#15 - Unicorns, Overwhelm and Cheese

Martin and Issy are back… after losing last week’s recording (Martin’s fault), and this time they’re recording from Issy’s brand new studio unit—because the businesses have expanded, merged, and evolved into a chaotic new era where Issy is now Martin’s landlord.

They’re both thriving, but in very different flavours:

• Issy’s thriving… and completely overwhelmed (imposter syndrome, too many plates spinning, and the desperate need for an “Easter” style circuit-breaker where everyone disappears at once).
• Martin’s thriving… but feeling the pressure of paying for his new studio space and finally building the “different pond” he’s been talking about.

Along the way they cover:

• the horror of warmed toilet seats (“moon landings”) and why heated steering wheels are pointless
• how overwhelm shows up (disappearing, not replying, drinking, and reading too many books)
• unicorn days: the mythical day where everything is done and nobody needs anything from you
• whether a studio launch party is a genuine business move or just a flex
• the fear of maintaining momentum when things finally start going well
• and the most unhinged payment offer of all time: £2,500 worth of cheddar

Thanks for listening to Allegedly Thriving and for coming along for the inevitable detours.

If you want to learn more about the two potentially unhinged presenters:

Martin - Photographer and Owner of Terry Harrison Art: Martin Newham Photography  and TerryHarrisonArt

Issy - Director, Owner and all round Digital Genius:  Howell Studios and Howell Media

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

So ready stand on warmed toilet seats.

SPEAKER_02 0:02

What like ones that are heated by other people before you sit down?

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:05

Oh it's horrible. It's like a m- you know the term moon landing, don't you?

SPEAKER_01 0:09

No.

SPEAKER_02 0:11

Moon landing is when two bare butt cheeks touch.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

So it's called a moon landing. Like that's what I think about when uh you sit on a pre-warmed toilet.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Yeah, yeah, like you go into a blue and you sit in the toilet and it's warm. You never've been warmed by the buttocks of another person.

SPEAKER_02 0:26

But there are oh, there are some fancy pants toilets out there that's like that are like pre-warmed, and I don't like that.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

I think some people just like having things heated for the sake of it. Like I don't believe anything anywhere apart from maybe the Arctic circles requires a heated steering wheel.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

No, and it's weird because it makes your hands feel very sweaty. Because I once Oh, have you got one? No, I don't have one, but I once because for a job I used to have when I was at uni, they used to give me a higher car every time I did it. And so I'd be given like a brand new car from Enterprise or whatever it was, and one of them I drove, I can't remember what brand. I was driving, and I was driving for like an hour in this car I'd never driven before. And I was thinking, my hands are so sweaty, like it was like weird. It was, and I was like the whole way I was going, Why am I so clammy? Am I getting ill? Because it had a heated steering wheel.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

See, it's just weird, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:16

And it just felt weird, it felt like my hands were like, yeah, it just felt wrong.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

You've been listening to Izzy. I'm Martin, and welcome to the allegedly thriving podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

The podcast where Izzy and I talk about our general week, whether we're thriving or just merely surviving. And well, we're just surviving because we did a podcast last week and it turned out the recording was completely knocked because of a mistake I made.

SPEAKER_02 1:40

I was giving you my best work. I was giving you peak, Izzy.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

So now you're just gonna get subpar, um, Izzy.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

Most people do.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

So, Izzy, are you thriving or surviving?

SPEAKER_02 1:53

I um I am thriving. Oh, what I'm thinking.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

You've got to be thriving. You're sat here in your new unit.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

I know, I'm sat in my brand new studio. We have moved, we've expanded, we've we've become real.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

We've merged.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

Yeah, well, not like not into one person.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

I could have said doctor, that would have been even worse.

SPEAKER_02 2:17

No, we've we've become we've become we've two become one of the collaborators in in in more than just uh a podcasting sense. Partners in crime.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Yes, I now pay you rent every month.

SPEAKER_02 2:30

I'm your landlord. Yes, quite terrifying.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is Izzy just realizing she's my landlord.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

I'm going mad with power. Oh, that's so I'm gonna insist on an inspection every week.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

Oh, but we do have separate working places. I have a nice first floor mezzanine floor for all of my studio stuff, and you've got the downstairs area.

SPEAKER_02 2:52

Today has been our proper first working day in our new gaff, and uh all I've heard behind me is you coming down those stairs to spend time here down here.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Oh, don't you pin that on me. The number of times, the number of times I've had I've had a little voice just come wafting upstairs going, Martin, Martin, I need help with my chair.

SPEAKER_02 3:13

Yeah, well I've building my chair. You've got like you're a man with manly tools. Like, I need I need that energy in my life. And like at what well, like we had a we had an impromptu dance break. I twerked in the window of my new office.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

I have given you control of the music.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

I have control of the music, which has been fun. We played some Eurovision, we've had some heavy metal, we've had some music that the youth of today are listening to.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

But so you're thriving.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

I am, although I the reason why I say I'm I was thinking about it is that I am thriving, but I am overwhelmed.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

Like overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff in my head. Even though I feel like I've achieved a lot in the last couple of days, I feel like I have simultaneously achieved nothing.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Okay. So, in a vain attempt to make this podcast something to do with business, what do you do when you become overwhelmed? As a business person, as a woman who is running two companies and looking after a three-year-old and navigating, you know, breaking your ankles in gyms and doing all of this kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

Yeah, I'm going back to that gym.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Well done.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

And I'm doing it in literally less than an hour.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Um so how do you manage overwhelm? Because it is gotta be quite common, especially with founders, especially with people who've got their own businesses, where you know, we don't just turn up at nine o'clock, clock out at five o'clock and do one part of a job and that's it. We've got to do everything.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

Yes, and that's always been the case my whole life. Well, my whole adult life. And I think I think how do I deal with overwhelm? I I don't know if I do, and that's awful, but I um I am the least business-y business person you'll ever meet, probably, because there are lots of business-y business people that you think you've got you know what you're talking about. I am the ultimate business person of holy crap, I hope nobody finds out that I'm here doing this. And that it's imposter syndrome, yes, but then when things are going well and things are busy and things are happening, that imposter syndrome gets even louder, and that's what overwhelms me is that like it's not just the workload, it's the feeling of oh my god, am I gonna get discovered and now I've got more people looking at me? Ah and then what happens is the way I deal with that is I d I shrink back, not in like myself or whatever, I just become more I like on my days off I just disappear. Or like I'll just not respond to emails, or I'll just kind of go quiet for a bit. Or I drink.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Always a good approach.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

So either option, um, and I read a lot. I can tell when I'm getting overwhelmed when I am reading so many books. And it's weird because you think I'm overwhelmed because I'm really, really busy, and I am, but there's still more I'll read faster, I'll read more books, I'll get and that's because I'm trying to disappear from that part of my brain and go somewhere else.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

So what do you think you can do to appro to to better handle the overwhelm?

SPEAKER_02 6:17

See, I don't know, because I I think when you're turned into a coaching podcast. Sorry guys. I'm in this therapy chair. That's right. You know what it is, is that like I think that when you're a business person who is effectively doing the work, selling the work, doing the work, selling the work, I am every department. I am a I've just done some accounts, I've done some editing, I've done some admin, I've done some selling, I have done some moving, I've done literally everything a person could do in a job this past couple of days. I think what helps you avoid the overwhelm is having it all organised in the first place. But I've not had a circuit breaker to allow me to organise everything so that I don't get overwhelmed, if that makes sense, because it's literally been like in a good way, one thing after another, it's been we've had more demos this week than I think we've had in like a couple of months, which happens to be the same flipping week that we're moving studios, and we've had more inquiries, more sales than we've ever had, which is amazing, but also it's like ah, I need to get my shit together.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

So single swim time.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

That's it. It's like it's like I need a circuit breaker. I need I need an Easter. By that I mean, I know I'm pointing at you aggressively. And it's an audio only point at the end. I know, but you can hear my bracelets. But I need you know how Easter is like four or five days where everyone's off. And it doesn't matter who you are, everyone's off. Unless you're like emergency services. But all my clients are off. And it's like, it's not like I'm off and everyone else is at work expecting things from me. It's just like, and it is the ultimate circuit breaker because I know no one's chasing me, no one's gonna email me or contact me or whatever, because they're all off.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

You could put an out of office on that says you're gonna pick everything out up at a future date, three days' time, set people's expectations, and just take three days, go off grid.

SPEAKER_02 8:18

Oh no, but then I'd see them all popping in. It's when other people fuck off. So turn your phone off. No, because I know it's still happening. I need it to be Easter. I need an Easter. I only I need everyone to just have time off.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

Well, can we organise that? You're gonna have to wait seven nine months.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

I need the world I need England to win the World Cup so that we can have a day off.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

Oh, do you think we'll get a bank holiday from the city?

SPEAKER_02 8:40

No, no, it is it is a like a thing.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

Is it?

SPEAKER_02 8:43

Yes. So that's my offloading on you.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

Okay, cool. Cool.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

Are you thriving or are you so I think you're gonna be thriving?

SPEAKER_00 8:50

I'm a mixture of two. What? I'm a mixture of the two. We broke you!

SPEAKER_01 8:55

No, no, no, I'm not broken. I'm thriving because I've got my studio space. Yes. And it's fantastic, and I've put all the business in, all the art business is in there, the photography's all set up. I I I've I've messed about with that, that's brilliant. Now I need to pay for it. And that's that's that's the surviving part, because now I'm like, okay, I know now I've got a lot of work to do.

SPEAKER_02 9:14

Can you see why I've been I'm always perpetually stressed? Yeah, okay, good.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Just to create, because you know, I want to do things a bit differently. I've already told you the plans. I don't I don't want to just do normal photography, I'm doing something a bit different. So I need to build something and get people in to test it and stuff like that. So I've kind of been putting all that off to say, okay, I can do that when I'm in the unit. So unfortunately, I'm in the unit now.

SPEAKER_02 9:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

I can't put it off anymore.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

This is real business.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

Oh, yes, it needs to start working.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

So, you know, all the times since like October when I met you, you know how like all the times we've been coaching, and you're just like, Why aren't you just chilling? And I'm like, I've got to make money, I've got to make sales, oh my god! It's like, you know what it is? It's like a constant noise in the back of your head going, like a voice in the back of your head going, You're not gonna pay the rent this month. See, I'm not that bad.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

I'm not that bad because I've got the other income. So I'm I know I'm okay, but it I need to start supplementing it. So there is a pressure on me. It's it's not the I'm about to lose my house pressure, but it's definitely a I really need to start finding a way of earning the rent I owe you.

SPEAKER_02 10:14

And it's a constantly the lucky.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

I mean, you know, the the one consolation is that you're suddenly really busy, which means you're gonna be paying me probably more than the rent I owe you. So there's gonna be a lot of money back and forth between us.

SPEAKER_02 10:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

I'm so glad I work for you and rent from you.

SPEAKER_02 10:29

I know I feel I'm in a power chair as well. I feel very powerful. I am your landlord, I am your boss, I am you are my minion.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

But yes, I'm taking I'm taking the opportunity to try and rather than be a little fish in the same old pond that everyone's in, I'm taking a different approach and I'm trying to create a new pond. Yeah. Which is a very different and explorative approach.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

But what you do have is something that I don't think a lot of photographers do have, which is a studio space.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

And by that I mean a lot of, as in on assuming every photographer in the world, there's gonna be a percentage, but there's many that I know, like wedding photographers and stuff that don't have a studio.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

So you've No, and you know, I've already typecast myself by not doing weddings because weddings.

SPEAKER_02 11:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

But no, having a space where I can experiment, having a space where I can get people in, get them comfortable in front of the camera, get them comfortable having their picture taken, and we can experiment together. That sounds weird, not like that.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Um I think we need a little counter for every time one of us says something that goes, oh no, not like that.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

You mean a double entendre counter?

SPEAKER_02 11:39

We've got to do that. Just a little ding. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Oh, mental note to Editor Martin. Put a ding in every time.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Every time. And go back through the previous episodes and add them in.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

Oh no, no, but on the on the video ones we'll have to have a little counter as well.

SPEAKER_02 11:51

Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

Just I'm not going back to the old ones.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

Just put them in everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Yes, lots of counters. But no, overall thriving, looking forward to it. It's a great challenge.

SPEAKER_02 12:02

Yeah. And it's that slight you have now that slight clenchy bum feeling that we all have, which is no matter how good your day is, in the back of your mind you're going, yeah, but oh so what's up, what should I do?

SPEAKER_01 12:16

Oh, I know, but there's there's still so many things, so many little things to add, you know, just to juzha up a bit.

SPEAKER_02 12:24

I know, you've been absolutely flying up there.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Oh, I know. There's gonna be plants, I need to figure out a little bit of fur.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

But basically, like that's like your little apartment. You've got a bachelor pad up there.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Well, you have to understand. So I I had my I had my little house that I was I was in like three days a week every now and then when I was looking after the dogs, and then about three years ago I sold that and moved in with Jane full time. So it's wonderful, it's a lovely house, it's Jane's house.

SPEAKER_02 12:50

You've got your own space now.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

This is this is because it's kind of my space. But it's in my I know, I know, but I still feel it's my space a little bit, and it's not because I'm sharing it with Jane. She's got a desk there for her business and stuff. It's still a kind of a family affair, as it were, but there is definitely a thing of you know, the first thing I did was get the stereo set up, which is what I used to do whenever I moved into New Digs. And I bet you loved it. Oh, I totally did, and so did you.

SPEAKER_02 13:14

I did. Moving day or moving time is is a fun time. And you know what I really like about moving offices versus moving house, because I hate moving house with the fire of a thousand suns.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

The fire of a thousand suns.

SPEAKER_02 13:29

Absolutely. Good lord, which is about as how hot it is out there, is that when you're moving house, you have to deal with so many faffy things and bills and energy and all this stuff. But when you're moving offices, it's just like woo-hoo, this is fun. So it's all sorted.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

Well, because I moved all the stuff from my house in here, so I had a load of store stock and everything like that. That you know, our spare room had become a packing room, it'd become a photo studio, it was two, three businesses in one. So, you know, the first round was all the big stuff, all boxed up nice and easy, that's fine. Then you're sorting through the crap that you've built up over three years and thinking, do I need to do I want to do I want to bring this into my new pristine space? Oh, yeah. So you do it as a bit of a clean out. That's great. And then you always end up with that one box just full of shit.

SPEAKER_02 14:15

Yeah, it's a doom draw.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

It's full of the shit that you kind of know you might need, but you don't know where you're gonna put it, and I don't have a place for it. And you know, I've been quite aggressive in terms of culling stuff.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

So we have we have what's called a doom draw. A doom unit. A doom box, a doom draw, anything that's like one of those things is like a doom thing. And my dad's Doom drawer is a horrifying place to be because it's literally like there'll be like a really important, really expensive tiny bit of film equipment with like a box of like hanky's and then a photo of Stanley Blade. Stanley Blade and uh a photo of my great-grandmother from like 30 years ago with my brother. There'll be like a like a newspaper clipping, there'll be like a pen, a pen with no lid, random chain. It's like random a bell. You know.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

So it's it's like that, it's like the one drawer in the kitchen that's always like that.

SPEAKER_02 15:09

The doom drawer.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

The doom drawer.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

So I've just suddenly realized um that at some point in the packing I did pack uh a scalpel.

SPEAKER_02 15:18

Oh no, you didn't. With a blade.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

You didn't get it. Not protected or anything. Haven't found it.

SPEAKER_02 15:23

Oh there's a scalpel hanging around somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

And it's quite sharp.

SPEAKER_02 15:27

Maybe I've got it to threaten you with. No, if you've got it, it's because you've stood on it and you're like, it's probably in my fleshy thigh right now. Oh god, let's have a sting.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

Um so next question. We have a new venture, we have a new studio.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

Well, you have a new venture, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

I have a new venture, you have a you have a you have a broadening venture.

SPEAKER_02 15:54

Yes, a white.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

And a new unit. Is it customary to have a welcome party and try and get as many people in? And follow-up part to that, is it just for a bit of fun or is there a legitimate business kind of drive behind it? Kind of a pizzazzzy, we're here, come and use us.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

Yeah, it's a mixture of the two. I think like what I don't want to do is because I'm a family business, what will happen is the family will come and it's basically all the people I'd invite aren't gonna buy from me. And I know that a hundred percent. But all our immediate vicinity, like or our my partners in business and whatnot, my my people, um are they'll bring people that'll be interested if that makes sense. I'll bring friends in business and whatnot, but I don't think it's gonna lead to any sales. But what it will do is it'll lead to people connec I want people to make that connection about the studio with just having a good time.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

So I think we should have an open day.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

Not an open day, it's not school.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

You know what I mean though?

SPEAKER_02 16:58

No, because uh no. No? No, I don't I think launch party.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

Oh yeah, launch party. But I just meant open day. I meant later. A different day.

SPEAKER_02 17:10

Because I don't I I I want it to I don't know. I I what I want to do with the launch party is literally just make it so that people just go like a bit like what we did when I was dressed as a minion. People just have fun with it and go and associate this place.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

It's what we get angry at you.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

Yeah, we this was we didn't cover that, did we? But I don't want to go over it again. No, it was too much. People got angry at me, I was dressed as a minion, it's all water under the bridge. But I want I want like a proper launch party where I can it's more of a it's more of a eat a flex than anything, is to say, look at us and look at where we are, and ta da versus sort of we've kind of scurried from one office to another, one location to another, and not really shouted about it. We've just kind of cracked on because we've been too busy. And this will be a time to be like, look at all the stuff we've done and come and enjoy it and come and have conversations, and worlds can brutally collide, like my brother chatting with someone who I work with who've never met each other, and it'll be really weird, but like you know to be fair.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

The unit now is big enough to fit 30 people in and kind of do a little look.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

Have some music on, and then we're gonna have like we'll have the camera set up, and people can come and you know, like have different things and try it out and have photos and we can share. And it's like I do know a photographer that could photograph it. Yeah, but he's gonna be part of the show, so yeah, but like getting somebody else in to like pay a photographer more than I would pay you. That would be calling that. That would be I'm like, yeah, we've got this photographer in, yeah. Uh no, but we we can do things with it and celebrate as make it one big family. And because I go to a lot of my brother's stuff. My brother does a lot of like premieres of his films that he does and stuff, and everyone's always crying and whooping and going, That's the best thing ever, you're amazing. I want people to do that to me. I want a pat on the back and a slap in the face and a spit on the neck.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Okay, that's enough about your life. Yes. Um, I think that's great. I think absolutely we should we should shout it from the rafters. We are here and we're loving it. One more question for you. Well, it might just be more might be more than one, but another question for you. Got some good momentum now. Yes, quite a lot of momentum, right? Like you said, loads of queries coming in, you're getting contracts out, we're probably going to secure quite a bit of work on it. It's starting to roll in. How do you maintain it? Do you want to maintain it? Can you maintain it? That's a lot of questions I throw out.

SPEAKER_00 19:49

Do you can you want to?

SPEAKER_02 19:51

Ah no, yes, I do. And yes, I can. But you know what it depends on? It it's uh so you know when in a previous episode I referred to how I'm more stressed when we're busy than when we're quiet, is because I know when we're quiet. Like I know what months of the year we're quiet and what it takes to be quiet. I don't know what it takes to be busy. If that makes sense. So like I know August, always quiet. I mainly. Throughout the 10 years I've been doing this with my dad, it's always quiet in August.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

It's not looking like it is.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

I know, but December, always quiet. January, always, always, always quiet. February, a bit quiet, but March through to July is like gold dust. But a bit quiet over Easter. So you get I know how generally things go. But let me finish my point. But I am, but when I when we do have these peak months where things are really busy, I I can predict kind of when we have recurring events throughout the year, but I don't know what when we're gonna be really, really, really busy other than June. So I don't know. It makes me more stressed because it's uncharted waters. But I think successful.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

I think also you've got you've got two businesses and you've got a new one. So you're basing it on the peaks and troughs that you had from the old media business. Whereas now with the studio, that's gonna change.

SPEAKER_02 21:20

Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

Like, you know, established here, we're now here, we've got another six months behind us before the end of the year. January, news resolution month. That's like get in.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

Do you want to start podcasting? Now's the year to do it. Now's the time. We could probably have quite a good January.

SPEAKER_02 21:38

Well, that's the thing, and I don't know yet. I mean, the last this January was like we literally just had we were in there a month, it was very it was like a newborn baby. But in reality, all of how medias work, all of the media businesses work is very it can be season dependent, obviously, like events you can't change the date. Christmas and Easter and school holidays. Dependent because that's just what how it is. It's also weather dependent because you can't shoot summer stuff in December, you can't shoot winter stuff in January June. Like you know, so there's certain things, but in reality, a s an indoor studio is all weather, it's weatherproof, and it is season-proof, and it can be any time of year, at any anywhere. And so those normal like restraints in the media business aren't restrictive here, so I don't know yet. And that's stressful to me because I am like, oh my god, it's good where it is right now, and I want it to be more. Not more, I want it to be consistently this forever. But can I do a bit more? I don't know. And that's the bit that I'm like people do keep coming in, things keep do do gib blah blah keep happening. Yeah, I think And I don't know what that's gonna look like.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

I think you'll adapt. I think you'll get used to it, you'll get used to running at a certain level, and then you'll put efficiencies in place, you'll hire more people, you'll get more you'll get to the position where actually your capacity increases again, and then you'll just start banking it up, banking it up, and getting more.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

Yeah, and that's the bit that I'm like, oh my god, I haven't prepared for that.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

But I think your challenge will probably be the whole is is gonna be hiring people. Not that you don't do that before and stuff like that. You're hiring the studio, but you you know what I mean for the studio. It's gonna be getting getting the people that can pass the easy test.

SPEAKER_02 23:29

And no one passes it very often. Nothing goes past these gauntlets. But the um yeah, you've got you've got two options.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

You you you've got to either invest in time to train somebody up or get somebody to your level, or an acceptable level. Nobody could be easy, but 90%. Thank you. You know?

SPEAKER_02 23:50

Um literally one of a kind.

SPEAKER_01 23:53

Or you lower your expectations.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

That's never gonna happen. I have the highest standards imaginable. No, I don't know. I I I think uh it that this is the prop weird thing about like people think when your business is going well, particularly in the creative industry, that you're gonna be like, Woo-hoo, let's go pop a bottle of champagne and go for a party. But actually, it's like more scary to me than when we're quiet, because I know how well I know what that's like. So it's this is more new to me than anything. Not that we haven't been successful for the past decade, we have been.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

I know what you mean.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

It's it's you know, but it's all very bigger, it's much bigger than it was, and and I think but what I do have is I have I work with a man who, aka my dad, who has seen it all and has seen the highs, seen the lows. And if you want someone who is like a wisened old spirit who has seen every single possible success and failure in a business, and what the warning signs are, that's him. So that's my saving grace.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

You see, I always think that you look on LinkedIn, you look at colleagues, you look at six people in a similar profession. I I see it with photographers who will sit there and say, Oh, that's brilliant. I'm booked up for the next six months. And I think one on one side, that's brilliant. You've got six months earnings sorted. You you know what you're doing, you've got jobs in, you are fully booked. Brilliant. On the other hand, you've lost six months of your life. You you you you all you're doing is working, it's all in there, it's all planned, that's it. One nice thing about working a little to shorter timescales, and maybe yes, having to look out for work and get more work in and stuff like that and beat the stress, is you occasionally get those days when you've done everything you can, and you know what? You have a little day off.

SPEAKER_02 25:40

I love those.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

You get that cheeky little day off where you can catch up on some admin, or you can you can you can indulge in something creative yourself. So for me, you know, I'll I'll get a day where, despite all my best efforts, I've got a day where actually I haven't got anything in. I'm up to date with the admin, I've done all my socials, I've done all of this, I've done five networking sessions, everything like that. I've got irons in the fire, I'm waiting for people to come back. I can take a day to walk around a city with a camera and do some city photography, or sit in the studio and go, do you know what? I'm gonna go and follow this guy that I've been following, or watch this guy that I've been following. I'm gonna recreate five or six different portraits and enhance my skills and just have fun.

SPEAKER_02 26:19

See, I'm nicknaming them unicorn days because they are so rare. But they're so wonderful, and so wonderful, and so rare, and so beautiful, and so magical, and so sparkly, it's a unicorn day.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

So, what are you gonna do on your next unicorn day?

SPEAKER_02 26:35

I don't know because I haven't I haven't had a unicorn day in so long.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

Do we need to get you a unicorn crown? So you can so you so you can just declare it a unicorn day for the crown on and then just leave.

SPEAKER_02 26:45

If I text you the word, it's a unicorn day, you know exactly what I mean. It is a day where it can be defined as a day.

SPEAKER_01 26:53

I'm buying a half bottle of gin.

SPEAKER_02 26:56

Half bottle? No, like it's it's I a unicorn day is basically a day where I have done every single possible outstanding task I need to do that is deadline dependent or client dependent. I have got everything scheduled in advance, things are just flowing in the background, I have no real responsibilities to be somewhere within the next 24 hours. Oh beautiful. I have no childcare responsibilities, the house is looking alright. Oh my god, like oh what I would not what I would not give for that. Like, I would literally chop my arm off at this point for a unicorn day. So if that's my dream. Okay, my dream is to have more unicorn days. Okay. There you go. That's a good dream. And I will wear a horn and I will wear a tail and I'll just poop rainbows everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

Amazing, while wearing an inflatable T-Rex outfit.

SPEAKER_02 27:52

Yes, that was a highlight of the past week. I've only worn it once. Oh, wait, wait a minute. And I must admit, I did feel a little claustrophobic in it, but maybe it's because it was being inflated by a small extension reel.

SPEAKER_01 28:05

I think we need to get you with a power bank in it. Fully going. Fully inflated in an air conditioned room.

SPEAKER_02 28:10

And it can make a sneak appearance at my welcome party.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

Oh, can you imagine?

SPEAKER_02 28:15

I don't know why I will be there.

SPEAKER_01 28:17

In my head now, I've just got this image of you appearing at the top of the stairs like a T-Rex. T-Rex is rolling down the stairs.

SPEAKER_02 28:27

You've got the spotlight on me. And I'm like, hello, ladies and gentlemen. Hello, ladles and jelly spoon. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:37

Oh, that'll be a good one. With a crown.

SPEAKER_02 28:39

I want a crown. Oh, yeah. Yes. And so I have I have one more question for you. Excellent. Because I I this has been very businessy, and I need to go non-businessy for a second.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

I feel like I need to go. I I want to try and maintain a little bit of business-y, but I like the non-business as well. So come on then. Hit me with it.

SPEAKER_02 28:58

So if you were gonna be a cheese, what type of cheese would you be?

SPEAKER_01 29:01

Ooh, see, I like the cheese ones.

SPEAKER_02 29:03

Why?

SPEAKER_01 29:04

No, I like check I like the cheese question.

SPEAKER_02 29:06

Oh okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

Um I don't have an answer. Um I don't know. My instinct is to go for the kind of cheese that I like, which is like a brie or a camembert. Very smelly. See, I like those.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

Yes, but would you want smelly and gooey?

SPEAKER_01 29:20

Yeah, you know what I mean. But what I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

What smelly and you kind of want it to get out after.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

It's gonna sound lame, but if I was gonna be a cheese, I'd want to be the kind of cheese that people would enjoy. Because why would you want to be a cheese that people wouldn't?

SPEAKER_02 29:33

I don't I think yeah, there's room for everyone. So what would you be then?

SPEAKER_01 29:37

I'd probably be like a soft cheese of some sort. Like, you know, a camembert. No, like a like a camembert or a brie, because that's that's what I like.

SPEAKER_02 29:44

So you wouldn't be a dairy with square. Oh, I can see. Brie, bacon, avocado. With like a bit of like sea salt on the top.

SPEAKER_01 29:54

Or just yeah, stab me with loads of garlic and uh rosemary and then put me in the oven for five for five minutes and bake me.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

A bit of honey.

SPEAKER_01 30:03

And then just dip things in me.

SPEAKER_00 30:05

You can ding right back at you, um stinky bishop. What would you be?

SPEAKER_02 30:15

What did you do today? I went to work, I talked about being a unicorn, and I stuck things in Martin.

SPEAKER_00 30:23

It's just your dream day, that is. So is he? Yes. What kind of cheese would you be?

SPEAKER_02 30:31

Oh, I see, I think I would be boring but versatile, like a mozzarella. Because you know why?

SPEAKER_00 30:42

What bland and stringy? I'm giving yourself a bit more.

SPEAKER_02 30:47

Because mozzarella is the thing that when you're when you're like eating a dish, it's the crowd pleaser. It's the you pull the pizza slice and it goes all stringy, and you're like, whoa.

SPEAKER_01 30:59

Are you talking about the greater stuff you put on a pizza that does the stringy bit, which is just bland and stringy, or the buffalo mozzarella?

SPEAKER_02 31:05

The buffalo mozzarella.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

The little round ones. Or a barata. You come in a little sack of water, and then you just kind of get oozed out. And then you have it with olive oil and um slices of tomato and battery. It's delicious.

SPEAKER_02 31:17

I'm in the little cute little baggie.

SPEAKER_01 31:19

The burattas are very nice.

SPEAKER_02 31:20

I and see a burrata that is just basically nature's dip. It's not even nature's dip, it's just a cheesy, it's like a dip in a cheese.

SPEAKER_01 31:28

It's just fresh, fresh mozzarella.

SPEAKER_02 31:31

Fresh mozzarella, fresh buffalo mozzarella with a tomato disc and some salt, sea salt on the top. Oh. See? But everyone loves a mozzarella.

SPEAKER_01 31:42

Random cheese fact. There is a bank in Italy that lends and holds holdings against Parmesan. Massive rounds of Parmesan. It stores the Parmesan, it holds the Parmesan, and it lends on the basis of the value of the Parmesan.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

Did I tell you about the time that someone tried to pay me in cheese?

SPEAKER_01 32:02

No, you didn't.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

So that was once. This was when we were based in Bernard Castle. Big surprise there.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

What kind of cheese?

SPEAKER_02 32:10

Uh I can't remember, it was uh Cheddar.

SPEAKER_01 32:13

Cheddar. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 32:14

So basically, I was doing a network a presentation at a networking event because I'd done a lot of them in my life, and there was a man there who was basically lived in like a massive stately home and is one of those people who wore red trousers and talked down to you.

SPEAKER_01 32:31

Called Rupert.

SPEAKER_02 32:32

Probably.

SPEAKER_01 32:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:33

And I and he basically we were chatting after the talk, and he was like, Oh yeah, no, I have a business, I have a cheese business that I run from my stately home. Um and uh I'd like to do a big promo for it and all this other stuff, maybe a TV ad and stuff. And I think I quoted like two and a half grand, which is like off the top of my head, he was like, What kind of figure would you give? And I was like, it'll be about that based on you know what you're talking about and stuff. And then he literally was like, Hmm, that's quite that's a bit too expensive for me, but would you like to do a trade-off um where I give you two and a half thousand pounds worth of cheese? And I was like, No.

SPEAKER_00 33:12

What are you gonna do with two and a half thousand pounds worth of cheddar?

SPEAKER_02 33:17

That's the thing. I was like, it was like, you know, when you have about a million thoughts at once. How much would that weigh? But that's what I mean. Like, how much is cheese a kilo? He said those words, I sort of blinked furiously, and then my brain, like Sherlock Holmes style, started doing all these calculations where I was like, is that in one go? Is that over a period of time?

SPEAKER_00 33:37

Imagine your dad turning up with his brand new van literally full of cheese, like two and a half tons of it, and he goes, This is for that job we're doing.

SPEAKER_02 33:45

If I can do it over time, does that mean I have to travel every time to pick up my cheese? And also, how long would that last me? But if it wasn't every time and if you have a chair of cheese, and if it was just one payment, how much cheese would that be? And how do I offload it when I become a cheese dealer?

unknown 34:03

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 34:04

And is that legal or would you be an illegal cheese dealer?

SPEAKER_02 34:08

And I was thinking, I was there going, well, do I just then take it and sell it for more? But I'd have to, it would go off really, I'd have to sell it really quickly and have to have contacts.

SPEAKER_01 34:16

Yeah, you you just start posting pictures of like some random article of clothing on um Facebook Marketplace with the wrapper next to it.

SPEAKER_02 34:24

Two and a half thousand pounds worth.

SPEAKER_01 34:26

The way that they illicitly sell used to sell weed, you know what I mean? Here's a picture of a pair of jeans, but also there just so happens to be a baggie next to it. It's like, oh yeah, the jeans are 20 quid.

SPEAKER_02 34:37

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You want this cheddar? Yeah, yeah. Come come come over to my van. No, no, I don't I I I remember sort of blank blinking and being like, uh, and then eventually just went, no. Because I was like, I literally was thinking correct response. What the hell could I would gladly so if somebody wanted to do a trade-off where they paid me in like a monthly subscription to something? Like, you know, when you get those like monthly subscriptions to deodorant products or razors or something like that, where you're like you.

SPEAKER_01 35:10

Did you get a wheel of cheese every month for like 10 years? That's a lot of cheese.

SPEAKER_02 35:16

Like two thousand, two and a half thousand pounds worth of cheese. Each block is what, like 350, 500 grams? Like, and that costs what about four quid? So like that would be kilos and kilos.

SPEAKER_01 35:30

Oh, yeah, you're talking like 800 kilos of cheese. That's a lot of cheese.

SPEAKER_02 35:35

The poor cow.

SPEAKER_01 35:37

Well, on that note, thank you very much for listening to the Legend Thriving podcast. Um we are now we are now entirely up to date. We've lost all of our backing ones, so uh, we are now gonna frantically be doing a podcast every week so that we maintain our fantastic spot free weekly release schedule. Um, thank you so much for listening.

SPEAKER_02 35:55

Before we go.

SPEAKER_01 35:56

Oh god.

SPEAKER_02 35:57

Next week you're gonna be driving.

SPEAKER_01 35:59

Oh, I think we'll leave that as a mystery.