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A first-class plane ticket totally changed my life.

In May 2023, I was boarding a plane to spend two days in Louisville with my business coach. At the top of the itinerary she had sent me was a note that said, “Dress: one-million-dollar business attire.”

My first reaction was not excitement. I had just paid around $12,000 for this experience, and now she was telling me what to wear? But I’m nothing if not a bit of a rule follower, so I went with it. From the moment I stepped onto the plane, I was supposed to imagine myself as Million Dollar Maddie, the version of me who ran a million-dollar business.

Naturally, I upgraded to first class because I’m a Taurus, and luxury and comfort mean a great deal to me. What happened on that flight completely changed how I thought about my business, my decisions, and personal branding for photographers.

Your Brand Reflects the Version of You Making the Decisions

Sitting in first class, I found myself looking around and wondering how everyone else had ended up there. Did they pay for their tickets? Use points? Were they traveling for business or going on vacation?

Then I realized that I knew nothing about those people, and they knew nothing about me. For all they knew, I was already a million-dollar business owner. The problem was that I didn’t feel like one. I felt like someone who had never flown first class before.

I already understood the power of my thoughts, but what I had not fully considered was the power of my actions. If I wanted to become Million Dollar Maddie at some point in my career, I needed to start considering how she would approach my brand, offers, schedule, relationships, and business decisions now.

Up until then, I had made so many decisions as the smallest and most scared version of myself. This was the Maddie who didn’t want to rock the boat, said yes when she meant no, undercharged because she worried no one would pay more, and shared content that was nice, fine, and completely forgettable (because forgettable felt safe).

That version of me had built a brand to match.

The Safe Brand Trap

Your brand is always a reflection of where you are making decisions from. When you make decisions from fear, “What will they think?” or “I don’t want to alienate anyone,” your brand gets smaller, safer, and easier to ignore.

Most of us do not set out to build a wishy-washy brand. We start our businesses with conviction because we see a problem we know how to solve, want to create change, and believe our work can make that happen. Then the fear starts showing up in smaller decisions.

You write a caption and delete it before posting. You raise your prices in your head but never update your website. You have a strong opinion about something happening in the photography industry, but you keep it to yourself.

We often call this imposter syndrome or perfectionism, but I think it is much simpler than that. It is the fear of being seen for who you actually are and worrying that who you are will be too much or not enough.

I call this the safe brand trap. Playing it safe might feel protective, but it is not protecting your business.

Why Invisibility Is Not Actually Safer

Invisibility fails every time you do not receive the inquiry, someone leaves your contact form without filling it out, or your booking rate stays stagnant. It also fails when you become exhausted from showing up as a muted version of yourself every day.

The problem is that invisibility does not make a big splash when it fails. Its consequences are quiet, so it becomes easy to convince yourself that visibility is not the real issue.

Instead, you decide your photography needs to improve, tweak your website for the 97th time, or tell yourself that you need to blog more. You keep trying to solve a different problem when the actual problem is your fear of being seen.

A brand that never says anything might feel safe, but it does not give your dream client a reason to remember you. When you lack conviction in your brand, potential clients also lack conviction about you and the service you offer.

The Four Parts of Personal Branding for Photographers

Instead of building a brand around what feels safest, I want you to consider what it would look like to have a brand with a backbone. This is a brand that stands for something, gets remembered, and gives the right client a reason to choose you over the next photographer she finds.

There are four pieces that create that kind of brand: point of view, personality, people, and positioning. Each one requires a willingness to stop building your brand for everyone else.

Share Your Point of View

Your point of view is not only what you do. It is what you believe about your work, including how brand photography should be done, who it is for, and what makes it worth the investment.

Photographers often hide these opinions because they are afraid of being wrong, alienating someone, or making someone upset. But your point of view is exactly what can make the right client choose you over everyone else.

Your audience can see what you do by looking at your portfolio. Your perspective helps them understand why your work is different and whether your approach is the one they have been looking for.

Let Your Actual Personality Show

Personality is not necessarily the textbook definition of brand voice. It is simply your actual personality, including the version of you who shows up when you are having coffee with a friend or going to brunch with your sister.

Of course, we all act a little differently depending on the context. You probably behave differently at the gym than you do at a gala, but you are still the same person. The goal is to let the personality people experience online match the person they would meet in real life as much as possible.

One of the biggest compliments I receive is when someone says I am exactly the same online as I am in person. I never feel like I am faking it or giving people a completely different version of myself.

This does not mean you need to put every part of your life on the internet. You still decide what you share and what stays private. But when someone sees the parts you have intentionally chosen to share, they should feel like they are getting the real you.

Be Clear About Who Your Brand Is For

The third piece is knowing exactly who you are for and being willing to let everyone else go. Clarity is kind, even though we are often afraid to be that clear with people.

Being honest about who you are, what you believe, and what your brand is and is not about gives people the information they need to make their own decisions. A caption that makes your dream client say, “Oh my gosh, finally. This is exactly what I’ve been looking for,” might also make someone else click away.

That is not a failure. It is a sign that your backbone is working!

Position Your Brand From Abundance, Not Fear

Positioning is the layer of curation. It is where you decide which parts of your point of view, personality, and audience will show up publicly in your brand.

The important distinction is whether you are positioning yourself from fear or abundance. Positioning from fear says, “I won’t share that because someone might disagree with me.” Positioning from abundance says, “I am choosing not to share that because it does not serve the brand I am building.”

That second choice is not hiding or being inauthentic. Personal branding does not mean putting everything on the internet. It means deciding which things you want to share and then going all in on them.

What Would the Million-Dollar Version of You Do?

Having a brand with a backbone will cost you some comfort. It means giving up the safety of hiding behind professional-looking content that never really says anything and letting go of the fantasy that one perfectly crafted viral post will suddenly fix everything.

But staying small costs more. It can cost you the $10,000 months, the five-figure client who would have been obsessed with you, and the version of your business that you genuinely want to build.

The million-dollar version of you is not a far-off person who is more talented or luckier than you. She is simply more decided. She chose what she wanted, took the actions required to create it, and stopped building her brand for everyone else.

As you make decisions about your content, pricing, visibility, and business, start asking yourself: Is this what the million-dollar version of me would do?

The question is not whether you have a backbone. It is whether you are willing to let it show.

Go From Invisible to Inquiries

If you are ready to stop feeling invisible and build a brand that leads to more inquiries, I would love to have you at my upcoming masterclass, Invisible to Inquiries.

We are talking about how to get visible, grow your brand on Instagram, and turn that visibility into inquiries from people who want to work with you. It does not require viral reel trends, posting every day, dancing, pointing at the screen, or doing anything that feels inauthentic to your brand.

It does require some discomfort, because discomfort is where things change. If the way you have been marketing your business is not creating the inquiries and bookings you want, it might be time to let your backbone show.

Sign up for the masterclass here on September 10th at 12pm CST, or learn more at maddiepeschong.com/masterclass. See you there!