Bad Habits We've Ditched as Photographers (Pt. 2)

Bad habits, be gone! In this episode, we dive into more habits we’ve worked to break as photographers, from overspending on gear and shooting vertical too often to editing in bed and giving unrealistic deadlines. Through candid conversations, relatable stories, and actionable advice, we explore how letting go of these habits has made us better photographers.

Expect to Learn:

• Why maximizing your current equipment outweighs buying the latest tech
• Why upgrading your computer can be a game-changer for your workflow
• The benefits of no phone in your bedroom & not editing photos in bed
• How asking for client feedback and setting realistic deadlines can build trust

Sponsors:

Thanks to WhiteWall for being our lead sponsor this episode! They're the top choice for photographers who want high-quality prints, with a variety of material options, and who want their work delivered fast in 9 days or less! Use the code TPM2025 at checkout for 15% off: https://www.whitewall.com/

Thanks also to the National Park Foundation for sponsoring today’s episode. Enter the Share the Experience photo contest for a chance to win $10,000 and prizes from Celestron, Historic Hotels of America, and YETI. The grand prize winner’s photo could be featured on the America the Beautiful—the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass.

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Thanks for listening!
Go get shooting, go get editing, and stay focused.

@sethmacey
@mantis_photography
@thephotographermindset

Transcript

00:16.22
Seth Macey
There's a mouse in my attic, in my ceiling. I can hear it.

00:28.64
Aaron
That is the worst.

00:32.85
Seth Macey
worst news you've heard all day?

00:34.56
Aaron
No, it's the worst knowing of a thing that you didn't need to know when there's a mouse.

00:39.59
Seth Macey
not a Not a mouse guy?

00:42.77
Aaron
Listen, they're fine and they're cute. I don't like what they're doing up there.

00:48.12
Seth Macey
Pooping and peeing and being...

00:49.41
Aaron
Pooping and peeing and chewing things and scratching and getting stuck in the walls.

00:55.78
Seth Macey
You just have one of these? My

01:00.26
Aaron
I'm not a, yeah, I'm not a, I'm just not a fan.

01:00.28
Seth Macey
lights go out?

01:04.50
Seth Macey
ah You should see yeah I hear one.

01:04.60
Aaron
Go outside.

01:07.32
Seth Macey
The worst part is you think, ha, I've solved the problem. I saw where they were coming in and i got him. And then just, and you hear this.

01:12.63
Aaron
Oh no.

01:14.01
Seth Macey
You're

01:15.77
Aaron
Yeah.

01:17.02
Seth Macey
like, you son of a bitch.

01:17.29
Aaron
yeah yeah

01:19.60
Aaron
Or I sometimes right here, right where I am, I'll hear a straight, there's, there must be a straight shot from the chimney. That's brick. that connects to the attic and I just hear like, like straight across.

01:32.99
Aaron
And I'm like, ah, I don't like it.

01:33.21
Seth Macey
Just torpedo, torpedo rodent.

01:39.35
Aaron
I don't like it.

01:40.58
Seth Macey
You're like an elephant.

01:42.43
Aaron
But when you live in the, you live in the woods, that's what you're going to get.

01:42.52
Seth Macey
wonder if that's true.

01:46.16
Seth Macey
It's what you're going to get.

01:48.84
Aaron
And if you live in the city, you're going to get rats. And I wouldn't like that either.

01:52.35
Seth Macey
Yeah, rats. No bueno. Yeah, if you hear one, you'll see me sometimes. I'm like in the going around here going.

02:03.03
Seth Macey
hammering the ceiling before we started recording i heard i was like you son of a bitch get out

02:05.14
Aaron
They seem to.

02:11.16
Aaron
um

02:11.61
Seth Macey
usually they stop but then you have the ones that are just like right after you do it like i know you're on the other side of this half inch drywall don't you don't they're like what was that okay

02:17.20
Aaron
Yeah, they don't care. They're like, what was that?

02:24.94
Seth Macey
Crazy. All right. Enough mice. Enough mice. This is part two of bad habits.

02:29.89
Aaron
Part two.

02:31.38
Seth Macey
First one in this episode was having mice in your house. Don't do that. ah

02:35.21
Aaron
Try not to.

02:35.79
Seth Macey
But if you're going to get rid of them, humane or neck snap. None of that poison.

02:41.89
Aaron
Yeah, no poison.

02:42.14
Seth Macey
That's crazy. Don't be doing that. You're wrecking the ecosystem. Quick kill or drive it 500 miles upstate. Okay.

02:51.34
Aaron
Yeah.

02:53.66
Seth Macey
Episode or part two, bad habits. We're trying to break as a photographers. Well, part one just came out today on the day we're recording, so we have no idea if this resonated with people. So we're hoping that part two will.

03:04.53
Aaron
It did. i got a DM from at least with one person.

03:05.67
Seth Macey
Oh, okay, great.

03:09.15
Aaron
So if it's resonated with one, i feel like at least two.

03:12.63
Seth Macey
Yeah, one translates to 10 million, I've heard.

03:15.39
Aaron
I've heard that too. But ah yeah, she said, you guys gelled really nicely on that one.

03:16.28
Seth Macey
Yes.

03:19.82
Aaron
I liked that episode. So I said, compliments received.

03:22.06
Seth Macey
Oh, that's good.

03:24.97
Aaron
Thank you. Like a robot.

03:27.86
Seth Macey
Nice.

03:28.83
Aaron
Yeah. So I said, we're doing part two tonight.

03:29.85
Seth Macey
We gelled.

03:31.98
Aaron
That's what I said.

03:32.96
Seth Macey
All right.

03:33.39
Aaron
Yes.

03:34.27
Seth Macey
Can you remember which numbers of mine you selected from the last time? I'll see how good your memory is.

03:38.80
Aaron
seven first it is seven two nine ten four

03:40.98
Seth Macey
Which numbers are missing out of 17? seventeen

03:51.32
Seth Macey
Wow. There's one more.

03:57.58
Aaron
thirteen three yeah yeah

03:59.13
Seth Macey
No, three. You know what? that's That's pretty impressive. A week, you remember that from a week ago, all the numbers you picked out of my list.

04:07.94
Aaron
yeah

04:08.15
Seth Macey
Good for you

04:09.74
Aaron
Thanks. I'm still fresh. I'm still sharp.

04:12.37
Seth Macey
Yeah.

04:13.49
Aaron
Yeah.

04:13.49
Seth Macey
Your dementia is not looming for you at this stage.

04:16.78
Aaron
Not yet.

04:17.79
Seth Macey
No, so you're rocking it. Okay, great.

04:19.49
Aaron
A few more years.

04:20.64
Seth Macey
Two more years, Jesus Christ.

04:22.34
Aaron
I said a few, not literally two, just two.

04:23.25
Seth Macey
I did. Oh, you said two. I thought you said two.

04:27.52
Aaron
I know something no one else knows.

04:27.67
Seth Macey
was like two. and That's dark.

04:30.89
Aaron
Yeah.

04:30.95
Seth Macey
no

04:31.39
Aaron
um

04:31.43
Seth Macey
and but No, but before we get

04:32.60
Aaron
I was going to ask you to re, to ask you to re number that for me um and then

04:36.98
Seth Macey
on. Why? All

04:38.39
Aaron
I don't know, just to make it easier.

04:40.60
Seth Macey
all right. ah Did you get my text the other day before we get into this list? People know I have a habit of texting Aaron every time I see an elderly person that's six foot five. i was... Because Aaron aarin says, you know, you don't see a lot of elderly people that are my height.

04:57.31
Seth Macey
Like...

04:57.94
Aaron
yeah

04:58.61
Seth Macey
Not a good sign. So I, you know, people, if you've been a long time listener of the show, every time I see ah very tall person that is like 85 plus, I text Aaron when and where it happened. This was on a, at a rest stop along a highway.

05:14.73
Aaron
and then my next joke is always he wasn't 85 he was 65 that's what we just look like at that point

05:14.95
Seth Macey
He was,

05:24.20
Seth Macey
The world's eating you down. You've don't fit in airplanes.

05:26.36
Aaron
ah

05:27.32
Seth Macey
Don't fit through doorways. You've hit your head off so many goddamn things. it's

05:30.69
Aaron
gravity's tough no I just yeah anyone that's ever rocked and you put on 20 pounds on your back or 40 pounds on your back it's

05:31.79
Seth Macey
Yeah. Wow.

05:41.50
Aaron
tougher so i think that I think that's what happens yeah like enjoy life now like grant a wish

05:42.42
Seth Macey
Yeah. Yeah. You should start a charity or just, just tall people.

05:55.38
Seth Macey
Holy Christ. Okay, let's keep going. Let's keep going. You want me to renumber?

05:59.99
Aaron
yes please yeah please let's renumber and get into it yeah

05:59.96
Seth Macey
i like the banner, but it could take up all day.

06:05.90
Seth Macey
Okay, well, you go first while I renumber. Can I pick a number? Because I was leadoff hitter last time.

06:11.48
Aaron
Go ahead.

06:11.85
Seth Macey
Sammy Sosa here. um I'm going to pick. How many do you have to choose from?

06:17.53
Aaron
I don't know.

06:18.81
Seth Macey
Oh, you didn't number. This is just arbitrary.

06:20.14
Aaron
No.

06:20.62
Seth Macey
This is just all flair, right? Okay.

06:23.03
Aaron
Yeah.

06:23.87
Seth Macey
Okay, to go with 37.

06:27.14
Aaron
Perfect. 37 37.

06:28.06
Seth Macey
Great.

06:29.61
Aaron
me turn to me turning Uh,

06:30.92
Seth Macey
Bad habit. Bad habit. 37.

06:33.23
Aaron
ah habit thirty seven let me turn to it

06:37.71
Aaron
that's me turning pages ah I've talked about this on the show, you know, positive, and I do think it's positive. However, there's a gray area or a turning point.

06:49.72
Aaron
And I think a bad habit is spending a ton of money on equipment because it's brand new or interesting or the newest thing, or you feel like it's going to change the game somehow.

07:08.00
Seth Macey
Oh.

07:09.32
Aaron
So I think we've talked about before, there's a level of equipment that is really, I'll just say good enough to do a lot of the things that you need to do to better your craft.

07:22.46
Seth Macey
I already know a specific example of this for you. You don't get buyer's remorse often because people who have listened know you. Usually when you think about your, you personally, you think about your purchases and then think it gives you a kick in the can to like use it.

07:39.75
Aaron
Yeah.

07:41.59
Seth Macey
That's different from saying it's going to make me better just to clarify.

07:41.78
Aaron
yeah

07:46.10
Seth Macey
But I know one thing you have buyer's remorse on.

07:49.76
Aaron
Yeah.

07:49.86
Seth Macey
Can I, I already know it.

07:52.53
Aaron
Yeah.

07:52.83
Seth Macey
It's your, it's your, it's your Ronin gimbal.

07:53.14
Aaron
I know you do.

07:56.15
Aaron
Yeah. Something. Now I do use for time to time. However, if I did my research. I know that there's.

08:06.71
Seth Macey
Thank you.

08:07.29
Aaron
like Catalyst Browse for Sony, which is amazing with stabilization. And you can just throw clips in there and it does a really good job. And once you learn how to use it, mostly completely usable for what you need to do.

08:24.91
Aaron
Now, a gimbal in certain situations is necessary or useful or helpful or is going to give you a better product. But I got to be honest, it's far and few in between for me.

08:35.40
Aaron
So that is an example. And I just think that spending the time and money early on, on upgrading equipment again to a point, yes, but beyond that point for the bells and whistles, cap agrees.

08:53.69
Seth Macey
Holy, is that the mouse in your ceiling or is that, that's your dog? Okay.

08:56.49
Aaron
That's my dog.

08:57.68
Seth Macey
Wow. Settle down there, bud.

09:00.25
Aaron
I know he's on this medicine now that makes him freaking starving. And it's so, ah i love him, but it's really annoying because he's just so insatiable. oh All right, go away, bud.

09:15.32
Aaron
She's no respect for what I'm doing here.

09:18.07
Seth Macey
and

09:19.24
Aaron
ah Yeah, there to a point, there is a a piece of equipment that will do the job 80, 90% of the way there and the time spent on perfecting that or working on it or taking lessons or paying for a course or going back to school for editing or photography, like whatever it may be, whether it's home or even a class, I don't know.

09:42.62
Aaron
ah But there's just other ways I think. And and that can be um like a rabbit hole of if I get this, then I'll have that. If I get this, then I can do that. If I get this, then I can do that.

09:53.79
Aaron
And I had to just think it's a bad idea with your own personal savings potentially and your own money and ah really just kind of a false narrative in terms of getting better.

10:07.78
Aaron
And I'll stop there.

10:07.80
Seth Macey
Yeah. No, that's good point. I mean, I've had people surprised that I still shoot with an a7 III. I'm like, why are you surprised?

10:13.81
Aaron
Yeah, exactly.

10:16.13
Seth Macey
It's a good camera. and i It does what I need it to do. Can I get a better one for a lot more money?

10:20.40
Aaron
Yeah.

10:23.28
Seth Macey
Of course. I'm not like feeling that pinch yet, though.

10:28.16
Aaron
No.

10:29.41
Seth Macey
And i i know in my head that when I really do make a big upgrade, I'll kind of earn have earned my stripes.

10:29.56
Aaron
I think that...

10:37.57
Seth Macey
Like there's something about... um can't remember which podcast cast I was listening to, but it was about running, of course. I'm going to be short on this, people, because...

10:45.51
Aaron
Mm-hmm.

10:47.43
Seth Macey
going get too carried away running here. People know I can. It was something about, it was talking about carbon plated shoes for race day. And essentially the person was talking about like, you got to earn those shoes.

10:53.98
Aaron
Uh-huh.

10:56.58
Seth Macey
You got to build strong feet. You got to put in miles before you just hop into this race car of a running shoe. I kind of like that mentality with gear too.

11:05.83
Aaron
Mm-hmm.

11:05.86
Seth Macey
Learn how to make something basic.

11:05.97
Aaron
Yeah.

11:09.85
Seth Macey
work really well, build your skills there, and then the camera will work for you or that extra piece of gear will art we'll just build on the fundamentals you've already already established.

11:21.27
Seth Macey
ah you know i Some of my best photos ever were there can rebel t five by the a starter lens kit.

11:30.38
Aaron
yeah

11:30.76
Seth Macey
There's no reason no reason you can't take exceptional photos with something beginner, quote, fingers.

11:41.24
Aaron
Definitely. Like I said, that it goes to a point and sometimes it depends what you're doing with this too. Right. Like if you're, if you're really doing some big commercial work and they're like, we need 4k footage at 60 frames per second.

11:54.08
Seth Macey
Yeah.

11:54.87
Aaron
We need 8k footage because we want the ability to crop. Like they're very specific with what it is. that's a, then it's a decision to make. Like, is this a payday going to be worth me investing in myself and in this business? Am i going to be able to do this multiple times?

12:10.57
Aaron
Whatever it may be. I think that can dictate some of the equipment that you need to have. ah

12:15.66
Seth Macey
yes

12:16.31
Aaron
But beyond that, I think for, Mike, let's be honest, a lot of us are doing this for Instagram or our website and uploading three mega ah megabyte files to our website just to keep things down.

12:35.10
Seth Macey
Unless it's you, then if it's you, it's like 60.

12:36.88
Aaron
and it's me, it's 90.

12:37.64
Seth Macey
Yeah, it's 90. yeah it's

12:38.86
Aaron
Yeah.

12:39.34
Seth Macey
e

12:39.80
Aaron
But, uh, but yeah, that's, I guess that's my point. It's overkill. Uh, most of us are putting it on Instagram. That's a really small thing that gets, uh, you know, crushed anyways by their, their thing to is save space and you to have like a hundred megapixel photo that goes up on Instagram. If that's the end product of it, it's like, well, did I really need to spend money on this flashy, flashy camera?

13:07.32
Aaron
If you want to and you can, sure.

13:07.28
Seth Macey
Yeah.

13:09.00
Aaron
But if you if you feel like that's gonna be the difference, I guess that's the point. Like, if I get this camera, I'm gonna get more attention for my photos.

13:19.14
Seth Macey
Yeah. No, you're not.

13:20.77
Aaron
No.

13:22.39
Seth Macey
If you're already an exceptional photographer and you add gear, it'll take you to another level.

13:26.14
Aaron
Yeah, so that's my ah that's my potential bad habit of, you know, getting, yeah.

13:30.60
Seth Macey
Yeah, it's a good suggestion. It can you know um save you financially as well. I think it makes, it forces you, I've talked about this, it forces you to, um for example, wildlife photography, if I have 24 megapixels and you have 60, we both have the same focal length of lens, I need to learn how to potentially, hypothetically, i potentially need to learn how to ah position myself better to get closer to animals.

14:01.05
Seth Macey
or or how to cover scent, etc. You see what I'm saying? like there's pitch The restriction almost forces skills to be built.

14:12.63
Seth Macey
So then when you add 60 megapixels and you jump from 24 and you already have built those skills, you're just in a different league.

14:20.76
Aaron
Yeah. Yeah.

14:23.62
Seth Macey
All right.

14:24.55
Aaron
Cool.

14:25.19
Seth Macey
Good suggestion. You have 15 choices now that I've renumbered.

14:29.85
Aaron
Wow. 15 more still.

14:31.80
Seth Macey
I was on a walk today and I was just thinking about today and I was like, what else do I wish I had ah done sooner had cut out sooner?

14:42.71
Aaron
Yeah. ah Okay.

14:44.34
Seth Macey
and was like, you ding dong, you should have done that way sooner. would have made your life easier or better.

14:50.39
Aaron
Number one.

14:55.46
Seth Macey
one's funny. It kind of builds on what we just said. Number one is shooting vertical way too much.

15:00.50
Aaron
Yeah.

15:01.43
Seth Macey
I, um, it's a couple times this has happened where I've had a set of photos and I've had brand or clients say this, these are great. You have these in vertical or in horizontal.

15:16.07
Seth Macey
I'm thinking to myself, surely I, surely I shot horizontal in this once on this hike on this outing. Nope. Just all tall.

15:28.18
Seth Macey
I'm doing, as you know, a lot of blog work now and it needs supplemental photos that I've taken. a lot of people are reading blog on desktop computer laptops.

15:39.87
Aaron
Mm-hmm.

15:40.36
Seth Macey
Which photos are presented better on? The requirements are often that the photos be horizontal orientation. My first calendar I ever did, I was forced to spend a copious amount of time finding calendar company that would make my that would allow my vertical photos to stay vertical.

16:04.63
Seth Macey
And it was like this weird looking calendar. People didn't really like it. So now I'm back to traditional. um And realizing, okay, let's shoot this scene horizontal and keep in mind the framing let's keep and Let's keep the framing in mind so that I can create something vertical out of it should I please, ah should I want to.

16:27.19
Aaron
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

16:28.42
Seth Macey
um Whether that's zooming out a little bit or or doing something else. But I shot vertical way too much, especially when the there was often times when the photo didn't even call for it.

16:44.38
Seth Macey
like You can tell when a scene calls for which orientation. i can now.

16:51.84
Seth Macey
It was just automatic. It was compulsive. It's going, it's got to go on Instagram. So it's got to be vertical. It's got to take up phone, real estate. Meanwhile, Instagram's now doing these, like, have you seen the super skinny videos?

17:03.91
Aaron
No,

17:04.48
Seth Macey
Seen a couple of these. It's like this new thing. It's, it's paper thin videos. Meta just dropped one on their feed. Uh, Slater just did one from his time in Tokyo too.

17:15.44
Seth Macey
Our good friend Slater Moore.

17:15.93
Aaron
Oh, Oh,

17:17.42
Seth Macey
Very interesting. It's like just razor thin. Um, So, I mean, there's not, I can't really, I'm not going to weigh in too much on it, but I just shot vertical way too much.

17:23.51
Aaron
Oh,

17:26.63
Seth Macey
Didn't have a lot of scenes in horizontal and found brands were asking for them.

17:29.45
Aaron
of

17:30.79
Seth Macey
Made my calendar very difficult the first year.

17:34.98
Seth Macey
And often the scene didn't call for it. So now I'm in the habit of, and this is what you should be doing, is um if you're you're already there, just how hard is it to rotate your wrist 90 degrees?

17:46.43
Aaron
yeah yeah i think that's a good one uh i never felt comfortable shooting vertically i have before but my go-to is just the way the camera ergonomically fits so maybe the opposite maybe i could have used a little bit more

17:48.31
Seth Macey
So, yeah. There you go.

18:00.68
Seth Macey
Yeah, smart.

18:03.23
Seth Macey
Smart.

18:08.11
Aaron
uh, thought in terms of what's the best crop for this photo, but I would typically then crop in afterwards without giving it a lot of thought and then being sometimes being a little screwed by it.

18:17.22
Seth Macey
Right.

18:20.71
Seth Macey
And the happy medium too, I can't remember, maybe you taught me this or this was the thing we do with drones, right?

18:21.24
Aaron
Uh,

18:25.47
Seth Macey
When we want the wide scene, but we want to able to have it in vertical orientation, the panorama.

18:33.26
Aaron
yeah.

18:33.23
Seth Macey
So i actually I actually did this today on a shoot.

18:33.68
Aaron
Yeah.

18:35.39
Seth Macey
I was shooting a boardroom and I wanted the whole width of the boardroom, but I wanted the client to have vertical options. So I shot roughly down 33 degrees at zero degrees and up. So they'll have a vertical orientated shot when I stitch it together with the width of the entire room throughout each image.

18:55.12
Aaron
Right. That's really nice. That's nice for landscape too.

18:56.58
Seth Macey
Yeah, it's a nice little trick.

18:58.09
Aaron
Mm-hmm.

18:59.06
Seth Macey
A really nice trick if you want that width.

19:02.36
Aaron
Uh, yeah, definitely. And not as much up and down. Uh, cause sometimes if you get, you put a wide lens on there to get enough of the width in a vertical shot, you have a way too much foreground and way too much sky.

19:06.25
Seth Macey
Yeah.

19:14.80
Seth Macey
Right.

19:14.96
Aaron
So it's a nice way to like use a 24 or 50 millimeter and then stitch it together.

19:14.93
Seth Macey
Sure.

19:19.94
Aaron
Plus it'll be a ah bigger file. It'll be a ah much bigger file, which you can then print out, On a big canvas or a big metal piece of metal, whatever you like to print on. So that is a little nice landscape trick, especially.

19:36.86
Seth Macey
Yeah, and it's not too hard with stitching in Lightroom. You just select all three and click merge panorama.

19:40.83
Aaron
Yeah. Merge.

19:43.16
Seth Macey
And it usually does. If your hand's been steady, your exposure was good.

19:46.15
Aaron
Yeah.

19:47.30
Seth Macey
and It's pretty bang on. And the middle image shot at zero degrees, roughly, I'm assuming. You usually have an image just out of that, too, if you want it.

19:52.83
Aaron
Mm hmm.

19:55.58
Aaron
Right. Definitely.

19:56.45
Seth Macey
Right, like the middle one.

19:57.07
Aaron
For sure.

19:57.29
Seth Macey
All right, cool.

19:57.68
Aaron
hu

19:58.53
Seth Macey
Yeah.

19:58.60
Aaron
Love the middle one.

19:59.49
Seth Macey
Bad habit, shooting vertical too much. So we got that, and we have thinking that gear is going to make you better.

20:05.63
Aaron
Okay. So I'll pick a number.

20:11.39
Seth Macey
Oh, 62.

20:14.99
Seth Macey
The Rolodex.

20:17.28
Aaron
62.

20:18.41
Aaron
Where you're not spending money on frivolous equipment, spend money on the best computer that you can afford.

20:25.63
Seth Macey
Wow. Okay. Tell me more.

20:30.25
Aaron
If you have the nicest camera, you spent your budget of $5,000 on the nicest lens, the nicest camera, you have a You have two old things. Let's start over.

20:44.38
Aaron
You have an older camera that's done the job. You have an older computer that's done the job. You have $5,000 to spend and you decide, I wanna upgrade my camera.

20:57.95
Aaron
It's a 62 mega pixel camera, huge files, it records in 4K, 8K even. And I'm going to get one of their they're really nice G Master lenses for $2,800. over $5,000 at this point.

21:13.20
Aaron
um over five thousand at this point wow, I this great camera. I take my first 4k video. I load it into my computer and then the, the, the, the error of death, like basically computer's like, who the fuck do you think I am?

21:23.74
Seth Macey
The dial-up sound. here

21:32.31
Seth Macey
Spinning wheel? Yeah.

21:33.88
Aaron
can not handle this. And yeah.

21:37.35
Seth Macey
Jet fuel in a 1963 punch Yeah. punchbugy

21:42.08
Aaron
There's, to me, nothing more frustrating and demotivating than a computer that cannot keep up with workflow.

21:50.89
Seth Macey
yeah

21:52.00
Aaron
So... Spending the money on a fast machine, a computer that can edit really nicely, that can, yeah some of those things like on Topaz, like to go through some of their processing takes a really long time.

22:08.54
Aaron
And even with a fast computer,

22:09.28
Seth Macey
Yeah.

22:12.18
Seth Macey
Yeah, you need ship.

22:12.59
Aaron
so Yeah. So it, it just helps to make this so much more enjoyable when you're importing, exporting, uh, Lightroom's not freezing up. but you You put on a few masks and it doesn't just delay trying to catch up.

22:26.38
Aaron
Like it, it just works that much better, which makes the entire process of photography and editing and posting and getting things out there that much quicker and that much easier.

22:38.38
Seth Macey
Yeah.

22:39.12
Aaron
So bad habit, I guess, would be spending the money in the wrong places um and upgrading in tiers of what will make things that much more enjoyable and efficient and therefore good for you.

22:39.27
Seth Macey
Yeah.

22:52.74
Seth Macey
Yeah. Or the bad a bad habit part B to that is having ah tech that doesn't align in terms of performance.

23:00.43
Aaron
Yeah. Yeah.

23:03.26
Seth Macey
I hear you. Like I i have oh my goodness.

23:10.46
Aaron
Sorry.

23:11.52
Seth Macey
sounded like he had a fight with a wild raccoon.

23:13.63
Aaron
ah just rolled over his tail, I think.

23:15.99
Seth Macey
Oh, no that's not good for anyone.

23:18.22
Aaron
He's OK.

23:18.21
Seth Macey
i have the

23:18.48
Aaron
Uh-huh. Yeah.

23:19.92
Seth Macey
I have ah the Topaz video app. I love Topaz. I love all their apps, but my computer fan gets going. I can't even use the video app because I don't have the right processing chip.

23:33.09
Aaron
yeah

23:33.41
Seth Macey
Um, so my next computer will be, you know, a Mac that has a better chip in it, more GPU, maybe some more Ram. Um, but at least I have that subscription for life. So when I upgrade it, I'll just like, Oh, right now, if I try to use the Topaz video AI, it's like your three second clip will be upscaled to 60 in 48 days.

23:56.53
Seth Macey
forty eight days

24:00.91
Aaron
I remember when you first tried to apply it, you text me, you're like, you're like, dude, is this normal?

24:03.78
Seth Macey
I was raging.

24:06.56
Aaron
um like ah it takes a while but not seven days

24:12.09
Seth Macey
i have a, and for people wondering, okay, well, what computer do you have? I have 2019 MacBook Pro 13. Is it 13 or 15? Should i get my tape measure? Let me get my tape measure.

24:24.76
Seth Macey
Oh, you know what? I can just go to, can go to about this Mac, but it would have been more fun to get the tape measure, wouldn't it

24:27.49
Aaron
about yeah

24:33.66
Seth Macey
more info.

24:36.95
Seth Macey
I'm getting the tape.

24:39.72
Aaron
Okay.

24:44.16
Seth Macey
take bunch design in here

24:46.83
Aaron
Oh, fail, fail. How's everyone doing out there?

24:50.41
Seth Macey
I was doing, I was doing stuff and my tape measure's not in the place that I usually keep it. It's I think 13 or 15, whatever. Um, it doesn't matter, but it struggles. It's that's what, six years old.

25:01.46
Aaron
Yeah.

25:02.41
Seth Macey
Yeah, it probably needs a battery replacement.

25:02.82
Aaron
Six. Thanks.

25:04.09
Seth Macey
So I like that point. Good point, man. Good point.

25:07.66
Aaron
Thanks.

25:07.82
Seth Macey
and I know you dealt with this firsthand. You had that desktop computer and then you got your your MacBook and you were flying.

25:15.52
Aaron
I couldn't believe the,

25:18.88
Seth Macey
You like, this is what life can Yeah.

25:23.66
Aaron
oh God. On the old one, like people out there probably know this is I was on Photoshop and like you would do a brushstroke and then it would spin to like catch up the dodging and the burning.

25:26.41
Seth Macey
yeah

25:34.68
Seth Macey
or and yeah And then so it catches up and then it's dragged all the way across the page because it's lagged.

25:38.65
Aaron
Yeah, it was just like, and then all of a sudden, layer after layer, I could use Premiere Pro again.

25:42.25
Seth Macey
Yeah. Yeah.

25:46.52
Aaron
oh my God, it was just nothing.

25:48.65
Seth Macey
You could have the 40 tabs that you always have open.

25:49.40
Aaron
Yep, one,

25:51.01
Seth Macey
That drives me crazy.

25:52.65
Aaron
two, three, four, five, seven, eight, seven, eight, seven, eight, seven, eight, nine, 10, 10, right now.

25:55.65
Seth Macey
You have 10 tabs open. That's wild. I have two. Instagram to send you the invite because you get you the invite for our podcast via DM and I have this window open.

25:59.12
Aaron
It's a song.

26:06.01
Aaron
I have YouTube, my mail.

26:07.42
Seth Macey
Now I closed Instagram. I just have you open. You have my undivided attention. I have no other apps open.

26:11.38
Aaron
ah so I'm learning Google maps.

26:13.19
Seth Macey
No other apps open other than my notes, my Apple notes. Where are you going right now?

26:19.57
Aaron
Oh no, it's a Google meet for when this is over. ah

26:22.54
Seth Macey
All

26:22.97
Aaron
One Google folder. What is this? Yeah. Okay. Anyways, carry on.

26:30.16
Seth Macey
right.

26:30.43
Aaron
Yeah. So that was my last one. All right.

26:31.89
Seth Macey
Cool. You picked one.

26:33.19
Aaron
Number two.

26:33.75
Seth Macey
You're going to go with two?

26:36.08
Aaron
Yeah. Going straight up.

26:38.63
Seth Macey
You're just going to go right. You're going rip through them.

26:40.72
Aaron
Yeah, in case.

26:40.99
Seth Macey
You don't get you don't get the sporadic whipsaw of my brain. If you go in order, it makes too much sense. Whatever.

26:50.84
Aaron
Maybe it doesn't. Maybe it makes, maybe you were whipping around with your thoughts and this is the order they came out.

26:52.00
Seth Macey
Okay.

26:55.14
Seth Macey
Probably.

26:56.74
Aaron
So I want to see that.

26:57.17
Seth Macey
Probably. Editing in bed.

27:04.60
Aaron
I'm laughing cause i never even thought that was a thing you could do. Nah.

27:07.41
Seth Macey
With your laptop, editing in bed and phone in bedroom, I combined them.

27:15.81
Aaron
Okay.

27:16.31
Seth Macey
One of the worst habits I have ever had in my life is editing in bed and having my phone in my bedroom.

27:16.54
Aaron
okay

27:23.17
Seth Macey
I cannot tell you how much better my life has been since doing this. At the end of the day, when I feel like I've put in a good day's work, actually not just closing my laptop, but going to the Apple icon and clicking shut down and closing the lid. It's like an official I'm done for the day.

27:47.53
Seth Macey
Sleep time, rest, recovery, recharge. And I do not bring my phone in the bedroom anymore. It's just I have no tech in my room.

28:00.88
Seth Macey
Haley's laptop sometimes in there because we watch a show together, but it's it's relaxing. It's not an activating screen. Whereas people have access to me on my phone.

28:09.83
Aaron
Yeah.

28:12.65
Seth Macey
I have access to all the garbage on the internet. um Stock prices, emails. understand that... i understand that Just like junk food, you can't beat this kind of stuff.

28:28.37
Seth Macey
like It's programmed to prey on your and and we are.

28:31.95
Aaron
yeah

28:32.68
Seth Macey
You can't beat the addictiveness of the phone, of sugary foods. I'm using the sugar food as an example, or junk food. like if i don't i don't I stopped at the source. I don't buy it at the store. So when I get a craving in my house, there's nothing to eat.

28:45.30
Aaron
Right.

28:45.85
Seth Macey
I have to go grab a banana. um The phone out of the bedroom has made my quality of sleep so much better. I feel so much more well rested. I feel way less stressed. I can physically feel like I'm disconnecting from the world.

28:59.52
Seth Macey
We've talked about this. There used to be a time, 15 years ago, where you logged in and you logged off with your availability in the digital world. And now we're always always available. Right?

29:11.52
Seth Macey
right And i that has just this low-lying chronic stressor that's always there. And having a cap on it, even just in terms of proximity, people could say, well, you could just,

29:27.64
Seth Macey
um I don't know, how you need your alarm or put it somewhere else in your bedroom or whatever. having it Having the physical distance before I go to bed, there's just something about it that has ah has a positive effect on me. I don't really know how to explain it, but it has changed my life for the better because I feel so much more well-rested, less stressed, and i wake up with that's the other thing I wake up without it being the first thing by my bedside.

29:59.35
Aaron
Yeah, I bet there's a little of

30:02.89
Aaron
when I would travel to like the Adirondacks, there's very bad service there. And for the first day, half day, it's pretty annoying. Like you, you, check your phone and it's just not working and you can't do that but after that you get like oh it's just this is the way it is because there's no service there's nothing i can do while i'm out hiking and the so put it in the backpack if i if i need it for something like an emergencies sos whatever but other than that i'm not i'm not getting anything

30:14.42
Seth Macey
Yeah.

30:22.30
Seth Macey
Yes.

30:34.24
Aaron
here and there and you just kind of accept it.

30:34.46
Seth Macey
Right.

30:36.36
Aaron
I think, see, I don't do that. I should do that. But there's, there are these times in, in bed where you're thinking about something or you're like, what's the capital of,

30:49.56
Seth Macey
Exactly. But you got to turn that part off. That's what I'm saying.

30:52.64
Aaron
right.

30:53.29
Seth Macey
Because like the thinking, mind that's the thinking mind. I'm trying to get out of the thinking mind and I'm trying to not allow the thinking mind a place to build webs out.

31:05.59
Aaron
Or you you then you're like, I have this thing right here. I'll pick it up. I'll find out the capital of Wyoming or whatever you're wondering. And then, oh, let me check Instagram.

31:13.47
Seth Macey
Yeah.

31:15.52
Aaron
oh let And then you just go down this this whole thing.

31:17.60
Seth Macey
And it's been 45 minutes and it's 1am and I have to get up at 7 and I feel like a piece of shit.

31:22.78
Aaron
Yeah, and the alternative is, i wonder what the capital of Wyoming is. I'm not getting up.

31:29.55
Seth Macey
It doesn't matter.

31:30.18
Aaron
like it's

31:30.33
Seth Macey
Yeah.

31:31.14
Aaron
i don't care that much. like I'll find out tomorrow. And you just you let that thought pass through, and then and you're not logging on to a million different other apps to just check them out.

31:33.88
Seth Macey
Exactly.

31:41.37
Seth Macey
Yeah, because you're not going to have the discipline to not go into the other apps or you're going to go down the rabbit hole of the capital of Wyoming and you're going to spend, if you're someone like me, i love just like reading stuff.

31:49.78
Aaron
Yeah.

31:49.80
Seth Macey
You're going to spend an hour learning all these facts that are kind of interesting but probably irrelevant to life.

31:55.34
Aaron
Yeah.

31:55.73
Seth Macey
um And this kind of ties in with the other first part of this, not editing in bed. I used to sit in bed and edit with my hard drive. I edit with my screen always on full brightness because I want to see everything.

32:08.78
Seth Macey
So I was just cooking my eyes in bed.

32:12.51
Aaron
yeah

32:14.86
Seth Macey
And editing editing a new set of photos is exciting, right? It's exciting. so this is great that you're getting all this editing done. And I'm not, so I'm not trying to be a downer like, Hey, just don't be excited about your edits, but time can get away from you. And then the sleep gets sacrificed. And I know now that that is like the cornerstone of my mental health is how well rested I am. And I cannot be,

32:44.06
Seth Macey
I cannot do well at the things I need to do well at if I am not rested.

32:49.48
Aaron
yeah

32:49.53
Seth Macey
So I have to, know, I can't do these things anymore. And the, the, uh, I want my body to associate my bed with rest, with sleep.

33:06.52
Seth Macey
If I bring my laptop and I'm working on client photos or I'm, you know, whatever, my brain is now associating bed with a workspace.

33:25.43
Seth Macey
And I don't want that. i want to be I want my bedroom to be a place of refuge, relaxation, and rest, and that's it. I don't want it to be an office. And it's funny,

33:36.36
Aaron
That makes sense.

33:37.31
Seth Macey
the

33:39.91
Seth Macey
one of the if you've looked this up before, one of the recommendations for people who have trouble sleeping is if you're lying in bed awake, tossing and turning, they advise you to to get out of your bedroom.

33:53.68
Seth Macey
Have you heard this before? advise you to get out of your bedroom and just go to a different room, sit on the couch, watch TV, or do something else in a different place. And when you start to feel tired, walk back to your bedroom.

34:06.96
Seth Macey
And the point of that is so that your brain starts associating bed with rest and not with being awake.

34:10.89
Aaron
makes sense

34:14.39
Aaron
make sense

34:15.42
Seth Macey
So I'm glad you picked that number because that one's super serious for me. I wish I had done it a lot sooner. so so Don't edit in your bedroom. Keep work out of it. Don't make it a workspace.

34:26.99
Seth Macey
All the craziness of the world on your phone and people trying to get a hold of you can wait till eight hours from now. It really can. um People say, well, what if there's an emergency, right?

34:38.69
Seth Macey
i don't know. I get a house phone. um I'm fortunate enough that Haley sleeps in the room with her bed. like if something drastic happened, um sorry, Haley has her phone on her nightstand, right?

34:54.35
Seth Macey
If something happened to somebody, like they they know to get a hold of her. And she's a lot more disciplined with the phone, right?

35:02.53
Aaron
Yeah. Well.

35:03.12
Seth Macey
So it doesn't have the same effect that it does on me. And I realized that it's not going to be the same for everybody. So I'm fortunate in that sense. But I guess you could get like a house phone or you could even get like a pager, I guess, something old school.

35:16.66
Aaron
well

35:17.16
Seth Macey
Or leave your phone out of the room. And I think you can set up your phone in a way where it dings for... only certain people.

35:26.61
Aaron
yeah

35:26.62
Seth Macey
So like if you're worried about your mom in the middle of the night, everybody else is on do not disturb, but your phone is on full volume in, in hearing distance on ring, right?

35:37.15
Seth Macey
Just for her.

35:37.42
Aaron
Yeah. Yep.

35:39.08
Seth Macey
So there are methods.

35:39.19
Aaron
You can do that.

35:40.70
Seth Macey
Don't make excuses. Like there's a way to get around. There's ways to get around it. I'm sure.

35:45.05
Aaron
Yeah, definitely. And little psychology, not too long ago, like we just didn't have this capability to be tethered to everyone.

35:54.46
Seth Macey
Right.

35:57.04
Aaron
And I've always thought if it's such a bad emergency that like there's probably not much I can do from my bedroom.

36:07.84
Seth Macey
That's a good point.

36:09.38
Aaron
there's, there's a lot of examples, I suppose, where maybe like,

36:14.61
Seth Macey
Good point. Like, what are you going to do if it's a health crisis? That's what 911 is for. 911. Sure.

36:20.54
Aaron
yeah, like I'm not the, you should be calling the doctors and going to the hospital and whatever's happening is happening.

36:23.53
Seth Macey
nine one one

36:26.09
Seth Macey
sure

36:28.89
Aaron
And if I assume before by phone call, we're distant, I don't know what I'm going to be able to do.

36:37.09
Seth Macey
Good point. Maybe it's more about a feeling people want to know immediately, right?

36:38.09
Aaron
And I will find out.

36:42.21
Aaron
Yeah, ah but I guess that's that tethered thing. I want to be tethered to everything all times.

36:50.17
Seth Macey
Sure.

36:50.50
Aaron
if If I find out something horrible happened in a point of time versus four hours later, six hours later, i don't I don't know if there's much

37:03.92
Seth Macey
That you could have done.

37:05.25
Aaron
that I could have done or like wished. I wished I knew this horrible news six hours ago.

37:10.16
Seth Macey
Right. Good point. Okay.

37:13.40
Aaron
So I'm sure there's certain things that's like, I wish you answered the phone.

37:20.58
Seth Macey
Yeah.

37:21.11
Aaron
Yeah.

37:21.82
Seth Macey
That's not um life or death, right?

37:28.47
Aaron
Yeah. but

37:29.77
Seth Macey
Okay.

37:31.50
Aaron
Similarly, i mean, just a personal story. I went for a run with someone and I wore shorts that I couldn't have my phone on me and it got dark and we got separated because we're doing two different um workouts, two different exercises, but it's one way out, one way in.

37:39.05
Seth Macey
Yeah.

37:48.94
Aaron
And I was like, we'll figure it out. I told the plan the other person didn't know I didn't have my phone and was calling me. Where are you? Where are you? Did something happen? But like freaking out.

38:01.24
Aaron
And we finally met up because it's one track. and was like, I had my phone and here we are.

38:05.87
Seth Macey
Yeah.

38:07.36
Aaron
We're okay.

38:08.33
Seth Macey
Yeah, we made it.

38:08.86
Aaron
So it's all like that.

38:08.93
Seth Macey
We figured it out.

38:10.11
Aaron
I need that immediate answer. I need that immediate tether to control the future versus like just kind of be in it and see what happens.

38:11.59
Seth Macey
Right.

38:18.76
Seth Macey
Yeah.

38:21.73
Seth Macey
So that in itself is so relaxing, and I think that's part of an additional factor of why I feel so less stressed without my phone in the room or my computer.

38:32.92
Seth Macey
All right?

38:33.98
Aaron
Yeah, man.

38:35.46
Seth Macey
next you got a couple more minutes right right let's go with number double zero

38:39.10
Aaron
Yes, sir.

38:44.51
Aaron
I didn't number any double zero.

38:48.20
Seth Macey
let's go with since you don't want to be a good sport and play along let's go that's four you asshole

38:54.05
Aaron
I just Oh, that's a good one.

39:00.59
Aaron
um but I mean, it's one thing if I numbered it zero, but then I'm going to go again and go double zero and then go into one. That's just an insane person if I did that.

39:10.13
Seth Macey
Well, basketball players were double zeroed in there or do.

39:14.45
Aaron
Yeah, those ones are crazy. No offense.

39:17.25
Seth Macey
All right.

39:18.08
Aaron
hope no one's listening.

39:18.35
Seth Macey
I guess, well, I guess you're not.

39:21.09
Aaron
Number four. Fake number four. This one's a hard one.

39:25.52
Seth Macey
Okay. For you to say or to do?

39:27.11
Aaron
um, no, uh, to have done, I think I'm better at it now, but still, still fall victims.

39:34.34
Seth Macey
To get your hair done as well as you do? Because it looks good.

39:37.88
Aaron
Thank you. Still fall victim to it every once in a while. And here it is.

39:47.09
Aaron
If you're posting to social media or Instagram, um,

39:52.12
Aaron
try to post photos that you really are proud of and like for the art and that original sort of case study on why you love photography and why you started it versus posting for some other external attention.

40:18.10
Seth Macey
Tell me your external attention because you you must have done this many a time, as I'm sure we all have at some point.

40:24.42
Aaron
Well, I have, i know we've all been there. I feel like if you if you have a crush on someone or you're curious about an ex yeah, you're posting you're posting stories, like extra stories, look what I'm doing today.

40:33.73
Seth Macey
Fresh on me.

40:43.75
Aaron
ah Are they seeing this? Are they looking at it? and And maybe I'm outing myself here, but I feel like I'm just being vulnerable and a lot of people are like, yeah, I've done that.

40:56.68
Aaron
Checking who sees what, who likes what, do they like this photo? Does that special person like this photo? does Does my ex still check on me? Like though that kind of crap, you know, and you can get, you can get into the bad habit.

41:07.78
Seth Macey
All right.

41:09.98
Aaron
if That's what, that's what this is all about of getting away from your true self and your alignment for like why you're doing this in the first place and your normal rhythms, your normal habits

41:25.62
Aaron
good I don't think it's all that bad to be ah stimulated by sometimes a bad thing in life or push yourself a little bit harder.

41:36.97
Aaron
i just think be careful ah because I think that change in the reason why for posting stuff or doing photography can take away from its natural allure that that got you there in the first place and maybe that was the original allure the the attention or trying to prove something to someone i'm not here to say that that's right or wrong but

42:01.26
Seth Macey
Maybe that is still the allure. Maybe that's why i don't know.

42:03.24
Aaron
Maybe it is.

42:04.58
Seth Macey
I had.

42:04.67
Aaron
So I just feel like if you're if you're changing yourself, and I guess that's the, maybe I got to it. Maybe I i skimmed down all the way to

42:13.17
Seth Macey
Oh,

42:14.80
Aaron
Hey, are you adjusting who you are for another reason another person, ah situation? Are you changing? Like I said, or like we said last, a couple times ago about like your portfolio, because you've got a cabin gig, you don't have to freak out and erase all your wildlife and throw up cabins to try to impress someone.

42:36.54
Aaron
Uh, like that kind of stuff. I just think staying, staying true to who you are and being aware of, is this kind of a bad habit?

42:39.17
Seth Macey
oh

42:46.20
Aaron
Am I doing this for the right reasons? Or am I doing this to get information? See if someone's interested in me, see if someone's not interested in me.

42:53.08
Seth Macey
Right.

42:58.32
Aaron
Am i throwing things out there just to, uh, to fall into the social media clues that,

43:07.69
Seth Macey
No, it makes sense, man.

43:08.99
Aaron
Yeah.

43:08.98
Seth Macey
I hear you I like it.

43:11.64
Aaron
So yeah, that's a, that's one you can, you guys can chew on out there.

43:14.43
Seth Macey
Cool. Yeah, people are chewing.

43:17.84
Aaron
Show away.

43:19.26
Seth Macey
Ha, ha, ha.

43:19.88
Aaron
Number four for you or five. Are we on four?

43:24.57
Seth Macey
Oh, okay.

43:27.38
Aaron
but

43:28.86
Seth Macey
This is an interesting one, and I know you're going to have a lot to say.

43:31.84
Aaron
Okay, good.

43:34.89
Seth Macey
Bad habit. Not asking for feedback and assuming that no news is good news. So this is obviously...

43:44.72
Aaron
Did I watch your video and give you feedback?

43:47.87
Seth Macey
You didn't still. You said last week that you were going to, but

43:49.52
Aaron
my God. And then I forgot again.

43:52.76
Seth Macey
You just realized live on the air, everyone. bad for Bad friend.

43:55.15
Aaron
Damn it. What a bad friend.

43:58.61
Seth Macey
Hang on, let me finish my point. Don't double down on the bad friend.

44:00.16
Aaron
Okay, go.

44:02.15
Seth Macey
All right.

44:03.99
Aaron
Go. I'm going to...

44:04.63
Seth Macey
this is This is in the client realm, right? Not asking for feedback, direct feedback, and assuming when they don't say anything that it's good news. I say this because a lot of people, even when money or is involved, are conflict-averse.

44:24.18
Seth Macey
Clients, I feel like, are often scared to say

44:29.49
Seth Macey
um you didn't are they scared to say that you did a bad job. And instead of you knowing about it and making it right, you just won't get hired again.

44:44.56
Seth Macey
And that's unfortunate.

44:44.68
Aaron
Yeah.

44:46.17
Seth Macey
So I like your method, and I actually use this today because I was on on a site.

44:51.49
Aaron
Oh, cool. um

44:54.50
Seth Macey
of saying, hey, and in whatever form you like to communicate this, I'm finished this gig when I hear you say that you are 100% satisfied.

45:07.90
Seth Macey
And I said, I'm paraphrasing that today. I think I said it somewhat like that, or I said, yeah, um yeah like my job is finished when I know you're 100% stoked, whatever.

45:20.94
Seth Macey
And you can just see You could see his facial expression kind of light up. just like ah Just like a subtle smile, you know, reading body language.

45:34.21
Seth Macey
They kind of told me that he understands that he's in good hands and that I'm serious about that when I say that.

45:41.94
Seth Macey
Right? Especially when working with people for the first time. there's Even once you get going on a shoot, this one is taking a little while because it's almost like commissioned work.

45:54.16
Seth Macey
There's a trust process throughout it. Are they going to get delivered on time? Is it going to be what I want? He can probably think in his mind, okay, based on what he said, like eventually we'll get to where I want to get to.

46:05.13
Seth Macey
And I hope to him that gives a very professional sense vibe, a sense of who I am. that you're going to be taken care of. And even if there's hiccups along the way, we're going to get there.

46:17.10
Seth Macey
And you get there by asking for feedback continuously. what do you What do you think of this? ah even said as I was leaving, how has our communication been so far with me sending you stuff and and commenting? Are you liking this process so far? Is it good for you?

46:32.80
Seth Macey
you know Those kinds of questions I think are so important. The no news is good news may work in the medical field, but I think it is terrible advice in the photography field or in the creative field. And again, like I said, people are conflict averse. If you did a bad job, they're just often may just pay you and you'll never hear from them again. And then you'll see, oh, they're using a new photographer for something else.

46:53.63
Seth Macey
It's happened to me before.

46:55.65
Aaron
Yeah.

46:56.89
Seth Macey
And the bad extra bad thing about that is you don't know what you could have done better. And I feel like we're scared to ask because we don't want to hear some hard truths potentially, or we don't want to feel like our work has been rejected.

47:14.21
Seth Macey
Got to get over that.

47:18.55
Aaron
that's a good one. i I think it's a great way to get hired also is to upfront say you're going to be happy. And if not, like we'll figure it out, uh, whether it's,

47:32.96
Aaron
I don't get paid and that would stink or I can fix it or whatever, but I'm going to get you what you think you're going to get. And if you're being unreasonable, I will say that also, right?

47:44.03
Seth Macey
Right.

47:44.64
Aaron
Like they're in a, in a calm sort of assertive way.

47:44.72
Seth Macey
Yeah, it goes both ways for sure.

47:48.40
Aaron
Like if you, you know, when someone's taking advantage of you and you know, when someone's correct.

47:52.58
Seth Macey
You didn't talk about drone video. This is new. We didn't talk about that.

47:56.01
Aaron
Yeah.

47:56.02
Seth Macey
I can get you what you want within the scope of our agreement is what you're saying.

47:56.56
Aaron
Yeah.

48:00.88
Aaron
right or you edit in a certain way and they're like this i want it all black and white for example it's like okay but that's not what we talked about at all ever and that's that maybe that's a silly example but just sort of yeah i know that's why said that's probably a silly example but uh just kind of going i don't know making you jump through hoops that

48:14.58
Seth Macey
Yeah, an easy fix though.

48:25.26
Seth Macey
Or tacking on things. oh like while you're there, do you mind doing that?

48:26.67
Aaron
Yeah, it's happening on a thing. Right. ah So yeah, but I i do think ah do think, especially for a lot of small businesses with ah tight budget and their number one thing in growing their business is like revenue and profit margin.

48:42.31
Aaron
ah it's ah it's a They know, i get the feeling a lot. Uh, they know we need marketing and, and attractive photography. The price tag is a bit much. Uh, I'm scared. It's not going to be good and we're not going to love it.

48:59.12
Aaron
So let's not do it. But if you say like, Hey, if you don't love it and it's not what you want, I'll work to fix it. Like I'm agreeing on this price for the project.

49:08.77
Seth Macey
Yeah. Or or like what you say, I'm promising you it's going to be what you want in the end.

49:10.26
Aaron
Here's the, here's the thing.

49:15.48
Aaron
Listen, everyone, a hard truth. If I think a project's worth $2,000 and I'm blown away that it took me a half hour to do a great job,

49:30.28
Aaron
I'm going to hand it in, but I'm not going to say, I thought this was going to take me five hours. It only took me a half hour. So I'm going to, I want to charge you 300. That seems fair

49:39.53
Seth Macey
Oh, God, no. Please don't do that.

49:41.48
Aaron
No, no. But my point is sometimes you get lucky one way and we don't adjust. So I feel like it's very fair to be like, I thought this was gonna take me five hours, but it took me eight because I needed to make some adjustments and I'm getting paid the same amount that I originally agreed to, to do this project.

50:00.05
Seth Macey
Right.

50:03.72
Seth Macey
Yeah, just try and come up even, Steven, throughout the course of your time.

50:05.72
Aaron
Yeah. ah So this, listen to it like this financial group that I've worked with, I just, I'm still working on their interview videos. They had like um an intro to add to it. That wasn't part of the original plan, ah but they're like, could you add this intro?

50:21.26
Aaron
I was like, I said, hey, do you mind if I bill for this? Like I wanna do a good job, but this is gonna take me on eight videos, a chunk of time. Uh, please, please bill for it.

50:34.29
Aaron
Did it. There's a, there's an ending tag and a intro video. I put it on. I sound designed the intro cause there's a lot of movement to it, but there was no sound to it. So I did that without billing on it by just build basically my time.

50:48.41
Aaron
Then they emailed me back and they said, we gave you the wrong card for the outro. So now I got to, import the new card and do this to eight videos, export all eight videos again.

51:05.06
Aaron
And I was like, I got paid well for this. I'm not gonna bill. It took me probably an hour and a half to do it. And I was like, I'm gonna just say, here you go.

51:13.38
Seth Macey
Yeah.

51:16.06
Aaron
And I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna bill again for this.

51:16.21
Seth Macey
Ooh, okay. I have a question for you.

51:21.86
Aaron
I know it was their fault. I know it was their mistake. but I also wanna be hired again. And I don't want them to be like, dude, this guy bills for every little, it was a judgment call. He bills for every moment he does, which I get is work.

51:36.32
Aaron
But i'm in that instance, I was like, okay, I'm gonna bill, you know let's say $200 an hour. So I'm gonna bill an additional $200 from the extra work that I did last week, which was on top of everything.

51:49.40
Aaron
I'm gonna bill an additional 200 hours because I just did another hour of work. that $200 invoice might piss someone off that then gets me away from another thousand, $2,000, $3,000 project.

51:59.00
Seth Macey
Yeah.

52:04.98
Seth Macey
Yeah. So the, the, the generosity outweighs the monetary value of that $200.

52:12.81
Aaron
yeah

52:13.34
Seth Macey
You're net positive by just eating your time there because you seem and R like a, you know, i this is a nice, nice gesture by him.

52:16.73
Aaron
yeah

52:24.09
Seth Macey
He could have charged for it and he didn't.

52:26.33
Aaron
Yeah.

52:27.20
Seth Macey
Yeah, I like that.

52:29.13
Aaron
So, yeah, but I think you can use that.

52:29.26
Seth Macey
Mm-hmm.

52:31.99
Aaron
The whole thing is

52:35.91
Aaron
leverage and getting the gig and being a great communicator and making everyone happy. Like, I think it's a really nice play to be like satisfaction guaranteed. It's going to get you in the door a lot of times, especially on the people that are unsure.

52:50.78
Seth Macey
Yeah. All right. Bonus one, because I know you got to go at eight.

52:54.49
Aaron
Yep.

52:55.28
Seth Macey
Bonus one, and this ties into this, is giving unrealistic timeframes for my work to be completed.

53:02.80
Aaron
Oh, that's a good one.

53:02.94
Seth Macey
I used to do this. This used to be a very bad habit. I used to say, I'm capable. this is i could turn this around in 48 hours, but that's assuming things don't come up. That's assuming things don't run into problems.

53:16.62
Seth Macey
We say things like that. I can get it to you in 48 hours so that people go, wow, that's great. That's incredible that you can do that. But you have set perhaps a very unrealistic expectation.

53:27.36
Seth Macey
Whereas if you had just said something like, I'll get this to you in a week, one to two weeks, like um they might not be blown away. yeah That's reasonable. Yeah. Okay.

53:38.02
Seth Macey
Okay. And now you have that breathing room. It's like starting your science project, not the night before it's due, right?

53:46.09
Aaron
Yeah.

53:47.09
Seth Macey
That's stressful. Like give yourself some time. Right.

53:49.74
Aaron
Yeah. And now you can over deliver also.

53:52.91
Seth Macey
Yeah, because now if you if you if you set crazy deadline expectations and you don't hit that, people are going, okay, well, we're you you kind of ruin your credibility, one, because you didn't do what you said you were going to do.

54:03.64
Seth Macey
And now people are looking at you in a different light going, where's my stuff? You promised me this.

54:08.08
Aaron
Mm-hmm.

54:09.19
Seth Macey
Whereas as you should have just been okay trying not to impress right off the bat and said, I'll have this to you in a week. Yeah, okay, a week, fair enough.

54:15.86
Aaron
Yeah.

54:17.70
Seth Macey
And then you hit the week and you did what you said you're going to do and it's a reasonable time frame.

54:21.90
Aaron
Yeah.

54:22.68
Seth Macey
I wish I had done that sooner.

54:26.63
Aaron
Yeah. That's, that's a good one. um Give yourself the space to to me. i don't know if this is true to you. That ties into me. a little bit of desperation, like trying to impress with like all the aspects of the project.

54:39.43
Seth Macey
Sure.

54:40.54
Aaron
Like I will be quicker than anyone else. I will give you more photos than anyone else. I will add in reels and drones and this and that and whatever, like trying to really secure,

54:53.28
Aaron
Really secure the date versus just being confident with like, no, this is what it is. Usually it takes me a week. Sometimes I'm a little bit quicker. Sometimes I'll be a little bit later if something came up, but I will communicate like hell to let you know exactly what's going on.

55:07.81
Seth Macey
Yeah.

55:10.29
Aaron
this is my deliverables. This is what I'm going to do. This is when I'll arrive, take it or leave it. It's a nice way to be. It's the that sexy indifference, you know, like, yeah, I would like it, but I don't need it.

55:20.45
Seth Macey
Yes, this is what it is for me.

55:25.28
Aaron
So if it works for you, let me know.

55:25.56
Seth Macey
Sure.

55:27.45
Aaron
ah but But set yourself up so you can over deliver.

55:27.46
Seth Macey
Yep.

55:30.61
Seth Macey
Sure.

55:30.88
Aaron
You know, don't say you're going to give a hundred uniquely edited photos when it's like, that's going to be a freaking stretch.

55:38.33
Seth Macey
Yeah, yeah.

55:38.43
Aaron
And my last 30 suck. Say 10 and then give a hundred if you have them.

55:42.27
Seth Macey
It's funny you say 10 because the example i was giving earlier, the gig I was at today, it's for 11 photos. And but doesn't it's paying well and it doesn't seem like much, but you better believe I'm going to give extra stuff. Like I was shooting their boardroom today. All I had to do was shoot a boardroom photograph, but I shot the whole office because I'm there.

56:01.72
Aaron
Yeah.

56:01.76
Seth Macey
Just like small stuff like that. We're going back to that net positive thing. I'm not going to charge for that. But that's a nice gesture.

56:08.41
Aaron
Yeah.

56:09.64
Seth Macey
Like, oh, okay. Nice guy.

56:12.44
Aaron
Yeah. And I... yeah I am, I shouldn't say I, we've been very strong on like knowing your worth and knowing your value and doing a great job and not being taken advantage of whether it's price or work or attitude or whatever it may be like knowing, knowing your value.

56:35.26
Aaron
When you set the rules, and you're comfortable with it, i am okay with you trying to impress in a from a good place, from an ah from an assertive, smart business place.

56:49.64
Aaron
Like you just said, I'm here anyways. This is literally gonna take me an extra couple of minutes to at least give them the opportunity to even purchase things or need them in the future or save me a trip from coming back.

57:05.57
Aaron
Uh, if they, if they they call me up and they're like, Hey, we like that boardroom picture. Uh, we'd love you to do the whole office. Hey, uh, I already did that. I'll send them over in a couple of days.

57:15.07
Seth Macey
Yeah, what do we owe you?

57:15.50
Aaron
Like, yeah.

57:15.96
Seth Macey
Nothing. It's free.

57:17.24
Aaron
How cool is that? Like, I i do think it's, um,

57:18.80
Seth Macey
It's slick.

57:22.95
Aaron
I think it is good for everyone to try to impress with your capabilities and your skills on your terms.

57:32.68
Seth Macey
Sure.

57:33.91
Aaron
And sometimes that doesn't work in the cards. Like I am getting paid for this. um they They low-balled me, but I took it. like I'm not going to go um not goingnna kick ass to like try to prove my worth or or something like that.

57:47.97
Aaron
I'm going to do what I'm supposed to do. I might over-deliver. I might edit it really fast and get it to them really on time or before on time.

57:52.65
Seth Macey
Sure.

57:55.39
Aaron
But it's it's my terms. like I'm going pick and choose my battles of where I'm going to go like... you know what, I'm going to do the right thing here because I'm here anyways.

58:06.51
Aaron
And it's really no different to me, whether i edit 30 photos or 35 photos, or if I put together a long form video along with my reel, I took those clips out anyway.

58:14.42
Seth Macey
sure

58:23.17
Aaron
So like, I don't know, they's there's just smart places where you can, I think, be a standout as a business person.

58:32.00
Seth Macey
For sure. All right. This was bad habits that were you and and have been broken or that we're currently still breaking.

58:35.59
Aaron
Part two.

58:38.80
Aaron
Working on always working.

58:40.97
Seth Macey
And maybe part three is in the future. don't know. We're not going to triple up, I don't think. But hopefully you enjoyed these. If you did, give us some feedback, comments on the episode, DM, email, leave a rating review if you like the episode or the podcasts.

58:54.29
Seth Macey
Truly an appreciative way to support us. So until next time, my friend.

58:58.68
Aaron
Take care.

58:59.50
Seth Macey
See ya.