I get a lot of questions about how to get more bookings in your business. I often hear from photographers:

• “I'm not getting bookings.”

• “Nobody's really reaching out to me.”

• “I keep booking clients I don't really connect with, and I don't know why.”

• “Couples are feeling a little uneasy in front of the camera. I don't know how to help them feel more comfortable.”

There is a way around it. It's called vulnerability!

Vulnerability Creates Connection

I know putting out who you are can feel terrifying, but guess what, you yearn for that with your clients, and they yearn that from you!

Somebody has to be the first.

Think of your Instagram and website being a shop that someone walks into.

So, why would you expect your clients to be open in front of you if you cant do that first?

Remember. This is a big decision for couples! They need to feel comfortable because you will be there documenting intimate moments and feelings on their wedding day! Think about it; what would you want in the photographer you'd be hiring?

I know I would want someone as silly as I am, loves going with the flow and shares similar interests and passions so that I would feel like we have things to talk about!

If a couple is following you on Instagram and can’t get a sense of your personality, they will feel unsure if you’ll be the right fit for them since they don’t know if they will feel comfortable around you.

Even if they love your work, but you're not showing who the person is behind the work, they may subconsciously decide, “Maybe I'll search for another photographer that I can get to know online, first. Then I'll feel more at ease with my choice once I feel like I'm connected with them.”

Guess what, then the photographer who is showing up as themselves has a higher likelihood of getting the booking.

Okay, so now that you know that vulnerability creates connection, it's time to start showing up as yourself.

Okay, Sara, but how?

The simplest thing I could say to you is this:

Change the way you think about judgment

We are all scared of being judged. We all want to be accepted. It all comes from way back in the day when we had to survive. Survival depended on acceptance by other tribe members.

Why not positively think about judgment instead? After all, our thoughts create our feelings, and our feelings create our actions!

Instead of thinking, “I'm afraid of people negatively judging me,” know that there is just as much of a chance at people positively judging you!

No matter what you do, EVER, people will either love it, be indifferent to it or hate it. So you might as well do you!

Why are most of us focusing on the negative? Why do we focus on negative judgment, when guess what, no matter what we do, there will always be positive judgment.

This way of thinking has freed me so much!

It all starts with positive self-talk.

If I'm about to story on Instagram and fear kicks in and I think to myself, “Sara, you're an idiot! Nobody is going to care about that. People will think you're stupid.” I know that type of thinking will take me down the wrong path.

Instead, I could choose to change that story to, “Sara, that's awesome! You should share that! That could help someone or make them laugh!.”

It's all about switching the negative thinking into positive thinking.

That's what will get you through. Face your fears and keep going ahead. Doing things in spite of fear is empowering.

Affirmations

Choose this affirmation. Every time you're about to show up on Insta Stories, say to yourself, “No matter what I do, people will love me.” And you'll see it works.

Right now, you have people in your life that love you for you. People who are closest to you. If they already love you so much for being you, why not share that with even more people and have even more people love you?

Let me walk you through my journey of how I went from feeling uncomfortable showing up as myself to excited about it!

How Insta Stories Helped Me Learn Vulnerability

The day Instagram announced Insta Stories, I was so pumped!

Before that, I tried to figure out how to fuse who I was into my feed. But that felt like a whole ton of curation and planning for my feed to look a certain way. Plus, that meant needing more photos of myself, which I didn't want to feel like I had to do all the time.

Also, if the whole point was showing others the real, perfectly imperfect part of me, it would still feel too curated to me.

One of my biggest inspirations here was my friend Kristen from Hopscotch the Globe, who is a travel vlogger.

I remember one day we were in Calgary on a job assignment she had, and she had to vlog the experience of the trip. I was there with her, so part of the deal was for me to be in the videos too. I remember we were in the middle of talking, and then she would say, "Oh wait, I'm inspired to say something.”

She would turn on her vlogging camera and speak to it as totally herself! This was the first time I had ever experienced someone vlogging in front of me, and I loved how authentically she did it...as I awkwardly sat on the side totally in my head, overthinking what I should do.

That moment became ingrained in my mind. As soon as Instagram stories came out, I knew I wanted to take people behind the scenes into who I was and how I lived my life. Hopefully, to attract more ideal clients in the process, but also help show others that you can do you, show up as yourself without being perfectly polished, and still be loved!

To watch the video from this exact story I just told you click here > 48 Hours in Calgary: Behind the Scenes

Why Use Instagram Stories for Your Business

So those were my reasons for doing Instagram Stories, but you may be wondering, why should I?

Instagram is an incredibly powerful marketing tool for attracting ideal clients, which I know you want because otherwise, you would not have clicked play on this episode!

On Instagram, people can see and hear a human almost real-time! They want to see you, and they want to listen to your voice. They want to know the person that creates such beautiful photos!

They want to know what you love, what your values are, and especially your silly unpolished side.

Think about some of those you follow consistently on Instagram. Why do you get excited to follow them?

For me, it's people like Kaitlyn Bristowe that inspires me to be unapologetic about being myself. And yes, I still overthink sometimes and need someone to motivate me just to be me.

There's also James Wedmore who does not give an eff to be his weird, quirky self while dishing out insane business advice!

I would highly suggest that you consume content only from those that make you feel empowered to be unapologetically yourself.

Post With Confidence

Now it's time to do the work, but before you do, there is just one thing you need to commit yourself to....the One Rule!

When I first started this, THIS was the one rule I gave myself because I didn't want to fall down the dangerous path of continually judging myself and spending too much time recording the story.

You know how anything in life has pros and cons? Instagram's con is comparisonitis and highlight reels and overthinking what to post as a result.

I wanted to avoid that as much as I could, so I made a pact with myself.

Whatever I record naturally, is perfectly imperfect, and I will not re-watch and judge myself, I will post with confidence!

As a result, these things happened:

• As I was showing up as truly myself, people kept booking me, and my confidence grew immensely.

• I noticed that I was working more and more with couples that were so similar to me, so connecting with them was effortless!

• It added a playful spirit to my work and brand! It felt so refreshing not taking things so seriously!

Of course, there is that 5% of the time where I really have a brain fart, or I still find myself overthinking, and I re-record. But it's only 5% of the time! I am only human lol. Not perfect, because perfection literally doesn't exist.

Make this rule with yourself from the very beginning, and don’t look back!

What to Post

Now it's time to do the work. Start small and ease into it! Begin by committing to one day of storying on Instagram per week.

But what the heck do I even post? I feel like my life is so boring!

First off, that is already negative self-talk, so tell it to fuck off and instead choose gratitude. See all the beauty around you in your life and share small pieces of it! After all, it's the simple things in life that connect us all!

Show them behind the scenes of your life and behind the scenes of how you work.

For example, as a wedding photographer, if you're editing a session, you could just put your phone in the corner of your desk and do a hands-free recording showing people how you look at your desk editing. It's a peek into behind the scenes of your life and work!

Maybe you can story about just walking your dog or talking about your workout journey.

Recently, I did an Instagram story where I was walking my dog, Abby, and I was wearing flip-flops in September. It was a little cooler than usual, and I wrote, “I'm still hanging on to flip-flops for as long as I possibly can this summer, who else is with me?” I did a little poll, and people could vote “Hell yes!” or “No way, Jose.”

It gets people interacting with you and shows your personality. It shows off a quirk like, “Hey, I like wearing flip-flops for as long as possible.”

Or perhaps you're dealing with insecurity of some sort, so empower yourself and others, you can share that in your story! Remember, vulnerability creates a connection. I did this when I started recently developing a skin rash on my face and breaking out.

I could have hid, but I decided to talk about it and still show up because I know that it will only help other people dealing with the same thing, or worse, show up too! Plus, it just humanizes me, and people love connecting with others that are so real!

I really do believe that a huge reason why my couples open up so quickly in front of me right away, is because they feel that they can be imperfect around me too since I show up that way!

When people start feeling connected to you and loving you, they want to book you, and they want to work with you.

And that is by far the fastest way I grew my business to where it is now!

If you're scared about sharing everything in your life, you can easily keep what you want private and share what you want to share. You don't have to talk about everything in your life. And that's the beauty behind having the freedom to create YOUR business the way YOU want to.

Recap

To review here are your action steps:

• Switch the way you look at judgment. Tell yourself that no matter what you do, people will love you.

• Start showing up by being conscious of your thoughts.

• Form connections through your vulnerability.

Then Voila, you're booking dream clients!

Thank you!

I hope this helped you. If it did, please do me let me know by sending me a DM on Instagram (@saramonikaphoto). If you have a friend who's dealing with something like this too, share this blog with them!

Love you guys and thank you so much for reading!

-Sara Monika

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