If you have ever felt like your photography business took the joy right out of photography, you are not alone. Staying creative as a photographer is one of the hardest parts of building a business you love, especially once busy season hits and every day starts to blur into the next. On this episode of The Motherhood Anthology podcast, host Kim Box sits down with TMA mentor Kristin Sweeting to talk about creative slumps, comparison, and the sneaky FOMO that comes with running a business in front of an audience.
Kristin has spent years coaching creatives through exactly this kind of burnout, and she brought a handful of practical, doable ideas to the conversation rather than vague encouragement to “just relax.” If you are in a season where your work feels more like a task list than a calling, this episode is worth a listen.
Build Days That Protect Your Creative Energy
Kristin’s biggest practical tip for staying creative is keeping a themed schedule. Instead of traditional time blocking, she assigns each day of the week an intention. Monday is her marketing and podcasting day. Tuesday is an open, exploratory day built around curiosity, whether that means a trip to the library or simply following whatever interests her son. Wednesday and Thursday are for coaching clients, and Friday stays open again. The structure gives her enough rhythm to get things done without boxing her into a system that fights her natural energy.
She also leans on a daily walk to reset her creative energy, something she says has done more for her mental clarity than almost anything else in her routine. On days when she feels stuck, her advice is to step away from social media, revisit something she loved doing as a kid, like cross stitching or making her own clothes, and give herself permission to follow small moments of curiosity throughout the day. A good latte flavor, an antique store she has never explored, a walk down to the beach. None of it has to be complicated to work.
Kristin also uses the 80/20 rule to check in on where her time is actually going. For her photography business, she found that a small handful of real relationships, not big networking events or heavy content output, were bringing in the majority of her work. For her coaching business, personal invitations and in-person connection outperformed complicated launches every time. Running that kind of honest audit, she says, is one of the fastest ways to cut busy work that is not actually moving the needle.
A Season of Burnout and What Came After It
Kristin was candid about a season in her career when she was completely burned out. She had grown quickly, she was in the middle of a difficult personal experience, and she was not having fun in her business anymore. Rather than pushing through, she made a choice that felt risky at the time. She let go of everything that did not feel exciting and only did the things that did.
That season is when she started taking daily walks and writing down small reflections afterward, almost like little downloads of intuition. She began sharing them online, and to her surprise, they resonated with people in a way she never planned for or expected. Her podcast was born in that same season, built entirely out of what felt alive to her rather than what she thought she was supposed to be doing.
Photography took longer to feel exciting again than she wanted it to, and she was honest about that too. But everything she had let go of eventually came back, on its own timeline. Her story is a good reminder that stepping back from a business does not always mean losing it. Sometimes it is the only way back to actually enjoying it again.
Comparison, FOMO, and Finding Your Own Voice
Comparison came up as one of the heaviest weights photographers carry, especially with social media making everyone else’s work constantly visible. Kristin shared that she still experiences it occasionally, but she has learned to sit with the emotion instead of scrolling past it or unfollowing her way out of it. She often traces the feeling back to something much older than the moment itself, an old wound that has little to do with the photographer she is comparing herself to.
She also reminds herself that trends move in cycles. Every photographer gets a season of extra attention, and every photographer also has seasons where they do not. Neither one is a verdict on the quality of the work. What matters more, she says, is staying grounded in your own values and building something with longevity instead of chasing a moment.
On the subject of standing out, Kristin’s advice is simple. Decide what you actually care about and be vocal about it, even when it has nothing to do with photography itself. Passion is what attracts the right clients and keeps the work sustainable, and it is also what makes a photographer memorable in a crowded industry. This is exactly the kind of perspective TMA mentors bring into the membership all year long, and it is part of why community matters so much for photographers building a business on their own. Having other people to process these seasons with, whether that is comparison, burnout, or simply figuring out your own creative rhythm, makes the entire journey feel less isolating.
Listen and Learn More
Kristin’s conversation with Kim is full of small, real, doable ideas for photographers who feel like their creativity has taken a back seat to running a business. If any part of this resonated with you, the full episode goes even deeper into her framework for building days around energy instead of rigid schedules.
Find Kristin Sweeting at kristinsweeting.com and dangerschool.com or on Instagram at @kristinsweeting.
Ready to build a business that reflects your own creative voice? The Motherhood Anthology membership gives you access to expert mentors, live coaching, monthly marketing suites, and a private community of photographers who are invested in your success. Learn more and join at themotherhoodanthology.com.
The Motherhood Anthology is a community and educational resource for photographers who want a profitable and sustainable business they love. With 15+ expert mentors and 7+ years of proven content, TMA helps portrait photographers build confident, thriving businesses through monthly education, mentorship, and a supportive community of 700+ members.
