Brazen and Brave
8: Find the Joy and Conquer Fears with International Wedding Photographer Shaunae Teske
International wedding photographer, creative educator, and blogger, Shaunae Teske, shares her journey of owning her own business and the fears she conquered along the way. This episode is absolutely full of valuable information, thoughtful advice, and heartwarming honesty. Get ready, because you are in for a treat.
International wedding photographer, creative educator, and blogger, Shaunae Teske, shares her journey of owning her own business and the fears she conquered along the way. This episode is absolutely full of valuable information, thoughtful advice, and heartwarming honesty. Get ready, because you are in for a treat.
Welcome to the balance. I am your host Kelly Rowland, and this is the podcast where we talk about all the things for those in life who want it all. This podcast is for you.
Speaker 2:Hey guys, just as a quick P, s a, I did not do so great on my audio with this and I'm going to learn for my next podcast interview. So with that being said, you may need to turn up the podcast when shawnee comes on and you may need to turn down me when I am speaking because the volume is skewed. Please give me some grace. I am sorry, but I will do better next time and you're still going to love it. Hi Friends. Let me tell Ya, I am over the moon. Tickled pink about today's episode because it is the very first guest speaker on the podcast today. I am so grateful and so thankful to Shawnae Teskey for volunteering her precious time to be on today's episode. Shawnae is an international wedding photographer, creative educator, business consultant and blogger. She started her business in 2011 and has been loving this adventure called life ever since. She adores exploring the world, documenting real moments, and helping other business owners follow their dreams. She believes it is a part of her legacy, is to help others cultivate the life they've always wanted to lead. Shawnae lives in Wisconsin with her fiance and three black cats. She runs on endless amount of coffee, lacroix water and Tacos, and let me tell you guys, you are in for a total treat. I had no idea how or in what direction our conversation would go, but I can tell you that I was so very encouraged by the conversation I had with a and I walked away with so much valuable information that I plan on adding to my life right now. So let's get started with today's episode. What's Shawnae? Teskey. Hey, how are you doing today? I'm doing great. Well, I'm so grateful for you to be on the show today as my very, very first guest for our listeners. We've actually been talking for a few minutes and Sean has been so gracious to help me through this process. So shawnae. For anyone out there who may not know you, can you please tell us who you are, what you do, and what your journey has looked like to get where you are today?
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's a pretty exciting journey I think, and I'm excited to be here sharing with you a little bit about it. I'm like you mentioned I am me. I am a wedding photographer and I also do a lot of other things as well. I am a blogger. I work with different travel brands and lifestyle brands. Um, I'm also a creative educator, so I've hosted workshops and they have hosted different events for creative entrepreneurs and in definitely moving more towards that right now, which is really exciting. So I've been a wedding photographer for eight years. It's something I actually went to school for and then I've been in my business full time now for four years and I'm just loving what I do and loving the couples that I get to serve and get to photograph. It's been really cool. So the journey has been not the most conventional. I actually graduated high school a year early as junior and then I moved. I lived in Wisconsin and I moved to Massachusetts to attend school when I was only 17 years old for photography and graduated from there. We moved back to Wisconsin and started my business when I was only 19 years old, so it's been a totally crazy journey. Nothing like any of my. When I was in high school, none of my friends were doing this and my friends were starting businesses and I felt very lucky that I have known from an early age what I wanted to do and that was become a photographer and now I'm really excited that I'm going into more of a journey of helping other photographers and creative business owners and helping them discover their purpose and their passion for what they're doing and helping them kind of achieve it along the way.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. Yeah, and I really like what you said about you took the nonconventional route and when I read your bio and I've read a little bit more about you, I was like, man, that's amazing. At 17 she knew what she wanted to do and she totally went for it because so much of as so many of us don't do that. Especially for you though, from Wisconsin to Massachusetts. I mean that's a big scary change.
Speaker 3:It was really. It was really nerve wracking and I mean I definitely didn't. It wasn't without fear and it wasn't without my doubts and when I first got to Massachusetts and started school that first month was really hard and I call my parents a lot crying and come home and was very homesick and they were so supportive about if you want to come home you can all these different things and I had a few other family members have you answered that really helped me stay there and be strong inside. No, you can do this and I believe in you and I'll see you at Christmas. So thinking out there and follow through and I was so low that I didn't think so. So many times we let that fear come in and let that take over and instead of saying, okay, I'm afraid but I need to still do this. So even though, right, even though the fear is there, I need to continue on this, on this training because this is what I really want to do and I'm so thankful that I did stick with it and if I didn't, I don't know where I would be.
Speaker 2:No, I love that. I agree. Sometimes the fear of not knowing what you could have been and what your dreams could have look like, you know, drives you more than the fear of failing, failing, which I think is a beautiful thing.
Speaker 3:It's really important to, to learn that a lot of people that are going out there, they seemed fearless and they seem like they've got it all together, but most of the time we're just doing it while we're afraid and we're figuring it out as we go along. And it's really good to go through that because when you're always going to face things like that and there will be more moments where you are afraid and where something looks really scary and if you can draw from your past experience that, hey, I made it through this. I can make it through this new thing. It's just so much more beneficial. So I do it even though I'm afraid no matter what.
Speaker 2:I absolutely love that. And um, I, I would like to ask since you worse, you know, 17 and you were so young, like what is the one thing and the one big driving factor that helped you kick the fear? You know, what, what was that for you?
Speaker 3:I think for me, I had such great support system that I knew that if I did fail or if I did feel like I wanted it to go home, that I had that outlet. I had a chance to come home, but because of that support system and because they believed in me, I didn't want to let them down so I didn't want to let myself down. I think that the driving force of when I set my mind to something, I want to complete it, that I had to do that and only if I physically can't do it anymore, I'm you going to give up. Um, so really having that kind of work ethic and that, that ability to continue really kept me going of I don't want to let life pass me by and I didn't do things because I was afraid.
Speaker 2:That's a great attitude to have and I think we could all do better at that. Looking at it and saying, man, I'm grateful for this opportunity and basically, like you said, I'm going to have to be physically an able to stop what I'm doing because I love it so much and I recognize it's a great opportunity. So.
Speaker 3:And I think I've experienced a lot of things in life. Um, I've, I've lost family members and I've had situations that haven't been the best, so I really appreciate it live and it really appreciate that the gifts were giving given and the blessings were given, aren't always the gifts and blessings that everyone gets. So I don't want to waste my time. I don't want to leave this life and I don't want to waste the things around me because it could all be gone in a second. And I want to make the most of the life that I have here.
Speaker 2:Yes. I love that so much. Um, okay. So thank you. So you do run a multi multifaceted business and like you said, your business has progressed, you know, from being a photographer to a blogger to a creative educator. So how do you balance each part of your business and when do you decide when to focus one thing more than the other?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's, it's definitely a hard cast to make sure that you're giving each part of your business or each part of your brand. Your intention is I really liked to figure out what I want to focus on. And there's different seasons for each thing. So right now as a wedding photographer, I live in Wisconsin. This is kind of an off season for photos. I still do take some photo sessions here and there, but it's cold and it's Yucky side and I'm not a ton of people are getting married or having, wanting this photo sessions outdoors. So I'm this it as kind of when I work on some other collaborations where the blog or maybe we'll work on doing some education for other creatives and then during the summer I know that the bulk of my time is going to my photography and it doesn't mean that things aren't completely put on home, but my focus is definitely on my clients and I want to take care of them and give them my most attention so I don't do anything without my calendar and I schedule everything and I have interns that have helped me and just making sure that I'm outsourcing so I don't get bogged down with too much on my plate. I'm making sure I have help and I need help and then I'm just making sure that I have a plan and I'm sending my priority for everything so that I'm not leaving anything behind it. I'm not forgetting anything that there's a plan in place for everything.
Speaker 2:That's great. I love your answer because you know in this podcast called the balance. I think it's so important, like you said, to recognize there's different seasons of your life and just being okay with the fact that one, they may take the priority right now while the other one's on the back burner. Um, and like you said, I'm sure you're very organized and you've learned from the past. You have great systems in place, you know, just to help keep you on track.
Speaker 3:Right. And I definitely have that mindset of I want to do all the things all at the same time and sometimes I just have to pull myself back and go, yes, this is great and you want to do it, but in order to do well and be really proud of this work that you're doing, you need to put it on hold or wait for a different season because now it was just not the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, that's so very true. Um, so like you said, you're an international, you know, photographer wedding photographer, which I just find to be so amazing and so intriguing and I've looked at some of your work and it's absolutely beautiful. So what did transitioning to becoming an international photographer look like and what really big actions did you take to get to that point?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so becoming. I knew I wanted to go into the tography and wedding photography was a thing that I actually kind of stumbled into. I thought maybe I want to go into more editorial or, or your photo journalistic, but then I photographed a wedding with a friend and I really fell in love with the storytelling of a wedding day. So you. This is something I wanted to do and I started working toward is building my own business and wedding photography. I think the biggest thing that has helped me in does that mean parties that I never stop learning. I never get to the point that okay, now I've made it, I'm done. I can kind of phone it in for now on and that just doesn't mean that I will always want to keep improving my skill and becoming better and trying something new and, and getting out there and educating myself. So I never stopped learning even though I did go to school for it. I've tried to take workshops and different seminars and really meet people and expand my horizons. I love to travel and just meet people that way. It makes the world feel a lot smaller. It's not this huge thing that we can't touch it. It's very accessible and there's so many different people you can meet and you can learn from. So I definitely would say education and never letting myself get stuck where I am. Just really pushing myself to do more and more. People learn more things. It will always be beneficial.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yeah. Like you said, it's always a season of learning and it should be if you want to continue to grow and get better. Um, but what did the light that first like international photo shoot? Like how did that even happen? Was it something like you said you were searching for, is that something that you stumbled upon?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that's if you, if anyone wants to kind of get started in it and they know I'm quite sure know where to begin. Just start traveling places and photograph. My feeling was there. I had friends that go with you just put out a free shoots if you need to, whatever it takes to really build that experience. As a wedding photographer, as an international photographer, you just need to get to the place, create a shoot, even if it's for free, even if you have to pay someone to be you need it, start showcasing that you can do this and that you can go around the world and people can hire you to go around the world. That's one of the biggest things. I photographed a wedding in Mexico and because I had the images from that wedding, I was able to show that I could do this. So I was able to book more weddings out there, you know, so it's always good to have examples. Even if you needed to be the first one that either for that does it for, to get those images, that's always a great way to start to show that you can do something.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So it sounds like basically just had to put yourself out there like 100 percent and then when you put that in the world, other people see it like wow, like I want to be part of that. This is something so neat
Speaker 3:and I know it's this crazy thing of like I can see that she does is when that be cool. If I could go there and have my photos there too, it's just they, it's hard to see photos and like imagine something new there, if that makes sense. It's really helpful to see somebody that's already done and just imagine yourself in that situation. So if you want to photograph on these people on these crazy adventures or if you want to go places with your photography, we didn't go into it first and see that it's possible and show other people you can do this.
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely. Build that trust factor. That is so true. So since this show is called the balance, I like to ask, how does balance look for you today from when you start first started your business?
Speaker 3:That is a great analogy. Is Very, very important in any business in any aspect of life, but I think especially in business and it was not always easy for me to balance everything. I was definitely a person that would burn out. I would work, work, work, work, work, and then burn out and then crash and I would give a lot to my work and my business and my clients and really not give a lot to my personal life, my relationships, my family and what that looked like was a lot of suffering and not even. I wouldn't even realize I was making myself sick or I wouldn't, would forget to eat or it was just really an unhealthy way. I put my business first and it was just killing it in that, but I wasn't. I wasn't fulfilled and I wasn't balanced and whole self. I was just really good at my business so I really had put in boundaries for my business. I said business hours. I don't work on Sundays anymore. I do work Saturdays because that is obviously happened, but I don't work Sunday. I might take a Sunday wedding, but then I make sure I have off Monday or have off that Saturday if I can. But I really started that day that I have off. I said days every month during the summer to every weekend. I said a weekend off so that I can actually enjoy the weekends with friends and family members when male have off. I don't work holidays. Um, I realized that these things, these boundaries in place that have allowed me to pay attention to my family and my friends just as much as I do my business because my business has gone what's left and I don't want to be. Some of that's just left with nothing because I put it all into making money and my clients and all that. And that's great. And I, I totally think people should align to their business. But I think being a more balanced human is more important than being the best business owner we can be. So, um, I much rather, I don't want my mental health to suffer. I don't want my relationships to suffer. So lots of boundaries, lots of. And then that's where scheduling comes into have I make a plan, I make a schedule for my week, so I make sure during these hours business things are being taken care of. And then after hours that's for family time, that's for creative time. That's for a time was my fiance, like it's for us and just time to regroup. So that's important too. So you don't burn out but balance I much more balanced and it was really scary at first where you are really freaking out that, okay, well I'm not going to make money then because it's not a business 24 slash seven and all the stuff, but. And you think you might turn clients away and they'll hate you or whatever it was. I felt so guilty all the time, but really I wanted it allowed me to do is bringing in the right client and clients. I really respected my boundaries and really respected that I have a life outside of my business and even though I love them and I'll. I would love to take care of my clients. I also have to be healthy and whole as myself.
Speaker 2:Thank you. I love your transparency and your answer and I think that's so important and I've heard the term hard stops and you know, and that's something I'm working on too. It's like because I'm trying to hustle what I'm trying to do, all these things is start, you know, this podcast in this business, but when you, Nigga, like you said, you neglect your family or you neglect your health, um, you, you feel that guilt and then your business suffers, like you said, because you're not dedicating intentional time to it. Um, so I really appreciate, you know, that the honest answer
Speaker 3:of course, and, and it is hard, it's definitely a hard thing to get over because you want to put your business first and you want to put your clients first and all that. But really what's important is looking at your priorities in your life. What comes first? Is it your family or is it work? Is it your mental health or that hustling? So I really love being able to look at my life and when I'm feeling like I'm working too much, I'm feeling like I'm not working enough. I looked at my praise, I can go and there and that just puts a lot of things in perspective of I don't need to take on this Kleiner. I don't need to keep working at it for hours and hours every day to satisfy this thing. I need to put my time into my family and friends and those relationships and your clients totally get it because they're doing the same things. I think they're trying to balance their what their jobs are in their lives too. So I think if everyone just honest about your boundaries and what you're willing to do and that's always in setting expectations. If you tell your client I'll get back to you in this time frame and then you should do that, but never make it a timeframe that's not doable for you. So just setting expectations and then letting people know what those are is everything and then you can really create a great balance between your regular life, your home life and your business life.
Speaker 2:That is such great advice. I love that so much. Especially what you said about, you know, you reflect like, you know, Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest and I've heard it also should be a reflection like you said, like looking at my life, I'm looking what you're doing and saying is this working like am I really hitting my values and my priorities and because sometimes I think we get this idea in our head of how it's supposed to be and we just go, go, go and whenever stop and say, wait, is this really working out? Am I really doing what I need to be doing? So
Speaker 3:is this really part of the greater purpose? Is this really part of a legacy I want to leave behind for my life? If it's not, then don't either finish it and don't worry about it or push it out to the side or just get rid of it because you don't need to be sitting there trying to do all these things and it doesn't fit what you want to be doing with your life. It's okay to let it go and it's okay to move on to what's really important.
Speaker 2:Yes, that is such great advice. Thank you for that. Um, so this is a question that I knew I was going to ask every person I interview, so because I think it's just an important thing to think about with balance. So what are you choosing to bomb right now or what is taking a backseat at the moment due to your current priorities?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So this, um, I'm definitely, well, there's a lot of things that I would love to put it to the forefront. Um, there's a lot of projects I want to work on, a lot of things I want to get out there, but right now I'm trying to battle in a lot of going into this new season of my business and becoming more of a business consultant. I surveyed a wedding photographer. Um, there are other business idea that I have that it has to just kind of set to the side for now and I would love to come back to that as possible. Um, and even with business, I'm not, I'm hitting it hard right now, but I am definitely going to have to take a break and a back seat to it. Um, and uh, when the time comes because I am engaged and I want to have a wedding and I want to be able to pour into our time having our wedding and, and being together and being with our families and things like that. So, um, that time will come and that will obviously be first in and I don't care if I work at all whenever that happened. So I'm kind of, I don't feel like I'm being the bad Sansei right now because of where we're working. We're busy with that, but thankfully my pants, they get the two and he just got done with his busy season. He works in football so the playoffs are going on in, our team didn't make the playoffs. He's been able to kind of slow down a little bit. So we are really lucky that we have seasons that our business, both my business and his job or have a season and have a time. So we definitely had times for work and we definitely have time, more time to be together. So right now for me it's the beginning of kind of putting some of my photography and wedding set just on the back seat until wedding season starts in getting started on some new ventures. Wow.
Speaker 2:I love how you answered that question because you didn't even. You looked at more of like what is my priority, which is for your wedding really in your business, but you recognize like I want to live in the moment. Like that's my moment and whatever it needs to take a back seat. It's just how it's going to have to be. So
Speaker 3:I'm being. And that's the beautiful thing. If you're knocking Amantha failure, nothing is forever. So you can put some dean to the side. You can say not right now. You can. You just let it go and you can always come back to it. There's never, you're never too old or you never do an experience or two anything. You can always come back to something, you know, I started something new. You can always do something else. So even if you say no right now, you can come back to it later or if you're saying yes to something and then you realize, hey, this isn't really serving me anymore, you can be done. There's just no right or wrong way with it. You just need to listen to what is important to you, what are your priorities and just keep reassessing it and keep checking in with yourself and seeing if that, if these things are still serving you and still making sense.
Speaker 2:Such a great answer. I love that. Okay. So what do you wish you had known when you first started out in your business that you know now?
Speaker 3:I think the biggest piece of advice for me is you never make it. There's always that I felt like when I was really hustling and doing all this work with wedding photography that I, I had to make it. I had to, I had to get there and I had to. I think it gives you this level of I booked this many weddings, I'll make it all, all these things. And then I got there and I booked, you know, 30 years over 30 weddings a year and I was making six or eight years and I do everything. I wasn't satisfied. It was like, okay, but what's the next thing? And I don't know if everyone feels that way, but the people I've talked to you in different entrepreneurial friends have said, yeah, you're always going to be split. I think it would. That's how we are with everything. There's no like, ah, yes, I have made it. Our life is made in the shaking. You're always going to keep. These things are going to keep coming. And so I think what was important for me to learn with that had to enjoy whatever stage I'm at in life and my husband towards something new and I'm more settled and happy with the work I'm doing. Am I changing what I'm feeling does not serve me anymore? Now I have to go over here and change it like. And then you have any big life things that happen that you don't even expect and now you didn't get a choice and you're thrown into a new season of life or something that you didn't even think you had to deal with. And how do you handle that? Um, so I think we talked a lot about that of it. Once I get out of this, I'll be fine. Once I make it, I'll be happy. And there is no, there is no out of this or into this or whatever. You need to find joy. What A. Because it could all be gone. And what if this is the best it's ever going to be? Did you sit there and wish it was something else? Um, I just want to choose to enjoy wherever I'm at life.
Speaker 2:That's such great advice. Um, I wasn't to a Tony Robbins podcast recently and it was about joy and why we don't find joy. And it's exactly what you said. He said that we say I'll be happy when we set this crazy expectations so that let's say that one thing didn't happen. We totally miss out on all the other beautiful things that did happen, so like you said, it's, it's okay to like have standards and have goals, but to live in the moment, to be grateful and to find joy in whatever it is you're doing and that you're doing so.
Speaker 3:Right. Because like you said, you're totally going to miss out and the things around you if you're so focused on the one thing you don't have. For me that was a long time have I was single and not married, no kids and I wanted desperately to be a mom and I would see all my friends having kids and I do all that and I felt I was so happy for them and I just kept feeling like, God, why not me? Like, you know, you put this on my heart, why is this not happening for me? And he was like, not yet, it's not your time yet. You know, it really felt like they were like, don't, don't worry. I'll give. I'll give you what I put out in your heart. And uh, and you had to be okay that if I don't, I'm still good and I am still here and going to provide for you and do all the things that I promised and I really had to get to the point and I was kicking and screaming as well, okay, well if you don't give me what I wanted, I really fell that into this season of no matter what it, this is exactly where I'm supposed to be and I'm gonna embrace it and enjoy it and I'm going to snag a lots of babies that aren't mine and I'm going to make the most of every situation. And it really allowed me to grow in my own personal development and allowed me to become the person that I was ready to be. What I did meet my fiance Matt. And he was exactly where he needed to be and accommodated in his self as well. And if we admitted any other time or if I'd stayed with any other past relationship, it never would've worked. So there's a timing for everything. And there's a season for everything that we live in that law, like that sense of lack, we're never going to be happy. So just enjoying where you're at are. And I, I would literally make myself dance around my house and like I'm alone. I can play the music as loud as I want. No telling me to do. I'm going to stay in my pajamas if I had to do, like I just started embracing being alone and I would go to the movies by myself and I go out to dinner by myself and I would just hang out with all sorts of strangers and meet new friends and all, all these are things that I'm, okay, this is a season I, I'm am going to embrace it with all my heart and just make it work for me.
Speaker 2:That is beautiful advice and I, I know for sure that all of my listeners will be able to relate to that in one way or another and apply that to their life. So thank you for sharing that. Um, oh, I got chills now. You can picture me dancing around the house. Totally did. I totally did. Okay, so my last question, since I am a total amateur and Asher, I've could have asked better questions, but is there any question that I should have asked that I didn't that will give my listeners a last word of encouragement and advice?
Speaker 3:I think all your questions are great. You gave yourself the credit. Everything has a process and we're learning. We're never going to be perfect at anything right away. So I think this is a great start and I think this has been beautiful and the questions have been awesome. I think the only encouragement I, I would have is just the, all the things we've already been talking about that your life is short and it's super cliche to say that, but it's so very true. Have you only get this one shot at it? What do you, what are you going to do? Um, are you going to settle and go the route of what you think you should be doing, or are you going to lean into what you think your purpose is and really go after it even if it's scary, even if it doesn't make sense? Even if it's not what everyone else is doing and just live for you and your family, your priorities and whatever that may be, doesn't have to be what everyone else is doing. It can be a totally backwards way of doing things. I mean, I went to college at 17 to 1920, bought a house when I was 24 by myself. All these things and now I'm engaged in now totally backwards. That's totally not the way I usually see things happening, but it worked for me. It was what I was supposed to do. So whenever you're going through whatever stage you're at, just really learned to enjoy it and go after what you want. Even if it doesn't fit with what everyone else is doing or what you think you should do. If it feels right and you need to go and do it and you're. You're being used for a per year. I've already worked out so no stress. Just started enjoying it and kind of being open to what's out there and what you want to do because there's some really cool things that you stop trying to fit in and trying to do what everyone else is doing and just do what your heart feels like it needs to do. Then you're going to really explore and embrace life in a way that you haven't before.
Speaker 2:Well, I know you have definitely encouraged me throughout the conversation and you know, you never know how a podcast interview is going to go, like what's going to be said. But I can tell you that it aligns so perfectly with everything I've already been talking about on the podcast. So I'm just grateful for you in this interview and everything that you've had to share with us today. So does one last thing, um, where can my listeners go to find out more about you and to see some of your amazing work and connect with you?
Speaker 3:My favorite place to share information and to reach out to people is instagram. Um, and then my blog as well. So you can find me on instagram at Shawnee Teskey or on my blog[inaudible] dot com slash blog,
Speaker 2:and I did totally instagram stalk you and congrats on the nursery engagement, your rings gorgeous. And your engagement pictures were so, so pretty.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. Super excited and this is, this is totally a new season for me that I again didn't know if I would ever be in and I'm just aware we've been blessed with so many awesome friends and supporters, so we're really excited. That is amazing. Well thank you again for being here today. Thank you so much for having me. You did great. Any, any advice for any more people that come on and interview with you? It's an awesome experience.
Speaker 1:Thanks for tuning in to today's episode of the balance. For more information about me or to receive your free goal setting died, visit Kelly Rowland.com. Can't wait to talk to you all next time.