089: Defining Success with Ryan Longnecker

Episodes The Bearded Tog

January 22, 2020

Defining Success with Ryan Longnecker

How do you find yourself defining success? Is it shooting a certain amount of weddings per year? Is it comparing yourself to others on Instagram?

If these are the ways you’ll define your own success, you’ll run yourself into the ground. Nature photographer Ryan Longnecker explores success, how to define it for yourself, and how to set healthy boundaries in your personal life and in your business.

More from Ryan on Defining Success

Ryan moved from wedding photography, to lots of traveling for his nature work, and now as a Dad is moving into the editing and environmental care space.
Everybody looks comfortable in their area because that’s their job. The reality is, booking 50 weddings a year might be really successful, but for another person that isn’t a positive thing.
There’s more ways to be successful as a travel photographer than just traveling all of the time. Success needs to come in all of its holistic forms.
You have to be able to maintain your own success.
We can support each other more than just liking each other’s Instagram photos.
You have to make sure your family does not get frustrated with your business – they come first. Set boundaries. Don’t become obsessed with success. If you become obsessed with comparing yourself to others, it won’t be sustainable.
You can think someone else’s version of success would work for you, but then you’d get there and realize it wasn’t worth it and didn’t feel like success to you at all.
Taking your own life on and doing something meaningful to you is success.