Today, I want to talk about how you can create belief in yourself with your new business as a Pet Photographer.

As someone who has started businesses that other people didn’t think would amount to much, I definitely had to overcome a lot of naysayers, negativity, and doubt from others when it came to my own vision and dreams.

It can be really tough to believe in yourself when others don’t value your idea in the same way that you do, right?

It might be that you are experiencing a similar thing when it comes to your own business.

Maybe you are hearing that pet photography isn’t a valid career path or that you’ll never make money doing something you love. Or some version of that. *insert eyeroll here*

Those constant nagging thoughts and doubt can definitely cloud our own judgment and belief system to the point where we deviate from our original plan, give up on something we want to try, or don’t even get started in the first place…

Believe me, dear pet photographer, I’ve been there more times than I can count.

So, how can we create belief in ourselves so that we don’t need the belief or validation of other people?

Well, keep reading.

(If by chance you prefer to watch than read, you can check out the full video here.)

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Ways To Create Belief In Yourself As A Pet Photographer

First, here’s what I want you to know: you are the only person that needs to believe in your dream.

That’s it. You don’t need permission from anyone else for your own life.

That’s so important, I’m going to repeat it again: You don’t need permission for anyone else in your own life!

Sure, it’s nice to have other people who support and encourage you (which you definitely should), but at the end of the day, the only person that needs to believe in it is you. After all, you’re the one with the vision.

So, that’s the first piece, which is understanding you don’t need anyone else’s permission.

The second thing is to recognize that when other people comment on your vision with negative commentary it’s entirely a reflection of their own limiting beliefs, life experience, insecurities, background, and other limitations.

It has nothing to do with you!

For instance, you could say, “I’m a Pet Photographer” to someone you just met and they could say, “Well that’s stupid.”

That would hurt right? But, maybe they don’t like animals.
Or maybe they have dreams of being a photographer and are jealous.
Or maybe they just don’t understand what it is that you actually do.

No matter the reason – their perception and opinion literally has nothing to do with you or your vision.

So, I want you to understand that when someone comes at you with something on that same wavelength that it’s about them, not you.

Don’t waste your precious energy on the opinions of people who don’t even know you or know you that well. That energy could be spent building belief in yourself and working on your business.

Once I understand that things other people said to me were entirely a reflection of them, it totally changed my life and I hope it helps you, too.

The third thing is to start being, thinking, speaking, and writing as if you are already the thing you want to become.

I regularly say to myself, think, speak, and write down, “I am a successful, published, award-winning, traveling pet photographer.”

I believe it to be true even if the entire vision hasn’t come to fruition yet because I know that’s exactly where I’m headed.

In other words, you have to act as a successful pet photographer before you actually become one.

It’s taking the actions you need to take to get there along with the thoughts, emotions, speech, and lifestyle of someone who is successful.

You will feel silly at first, you’ll feel doubt, you’ll feel trepidation, or like you aren’t enough, but belief comes by taking tiny, incremental steps to getting there one day at a time.

Fourth, take action.

Take lots of strategic, direct action.

I have found a lot of belief in yourself comes from the task of actually doing the thing you want to be doing.

Sure–you might fail at something, make lots of mistakes, or get it wrong sometimes, but as long as you keep going, you do have the option to course correct and learn.

Along the way, you will be able to find out what works, what you’re succeeding at, and the things that are going right, so be sure to celebrate those things, too.

Taking action will also help you build lots and lots of momentum for the growth of your business.

Fifth, celebrate your successes.

I like to have a mental and written cookie jar.

Sometimes we feel so far from our goals that we fail to see how far we’ve come; when you are in that headspace, I want you to reach into your cookie jar.

This could be keeping a list of “wins” or “successes” on your phone’s Notes app and open it up to read it whenever you need a reminder of all the things you’ve already accomplished.

By celebrating our successes, no matter how big or small, we are actually rewiring our brain to focus on the positive, which helps instill more belief in ourselves in the long term.

Sixth, be a lifelong student.

I have found that continually adding to my toolkit by constantly being willing to learn something new and add new techniques to my metaphorical toolkit, I feel less like an imposter and more like an actual photographer.

Walking into this business with an open mind and a willingness to do the research to learn all that I can, has helped to create tremendous confidence in my beliefs about myself and my overall skillset as a pet photographer.

So, continue to learn and grow your skills because it will go a long way in aiding in your overall belief system about you and your pet photography business.

By now, you’ve got some great ideas on how to start creating belief in yourself as a pet photographer, but let’s go ahead and recap:

You are the only person that needs to believe in your dreams. You do not need permission from anyone to design the life or business you want.
Negative commentary from others is a reflection of themselves, not you. Do not waste your energy on listening to the opinions of other people and focus that energy on building belief in yourself.
Start being, speaking, writing, and thinking as the person you want to become; in other words, do the things necessary today to already act is if you are already the person you want to be.
Make things happen and build momentum by taking lots of action. The actual doing of things, no matter if you make mistakes, is one of the quickest ways to build belief in your talents, skills, and expertise.
Be a lifelong student. Creating belief in yourself also comes from being willing to accept that you don’t know everything and continue every single day to become better and learn new things along the way.

Now, there are many, many more ways you can work to build belief in yourself, such as affirmations, meditation, journaling, etc, but these are some of my favorites that have been beneficial in my own life that I hope you find thoughtful, encouraging, and helpful, too.

If by chance you need a little bit more support, encouragement, and accountability, I also offering 1:1 Pet Photography Coaching and I would love to be a cheerleader for you along the way!