JustinPonders

Unfortunately I've decided to cut the rope on my business. This month literally bled me in terms of frustration. I lost 5 calls in a row due to them not willing to pay a reasonable rate for my services and that just did it for me. I'm already at a loss every month and I just can't take it anymore. I'm not even motivated anymore. I'm still going to continue my business with the few clients that do call me somewhat regularly but once I find something else I'm just gonna drop it altogether. I was good at my work but I guess people still would rather choose price over quality and I'm simply too stubborn to want to downgrade my work to meet these cheap people with price. Thank you for wanting me to stay in touch. Now I just got to find something at my age and start all over from scratch 😞

Woah, this is actually a great idea!

Really nice of you to write out such a thoughtful post. I do have a website, and a very nice one at that. I built it myself. I have 5 star ratings on Yelp and probably 2 to 3 highest from the top photographer in my field. But I'm still struggling hardcore. I'm doing my best to figure out a supplement income because that's a good idea. Thank you again!

I don't do events. I'm a Real Estate Photographer. But I appreciate your feedback regardless.

I'm very, very reliable and I have a good amount of 5 star reviews on Yelp. I'm very confident in what I do. I'm good at it. My problem is I'm just not able to be consistent enough where I feel secure in this business.

I appreciate your feedback Bolt. Unfortunately I don't know anyone that I can trust and that knows the business side of it. I've always dreamed of a having that mentor to sort of guide me because I've never had that so I'm sort of in a situation where I don't know what I don't know. Any way, that's really cool how your partner found you and you were that solid piece he was missing. That's so awesome.

I want to ask a serious question. If someone is good at their trade but absolutely horrible on the business side, should they pull the plug and shut the business down completely? I say this because I'm totally failing at my business. I'm barely able to make ends meet, month after month. I started my business around 2 months before Covid hit. I'm good at what I do and I enjoy it. I get nothing but positive feedback on my work as a photographer, but I can't seem to get enough business to sustain a lifestyle. My problem is I'm horrible on the business end, just horrible. I read about others in my field who are successful and I'm like ***!?!? HOW!!!???? And my work is better than theirs. I pay for advertising but even that is very limiting because I can't afford the bigger budgets because I don't make enough. I'm so incredibly frustrated and depressed right now. A little bit about me on a personal level is I'm very, very hard on myself. I don't know why and I hate it but I just am. Probably because I feel like I'm set in my ways, now that I'm 48, and have locked myself into this mental funk for good. I'm very pessimistic too. I wasn't like this when I was younger. Before I had hope. But now I'm always negative and envious of people who are successful because I simply don't understand how they made it and it makes me so dam mad. I don't show it on the outside but on the inside I'm like "how the hell did they do it?!?!" Anyway, I want to quit but as I said I'm 48 and I have absolutely no fallback plan whatsoever so I'm just stuck barely able to get by every month and I'm sick of it. I have basically no life. I don't go out, I can barely afford new clothes. I absolutely can NOT be in any relationship because I simply can't afford it and I so badly want to be in one and even want to get married. It's going to kill me that I have to give this up, but also I'm like what the hell else am I going to do? So, again, at what point should someone just be honest with themselves and pull the plug?

Your parents are essentially offering you a successful company on a silver platter. What's there to think about? I would die for an opportunity like this right now. Please don't squander this privileged opportunity.