April 5, 2019
If you read my last post then you know that I have been a photographer for more than two decades. However, after graduating from undergrad I did not pursue photography professionally. You may know that my other great passion is the education of young children, so while I was pursuing a teaching career, I treated photography more as an artistic outlet and hobby. I always had a camera in my hand because I love the unique power of photography to capture life in the moment, but if I am being truly honest I also had no idea how to pursue photography as a profession back then. I had gained great artistic knowledge during those years in college spent mostly focused on street photography and printing techniques in the darkroom, but I had zero knowledge about business or entrepreneurship.
And let’s be real y’all! I love entrepreneurship now, but it takes a giant leap of faith to be one writing your own paycheck.
Three years and two babies after leaving full-time teaching to be a stay-at-home mom, I found myself looking for some way to contribute financially to our family while still being able to focus primarily on raising my girls. At the time, I had just re-discovered a love of fitness that led to me signing up as a Team Beachbody Coach in October of 2010. It’s hard for me to believe that was nearly a decade ago. Now you are probably thinking, “Okay, but how does signing up for a network marketing company have anything to do with your photography business?” Just trust me here, because I promise I can draw a straight line between the two.
Coaching was the classroom where I learned entrepreneurship. Say what you will about about network marketing and MLMs, but it gave me the training I needed to eventually follow my true passion in life and start this photography business. Coaching has given me more than I ever could have predicted a decade ago, and y’all even now as my primary focus has shifted to photography, I am still a coach.
Right from the start TBB coaches are trained to engage in three daily habits that have been shown to help businesses grow. The daily habit that I skipped at first but quickly became my favorite once I became more purposeful about doing it was daily personal development. And so for the past decade I have read amazing books and had the opportunity to hear some of the world’s most influential speakers including everyone from John C. Maxwell to Simon Sinek and Darren Hardy and of course my all-time favorite Brendon Burchard (who gave what was a truly life-changing speech for me — but that is a story for another time) all thanks to Team Beachbody.
I 100% believe that it was this vital behavior of daily investing in myself through these books and speeches that led me to a place where I finally had the faith in myself to take that leap and follow my passion into this business. This is a daily habit that I’m pretty sure I’ll have for the rest of my life, and because I know I have friends and followers who have dreams and ideas that they’d love to pursue but just haven’t made that leap yet, I thought I’d share the 10 books (in no particular order) in my PD library that have had the greatest influence on me over the past 10 years. I’ve also included a little snippet of what I loved about each book. I’m hopeful you will select one or two from the list below that inspire you and that you will find nuggets of wisdom that will push you to chase your dreams.
Have you read any of these or do you have a favorite I haven’t listed here? I’d love to hear about it. Comment here or come find me hanging out on Instagram or Facebook.
Quick note, I’m and amazon affiliate which means I get a small commission whenever a purchase is made using one of the links or codes here, or anywhere else on my site. Feel free to purchase any of these titles at your local neighborhood independent bookstore if you prefer.
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