Freedom Focus Photography

When Success is Messy with Michelle Crandall

• Nicole Begley, Heather Lahtinen, Michelle Crandall • Episode 324

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324 - We love the idea of growth, but rarely talk about the mess that comes with it. In this episode, Michelle shares how a book project grew her business, stretched her capacity, and challenged everything she thought success should feel like.

What to Listen For

  • Why action creates clarity, not the other way
  • How one project doubled her business revenue
  • The hidden emotional cost of growth
  • Learning boundaries after saying yes too often
  • When being busy reveals pricing problems
  • Trusting yourself when plans fall apart
  • Why success can trigger imposter syndrome
  • Separating client expectations from self-pressure
  • The danger of equating late with failure
  • Letting success be imperfect and still meaningful

Michelle’s story proves that meaningful success often feels messy in the middle. Tune in if you’re building momentum and wondering why it doesn’t feel as good as you expected.

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Nicole Begley (00:00)
In today's episode, we're talking about something that we don't talk about enough. And that is how success can feel messy. We're talking really messy. In today's episode, Heather is chatting with Michelle Crandall and they are sharing behind the scenes of a major book project that brought Michelle growth, income, visibility, and a whole lot of emotional whiplash. We're talking long days, broken plans, imposter syndrome, the works.

learning to trust yourself when things don't go the way that you imagined. If you've ever thought, this is what I wanted, so why am I struggling? Well, this episode's for you. Stay tuned.

Nicole Begley (00:37)
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.

speaker-0 (01:37)
Thank you for coming back to the podcast, Michelle. It's been a while since you've been here and I have absolutely missed you as I'm sure everyone else has. So we need to make sure we're recording more episodes together, but catch us up to date. What's been going on with you?

speaker-1 (01:54)
Well, I had a great year this year. I did a book project and it really helped my business. And I learned a lot about things in my business where I needed to get better and where I was doing okay and changes that I needed to make. So yeah, it's been a very successful year.

speaker-0 (02:13)
Well, first of all, congratulations on your success. Of course, I think that you deserve that and much more. So today we are going to zoom in on the book project. So for everyone listening, because I actually think this is unique to pet photographers, possibly. What is a book project?

speaker-1 (02:33)
Well, a book project is, ⁓ it's a fun project that we can do. Many of us do it, you know, in a specific time period, whether that's six months or a year. And what we do is we get a bunch of subjects together. Most of the time is dogs, but it doesn't have to be dogs. You could do it probably in any sort of.

speaker-0 (02:55)
genre, I guess any needs.

speaker-1 (02:57)
Yeah. think sort of niche and you get a bunch of dogs together in my example and you photograph them all and you can write stories about them all. And then you put it in a book and you sell the book for most of the time for a fundraising effort. In my case, it was for a docs and rescue here in Michigan.

speaker-0 (03:17)
Okay. this is really, okay, fundraising and is, is there like a marketing component to this? Like, is it, is it like twofold in terms of the goal? Like raise money, obviously, or a rescue or charity or whatever. And then this also helps you with marketing. I mean, is that part of the goal?

speaker-1 (03:37)
It is part of the goal. The reason that I decided to do the book project for me was because I was having a hard time giving clients a reason to book a session with me. So, you know, for high school seniors, like, obviously there's an event that's happening and you need to schedule photo or you don't need to, guess, but most people do. It's kind of photos for weddings, know, newborns, that sort of thing.

Even annual family photos is something that a lot of people do. But when it comes to pets as a niche profession, there's not really any event like that that encourages people to book a session with me. So having a project like this that I could say, hey, if you schedule a session this year, you can be in this book project. And then it goes into like the raising money aspect and all of that.

So it really is the best of both worlds in my opinion, because it helps my business and it also helps the rescue and we just partner hand in hand.

speaker-0 (04:45)
A win-win-win for everyone. And I would have to assume that you also meet a lot of people.

speaker-1 (04:52)
Yes. A lot of people. The funny thing specifically about mine was it was breed specific. It was Dachshunds. I didn't have one single Dachshund client in my group of people that have like done sessions in the past. Yeah. And my loyal following, I think I have a lot of people that love Dachshunds or maybe they, I talk about them so much, they don't have a choice, but to hear it.

⁓ and so I didn't have anybody in, in my group that I could pull from. So this was a whole, like completely new community that I admittedly very much wanted to be part of. Yeah. But I, didn't have an in, so to speak. So what I did was I contacted, ⁓ the Detroit doxing club in Michigan and coordinated with the founder, Kelly. I said, Hey,

speaker-0 (05:37)
Right.

speaker-1 (05:49)
Do you think this might be something that your club would want to participate in? And because she was all in, I mean, really is the reason that this was successful.

speaker-0 (05:58)
Okay. I did not realize that there was a Detroit Doxon club, but I guess that means there could be any and all type of clubs in a city for breeds or I guess whatever.

speaker-1 (06:04)
yeah.

For various anything, you could do it with ⁓ a skateboard park or something like that. You know, you could do anything. But yeah, like Dachshunds are where I'm at.

speaker-0 (06:26)
Okay, Docs. Is this, is that the group you raised money for?

speaker-1 (06:31)
The founder of the Detroit dox and club is the fundraising director for the dox and house rescue. So it was like, she was absolutely the right person that I needed to speak to this project. I didn't even know at the time that she was the fundraising director. So I just so happened into that.

speaker-0 (06:52)
Well, bonus, right? Brilliant. And I'm guessing that based on her roles with these two major groups, Kelly is the person you would want to know. She knows everybody, right?

speaker-1 (07:02)
Yes, absolutely.

Yes. Yeah. She's an awesome human being and she really cares. And so to have somebody like that to walk through this whole process with was, was.

speaker-0 (07:16)
Okay. So at a high level, have this idea conceptually, you meet somebody like Kelly, you put it together, you take the photographs, you build the book. Okay. We'll get into some of this in a minute, but what is the result?

speaker-1 (07:31)
The result is for the rescue, we raised over $10,000. What? So that was a huge amount. Like that was my goal. My goal was $10,000. I was completely unaware of if we would ever hit it or anything. Like that was just, you know, like, let's, let's hit this lofty goal. Let's, let's see. And, know, and let's just see how close we get. And then, I mean, it was amazing. The community helped.

so much. mean, like everybody, you know, the way that we raised the most money was we had a contest to see who could raise the most money to be on the cover of the book. And so that really drew in a lot of donations. And so that was wonderful. On the business side of it, on the pets and focus side of it, it was wonderful because I had this community of clients who

loved dachshunds just like me and we almost like fed off of each other. Right. I love them. They love me. It's beautiful. several of them made purchases, which helped my business dramatically. Again, win, win, win. Okay.

speaker-0 (08:35)
nice.

Hey,

are you comfortable sharing with us how much your business brought in as well?

speaker-1 (08:43)
I will tell you that I made over double what I made last year, which.

speaker-0 (08:49)
Wait, from a project or just like? ⁓

speaker-1 (08:52)
the

project. Yes. Yeah. So it really can. You know, I never want to talk specific numbers and it's not because I'm embarrassed or excited or whatever. It's because I don't, I don't want somebody to be like, if I do a book project, I can make a hundred grand. Right. Right. I don't want anybody thinking that because it's different for everyone. The projects are different for everyone. Some people raise $900 in their cover contest. Some people raise $60,000. Yeah.

You know what I mean? So like, it's not necessarily, and even, even this project, wasn't about how much money can I make for pets and focus. It was how can I learn how to run my business better? Now I know I'll have this influx of clients and I'm going to find out where my shortcomings are real quick. I promise you that. And I did. And so it was really good for me to just learn how to be a better business person. And in the.

meantime raising so much money for rescue and photographing dachshunds all year.

speaker-0 (09:58)
fun. What is the timeframe from when you started to when you delivered the chat?

speaker-1 (10:05)
I did my first session, I think it was the third week in February, and I delivered the check the second week in November.

speaker-0 (10:14)
Okay. So somebody did that math for me. It was mad. Yeah.

speaker-1 (10:19)
It

was madness. It was a very, very busy year. Yes. Yeah. What else am I doing? Like seriously, I'm sitting here like trying to figure out how to get clients and advertising in the paper and, know, doing this and doing that. And I'm meeting people and I'm telling them what I do. And like, sometimes it hits and sometimes it doesn't. And so when I'm looking at like, how can I expand my business? Like, why not try?

speaker-0 (10:24)
Okay, so.

speaker-1 (10:48)
to do project.

speaker-0 (10:49)
Okay,

that's a good point. It's like action produces more action, which leads to momentum and ultimately results. And you'll always feel better when you are taking action versus in action.

speaker-1 (11:02)
Yeah. Sitting behind the computer, trying to figure out what's next.

speaker-0 (11:05)
Right. You're just keeping yourself busy and you're meeting people and photographing. ⁓ Did it, did it lead to full clients for you for your business? Just your business.

speaker-1 (11:16)
It did, yes. There are several ways that you can run it. The way that I ran it, I think about half or so made a purchase and half didn't. And that was fine. know, some people run it where only people who are interested in making a purchase, uh, sign into it. Others, it doesn't matter. They run it similar to a calendar contest, you know,

speaker-0 (11:38)
How many dogs did you photograph? Did I ask this? I don't think I did.

speaker-1 (11:42)
I had 27 clients and 49 dogs. Yes.

speaker-0 (11:45)
What?

No wonder it took that many months. mean, that's a lot of dogs and people to deal with.

speaker-1 (11:55)
Right. Well, I really did learn where my hard boundaries need to be though, because there were weeks when I did more. think, I think on one week I did nine sessions in one week and it was insane. And some of them were many sessions, but some of them were full sessions, you know, 90 minutes away from where I live. So when you think about that, that's 90 minutes there, you're doing three sessions. Then you do 90 minutes back. Like that's a six hour day. Right. And it starts at 5 PM.

speaker-0 (12:20)
That's the whole day.

⁓ right. Yeah. I mean, come to think of it now, this summer, you and I talked several times and you were like, so I'm on my way to and then you helped me or I'm on my way home from you were just a lot of driving.

speaker-1 (12:25)
I mean.

lot of driving. Yeah. And so that's something that you have to consider when you're doing it. Like, you know, how much do you want to drive?

speaker-0 (12:48)
How much time is involved? Right.

speaker-1 (12:49)
much time is involved. And so if you're not doing much else, you've got 40 hours a week or however much you know, your business is part time, full time, let's do it. If you have a full schedule already, this is a pretty time intensive project. ⁓ So it might be something to consider.

speaker-0 (13:08)
Just know it ahead of time. Yes. What would ideally, how many, how many sessions would you do a week? Ideally.

speaker-1 (13:17)
Ideally, so I can keep up with my editing. I can't imagine doing more than two sessions a week, full sessions. And just to keep up on that. And again, I'm not super new in business, but I just want to make sure that I keep everything within my...

promised timeframe. Yeah, right. I'm the type of person that if I say I'm going to do it in three weeks, like I better be delivering it in my brain in two weeks or less, or I'm late.

speaker-0 (13:48)
Yeah, same, right. has to be not even on time ahead of schedule to have this to you ahead of schedule. Okay, so these weeks you did nine sessions one week and whatever I assume you were busy for several of these weeks. Did you in fact lose your mind?

speaker-1 (13:56)
Exactly.

pretty close. Yes.

speaker-0 (14:11)
I mean, so you had said a moment ago that you found out where you face some challenges and maybe had some shortcomings. Let's talk about those challenges. Tell me like right out of the gate. So it's February. You're starting to photograph. Yeah. What did you learn? I don't know, maybe early on in this endeavor.

speaker-1 (14:32)
What I learned early on in this endeavor was I needed to not allow clients to just book whenever they wanted ⁓ because I could have saved myself a lot of stress and a lot of internal mind drama. If I just would have said, I'm going to do two clients a week. And if you don't get your April date that you want, that doesn't mean I'm going to add you on. ⁓

It means now you have a May date or a March date because that's what's available.

speaker-0 (15:08)
You did a lot of bending there, I

speaker-1 (15:10)
I

did. Yes. Because I wanted to make everybody happy. ⁓ And in the meantime, you know, I would go home, like, couldn't stop my brain. So I couldn't sleep some weeks, you know, like I just, everything I've got to do. And, you know, I did, I did do one of the first sessions in February, ⁓ unfortunately, because that dog was quite sick, even sicker than we knew at the time. And

then I didn't have anybody for like most of March and even like the first part of April. And then everybody slammed themselves into the schedule, you know, April, May, June. And so I had set a hard date for myself to make sure that the timeline was correct. ⁓ that I wouldn't do any sessions after the middle of June. And what ended up happening was I did it into July. ⁓ because I wanted to get everybody in. Right.

you know, and I wanted to raise as much money as I could for the rescue and all of this. So I did end up putting more stress on myself than was necessary based on the timeline.

speaker-0 (16:16)
What would you do differently? How? mean, you know what you did, but like, how would you structure it so that didn't happen again?

speaker-1 (16:23)
Well, interestingly enough, as someone who has always said, but do you need a CRM? When people ask me that question, I do. You do. I do now, you know, at that volume. Yeah. Which doesn't even sound like a lot. When I think about it, my brain, like 27 clients, it doesn't sound like a ton, right? When you're thinking like, okay, if I'm going to run a full-time business, two clients a week times 40 weeks, that's 80 people. ⁓

speaker-0 (16:34)
volume.

speaker-1 (16:52)
And I'm stressed out with 27, like what? So, ⁓ absolutely need a CRM because you need that automation. I mean, I guess I don't necessarily know if you need a CRM, but you need the automation to be able to not have every single word that you speak with clients come from your own Gmail on your iPhone from the couch. ⁓

speaker-0 (17:14)
when you've arrived somewhere you're here.

speaker-1 (17:16)
Yeah.

Or the card is style or whatever. Like it, there needs to be some, some of this has to run smoothly in the background. And again, for me, it was the scheduling that I've never had an influx of 27 clients in a matter of a month to want to schedule with me. ⁓ and so I didn't really know how to handle it. I do now, but what I would have done differently is I would have put very strict dates.

And if you don't get in, like you don't get in.

speaker-0 (17:48)
Did you use a scheduler?

speaker-1 (17:51)
Yeah, I did. Yeah. I have like, ⁓ an app called use session. Yeah. And, ⁓ it worked, it worked really well for that. And there is some automation with that, but basically you open up your calendar and you say, okay, well I can do a session on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. But then if there's a rain date, then it has to be this day, you know, and if it's then, then you gotta do this. And so what ended up happening was I wanted to do two sessions a week.

But what ended up happening was I had three days available. So I would say, ⁓ well, if I schedule Tuesday, then I'll block off Wednesday, but it all happened so fast. So then I would be scheduled Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. then Wednesday it rains. So then I'm working Tuesday, kind of Wednesday because I'm working myself up at all and getting prepared to do the session and then it rains. So it's feels like a session day. And then I'm doing a session on Thursday and then we're rescheduling Wednesdays to Friday.

speaker-0 (18:28)
Yeah.

speaker-1 (18:47)
You know, and then I'm not getting home, you know, in the summer in Michigan, you know, it's seven 30 by the time the light is perfect, you know, an ideal. So, and if I'm an hour and a half away, I'm not getting home till nine 30, 10 o'clock. ⁓ right. Right. But Heather, I wouldn't have known this unless I did the action to do all of this. Right. Like I learned all this in the process.

speaker-0 (19:00)
No, sir.

This is one of those perfect examples of there's no way you would have known that until you executed and it happened. Like that whole idea of wanting to do two sessions but blocking off three and then the rain and then this and then that and then having you, it's so dynamic. And having to move everything around. Somebody could have told you that, but you'd have been like, yeah, okay, I get it. Until it happens.

You just don't realize how quickly everything is moving. And I've got to tell you, 27 does to me does sound like a lot, especially in your condensed time frame. And I think now that you've done it, you would agree that is a lot.

speaker-1 (19:55)
It is a lot. When you, so again, like when I'm thinking about my ideal business and two clients a week, and that's eight clients a month, you know, times at least 10 months that I want to be working so I can hit that six figure goal that everybody's, you know, looking for. Right. So I'm thinking in my brain, like 80 clients is what I need. At least 80 clients. I don't know about that anymore, Heather.

I might need to raise those prices so we can decrease that 80.

speaker-0 (20:25)
60. Correct. And again, that's something that you wouldn't know until you learned it. Then you're like, ⁓ well, I better double my prices ASAP to get that number down to 40. I'm not doing 80 at the height of my wedding career. did 30 weddings a year and it was an impossible amount of work. mean, it was insane. And that was a wedding every weekend.

speaker-1 (20:37)
Right?

speaker-0 (20:51)
from May through October with no Saturdays off. Cause if you count the number of Saturdays, you'll see that that doesn't even add up to 30. So I was doing some Friday, Saturday, double headers. And what happened to me was the same thing that happened to you with the scheduling, is they would book so fast and things were happening so quickly that I wouldn't notice it until it was too late that I had scheduled at one point, I believe

think it was 30 might've been more like 25 in a row without a Saturday off. And that was not wise.

speaker-1 (21:26)
you

But then look at from the outside from someone who's not a wedding photographer. They're like, you only worked 30 Saturdays. my gosh. had so much time off. Yes. You had two months off, you know, whatever four months off. Like, yeah, it doesn't, it doesn't compute until

speaker-0 (21:48)
No,

doesn't until you live it. And then you're like, but I wanted to die. I almost died.

speaker-1 (21:55)
Exactly. The thing is, Heather, I wouldn't change anything for the world. I met so many awesome human beings. And even when there was like some trouble, like one person canceled and I had stacked a couple of sessions before there. So I had to go out, you know, for a couple only the people that I met doing this and the things that I learned about my business. Invaluable. Yeah. mean, period. Hard stop.

speaker-0 (22:19)
Priceless.

speaker-1 (22:22)
Like I absolutely wouldn't change anything for the world. Now I know because we're friends that you probably thought come April and May that I would have said something differently, but, at that point I may have.

speaker-0 (22:35)
Yeah, I was just going to ask you that actually, because that's really easy to say and to see now that you've delivered the $10,000 check. But when you were in the middle of this, there were a few times I was legitimately concerned for you.

speaker-1 (22:52)
Yeah. Well, yeah, it was, um, it was a lot and it was a lot of learning and that I didn't expect. was like, okay, I know how to be a photographer. I know how to be a pet photographer. Now I can just go do my job. Finally, I can just go do my job instead of working in the background on SEO and what my email signature looks like and blah, blah, blah. Is my website good enough? Now I just get to do my job that I've always wanted to do. That job is very hard.

especially when you're doing it seven times. It turns out. Yes. So, ⁓ so yeah, there were, there were definitely some times and two, the other part of this is the rescue or whoever you partner with is counting on you. And so there was definitely an aspect of, my gosh, am I going to be able to make this happen? It was especially bad like the, like June and into July.

speaker-0 (23:25)
Turns out, yes.

speaker-1 (23:49)
when I was like trying to get as many people in as I could and oh my gosh, we need this proof to go out by the 1st of August to make sure that we have it in November, the final copies. Like there were a lot of dominoes and they all had to fall just right. Yes. And so the steps that I was in the end of June and the beginning of July, I was scared. I I'm not afraid to, to admit that out loud. I was afraid that this wasn't going to be finished.

Right. Because we had told both the rescue and the doxing club and I, had all told everybody this can be ready for gift giving for Christmas. ⁓ great. You know? Yes. And so that was the goal. And I had it all scheduled out in my calendar in January. I was like, these are the markers that we need to hit. And then what started happening in June was we didn't hit the markers.

speaker-0 (24:26)
Right.

Yeah.

speaker-1 (24:43)
because

more people wanted in and rain dates and so and so had to cancel their session so now they're rescheduled and like I started to get really nervous.

speaker-0 (24:52)
I want to ask you about that. Like, what did you do in those moments of doubt, self or otherwise, because when you scheduled everything in January, I happened to know that you are, you have an extreme attention to detail. So you're great at planning things out. So you knew what needed to be, to happen, right? There was no question about that. So in January, you're like, I've got this, you had belief, which is why you executed when you're hitting, you know, May and the June and things are slipping.

How did you manage the doubt?

speaker-1 (25:24)
I had to remember, and I did a lot of work on this mindset that I trust myself. And that was a statement that I had to continue to say again and again and again. I trust myself to get this done because yes, it's starting to go off the rails. And I, because I'm the type of planner that I am, built in

a few extra weeks for when things started to get hairy. I used those weeks that I built in January. I absolutely needed them. And so it was funny because I was having a call with my coach and I was like, my gosh, I don't know what to do. It's the beginning of June and they're not all done. And you know, there was lots of arm-waving as he likes.

speaker-0 (26:15)
I love that. Arms are waving everywhere.

speaker-1 (26:19)
Right. Right. And then she said, but when do you actually need to have this done by Michelle? And I, on the call, fully in belief that I needed everything done by June 1st, fully in belief, opened up my calendar and was like, ⁓ actually it's July 15th.

speaker-0 (26:39)
Actually. Right.

speaker-1 (26:42)
So I had worked myself up, you know, huge. And, you know, it was just a mess. And then I was like, ⁓ it's actually not as dire as I think it is.

speaker-0 (26:52)
Okay, that's a good thought. It's not actually as dire as I think it is. And I wrote this down when you were saying it, I trust myself, I planned for this, and I'm capable. Those are really good thoughts to think about your self concept. You know, we talk about that a lot in elevate and otherwise, just having this self concept of like, I can figure this out. I can do this. Of course I can. I'm Michelle Crandall. Duh. I'm gonna figure it.

speaker-1 (27:18)
⁓ Yes, like I

speaker-0 (27:21)
Right. I've got this. so when you, you were able to know you've been, listen, this is for real. You've been doing a really good job at catching your thoughts faster and turning them around. Even if you have your little moment, which is okay, we all do. And then you're like, and that little moment feels very big, I should say. And then you're like, okay, but I planned for this and I trust myself and it's okay. I think there's this moment at least would be for me of like, I like to be ahead.

And so you planned to be ahead with that right buffer. And then you had to use the buffer, which is now to you, to you. It's I'm late instead of right. I'm actually on time.

speaker-1 (28:01)
It's.

Exactly. That's exactly it. Under promise, over deliver. Yeah. I can't with myself. I'm trying to under promise and over deliver with my own self.

speaker-0 (28:17)
Right? Listen, any way it takes to manage your brain, I guess that's what you have to do. I hate thinking I'm behind. And in fact, like I find ways to just rig the game so that I feel like I'm ahead all of the time. Yeah. And if I'm on time, I have to remind myself, number one, that's OK. And I trust myself and I'm capable and I'll figure it out. But by the way, and also all of this is just made up. Like I want you to go.

speaker-1 (28:23)
Right.

speaker-0 (28:45)
Like for one minute or longer would have happened if you missed all of those dates and deadline in the book was not ready for November or for Christmas. What would have happened?

speaker-1 (29:03)
It would have been late and that's okay.

speaker-0 (29:05)
and...

What the world would you tell June or July Michelle that though? Cause that girl don't listen.

speaker-1 (29:15)
No, she does not listen. She was not listening to anything. It was a goal, right? I told everyone my hope is to have this out for Christmas so you can buy an extra copy for your mom, dad, brother, sister. I never said it will be delivered November 15th. Right. You know, I never said that internally. Of course, that's what I'm saying to myself, but.

When I look at it from like the top down, under promise, over deliver for all of my clients, I never promised anything. And that was what I had to continuously say to myself, especially like July, when I was working with my graphic designer who is amazing by the way. And she was like, I can do this in two days. And I was like, it just took me six months. You can't do this in two days. And then she did it in two days.

You know, cause that's her job. She's a professional at it and she had it totally handled. And she actually probably is the reason that we were able to stick on, our timetable after all the drama in June and July. Yes. Because she handled it. Yes. And so, you know, not to take anything away from her. I knew that she would handle it. That's why I hired her. Putting the right people in the place that they need to be to get the project done.

speaker-0 (30:40)
You did that. Because why? You're capable.

speaker-1 (30:42)
I did that.

because I'm capable and I trust myself to get it done.

speaker-0 (30:48)
Trust myself, I'm capable.

speaker-1 (30:51)
Cause

what's the other option? Right. Just like roll down, roll around and be like, I don't know what's going to happen. I can't do anything. You can't, you always have an option to change something up to fix it. There's always options out there. I mean, granted, whatever you tried everything, there are situations of course, where this doesn't apply, but like in this situation, I could have, okay. Say my graphic designer got stuck in Canada on her vacation.

Like I hire somebody else. Maybe the books got printed with the wrong cover. Okay. Yeah. And we turn around and we ha it might cost us $2,000 that we don't want to spend, but we'll turn around and we'll get it done because I will always deliver the best product I can for my clients. Period. And this is no different. This project was no different.

speaker-0 (31:21)
Right?

You need to maybe listen to this episode and write down all of the amazing thoughts that you are giving us. Like I wrote this down. You said you always have an option. Like, and I'm going to deliver. So I don't need to worry. think the big problem we need to manage is like, if, if it were late, you know, based on your own timetable. Yes. What do we make that mean about us? Like,

It doesn't being late doesn't have to be a problem. It's like, so what, what does that mean? It doesn't mean I'm a loser. It doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing. It just means that circumstances lined up this way. And how is this in my working in my favor? Like there's always ways that you can turn that around. I just want to make a note here. I am not speaking about deadlines. Usually that you would give a client, you know, if you say that your images are going to be delivered in two weeks, you better be doing that like 99 % of the time, but.

things do happen. And the thing is, if you're feeling all of this pressure to get it done by a certain timeframe, it's because you're not giving yourself the grace, the ability, the belief that you could figure it out even when it doesn't go well.

speaker-1 (32:59)
I have a perfect example of this. ⁓ I promised a client a piece of artwork in one month and it took three months. ⁓ And I was horrified. It was out of my hands. It wasn't like a digital that I was editing that needed to be delivered to her inbox. But she ordered this beautiful piece of artwork and something happened with the lab and they shut down for a while.

speaker-0 (33:10)
Yes.

speaker-1 (33:26)
I, when you talk about what did you make it mean? That's exactly what my biggest problem was. I was so stressed out about this situation. I can't believe I told her that it would be one month. Now I'm telling her early five weeks, like it was already late. And then a situation happened that made it more late. It was, I called her and I was physically shaking as I was leaving this voicemail for her.

because I was like, whatever it takes, I will make this right. If you want to cancel your order, I understand. Even though that would be to my detriment because I aren't paid for the piece. said, I will absolutely, you know, if I understand, you know, it's already been two months and I honestly don't have a delivery date at this point. I am very sorry. We can wait it out. It's.

I it's out of my hands. I'm very sorry. And so like she was so sweet. She's like, listen, I know it'll be worth the wait. Let me know when you hear something. ⁓

speaker-0 (34:27)
That simple.

speaker-1 (34:29)
that simple, but I literally had spent probably two days scared to death to make this call and I'm shaking, you know, and then I send her an email afterwards and I don't even know how many times I had written in there. I'm sorry. Yeah. Like, you know, because I was taking all of this on myself, like, ⁓ my gosh, I definitely over-promised and under-delivered on this one. You know, again, she got it. She loves it.

She wrote a glowing review. She loves everything I did. She doesn't care that it took three months. So it's all about the mind management around it. It's all about that.

speaker-0 (35:04)
She's not interested. Yeah.

it always is. It's not the strategy. It's not even so much the action. It's just managing your mind around it. Your thing is usually usually your thoughts about you first and then projecting those thoughts onto someone else. And if you just slow your roll for a second and let things just like happen with some neutrality,

speaker-1 (35:28)
Yes, absolutely.

speaker-0 (35:38)
instead of the catastrophization and the arm waving.

speaker-1 (35:42)
Right. Well, she was also one of my last clients. So when you're thinking about my mindset, I was already like at a 110. Yeah. 100. Because I was thinking that I was late. And then this happened on top of it. And it was just like, well, I quit.

speaker-0 (35:57)
Yeah, you did have some moments like that. Not seriously, but like some moments this year where you were like, I think you had said to me at one point some version of, know, I'm so busy and I'm just it's constant. I'm in the car and I'm driving and I'm doing sessions. I'm editing and it's just constant. And I thought this is what I wanted.

speaker-1 (36:19)
Yes.

speaker-0 (36:20)
And now that I'm doing it, I'm not so sure. Say more about that.

speaker-1 (36:26)
Yeah, that was a moment of weakness. The truth is I did. I do want to do this. Absolutely want to do this. That was nothing but reinforced this year at the actual sessions. You know what mean? I love doing this. What was not what I wanted was the schedule. So again, like that's an easy fix, right? You don't know it until you get into it, but

That's an easy fix. If I spread this out over 10 full months, instead of cramming everybody into like four and a half or five months, absolutely. I can do this again. Um, yes, I will. Okay. Yes. I'm already signed up with another rescue next year to do it. I learned a lot and it was great for my business. It was great for my heart and soul. Yes.

speaker-0 (37:22)
Well, you better, I'm serious. You better write all of this down so when next year Michelle starts to freak out about something, you can go back to your notes and say, that's, listen to this episode and say, that's right. This will all be worthwhile for what it makes of me.

speaker-1 (37:40)
Yes. Yeah, I'm not saying it's easy, but it's necessary.

speaker-0 (37:45)
Yeah, well, nobody learns from easy. You know, it's like you don't look back and say, thank goodness everything was smooth sailing because of everything I learned. You would never say that. You would look back on the hardest, the most taxing of times, like emotionally and mentally. And you'd say, that's what that's what built this. That's what you know, working several years at 30.

speaker-1 (37:48)
Yes.

You're

speaker-0 (38:11)
30 weddings and having small children and building a six figure business. Like you can never take that away from me. The lessons I learned in the sense of accomplishment. There are sometimes Michelle and I think back to even like specific weeks or things happening in my personal life and in my business where I'm like, I actually don't know how I survived that. And yet I did. You.

speaker-1 (38:34)
Yeah.

Here we are.

speaker-0 (38:40)
really increase your capacity for complexity.

speaker-1 (38:45)
year. Yes ma'am I did.

speaker-0 (38:47)
What else, what other, what, if you were to say like, also increased my capacity for what other things.

speaker-1 (38:55)
think for learning what actually working in your business looks like, because I started this business in 2019. this, you know, but then I had to redo everything after COVID. So really I say that I've been in business basically since the end of 2021. much of my career as a photographer has been spent behind the computer.

trying to learn how other people run their photography business. Yes. I know you're shocked. Going out and doing the work and forcing myself to be in this very uncomfortable situation was the best thing I could have done for my business. Because now if I didn't trust myself before and I did, I sure as heck do now. Yes.

speaker-0 (39:27)
⁓ what?

speaker-1 (39:52)
look at everything I just did, you know, but then that also makes me uncomfortable because we've talked about that too.

speaker-0 (40:00)
What part of that makes you uncomfortable?

speaker-1 (40:04)
The, ⁓ I find it really, ⁓ I don't know if egotistical is the right word that I'm looking for. And I'm a pretty quiet, I tend to believe that I'm humble. And when I say stuff like that, I don't like to, I don't know, make it sound like I'm so great. I don't know the right words that I'm trying to say.

speaker-0 (40:27)
But like, but like you are, what do you mean?

speaker-1 (40:30)
Right. That's what other people keep saying.

speaker-0 (40:34)
But like there has to be a part of you like society aside, right? Because it's improper to say that or brag or whatever it is. You know, there has to be a part of you that is extraordinarily proud.

speaker-1 (40:48)
I am extraordinarily proud. There was a little teeny tiny article in the newspaper, because I'm doing a book signing, which I love the library and I really want to support the library. So in the little thing, it said, ⁓ local author, Michelle Crandall. And I was like, what?

speaker-0 (41:01)
So, yeah.

speaker-1 (41:11)
Why does it say that? It should say photographer. And then I was like, wait, I did write every word in that book. So I guess, I guess I am. And it, you know, it was really, it was really weird at the launch party. We had this huge party, right? Like we filled this building of Dachshunds. was like the best day of my life, right? All these dogs, everybody. And I knew everybody there and it was just fabulous. But you want to know where my brain went? ⁓

don't brag, don't put yourself up on this pedestal. Everybody was literally there for me. Like this was the whole event. And just saying that out loud, knowing that you're going to put this on your podcast and like, Oh, you said that should not have said that. That makes me sound really snobby. And it like, that really is the mind drama that I'm working through now.

speaker-0 (41:42)
Huh.

Still, still. Yeah. What would you say if you could say anything, or maybe if you could say it about someone else, another person. Yeah. Like if you weren't concerned with perception, what would you say with, you know, you're at this like event, everybody is loving, let's say it's another person. Everybody's loving this other person. They worked really hard. I mean, they worked really hard. Like the rear end off all year raised $10,000 for this rescue.

speaker-1 (42:18)
Yeah.

speaker-0 (42:36)
What would you say about that person?

speaker-1 (42:41)
Well, they're amazing. I can put Kelly in that position because right without her connections, I feel like this book wouldn't have happened. I could have done it still, but it would have been a lot harder and taken a lot longer. So if I differ, it would have been different. Yes. That's different. Yes. Yeah. But if I swap in my brain, like I'm picturing this scene where I'm in the front and I'm. Yes.

little microphone and I'm shaking and I'm trying to talk to people while the dogs are barking. If I switch myself out for Kelly.

my gosh, look at this amazing work that you did. It's amazing. You raised so much money. The pictures are beautiful. You have this book full of wonderful stories. You're actually leaving a legacy of your own dogs because that's what started this whole thing. You're leaving their legacy. So you're giving people a reason to talk about them, even though they're not here. This is amazing.

Right. Right. I switched myself out and I'm like, hmm, shut up. You need to turn that microphone off.

speaker-0 (43:49)
like somebody take the microphone because why?

speaker-1 (43:58)
I don't know. It's something in my brain that like will not allow this praise to come through. It's like, ⁓ that's it's not that big of a deal. If that that's actually what's going through my mind. If I can do it, it must not be that hard. ⁓ right.

speaker-0 (44:14)
but I couldn't do it. I couldn't do what you did. I don't think I could have done what you did. I really don't for like a thousand reasons. And so what you did was not only amazing and very special, it was unique because of you.

speaker-1 (44:35)
Yes.

speaker-0 (44:36)
So you are at the center of like a deserving amount of praise or adoration. Like what would it look like to just believe that and say to yourself, I am amazing. I love me. I love that I did this.

speaker-1 (44:59)
I honestly cannot tell you the answer to that question. I don't know. And I think it plays into a little bit of the trusting myself ⁓ sentence, you know, that I kept saying over and over again, because I feel like if I start to talk about how great this project was, like, I can't even say it. I can say how great this project was. I can't say how great I did on this project. I can say how great the project was.

If I say that, then I don't want to lose the part of me that is this humble, authentic human being. And I feel like-

speaker-0 (45:40)
but it's, it is both and you are that person and it is authentic and it's true and it's, it's not, not humble. You know, what's interesting is that I feel like if things had failed or gone sideways, you would have been the first to accept responsibility and put it all on you. But when it goes well, you won't do the same thing. That's not fair.

speaker-1 (46:06)
Well, my brain is not fair to me. That's accurate.

speaker-0 (46:09)
Just to be clear.

You are correct.

speaker-1 (46:14)
We've had those discussions before on this podcast.

speaker-0 (46:18)
Yeah,

yeah, we have we have but it's like if you're willing to accept the bad you have to take the good to

It's like what we've always talked about it. If you're going to lie to yourself, you know, you might as well make it a good one.

Why not choose to feel good, proud of how hard you worked, not just like you actually physically worked hard, but you also mentally and emotionally worked really hard. It was a very challenging, difficult year for you. And you came out victorious, like a warrior, know?

speaker-1 (46:56)
Yeah.

I can say that internally. Internally, I am super proud to the point of tears. Yeah. I am so proud. But when it comes to other people praising me, no.

speaker-0 (47:07)
You should

I would be really curious to dig in, dig into this more, you know, you and I share a life coach and I think you should talk to her about this. know, I know you and I have talked about it, but it's like, why am I unwilling to accept that level of praise and honor, even though I absolutely deserve it?

speaker-1 (47:43)
Yeah.

speaker-0 (47:44)
It kind of reminds me of this happens in the military too, where people, ⁓ heroes are awarded maybe a purple heart or medal of honor or something like that. And they are humble and they are, I wouldn't say reluctant cause they receive it, but there's like some hesitation because they in their minds are like, was just doing my job. You know? Yeah. I those 10 Marines off that mountain and saved their life, but

Right. You know, they would have done the same for me. So I was just doing my job. Wouldn't anybody do that? No. That's why you're getting the award. Not everybody would do that.

speaker-1 (48:21)
Right. Yeah. It's interesting. I don't know. Maybe that comes from the nursing mindset that I have. Yeah.

speaker-0 (48:28)
Yeah,

which is to give and to serve. Who is the rapper that said, I'd like to thank me. I'd like to thank myself for working. I can't remember. And I, and it's funny. He does it in a really funny way, but he was serious, but I loved it. was like, was that? I can't remember. was, was a rapper who he's real funny. Anyway, he said, I'd like to thank me. I'd like to thank myself for showing up for working hard. Like I, I,

speaker-1 (48:31)
Yeah, yeah.

speaker-0 (48:57)
I would encourage you to practice out loud saying, I'm amazing. I'm brilliant. I'm a genius. I worked really hard. I was so smart in my planning, which is why I was able to execute through all of the madness of the delays or whatever happened, you know, or the challenges. Like, wow, I am actually a pretty amazing person because that, if you believed it, would certainly feel better than the opposite.

speaker-1 (49:24)
Yes.

speaker-0 (49:26)
You've tried the opposite in your past, beating yourself up. A lot. mean, how'd that work out?

speaker-1 (49:30)
Yeah, I've tried it.

Well, isn't that the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. ⁓ Yeah, I've tried that. I don't like it and it doesn't work.

speaker-0 (49:45)
So you built something this year that's very, that was very different for you. It was very new. It was very different. And that in of itself deserves an award, like a trophy to do that. So you did something different. You showed up like, so what if you talked to yourself differently about it? Like, Michelle, bring it home, like land the plane. You did something different. What if you practice saying something differently to yourself?

speaker-1 (50:15)
Right. Why would I go through this whole project, whole year, and then end on the same BS that normally comes through my brain?

speaker-0 (50:25)
It's not fair to what you did. It's not fair to Michelle. Michelle is not being fair to herself.

speaker-1 (50:31)
No. And I've never thought about it that way. I know this is your favorite statement. ⁓ I've never thought about it in a way that like you take the good or you take the bad, you take responsibility for the bad so much. Why don't you take responsibility for the good? That's right. down.

speaker-0 (50:48)
Okay, perfect. That's a great way to wrap up my final question. I have two, but would you recommend a book project to someone and what advice would you give them?

speaker-1 (51:00)
I would recommend a book project to someone else. think, like I said, just everything that we've talked about in this podcast, like it helped me learn how to run my business better. ⁓ My caution would be ⁓ if it turns into a personal project like it did for mine, be very prepared for it to get emotional, ⁓ which I didn't expect.

I did not expect it to be like as emotional as it was, but you know, when we had this big party and you know, I'm mailing off all these copies and I'm like teary eyed at the post office. Like it was, I just didn't expect that. So when you put literally your heart and your soul, as I'm looking up at my dogs that have passed in a photo right above my computer, when you put your heart and soul into a project like this, and again, this is what makes me happy.

speaker-0 (51:56)
me

speaker-1 (51:57)
And that's what makes this book so important ⁓ and such a thing to be proud of. When you put your whole heart and soul into something, be prepared for it to mean a lot to you. isn't just like a way to make some money for my business. This is an expression of who I am. ⁓ And that can feel very vulnerable. ⁓

speaker-0 (52:22)
beautiful and a little painful at times, right?

speaker-1 (52:26)
Yes, absolutely. So just be prepared.

speaker-0 (52:31)
Yes, you're going to learn a lot and it may not be in the ways that you think.

speaker-1 (52:35)
Exactly, exactly.

speaker-0 (52:37)
but you will be a better person and business owner for having put yourself out there and really tried something different. But don't ever go into this thinking it's going to be a cakewalk.

speaker-1 (52:50)
Absolutely.

speaker-0 (52:51)
because that is not it. Okay, can you let people know where they can find you?

speaker-1 (52:56)
my goodness. Yes. Thank you. Michelle Crandall. I am a pet photographer in Tecumseh, Michigan. My website is petsinfocusphoto.com.

speaker-0 (53:05)
I love it. Pat's in focus, Michelle. Look her up and make sure you look for, I assume you have like photos and like pictures of your book and stuff. And I sure do. Okay.

speaker-1 (53:09)
You

Yes. my gosh. If you want to find a really adorable video of what happens when a bunch of people start clapping with about 30 wiener dogs in one place, go watch my reels.

speaker-0 (53:30)
my gosh, I got to check that out. That's amazing. How fun and amazing and like all of these like really big emotions, you know? And when you experience that, I just think, you know, we can choose to live a life behind the computer thinking about our business. Or we can choose to step into it, but stepping into it means a lot of big emotions. And that's what it's like to be alive. Don't you feel just like more

speaker-1 (53:56)
Yes.

speaker-0 (53:59)
alive than ever.

speaker-1 (54:01)
I do, yes.

speaker-0 (54:03)
Amazing. Thank you so much.

speaker-1 (54:05)
Thank you.

speaker-0 (54:07)
If this episode spoke to you, then you need to be inside of Elevate. Michelle was a member for several years while building her business. And now she gives back inside of Elevate as one of our coaches. We call her the people's coach because she is in it with you. She gets it. She's doing the hard things. She's facing the challenges and she is still showing up for herself.

and for other Elevate members as well. So if you're craving that type of support and community, and if you want to grow your business surrounded by people who really get it, then Elevate is where you belong. The link is always in the show notes, or you can go to www.flourish.academy.com slash Elevate to learn more. I hope that you found this useful. I'll see you in the next episode.