Podcast Ep 429 - Stop Telling Yourself You Can’t Get Clients

What Is Your Brain Training You to Believe About Your Photography Business?

Have you ever caught yourself saying, “I don't know how to get clients,” “Nobody will pay my prices,” “My market is too saturated,” or “Social media just doesn't work for me”? If you've been in photography long enough, chances are you've said at least one of these things, probably after a slow month, a ghosted inquiry, or another post that didn't get the response you hoped for. The problem isn't that these thoughts make you a negative person. Heather's point is much more interesting: your brain is very good at looking for evidence that supports whatever you already believe.

That idea is called confirmation bias, and it can quietly shape the way you run your photography business. Once you've decided that clients aren't spending money, your brain starts noticing every declined inquiry, every person who says you're too expensive, and every photographer in a Facebook group talking about slow bookings. At the same time, it can completely overlook the client who did book you, the person who upgraded, or the photographer down the road who raised their prices and is fully booked.

The story you keep telling yourself matters

Think about the last time something didn't go the way you wanted in your business. Maybe someone ghosted you after asking for your pricing, or you made an offer and nobody bought it. What did you tell yourself happened? Did you simply think, “That person didn't book,” or did your brain immediately jump to, “Nobody wants to pay what I charge”?

Those two statements may sound similar, but they're not. One describes what happened; the other creates a story about what the event supposedly means. Heather points out that photographers can take one person's objection, one ghosted inquiry, or one unsuccessful offer and turn it into a sweeping belief about their entire market.

And once that belief is there, your brain gets to work proving it.

That's why this matters so much for photographers. Your thoughts don't just sit quietly in your head; they influence what you notice, what you think is possible, what opportunities you recognize, what experiments you're willing to try, and how you interpret setbacks.

What if you don't actually know what you think you know?

One of the most common struggles photographers talk about online is getting clients consistently. Recent Reddit discussions include photographers who have tried cold outreach, networking, business cards, paid Instagram ads, websites, and social media, yet still feel stuck and wonder what they're missing.

It's easy to take that frustration and turn it into “I don't know how to get clients.” But Heather makes an important distinction: you may not mean that you literally have no way to get clients. You may simply mean, “I don't currently know how I'm going to get my next client.”

That small change matters because the first statement shuts the door, while the second leaves room to solve the problem.

If you believe there is no way to get clients, why would you reach out to someone new? Why would you follow up? Why would you experiment with a different offer or marketing approach? Why would you notice the person standing in front of you who might actually need what you offer? Heather explains that once photographers repeatedly tell themselves they don't know how to get clients, they can start scrolling past ideas, dismissing opportunities, avoiding outreach, and then using the lack of results as proof that they were right all along.

What if the opportunity isn't missing? What if you're just not looking for it anymore?

One rejection is not a market report

This is where photographers can get themselves into trouble very quickly. One person says your price is too high, and suddenly you're convinced your pricing is wrong. One person ghosts you, and suddenly you decide nobody is booking. One offer doesn't sell, and suddenly you think nobody wants the service.

But one person isn't your entire market.

Heather uses the example of offering salmon at a restaurant. If one person says no, the restaurant doesn't run into the kitchen screaming that human beings have rejected salmon and it must come off the menu. Yet photographers can do exactly that with their own offers.

This is a useful rule to keep in mind: treat individual responses as information, not as a verdict. A rejection can tell you something, but it doesn't automatically tell you everything.

So the next time someone says, “That's too expensive,” try asking yourself a different question: What do I actually know from this conversation, and what am I assuming? Maybe the price genuinely wasn't right for them. Maybe they weren't your ideal client. Maybe the timing wasn't right. Maybe they simply didn't value the service enough to buy it. None of those possibilities automatically mean you need to change your entire business.

Are you calling something a fact when it's really a story?

Photographers often have very believable reasons for why business is difficult. The market is saturated. People are cutting back. Everyone has a camera. Social media isn't working. Clients only want cheap photography. Nobody in the area has money.

Some of those things may contain a piece of truth. There are competitors. Some people won't be able to afford your services. Some marketing channels will work better than others. Heather isn't asking photographers to pretend those circumstances don't exist. She's asking them to stop turning a piece of evidence into the truth about everything.

That distinction is important because photographers are discussing these exact frustrations online. Recent conversations include people wondering why their social media engagement has dropped, whether social media is still useful for finding clients, and how other photographers are getting work when they seem to have tried everything.

Instead of saying, “Social media doesn't work for me,” what if you asked, “What have I tried, what happened, and what could I test next?” That's a much more useful question because it keeps your brain in problem-solving mode instead of asking it to prove that you've already failed.

Your brain can become your biggest excuse

Heather's example about being “bad at math” is funny, but there's something uncomfortably familiar about it for photographers. Maybe you struggled with math years ago, decided you weren't a numbers person, and carried that identity into your business. Then you sit down to look at profit margins or cost of goods, feel confused, and think, “See? I knew I was bad with numbers.”

But look at how many numbers you already manage as a photographer. You understand aperture, shutter speed, ISO, session times, discounts, money, and percentages. You're not incapable of working with numbers; you've simply created a story about what kind of person you are when numbers become connected to business.

The same thing happens with marketing. If you decide “I'm terrible at marketing,” marketing becomes something you dread. You procrastinate, overthink it, avoid it, and eventually don't do enough of it to create meaningful results. Then those limited results become your evidence that you're terrible at marketing.

What if the thing you keep calling a personality trait is actually just a skill you haven't learned yet?

That's a much kinder—and much more useful—place to work from.

Try changing the question

Heather isn't asking photographers to replace every negative thought with some wildly unrealistic affirmation. She even points out that your brain may reject a statement that feels completely disconnected from reality. You don't have to go from “Nobody wants my photography” to “I'm the most sought-after photographer in the world.”

Instead, choose something believable enough that your brain can work with it.

There are people who would love what I offer.
I can learn how to find them. 
I am becoming better at sales.
I always figure things out.
There are opportunities I haven't noticed yet.

These statements aren't magic. They don't replace marketing, sales, networking, or actually doing the work. Heather is very clear about that. The belief changes the kind of action you take because you're no longer approaching every decision from “Nothing works.”

And that is the real shift.

What kind of photographer are you becoming?

One of Heather's most interesting examples is when she started telling herself, “I'm an athlete.” She wasn't pretending she had suddenly become a professional athlete. Instead, she used the identity to make choices that aligned with the person she wanted to become. What would an athlete do? Walk farther. Lift heavier. Stretch. Pay attention to sleep. The thought changed the action.

You can apply the same idea to your photography business.

What would a photographer who believes opportunities are everywhere do differently? She might start more conversations. She might follow up instead of assuming someone isn't interested. She might notice a potential connection at the grocery store, school event, community gathering, or local business. She doesn't attack someone with a business card; she simply becomes more aware of opportunities to connect.

What would a photographer who believes they can figure things out do when a marketing idea fails? They wouldn't necessarily decide, “I'm terrible at this.” They might say, “Interesting. What do I need to learn?” Heather describes that as a radically different place to operate from.

Who would you become if you stopped treating every setback as proof of who you are?

Don't use this against yourself

This might be the most important part of Heather's message.

Once you understand confirmation bias, it can be tempting to start judging yourself for having negative thoughts. Great. Now I'm bad at thinking, too.

No.

Heather specifically tells photographers not to do that. Your brain is simply doing what human brains do. The goal isn't to force yourself to think positively every minute of the day. The goal is to notice the case your brain is currently building.

So when you hear yourself say, “Nobody will pay my prices,” don't immediately fight with yourself. Just notice it.

Interesting. That's the case I've been asking my brain to build.

Then ask: Do I still want to build that case?

If the answer is no, you get to choose another one.

Give your brain a better assignment

Imagine how differently you might approach your photography business if you stopped asking your brain to prove that clients don't exist and started asking it to find opportunities you haven't noticed yet.

You might see a potential collaboration you would normally scroll past. You might follow up with someone you assumed wasn't interested. You might finally test the offer you've been afraid to make. You might have a conversation with someone without immediately deciding whether they can afford you. You might notice that there is more evidence of people valuing your work than you've been giving yourself credit for.

None of that guarantees instant bookings. That's not the point. The point is that your beliefs influence what you notice, what you attempt, and how you respond when something doesn't work.

And if you are constantly telling yourself that there aren't enough clients, that you're bad at marketing, that nobody will pay your prices, or that you're already behind, your brain is going to become very good at finding proof.

So here's the question Heather wants photographers to sit with:

What are you training your brain to prove?

Maybe you've been asking it to prove that your market is saturated.
Maybe you've been asking it to prove that you're bad at sales.
Maybe you've been asking it to prove that people won't pay.
Or maybe, starting today, you can give it a different assignment.

Look for the opportunity. Look for the person who values your work. Look for the thing you can learn. Look for the evidence that you are capable of figuring things out.

Your brain is already collecting evidence. Make sure you're giving it a story worth proving.