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Johl Dunn of www.johldunn.com is a photography business and mindset coach based in Australia with photographer clients around the world, and he's no stranger to this podcast. Johl has been featured in multiple interviews and delivered training sessions like the Pricing Masterclass.
The catalyst for this interview was following a chat and email with Johl about why some photographers are coachable and others aren't. here's the email Johl sent me…
After coaching so many photographers and talking to many other coaches over the years, why do some photographers get okay results and some get phenomenal results, even though they are given the exact same formula, processes, and mindset strategies?
I have pondered this for a while and have come up with six distinct areas that make the difference. Most do one or more well, but doing all of them makes the biggest difference.
Habit — This significantly impacts results, and my clients get dramatically better results than those who don't—my clients who stick to and implement a powerful morning routine.
The whole reason I preach this and bang on about it is that through specific habits, you get the aggregate benefit of marginal gains over time. They don’t understand that you don’t rise to the level of your goals; you fall to the level of your habits.
James Clear puts it best: ‘The quality of your life depends on the quality of your habits.’
Action — very simply, they take decisive, aligned action. They don’t procrastinate; they take the actions that will get results and don't keep themselves ‘busy’ with bookwork or retouching.
Comfort zone — This ties into action. You get different results when you can push through your comfort zone and take action when it scares you or makes you uncomfortable. To run a successful business, you need to be comfortable being uncomfortable often. The more you do it, the easier it gets and the more powerful the results.
Mindset — This is a broad and almost intangible topic, but to keep it simple, they get in their way and don’t have a growth mindset. They see everything as fixed and look at life as ‘glass half empty’. The beautiful thing is that this can be changed if they are willing to work. Often, my clients come in this way, and through being coachable and open to different personal strategies, they shift their way of thinking.
Follow the Process — Business is all structure and process, and those who invest the time and effort into establishing and implementing solid processes have a replicable strategy for success.
They invest in themselves—This one I find interesting. If you look at nearly all successful business owners, the common denominator is that they have had coaching, attended seminars, and read books—not on photography but on business, mindset, sales strategy, and marketing.
This is where it gets interesting. Why do some who do coaching and have had multiple coaches only get average results or can’t maintain success even though they heavily invest in themselves?
I see that they aren’t coachable, meaning they don’t do the work or are hoping for a magic bullet and don’t adhere to and implement the other aspects I just addressed.
They hope to throw money at the problem instead of putting in the work to shift the results they are getting. They often want fast results and aren’t willing to take a long-term view of where they want to go, hence not meeting some of the points above.
To recap, the clients have the discipline to stick with the morning routine and personal habits we set out,

556: Johl Dunn – Unlock Your Photography Business Potential and Stop Failing

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