This Contest Taught Me My Highest Value

“Sometimes losing is exactly what reveals your highest value.”

There was a time when a simple Facebook cover contest left me devastated. I wanted the win, the validation, the proof that I belonged. But when the results came in and I realized the winning photographer had bought likes, something unexpected happened. I discovered the deeper truth about what I value most in my business and in myself.

In this episode, I share the story that taught me my highest value and why integrity has outlasted every trend, contest, and moment of comparison. You will hear how this experience reshaped the way I measure success, why shortcuts never build long-term businesses, and how knowing your highest value can anchor you in every season of entrepreneurship.

What’s in this episode:

[00:35] The Facebook photography contest that sent me spiraling
[01:45] Why the competition loss hurt more than I expected
[04:25] The invisible contests photographers compete in every day
[05:10] Why shortcuts never build sustainable success
[06:00] Understanding what your highest value really is
[07:30] Reframing losing and defining success on your own terms

Integrity will carry your business farther than any contest, trend, or temporary win. When you root your work in what you value most, you build something no one can take from you.

I hope this episode inspired you to always hold integrity and your highest value in your photography business. Check out this episode The Dangerous Creative: Success Frameworks, Core Values, and Income Diversification for Your Photography Business with Kristin Sweeting

Transcript

Hello my friend. Welcome back. Today I want to talk about a story that really changed everything for me. Okay. So I’m titling this, the contest that taught me my highest value. And let me tell you about the time I cried, like really heart and soul filled, crying. Over a Facebook contest. Now, I’m not proud of it, but I will admit it.

Years ago there was this local magazine that was running a cover contest, and the [00:01:00] rules were simple, which ever photographer got the most likes on their image. They would be featured on the cover of a local magazine. Easy, right? So post a photo, rally your friends and get those likes rolling in. And I wanted it badly, not just because it was a magazine cover, but because back then it felt like proof.

Proof. I was good enough, proof that I belonged and proof that I could win in this industry. And let’s be honest, photographers are often starving for that kind of validation. We want to believe our work is worthy, our efforts are paying off, and sometimes we think that external recognition will give us that.

So I entered, I shared that contest everywhere. I begged my friends and my family to vote. I rallied my little army of supporters and the likes poured in. I was hundreds and hundreds ahead of everyone else. I was already imagining the picture that I would put on the cover of that magazine, and just imagining what it would feel like to hold that [00:02:00] magazine in my hands and see my photo on the cover, and then the unthinkable happened.

A new photographer in town entered and someone who hadn’t been doing it very long, and somehow her like started catching up fast. First, I was still ahead, then we were neck and neck, and then she passed me. I was baffled. I had been working for years. I had hustled for every vote. I’d poured my heart into this.

And suddenly this brand new photographer was beating me. She won. I was heartbroken. I was really angry, and I felt like the rug had just been pulled out from under me, and then I found out the truth. She bought the likes. Yep. Apparently back then you could literally pay to inflate your numbers and that’s what she did.

And when I [00:03:00] heard that I was gutted, I had been playing fair, I had begged and pleaded and rallied, and she had just bought her way to the top, and I remember just sitting on the floor of my office just sobbing. I was enraged at the injustice. I was embarrassed that I cared so much, and I was devastated that my honest best wasn’t enough to win.

But then a friend said something to me that changed everything. She said, Lisa, you have something. She doesn’t. You have integrity. You care about building a business the right way, and that’s worth more than a magazine cover. And I realized she was right. A contest was never really about the cover. It was about my values.

And in that moment, I discovered my highest one integrity. Because, yeah, I lost the contest, but I gained clarity on what I stand for. And in the [00:04:00] long run, that’s worth more than winning ever could. And here’s the thing about contest, and I don’t just mean magazines. Ones, I mean, the contests we’re all in every day.

The contests for likes on Instagram, the contests for booking in our local market, the contest and competition for who has the most followers, the prettiest studio, the most viral reel. We are constantly measuring ourselves against everyone else. Like there’s some invisible scoreboard, keeping track of who’s winning.

And it’s exhausting because just like that magazine contest, the scoreboard isn’t always fair. Sometimes people cheat. Some times people cut corners. Sometimes people win because they’re louder and flashier or better at playing the game, not because they’re more talented or more deserving. And when that happens, it’s easy and normal to feel gutted, to feel like our honest best will never be enough to wonder if maybe we should start playing dirty [00:05:00] too.

But here’s the truth, my friend shortcuts. Don’t build legacies. You can buy likes, you can fake followers, you can copy someone else’s editing style or undercut their prices. You can win in the short term by cheating the system, but integrity is what keeps you standing when the hype fades.

That new photographer who beat me in that contest, well, her business closed within a year. Mine still here. I still thriving, still figuring out what success looks like for me, because integrity lasts and integrity means this, I don’t cheat to get ahead. I don’t cut corners. I don’t sacrifice my values for a quick win.

I build slowly, steadily, honestly. And because of that, my clients and my students, trust me, they come back, they refer me, they know I’m in this for the long haul. And [00:06:00] truly that’s the real win. And let’s talk about values for a second, because this is where it does get personal. We all say we value things like honesty and kindness and creativity, but until those values are actually tested, we don’t really know which ones are the highest for us.

And for me, that contest really was a test. I didn’t know integrity was my highest value until I had to choose between holding onto it and winning. And when I lost, I realized what I had gained was even more important, the clarity that I never wanted to build a business on anything but honesty. So my friend, let me ask you, what’s your highest value?

Is it integrity? Is it kindness? Is it creativity? Is it consistency? What’s the thing you’re unwilling to compromise, even if it costs you a win? Because here’s the secret. Those values are what will define your success. Not the likes, not the bookings, not the magazine [00:07:00] covers. Let me share a funny story here, because sometimes you just have to laugh at how dramatic we can get. So when I found out she bought the legs, I raged, like I just lost an Olympic medal.

And I mean, really it was a local magazine, you guys, a magazine that doesn’t even exist anymore. I don’t even remember what the prize was beyond the cover. And yet at the time it felt like the end of the world. And I can look back, it’s laughable now, but in the moment it was real. And that’s the thing about these contests.

They feel so important when we’re in them, but years later we barely remember them. What we do remember is how we handled them. And I wanna look back and remember, I held onto my integrity that I did not sell myself out for a quick win. That I defined my success my way, not by someone else’s scoreboard.

So here’s the reframe. Losing isn’t always losing. Sometimes losing is exactly what you need to discover what you stand for. [00:08:00] That contest taught me that I’d rather lose with integrity than win by cheating. It taught me that the only scoreboard that really matters is the one inside me, and it taught me that building a business based on honesty is worth more than any cover feature and friend, if you’re in your own contest right now, whether it’s for likes for bookings or recognition, and I want you to pause and ask yourself.

What’s my highest value? Because once you know that the contest kind of stop mattering as much, you stop comparing yourself to everyone else. You stop spiraling when someone else gets the win. You stop trying to play a game that was never yours to win anyway. Instead, build your own game. You define your own success, you honor your own values, and that is how you actually win.

So, no, I didn’t get the magazine cover and I didn’t get the validation that I thought I needed. But I got something better. I discovered my highest value, and that’s what keeps me grounded in this business through [00:09:00] every high and low since because integrity, choosing honesty, choosing to play fair, and choosing to build something real, that’s a win no one can take away from me.

I hope this talk has resonated with you today, and I am sending you so much of my light and love. I’ll see you next time.