You Were Having a Great Day. Then You Opened Instagram.

Let me tell you about a time I almost let Instagram convince me I was a failure.

I'm scrolling through my feed, because of course I am, and I see some 25-year-old entrepreneur who just sold her company for eight figures. Over $10 million. She's got the penthouse, the team, the TEDx talk, the whole thing.

My first thought? I should have started sooner. My second thought? What am I doing wrong? And my third thought? I'm a terrible entrepreneur.

All of that happened in about 30 seconds. From totally fine to completely spiraling.

And here's the kicker. My photo booth business was doing great. My seven-figure business was thriving. Corporate clients were rolling in through MDRN Activations. Luxury weddings were booking solid through MDRN Photobooth Co. I had students scaling their own businesses through Photo Booth Mastery.

But none of that mattered in that moment because I was looking at somebody else's chapter 20 and comparing it to my chapter... whatever the hell I was on.

If you've ever done this, if you've ever let someone else's timeline make you question your own, then this post is for you.

The Comparison Spiral Is Real (And It Doesn't Care About Your Revenue)

Here's what I want to be honest about. I still struggle with this. Even after building two successful brands. Even after helping hundreds of photo booth owners reach their next level. I still see other entrepreneurs, not even in the photo booth space, who are younger than me and way more successful. And my brain goes straight to "what's wrong with me?"

It's an automatic response. Like a reflex. And social media makes it so much worse.

Everyone's posting their wins, their milestones, their best moments. Nobody's posting about the three months where they had no work. Nobody's posting about the launch that flopped, the client who ghosted them, the proposal that got rejected, or the day they cried in their car before an event.

They're posting the champagne moment.

And if you're not careful, you start to believe that's their whole story. You start believing they got there faster, easier, without the struggle you're going through.

That's when the comparison spiral starts: Why is it taking so long for me? Why does everyone else seem to have it figured out? Why am I still stuck here when they are already there?

Building systems that replace you

You're Comparing Your Behind the Scenes to Their Highlight Reel

Here's what I finally realized. I was comparing my behind the scenes to their highlight reel. That's not a fair comparison.

More importantly, I was treating their success like it meant something about my failure. Like there was a limited amount of success available in the world, and if they got some, there was less for me.

How ridiculous does that sound? It's honestly a bit insane when I say it out loud. But that's what comparison does. It makes you believe irrational things.

I was comparing my behind the scenes to their highlight reel, and that's not a fair comparison. More importantly, I was treating their success like it meant something about my failure.

Your Photo Booth Journey Is Special Because It's Yours

So let me tell you what I do now when I catch myself spiraling.

First, I remind myself that my journey is special because it's mine. Not because it's better or worse or faster or slower than anyone else's. Every win I earned. Every mistake I learned from. Every hard decision I made. Every hard season I survived. Nobody else has my exact combination of experience, strengths, challenges, and timing.

And nobody can build my business the way I can build it.

The same goes for you. Nobody else gets to have your story. Nobody else gets to build what you're building in the exact way you're building it. While there are a lot of similarities in the photo booth industry, every business is ever so slightly different.

So stop trying to run their race. You're not in their race. You're in yours. And honestly, it's not really a race at all.

Why Your Brain Defaults to "I'm Failing" (It's Called Negativity Bias)

The second thing I do is focus on what I'm doing right. Because here's the thing about our brains: they're wired to focus on the negative. It's called negativity bias, and it's a real thing. Your brain is literally designed to scan for threats, problems, and what's going wrong because it's a survival mechanism.

But that means if you're not intentional about it, your brain will automatically focus on everything you haven't done instead of everything you have done.

You'll focus on the clients you didn't book instead of the five you did. You'll focus on the revenue goal you didn't hit instead of the fact that you're up 30% from last year. You'll focus on the founder who's ahead of you instead of how far you've come from where you started.

When you're stuck in negative focus, everything feels harder. Everything feels like it's not working. But when you intentionally shift your focus to what you're doing right, everything changes.

And I'm not talking about toxic positivity. I'm not saying ignore your problems and pretend everything's perfect. I'm saying train your brain to see your progress, because it's there. You're just not looking at it.

You'll focus on the revenue goal you didn't hit instead of the fact that you're up 30% from last year. You'll focus on the founder who's ahead of you instead of how far you've come from where you started.

Your Energy Directly Impacts Your Photo Booth Business

Here's why this matters beyond just feeling better. Your energy and your outlook absolutely affect your outcome. I know this sounds woo woo. I don't care because it's true.

When you're stuck in comparison mode, spiraling about how you're behind and everyone else is ahead, you're operating from a place of scarcity, fear, and "not enoughness." And that energy shows up in everything you do. It shows up in your sales calls. It shows up in your pricing. It shows up in how you show up for your clients and how you lead your team.

But when you shift your focus to your own progress, your own growth, and your own wins, even the small ones, you start operating from abundance, confidence, and possibility. And that energy also shows up in everything you do.

I started landing bigger corporate clients because I was showing up with confidence instead of desperation. I started attracting better wedding clients because I was pricing from a place of abundance instead of scarcity. And I started building a stronger team because I was leading from clarity instead of chaos.

Pricing with confidence

"Late Bloomers" Who Changed the World

Let me give you some examples of people who could have easily looked around and decided they were behind. People who got told no over and over before they finally got their yes.

The Duffer Brothers and Stranger Things. It took them 20 years. Twenty years of developing their craft, finding their voice, and building the skills they needed. Now Stranger Things is one of the most powerful and successful shows in streaming history. Were they behind schedule, or were they right on time for their story?

Vera Wang. She didn't start designing until she was 40 years old. Before that, she was a figure skater who didn't make the Olympic team. Then she worked at Vogue for 17 years. Then she was the design director at Ralph Lauren. If Vera Wang had looked at other fashion designers in their 20s and 30s and thought "I missed my window," we wouldn't have one of the most iconic designers of our generation.

Lady Gaga. Before she was Lady Gaga, she was Stefani Germanotta, getting rejected by label after label. She got dropped by Def Jam Records just three months after getting signed. She was playing dive bars, broke, writing songs for other artists while trying to get her own career off the ground. She was told she was too weird, too theatrical, too much. She kept going.

Colonel Sanders. He was rejected over a thousand times before someone finally bought into his chicken recipe. He didn't even start trying to franchise until he was 65. Most people at 65 are thinking about retirement. Colonel Sanders was thinking about building an empire. He drove around the country, sleeping in his car, cooking chicken for restaurant owners. And eventually somebody said yes.

Every single one of these people could have looked around and thought they were too late. They could have compared themselves to others and decided they missed their shot. But they didn't.

Colonel Sanders didn't start trying to franchise his recipe until he was 65. Most people at 65 are thinking about retirement. He was thinking about building an empire.

5 Strategies to Escape the Comparison Trap as a Photo Booth Founder

So let's talk about what you can actually do when you catch yourself in the comparison spiral. Because awareness is great, but you need practical tools.

1. Name the Real Feeling. When you catch yourself comparing, pause and ask: what am I actually feeling right now? Comparison is usually covering up something deeper. Are you scared you're running out of time? Frustrated that growth isn't happening fast enough? Insecure about whether you're good enough? Name the actual feeling because once you name it, you can deal with it.

2. Redirect Your Focus to What You're Doing Right. Not what you're doing wrong. Not what you haven't done. What you're actually doing right. Did you follow up with a lead this week? That's a win. Did you raise your prices even though it was scary? That's a win. Did you say no to a client that wasn't a good fit? That is a win. Your brain is wired to focus on the negative. You are intentionally training it to see the positive.

3. Start Cheering Other People On. I know that sounds counterintuitive. But when someone posts about a big success, that's a moment they're proud of. Behind it were probably dozens of failures and hundreds of mistakes. When you start celebrating other people's wins instead of comparing yourself to them, something shifts. You stop seeing their success as a threat and start seeing it as proof that it's possible. Their success doesn't take anything away from you. It actually adds to the collective proof that building something great is possible.

4. Remember That Success Is Not Scarce. There is no limited amount of success available. There's enough corporate clients for all of us. There's enough high-end luxury weddings for all of us. There's enough opportunity for all of us. Someone else's win doesn't mean you're losing. Their success is proof that the market is there.

5. Trust Your Timing. Everything you've experienced up to this point has prepared you for what's coming next. Every failure taught you something. Every rejection made you stronger. Every slow season gave you time to build systems. Every difficult client taught you your boundaries. Nothing was wasted. You're exactly where you need to be right now.

Your Homework This Week

I want you to write down five wins from your last month. Not five things you should have done. Not five things you still need to do. Five things you actually did.

They don't have to be big wins. They just have to be real. Maybe you sent a proposal you would have been too scared to send a year ago. Maybe you had a tough conversation with a client and held your boundaries. Maybe you showed up to an event on a day when you really didn't want to and still delivered amazing results.

Write them down and read them out loud. I know it sounds ridiculous. Do it anyway. You need to hear your own voice celebrating your own progress.

Then, find one person on social media who's posting about a win and leave them a genuine comment celebrating them. Not a fake one. A real one. Because when you practice celebrating other people's success, you train your brain to see success as abundant instead of scarce.

You're Not Behind. You're Building.

Your journey is special because it's yours. Not better, not worse. Just yours. Your timeline is not their timeline, and that's okay. Your progress is real, even if it doesn't look like theirs. Your story is unfolding exactly the way it's supposed to.

You're not behind schedule. You're right on time.

So stop focusing on what everyone else is doing and start focusing on what you're doing right. Stop comparing your behind the scenes to someone else's highlight reel. And stop acting like someone else's success means there's less available for you.

Your energy matters. Your outlook matters. Your focus matters. And when you stop wasting all three on comparison, you free up so much space to actually build.

You're not behind schedule. You're right on time. And your timeline is your timeline. And it's perfect. Even when it doesn't feel like it.

Ready to Build With Support?

If this resonated with you, share it with another photo booth founder who needs to hear it. Someone in your circle is feeling behind right now, and this might be exactly what they need to keep going.

Want more strategy, systems, and real talk for scaling your photo booth business? Head over to Photo Booth Mastery for resources, tools, and a whole community of founders who are on this journey with you.

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