zenith

I've been working on positive affirmations and meditating for 5 months with the hope of improving my quality of life and focus. One thing that I'm noticing is that I have more dreams with negative undertone, like I'm in a negative subconscious state when I'm asleep. I was wondering what effects these types of dreams have on your waking life and if they counteract the self-actualization process. Is seems like having a lot of negative dreams would undo a lot of the affirmations and steps you are trying to change in your life?

For me, the missing link from succeeding as a creative, is developing a passion for business as well. I have done "ok" in the past 4 years, but I am not going to grow unless I learn to love doing business and marketing more. I have just seen two very talented photographer friends of mine, quit, because they feel that running a business doesn't fit their psyche and they are inadequate business people. I've always thought that business is something that one can develop even if you are not naturally passionate about it. The thing is I have come to like business. Maybe it helps that I have a daily mantra about loving it Unfortunately, I haven't developed this job skill over the years as much as the craft part of being a creative, so I feel a little behind. I would like to hear from others, if l business is something that you naturally had an aptitude for or is something that has taken time for you to embrace.

As a freelancer, this is me. It’s weird because being able to do what you feel is your life purpose is such a great thing, but at the same time, you have to survive and make money and it can skew your passion. Even if the job is not necessarily what I want to do, I try and see value in what I’m doing for the customer and be professional. I am becoming more aware about finding a balance though and not taking certain jobs that kill my soul a little. Sometimes you have to take care of yourself creatively, and not get sucked into hustling for cheap paying jobs that aren’t going to lead anywhere.

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I was wondering how this addiction will transform over the next few years as technology and ways of marketing evolves. Will it get a lot worse or will there be a point when people become more aware?

SF?! You guys must be loaded I consider myself pretty intuitive and can read desperate BS marketing tacts from a mile away. So I have always been paranoid and extra cautious about how I go about it doing it, which has meant limited marketing. Believing in a life purpose and has really helped reframe what I'm doing and put a different light on everything. Being able to be confident in a craft/skill that can meet the clients expectations have taken me alot of time too.

I'm really trying to wrap my head around marketing/business and how it revolves around my life purpose. Business is something that I've disregarded, as I've tried to focus on identifying my life's purpose and building up my skills in that area. So much emphasis is put on finding your purpose in life, but that's only half the puzzle. I've never thought that business/marketing would be as much fun as learning my craft, so never really pursued it. I'm really beginning to understand that being able to market and sell yourself is just as important and is pretty much the elephant in the room for me. I'll check out Pagan's courses. Are there any other resources that are recommended?

@ajasatya Thank you!

@david-c This is very insightful and what I'm really trying to do. Unfortunately, I've bought into the "starving artist" persona for a long time and so I'm just beginning to reprogram my mind. Why do artists have a hard time doing the business part of the "art" ? It's an area of my brain that I need to develop and exercise. I want to learn the art of selling myself and still maintain my authenticity. @St Clair Yes! I'm going to try and reframe my visualizations. Make them more reflective of what I'm facing in the near future, like the act of preparing marketing materials or talking to potential clients. At least this seems less vague to me and more direct with my present struggles and what I'm going through. I like your ideas of using visualizations to take action. @Samra Very useful. I can see how visualization plays into learning tasks. Especially with areas that I need to work on.

I’m a photographer by trade and have been freelancing for about 5 years. During this time, I’ve put way more emphasis on “working on my portfolio and projects” then running a business and putting myself out there. I’m trying to work on my self image and build more confidence through visualization techniques, especially relating to business and marketing. I was wondering if any other creatives use visualization and how you are using it for your development. At the moment, my visualization as a “financially successful photographer” seems too abstract of a concept.