Does your to-do list feel draining, never-ending, or un-rewarding? Maybe it is constantly growing because you are distracted by others, rather than focused on your own goals and vision. Whatever the case may be, I’m hoping that today’s episode inspires you to deeply reflect on your goals and avoid any shiny distractions.
The Shoot It Straight Podcast is brought to you by Sabrina Gebhardt, photographer and educator. Join us each week as we discuss what it’s like to be a female creative entrepreneur while balancing entrepreneurship and motherhood. If you’re trying to find balance in this exciting place you’re in, yet willing to talk about the hard stuff too, Shoot It Straight Podcast is here to share practical and tangible takeaways to help you shoot it straight.
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This episode is brought to you by The Round Table, a community build for female photographers who want to continue growing their business wile forging industry friendships along the way! Every month, you get access to three new pieces of content covering a vast variety of topics from myself and guest speakers. Come join us and get access to the content and private Facebook community!
Review the Show Notes:
Chasing dreams right into burnout (1:23)
When shiny object syndrome creates lack of clarity (3:52)
Searching for the right business coach (6:01)
Are you getting distracted by everyone else? (7:25)
Mentioned In This Episode:
Root To Rise Mastermind & Retreat
Review the Transcript:
Welcome to the shoot it straight podcast. I’m your host, Sabrina Gephardt. Here I will share an honest take on what it’s like to be a female creative entrepreneur. while balancing business, motherhood and life myself along with my guests will get vulnerable through honest conversations and relatable stories because we’re willing to go there. If you’re trying to find balance in this exciting place you’re in yet willing to talk about the hard stuff to to shoot it straight podcast is here to share practical and tangible takeaways to help you shoot it straight.
Welcome back to another episode of the shoot it straight podcast. In today’s episode, I’m going to share something that was a personal struggle of mine for almost two years. And I have a feeling that it might be something that you’re currently struggling with or will face at some point. So back in early 2020, I decided I was ready to go all in on the education side of my business. I had been dabbling in mentoring for about four years. But I was ready to take things to the next level. I had big visions of having an online course and making six figures on it immediately and becoming this huge name in the education space and just overall visions of grand success during this time and actually started to pay more attention to other educators. What were they doing? What were they trying? What platforms were they on?
How did they do things? What were they working on? What was their marketing language, literally, just all the things. And while I did have a very specific plan for myself, in the beginning, I found myself overwhelmed. I mean, yes, I was taking a course for educators, I was also building a course, I was learning new software and doing a lot of things I’d never done before I was pitching conferences and creating slide decks. So of course, anyone would be overwhelmed by doing so many new things. But I found that my overwhelm went deeper than that, I would get to the end of a big project. And yet my list wasn’t any shorter. Or I would reach a nude benchmark and still feel like I had a marathon to run. And it took me a long time to realize the problem.
I was getting distracted, I was suffering from what people call shiny object syndrome. You see, every time I saw another educator do something new or creative, something that looked like fun or seemed like a great idea. My own spin of that very thing got added to my to do list. So before I knew it, I had a whole bunch of offers a whole bunch of freebies, a whole bunch of topics, I wanted to speak about a whole bunch of blog posts that I wanted to write, not to mention, I was still serving my photography clients, and taking their photos and editing and doing office work. And my whole entire life was still moving forward. Can you imagine spending two years feeling that way, feeling like you’re working your tail off towards your next bright idea. And then reaching it and feeling nothing. And moving right into the next big bright idea that’s on your list. One thing after another after another, and the list just kept getting longer and longer.
Please know that I was absolutely loving what I was doing. I was had this passion for serving my students and for serving my audience. And that was propelling me forward. I was so inspired by doing these new things and learning these new things I was excited about where it was taking me. But I was also carrying some serious burnout. Towards the end of last year, it dawned on me what the problem was. I had gotten very, very distracted with shiny object syndrome. I was paying more attention to what everyone else was doing. And it was taking away from my own clarity. And that lack of clarity was creating this insane list of things to do. That didn’t even really matter for my audience or my message or my goals. I don’t think that this is entirely uncommon. After all, I was basically starting a new business right? I was so inspired by everyone around me and my creative juices were just literally on fire. I wanted to try everything, and I still have so many fantastic ideas, but for now they are all on hold. Today’s episode is brought to you by the roundtable a community built for female photographers who want to continue growing their business while forging industry friendships along the way. learn practical ways to move your business forward while finding community and accountability with like minded photographers.
Every month, you get access to three new pieces of content over a broad variety of topics. In the past, we have covered topics like pricing, editing, goal setting, website reviews, social media, and videos from me behind the scenes at real sessions. Members have also had the opportunity to learn from incredible guest speakers and industry leaders on a huge variety of topics. I pride myself in giving you just enough education every month to keep you growing and moving forward, while not overwhelming you with content. Oh, and the private Facebook community is absolutely incredible. Consider it your space to ask all the things, get all the support and make real life business besties. If you’re ready to join us, you can head over to Sabrina gebhardt.com backslash membership and enroll today. And now back to the episode.
Late last year, I was really taking a long, hard look at who I wanted to coach me this year, I knew I had the tools I needed for my education business and my coaching practice, I knew I was rocking and rolling with my photography clients, I didn’t have a specific struggle or need that I could take a course on. Instead, I needed an accountability partner, I needed somebody who could see me deeply and keep me on track. And that’s when I decided to hire my business coach Kate, I spent last year in a high level mastermind with her as the group leader. And that was an incredible experience. But it was not a one on one experience. This year, I had the opportunity to hire her all to myself. And here we are still in the first quarter. And I can tell you that my peace of mind. And my clarity from this experience has been completely transformational already. Sure, I still get all kinds of crazy ideas, I still notice what everyone around me is doing. I still have thoughts about how I could do something similar in my own business and make it work for my audience.
I’m a creative after all, those ideas are never going to stop. And I definitely don’t want them to, they might have a place in my business someday. But right now, this year, I have very specific plans, and I’m staying focused on them and them alone. So I’m wondering if you have struggled with the same thing? Or maybe you are in this place right now? Are you getting distracted by what everyone else is doing around you? Are you creating offers or running specials, or shooting a certain type of session or building a new website or switching to a different CRM or doing anything else? For the sole reason that you saw someone else do it? Or are you doing things because they align with your goals and your business and your needs. I’m all about personal development and moving forward and your life and your business. But it’s crucial not to get distracted by what everyone else is doing. This is why I think it’s so important to do deep self reflection at the beginning of the year. And then on a monthly basis. If you don’t have an accountability partner or someone to help guide you on this process, I highly recommend you get a coach, hire a mentor, join a mastermind or a membership. But if nothing else, ask a friend, someone who you can trust to ask you the hard questions, someone who’s going to keep you on track for what actually matters to you, you can definitely try new things. If they are right for you. Making changes in your business just because someone else is doing the same thing is the absolute worst reason to do something. The distraction you get from working hard on something that’s actually relevant to your business and your life is very painful.
There’s no payoff. There’s no reward, you get to the end of the project. And there’s nothing because it didn’t actually matter to you in the first place. And the worst part is that all that time you could have spent working on something or working towards something that actually did matter. So this is just my little encouragement to you. I want you to really ask yourself are the things that you’re currently working on? actually important to you? Did they help support your goals for this year? Is there a deep why that supports why you’re doing them? Or did they accidentally make it onto your list by way of distraction? Because somebody else was doing it and it looked good. If it’s the latter, that’s okay. Show yourself some grace. Forgive yourself for the detour and then put it down. Take it off your list. Literally just drop it. Then reflect on what does matter to you and your business and get started on Not instead. And if that means setting new goals or starting back over with your goals from January, then so be it. I would much rather you make small progress toward goals that actually matter to your business, then for you to spend an entire month or year working towards something that is completely an irrelevant distraction to you. That’s all I have for you today, my friend. I hope that this inspires you to take a really hard look at the list of things you’re working on and working towards, and make sure that they have a real reason to be on that list, and that they are actually a shiny distraction that you picked up from somebody else.
We’ll see you next time. Before you leave today, I have to tell you about the round table. This is a community I built for female photographers who want to continue growing their business while forging industry friendships along the way. If you enjoy my teaching style on the podcast, then I know you will absolutely love the roundtable. In this group, you will learn practical ways to move your business forward while finding community and accountability with like minded photographers. Every month you will get access to three pieces of content over a broad variety of topics. In the past, we have covered things like pricing, editing, goal setting, website reviews, social media, and even videos for me behind the scenes at real sessions. Members have also had the opportunity to learn from incredible guest speakers and industry leaders on a huge variety of topics. I pride myself in giving you just enough education every month to keep you growing and moving forward. While not overwhelming you with content. Oh and the private Facebook community is absolutely incredible. Consider it your space to ask all the things get all the support and make real life business besties. If you’re ready to join us and take this podcast relationship a bit deeper, you can head over to Sabrina gephardt.com backslash membership and enroll today.
