Freedom Focus Photography

Ditch the Timeline with Heather Lahtinen

• Nicole Begley, Heather Lahtinen • Episode 292

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292 - Feeling like you "should be further along by now?" You're not alone—and you're not behind. 

Join me and Heather as we dismantle the myth of the perfect timeline and explore what it really means to build a business you love, at your own pace.


What to Listen For:

  • Why there's no such thing as “behind” in business
  • The invisible “timeline” trap and how it messes with your mindset
  • What it really takes to go from $500 sessions to $5K clients
  • How belief (not panic) speeds up results
  • The difference between inspired action and reactive desperation
  • Why your past self would high-five you right now
  • The single best question to ask when you're stuck
  • How to tap into your future self for clarity and momentum
  • What to do when you’re spiraling in scarcity mode

Your journey is unfolding exactly as it should—and you're learning what you need to learn, exactly when you need to learn it. If you’ve been feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or like you “should be further by now,” hit play and let this be your reset button. 🎧

👉 Listen now, subscribe, and check out our Elevate program if you're ready to get unstuck and grow with support.

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Nicole Begley (00:00)
If you have ever felt to yourself that you should be further along in your business, or maybe you've reached a goal and then those goalposts moved, well, this episode is for you. And spoiler alert, I think that's happened to all of us. So you're definitely going to want to take a listen. Stay tuned.

Nicole Begley (00:17)
I'm Nicole Begley, a zoological animal trainer turned pet and family photographer. Back in 2010, I embarked on my own adventure in photography, transforming a bootstrapping startup into a thriving six-figure business by 2012. Since then, my mission has been to empower photographers like you, sharing the knowledge and strategies that have helped me help thousands of photographers build their own profitable businesses. I believe that achieving $2,000 to $3,000 sales is your fastest route to six-figure businesses;

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

Nicole Begley (01:16)
Welcome back to the Freedom Focus Photography Podcast. I am your host, Nicole Bagley, and today I've got a blast from the past back here with me. It's been a long time since she's been on the podcast. It's been a long time since we've really caught up and talked about these things because, well, I was away quite a bit and her husband had a, what did you call it? A cardiac indiscretion.

Heather (01:36)
I called it a coronary indiscretion. You know, I'd like to say that a couple of weeks ago, my husband tried to die, but it didn't work. And thankfully, he's still here and everything's okay. In fact, I think maybe we should do a separate podcast on dealing with crises in your business and how you manage clients and your thoughts and, you know, momentum and getting back into it because life is going to happen. So we should

Nicole Begley (01:39)
Ha

So, yeah.

Heather (02:04)
maybe make a note of that for a future episode. Yes.

Nicole Begley (02:06)
Done noted. Tune back in next time, guys. That was it. All

right, great. But anyway, if you'd recognize that voice, the one and only Heather Lotton is back on the podcast. yeah, and thankfully, I mean, thankfully it wasn't an emergency emergency surgery. was emergent in that we need to get him in like next week, but it wasn't like, my God, rush to the hospital. Like scared, like that would have been like extra, extra terrifying. So thankfully Craig is on the mend.

Heather (02:30)
You know, yeah,

I was thinking about that. So we saw the surgeon on Friday and his surgery was Tuesday and I actually wanted them to wheel him back immediately because I was so concerned. But the timeline did happen really quickly. And for that, I'm actually grateful because to me, having things happen condensed is easier than something drawn out. You know, like, let's go, let's just get it done and get moving.

Nicole Begley (02:49)
Yeah, for sure.

Yep. I love it. I love it. Yeah. And then before that, I hadn't talked to you really much because I was off teaching the on delusion adventure, our equine and dog photography workshop with Shelley Paulson, which was amazing in Southern Spain. Um, not gonna lie. I could have stayed there really forever. Um, and then I came home for a week and then family and I went out to California for spring break to Yosemite and Sequoia and visiting my stepbrother. So it's been crazy. And now it's almost.

the end of May, which where the heck is the year gone?

Heather (03:24)
Well, that's because you're gallivanting all over the world, Nicole. Of course time is going. I mean, hey, I do have a question for you.

Nicole Begley (03:26)
Yeah, I'm not gonna stop.

I'm not gonna stop gallimanting, by the way. Must gallimant.

It's in my DNA. ⁓

Heather (03:36)
It's necessary, right?

Or you would die. Okay, just out of curiosity, if you could pick anywhere in the world to live, where would it be?

Nicole Begley (03:50)
Okay, that's hard though, because like I love the Baltic countries. I love Iceland. I love Finland. But I couldn't handle the weather. I need like Southern Spain, Mediterranean, Italy, Southern France, something like that. So I don't know. I don't know. mean, actually, I could probably live in Australia. The only bummer with that is it takes approximately 37 days to get anywhere else on the planet.

Heather (03:58)
Mm.

Nicole Begley (04:16)
⁓ So yeah, or New Zealand. my gosh. I love New Zealand so much. so yeah, so visas and the legality to live there and finances are no consideration. A hundred percent New Zealand. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Love it. Yeah. Queenstown, South Island. Amazing. or I live in the jungles of Costa Rica too.

Heather (04:17)
Right, is a problem.

Okay, there you go. Perfect. I was just curious. Okay.

Would you? just read a book that was based out of Peru and I was like, man, that jungle stuff is rough.

Nicole Begley (04:50)
Yeah. Yeah. No, I love Costa Rica. Okay. Anyway, I can go on for this conversation for a long time, but, today we are talking, actually the timeline piece works into this well, because I feel like a lot of people, basically all of us, if we're human, tend to struggle with the same thing, which is what we call the moving goalpost.

Heather (04:52)
Okay.

Nicole Begley (05:13)
I don't know if you've ever seen a football field where the goal posts are moving back and forth. It's like a miniature golf course, actually. Let's do it that way. Like, you know, the miniature golf course, the high end ones that have moving things, not the little local like side of the road one, but you know, they're moving. And so a lot of us, we tend to just completely overlook how far we've come and we're always just eyes on the next thing. And I know I'm guilty of that too, because I forever have a new goal, a new goal, a new goal.

So yeah, a lot of people get down on themselves and think that they should be further along by now because there is some handbook that says exactly how quickly you should progress in your business.

Heather (05:52)
Yeah, right. I'd love to read that manual, by the way. But everyone says some version of I should be further along or I'm behind or why haven't I hit this imaginary point yet? And they will provide me with extensive evidence to support that by saying things like, well, Heather, I've been doing this for three years. Don't you think I should be at this point or, five years or eight years or in my case?

Nicole Begley (05:54)
Thank

Heather (06:20)
22 years, so I definitely should be further along than I, but like, is that? What, wait, what? Further along, where specifically do you think you should be? Because this is important, words matter, we always say this, that when you say I should be further along, that's a very, that's very vague language. Like, where do you mean specifically? Is it certain number of clients? Is it,

Nicole Begley (06:49)
revenue goal. bet a lot of it often is a revenue goal because that's just the easiest way to judge, right? Yeah. Yeah.

Heather (06:49)
revenue

Yes, right.

But also, like, is it, I think there's this other vague component of like, things should be easier by now. So there's definitely number of clients and revenue, those are easy to measure. But then there's this general sense of the business getting clients marketing, for example, should be easier than it is. And I'm disappointed

Nicole Begley (07:04)
Mmm.

Heather (07:20)
because that means that I'm behind. And when I work with clients directly on this or inside of Elevate, I just get really curious and I ask a series of questions because I want to hear more specifics. Where exactly should you be in revenue? Where exactly with number of clients? And what does it mean that marketing or getting clients is easier? And are you sure that's the goal?

Nicole Begley (07:46)
Yeah. I mean, I don't know about you, but I know that I've been doing, I've been a photographer since 2010. So I've been running my own business for 15 years now. like marketing is never quote easier. Like the game is always changing. The things that worked in the past have to change and change with the economy, change with people's buying habits, change with the sophistication of the market.

Heather (08:01)
Never.

Nicole Begley (08:13)
like just all of those things are always changing. this actually reminds me, I did want to plug an old episode that we recorded episode one nine seven, the gap of the gap and the gain that was back on January 20th, 2023. ⁓ if you guys haven't listened to that one, go listen to it. It's really, really good. It's at a fantastic book by Benjamin Hardy, right? Is that, yeah. And, it's a short, easy read, but it's really about how our brains are wired to.

Heather (08:26)
Wow.

Yes? Yep.

Nicole Begley (08:40)
always be looking at the gap of like, where am I falling short versus how far have I come? And if you look back from where you started this business, I guarantee you, you're ahead of where you were. And everybody's path is different. Like some people maybe are doing this full time and they have the time to devote more time to it so they can move quicker. But maybe you're, you know, have

older dogs and you have a full-time job or you're caring for a parent or like you have other life responsibilities. So you're doing this super part-time, which I think is one of the beauty things of having photography businesses. They can still be profitable part-time. So like it's just a great, it's a great job. matter kind of, you know, you get to get paid for doing that. Something you love guys. Yeah.

Heather (09:24)
I mean, it's just unbelievable how lucky we

are. And if you focus on that, my gosh, I can't believe that this is real life. not all, but many of our listeners photograph puppies. You get to photograph puppies and make money? Are you kidding me? Is this even real life? That's such a dream. And I promise that you are much further ahead than your brain is allowing you to see because of what you just said.

If you're looking for where you're lacking, there's gonna, I mean, you will find the evidence of that. But if you look at how far you've come and what you've learned, you are light years ahead of where you were. And I mean, even if you started last year, I mean, last week, you have already learned so much. And furthermore, where do you create your future from? If you wanna create a better future, a different future, does it make sense to create it

Nicole Begley (10:06)
⁓

Heather (10:19)
From the past?

Nicole Begley (10:22)
Right, right. Yeah, right.

Heather (10:23)
No, it doesn't. You create

your future from a vision for a better future. So being fixated on the past or where you're lacking is just not helpful unless there's only one reason to look backwards, unless you are congratulating yourself on how far you've And then look in the past.

Nicole Begley (10:40)
Yes. Yep.

Yeah. Which we've also done. my gosh. Let me look it up real quick. Cause it was also a good, a great episode. There you go. Episode two 17, November 14th, 2023. 2023 was apparently a good year for the podcast and it was NRV rock your financial goals, which NRV remember was the non revenue victories that uh-huh.

Heather (10:55)
Yeah.

I

Nicole Begley (11:05)
That was with one of our elevate clients that she was kicking herself for any sort of lack of growth on her revenue side of things. And especially if there was ever a dip, like being so hard on herself, which obviously when you do that, nothing good's going to come out of that. is kicking yourself while you're down is not how you pull yourself out of the hole.

Heather (11:22)
Hmm.

Nothing.

Nicole Begley (11:34)
so we had her to start to write down her non revenue victories every day, which I mean, so many things that could be just doing it in, like, this is one of my other favorite things that, you know, my coach James one more has said numerous times is when you're setting goals, don't have the success of the goal be tied to an outcome you can't control. So the success of my goal should not be a revenue number in my business.

Heather (11:53)
Mm.

Nicole Begley (11:58)
The success of my goal should be, I do the marketing things that I said I was going to do with the goal of hitting that revenue number? Because that you can control. And that gives you something to focus on in a binary, I did it or I didn't do it.

Heather (12:14)
I love that. And then you can congratulate yourself for the effort and the action and not necessarily, well, did I get clients or did I make this amount of money? that's where, you know, I totally forgot about the NRVs. I'm going to bring that up and elevate again, probably tomorrow. We have a strategy call talking about looking at what you've achieved and how far you've come and just being so grateful.

in honoring yourself and your past efforts instead of, like you said, beating yourself up because you can't hate yourself to a successful business. You're never going to get there by looking backwards and beating yourself up and feeling kind of panicky. You had said at one point that, you know, what speeds up results is not panic, but belief.

Nicole Begley (12:52)
Yep.

Right.

Heather (13:09)
when you believe that you're going to get there and, ⁓ I know what it was. We had, you did this for me. my gosh, beep, beep, beep. I gotta back up. A couple of years ago, I was talking about my million dollar goal for my business and you had said to me, do you believe that that is like in your future? And I said, yes. And you said, okay, so it's on your timeline. And I said, yes. And then you're like, okay, well then it's done. What's the problem?

Nicole Begley (13:37)
Well, and also we created time. Like time is an illusion that humans created. So like if you want to get all woo and like start to dip into like quantum physics, like science, quantum physics, not just like woo, but like time is on like these all exist in some, some space and point time continuum. Like there is a point out there that you are running your million dollar business. And if you believe that

Heather (14:02)
Mmm.

Nicole Begley (14:04)
Yeah, I can see that happening. Take the time piece away from it. Like if I said to you, are you going to have a million dollar business in the next two weeks? You're like, no. But if I say, you know, at some point, some point in the next 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, you're like, well, heck yeah. And if you can believe that, if you can believe that whatever your goal is, is possible at some point on an extended timeline without time constraints, then just drop into that and know that like, all right, it already exists out there.

Heather (14:12)
No.

Nicole Begley (14:32)
And then you can get really kind of crazy and go like sit, quiet, meditate, journal. And like that version of you exists somewhere. And you can kind of ask yourself, what did I do to get there? Now there requires a little meditative practice and getting your brain kind of clear. And sometimes it doesn't come right away. But one thing that does always happen when you ask your subconscious brain is it has to answer. So you might get the answer.

Heather (14:45)
Mmm.

Nicole Begley (15:00)
when you sleep, when you dream, when you wake up, when you're walking the dog three days from now. But if you keep asking that question, the answer will come.

Heather (15:01)
you

that's so interesting.

So you're suggesting that just focusing on the outcome or the result or the goal is more important than the timeframe, like setting that time.

Nicole Begley (15:19)
Focus

focusing on the belief that it's possible. And the belief that it's there and the belief that that there is a version of you that did it. Yeah.

Heather (15:22)
Yes

Yes.

I then I think what could be tripping many people up think I know is setting these things or making these imaginary timelines like I should be further along or I'm slow or I haven't hit this this should have happened by now. is like all made up number one, but then that is you dishonoring your efforts in your journey. So it's like how could you honor

Nicole Begley (15:42)
That's the shoulds.

Heather (15:53)
your own timeline by saying, I know this is going to happen and I respect that it's going to take as long as it takes. And then you've relaxed.

Nicole Begley (16:00)
Uh-huh. Yeah.

Yeah. And that's also part of the process too, that like, let's say that next week, all of a sudden you dropped into this million dollar business. Let's say that the person that's starting their photography business, that they've had five clients that like $500 each, like, man, I really want that $150,000 revenue business. And boom, they were there. You have not built up the systems to support said business so that business would crash and burn.

There is a reason that we have to kind of build our business as we go is because we need to learn those lessons so that we can accept that bigger business. And here's, spoiler alert. As your business grows, the level of challenges, I don't want to say problems, but the level of challenges in your business also will grow. our mentor, James, is one of his other...

Heather (16:36)
Mmm.

haha

Nicole Begley (16:52)
Quotes that he always says, which is so true that the level of your business will grow to the level of problems you, oh gosh, I'm messing it up. But basically, yeah, are willing to solve 100 % because these are the things where, you know, even just now in my business, all of you guys out there, you have gotten to know and love Liz as we all have. She was.

Heather (17:01)
No, you right are willing to solve. Yeah. Yeah.

Nicole Begley (17:17)
The person behind the support email at hair of the dog. She managed everybody's onboarding off boarding. Like any questions about access and membership and billing. Like she did so many things, sent out the reminders of the calls. Like she, she was like the main glue holding, making sure that things kept functioning here because I cannot do repetitive things because I need to keep creating and coaching and having fun with you guys. anyway, she's moving on. she's been with us for.

Heather (17:33)
Mmm.

Nicole Begley (17:44)
almost six years. ⁓ Like she has been through the entire evolution of, of hair of the dog, really. And yeah, it's, it's one of those things, of course, we're going to miss her terribly, but like I could choose to be, my God, what am I going to do? Panic, panic, panic. Because Heather, I don't even know all the things she does. Like, like I don't

Heather (17:45)
Woof.

Right?

Nicole Begley (18:11)
I don't know what the process is when someone cancels their membership. Like we talked about it a long time ago, but she just runs with it. But anyway, I trust that like, this is fine. This is, you know, going to work out a wonderful and you know, well, it's an opportunity to reevaluate systems. we're bringing on Ginger Wick. You guys might know her in the community because she's been in the community for a long time. She is amazing and detail oriented and she's going to step right in and do a great job.

I had a choice when Liz said she was moving on and that was I could sit here and like focus on the gap, focus on the challenges, or I can say, we're going to miss you. Let's like, you know, let's, let's, this has just a new opportunity for it's everything's going to be fine.

Heather (18:58)
Yeah, and that was a choice. That was a choice you made. And listen, the option to feel panic would have been valid.

Right? Because the truth is it is going to be challenging to make this shift for you and for Ginger and for Liz, you know? So panic would have been like, yeah, I can see why you would panic over that. You had to like take a breath and say, we can figure this out and it's going to be OK. And in fact, this is exactly what my business needs to go to the next level instead of fighting it, respecting the journey.

Nicole Begley (19:29)
Mm hmm. Yep.

Heather (19:34)
If you are not respecting the journey, you are slowing it down.

Nicole Begley (19:39)
Mm-hmm. Quote that sucker. Get that on a t-shirt.

Heather (19:41)
And that, I don't

think that's what people want. But they say, I mean, I was talking to someone, maybe it was a couple of weeks ago, three years, she had been in business three years and she was just very, she was feeling very defeated because she was thinking she should be further along. But to your point, the reason I don't have a million dollar business right now is because I couldn't handle a million dollar business.

Nicole Begley (20:05)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. ⁓

Heather (20:06)
I wouldn't blow it up. I wouldn't know what

to do. So if you're thinking, well, I've been in business three years. I should have six figure revenue. No, you actually should not because you haven't built, you said the systems. And I would add to that the mind management, you need the systems and the mind management to get to that next level. And you haven't built that yet. And that's okay. It's not a problem. It's just part of the journey. So what if you could drop into the belief that not only is it happening, but that at every point it's happening for you.

Nicole Begley (20:20)
Mm-hmm.

Heather (20:35)
and you're getting there at the exact right time because here's why. It feels much better, much more relaxed to think that than to think, my gosh, I'm an idiot, I'm behind. And by the way, like you had said, you're always moving the goalpost anyway, because you're gonna get to that six figure revenue and then you're gonna be like, okay, that's great, what's next? It's always gonna be the next challenge. That's what we're made for. We're made for progress, so it's fine.

Nicole Begley (20:58)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep.

Yep. Yep. Yep. I do want to talk about though, like when you're in that comparison in that gap and then you're trying to shift out of it. I see so many people trying to take action from that desperation place. And there is a huge difference between taking what I call inspired action versus reactive action or reactive desperation.

Heather (21:19)
Mm-hmm.

Yes

Nicole Begley (21:29)
So yeah, I would love to talk about that a little bit and like what those differences are and how people can tell which place they're working from.

Heather (21:37)
You can just ask yourself, am I feeling about this? And if you come back with, I'm feeling scarcity, I'm feeling kind of desperate, I'm feeling anxious and I feel this need, but Heather, but Heather, I'm taking action. So it's okay. know, they're taking what you said was uninspired reactive action or uninspired action was like, it's very, yeah, it's very like bubbly, like, know, it's just like, go, go, go, go, do all of these things.

Nicole Begley (21:44)
.

That's nice.

They're white-knuckling though. Yeah.

Yeah.

Heather (22:04)
And it leads to a lot of spinning your wheels and you feel like you're kind of stuck in the mud, but you're taking action. So you sort of feel like you're being productive, but it's all under this guise of, well, you think it's productive, but it's actually not. It's because it's scarcity action. And you'll know by how you feel about it. You feel more relaxed and motivated when you are taking inspired action that feels controlled.

That's the difference. There's action that feels very out of control and there's action that feels focused and inspired and controlled and just good. You know, it just feels like you're making progress in the right direction. you first awareness. That's always that's always where we start. How am I feeling about this? And if you notice that you're feeling any of the negative emotions, that's your opportunity to just take a breath and get really curious about what you're thinking that's

driving that behavior. I promise you those thoughts are not good and they are not serving you and that's okay. No judgment. No judgment. This is where I'm at.

Nicole Begley (23:10)
Yeah, we all end up there sometimes

and have to pull ourselves out. So what's the best way to start to pull ourselves out of that when we realize we're like, man, I am like clamoring desperate action. Like I am spiraling.

Heather (23:24)
Yeah, sometimes, I mean, I'm not gonna lie, sometimes it's impossible. So what I would recommend is you go to www.getcoachedbyheather.com. I have free complimentary, I call them fast track coaching workshops where you can bring that to me and I can help you. mean, sometimes you just need an outside resource. This is true. I want to teach you, I want to enable you, empower you to coach yourself, of course.

Nicole Begley (23:49)
Yeah.

Heather (23:50)
But sometimes, like this is why I have a business coach, this is why I have a life coach, because that spiral can be like, it starts with something like, no, no, no, no, you don't understand, Heather, you don't understand. I actually need the money. I can't pay my bills unless I get this money. And so we try to justify our thoughts and our feelings with these circumstances. And that's where you just need help, you know, seeing it from a different perspective. If you are attempting to coach yourself, which,

I do and it's a great skill. It's just, first of all, the awareness we talked about that. And it's like, how do I want to feel about this? What kind of, I want to take inspired action. No kidding. What would I need to think or believe to take inspired action? If you wrote that down, what would I need to think or believe or even feel, think, believe, feel, to take inspired action? You're going to say when you're in this

space, you're going to be like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't even understand the question. I don't know what you're talking about. Just take a minute. Take a breath. Give yourself some space. Maybe that means time. Maybe you just need a nap or something to eat. Go get a snack. Drink some water. Give yourself space. Come back to it. What would a person, maybe it's not you, what would someone else need to think or believe to take inspired action? What does Nicole think or believe? So maybe you could extend that to somebody that you

Respect or is successful. You say, I wonder what she's thinking. Well, she's probably thinking that she's going to figure this out. She's probably thinking that she's doing a lot of really good, right things. She probably believes in herself or has this has generated this self concept of I know what I'm doing and I have resources and I'll figure it out. And you know, like the self belief, the belief that

Nicole Begley (25:23)
Mm-hmm.

Heather (25:43)
I can do this confidence, you kind of generate your own confidence and that feels good and hopeful and then that leads to inspired action. It's okay if you're not there yet. It's just like, is there something better than what I'm currently thinking? Could I poke holes in what I'm currently thinking and just get to something, we call them ladder beliefs, you where we take a not so helpful belief and we just like take it up one notch, maybe, maybe not.

Nicole Begley (26:05)
Mm-hmm.

we had to do for my time scarcity, right? I remember you throwing out all the things. Can you believe there's enough time to get things done? No. Can you believe you'll get the important things done? No. I was very much just like, no, Heather, I can't. You're like, can you believe you have five hours a day to, to work? I'm like, yes. You know, then you're like, wait, and isn't that exactly what you want? I'm like, okay. Touche, checkmate. You got me.

Heather (26:13)
Yes, yes.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, you

are a very difficult client. Sometimes you can. Yeah.

Nicole Begley (26:43)
deep, was entrenched in that, but yeah, it started off as a latter belief of like, all right, you have this much. Can you believe they do this a lot with like body dysmorphia or people that have, um, you know, eating, uh, challenges like body, um, image challenges where it's like, can you believe you're beautiful? Can you believe this? No, no, no. Can you believe you have a body? Yeah. Start there. Um, but the one thing I didn't want to share as you were saying all that, like my favorite thought that I come to.

Heather (26:50)
Yes.

Hahaha right! Right!

Nicole Begley (27:13)
all the time is there is a solution for every problem. Yeah. So like if I found that I was working from like that frantic desperate energy, I would say there is a solution to this problem. Like what could that solution be? Let's write down a couple of different solutions. Is there one that I feel a little bit more inclined to? Ask yourself, what would make marketing my business fun?

Heather (27:16)
you do say that. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Nicole Begley (27:39)
What do I want for this? Because here's the kicker too, that what marketing works for me, what marketing works for you might not be marketing that works for someone else. And you and I have said this, I've gotten on this high horse several times where anyone that is telling you there is one way to do anything in your life or business is wrong, quite frankly, because there are

Heather (27:39)
wow!

Nope.

Nicole Begley (28:04)
a gazillion different ways to do things. And the way that works for me might have to shift a little bit for you or your market. So there's, yeah, there's just so many different ways and there's always a solution to every problem.

Heather (28:15)
I love that and here's why that's a good thought to think because often times what I will hear people say is Heather nothing is working.

Nicole Begley (28:23)
Hmm... Mm-hmm.

Heather (28:25)
it feels like nothing is working or I keep thinking that nothing is working to which I would respond, well, but there's a solution out there, right? I mean, you believe there's a way to get this to work and they say, yes, of course. Okay, so what do you wanna choose to think today? Do you wanna think nothing is working or do you wanna think there is a solution? And that might seem like a small shift, but it changes everything.

Nicole Begley (28:50)
Mm-hmm. Yes. 100%. Yeah. And by the way, if you guys don't want to wait for the next GetCoached, what is it? GetCoachedByHeather.com? If you don't want to wait for the next GetCoachedByHeather.com and you want to jump right into Elevate, use the code podcast to save the $200 enrollment fee just for you guys. Just go do that. Yep. FreedomFocusFormula.com slash Elevate.

Heather (28:59)
Yeah. Dot com.

Yep, yep, we set that up. Yep.

I'm really proud of this, Nicole. We had one of these complimentary coaching workshops earlier this week and we had someone who rejoined Elevate. So she had left Elevate, I believe, due to financial constraints, but she knew, she knows, that it was so tremendously helpful and impactful for her that she figured out a way to come back. And I think that speaks volumes as to the value of the program.

Nicole Begley (29:42)
my gosh. And by the way, like, not going to lie, other programs that I see that have this level of coaching support are two or three times the price. And you and I have both had coaches, different coaches are like, that price needs to go up dramatically for what's in that program. We're like, nah, we want it. like truly you guys, one sale pays for six months.

Heather (30:04)
That and that, by the way, that's the first challenge. I have monthly challenges built out inside of Elevate and the month one challenge is to make $1,000 in your business so that you can pay for Elevate, which means then everything else just becomes bonus, bonus money, right? Profit. And I like to say that don't forget when you learn something, it compounds upon itself over time. So like the ROI and just the amount of value

Nicole Begley (30:25)
Mm-hmm.

Heather (30:30)
just gets greater with the longer you stay. And yeah, listen, you're gonna make more money. There's no question. Everybody does. And yes, you're going to have times when it feels like you're taking two steps backwards because something is challenging you. But that's actually a good thing because you have us to support you. And I promise you, I promise you do not want this to be easy. You don't. You need the challenge.

Nicole Begley (30:55)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Heather (30:57)
My best good buddy loves complex things because she likes to puzzles. So if you put her in a, it's Nicole, spoiler alert, it's Nicole. If you put her in an environment or in a business that was easy and straightforward, I think she would wither up and die. She needs a balance. Yeah.

Nicole Begley (31:06)
That's me.

I would hate it. That's why I

don't like to do any of the repetitive things.

Heather (31:16)
Right, right. You need

the challenge in order to move. And I have this call inside of Elevate where it's a very impassioned speech, Nicole. mean, I was just like, someone said to me that that was the best I ever delivered because I was so fired up about why you want these challenges. And keep this in mind, every challenge you face, feels very hard, right? Maybe even insurmountable, but it's only hard until you figure it out. And then that challenge is easy for life.

Nicole Begley (31:42)
huh.

Heather (31:46)
It like just when you learned how to walk, you learned how to Yes.

Nicole Begley (31:48)
And it's empowering. Like if

you think back to one of the most stressful or hardest things, like I look back to, bark Zealand when we were going to host a workshop in New Zealand and Kaylee was leaving two weeks early to do some traveling prior to the workshop and was denied boarding in LA to New Zealand because of a visa issue. we had people flying in from all over the world for this workshop and

Heather (31:57)
RRRR

Nicole Begley (32:12)
We now have to get visas. I'm like, I can't sneak into New Zealand. Like, what? This is going to be an issue? And that's one of those things. I'm like, man, if I can figure that out, like we fast tracked it, we got it done and no one was the wiser. And I'm like, okay, if I can manage that stress, whatever, we got this.

Heather (32:35)
can figure anything out. actually encourage people to write their own mantra. And for you, would be, you know, a girl who can figure out how to go to New Zealand when denied visa access can figure out anything. So if you if you look back at something that challenging that you figured out, you can find evidence to support why you can make this work, or you can find a bunch of evidence to show you how this is going to be hard. But

Number one, you don't want it. Are you sure you want it to be easy? Are you sure you want to be further ahead than where you are? Like what if this is just one of those things that people say? Like, I wish I was further along or I should be making more money. Are you sure? Because I would just question that. I don't think you should. I think you should be exactly where you are.

Nicole Begley (33:17)
Mm-hmm.

Well, and then there also comes the piece of, you know, the, money mindset, the acceptance of, of, feeling even though we all know we're worthwhile, like, but it takes a minute to feel worthy of different things. And like, if you're not working on those as you're climbing the mountain, like if you were just helicopter dropped, right, helicopter dropped on top of the mountain, that's why I forget the stats, but it's something high 90 % of lottery winners.

like end up losing everything and going back to the same level of income or less that they had before the lottery, because it does not fit with their identity. Like you have to accept, like all those little lessons build upon themselves to get you to the place of success, which if you believe it's there on that timeline somewhere, you will get there. Just don't give up.

Heather (34:12)
There's just that, my gosh, that's it. You only have one job. Don't quit. That's it.

Nicole Begley (34:17)
Yep. I love your

rule that if you want to quit, you're not allowed to quit when it's hard. Like, like, yes, that, that yes, you can quit, but you, you need to quit when it's working.

Heather (34:22)
⁓ I, yes.

you to quit when you've just had your biggest sale. That's when you were allowed to quit because then we know that the reason is clean. But if you tell me you're quitting because you're struggling to get clients, I just I just question that, you know, I would just wonder, well, are you quitting because it's hard because I don't think anyone picked up a camera to experience stress.

Nicole Begley (34:32)
huh. Yeah.

Yep. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Heather (34:53)
I think they did it for fun. You loved photography and then you thought, could I make some money doing this? And I promise you, if you work with me, I want it to be fun and light and easy and we're happy and we're grateful and we're joyful. Even when, even when things feel terrible and like they're not working because I'll help you see a different perspective that helps you to appreciate the journey. it's like you were saying about the lottery winners or climbing the mountain.

If you're dropped or you get the money, you didn't earn it and you know you didn't earn it. And then your brain does all kinds of things to sabotage you, like the lottery winners go broke and the guy falls off the mountain. I don't know, I'm making that up.

Nicole Begley (35:26)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

And well,

the first minute, say all of a sudden again, you were dropping that super successful business. The first minute that things that you're doing now are not working. Like when you've built that from scratch, you know, I can do it again. Like, you know that you have the power to continue to do this. So you need to go through those. Yeah.

Heather (35:58)
Let me ask you something. This is really good. If

your business poof imploded the internet.

Nicole Begley (36:04)
Like

if the police came and said you're not allowed to teach photography anymore.

Heather (36:07)
Right.

You can't do everything just for whatever weird reason just disappeared tomorrow. What are your thoughts? What would you do?

Nicole Begley (36:14)
Hmm.

Be like, great, I'll start that travel influencing business. Each credit card mile hacking.

Heather (36:20)
You would do something else and you would figure it out because you have the skill set. Yeah, I

like, I don't think you're afraid of that, are you? No, why not?

Nicole Begley (36:29)
No, no. Yeah.

Well, because I know that like they can't take away the knowledge that you gained building the first business. So, yeah, I can do it again.

Heather (36:37)
Exactly.

I have no fear of something happening in my business because I'm like, well, I built it, so I'll just do it again. That doesn't mean I would like it, right? But I could do it. Right.

Nicole Begley (36:46)
Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't mean that things don't change. that

like marketing strategies that used to work will always work. Like things are always changing and shifting. So, but I figured it out the first time I could figure it out again.

Heather (37:02)
because that's just who you are because you went through all the challenges. would just, yeah, this is really good and I just want to challenge everyone if you feel like you're behind or you should be further ahead, just know that that's imaginary, number one, and it's really not serving you. So let's choose a different thought, a better thought.

Nicole Begley (37:05)
Yep. I love it. This has been really good.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. And if you guys have that manual that says exactly like at what point you have to hit different, different, what's the word I'm looking for? points, highlights, checkpoints. you, you let us know, send that cause we'd love to look over it.

Heather (37:36)
Yeah, absolutely. And get on,

because I wanna know what the manual says. Yeah, somebody clue me in. And make sure you join one of my free coaching workshops. And even if you're not in a position where you wanna get coached, I can totally understand that because it takes some courage. Then just join us and listen in because there's such a thing as secondhand coaching and you can learn so much just by listening to other people.

Get coached. These workshops are always free, but the replay is only available inside of Elevate.

Nicole Begley (38:07)
Yep. I love it. Awesome. All right guys. great catching up with you, Heather, and we'll see you guys soon. Bye everybody.

Heather (38:11)
Yes, thank you.