I had a breakthrough conversation with my photographer and had to share this with you.

Chris’s main passion is headshot photography (and studying marketing to build his business when he’s not in the studio). However, over the last year he got distracted by doing the work that would pay the rent instead of building the business that’s rooted in his passions. Recently, that job has stopped contracting him, leaving him scrambling.

We now live in a time when playing it safe doesn’t pay.

When Chris and I got on the phone, I listened as he revealed how the photography industry has changed over the years. Since the recession and the rise of digital photography and other new technologies, the market is flooded with cheap labor (perfect for advertising’s cheaper budgets.)

Relying on a “job” is a surefire way to make sure ends will never meet.

So what’s a headshot photographer to do? Stop being a headshot photographer.

I explained to Chris that I saw his most recent work with my friend Kavita. (She’s a relationship coach.) She walked away from that shoot with images that show-off that she has exactly what her target market wants (a happy relationship) without it looking like a “show-off.” I could tell by the way she posed and by the fact that many shots were taken with her husband that Chris helped her think strategically about how to visually represent her brand. Her images tell the story of her brand without her having to say a word.

But there was something even more profound.

Chris got his start as a photographer during the war in Afghanistan. And having seen those shots, I knew that Chris’s photographic super-power is telling a story.

I put all this together for Chris in a way that makes it easy for him to double his rates tomorrow if he wants.
In 60 minutes, Chris went from just a headshot photographer to Visual Brand Strategist.

I explained to him that his gift is a perfect match for an emerging trend in the entrepreneurial market: entrepreneurs building personal brands are taking photos of themselves that reveal who they are and what their life is like. They want images that make them relatable to their target market. Not only does Chris have the gift of story-telling through image, he has the marketing chops to help people think through their photo-shoot strategically to convey the message of their brand. This is beyond headshot photography. This is brand strategy. And this makes him more valuable than any other headshot photographer in the business.

In 60 minutes, I figured out Chris’s new market positioning and what makes him invaluable to the people he serves. (All while letting him do what he’s passionate about: study marketing and take amazing photos.) We gathered the breadcrumbs from his life to find what he was already doing – is always doing – in his work that he was not fully aware of.

This is how your purpose works: You are always already doing it and it comes to you so naturally, unless you really know it, you don’t even see it. You need someone to help uncover it. It is connected to your passions, but it is not the same as your passions.

Your purpose is what you can do anywhere, anytime, regardless of the circumstances or people around you. It is your “thing” that you do that’s as natural and uncomplicated for you as breathing.

For Chris, this is storytelling, whether he has a camera or not, anywhere he is in the world at any given moment.

Now it’s your turn.

(You’ll want to use a lifeline and phone a friend for this one.)

If you’re looking for the first step to reposition yourself and your biz, take a minute to ask someone – or a few someones – close to you, the following:

What is the thing I do so well I don’t even know I’m doing it?

What am I doing when you see me shining and most alive?

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November 2013 Issue