59. The Story Behind 'The Unicorn' of Business Books

In this episode, I am taking you behind the scenes for a look at the journey behind my new book "The Unicorn".

A book born from the desperate need for a specialized guide to help photographers weave their unique magic into the fabric of a profitable business. This comprehensive 412-page book is more than just a business manual; it is a heartfelt narrative of transformation, serving as both a wellspring of inspiration and a guiding resource for photographers in their pursuit of success.

Faced with the skepticism of naysayers and the internal whispers of doubt, I chose to view resistance as a sign of impending breakthrough. You'll hear how mastering your mindset becomes the key to unlocking your unique strengths, and why innovative marketing and natural selling techniques can be your secret weapons. From adopting the mindset of a visionary CEO to nurturing a business that’s as effortless as growing a garden.

Join me in unlocking the secrets to success, mastering your mindset, and transforming your photography business into the unicorn you've always envisioned.

Tune in now for an empowering conversation!

Find all of my favorite books here.

Pre-order my book, The Unicorn Business Book.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Welcome to Mindset and Money Mastery for Photographers the podcast. We help overwhelmed photographers make more money while simplifying their business by mastering their you guessed it mindset and money. Tune in each week for practical and actionable tips to take your photography business up a notch. Let's dive right in.

Speaker 2: 0:23

Hey guys, on today's episode I wanted to share with you the story behind my book that we are releasing right now. Our copies have just arrived, the book is open for pre-order and it will be shipping in February, so if you want to grab a copy, make sure you head over to the link in our bio and order the book. It's really amazing and today I'm going to tell you the full story behind it and why I created it, what you can expect to learn inside the book and all of that good stuff. It is called the Unicorn because I truly believe it is the unicorn of business books and it is going to help you build a magical business that is wildly profitable. It is so important for me to help photographers build a business that is as unique as they are, and I really truly believe that each and every one of you are unique and your business should be just the same. And you see, whenever you learn how to lean into your unique qualities and what makes you special and you learn to build your business with that in mind, you're going to find so much magic inside your business and you're going to make so much more money. Plus, the best part is that you're going to attract clients that are wildly excited to work with you and love who you are as a person. You know those clients that really just come to you and they're like, oh my gosh, I feel like this is my best friend, where have they been my whole life? Yeah, those types of clients are the type of clients you're going to get when you really find the magic inside your business and you learn to build a business that is unique and special, just like you are. So let me rewind a bit and tell you more about the book, how this idea was born and where it came from. This idea was born over three and a half years ago. I was pregnant and it was actually during COVID, and I remember going to the bookstore with my husband and we went to Barnes Noble in College Station, which is about 45 minutes from our house, and we love going to the bookstore.

Speaker 2: 2:16

That's kind of our thing. We would go get Boba Tea and then we would go to Barnes Noble. So we went to Barnes Noble and we did what we always do I go to the business book section and I just like pulling out random books, looking at random books, like trying to figure out what the next book is that I'm going to buy. I'm a little obsessed with buying books. I have a ton of books. I really need to build giant bookshelves in my house because we are running out of space for books. I own so many business books. My husband owns I don't even know what you call them, like Star Wars-y type books, I don't know Star Wars books, fantasy books, all kinds of crazy things. He likes reading that stuff. I like reading to learn.

Speaker 2: 2:52

But my journey to reading has not always been that exciting. I have not always loved to read. Actually, I think it was probably like six or seven years ago was when I first started reading business books, and I remember I bought this book called Get your Shit Together and I read it and I was like, wow, this is really good, this is really helpful as a business owner to read this. And then I read the you Are a Badass books and then everything just kind of trickled down. From there.

Speaker 2: 3:22

I got really addicted and I would read books all the time. Pretty much every time I traveled I would take a book with me and I would be like I am going to read as much of this book as possible on the airplane and I used to travel a lot so I would read books like crazy when I flew. Or I'd go to California and say with my sister when I go up there to work, and I would just lock myself in my room and read as much of my books as I could that I brought with me. Sometimes I would bring like two or three books to read on a trip because I was crazy like that. Now I don't have quite as much time to read. I'm not going to lie, I get that. It's a little bit harder once you have a child, aka a three-year-old, that constantly wants to talk to you and wants your attention. But when we go on vacation, still, I always do try to read and I love reading in the evenings when I take a bath and stuff like that. So I really do love reading.

Speaker 2: 4:07

But what I found was that a lot of books have this one little specific topic that they teach and share about. Or there aren't a whole lot of books specifically for photographers, that are made to teach business for photographers. And what I kept thinking whenever we were at the bookstore that day was why isn't there a book that's just like the unicorn, literally? That's what kept coming into my head. Why isn't there like a unicorn of business books? It's like the business book that you can read and you can learn all these important lessons about business that you need to learn in one place. That's super clear and concise and to the point.

Speaker 2: 4:45

We left the bookstore and we were driving home and my husband was driving and I was in the passenger seat and I was telling him about this thought that I had had, and I looked at him and was like you know what? I should just write the unicorn. I should write the unicorn of business books.

Speaker 2: 5:00

So the idea was born and when we were on the way home that day, I pulled out the notes on my phone and I typed up an outline for the unicorn of business books. In that outline for the book, I wrote out each chapter, what each chapter was gonna be about and what I thought needed to be said. And as I wrote this out, all I could think to myself was what do I wish that somebody would have told me when I was building my business? What do I wish I could have gone to one place and learned all of these important principles of business in one place. Instead, I spent an entire year reading every single book I could get my hands on on marketing, or I'd spent an entire year reading every single book I could get my hands on on mindset and taking all the courses, newing all the things, and everybody has their different takes on things and everybody takes different things out of stuff. But I was reading these books and they were all about different industries and different things and nothing really was specific about photography and nothing really wasn't all in one. They were all very specific about individual topic. So I wanted to create a book that covered all the basics, all of the foundational things that I thought business owners needed to know, and make it specifically for photographers. So that's when I decided I was gonna write a book and the unicorn was born.

Speaker 2: 6:24

Now, as life goes right, I put that idea on my phone and I would open my phone like from time to time and not really do anything with it until this fall. This fall I was sitting there and I actually remember my husband and I were out to dinner and we were sitting there and I was like you know, I think that I should finally write the book. I think that I need to take all those notes. I've been putting my phone over the last few years and just write it. And at the same time, I was like, well, what am I gonna do with this book? Where am I gonna sell it? How am I gonna tell people about it? And I was like I'll get a booth at Imaging. I'll get a vendor booth. I'll be a vendor at Imaging. So the idea to come to Imaging USA this year and to get a vendor space and to share my book with people was born.

Speaker 2: 7:12

To be 100% honest with you, it's expensive to get a book produced and to write a book and, unless you're selling millions of copies of a book, it's not like something you make a whole lot of money doing. It's more so a passion of love and just because it was so important for me to get this message out and to be able to share this with as many people as possible Because, honestly, anybody can go out and buy a book. Really, coaching is expensive. I get it. It is expensive to hire a coach to work with you one-on-one or it can be an investment to buy courses, but a book is accessible and a book is something just like this podcast that I can get in the hands of the everyday, normal person who's just out there trying to build their business, and that's why this was born. The same reason that I sit here every week and record this podcast is because I wanted to help as many people as possible. So whenever that happened this fall and we decided okay, yeah, let's do the book, let's make it happen. Then the next question was okay, how are we going to get this book to happen?

Speaker 2: 8:13

If you've been around long enough, you know that I once upon a time believed that I was a terrible writer and that I did not want to write anything like. It was the worst thing in my life. Because of that, I did spend a lot of time in my business doing what I call make your weakest skill. Your bitch is what I like to call it, excuse my French, but really make your weakest skill your bitch. Master your weakest skill. I did spend one year with that in mind and I learned a lot about writing and I am much better at writing than I used to be, but I still dread it a little bit.

Speaker 2: 8:47

So the decision to write a book and I think I had three months to finish the book. I had all the ideas and the stuff and I knew what it was going to say to actually put a book on paper in three months was kind of crazy. So I hired a copywriter to help me make sure it made sense to like proofread it, do all the stuff with me, alongside me. That way I made sure it was good because I thought I can't do this on my own, there's no way. And as life has it, I found a copywriter to help me through the process and we were about two weeks from our deadline of when, initially, the book needed to be printed, and my copywriter came to me and they quit on me and they said that they were unable to complete the work because of some things that had happened in their personal life.

Speaker 2: 9:32

And here I was eye and dry with two chapters that were complete, kind of three chapters that were rough and then a few chapters that hadn't even been touched yet, and I was like, oh no, panic attack, what are we going to do? And so I sat there for a while freaking out. I think I cried a little bit. I'm thinking like, how am I going to do this? Who's going to help me? What am I going to do? I can't do this on my own. There's no way. I can't write a whole book by myself.

Speaker 2: 10:00

And then I decided that I didn't have an option. I decided that if I wanted to do this, I had every power within me to sit down and write it and finish it myself, and that that's what had to be done. And I knew that it wasn't going to be easy and I knew that it wasn't going to be butterflies and rainbows. And I knew that most people take a year or two to write a book. And here I was trying to do it in three months and finish five chapters of a book essentially in two weeks, and I was freaking out a lot. Now it put me in that position of do I quit, do I give up, do I wave my white flag and say I surrender, or do I fight back? And in this moment I learned a lot. I learned that I had the power that I didn't think I had and that I could do it. And I buckled down and I got the book written. Thank goodness, I was lucky enough to find an amazing editor to step in and to help me do some editing in the book, so I didn't have to do it all solo, but I did do far more and trust myself far more than I thought I would.

Speaker 2: 11:09

Honestly, I can blame this on my high school English teacher. To be 100% frank with you, there's actually I share the story in the book about how ironic it is that I'm writing a book now because somebody told me once upon a time that I was a terrible writer and because she told me that I believed it and I really genuinely thought that I was a terrible writer and I couldn't write and I didn't trust myself and I didn't believe it was possible. And because of that, something that I knew so deeply inside of me needed to be put out there and written. Something that had been in my mind for years almost didn't happen and come to fruition. I almost let my mind set get the best of me. I almost believed that I couldn't do that by myself. I almost believed that I needed somebody to help me do it or else it was going to be a failure. And instead I had to step up to the plate. Thank goodness for my husband, who is a saint, because the final week to getting this book done he stayed up till like one, two o'clock in the morning for like multiple nights in a row just going through and proofreading over and over and over again and fixing all my commas that I missed and making sure I didn't mess up my punctuation and all of those things, and hopefully fixing any typos that I made. However, I think we did a fairly good job.

Speaker 2: 12:23

This was a moment that I learned so much about myself. I learned that I can do things that are crazy and impossible. I did something that most people who write books and publish books would have said that's crazy. You can't do that in three months and that's crazy. You can't finish this book in the next few weeks.

Speaker 2: 12:40

Whenever I was left high and dry, I chose to push through the discomfort. I chose to sit down and to pour my heart and soul into something and to kick the devil off my shoulder that was telling me I couldn't do it, and I chose to recognize the fact that, as I did this hard thing, that the reason that the world kept coming and ringing its head and trying to kick me in the butt is because what I was doing was good, and I want you to know that when you're doing something or working towards something, and it is something that is good and valuable and powerful, that the world will try to stop you 100% and you get to decide that when the world tries to stop you, are you going to fight back and say I know the world is trying to stop me because what I'm doing is powerful and good and amazing and that means that I need to fight even harder for this. That means that I need to work even harder. That's what this is about. I don't even know why I wouldn't feel like this is so important to say right now and to share this with you, but I know that there are some of you that are listening to this that are struggling in your businesses, that you are sitting there and you feel like every time you try to do something, the world just comes and slaps you across the face again and you feel like, why am I even trying? And if you can take those feelings of why am I even trying? And turn them into the world is fighting me, which means I must be trying to do something good. This must be something that is so powerful and the world's trying to stop me because it has power behind it. Take that as your sign to fight even harder. You will see such a big change in your perspective, in your business and the things you're doing when you face those moments of discomfort. So I just wanted to share that with you and for you to know that this book is amazing. It is good.

Speaker 2: 14:21

I 100% believe that this book is worth literally there's thousands of dollars worth of content and information in there that when I wrote it and I finished it, I thought to myself did I just give too much away? Like I just shared so much good stuff in here and if you read it, I'm telling you, get through it. When you get to that last chapter and after everything you've read that last chapter, everything in your business is going to fall into place and it's going to make so much sense because there's so much valuable content there. So when you get it read through, go through the whole process. It's long, guys, I will admit. When I initially wrote this book, it was supposed to be 200 pages and I like to think was how am I gonna write 200 pages? The book ended up being 400 pages, guys. The total page count is 412 pages, I think. So 412 pages in this book. It is not a light fluffy. I know. You know how sometimes I sit down to read a book and you're like I flew through that in an hour. There was really nothing in that. This is not one of those. So make sure that you go through it and you check it out and you read it. I'm telling you there's gonna be so much valuable information.

Speaker 2: 15:30

Let me kind of break down what's inside of the book so that you know what to expect whenever you grab your copy. Like I said, you can grab your copy. The link is in the bio. You can pick it up at Imaging this year or else you can have it shipped to your house and we will ship copies in February.

Speaker 2: 15:44

And I wanna tell you kind of why I called it the unicorn. I think I already explained this at the beginning of the episode, but I kind of made my own definition for unicorn and I wanted to share it with you because it's actually in the back of the book. So the back of the book says unicorn, a mythical creature that feels elusive. But once you discover it's magic, you can't turn away. And that is what I want you to feel like when it comes to your business. I know that business can feel elusive. It can feel hard to get that magic and find that magic that makes you money and brings fulfillment, but once you tap into it you can't turn away from it, and that is why building a magical business, that is why building the unicorn of business is so important for each and every one of you, and so what this book goes through is it teaches you the logic, the reasoning, the psychology, the science behind the business fundamentals that I think each and every person needs to know. Business should not be cookie cutter, and this book is going to help you make your business not cookie cutter. It's gonna help you take all of the things you've learned over your career as a photographer and to take that advice and to convert it into something that is useful for you as a business owner in your unique self. So let me break down the different chapters and kind of what you can expect to find inside of the book and kind of the flow of the book, so that you have an idea of what to expect Whenever you get into the book.

Speaker 2: 17:03

Obviously, the introduction comes first. The introduction shares a bit of my story, my journey, why this book was written and the importance of making your business the unicorn. Chapter one is all about getting out of your own way. It's about mastering your mindset and understanding how your brain works and how you can hack your brain to make your brain work with you as a business owner instead of against you. The number one thing that I see photographers getting stuck by is not their business, it's actually themselves. And if you can learn how to get out of your own way and stop stopping yourself, you are going to unleash an entirely new level of magic in your business.

Speaker 2: 17:43

Chapter two is all about the source of your magic. The source of your magic comes from your why, your, why your story, your journey, who you are as a person, what makes you special, is the source of your magic in your business. It is really the foundation of everything you do. It is your compass, your true north, it is your moral compass. If you can build a business that stays in line and in tune with your why, in tune with your compass your moral compass, so to say your business is gonna feel good for you. And the other cool part is you're going to attract people that also share the same values, that also share the same life experiences that get you. This is when you create clients that are your besties, that love you, that come to you knowing that you are their person and they are your person. It is by finding your why, which is the source of your magic.

Speaker 2: 18:41

Chapter three is all about being the visionary. Being the visionary is about stepping into the role of a CEO in your business. It's about being the leader, knowing what you want, knowing where you're going and knowing what you want to do with your business. It is so important to decide that you're not just a photographer, but you are the CEO, you are a business owner, that you are a real legitimate business owner. That is so important, guys. So as you dive into this book, you're going to learn what it looks like to be the visionary, to be the CEO, to have that vision of what you want your business to look like. Chapter four is all about positioning your pricing, so understanding pricing, understanding how pricing works and understanding the principles to creating profitable pricing in your business.

Speaker 2: 19:38

Chapter five is all about loving your money. So you might know our coaching program is called Master your Mind and Money because a lot of times we don't really know how to handle our money, deal with our money, and we go into business and we're like we have to deal with money. What are we going to do with our money? How are we going to handle it? How do we manage it, how do we care for it? How do we understand our money? So chapter five is really about that. It's teaching you how to understand your money and have a good, solid relationship with your money. I like to say that if you don't have a relationship with your money and you're not dating your money and getting to know your money, then it's not a whole lot different than being in a marriage where you don't date your spouse or don't know your spouse. It's really the same thing. Money is extremely important as a business owner. It is obviously why we have a business, because we want to make money. If we don't have a good relationship with our money, we don't understand our money and it's going to be really hard to make money as a business owner.

Speaker 2: 20:37

Chapter six is about knowing your strengths and weaknesses, understanding that you, as a business owner, should be operating within your strengths and know where your weaknesses are, so that you can choose to either make those weaknesses your strengths and to learn more about them, or maybe you should hand them over to someone else so you don't have to deal with your weaknesses or the things that you struggle with in your business. The next thing is chapter seven, which is go and find your money. This is our marketing chapter and go and find your money. I share with you tips on how to think about marketing in an entirely new way and how to really look at your marketing strategy through a different lens. A lot of times marketing is misunderstood and a lot of photographers think that just posting on social media is marketing. And in chapter seven we are going to teach you what marketing is really about and how to go out and start marketing your business with an entirely new perspective.

Speaker 2: 21:33

And chapter eight is you don't have to sell. It's all about selling, but selling from a place of not being a salesperson. I never want you to have to feel like you're a salesperson in your business. Instead, it's about selling by serving and taking care of your clients and preparing them and educating them and getting to know them. Chapter eight is all about throwing out some seeds into your field, tilling them in, watering them and letting them grow into giant money trees. That's really what it's about. But when you're doing that and you're throwing your seeds out and you're watering them and you're caring for them and you're letting them grow into your money trees, you're not having to sell anything. You're just tending to them and taking care of them, and that's how selling should feel like in your business. And if that analogy sounds kind of crazy and you're like, what is she talking about? Don't worry, I break it down in that chapter, really. And then, lastly, you are ready.

Speaker 2: 22:27

The conclusion of the book is about how you are ready to go do this and how you can do this, and you just need to go do it. Really, it is, guys, jam-packed with so many things. There's some chapters that have action steps and exercises built into them. There's some other activities that are gonna be linked in here as well that you can go check out when you buy the book. This is so good, it's going to be amazing.

Speaker 2: 22:48

Go grab your copy. Grab a copy for your photographer friends. Go through it with them. Once you read it, let us know your thoughts, let us know what your biggest takeaways are. Send us a DM on social media at mess your mind money on Instagram. Come to our Facebook group Photography Business. Tune Up with Karinda Kay and post in there and tell us your thoughts, tell us what your takeaways are from the book and tell us what you've learned from our book.

Speaker 2: 23:09

I am so excited about this. Like I said, you can grab your copy at ImagingUSA, you can pre-order it to make sure you get one, or you can have a ship into your house in February. This has been a labor of love. It has been something that has tried to knock me down and tried to stop me. It has taught me so many valuable lessons about so many things. In the process of fading this book, and it is my hope that my I would say blood, sweat and tears but really just sweat and tears that have gone into this and the late nights and the struggle and the fighting off of the world trying to stop me is so worth it. I know and I believe that this book is going to change so many of your businesses and hopefully, some of your lives.

Speaker 2: 23:54

This stuff isn't just applicable to business. This stuff is applicable to life as well, and we even talk about managing your home in this book. There's even a section about don't forget about your house. You're the CEO of your house, too, and your home, and you can get the help you need, and I give you some great tips on what to remember if you're struggling in your home as well. So keep that in mind as you're going really.

Speaker 2: 24:18

Business isn't just business, it's life. Our life and ourselves are reflected in our businesses and our business is reflected in our personal lives. It's hard to separate the two Like no matter the way you look at it, they are intertwined because it is our heart and soul. But the thing is is that we have to learn how to create that magic and find that magic and that balance, and we have to know how to make it all work together seamlessly, and we have to know how to step out of our own way and stop holding ourselves back. If I could leave you with one thing, and if I could tell you one thing that I really want each and every one of you to leave this episode with and hopefully leave our book with, is that you are special, you are unique, your business is special and your business should be unique just like you are.

Speaker 2: 25:09

Don't settle for cookie cutter advice. Don't settle for just doing something because everyone else is doing it or because somebody says you should do it. Understand things, understand the logic, understand the reasoning and go, make it special and be a unicorn in a field of forces. Quite literally, that's my challenge for you today is to be a unicorn in a field of forces. I can't wait to see some of y'all at Imaging come by and see me say hi. I also have some really fun stickers that say be a unicorn in a field of horses, if you need that reminder.

Speaker 2: 25:41

We have a lot of other stickers too. They'll be available at Imaging. We'll also have a section on our website coming up soon where you can go grab our stickers that we have created. They're really fun and they're really amazing. We have a done is better than perfect sticker for those of you that might struggle with perfectionism, and we have a sticker that says be kind to me, and I actually want to. I'll share kind of what that means. It's in the book, but I'll share what that means and leave you with that today.

Speaker 2: 26:09

The sticker that says be kind to me. It's not telling other people to be kind to me. It's not like me putting a sticker that says be kind to me on my water bottle and telling everybody to be kind to me. What it's about is remembering to be kind to myself. This is actually something that I uncovered when I was working with one of my personal mentors, dr Julia. She's an amazing flow expert and she teaches flow. I was on a call with her and we were talking and discussing some things and she told me like Karinda, you're doing so many amazing things. You just need to be kinder to yourself. You need to recognize that you are doing a good job and be kinder to yourself. I don't know if she said it or I don't know if I wrote it down that day or what, but the words be kind to me have stuck in my head ever since that day.

Speaker 2: 27:00

I think it's a really important reminder to myself be kind to me, because all too often we're kind to others, we're kind to other people. That's what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to be kind to everybody and love everybody and do those things, but for some reason, we forget to be kind to ourselves. Be kind to yourself. If you need that idea cemented in your head, be kind to me. That is one of those mantras that I've been trying to live by and remember and also help my coaching clients with, because I noticed so many of my coaching clients are so hard in themselves. I used to remind them remember be kind to me. That's your golden rule to live by Be kind to myself, be kind to me. I know it kind of sounds weird to say it like that. Looking back, I don't know if that's the best way to say it, but that's the way I wrote it in the book because that's the way it makes sense to me. When you read that in the book, you're going to know the story behind that and why I included that in the book. Also, if you're at imaging and you want to come grab a be kind to me sticker so that you can have that reminder to be kind to yourself as you're building your business, make sure you come by and grab one. Or if you want to order one, like I said, they'll be available on our website eventually. If you are listening to this and the store is not live on our website yet, just send me a message and I can get you the details on how to grab one of those stickers.

Speaker 2: 28:13

I hope all of you have an amazing, magical week and a magical year this year. I hope that this year you were able to find that magic you've been yearning for in your business. If you want more help finding magic in your business, grab our book or join us over in your magic year. Your magic year has been so freaking amazing guys. Everyone is loving it. There is so much great information. It is literally such a great value. So if you're interested in joining your magic year, check out the link in the show notes and join us over in there. Bye guys.

Speaker 1: 28:47

Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to support the podcast, please make sure you share it on social media or leave a rating and review. As always, you can check out the links and resources in the show notes over at masteryourmindmoneycom. To catch all the latest from me, you can follow me on Instagram at masteryourmindmoney, and don't forget to join our free Facebook group Photography Business. Tune Up with Corinne Decay. I'll see you next time.