you must make that your goal and take the steps necessary to achieve that. One of those steps must be to stop marketing to the lower-end clients.