Nicole Begley (00:00)
If you've ever thought there's a right way to do something, well, this episode is for you. So whether you love experimenting in your business or you feel paralyzed by trying to do the quote right thing, you're definitely gonna wanna stick around for this episode. Stay tuned.

Nicole Begley (00:16)
I'm Nicole Begley, a zoological animal trainer turned pet and family photographer. Back in 2010, I embarked on my own adventure in photography, transforming a bootstrapping startup into a thriving six-figure business by 2012. Since then, my mission has been to empower photographers like you, sharing the knowledge and strategies that have helped me help thousands of photographers build their own profitable businesses. I believe that achieving $2,000 $3,000 sales is your fastest route to six-figure businesses.

that any technically proficient photographer can consistently hit four figure sales. And no matter if you want photography to be your full-time passion or a part-time pursuit, profitability is possible. If you're a portrait photographer aspiring to craft a business that aligns perfectly with the life you envision, then you're in exactly the right place. With over 350,000 downloads, welcome to the Freedom Focus Photography Podcast.

Nicole Begley (01:15)
Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Freedom Focus Photography podcast. I'm your host, Nicole Begley. And today's episode is a bit of a rant that Heather went on that I feel very strongly that we all need to hear periodically. And that is whether there is a right thing to do things in our business. So many times I talk to photographers that just want to know, but how do I do this? But how do I do this? And I get it. There are definitely best practices.

There are definitely, ⁓ there's a place for strategy and a list of how to do something, especially when you're doing something new or you're learning how to build or grow this business. I get that. But so many people just go to the crutch of there's one right way. And if I don't do the one right way that I'm not going to find success. But what if there were lots of different right ways? And what if

testing all those different right ways could figure out what is actually right for you and your business because for as many of us are out that are out there running these photography businesses, there are that many different ways that we can be running those photography businesses successfully. So in this episode today, I want you to listen with an open

And maybe ask yourself if there's anywhere that you are holding on too tight for the quote, right way to do things.

And if you enjoy this episode, come back next week because Heather and I are going to break it down even more because this is very much a soap box that I like to get on because nothing makes me more furious than when I have photographers telling me that like, ⁓ somebody said I have to do it this way or it has to be done this way because that's just hogwash. There's so many different ways we can do things and what's right for your business might not be right for someone else's. So stay tuned, enjoy this episode with Heather and I'll see you next week.

Speaker 1 (03:03)
I have a story that I want to share with you. And I just got really excited because the story, it's a personal story, but I had like two, two parallels to business and marketing. And I thought to myself, my gosh, that's so exciting to have one story that teaches two lessons.

And then as I was launching zoom, I was like, wait a minute, there are three lessons here. I hope I remember what they all are because I came up with that anyway, stick with the story. And then I'm just going to open it up to help you with whatever you need help with. But there is a point to this story. So for the lot, I've always exercise. OK, for a lot of years, I have taken my health very seriously and I exercise on a regular basis.

For the last several years, I've been doing beach body and I do pretty hardcore workouts at minimum four days a week, sometimes upwards of five. And then the other days I might walk or just do something a little bit lighter. And for the last four years minimum, I have seen zero movement on the scale. And in my mind, I have a weight window. I think everybody should have a weight window. This is my approach and it's okay.

I'll just tell you what it is. I'm just shy of five, seven. My weight window is 130 to 135. If I start getting up to 135 and a little, I'm like, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, we need to slow down and we need to get this in check. So for the last four years, guess where I've been? Guess top end of my weight window. I've been at 135, 136, and I just could not get the scale to move. So frustrating.

Speaker 2 (04:39)
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Speaker 1 (04:42)
because I would tell Craig, I would work out so hard and I would be like, I should be ripped by now. Why is this not working? I put all of this effort and he would say things like, well, maybe you could try this other thing or, know, my food is pretty doubted. It could be doubted even more always, but pretty good, you know? And I'm like, here's what I kept saying. I'm doing everything and nothing is working.

Anybody relate to these thoughts? I'm doing everything and nothing is working and I am so frustrated and I don't, I don't know what I could possibly try because I'm doing everything. Well, he's like, you could switch this up. And I'm like, no, couldn't. That's not going to work. Nothing works. This is just how it is. And the only reason I was able to persevere is because in my mind, two things I thought, well, exercise can't be bad for you, right? Like exercise has to be good for you.

So even if the scale isn't moving, like I'm moving my body and that is always a positive, right? And then the next thing was the other thought was like, eventually this is gonna work, right? I mean, I'm in it for the long haul. I know this is lifelong, but like really, so it's really difficult in business when you are doing all of the things, you're trying all the things, you're doing them.

You're executing, we call them experiments here, like just what's the next experiment and you're in it. And then it just doesn't seem to work. Nothing seems to be working ever and forever. And you've tried everything.

And then it becomes this mind game, mind management really, on how can I keep going even when I'm not seeing results? Because that's what it's really about, right? It's like, it's easy to do things when you're getting results and it's hard when you're not. So then...

I'm thinking, because it's like, it that I need to try new things? Yes. And I need to learn how to manage my mind to keep going even when I'm not getting results. It's both of those things. It's not like I should stay doing the same thing and expect different results, which I did. But it's like, I want to try new experiments, but I have to be OK when those experiments don't work in order to keep going. OK. So.

⁓ Four weeks, it's been four weeks now since my husband had emergency surgery. And when he came home, of course, my workout schedule got all messed up. It was commuting to Pittsburgh and then he's home and I wanna support him. And one of his things was he wanted to just like move. He wanted to get out and walk. We have 35 acres of trails. We know the distance of all of these trails. So for example, we have a loop that is half a mile. We know this, okay.

So he wants to start doing a mile. I mean, he was home from the hospital like a day. He was like really into this. So right after breakfast, he says, do you want to come on a walk with me one day? And I said, yes, of course. But that meant I didn't do my exercise routine. this walk, imagine this man just had an open heart surgery. So he wasn't exactly moving quickly. And I am a fast walker. I'm like, let's go, let's get that heart rate up. And so I had to slow down to.

support him and I wanted to, I wanted to be there with him. And I was like, okay, how can I make the best use of this? So I grabbed my 12 pound weighted vest. call it my rucksack. I'm like, I'm going to go rucking because that will get my heart rate up. So that first day he does one loop on our property and I'm like, well, I'm just going to do another one since I'm here. He needed to come in. And then what we wanted to start doing with him was like after every meal or at least three times a day, take one lap.

just to get him moving. So I was like, okay, I'll just put on my weighted vest and I'll do two laps while he does the one and two laps as a mile. So I'm doing three miles, right? I'm still like, I need to get back into my weightlifting. That's not a replacement. Then he started doing two laps. And so then I started doing three and well today it's raining. So I got on the treadmill. Anyway, I hadn't, I'm not back to my regular workouts yet. It's been four weeks and I've just been walking with him.

He's been doing more, picking up the pace. I'm wearing my weighted vest. And I will be darned if I didn't lose six pounds. What in the name of Mike? I have been trying to lose five pounds for four years, trying to switch up my workout by eating a little bit and nothing changed. And then I was forced, okay, know, circumstances to do something differently and it worked.

I'm just wondering what you might need to try that's different. Even though you don't want to, you don't see how it could work. I would have never guessed that would have done it. Never, never, never, never. So guess what? I wasn't going to do it. I would have never experimented that way because in my brain that would not work. So I would not do it.

Jess says business is just one big experiment. The key is, and now listen, so that happened and I'm like, my gosh, this, I finally found something that worked. I'm making announcements. I'm walking around, guess who lost six pounds? Guess who did it? Guess who, ⁓ know, like bragging and like feeling so amazing about it. And I'm thinking, okay, now that it's working, it's easy to stay in that, right?

It's not as frustrating because I found something that worked and I'm, seeing progress and it's, ⁓ my gosh, it's fun. Now I'm brilliant. And this is great. It was much harder to continue when I felt like I was doing everything. Nothing was working and I just kept going. Like, you know, just trying to like muscle my way through it. So frustrating, but I knew it was important. And then I was forced into an experiment that I would not have chosen and

It worked.

How does this apply to what you're doing in your business?

It is easy when things are working. It is hard when things are not. So what do you, what, where do you need to spend your energy? Is it on finding the new experiments and the new strategies, or is it on managing your mind around keeping going when they're not working? And the answer to that question is yes, it is both of those things. You have to be able to manage your mind around experiments that aren't working so you can keep

making those experiments that in believing that one day they were I did believe that at one point in my lifetime I had hoped I would figure out this last these last five pounds I hoped but I just couldn't see it.

Jessica says, reminding yourself that everything is always working even when it feels like it's not. Amanda says, I started a weekly newsletter last fall and have had two repeat clients from years ago and one more client who had a session eight months ago, never scheduled an order meeting, finally booked a call. The newsletter is working, but it was a slow start. It is working. You meeting people, going to events,

Just putting yourself out there, whatever it is you're doing, I promise you it is working. It is getting you to the next step. It just might not look the way you thought it would look. I thought I would lose the weight from continuing with the exercise program I was on. And I did get back to my weights ⁓ last week. But the point is, are you willing to keep going when the experiments don't work? Okay, no, it's not easy, but let's manage your mind around it.

And then what's next? What's the next experiment? And the only thing I can say looking back is that I just wish I would have experimented more sooner. But what happened was I never would have done that experiment. And it totally changed up my morning routine. My morning routine looks completely, totally different than it did a month or more ago. And I...

I wouldn't have been able to see, like if you said to me, oh, try walking three times a day and do it at these, I would have been like, I can't do that. That doesn't work with like how I have to get ready. And when my calls start like, no, no, no, no, no. No, I would have said that doesn't work, but I had to make it work because of him. And now I learned something new. I learned that I could get up at a certain time, do my walk, get ready, eat all of those things and still get to my desk by eight 30, the latest.

And I was so proud of myself today. Before 8 a.m., I had 4,000 steps. So now I'm watching my steps. I wasn't doing that before at all, at all. I wasn't concerned about steps. I was more about like the cardio and the weights. And now I'm like, ⁓ walking more often throughout the day had a bigger impact on my body than the, okay. I think that you get the point. Kelly says, my question is about how long to continue an experiment.

before expecting results. Yeah, you've got to, Jess says you've got to give it enough time to collect data. And I just always expect results. I always expect that something is going to come from this experiment. I'm just gonna learn one way or the other. This is what I'm doing with the fast track coaching now. I've talked to you guys about this, that I wanna expose coaching to photographers. So I'm going to periodically do these complimentary coaching workshops.

When I decided to start that three months ago, four months ago, in my mind, I was like, I'm giving it a year. I'm gonna work on this for a year and try different approaches on every call just to see what happens. So the first, I don't know this exact number, sorry. The first two or three calls I did, no one joined Elevate as a result of those calls. And I was discouraged, but I was like, well, they need to see coaching over time.

This last one I did this week, two people joined Elevate, paid in full the day of the call. One of them is a returning member, which is amazing. And so like something shifted, something worked. So I'm gonna keep going to keep trying from that point. Suzanne joined, thank you, from one of those coaching calls. I know that those can work. I just need to, that's almost a sub experiment. Like I know exposing photographers to coaching can work.

So I have to experiment with how I do that and what that looks like. So I'm just going to continue until I figure it out, but I'm going to iterate. I guess that's it.

I'm going to practice or try different things to see what works. So my two lessons, because I forgot my third one, I was walking into this call and I was like, there's a third point here. Well, it's gone. ⁓ Maybe it'll come to me later. Who cares? The first point is, can you manage your mind around things not working and disappointment? I did it for four years.

with the thought, though the thought driving it was, this is still working for me somehow. This is still good for me. Even though there wasn't a result, there wasn't the result I wanted in the result line. My thought was, this is still working and it's good for me. So how could you view your business like this is still working. I'm still doing things that are good for my business, even when it's not in the result line. So that kept me going. And I just managed my mind around disappointment. And then I finally,

I don't want to even give myself any credit for this because I was going to say, I figured out a way. I didn't, it was forced upon me. And then it was sort of revealed to me that doing something different could change things and have an impact. Everything I'm doing is an experiment and everything is working. I will figure it out. I wasn't going to stop until I did. I just wasn't. So how do you harness that level of

Resilience, determination to just keep going even when it feels like the experiments aren't working. Aaron says, letting go of the stress of thinking I'm doing everything right and it's not working, which is a terrible thought. That's the exact thought I had. Terrible. Has been huge to letting go of that thought. Big deal because there isn't a right way and trapping yourself in negativity only hurts, only hurts you staying stuck in frustration versus letting go to find

new possibilities. Abby says, wow, just one new lesson due to Craig's cardiac cardiac in discretion. There's a million. There are a million lessons this guy has given me over the last four weeks. And thank you, Erin, because you just prompted my brain for the third point. I remember what it is now. It was there is no right way to do anything. There is no right

one way I was kind of stuck and this was the way to do it obviously for years. Anybody else a little stubborn around here. I see you Walter I saw you raise your hand. It's like. I know there's not right or wrong way or one way to exercise okay I know that. But in my head it was like I don't know it was just stuck up in my head okay so.

So there's no right or wrong way to do anything. That's actually one of the core tenants inside of elevate is I don't ever want you to think that there is a right way to do marketing or there's a wrong way to do your pricing. There is no right or wrong way. There's only a way that works for you. And as long as you know, it's working and you're profitable, then I support you.

I don't care how much you mark up your cost of goods sold, as long as you're profitable and it works for you. There. don't want you to like you, even if you hear different things from different photography mentors, like what if you were in a lifeline with Jess and then you were a lifeline with me.

And we contradicted each other and she said, you should do it this way. And I said, you should do it that way. Then you might be confused, right? Cause you're thinking one of us has to be right. And one of us has to be wrong. And the answer is no, we're both right because that's what worked for us. And then you have the ability to see all of these different ways that you can do things and you can look at it be like, okay, I'm going to try this. And then I might try this. Ooh, you know what? That doesn't work for me. That's not a good fit. I might try this. There's no right or wrong way.

There's just a way that works for you. I was misguided in what was going to work for me in terms of my weight loss. And then I figured it out because I was, I was experimenting. You eat. Yes. I believe this so strongly, Walter, you, there's no failures, no such thing. You either get what you want, you either win or you learn. And so I just,

with these experiments.

Kelly says I'd be confused because neither of you ever should us. No, that's true. That situation I described with Jessica and myself is completely hypothetical because that would never happen. Neither one of us would ever say this is the right only way to do that. We would say, here's what worked for me. So I know that this is something that works and it's worked for some other people, but it may not work for you. And that's okay because you can decide. Three lessons from

from all of that so far, just from me walking in the woods with my rucksack, which I love 12 pounds. Do you ever put 12 pounds on your back? It's kind of heavy. If this episode spoke to you, if it reminded you that business is just one big experiment, then here's the reminder. You don't have to have it all figured out. You just have to keep going. Sometimes what feels like a detour is actually the direct route.

Sometimes what shouldn't work actually does. So ask yourself, what experiment are you resisting because you're convinced it won't work? Are you willing to try it anyway? If you're ready to explore new strategies, manage your mind and build a business that truly works for you, then Elevate is your next step. It's our six month coaching program designed to help photographers turn their passion into profit with proven

business strategy, personal mentorship, and a supportive community that keeps you going when things feel really hard. Of course, that link is always in the show notes and you can go to flourish.academy.com slash elevate to learn more. We'd love to see you on the inside. But until then, I just want to recommend that you keep experimenting. I hope that you found this useful. I'll see you in the next episode.