16 Quick Tips to Help Keep Positive in a Down Economy

Times are though for everyone. People are losing their jobs left and right and unemployment is at its highest level. Businesses both large and small are struggling to stay alive. When money gets tight it can be vary hard to keep a positive attitude. Negativity leads to depression, and depression makes it very difficult to move forward in life.

I recently lost my full time job after 17 years with the same company. It was due to the economy, our clients were cutting back on their marketing budgets and only doing the minimum required to continue sales. Almost all the creative work we were doing dried up and trying to find new clients became harder and harder. I saw the writing on the wall and had been preparing for the inevitable for a while. I updated my resume and portfolio, started networking more, and lined up some freelance customers.

After I lost my job family and friends were calling to make sure I was ok. I told them I was and not to worry. Honestly I was ok, actually I was better than ok, I felt great! I felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders and now my life was my own again, I could do with it as I want. It was an opportunity for a fresh start and as the saying goes, I took lemons and made lemonade!

For many a life altering change like losing their job or a major decrease in sales for their photography business would lead to depression. In this article I’m going to share 16 quick tips that helped me keep a positive attitude to continue down the road of success.

1. Keep busy – Sitting around staring out the window is the worst thing you can do. If nothing else do house chores. Just keep moving and keep busy.
2. Work hard – It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, just work hard to do it well. At the end of the day you’ll have a sense of accomplishment even if you only cleaned the bathroom.
3. Work even if you’re working for less money – If you have nothing going on and a small project comes your way, take it. Even if you have to do it for less than your normal rate, at least you’ll be working. Give it 100% effort just as you would with any other project and smile while you’re doing it. You never know what work that customer may have for you down the road.
4. Take better than usual care of yourself – Start eating healthier and start working out. Everyone complains they don’t have time to eat right and work out, well now you do. Physical well-being significantly impacts mental well-being and response to stress.
5. Get out of the Sweats – Hanging out in your sweats all day although comfortable, is bad for self-esteem. Get up, get a shower, eat a healthy breakfast and dress for success.
6. Forget about “the good old days” – Nostalgia is self-destructive. Learn from the past and think about the future you want.
7. Network like crazy – You have some time on your hands now, start calling all your past customers. Contact people you’ve been meaning to get in touch with. You need to stay in front of and on the minds of everyone.
8. Take frequent breaks – You need to break up the routine. Take breaks for the usual stuff and maybe add in a few new ones.
9. Simplify your life – Cut out unneeded expenses and distance yourself from people or activities that negatively effect you and cause stress.
10. Surround yourself with positive people – Stay away from the doom and gloomers and find positive and successful people to spend time with, those traits have a tendency to rub off on you.
11. Keep learning – Photography is always changing. Take this time to learn new photographic techniques, brush up on your software or learn more about a different part of our industry (HDR, DSLR video, etc.)
12. Shoot for fun – We spend so much time shooting for others we sometimes lose sight  of what makes photography fun and why we started shooting in the first place.
13. Become a mentor – Helping other photographers learn the tricks of the trade is very rewarding for both parties.
14. Celebrate your successes – Even small accomplishments deserve to be celebrated.
15. Shrug off the losses – Don’t dwell on the negatives, stuff happens! Learn from it and move on.
16. Be thoughtful – Think about others more often.

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Next Steps…

Life is tough and sometimes bad things happen to good people. What separates us is how we deal with change and move forward. Being positive reduces stress, reduced stress will increase self-esteem and when you feel good about yourself, there’s nothing you can’t accomplish.

I’d love to hear how your lemonade turned out, please feel free to share your stories in the comments below.

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Trevor Current

Founder of Current Photographer, co-host of The Digital Photography Cafe Show, Designer, Photographer, and overall tech geek.

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