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Handling Fear of Failure

Lesson 7 from: How to Become a Freelance Photographer

Isaac Johnston

Handling Fear of Failure

Lesson 7 from: How to Become a Freelance Photographer

Isaac Johnston

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Lesson Info

7. Handling Fear of Failure

The fear of failure is very real, but also something you can avoid. Mindset is incredibly important as you make this journey, and Isaac lays out steps to help you keep a positive mindset as you achieve your dreams.

Lesson Info

Handling Fear of Failure

I follow this account called Jerry of the Day. And it's similar to another account called Kook Slams, which is a surfing based account. What happens is that people go fail. They like, either wreck their mountain bike, their skis or like, wreck surfing. And what you notice most about this account is that people seem to know they're going to fail before they actually like, wreck their mountain bike. Like, they flail outta control before it actually even happens. And I've noticed that in the transition to freelancing for most people, sometimes I see that people have fear and it causes them to start failing before they even get to creating. So for instance, they'll stop themselves from making new art, or they'll try three or four posts or videos and then stop making what they're making because they're afraid of failing. So, when you start making things, you're on the hook for whether they succeed or fail, and it can feel super vulnerable, and it feels even more vulnerable when you share th...

ese new, fresh things. It's hard to deal with. But here are a few things that I do to overcome that fear, and keep sharing, and keep making stuff. Fail first. When you're afraid of failing, what you're actually doing is fear of the unknown. Your mind has a tendency to make mountains out of mole hills, I think that's how the saying goes. You're afraid of what will people think, and will you be able to recover. Failure is part of the process. So you're going to not be picked. You're going to lose a job. You're gonna have a client confrontation and you're gonna have a big job probably go sour. It's part of the process. It happens to everybody and you don't need to make it into this huge thing where you think that, "I'm not gonna be able to recover. And, I just need to focus on this failure and make it all the way better." The best course of action here is just to keep creating and to move on. Just know that it's gonna happen. And when it does happen, I'm just gonna keep going. I'm gonna keep doing what I love. Padding your landing. If you follow the steps that I laid out and how to know if your hobby should be your profession, then you've already padded your landing. It's important to limit your exposure and your exposure to your worst case scenario. In my case, I save three months of expenses, I lined up as many freelance jobs as I could get, and I cut my lifestyle way back. So this allowed me to have enough resources to find another job, still pay rent. And the worst case scenario for me was that I could end up stocking shelves at Home Depot at night, but I wasn't going to end up in a homeless shelter and waiting in a line for food. I'd taken care of that. So yeah, it allowed me to just keep doing what I'm doing without worrying about what happens at rock bottom. There is no rock bottom. Alright, and the final piece is called fear setting. And Tim Ferriss does a really great job on explaining what this is. I'm not gonna go through it here because it's kind of redundant, but I'm gonna link to it below this episode. Yeah, just, or you can Google tim.blog and fear setting and you'll find out what that is. It's a really good strategy on how to mentally and emotionally work through the worst case scenario so that you can go ahead and be successful.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Workshop PDF
How To Build A Proposal - Pitch Deck Example
Idea Asset List Template
Story Creation Sheet Template

Ratings and Reviews

Ken Neubecker
 

A great course/workshop, one of the best I've seen with CreativeLive. While at 71 I'm not looking at starting a full new carrier in freelance photography or video work, doing the work helps keep me off the street. It has given me inspiration to do a stoty about what I am going through now as a full time caretaker for my wife, who has been suffering the declining pains of Alzheimer's for a few years now. No one with Alzheimer's travels that final journey alone. In a sence it is an adventure, mostly for those close to the one with the disease. While it's not like the travels I did 50 years ago when what today is called "adventure" (canyoneering, something we used to simply call a hike in the desert...). I spent a lot of my life running rivers and working as a wilderness wanderer and guide/instructor. Now my travels are pretty well limited to long walk with the dog and occasional fishing outings with my wife who used to be a guide herself. Maybe thats not all that interesting or exciting as say going over a cliff with a bike and a parachute, but for many older folks it is the new story, the new adventure as their later years unfold. This in itself will be an adventure, at least for me.

Ryan David
 

Practical yet fun Great workshop and worth the time/money. Isaac is an easy to watch presenter and the various modules were each concise and practical. Time well spent!

asieh harati
 

honest advice from an adventure photographer who went through career transition I think a lot of us are mulling over the idea of transitioning to become a photographer. It's not easy. There are lots of fears and hesitations. It's a change that could affect our life. I'm at this decision branch for the second time in my life, and I still fear. Isaac shares with us how he overcame those very same hurdles and fears. He is genuine, practical and proves that you don't need expensive gear to start or even continue to become good enough. The pitch deck example, the starting up a conversation with a prospective client, the way to deal with blockers, all are real. I cannot wait to put them in place and start my first pitch. Thanks Isaac for sharing your journey!

Student Work

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