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Being Kind Matters

By on July 10, 2018
ana

By Ana Bohane Photography

Supporting your competitors? Why would you do that? They may ‘steal’ your clients!
Actually, I disagree. Supporting others even if they are your direct competitors is the right thing to do. If you genuinely like what you see, don’t hide it.

It has taken me a while to come to this conclusion. It’s a scary concept when you are starting out and make the big mistake of googling your local competitors, and you realize how intimidating their skills are and how much work they are getting. I get it, I have been there. You compare yourself to them, and you think you need to change to be more like them to get to the next level.

When in that position I considered changing my style of photography from Lifestyle to ‘traditional’ set poses, backdrops, props and lights. Gee, I even considered changing my appearance; dying my beloved pink hair to a more natural colour.

So, did I change my style? Nope! Instead, I changed my thought process. There are over 7.6 billion people in the world. Everyone has a chance to do what they love if they work hard and believe in their product. What I now realize is that building a business is like gardening.

The other day I was looking through some images I took of our garden when we first moved into our house. It was bare. We didn’t even have grass, just endless mud. But guess what? After a year our garden is now flourishing.

It took lots of hard work: we built planters from pallets, planted endless seeds and bulbs, gave them lots of water, taught the kids to be kind to the plants, added compost, and learned lots of tricks along the way. After all that hard work, our garden is now a success. It took patience and perseverance; some seeds grew, while others didn’t.

As I said, a business is the same. It takes time! And just because you want more clients doesn’t mean you can’t take a little time to water your neighbor’s garden. People buy from people they like and trust. And it’s important to remember that everyone is different. Every business has its unique selling points and personality.

So yes, I support my competitors. If a picture looks great, I click ‘like’, if I think their work is super, I ‘follow’ them. Competitors are not a threat; they’re human beings with the same passions that you have. And in the end, being kind will always feel better.

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anabohaneI’m Ana Bohane, a mummy, a candid family photographer and sometimes a blogger.

I live in the UK, in Worthing but work all over West Sussex and Surrey. My style is documentary, I shoot the magic moments as they naturally unfold and without ever… asking my clients to say cheese or making them pose.

Writing is another of my passions, especially writing about photography and sharing tips with parents so that they can take better pictures of their kids.

My Details:
http://www.anabohane.com/blog
https://www.facebook.com/anabohanephotography/
https://instagram.com/anabohanephotography
www.anabohane.com

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