Freedom Focus Photography

299 - Why There's No "Right Way"

• Nicole Begley, Heather Lahtinen • Episode 299

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Building on the ideas from Episode 298, Nicole and Heather are here to bust the myth of the “perfect way” to run your photography business. 

What if your business felt light, easy, and exciting again? Let’s dismantle the myth of the “right way” to build your photography business and reveal how to create a business model that works for you – not against you.

What to Listen For

  • Why there is no single “right way” to build your photography business
  • The mindset shift that can make your business feel fun again
  • How to tell if discomfort is growth or misalignment
  • Why discomfort is simply data, not a problem
  • Questions to ask when your business feels heavy or overwhelming
  • How to turn something you hate into something you love
  • The power of experimenting and adjusting your approach
  • Heather’s current favorite mantra.

There is no universal formula for photography success – only your way. In this episode, Nicole and Heather share how to build a business that feels light, fun, and profitable. Listen now, subscribe for more mindset-shifting conversations, and explore how Elevate can support you in this journey.

Looking for more help?  

Hair of the Dog Academy – Master the craft of pet photography

Freedom Focus Formula – Stop competing on price and reach consistent $2,000+ sales

Elevate – Crack the code to booking more clients

Commercial Pet Photography Academy – Discover the world of commercial pet photography

Get Coached by Heather – Free coaching calls with Heather

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Nicole Begley (00:00)
You're listening to the Freedom Focus Photography Podcast and on today's episode, Heather and I are digging into why there is no right way to run your business. Now, if you listen to last week's episode, it was Heather with a great lesson for us. It was a solo episode for her, but I really wanted to go deeper on the subject. So today's episode is her and I together digging a little bit deeper, again, going into why there is no right way to run your business and how

to make your business feel more fun and more easy. So stay tuned.

Nicole Begley (00:33)
I'm Nicole Begley, a zoological animal trainer turned pet and family photographer. Back in 2010, I embarked on my own adventure in photography, transforming a bootstrapping startup into a thriving six-figure business by 2012. Since then, my mission has been to empower photographers like you, sharing the knowledge and strategies that have helped me help thousands of photographers build their own profitable businesses. I believe that achieving $2,000 $3,000 sales is your fastest route to six-figure businesses.

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

Nicole Begley (01:34)
Hey everybody, welcome back to Freedom Focus Photography podcast. I'm your host, Nicole Begley, and I am back with the one and only Heather Lahtinen We are back at it, ⁓ talking about all the things to help you run a business more effectively and more profitably. Heather, welcome back.

Heather (01:52)
All of

the things. I think I've mentioned this to you. I know I've talked about it in Elevate, but I wake up every day, and I am not exaggerating. I wake up every day asking myself, how can I speed up everyone making more money? That is my singular focus is a profitable photography business. and by the way, that's fun and doesn't make you feel like you want to lose your mind because I don't think anyone got into the business side to feel stressed out or miserable.

Nicole Begley (02:05)
Yeah.

Heather (02:21)
I mean, you got into photography because it was fun. You loved it. And then at some point you had the thought, I wonder if I could make money doing this. And then at some point you had a thought that caused you stress. And I just don't think that that's necessary. think, okay, let me side note this. I want to build a million dollar business, but I am not interested in building a million dollar business that isn't fun.

Nicole Begley (02:34)
Uh-huh.

Heather (02:50)
that isn't light and easy. So I am very aware of my mind management, my stress levels. When I start to feel that way, I'm like, remember the point is to help photographers make more money. And it's fun. This is fun. We're making money photographing what we love. And we're not working, you know, in a corporate situation, we have the freedom and the flexibility. And don't you think that we have this ability to make as much money

Nicole Begley (02:50)
100%.

Heather (03:20)
as we want, like we have the ability to turn up the dial. Meaning if you have a friend, spouse, partner, whatever, that works a corporate job, even if they make good money, it's the same money. It doesn't, maybe it goes up by 3 % next year. Craig got this raise one year. I don't remember the percentage, but it ended up being 20 more dollars in his paycheck. And I thought to myself,

Nicole Begley (03:31)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

You're like,

woohoo! One more sushi roll, not two, not for both of us, just for one of us.

Heather (03:47)
Honest to Pete. Right, right. One sushi roll. I thought,

well, you know, that's nice. I'm not ungrateful, but you you can go from making 25,000 to 50,000, which is double. And you could double that too. Like who has that ability? That is so fun and exciting to me that I, I tend to fixate on those things rather than, my gosh, nothing is working.

Nicole Begley (04:01)
Mm-hmm.

Heather (04:16)
How am I going to do this? Like, let's project forward to, you know, to grateful that we can do this, that we have this ability and that anything's possible. And I just think that that's really fun. So that's what we're doing.

Nicole Begley (04:28)
Yeah, no, agree. And

I think the thing that allows you and I to both focus on that is we both truly believe the underlying, the underlying belief of that, that, that future is available to me. Like we believe that we can get there. And I know a lot of people maybe have trouble believing that that's possible for them, which we have talked about, like the belief ladder in the past and things like that. So there's definitely sometimes some thought work. So if you're listening to this, you're like, I wish I believed that.

Heather (04:57)
Hmm.

Nicole Begley (04:57)
But I

don't, well, do you need elevate? Cause we'll help you start to ladder up those beliefs so that you can. But I think that is critical. Mission critical is the belief that it is possible and the belief that that future is out there waiting for you. And there's a path to get there. Maybe we don't know what that path is yet. Like you and I, ⁓ you know, have, have still goals in our business that we have a reach that, that I don't know what that path is going to be, but I know there's path.

Heather (05:02)
100%.

Yes.

Nicole Begley (05:26)
And I know I'm gonna not give up until I find it. ⁓ there's those pieces that I think are just really critical just to mention. ⁓

Heather (05:28)
That's it.

There yeah, there's there's only one job you have and that's not to quit if you keep going Eventually, you will figure it out and I think about in terms of elevate, you know There's really only one reason really truly a photographer who wants to grow business would not join and that's because their brain is offering them several Reasons to stay small and stay stuck Your brain does not want you to join elevate to grow because it feels scary

There are so many people I know are capable and want to do it, but their brain is just offering them some little, you know, I was talking to some photographer friends yesterday on one of my fast track coaching calls. If you go to get coached by Heather.com, you can join us, it's free. But I was sharing some wins and elevates. So we had a person that had their first thousand dollar sale, $1,100 sale, and she's just thrilled. And then we had someone who had their second highest sale, which was

close to 12,000. And I say this for two reasons. One is we help photographers of all levels. So we have people just starting out and we have people making six figures and we have a six figure group that I have separate calls for. But anyway, I said on this call, I said, if you knew that you could make a thousand dollars or a $5,000 sale, I don't care, whatever your number is, if you knew the only thing you had to do is have a conversation with me, why would you not do it?

All you have to do is talk to me, tell me what's going on, ask a question, don't ask a question, just give me the status of your business. If all you had to do was speak to me or join Elevate to make a thousand, five thousand, $12,000, why in the world would you not do that? It's $299 a month. You basically get Elevate for free once you make money, but you keep...

the knowledge, the wisdom and the education for the rest of your life to compound upon no matter how long you stay in photography. I was pretty fired up yesterday, Nicole. was, don't want to say I was yelling at people. was very, because here's what happens on those calls. We have a lot of people get on those calls, which is amazing. And you know, there's a smaller number that actually raise their hand for help.

Nicole Begley (07:42)
I feel like you're still fired up now.

You're yelling in the Heather way, the Heather yell.

Heather (08:01)
And I understand there's, you know, there's like some embarrassment of, know, I don't want to look stupid or I should know this or whatever. But I just wanted to encourage them. If you knew that asking that question or just saying, hey, can you help me was going to make you a thousand dollars next week? Why would you hesitate? And the only reason is because you're afraid of what people might think. Well, my my goal.

Nicole Begley (08:20)
Mm-hmm.

Heather (08:28)
of growing my business is more important to me than my ego, protecting my ego from what someone else might think. Someone might be judging you, but I would argue they're probably actually inspired by you. And what if it's not about you? I also say that when you talk to me, all of these other people are getting the benefits of secondhand coaching or coaching by proxy and they're learning. So everybody wins.

when you speak to me. So please. Okay, it turns out on that call, I did have several hands raised to work with me. Okay.

Nicole Begley (09:07)
Amazing. Amazing.

I love it. I love it. ⁓ yeah, those calls are so good guys. Get coached by Heather.com. Go sign up for the next one. They're free. There's no reason not to show up. You do need to show up live though. ⁓ but anyway, today we wanted to talk about, which actually this works into is the right way. Cause this is my own personal soap box too. And nothing gets me more fired up than when I see other educators teaching.

Heather (09:18)
No reason. There's no reason. Yeah.

Nicole Begley (09:36)
one way to do something and basically telling their students that if they don't do it that way, they can't be successful, or this is the only way to find success, or that just, just no.

Heather (09:49)
It's actually, it's worse than that. It's dangerous. And here's why. That way might work for them and it might work for a lot of people and that's great. I respect that. But let's say you teach that to a client and it doesn't work for them. They actually feel hopeless at that point. Because if it's the only way and it doesn't work for them, then what are they going to do? They can't do anything else. And that's what upsets me is that it...

Nicole Begley (09:53)
Yeah.

Heather (10:18)
It can harm people or they can feel really defeated or frustrated. And I don't appreciate those emotions. I want people to feel hopeful and excited that they can build their business any way that they want with any type of pricing model. As long as they're profitable, I care not about your structure.

Nicole Begley (10:44)
And the amount of profit can vary for person to person too. Like I know photographers that do this super part-time because they want to pay for an extra vacation. They want to pay, like they want to take their family to Disney or maybe they just want to cover, you know, a couple of bills in the house, ⁓ but still be at home with their dogs, kids, whoever. ⁓ like you get to build the business.

exactly the way that you want to build the business. And there is at least one solution for every type of business out there. There is some math. So if you're like, all right, I only want to serve like five clients a year and I'm going to charge $200 per client. Okay, that math just doesn't work. So we need to make sure the math works. Obviously we're working on those parameters, but I have yet to find somebody's dream business of what they want to build.

in a way that we can't get the numbers to work. and I find this a lot too. Actually, there was just a conversation going on inside of elevate, ⁓ just this past week of somebody that, you know, loved photography and this happens, this is a path. think a lot of people go on. You love photography. You're like, this is great. ⁓ so much fun. I want to start a business with this. So they start the business.

And then they're making some money. Now there's some new stresses. You're going to have to like, Oh, I need to make sure I get enough images to be good enough for my client to be good enough for my pricing. need to figure out the different products. I need to charge money. And that is scary. And that like makes my ego freak out. Um, and now I need to figure out sales and now I need to market and like actually put myself out there and get people to book. And now all of a sudden, what was fun is no longer fun.

Heather (12:38)
Yes.

Nicole Begley (12:39)
And I think this is super common. I've seen it happen so many times. What advice do you have for people that might be going through that? Because we both know that, okay, maybe you have learned that, ⁓ okay, this is too much and maybe I want to redirect my business this way, or I don't want to be super, super high end, but I want to be like a $2,000 average or this and that. So you can ebb and flow a little bit.

But what do you have to say for the people that are now all of a sudden like, wait, I thought this was fun and now it's not.

Heather (13:14)
Yeah, I would say the question I would ask is what if it's possible to figure out how to make it fun and profitable? Because the reason I go to that question is because they tend to shut down. So in the case of our friend, actually got what she wanted. She started to make money and she just started to feel really disappointed and confused because she's like, this is what I wanted, but it's hard.

and it's frustrating and I don't want to do these things, but this is what I want. And so I, I, you, you actually responded to her almost exactly what I would say. I read your response and I was like, okay, that's what I would have given, which is what, what are the things you don't love? What are the reasons you don't love about it? What can you do about that? And just, can we, can we look at this as not a black and white either or scenario? It doesn't have to be either I'm business or I'm an

I have a hobby. It's like, how can we keep this light and fun and easy and manage ourselves around the challenging parts? Now, I would never suggest to her or to anyone that you are going to 100 % eliminate things you don't But is there a way to do it balanced so that because there are things that we have to do we don't like, but can we balance it with the things that we love? And are you willing to experiment with that?

Nicole Begley (14:27)
Yeah, right. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Heather (14:42)
Are you how would you want to feel about your business? She loves parts of it. She had said that. So how could we lean into that and ask ourselves some questions around what and how we want to create? When she first posted this, I actually did not see a problem here. Her brain is making it a problem that there's things that she doesn't like and doesn't want to do. And she's stressed out. And I don't see it as a problem. I think.

Well, okay, that just gives you information. What do we want to experiment with next to make it better? But when we see these things as this is a catastrophe, this is a problem, I'm frustrated, it shouldn't be happening this way. See, I think it should be happening this way. Yes, yes. And well, that's when we shut down because then, right? And so I say, well, actually, this is really good. This is not a problem. This is really good data.

Nicole Begley (15:25)
Or I shouldn't have any frustration. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah,

Heather (15:40)
That means we need to shift something that works for us. And every component of this journey, this data that you're getting is important and necessary to build your dream business. So what if we looked at this as just a part of the walk, a part of the journey? It's like summoning a mountain. You've got to climb over some rocks, but then you're on the top. So

Nicole Begley (16:01)
Yeah. What,

what part of this, because it can get pretty messy in the middle of that where you're like, okay, I really don't like these pieces of it, or I'm not good quotes. I'm doing quotes here of, these pieces or like the really hard for me. So like, how do we start to differentiate between like something that we should just push through because it's hard because we don't have the practice.

we have a bad thought about it. Like there's something that we can easily work through that could all of a sudden be like, wait, now I actually love this part of my business versus us being like, maybe this part of the business isn't for me.

Heather (16:38)
think that you, honestly, I think you call me, you work with a coach, you talk it through because it's going to take some trial and error and again, some experimentation. But I want to drop the possibility. What would it look like to love this component? Because I think we say, I hate this part, period, done. I've got to either eliminate it or outsource it or whatever. And I would just challenge that thought. What if there's a way to love that? Like social media is a great example. A lot of people hate it.

Nicole Begley (16:42)
Ha ha!

Heather (17:07)
What if there's a way to structure it so that you love it? I'm not saying there is. I'm saying what if there is? Let's look at that possibility. And if there is, then ⁓ my gosh, what if I'm trying to think of an example, maybe one will come to me of something I used to hate in my business that I now actually love because I pushed through it. And the only way you're going to know that is if you're willing to experiment and entertain the possibility that there might be a way to love it. Like if you're just totally closed off to that, then

Nicole Begley (17:34)
Mm-hmm.

I mean, I have an example and it's a hundred percent this podcast. You know, when I started it, I was like, I want to do this, but I know myself, uh, recently diagnosed ADHD. I cannot do the repetitive tasks. And I knew myself enough by this point in business that I was like, all right, if I'm going to do this podcast, I need to record it. And then hand it off and have my team upload it, edit it. Like I write the show notes in the emails. Um,

Heather (17:37)
What are we? Yeah.

Nicole Begley (18:07)
but they then load them, send them out in the email, upload the podcast to the podcast player, upload it to the website. I cannot, I will not do that. So that becomes something where I asked myself when I started this, what would this look like for me to love it? And then also recently, mean, this podcast has been going on five years, six years?

Heather (18:29)
Yeah.

Yes. Yes.

Nicole Begley (18:37)
2019 started the

podcast in 2019. So it was before or no, maybe it was 2020 regardless, at least five years. Um, and you know, in the past six months, all of a sudden it's like, needed to relook at this. Like what, what's, what's the purpose of the podcast? What, what would make it fun again? Cause it was like, you know, I was having a lot of just

What do I, it just felt a lot of disjointed kind of things and it just needed a little refresh. So asking myself like those, I talked to you too, like we were brainstorming on it and I'm like, I remember sending you a box. I'm like, I think I'm going to stop the podcast. You're like, stop it. No. Okay. We need to like, no. And so don't worry guys, it's not going away. But I did have that thought for a minute where it was just like, like maybe this isn't, maybe this isn't what I should be doing. Um, but it just required me to ask the questions of.

Heather (19:18)
Yeah, no, shut up. Yeah. No, you're not. No.

Nicole Begley (19:34)
If it was light, if it was easy, what could be the most impactful for the listeners? Because that becomes, that becomes reinforcing for me, ⁓ when it's helpful for you. So if it's helpful for you, please let me know. ⁓ anyway, so by just starting to ask those questions, it's just like, then you're able to shift, but, but there is no right way. Like nobody was telling me, if you have a podcast, you have to do it this way. You have to have these types of episodes.

Heather (19:40)
That's it.

Nicole Begley (20:03)
You have to do it X, Y, Z. I get to create it however I want and you get to do that with your business too.

Heather (20:12)
love all of this so much. If you could see me on video, I'm like leading in this is so fantastic. I think something you said is so key. And that is what is the goal? What is the purpose? And what is the impact or whatever version works for you? Is that more important to you than the pain of some things you need to figure out? I think that when you start with purpose, you can tolerate

Nicole Begley (20:16)
Hahaha

Mm-hmm.

Heather (20:42)
more. So it's like, okay, if I want to have a business and I'm the type of person that hates, ⁓ these people tell me they hate numbers, which is so funny because I'm like, numbers never did anything to you. Or they'll tell me they're not good at math. What do you mean? ⁓ Okay. can, so, but the point is,

Nicole Begley (20:43)
Mm-hmm.

It's like severance. You're like, those numbers were scary.

Heather (21:06)
is your love for photography and delivering artwork and whatever your deliverable is to your clients, is that that purpose needs to be greater than your dislike of numbers. And then you either figure out how to do the numbers or you outsource it. There's a lot of things you can outsource. But I think focusing on what what we hate is probably not the best approach. I'm going to focus on my purpose. Let me give you an example that is happening in my life.

Today, today, my mom is making pork and sauerkraut for dinner and I have some German heritage. I love pork and sauerkraut, but my mom put it in the crock pot this morning. So by 830 AM, the entire house reeks of sauerkraut and it will smell this way the entire day. So let me tell you this, Nicole. I hate the smell of sauerkraut in the house all day. And it's probably like, it's probably permeating

Nicole Begley (22:01)
Same.

Heather (22:05)
my hair and my clothes, I hate it, okay? But I love pork and sauerkraut. So what do we do with this?

Nicole Begley (22:12)
Well, I mean, I guess you just suffered through. Go outside.

Heather (22:15)
I guess I'm moving my workstation to the front porch or the back patio. I don't know. you know, it's obviously a light and funny example, but eating pork and sauerkraut with mashed potatoes this evening is my purpose in life. It is my goal to do that, which means I'm tolerating the part of it that I don't like. But if I only focus on my hate of the smell of sauerkraut in the crock pot all day, we would never eat it.

Nicole Begley (22:19)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yup. Well, and piggybacking on that, like when you are connected to why you're doing this, like, okay, I started a photography business because I enjoyed photography. ⁓ and then you started to get some clients and then these uncomfortable things start to pop up and then you're focusing on that piece of it. I want you to refocus on the clients that you're serving and how happy they are with their

pictures of their kids, their pictures of their dogs and focus on that. And if you're focusing on that and you're still like, it's just, it's not, it's not worth it for me. Okay. Maybe like, let's have those conversations to see what this looks like. See how we can change things. ⁓ but a lot of times just shifting our focus to the service aspect and what we're actually doing for other people is enough to help us get over those uncomfortable things. ⁓ it's an, it, it,

totally changes the game when you're marketing because no longer you out there like, please like me, please book me. Like all meek and scared of what people are going to think about you. No, you can focus on, hey, let me help you. This is how I can help you. And by reminding yourself that your job is only to let people know how you can serve them.

Heather (23:44)
Yes.

Nicole Begley (24:08)
and their job is to decide if now's the right time or not, and it means nothing about you, it becomes a whole lot easier.

Heather (24:14)
You are so right. Focusing on your impact essentially is what you're saying. The impact and the purpose of what you're doing. If you do that, if you can do that, shift it, that will help. You know, I'm always trying to turn down the dial on the pain. You know, if you can do that, that will turn down the dial. But also, a lot of people think that that discomfort or that frustration or whatever it is, they think that that's wrong because it doesn't feel good.

And I'm like, it's just a signal. It's just something you maybe need to explore. So if being uncomfortable was not a problem, it's not bad, it's not wrong. And because here's why, if you label that as wrong or a problem, then you end up throwing your arms up in the air and being like, I have to change something. I have to go back to making this a hobby because being uncomfortable, that means something is wrong. Something is bad. Something is off. I just don't see it that way.

I see discomfort when I am in discomfort in my business. I'm thinking, my gosh, I don't like it, but I know this is good because I know it's giving me data or it's helping me grow. I know that any, any negative emotion in my business is serving me and it is necessary. So I don't, I don't go into, okay, I do. I try not to go into a tailspin.

Nicole Begley (25:17)
and it's growth.

Mm-hmm.

Heather (25:37)
around, my gosh, everything's wrong and I'm, you know, and also be really careful. She was doing this where she was like putting judgment on herself for feeling that way. Drop the judgment immediately because that's just multiplying your suffering. Drop the judgment. You feel what you feel. And as my therapist always said, your feelings are valid. So you don't need to judge them, but they're just information. Being uncomfortable is not

Nicole Begley (25:46)
Hmmmm

Mm-hmm.

Heather (26:05)
is not a problem. It's not bad. Wouldn't you expect if you're running your own business that there's probably going to be some discomfort and some challenges? But what if those are the things that help point you to a better business? And I think in her case, I need to talk to her about this schedule lifeline, but I think in her case, if she can sort of work through some of these emotions and make some changes that work for her and she, ⁓ man, and I'm like, ⁓ please.

just stay the course. Because I know you can create a better version of your business and uplevel the version and the self-contempt that you have for yourself. I know she will be in a better place. So I'm like praying and please just stay the course. You can do it. I'll talk to her privately, but it's just such a great example of, what's coming?

Nicole Begley (26:36)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Heather (27:03)
you're going to be uncomfortable. You're going to feel some version of, is this even worth it? I don't even know if this is worth it. And

Nicole Begley (27:10)
⁓ yeah. Every,

every business, like someone, it hasn't happened to you yet, it's coming for you.

Heather (27:15)
Yes.

Yes. And my answer to that, first of all, that's coming from your brain. When your brain poses a question like, it worth it? And you leave that hanging, you're in trouble. Answer the question. And the answer to that question is a resounding yes. It is worth it because of what I love. It is worth it because of the freedom. And it's worth it because of how it challenges me to grow and to learn. So when you feel frustrated, just know it's coming from your brain, which is not you, by the way. You are not your thoughts. And your brain's like,

Why do I even bother? This is not even like maybe an unhappy client or pricing isn't working or in this case, she's just frustrated. Yes, it absolutely is worth it. And it's worth working through. I want to sort of bring this full circle back to the myth of the universal approach. The point to this is that there's no perfect right wrong way to do it. There is your way and your way is going to work one day and it's not going to work tomorrow. You're going to have to and experiment.

And, and none of that's a problem. It doesn't have to be a problem. It's just like part of the journey. And, and every part of that you learn. said yesterday on a call as well, one of our friends in elevate was struggling. She felt like nothing was working and it turns out multiple things were working, but her brain. Yeah. Her brain was just telling her nothing was working. And I said, listen, I am not worried about you because you're perfectly capable.

Nicole Begley (28:37)
Your brain just won't allow you to see more.

Heather (28:47)
I would be more worried if everything worked perfectly right out of the gate for you because you would get no lessons, zero learnings, zero, nothing you would learn.

Nicole Begley (28:52)
Mm-hmm.

And then

at some point something won't work and you have no idea how to fix it and manage it.

Heather (29:03)
Correct.

Correct. So what if you looked at these setbacks, these challenges as learnings for the future better version of yourself that like, my gosh, this is going to make me so much more capable. So the next problem that arises is going to be different, but I'm going to have more of a foundation to handle it or approach it from. then the next problem, and it's never going to end. And so you're just like, okay, this buckle up, you know?

Nicole Begley (29:17)
Huh?

Heather (29:32)
I'm here for the ride. I also want to add that conversation. She was saying she was just an overwhelmed because she felt like nothing was working. at the end, once we coached through it, here's what it came down to. Everything actually is working. All of the things she's doing are brilliant and working, just not as big and fast as she would like. And she's busy. So said, okay, you're busy. That's fair. But everything is working and you want to improve it.

Nicole Begley (29:32)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Heather (29:59)
So it's not that you're overwhelmed and nothing is working. You're busy and everything is actually working. And so you see how that like shift again just turned down the dial. You just have like, is there a way to think about this? What's happening that feels better and that serves you? And I promise if you bring it to me, I promise you I will find that way.

Nicole Begley (30:10)
Mm-hmm.

Yep. Yep. Oh my gosh. So good. So you guys, that's the moral of the story. If you are feeling that way, come to the next get coached by Heather.com free call. Um, and also don't forget we have coming up. Well, actually this one will get.

I'll let you guys get behind the curtain here for a second. We recorded this podcast second, but the one coming out next week, it recorded first. So I would say don't forget, but you haven't heard it yet because this is coming out first. So let's back up for a second. In August, Heather and I are hosting a four week challenge for clients in four weeks. It's going to be four calls, four weeks. There might end up being some bonus things because we over deliver. So yeah, sorry.

Heather (31:10)
Always. I have a lot of ideas.

Nicole Begley (31:13)
Our goal is to help you get four clients in four weeks. How amazing would that be? ⁓ It's gonna start the third week of August. We'll have more details at the beginning of August. So just keep an eye out for that. If you're on my list or Heather's list, you'll see that come through your email. We'll mention it here on the podcast too. Good on.

Heather (31:26)
Yeah. My goal is

to push you pretty hard because once you do that, you have that skill for life and then you're not relying on inquiries. You just, you decide. You are in control. You have the confidence to build your business your way, how you would like, because if I don't have any clients or inquiries, I don't just sit here, Nicole. I'm like, go get them. And then I just go do it. And I want to teach people that skill. So can you imagine how important

Nicole Begley (31:33)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Heather (31:55)
that would be to just feel like I could just go get clients because Heather Nicole taught me and I can harness that.

Nicole Begley (31:57)
Very empowering.

That is actually the most game changing skill one can have in business because what is business? Our business is leads to sales. If you don't know how to get the leads, like if you just put a website up and hope people find it, yeah, you might get one or two people that come through here and there, but you have zero control over that. And you're like living in this constant state of

Heather (32:14)
Mm-hmm.

Nicole Begley (32:29)
lack and insecurity and just not knowing like, and just out of control, you have no control over it. So if you can learn how to control that, to turn the spigot on and off at will so that you can get clients when you need them, I mean, yeah.

Heather (32:45)
What would that do for your life? How would you feel about your business? Because so many people are kind of down on themselves about, don't know how to run a business or I can't do this. And I think that that's just a self-concept. You absolutely can. And when you start sort of building that confidence level by doing it, it really is a game changer. You learn how to do it. You have that skill for life. My thought always when I was running my photography business was,

Nicole Begley (32:58)
Mm-hmm.

Heather (33:14)
Do I want more money or do I want more time? Because there were seasons in life where I was like, go, go, go, let's book all of the clients, know, I'm like money, money, money. And then there were seasons when my children were little, it was like, I just need some time, you know, so I'm gonna take a little bit. I'm gonna slow it down. I never, never really took a break, but I get to decide that. Do I want more time or do I want more money? I'm in control of that. Also, my thought is this, I make money

Nicole Begley (33:17)
Mmm.

Heather (33:44)
Every day in some days I collect

Nicole Begley (33:50)
What do you mean by that?

Heather (33:52)
Thank you for asking. I will find ways to think about my business or I will be executing things in my business and I believe that it is always leading me to more clients. Even if that's rest.

Nicole Begley (34:04)
Yeah,

the seeds of future clients. Hmm. that's a hard one for me.

Heather (34:09)
correct, even if it's rest. So like if I take a vacation, I think that that's, I know, I know, I know, I know. But here's

my thought is if I'm if I'm resting or on a break, that I'm giving my brain the space to come up with more creative ideas. So even on vacation, I will say to myself, I make money every day. And some days I collect and there might be some weeks where I am not collecting.

Nicole Begley (34:22)
Yes.

Heather (34:36)
And then the game becomes managing my mind around that and reminding myself that I'm in control. I know how to get clients. I've done it before. I make money every day. Some days I collect. I get back into that story, which is empowering. And I just don't entertain the other story or stories, narratives that things aren't working or I don't know what I'm doing or I'm not good at math or just any of that. I just don't engage.

Nicole Begley (34:40)
Mm, mhm.

Heather (35:06)
with those stories and what my brain tries to offer them to me. I'm like, no, no, no, no. I make money every day. Some days I collect. I'm in control. I know what to do. You had joked with me. I don't know. Yesterday, the day before she you were like, Heather, I don't know if you know this, but you know, if you want more clients, you just need to like meet more people and make more offers. It was so like no kidding. It was so funny because we honestly sometimes forget that we're in control and I just want to remind people I want to show them.

Nicole Begley (35:30)
Yep.

Heather (35:33)
I want to teach them, demonstrate, coach them around all of the thoughts and the challenges, and then give them that ability to do it themselves.

Nicole Begley (35:41)
Amazing. So yeah, more details coming for that. I hope you guys enjoyed this one. I really enjoy these past couple of episodes. Well, the one that's coming out next week that we already recorded prior, but anyway, whatever order these come, they'll come to you at the exact right time for what you need. ⁓ All right. I just want to wrap up with one little piece too, which is, ⁓ just bears repeating and that reminder is our feelings.

Heather (35:57)
That's it. doesn't matter. Yeah.

Nicole Begley (36:10)
are a barometer for our thoughts. So I just love to think about that. Like when you're feeling frustrated or you're feeling nervous or you're feeling like overwhelmed or just like despair about your business, like what are the thoughts that are leading to that? Because the thoughts aren't good. So it is literally impossible to feel crappy when you have good thoughts, when you're thinking good thoughts. So that's just a good

Heather (36:12)
Mm.

Nicole Begley (36:39)
a good barometer, like a good thing to check yourself. And you're like, when you're feeling down about whatever, whether it's personal business, something's like, there's a thought. And it doesn't mean that like feeling that you're not allowed to ever have quote, negative emotions. Like if something traumatic happened, like, yeah, you're going to grieve, you're going to be upset. You're going to have some thoughts that, maybe aren't, you know, are feeding to that grief, but that's not bad.

But that also means that there's a way when you're ready to start to shift out to that, how can we start to shift to gratitude? How can we start to remember different memories or do things like that? So same thing with our business. Like it's allowed to be frustration, but is that serving you? Like how can we start to shift that? Is there a thought that maybe you will feel better because when we're feeling better, we're going to take better actions. We're going to get better results.

Heather (37:32)
my gosh, very well said, my friend. It's like if you knew that later this year or sometime next year, you would have consistent $10,000 a month. If you knew that was coming, what would you be thinking and feeling right now if you knew? So it's, you I always say when you're feeling disappointed and things aren't going your way, that's totally fair. I have that as well. Give yourself what you need, which is approximately 2.3 seconds.

Nicole Begley (37:48)
Mm-hmm.

Heather (38:00)
And you know, allow yourself to feel it and then ask yourself, yeah, I'm curious, what am I thinking that's causing me to feel so defeated? I'm thinking nothing is working. Well, what is the truth? A few things have worked. A few things have worked. ⁓

Nicole Begley (38:10)
Mm-hmm.

Or maybe

I'm figuring out what's going to work. I'm experimenting to find what will work.

Heather (38:18)
Absolutely.

And I will and I will I will figure that out. And, you know, my future is consistent. Ten thousand twenty thousand dollar months. OK, then let's go.

Nicole Begley (38:22)
Mm-hmm.

Yep.

Yeah. And the other piece, last last piece is when you're thinking about that future, like if you say next year, next month, next quarter, and you're like, that feels too soon. Take that time away from it. Time's a construct we made up. It doesn't really exist. Like that future exists in some other quantum field. Like can you, if you take the time off of it and just say, yes, I can see myself with $10,000 a month in my future.

That's a matter of that future is. If you can lean into that, you're 90 % of the way there.

Heather (38:58)
Yes.

Yes, I love that. Perfect.

Nicole Begley (39:04)
Yeah.

Awesome. All right. Well, this has been a great conversation as per usual. We will see you guys next week. Have a good one.

Heather (39:16)
thought.