We recently connected with Liz Butler and have shared our conversation below.
Liz, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
To be completely honest, I haven’t totally overcome it. I have moments where even if I complete a huge task or have a success moment, I don’t celebrate the way one probably should. The wins don’t feel like complete wins and at times I feel like I did nothing to deserve them. And with time and a lot of effort to allow myself to celebrate and share my wins, I’m sure it will get better.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’m mainly a photographer, but I also do videography and editing as well. I thoroughly enjoy the satsifaction of allowing others to see themselves in a way they may not have before. They may see insecurities, but I see beauty, confidence, authenticity, etc. and it’s nice to capture that moment for people.
Given my busy schedule with work the past two years, I haven’t had a lot of time to have shoots with people and I want to start doing having more of them. Now that I will have more time on my hands, I want to do a new shoot every week with different people of different backgrounds. I’ll post about it at some point when I’m 100% ready with my schedule haha.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Humility, respect and patience are three qualities that have been super impactful for me.
Being humble and knowing that while you may have worked hard to get to where you are, you are not responsible for your success. You are driven to a purpose and when you allow that purpose to fully manifest itself, yo uget to enjoy the fruits of that labor, but only of you put in what you get out of it. A long time ago (without naming any names haha), there was someone I knew who was extremely talented and people would tell them that all the time and their answer was almost always, “I know.” Not a thank you or anything like that and now they are in a completely differnt season of life. Nothing wrong with being called to something else, but I always thought of who/what they would have become had they accepted the praise in a more humble way.
Respecting yourself, others and the world around you is important because you never know who is watching and who you happen to be talking to. When you respect yourself, you stay true to who you are and don’t compromise your values and what you aim to do. When you respect others, you make sure they are aware of your values and you are aware of theirs so if/when you work together, it works out for the long haul. You don’t hesitate to check each other and make sure you are both good mentally, physically, spiritually, etc. so you can continue doing what you both love. Lastly, the world around you isn’t here for forever. The universe will give you what you put into it, so don’t be hesitant to go all in.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau said, “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” Master Yoda also said, “Patience you must have, my young Padawan.” Nothing happens overnight, despite what the internet may tell you. Your turn will come. Your success will come. You just have to be ready for when it does.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I want to create content for small businesses help in any way that I can. That can be literally anyone. Boutiques, mom and pop shops, restaurants, studios, bakeries, etc. I know starting out, it’s hard to market yourself so others can get to know you and want to support you and your business.
I also plan to do a docuseries featuring people of color in the Memphis (and possibly surrounding) area. For this I’d need a studio space to fiim in, so if you own a studio space where I can do photoshoots, film videos and/or record podcasts, HIT ME UP haha.
The series is essentially about interviewing people of color who have gained “success” (success is subjective for me, but for this project it is them having accomplished a major goal) and allowing them an outlet to speak on their perserverance, frustrations, wins, losses, upcoming porojects, etc. anything that has to do with their journey and how they got to where they are and what makes them who they are. This has been on my heart for a while, so hopefully I can make it happen.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lizbotvisuals.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizbotvisuals/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizbotvisuals/
