Everything is BS
Facing Fears: Making the Switch from Employee to Entrepreneur
Ever felt trapped in your job, yearning for a change but too paralyzed by fear to make the leap? If you've nodded along, you're in for a treat. We're peeling back the curtain on the emotional whirlwind that accompanies career changes - the guilt, the fear, the juggling of financial stability against pursuing what sets your heart on fire.
Strap in as we traverse through the labyrinth of personal narratives detailing transitions from secure jobs to the thrilling yet unpredictable world of entrepreneurship. Our guest, a successful businessperson, illustrates the power of passion, courage, and community support in navigating these transitions. Get ready to hear the hard truths about the sacrifices and risks involved, but also be inspired by the potential rewards and fulfilment that await you on the other side.
As we wrap up this soul-stirring episode, we shine a spotlight on the crucial elements of staying motivated and preserving work-life balance. We also shed light on the role of a supportive community when making a career swap. So, if you're standing at the crossroads of your career, let this episode serve as your compass, guiding you towards the path of your dreams. Embark on this journey with us to discover the strength within you to make that audacious career move. You won't want to miss this rollercoaster ride!
Ever felt trapped in your job, yearning for a change but too paralyzed by fear to make the leap? If you've nodded along, you're in for a treat. We're peeling back the curtain on the emotional whirlwind that accompanies career changes - the guilt, the fear, the juggling of financial stability against pursuing what sets your heart on fire.
Strap in as we traverse through the labyrinth of personal narratives detailing transitions from secure jobs to the thrilling yet unpredictable world of entrepreneurship. Our guest, a successful businessperson, illustrates the power of passion, courage, and community support in navigating these transitions. Get ready to hear the hard truths about the sacrifices and risks involved, but also be inspired by the potential rewards and fulfilment that await you on the other side.
As we wrap up this soul-stirring episode, we shine a spotlight on the crucial elements of staying motivated and preserving work-life balance. We also shed light on the role of a supportive community when making a career swap. So, if you're standing at the crossroads of your career, let this episode serve as your compass, guiding you towards the path of your dreams. Embark on this journey with us to discover the strength within you to make that audacious career move. You won't want to miss this rollercoaster ride!
Hey guys, you're listening to part two of today's episode. If you haven't listened to part one of this episode, we'd strongly recommend you listen from the beginning of part one to understand where our conversation starts up. When you're done with this episode, please feel free to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcast. It's the easiest way to support this podcast. Enjoy part two and we'll see you next week.
Speaker 2:Most kids don't, would be my guess. So, unless you want to, you specifically want to be a doctor or something and you just lean heavily into that. But even even still so, point being with this is there are individuals out there who may feel stuck and don't know what to do once they hit the age of 30 or 40 or the midlife crisis age, and now have created a life, or maybe habits, maybe financial habits there's a term for this and I can't remember the term where, whatever your whatever, how much money you're making, you develop a lifestyle around that and then maybe you get more money, and then you develop a lifestyle around that income and there's always problems that arise with that, and one of them is what happens when that income stops or changes or something.
Speaker 1:And now you have to support your lifestyle without that income flow that you thought you had.
Speaker 2:Exactly so. On a tangent note, there are financial advisors who say don't do that, and if you continue to get a raise or increase your income, stick with the lifestyle that you have and that you know, make the best of that. Don't just keep getting the new car or the new things that you don't need All the word again that I was thinking of before in the previous podcast that I can't think of, but tangible items that you don't need. So, anyway, we wanted to talk about a little bit of our story. So Brooke and I have two different stories going on here, whereas this may resonate with people who want to change careers, or maybe who want to shift to their career, so kind of a parallel shift or a complete perpendicular shift where you go a completely different direction. So some of you know, or may not know, but I grew up a gigantic weather nerd and I still. I mean, I still am. So I mean they literally have an Instagram channel called wedding weather forecasts.
Speaker 1:So did you see my Instagram post on our thing that was like is Chris? Is Chris okay or something? Did he survive? And it was like wait for a weird weather.
Speaker 2:I lied so, yeah, I loved that that was the option. So it was did he die? And it was like, yeah, it just said something like yeah he gone. Yeah. So if so, I went to school and I for meteorology. It was all I wanted to do. I was obsessed with it and I was really passionate. I loved it enough. So I still am exactly so I at a young age. You know. The example I was given is you know fifth and sixth grade.
Speaker 2:You learn about giving presentations to the classroom and you know you start doing that, and my first topic was weather, and then my next topic was tornadoes, and then my next topic was blizzards and the teacher eventually told me that I have to pick something else. So and it was hilarious yeah, exactly the face my parents made. They were not happy with her and they were like you're just squashing his passion for this. You know he's doing the assignment, but she made me pick something else, so I have the paper still and it was like Bill Gates, like what's her name.
Speaker 2:So so I went through time went through life went to school, went to college, did the thing, worked in a career that was meteorological based for almost a decade and then something happened and the photography thing started coming into the picture and I wasn't okay with the job anymore. And it was weird to admit that, because when you start thinking that there's a lot of feelings that come around that that more some people may not even expect, including guilt, you feel guilty for feeling that way, because maybe your family helped you get there. So being unhappy with the job and the pay is you feel not gracious. There's a lot of words that can come out of it to this. So, but there's really something important to talk about with this, and it's the. It's the concept and acceptance of essentially, you can do whatever you want and you, you really can shift at any age, the.
Speaker 2:The ultimate decision and question for yourself is going to be what are you willing to sacrifice to get there? Because, yeah, if you've built a life around finances and maybe you have a family, maybe you've just started a family, you've got a mortgage, you know thinking about shifting your finances, which is usually always the number one reason to make a shift or a schedule based if you've got a Monday to Friday, the very stereotypical American nine to five, but that works for you. You know, how do you go about making a shift on a job that maybe interests you that is more weekend based? How is your family going to react to that, you know? Is that possible? So it's a lot of scary thoughts and most people don't jump on it. And that's really sad because what happens is they get stuck. And when they get stuck and start feeling stuck, then it starts infiltrating every single part of your life, everything it starts, your happiness goes, you know, it creeps in kind of subconsciously and you become bitter.
Speaker 1:Well, it's a really good way to get burnout fast. If you're not enjoying what you're doing anymore, you're going to burn yourself out from all ends of the candle and then, you don't have time to offer for you, for your family. You don't have time anymore. So it's almost like what is the risk that I'm willing to take to do this? But, on the other end, what am I willing to sacrifice in my current situation if I keep doing this thing, that I'm no longer?
Speaker 2:passionate about Exactly At a minimum, when you're talking about a career, how you're supporting yourself and or your family. Your minimum 40 hours a week.
Speaker 1:it's a lot of time.
Speaker 2:It's a lot of time to be unhappy doing something. Now it comes down to what's important to you. If you, if it's more important to you to raise your family a certain way and provide, then that's that's, that's your justification, that's your but that in the end, that trumps it because it makes you happier. All right, it's kind of the same the theme here. So you're willing to make that sacrifice, to do that work, to power through so that you can enjoy the times with your family. But if you are really unhappy with the work that you're doing that much time, the conversation that we want to have is how do we start making that change? And I hope to inspire a little bit that it's.
Speaker 2:It's possible from a from a straight up, perpendicular perspective, meaning a right angle shift, going from a corporate cushy job that provided me with a good paycheck and bonuses to a complete unknown into the entrepreneurship world where I have no support from a W2 and I have to get the money myself. Now I have to do everything. I have to do the marketing, I have to do the conversations, I have to do the sales, I have to do the actual work, the actual photography, the editing, the delivery, client expectations, gear. All of those things now come to the picture. They were all provided to me beforehand and now I have to worry about them. So why would I do that? Why would I do that? And it's because I had a passion that kicked into gear, which was I enjoyed wanting to make decisions for myself in my career. And I knew, because I enjoyed project work and I thought that I could do it. Now I don't want to sound like a, like a this visionary martyr, because, going into it, almost everybody would go to guests, including myself.
Speaker 2:You don't believe that you can do it. You don't think you can do it and you have a lot of doubt throughout the process and you have a lot of times where it gets very difficult and when you, you know, potentially make that jump to full time and you leave your career, you question was it the right choice? Because the income's not coming in? What do you do? How do you go about it, and so forth.
Speaker 2:It's, it's a very challenging path, but but there's I'm, I'm absolutely 100%, and people could call me too positive about this on the train of, on the train of, if you want it, there is a way to do it. There's a way to do it, and there are people who will support you more than you think you have to find them. So I hope to be a presence of, especially as I get older, somebody who can be that person to tell other people that if you do, if you do want it, I want to showcase to you that it is possible, is absolutely possible. The the, the end question will always be what are you willing to sacrifice to get there?
Speaker 1:Well, and you're already doing that with lens and light, you're literally already doing that right now.
Speaker 2:It's? It's, yes, it's a. So the lens and light that she's referring to is a is a photography workshop, community and conference. So we're in conference mode now. We just finished the two workshops and we had multiple photographers who were able to lean into the instructor side of their business and go into that path. And no matter what you do, when you lead something like this, when you run it, it's a risk. There's always a big risk involved, and some of those risks are is it going to be financially stable? Can we actually profit off of it? And then what do we do with those profits Going into it and I'm being completely open and honest here, going into this, when we run these workshops, you know we are not making profit.
Speaker 2:This is strictly a. This takes a lot of work and, in fact, I'm actually losing money on this. So why would I keep doing it? And it's because I believe that it can be done. I believe that it actually can be something that is sustainable, that we can make profit. And you need to make profit because it's not in a greedy way, but so that it's something I'm worthy of spending my time on.
Speaker 1:So we have to pay your instructors and all of that. Like you, have to make a profit, no matter what.
Speaker 2:Exactly and I do believe that it can be done. So I feel like I'm going off in a tangent with this, but I want to hear a little bit more. So I've got like the baseline of my story on this and and the the meteorological shift to from a meteorologist meteorology, Say the word meteorology career into a full time wedding photographer career. I did make that jump. It took an enormous amount of work and time and support from Kelly and other people to help me get there, but I think there was a lot of people that thought it was either dumb or I shouldn't do it, or when it, when it starts getting real, you know that was maybe that was a dumb jump, but it's absolutely possible.
Speaker 2:Now I've kind of talked a lot. I've talked a lot about myself in this realm. I want to hear. So without going into like super detail about my perpendicular shift, I kind of want to hear about a little bit of your story, bro, and when I use the words parallel shift before and meaning it's instead of a completely different career, your job has, through time, adjusted through the different niches, niches that you, that you, work on. Yeah.
Speaker 1:My story is totally different than yours and I thought, you know, when we came together for this podcast, I thought it was like kind of a cool thing that you made the jump from your corporate job. That was very secure and, if I'm being totally honest, I've never had that security in my life like ever. So basically, what I did was I had no idea I'm. First of all, I want to say that while I'm a huge advocate for going to college and I think that it does, it does hold its benefits I'm also an advocate for the people who know that college isn't for them. So I don't want it to sound like I don't know, like I don't want it to be like college. You know, because there are some people that colleges you're not built for it, it's not built for you, that the colleges built in a way where it is beneficial to a very specific group of people. And if you are not in that group of people, there's nothing wrong with you. You don't have to go to college, you don't have to spend money. And I think that that was what I was trying to get up earlier when I say isn't it crazy that at 18, we're trying to figure out what we want to do for the rest of our lives, because to go to college and to think that you have your life figured out at 18 years old, you know, it's just. It seems nutty in a way where most of us don't know.
Speaker 1:Hold on, have you ever had does Toulouse ever do the thing where he goes into like a really, really deep sleep? And he looked like if you pick up his head, he looks like he's dead? Yes, yes, gremlin's doing that right now. And I, while you were talking, I was like lifting up his head, trying to. He's twitching. It's okay, I know he's sleeping, but like, oh, hi, welcome back. Hey, he was like who me?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, now I feel better because his eyes are open. Sometimes he really freaks me out with that. I just want to say that you know, as an 18 year old, if you are feeling like it's hard for you to try to figure out what you're doing for the rest of your life, I would strongly encourage you to do that. I would strongly encourage you to take some time before you choose a major and just jump into college, because it's only beneficial if you're ready for it. If you want me to be totally honest, it's only beneficial if you have your eye on a very specific prize that most of us at that point do not.
Speaker 1:So, basically, what I did was I went to school for business management. I knew I wanted to do something in the business realm. I didn't know what I wanted it to be. I just knew that there was something in me that said business is it. And I think for the most part I probably got that encouragement from my dad, because he was a very successful businessman and I was like, no matter what I want to do, business is going to help me out somewhere, you know. So I went for business management and marketing and then, after I was well, while I was in college, I was working multiple jobs at a time and I would basically take on these family sessions on the weekends just for an extra quick buck, because I was just trying to figure out how to make my rent.
Speaker 1:I was an RA and then when I left the building I would go and photograph families. And then one day I basically was asked can you photograph a wedding? And I'm like I can. I don't know if I should, but I can and I took the leap and I did it and it was so fun and I felt like when I tell my clients I sign off almost every email with like it's been an honor and a privilege to be a part of your story and like when I sign off I truly mean that. From the very first wedding that I photographed, I literally felt it was like the utmost honor for me to be with them and their families in that day. It was so cool and it kind of just took off from there. So when I graduated college I was like I've got a real good thing going here, I've got a pretty decent clientele base and I went to school. It's kind of funny me and Chris went to school at Westconn together Not together, but we went on.
Speaker 2:Basically, we just rediscovered last together because Chris is an elder.
Speaker 1:I was probably going in when you were going out.
Speaker 2:We talked about this. What year did you go in?
Speaker 1:2011.
Speaker 2:So we were there together. Okay, I graduated 2012.
Speaker 1:Hey, all right, yeah, 2000. Yeah, 2011, fall 2011 is when I started. So, yeah, chris and I went to school together. When was Kelly there? Same, okay, 2008, 2012 wow, we all want to school together. We did without even knowing. Weird it is kind of weird to think we probably passed each other in the same halls because the weather was on the same side as the business side, right.
Speaker 2:The, yeah, the weather, yeah.
Speaker 1:Science building, yeah, yeah so we definitely passed each other in the halls and my senior year. I was always there, like that's all I was, because all my end courses were the obviously the meteorological related ones and I had finished all my pre-rex so yeah, no, I I hate on West Khan a lot, but it actually it really helped me like a lot, even in just the fact that I had a friend who went to West Khan with me and he introduced me to chat. So that's so weird yeah.
Speaker 2:But anyway, both met our partners at West Khan.
Speaker 1:Then that's well, so not well. Actually, I did meet Chad, so during the time period, though.
Speaker 2:during that time period, no, after I met him, after I was out of college, but when I was an RA at Brookview.
Speaker 1:Do you remember Brookview?
Speaker 2:Absolutely, because the bus would always make a stop there when I was at Alright weird like Driveway thing that it was. They had to angle the bus to get out. I always remember, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was an RA there and we used to do like the duty desk on Thursday nights and I Remember Chad trying to get into the building and I was like you need your ID and he was like I don't have my ID and I was like then you can't come in the building and so I you know he's the one who's like super drunk and partying and I'm like Sorry, you gotta go somewhere else, buddy.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I was a. You know I was a nice RA but you know we our Brookview. The cool thing was that the top two floors were well, it wasn't like cool, it's kind of annoying. The top two floors were general public, so where most RA's can be super, super lenient and just be like, yeah, whatever, let's go party and whatever. We actually had like general public living above and like doctors and stuff. So if we got the complaints like I could get fired. It wasn't just like a normal RA situation.
Speaker 1:It was like I have to like protect the general public from these rowdy kids. So, but anyway, yeah, as soon as I graduated college, I was like you know what, I'm gonna give this a go. It's now's a better time than any, and I had my dad take me down to the Middletown I Don't know the tax office or something, and he helped me register my business name and opened up my business and do the thing, and it's been Quite a ride, it's. I've been so lucky I I feel like my clients understand who I am, as, like as a human, I feel like I've met some of the most wonderful people. And then, basically, that's what I've been doing since, and the only change that I can really talk about Is that I've become way more niche than I was before.
Speaker 1:It wasn't that I was accepting any and everything, but I. There was a time where, yeah, I was. I was working to pay my rent, and that was very obvious in the jobs that I was taking. I was just trying to get as much experience under my belt with as many wet weddings as possible. And now and so funny I feel like my whole approach to Photographing weddings and taking on new clients has changed exponentially just in the fact that I'm I'm a little bit more of a niche, a niche wedding photographer as far as the intimate weddings.
Speaker 1:I also have a little bit more of like like a moody editing to where you know, my editing process has changed throughout my career. I feel like for the most part, I've been pretty true to colors, but I feel really confident and happy with what I'm producing right now because I have transitioned into that niche where Two years ago, if you were talking to me on this podcast, I would be like I am, I am running myself rampant and I was happy doing it. I was, you know, it's keeping me busy, but now I really feel so Much more happy in the intention that I'm putting behind everything that I'm photographing sure that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah you.
Speaker 2:I love the the. It's always the interesting story for all photographers.
Speaker 2:We all start with Photographing everything and you take whatever job you can, and I think that I think it's good to almost fall back on that con. Make sure to remember that concept exists because a lot of I do know a lot of photographers they niche down and If they hit, let's say, the market changes whatever and you're just not getting back type of client anymore and you're like, oh my god, what do I do? I'm not getting the money that I need to Remember what you you were capable of beforehand when you were like Thirsty to get into this and you're gonna take on anything you want to. You can't open those doors back up again.
Speaker 1:It's possible.
Speaker 2:So, um, I Love that story. That's good story. That's thanks. Yeah, I love that, and so the the main concept here is we just wanted to lean into making a shift, and I know that there are people who feel stuck in being able to figure out and understand why they feel stuck is something beyond what we can do.
Speaker 1:But no, there's a lot of different ways to feel stuck to there is. I have absolutely felt stuck in this career In a price point that I was no longer comfortable being in.
Speaker 1:I felt stuck in my career, in the the types of in almost feeling bad, turning down clients because it wasn't a client that I particularly felt like my services would enhance their day. There are ways to be stuck in a career that you love, and I think it's about For the, for the people who are in a career and they're not looking to make the actual career jump, but just try to find a way to be happier within that. That's possible too. If you're in a, if you're in a position, like Chris, where you need to take the jump and lean into something totally different, it's a little bit hard, I mean it's definitely harder to do just to take that full career change, but there are ways in which that you could feel stuck in something that you're genuinely happy doing and trying to find a way to make it Everything that you want it to be and more again if, and if there was a single, literally.
Speaker 2:Well, I guess both of us should answer this. I'll say if there was a single piece of advice to Understand how to go up, what's the first thing I need to do, what's the most important part about making a change? You know, to do this successfully without failing or crashing, and it would be. If I had to pick one single item, it would be find at least one person who supports that decision and will motivate you to keep going, because if you don't, I mean no, without a doubt, there will be people in your life that will not support and this. Let me take a giant step back, big, wide lens here.
Speaker 2:People in general are uncomfortable with change. All of us, we are built like scientifically. We are built to be uncomfortable for change because our brain wants to keep us safe. That's a trait, not a trait, an instinct. It's an instinct that we have from generations beforehand, because when we've got our systems in place and we're safe, brain says, okay, keep doing status quo, because that means we survive. That is literally the scientific background of that.
Speaker 2:So when we make changes and we feel uncomfortable with whatever it is in life, there's an actual ingrained reason. But you want to be able to make that change, because then you leap forward into new bounds, new things, and your brain can adjust to that and you grow At a more physical level. That's how fitness works. We should hire someone who can talk more in depth about physical fitness. But I do know for a fact that when you do the same exercise, you plateau eventually on how much you're, either whether it's muscle growth and you're lifting or cardio. If you don't change the actual exercise, your body literally adapts to be more efficient at it. But more efficient means that you're not getting more results, because if learning how to use the least amount of whatever it is to get there get to that process. So that's usually why, when people are trying to lose weight, in the beginning they lose weight really fast and then they hit a wall and it's like, unless you change the exercise or do something different, you have to kind of shake your body up.
Speaker 1:Well, you always have to adjust, you always have to adjust.
Speaker 1:It's never. Nothing will ever be stagnant. You're doing. Exactly what you need to be doing right now is not going to be the same as what you need to be doing two years from now. Whether it's your health, whether it's your job, it doesn't matter. You're always going to have to find a way to adjust to your circumstances. Even if you feel like your career is, you know, at a, at a halt, even when I felt like I was taking on too much or the you know the maybe not clients that I could like that my services could cater to 100%, you still have to find a way to be able to adjust yourself to what you're doing. And then that's the first step I feel in Okay, now that I've made my adjustments and I feel comfortable in this spot again, how you almost have to step out. You almost have to step out into the discomfort again.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And a lot of that is being ready. Like I feel like throughout photographing anything, all the things, all the things, all the things, the one thing that like people come back to is like and I don't know if you get this a lot too it's like you're so lucky and I'm like I really am. I'm so, so, so, freaking lucky, and I'm not trying to say that, but a lot of my luck was also me being ready to say yes to things and knowing what it took to be able to do that.
Speaker 1:Like you can't say yes to shooting a wedding if you don't have the equipment. But if you say yes to shooting a wedding, you better figure out how you're going to get that equipment to be able to do the best job that you can. So is it really? Is it lucky beyond the point of being asked to photograph? Is that even luck? Or is that somebody seeing something and going I really love what this person is doing. That's not really luck.
Speaker 2:To. This is an excellent point that I've recently adopted some good language on this. So instead of saying I'm so lucky, what really we want to say is I'm so grateful.
Speaker 2:I am grateful that I get to do this, but I'm both, you're both, that's it Just own the luck. There's, but no one. When we're talking in the sense of I am a. Well, we'll use Instagram as an example. I look at an account that has 50,000 followers, who some photographer, and they are on there every day and they do their, their lives and they've got 30, 40, 50 people in on that and they're clearly getting really high end jobs. It's very easy to sit back and go like well must be nice. That's always the phrase. I hate that phrase.
Speaker 1:Must be nice.
Speaker 2:Must be nice to just make money and do that and it's like so. You have no idea what sacrifices they made to get there, and those sacrifices might be time with their family time with their partner Weekends on weekends gone, money spent, things that you're not willing to give up, that you take for granted because you don't know what it's like to do that for two years straight to do it's never, never that easy to get to those levels.
Speaker 2:Or when you see, examples always are when we talk about celebrities and say, like well, it must be nice to be able to afford three homes and do all these things. And it's like do you want to go on tour for a year and not see anybody except your fans, which are people you don't know?
Speaker 1:Also, do you realize how many times this person, or how much of their, this person's childhood was given to voice lessons? Acting lessons Like everything, everything that you do, is going to come with some type of a sacrifice. So, making that I mean back to what you said in the beginning, making the leap. You literally have to figure out how much of myself can, can I give, what can I sacrifice to be able to get me to where I need to go.
Speaker 2:Yep, yeah, that's, that's, that's that, that's that, that's that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the other thing that I was going to say is that the you know luck is being ready and all of that and saying yes to things that you I mean I've said yes to so many things in the beginning of my career that I felt like I don't really know, you know, like I'm not really sure. But once you accept and you say yes and you're the yes person, you figure out how. I mean, it's just, it's just what you do when you're trying to, when you sign a lease for rent. Okay, now you have to figure out how, how do I make that money? How do I get there? You sign for a new car. All right, how do I afford that car payment? How do I do this?
Speaker 1:It's the same thing with stepping into a new role. You know I would encourage people to do if you're thinking about doing that, you, you find your support system in your friends and family and then, besides that, you move in complete and utter silence until things are fully ready to go. You know you're launching a new business. You don't really want to be giving Like. I mean, we kind of did this with this podcast where we were like we're going to do it.
Speaker 2:Oh, we're going to do it.
Speaker 1:It took us like two years to actually just figure this out, and even when we did, we're still having to redo things that we thought we had figured out but we didn't post much about it beforehand. It was kind of like it's in the works, there's stuff going on, but if we had a deadline we wouldn't have hit that deadline. No we would not. No, we took two years to do this.
Speaker 2:It took a long time. It took a lot of practice. It took a lot of you know two people in the room sitting together recording and then going like, wow, that's what I sound like.
Speaker 1:That's terrible, that's awful, yeah, wow, that echo. Ooh, our mouth sounds Just the tech issues alone.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so I mean that brings up the point of we've heard this before, like why does this service cost so much money when it could have taken me 10 minutes in signal? Because that 10 minutes took a year to learn how to do in 10 minutes. So it may look easy, but you don't know how to do that.
Speaker 1:It's the concept of why is an electrician so expensive, a plumber and it's like can't, because that's a lot of work and it's a lot of very specific things, but it is funny that both of us have this like, almost like this attitude, because I and I think sometimes when I do it, I'm a little condescending when I'm talking to my friends, and I don't mean it to be. I mean it to be like the most uplifting as possible, where, if somebody is complaining about their job and I need to start doing this thing, where I'm like you know, do you want feedback or do you just want me to listen? Like I need to start doing that, because most of the time when somebody is complaining about their job, I'm like, like I'll take my mom for an example. She is an amazing baker. She's amazing. She wants to open her own bakery. I've tried to have somebody do a logo for her. I'm like we'll figure this out. Let me help me, help you, to try to live your best life. But in the same way, if she's not ready, that's not something that's ever going to be something that she can fully take on at that time she's stuck in a job, she's getting a paycheck and right now that's what feels comfortable to her. So stepping out of your comfort is something that, while I've never had to do it, I feel like I've always lived in discomfort when it comes to this job, because everything has been unknown.
Speaker 1:You had the security of your first job and so you knew where your next paycheck was coming from. Since I have become a literal adult, I have not known. I mean, besides weddings that you book out a year in advance, I don't really know when my next paycheck is coming because I don't have a paycheck. But I'm the first person to tell people take the leap, you can do it. And it might sound so like because people look at me and they're like, yeah, coming from you, look at you sitting at home all day. But to me I'm like, if you see, seeing people like you who have done it, knowing that I did it straight out of college, it can be done. You just have to figure out how much you're ready to sacrifice to be able to do it.
Speaker 2:That's it.
Speaker 1:My mom right now is not yeah, she's not willing to sacrifice, losing that security, and I totally understand it. So I need to be a little bit more in the background of like when you're ready to do this, we can do this.
Speaker 2:Yep, yeah, there's a lot of this. There's always risk involved, but I would always go to say that it's with calculated risk. Your odds of success are way better, so you have. That's where it's important to find the people that'll help motivate you when you're tired and you don't want to do it and you have no idea what to do.
Speaker 2:So, especially if you are in the creative industry we'll say photographers or anything. We are. So there's so many people that are so helpful there's. It is such a good. That's why I'm here. That's why I'm here. There are so many people in this industry that love to share their passion.
Speaker 1:So now you're sharing your passion and lens and light, and that's that was one of your goals and that's what you're doing.
Speaker 2:It's, yeah, it's, it's incredible stuff. So I do I really do vibe with the concept of the phrase which we hear over and over. But is true is the community over competition? Yes, it really is, there's. There's enough people to go around to make your business successful.
Speaker 1:Right. And if you're one of those people who feel like that's not the case for you, I feel like you just haven't really met the right community.
Speaker 1:You know, I'm not part of like a quote unquote community to say like I don't hang out with a ton of people, but I've met certain people through this industry that I know. If I have a question I can go to them, if I have an issue I can go to them. I know that there are people willing to help because for the most part I feel like for the most part in at least this industry, the photography industry most of us are like empaths, most of us are empaths. Most of us we understand and we resonate in a way where the reason why we're able to photograph your family and it's truest light is because we really understand and we try to learn and we're listening. And I feel like that's that's a human trait that photographers, artists, creatives, they have, that they're, they're ready and willing to listen and learn when you have an issue and not and they're not so quick to push you away and just shush you like Scott get out of here.
Speaker 2:You know like yeah, no.
Speaker 1:when people message me and they have a question, I try really hard to fulfill the answer that they're looking for, and if I can't, I usually will direct them to somebody else who can.
Speaker 2:That's it. Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 1:So if you're feeling like you need to take a jump you know who to find to talk to we're, and if you are afraid of what the answer is going to be.
Speaker 2:We're going to tell you to. We're going to tell you to do it. We're going to be too high people here but. I know it is and it was. It sounds fluffy to stay on the back end and be like you can do it, which is what we're saying, but I really believe that to find out your specific path and journey, that's the work, that's that's life.
Speaker 1:Life is both too short and too long to be doing stuff that you're miserable doing.
Speaker 2:That's right. There's only so many trips around the sun, so that's it Sometimes.
Speaker 1:I see those things online. I'm not even a mom, Like I'm not even. I don't even have kids, but sometimes I see those things online. It's like remember that you only have 18 summers with your children, and I was. I'm like Jesus, what? Yeah, it doesn't sound like a lot, Isn't that crazy?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is Nuts, or like holidays, things like that, like the one that always kills me is the Santa one that's always like, because there's a very small range in there.
Speaker 1:I know, I know I don't know, but okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't really have anything else to say on that. If you, if you're feeling like you need a shift, you don't have to be like completely I'm only prefaced this you should have some things lined up. That's you should. You shouldn't just take the leap and quit your job if you don't have anything lined up, but if you have the will, the drive the community.
Speaker 1:If you've been talking to people about how can I do this, you know if you've been listening to things, reading things, trying to figure it out, I know one of the biggest, one of the hardest things for me to do throughout this entire process of owning my own business is tax time. It's things where, with a normal job, it comes with some type of like direction. Like you know, your taxes are taken out. You want to start a 401k what are you doing? You know, like these things in the work culture, that will be an easier life in corporate.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm saying and I think that you can definitely attest to that. Like that is definitely it's easier for you to stay on track with your finances, your taxes. Like doing normal societal things. The right way is easier when you have somebody looking over your shoulder and I was we were just talking about this last night me and Chad, where I'm. I tell him like I feel like a 30 year old, 15 year old. I'm still trying to figure out. Like you know, I do this thing sometimes where, like I'll see that he'll get a bill in the mail and I'll go mine's coming soon. And then, if mine doesn't come, it's like oh.
Speaker 2:Oh, no, he's having a dream. I heard that.
Speaker 1:It's not like a water droplet, right.
Speaker 2:It actually sounded like a squeaky wheel.
Speaker 1:It's just there are benefits to both and we're not telling you to quit your corporate job if you have nothing lined up, if you're unhappy with where you are and you're exploring something else?
Speaker 2:No, definitely don't do that. Don't quit your job.
Speaker 1:Yes, However if you have a plan and you have the support system and you feel like you will not be happy doing this in one more year, start to figure out your exit strategy. Get an exit strategy going and kind of do almost like a especially for like photography. Do a soft launch where you're offering family sessions to your friends and family and you can say I'm only doing this, you know, for a discounted price right now. I just want to make that very clear that when I start my business, prices will be what they will be you know, I definitely did that with my first clients too.
Speaker 1:They got one hell of a deal. Most of my clients, honestly, have gotten one hell of a deal because I was stuck in that price point for so long. But you don't have to be. I guess what the whole message is. You're not stuck. You are a human that is on this earth for a finite amount of time, and life is both too short and too long to be miserable in a relationship, in a work situation. You can do it. You just need to figure out the healthiest, the easiest, the smartest way to be doing it. Yep.
Speaker 2:All the above. All the above, it's all possible. So if you ever basically, I think the theme of this is that if you have imposter syndrome and you think you can't do it, we can be your people to tell you that you can do it. So we know you can.
Speaker 1:Also, isn't imposter syndrome such a bitch? Imposter syndrome. I don't know why I just said it like that.
Speaker 2:It's a, yeah, it's a. And then it happens to all of us, inconsistently and when we're even. If I were to look back at myself four years ago or let me rephrase that, my four or five year old, year old I can't talk five, four years ago if I were to look at myself now, I would have been like oh my God, like you know, you did the thing.
Speaker 2:You did the thing that you wanted to, but you still have days where you're so narrow focused that you're like I'm failing at this and this and it's not going to work, and it's wild to think that. Which?
Speaker 1:is social media does that to us too, because I see other people's work and I'm like I don't do the thing of like I wish I thought of that first, but like, in a little bit of a way, it's like, oh, you know, like yeah, they just beat me to that punch.
Speaker 2:What happens when you're surrounded by a main? Stream concept where everyone's showing their happy stuff. That's essentially what's going to happen, because everybody has bad days, so right, but you don't see them on social.
Speaker 1:You see them on my social yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm going to start showing all my bad days. Why?
Speaker 1:not who cares? I'm not going to do that, I'm going to do that but.
Speaker 2:I'm going to do that Anyway that's all I got.
Speaker 1:So I hope you guys enjoyed this Disney podcast slash motivational podcast.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, love it.
Speaker 1:But I will hang tight to hear what Kelly has to say before we go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll be, I will let you know. I'll let her hear it out next week.
Speaker 1:Perfect.
Speaker 2:All right.
Speaker 1:That's all I got.
Speaker 2:That's me too.
Speaker 1:So I'll probably talk to you not next Monday, but the Monday after.
Speaker 2:Sounds good.
Speaker 1:All right, deuces.
Speaker 2:Bye.