Back in 2012, when I first discovered my passion for photography, I was hungry to learn more. Back then, I was living in Aruba with my parents and I took my father’s old camera to explore this new passion.

I remember I had one of those small laptops that my mom bought for me in Colombia where I would binge watch photography tutorials on YouTube.

I wanted to learn what those buttons on the camera meant for me, I wanted to learn how to shoot in manual mode and I wanted to explore different photography tricks. I was obsessed with this camera.

Slowly but surely, I started to market myself on my brand-new Facebook page where I would simply upload anything there. Lucky me, that worked! I started to get more inquiries.

As soon as I started to make money from photography, I would invest the same money in either more equipment or in education.

I discovered Jasmine Star, an internationally recognized wedding photographer based in California, as she hosted online workshops and courses around building a wedding photography business.

I was fascinated. I wanted to be just like her. I wanted to travel for destination weddings. I wanted to meet new people. I was SOLD to the idea of being a destination wedding photographer.

I loved learning from her. There’s so much that I’ve learned from Jasmine that has helped me be featured in different online magazines, bridal websites, and now travel for luxury weddings abroad.

But one specific thing that I love about her business and her online courses is the community aspect. I always wanted my own community with like-minded people.

When I first started my business in Aruba as a photographer, I felt alone. I didn’t feel a sense of community in the photography industry, it was more like a competition.

I wanted to be part of a group of people that see others across the room as a community rather than competition.

But I never felt like I had something interesting to say or an interesting topic to create a program about. I had the fear of what if I made a mistake and people would laugh/judge me.

I had the fear that perhaps I won’t be good enough so I never really acted on my dream. I always used different excuses, “I’m not ready yet. Right now is not the right timing”.

Sometimes we use these excuses of “not being ready” or “I’m not good enough”, but in fact, we are afraid of what other people might think or what’s going to happen if we fail.

Fast forward to March 2020, I was working at an agency as a marketing strategist, I was still writing my thesis for my business degree and I was excited to start the new wedding season here in the Netherlands.

But, as we all know, COVID hit and in just 2 weeks everything changed in my life and business.

I lost my 9-5 job at the agency and I lost all of my wedding photography bookings for 2020. The only silver lining was that I’ve got my business degree… but I didn’t have a business and I didn’t have a job.

In these same months, I’ve got the opportunity to invest in a coach and, while most people told me to play it safe and get a new 9-5 job, I decided to invest all of my savings in a business coach.

Personally, it was a big investment, especially as I didn’t have any source of income. I was scared as fuck.

That same time, I experienced the fear that I had at the beginning of my business.

• Fear of failure
• Fear of what other people might say
• Fear of not being enough

But what I’ve realized is that fear is inevitable.

Fear will always be there.

It was there when you were a kid and it is here as you open your business.

But in every situation of your life, you have the opportunity to look at fear from a different perspective.

Fear is a beautiful thing.

Fear is proof that you’re doing something outside of your comfort zone.

Fear is proof that you’re growing as a person, as a leader, as a personal brand.

Fear is the proof that you’re a human being.

You need to feel a bit scared when doing something as big as starting your own business. If it wasn’t scary, everyone would do it. But not everyone has the courage to start their own thing.

We’re wired as human beings to stay in our comfort zone and play it safe. It’s our nature.

For me, it meant that weddings won’t be happening for now so I needed to pivot in other directions.

I saw an opportunity with personal branding photoshoots, so I went immediately all-in with that to generate somewhat of an income, let’s be honest, those bookings also dropped. But at the same time, I was working on my program.

Pivot for me means that you’re serving a completely different industry with a different product or service. Hence a different industry and not a different target market.

My target market remained the same. I still attract my ideal customer: Quinn. I added a new niche and services to my business.

How did I Pivot?

Back in May 2020, I launched the Steven de Cuba Podcast. I was working on launching my podcast just as a passion project to talk about marketing and personal branding, without any monetization plan behind it.

Slowly but surely, I realized that my Podcast would turn into my pillar channel of attracting new leads to my business and building a strong relationship with my audience.

I slowly started to survey my audience to see what are the main things they are interested in and how can I serve them to the best of my abilities.

I started to create content and really take attention to what my audience wanted to hear.

I started to send emails, create different social media posts, and DM potential leads to really understand their pain points.

I didn’t know what I was doing, I felt nervous and excited at the same time because I knew I was up for something but I wasn’t clear on what yet.

But I was committed and I kept on showing up every single day to figure out exactly what I needed and wanted to create.

Still, every single week, I was recording podcast episodes and serving my audience for free.

One of the things that I’ve learned is to do a beta launch. A Beta Launch is considered to be a launch that gives you the opportunity to test your product without even creating it and see if there’s demand for your product.

In August, I did the Beta Launch of my online program without even creating the product, but I just focused on being really good at selling myself. I didn’t want to spend 3-6 months working on something that wasn’t going to sell.

I focused on my messaging and my offer first and then later created the program. I made over 1000 euros in 7 days with no product. That already was a kick-in-the-pants to go all-in with the program.

At the point of this recording, I’ve finished the program, launched it one more time to the public, and have over 25 members in my community thriving with their business.

One of the common questions I get around my program is: “Steven, what phase of my business should I be in before joining the program? Should I be at the beginner level? Should I be registered at the chamber of commerce? Should I have a business plan ready?”

So today I wanted to answer that question as well.

The Intentional Personal Branding Program is an online program that provides busy creatives with the tools and strategy to build a personal brand online, market their services and turn their passion into a profitable business.

It really doesn’t matter which stage of your business you’re in. I have members like Kenny, that doesn’t have a business, nor works at a 9-5 job, but decided to join the program because he wanted to learn more about building a personal brand online.

On the other hand, we have members like Daniela, that when she joined the program in August she only had an idea. No website, no logo, no branding colors, she made 1500 euros in two days and just a week ago quit her 9-5 job and went all-in with her business.

It really doesn’t matter in which stage of your business you’re in, what matters is how committed you are to put yourself out there and build a profitable business.

In the program, we focus on one proven strategy that helps you attract more followers, turn your followers into leads and turn those leads into paying customers.

It’s the step-by-step blueprint that takes away the overwhelm from growing a brand online and gives you more time to focus on the things that you love doing in your business.

Just last week, one of my members told me that she made over 180K Aruban Florins since joining the program last December 2020 and went from having 7 clients, to 78 clients in just two months.

Another member hosted her first virtual event online and made over 1000 euros in one week.

One of the things that I keep reminding myself is that back in March 2020 when I lost everything, I never thought this was possible for me.

I never thought that I had the power and influence to change people’s business, relationships, and lives.

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned is with commitment and courage you can get a lot further.

Yes, there are going to be awful days.

Yes, there are going to be days you feel like quitting.

Yes, there are going to be days that you feel like things are moving really really slow, if not moving at all.

But you always have the choice to focus on possibilities rather than focusing on the problem. You always have the choice to look at the silver lining of everything.

How do you pivot in your business?

You take action despite the fear. You create content that speaks to your ideal customer. You make mistakes, you learn from those mistakes and you try again. You celebrate small wins. You take time to rest and you commit 100% to make it happen.

Be resourceful. Call people and see how you can collaborate. Email big brands and see you can create a big deal. Pitch yourself for a Podcast interview. Go live on Instagram or Facebook and talk about your progress as an entrepreneur.

DO. EVERYTHING. FOR. YOUR. DREAMS.

The question is not how ready you are. 

The real question is: how committed are you?

Drop it in the comments if you’re committed to your big and ambitious goals.

The waitlist to the IPB 2021 is now open for enrollment. All you have to do is head to stevendecuba.com/waitlist and sign up to be the first one notified as soon as I open the doors.