229 - Buckle up for an action-packed adventure with Nicole Begley and Heather Lahtinen, where we dive into the superhero transformation of everyday photographers into unstoppable business heroes, all thanks to theProgress Lab! This episode is like opening a comic book where the characters leap off the page, each with their own tale of bravery and triumph over the business villains of doubt and fear.
What to Listen For:
This episode is not just a chat; it's a call to the hero within every photographer, proving that with the right support and a dash of courage, anyone can reveal their inner business superhero. Ready to don your cape and join the ranks of business avengers? Tune in, and let's turn those business dreams into reality!
Ready to don your own cape and join the ranks of business avengers? Start by tuning in, but even better than that is joining us at the next Progress Lab April 23-25 in Charlotte, NC. Details at - www.hairofthedogacademy.com/progress
JOIN THE PARTY:
229 - Buckle up for an action-packed adventure with Nicole Begley and Heather Lahtinen, where we dive into the superhero transformation of everyday photographers into unstoppable business heroes, all thanks to theProgress Lab! This episode is like opening a comic book where the characters leap off the page, each with their own tale of bravery and triumph over the business villains of doubt and fear.
What to Listen For:
This episode is not just a chat; it's a call to the hero within every photographer, proving that with the right support and a dash of courage, anyone can reveal their inner business superhero. Ready to don your cape and join the ranks of business avengers? Tune in, and let's turn those business dreams into reality!
Ready to don your own cape and join the ranks of business avengers? Start by tuning in, but even better than that is joining us at the next Progress Lab April 23-25 in Charlotte, NC. Details at - www.hairofthedogacademy.com/progress
JOIN THE PARTY:
In this episode of the Freedom Focus Photography Podcast, we are talking to some of our Progress Lab alumni and we are talking about the major transformations that they had while they were at the event and what's happened to them now that it's been about nine months. If you're curious about how these incredible students had these massive mindset shifts, well stay tuned. 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 two to $3,000 sales is your fastest route to six figure businesses that any technically proficient photographer can consistently hit four figure sales.
And no matter if you want photography to be your full-time passion, or a part-time pursuit, profitability is possible. If you're a portrait photographer aspiring to craft a business that aligns perfectly with the life you envision, then you're in exactly the right place with over 350,000 downloads. Welcome to the Freedom Focus Photography podcast. Hey everyone, welcome back to the Freedom Focus Photography podcast.
I'm still getting used to saying that 'cause it's been Hair of the Dog podcast for so long, but we have new year, new name, all sorts of exciting things. Anyway, today I am joined by some of my favorite people on the planet, some of our alumni from last year's Progress Lab, and of course my co-teacher troublemaker partner extraordinaire, Heather Laton.
But we also have Jessica, Michelle, and Donna. So let's just start off by having them introduce each other or actually introduce themselves and just where, who they are, where they're from, and their business name, and anything else you guys wanna add. And, and then we're just gonna dive today to talk about really, oh gosh, just so many business related things,
what it takes to, to succeed in this business, and some big changes that they've gone through over the past year. And we're just gonna start to dive into it. But first, let's go ahead and start. Jess, why don't you say hello and introduce yourself. Hi, I'm Jess Wasik. I am based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and my business is Bark and Gold Photography.
Awesome, Michelle. Hey guys, this is Michelle Crandall. My business is Pets in Focus and I'm located in a tiny town called Tose, Michigan, right between Ann Arbor, Michigan and Toledo, Ohio. Perfect. And Donna? Hi, I'm Donna Kelleher with Donna Kelleher Photography, and I am based just north of Boston, Massachusetts. Awesome. And of course,
last but not least, Heather, My name is Heather Laan, I'm based out of Pittsburgh, pa, and my favorite thing to do is kick photographers in their rear ends to help them get out of their own way so that they can grow their business, get more clients, make more money. One thing I like to say oftentimes, I don't mean to call her out,
but specifically Michelle, is I tell her to stop punching herself in the face. Because oftentimes the, the hurdles that you face in your photography business are a direct result of your own thinking. And if you can just shift your thoughts and get out of your own way, as we're gonna talk about today, you'll see that anything is possible. You can create anything you want.
You can create, you know, $10,000 sales, multiple six figure business, what if that's what you want. If not, you know, that's cool too. But I like to just challenge everyone's thinking and Nicole and I put together the Progress Lab as a business workshop to help propel you to your next level. Yeah, and I've gotta say, I mean I think it was pretty magical.
Well, I should say real quick, we had Linda Cobar Rubius, she is over in Palm Springs, California, and then Carol rco up in the, the greater Philadelphia area that they weren't able to join us today due to other prior commitments. So anyway, shout out to them. They're also awesome. But I wanted to kind of start off with Heather and I had this idea of the Progress lab because as you know,
I love business. Heather loves the mindset of the business. Like bring together, we're like, oh my gosh, I feel like we are a dream team here to like kick some, some butt lovingly so that you guys can take some steps forward. And I've gotta say that that first one was just magic. The amount of transformation that happened. Heather and I both at the end of that said,
that was the most impactful thing I've ever taught in my whole entire life. So I don't know how you guys felt, and I'm gonna put you on the spot, like compared to other things Maggie, you've done in the past. But I mean, I felt like it was just a really, really magical experience and I'm so honored that you guys chose to,
to join us for it. And so thankful. So thank you. I'm really curious, Nicole, what led everyone to sign up for the Progress Lab. Obviously we're focused on business, but Michelle, I'd like to start with you. What prompted you to sign up? What prompted me to sign up was that I was in this place in my business where I thought that I had checked all the right boxes and I still wasn't in quotations successful.
I've been in the hair of the Dog academy, I think in 2017 or 2018 is when I started. Then I got into the Elevate program and I was like, what am I not doing that everybody else knows that I don't know this, it's a business problem, right? It's not a photography problem, it's a business problem. This is a business focused progress lab.
And that's what I needed. So that was what was going through my head as I was shaking and hitting the enter button. I'm computer Sign Up. Tell me about the fear though, because a lot of people have that, people listening to this might think, oh my gosh, I can relate to that. My photos are decent, I know what I'm doing,
but there's something missing, but they're nervous. What advice would you give Them? Yeah, a hundred percent. Go for it. I, I know that, you know, this podcast is about the Progress lab, but, and I'm not just saying this because I'm on a podcast about the Progress lab. Okay, this was, it changed my business and I,
you know, later on in the episode, of course we can talk about the things that are proof of that, but it absolutely changed my business, zero hesitation to go back again. I wonder if you, with knowing what you know now, if you would've had that hesitation in shaking when you were pressing the enter button to join. Absolutely not. Right,
right. If I had known then what I know now, eight months or 10 months later, however long it is, a hundred percent would've just like Jess pulled off the side of the road to sign up on my cell phone. Amazing. Michelle, Jeff, Can I ask Michelle, Michelle, ask you a quick question too. What, what was the main fear?
Was it a fear of, oh my gosh, I'm gonna spend this money, it won't work with me. For me, was it a fear of like, who else is gonna be there? Or kind of like what judgment might await me at this thing? Like what was the basis of the fear you had prior to signing up? The fear was a little bit financial.
Yeah. I'm not gonna say that that wasn't true. I definitely was coming from a scarcity mindset and the first thought that I had was, oh my gosh, how am I gonna make enough money to pay this back? Oh, Right, right. Especially, you know, 'cause I'm flying in, you know, the hotel and all of that. Like,
you know, I was concerned about that, but the fear mostly was about judgment. And I don't want you to take that the wrong way. I wasn't afraid that you guys were gonna judge me. I was afraid of the other people that were coming. I'm pretty new to the scene. I often say that I don't really know what I'm doing, even though the more I go through this,
the more I realize I kind of do. And so it was a lot of that fear that it was just, I was just making stories up in my head, you know? Yeah. None of it was true, but that's what was going on. Yeah. Fear, false, false evidence, appearing real And There it is. Yeah, Absolutely.
Yeah. You know, a lot of people have this thought whenever they're investing in education, which is, I need to make the money back, or how quickly can I make the money back with this investment? And I've just decided for myself, I invest very heavily in education and I will never hesitate because my thought is, how can I make this work?
And I believe that it's going to compound for me over time, just like interest. So I honestly view it as an investment in myself and my brain, and I believe in me enough to do that. So I'm always working with people and elevate of which all of you are a part of, to say like, okay, what if it weren't about making your money back?
Like, that's just coming from like lack and scarcity. What if it's about multiplying what you make and just having anything and everything be possible because you invested in your brain? So I wanna just flip that for anyone listening, like, I will just never hesitate to invest in my brain. That will always be the best investment is the one that you put into yourself.
Same, same. Let's dive over. Carol was able to join us for a bit a little bit. She is at a, a doggy daycare right now, about to start some a day of work with some special mini session event type thing. But she's able to join us real quick. So if you guys hear a little bit of barking in the background,
that's just because that's where Carol is. She is joining us from the actual workspace today. So Carol, welcome. Thanks for being here. Thank you. Yes. As a working pet photographer, that is one of the hazards of the, of the job. I love it. So let us know where, where are you from? I gave you a super quick introduction before,
but just to give everybody a little, a quick, your business and where you serve and all that stuff. Yeah. So I'm Carol Acot Photography. I am about a half an hour outside of Philadelphia. And these dogs were quiet like 10 minutes ago, and now they're barking again. I'm so sorry. Of course. But I've been in business since 2019.
I shut down during the pandemic restarted in 2021 and you know, have been with Harold the Dog Academy for a long time. And then through that met Heather and through that everything else came about. So I love it. And what, what were you looking for when you signed up for Progress Lab? Kind of what was going through your head before you joined us?
So I had actually just quit my full-time job as an IT project manager. And I was really excited, but really scared. And I thought this, I have to make it work. I need to figure out, you know, what's going on in my business and how I can sustain this. And I felt like I couldn't really afford to go, but then I realized that I really couldn't afford not to go because I needed to make that investment in myself and my business.
Like this was my one shot to make a goal of it. I did not wanna have to, you know, swallow my pride and start sending out resumes and go back to the corporate world. So I just decided to take a chance on it. I love it. I love it. Awesome. Heather, do you wanna, do you wanna I love,
well, I love that thought of like, I can't afford not to go. That is, that was a great turnaround. I think Carol like, well, I can't afford to go, well wait a minute. I can't afford not to go. I need to do this. So then I think the next thing you asked yourself was like, how can I make this work?
And I know you are scrappy. I love that about you. You, you decided this was the investment that you needed, needed. How could you make it work? And then you made it work. You did the same thing with Elevate. You do the same thing with everything that you want in your life. You just figure it out and you go get it.
And I love that about you. Yeah. Was it Carol, your Elevate, or when you signed up for Progress Lab wasn't one of them? Like, you signed up and you're like, oh, I don't know. And then you had like a thousand dollars something like came in like that day or something. Yeah, so when you join Elevate, the very first assignment is to earn a thousand dollars in your business in the first month.
And I, I actually did it in the first day. I did something that I had never done before. So I do mini sessions and I thought, how can I get a thousand dollars? So I did a presale on my mini sessions, I ran a little contest, I was gonna do a drawing for anybody that signed up within that, well,
within the first week to, you know, to win a free session. And I had a thousand dollars worth of signups for my mini sessions in the first day. So yeah, I Love it. That's awesome. The, just the universe saying yes, well done. Good decision. It works. Investing in yourself. I love it. Let's Move on to Jess.
Yes. Tell Us, tell us about your journey to joining Pro Progress Lab. I was literally on the road, I was listening to, I think you guys had a podcast or you were doing some kind of webinar. I was on the Parkway and I remember you saying there were only so many spots available and I pulled over immediately and I emailed Nicole and I'm like,
I need the info for the wait list. I'm a hundred percent ready to go. I didn't even, I didn't even question it because anything you guys offer, I do. 'cause I know it's good. So it didn't matter what it was gonna be like, what we were gonna be doing at the actual progress lab, I just knew I wanted to be a part of it because it was gonna be really good.
I love it. I love That attitude and the trust she places in us. Yes, Nicole. I know it's, it's humbling. It is. Yes, for sure. Oh my gosh, I would love to, well, actually, let's chat about this with you, Jess. What was your main kind of goal with signing up for the Progress lab?
This was my first, anything like this. I've never done a big workshop or traveled for a retreat or anything like that. So this was like my first big one. I didn't know what to expect, but I knew my business was good and I wanted it to be better. And I knew I didn't, I feel bad saying this. It's not that I don't care about my photography as a craft,
but I love the business so much that that's what I wanted to continue to grow. Yep. I get you. Awesome. And, and it just goes to show, we were talking about this, I think it was before we recorded, how, how important it is to focus on the business. If you do wanna build a successful business, it doesn't mean that you can't focus on the craft or you can't have a successful business if you're more in it for the craft.
I think there's definitely, I don't know, this is very unscientific, 72.5% of photographers are in it for the craft. And the other 27.5. I hope that math works is in it for the business, but you need to kind of be in it for both. And how many times have we seen photographers with Outstanding amazing, the most beautiful work ever created that struggle to,
to earn good money in their business where there's other photographers that have good work? You know, you definitely wanna have decent work and you wanna always kind of be growing. So you guys don't come at me saying, like, you, You said just Go out and sell crappy work. No, no. There's, there's, that's not what I'm saying.
I'm saying like, let's get our work to a, a reasonable level and, you know, always be on the, the, the outlook of ways to improve it and continue to, to develop your style and your unique vision, but then focusing on that business, it just, it's critical if you wanna earn money. Nicole, what I hear you saying is that it doesn't have to be perfect to start.
Oh, oh my God, a hundred percent. When I look back at some of the things that I sold my first clients, oh, oh my God. Like I wanna send them apology notes to be like, I'm really sorry, but you know what, here's the thing. I didn't force them to buy any of that. They loved it enough to purchase it and,
you know, hopefully it still brings them joy in their home today, even if it's not, you know, the best work that I've ever done. Or even super quality work because I was new and learning. So I had a client reach out to me just I think yesterday or maybe two days ago. I had photographed her wedding 15 years ago, and I have the same reaction to my work from back then.
I kind of cringe and I wanna apologize. And she said to me, I just wanted to tell you how much we're still enjoying our wedding photos and loved working with you. So instead of saying like, oh yeah, I'm sorry about that, I would never say that, of course, but I said, That's what's going on in your head. Yes,
that's what's going on in my head. But this is what I said. I said, thank you so much for supporting Vintage Heather because I was like, starting out, you know, and my work was, I wanna, I wanna pull this thread on the craft, but first I wanna ask Donna what led her to join Progress Lab? So I knew,
I knew my business wasn't where I wanted it to be, and I knew that the thing holding me back was my mindset. I was very much, how Did you know that? How did you know? Because I was an ior. You know, everything was, oh dear, you know, nothing's gonna work a very much of a scarcity mindset. So much money issues,
so much of a money block that, you know, I went into things and this isn't gonna work. Or, you know, maybe the, you know, maybe I'll get a client or two. So when I saw the, the promos for Progress Lab, I wanted to do it, but then again, it's like, oh, I don't know if I'm good enough and oh,
that's a lot of money. Oh my God. And I'll have to fly there and board the dog and pay for a hotel. And so I went back and forth and I conveniently procrastinated until Progress Lab was sold out. So then I'm off the hook. So I'm like, oh, you know, I wanted to go, but I could, it's not the cards.
Yeah. And I just, on a whim, I, I emailed Nicole and I was like, yeah, you know, I I'm sure it's sold out. And she's like, somebody just dropped this morning, the spot is yours. And all of a sudden I'm like, oh God, now I have to go. Yeah. Oops. So, and that was just a sign,
it was like, okay, this, this was meant to be. Yeah. So, yeah. So what advice would you give to photographers who are really focused on attending craft type workshops? Because they think if they improve their craft, they'll improve their business. And you kind of had this suspicion that it was your business. Like what, how would you help people work through that?
I think, I mean, as long as you're, Nicole says quite often, you know, as long as you're perf you can consistently produce, you know, quality work. It's technically correct. That's what people are looking for. And even if you have the best work in the world, if you don't have the marketing and the getting out there, meeting people,
telling them you're a photographer and making them an offer, nobody's gonna know about it. So you have to have the part where you're marketing to people and believing in yourself enough to put yourself in front of people so that they can, can buy your work. Good money. Yeah. And if people don't know you exist, how in the world can they hire you?
Right. And if you keep hiding under this like, guise of, wow, I need to improve my work. It's not your, it's never the work. As long as your photos are sharp and in focus and well edited and clean, it's not the work. Because again, to Nicole's point, I, I know photographers that produce very decent work that are doing really well.
I know photographers that are exceptional that aren't that, that are struggling because of their mindset or like, what's holding them back. Maybe it's around money or marketing or being out there. What would you say or can you identify maybe one of your biggest blocks, Insecurity, just not, never feeling good enough. Hmm. And we went deep into that on Progress Lab.
There were tears over that. Yeah. I've just, you know, going back to childhood, all that stuff that we all have just never quite feeling good enough. Hmm. So, Yeah. And how did you progress through that insecurity over the time we were together and where are you now with that? I am, I have more confidence now than ever in my life through working with both of you for many,
many years now. Just, yeah, you, what you taught me was that I control my thoughts. Like I was always just a victim. Like, you know, my thoughts would come and Oh, those are my thoughts. Yep. It's, you know, everything, the sky is falling. And, and it never had occurred to me that I could just say,
oh no, I don't like that thought. Get rid of it. Let's replace it with a better one. And learning that has just turned my whole life around. That means same. I mean, I just passed my knowledge on to you that I was learning from my coach, which is, wait a minute, our thoughts create our feelings. How we feel dictates our actions and our actions lead to our results.
So if I'm getting crappy results, it's probably because I'm thinking crappy thoughts and I don't have to listen to them or believe them. I, I just need to become more aware that I'm thinking them. And you know, we worked with you to point out some of the thoughts that you were just accepting. Yeah. You were just like, this is,
this is a thought, so it must be true. And we were like, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's, that's not true. And here's something better. And then you feel better. Yes. And you take more inspired, aligned action. Yeah. And then you get results, which is the key. That's what we're all looking for,
movement, right? Yeah. Yes. Absolutely. Yeah. I, I feel like that so many photographers are out there and they are looking for the secret marketing strategy. Yes. Which I'm sure all of you guys have at some point of you been like out there like, well, I just need to find the right marketing strategy. I just need to do the thing.
This is coming from Action Girl, as Heather lovingly calls me, because I am usually quick to be like, oh, here's an action you can take to fix that. But if the thoughts aren't behind, the supporting thoughts aren't behind that action, you're never going to actually be successful. Or it's going to be a very hard uphill slog to be successful in that action without the supporting thoughts.
And it's so hard to kind of start to dig into what those thoughts are. And the more Heather and I work with people like the more it's so easy to see, and I just like wanna shake people and be like, oh my gosh, you are on the edge of everything that you want. But there is just something right here in your head that's holding you back,
that's making you play small. That's like just keeping you from, from being out there and feeling so secure in your business. As you said the other day, Heather, that it's like, hey, if you had a cure for cancer, like just like, Hey, take this pill. Everything's cured, it's magic. No side effects, like a hundred percent cure rate.
Would you not be screaming that from every single like rooftop to every single person that you would listen? And then now you look at your pet photography business, all right, maybe it's not as like, life changing is saving the whole world from cancer. However, for the people that you are serving, you are capturing these images. And you know, this isn't just pet photographers,
family photographers, high school, senior photographers, whoever you're serving, you're capturing this moment in time of this very important animal or human that is like really priceless. So by us not getting rid of our own head trash and being able to stand up and confidently share what we do and how we serve, we are denying people really something that's important as a cure from cancer.
The world, I, I heard this statement recently, the world languishes to the degree that you hold yourself back because people suffer when you play small. And I believe that you are just one thought away from a completely different life and business. And if we can help you uncover that thought, that you can shift it, then really there's just no limit.
So I would like to ask everyone, I'll start with Michelle. What is one thought, I don't know, should we look at one thought that wasn't serving you? Or maybe what thought have you replaced that with? Or what are you thinking now that is serving you? I, I'll let you take that. I think when I came to Progress Lab,
the biggest thought that was going in my mind was, I'm not good enough to do this. Like, I showed up to this group of pet photographers, like solidly in last place, if you look at the financial scale. Okay. Like, I was really nervous. It's, it's Not a risk, it's not. But that's where my mind was.
Yeah. You know, in April that fair. It it absolutely was. I was thinking, there's no way that I, I don't need to be here. I don't deserve to be here. I am not this person. And during, during the Progress lab, there was one day that we were coaching on the lake, and I believe it was Heather,
but correct me if I'm wrong, it might've been Nicole. You said, this is your life. You have created this in your life because we're looking at these million dollar homes and we're on the lake and I'm in a, you know, I'm in a bathing suit, like with these awesome photographers. Like, I couldn't even believe this was my life.
And that's what I kept thinking and saying. And Heather said to me, this is your life. You, you're here, You are one of this, these people. Yeah. You Are this person. And that really shifted my mindset from, oh I, no, I am not ready for this. This is not me. To, my success is inevitable.
Yeah. I'm ready for this. Yeah. And I'm here to learn how to become ready for this. So what's interesting in that moment is what you had done is created separation between you and everyone else. You were separate, you know, they were different. You that couldn't work for you. And then when I said, look at your life, look at your life.
You are on Lake Norman on a beautiful day with amazing people. We're working, we're learning, we're crying, we're laughing, we're having so much fun. This is your life. You are here. And I think what happened in your brain is all of a sudden that separateness came to like connectedness, like oneness. Like, wait, I do belong.
Yeah. And that thought like, okay, that literally that one thought, I belong two words. Life changing. Right? Yeah. It's almost thinking about it right now. 'cause this is probably the first time that I've really thought about it with you guys all in front of my face. I kind of can feel myself getting a little bit choked up about it.
Aw, Wow. That's amazing. Yeah. It was a big deal. Yeah. And this is re this is actually really good news that your one thought away from changing your life or your business or your outlook, because like Nicole said, action girl, she could give you all of the action steps to create a business. But as you, you know,
so interestingly found out that doesn't work, you did all of those actions and it still wasn't working. I could give you every single step. If your thoughts are this isn't going to work, it doesn't matter what I tell you, it's never going to work. The reason this is good news is because you don't have to have that checklist or all the answers.
You can literally just change what you're thinking and your whole world can open up for you. And I think for all of us, the Progress Lab and all of us in Elevate for great examples of that is like, we don't need all of those action steps. We just need to change our thinking. And then you, you feel like, I think Donna had said like,
I've never felt more confident. And when you feel confident, you take action from a place of certainty. When that happens, if you still have that checklist, you know, that Nicole has provided you, you start executing it, all of a sudden it starts working, which is amazing. Okay. I just saw you wipe the tears. What's, what's coming up for you?
I was just thinking about the moment on the boat and seeing you guys all here. I, this is the first time we've seen everybody face to face with the unfortunate exception of Linda unable to be here. But yeah, it's a big deal. Yeah. When I left Progress Lab, I was so engaged in my business. Like I had my checklist of things,
you know, you know how I love checklists? Yes. I love the checklist too, Michelle, in public service announcements, we still have checklists. But yes, it doesn't work without the mind. Right. The first box on the checklist is arguably the most difficult, but it is to get your mindset right. Once you do that, everything else dominoes from there.
So there is a checklist, but that's awesome. There is, and I think the reason this works so well between Nicole and I and the businesses we've created, that we've brought together is Nicole is a hundred percent action Girl with her checklist and her spreadsheets and all of her things. And I'm working on the thoughts and the combination of those two things will explode your business and your mind,
both of them. Yep. I love it. Carol has to jump off here shortly. Can we touch base with her? Carol, I would love to know for you, what was a thought maybe that you had prior and a new thought after? Or just what, what was the big changer for you? Sure. Yeah. So, you know,
I was doing really well leading up to quitting my job. You know, money was coming in, I was getting clients, and that's what prompted me to leave my job. Then after I quit my job in January, my average sale just dropped. And I was really struggling. I couldn't figure out why. And, and it was completely a mindset thing because my skills didn't get worse.
You know, my, I I didn't sell you all of A sudden forgot how to use a camera. You're like, oh, I don't know how to use this anymore. So it was, it was my brain. I was so focused on, I've gotta make this work, I've gotta make this work. I've gotta take any job I can get,
I've gotta bring money in that I was taking things that were not, you know, my ideal client or my ideal situation. And just that, that desperation and that scarcity mindset. And it was a real, real struggle to get over that. And so, you know, being able to talk that out at Progress Lab and, you know, just the questions that you asked and the prompting and the really making me think about myself and,
and what my brain was doing to me. I mean, I was victimizing myself really. And then the, the whole, the whole money activity that we did was just phenomenal for me. I, I won't share too much about it in case you don't, you know, in case you're gonna use it again and you don't want people to know about it.
But when I got home, I recreated that at home and I think I shared the video with you. And I, I still think about that, you know, to this day. And I, I've done it a couple times since. And just really getting in that mindset of abundance, you know, there are plenty of clients out there for us.
There's plenty of money to go around and just, just the support system. You know, I'm not gonna say that I came out of Progress Lab and everything was perfect because it's never gonna be perfect, right? It's an ongoing experience. But the support that I have now from the Progress Lab partners, we are in contact every single day. Still. We are on Voxer together.
And if one of us starts to falter, the rest of us pick them up. And we've all, we've all been there, we've all had our days where we're like, guys help. You know, and, you know, there's always somebody available no matter what time of day to, to jump on and, you know, talk us down off the ledge and remind us of what we learned in Progress Lab and to give us a different perspective.
Help us turn that mindset around. Remember when Heather said this, you know, and we all, we all take turns with our Heather speak. So it, you know, it just, it really was, was life changing for me to be able to learn how to turn my thoughts around and learn what my brain is doing to me and say, no,
no, I, I don't allow that. I, I I choose not to receive that. I love that you brought up the money visualization exercise, and you're right, we are gonna do it again. But it was very, I had been through that exercise, I delivered that exercise and it was very, very life changing, shifting for me in my money mindset.
So I'm glad you enjoyed that and mentioned it. So good. Awesome. All right, let's go over Jess. Oh boy. My big thought going in was surrounding black and white thinking everything was this or that. Right or wrong, good or bad. I couldn't have what I kept fighting you on, which was both, it was either or. And to go back to the money,
I know the big area for me was I wanted to elevate my pricing, but also stay affordable for people who were more like budget conscious. And I kept saying, I don't know how I'm gonna do this. If I do raise my prices, it's gonna alienate the people who can't quote unquote afford that. But that wasn't the case. And I struggled so hard.
I wanted to convince you that I was right. But I listened, I took a chance, I raised them, I left that one little introductory product price and oddly enough, no one buys it. Yeah. So I can still have both. I can Still have both, but it doesn't mean people necessarily want both. Yeah. I found the same thing.
'cause I started adding guild and farmhouse frames this past year. And since I added those like super high-end luxe options on my price list, literally every client has chosen those, which I'm like, oh, alright. It's kind of crazy. I love that. I love that. Yeah. You were, you were hanging onto those limitations pretty strong. You were,
you were fairly adamant. I was like, Hmm, we broke through. 'cause It was working, it was working until I felt like it, it could work better. Yeah. Yeah. And I just had to trust, like, you guys know what you're talking about. Why would I not, why would I come here and then not listen and not try?
Yeah. You can always change it. That's the beauty of this business too. Like, you don't have to go before a board and request a price change and then have to like, go to another board and request it to go back. Like it's just an experiment. You can just test it. And, and I think it's even harder when there's a position that you were in where your business was working.
It's like you didn't come in with like, Hey, nothing's working. Like, it's like, nah, things are pretty good, but I kind of wanna just up level it a little bit. So it almost feels like, at least from my perspective, when I've tried to make big changes from that space, it's almost scarier because you're like, well,
I, but I could break what's working. Mm. Where when you're at the point where you're like, man, I've been trying everything, nothing seems to be working. Like, it's a lot easier to be like, well, nothing's working, so let's try something else. But when you already have the main piece of things working, that's terrifying. So big giant props for you well done on taking the action and,
and with the mind behind it to test these different things. And, and it's been, I saw her, I saw her sitting on the couch at one point when we were talking to her with very closed posture. Like she was, you know, arms crossed, sitting there like, I just can't see it, you know? And she was in her either or.
But something I love about you Jess, is you are very, very open to coaching. You are. So you were just, and I knew it, so I knew I could push you, you know, like just a little bit to say, okay, how, how could it be both? How can you honor these clients and how you want to grow your business?
How can it be both and, and not either or. And so then you, you figured that out. We made it work and then nobody even buys the lowest package, whatever. Okay. But anyway. Yeah. Michelle, One thing that I thought was amazing was watching this transformation with Jess, because, you know, when I came to Progress Lab and I saw that Jess was coming as a participant and not as like a coach,
I was really like, I am not in the right place. So watching her go through this transformation, even though it had nothing to do with me, actually helped my own business because I watched what she was doing. I watched the struggle that she was having, realized that I have the same struggle even in my own business, and was able to learn and apply the things that I watched her learn,
which was super cool. That's amazing. And a good point. You often learn more by watching other people get coached because you're not, it's not personal, you're not emotionally connected to it, so there's no part of you that's closed. You're just like open and you watch somebody else getting coached and you're like, oh, wait a minute, I think I might have some stuff going on here.
Yep. Exactly. Yep. Donna, you kind of started to mention some of your little beliefs before too, but is there anything you wanna add on to that of like maybe a belief that wasn't serving you the, and changes afterwards? Like, Carol, I loved the, the money, the money exercise we did that was so, so mind blowing and like,
wow, okay, but, and like Michelle, when I saw who was going to this, I'm just like, oh God, Jess is gonna be there. And I knew, I had seen Michelle on various things in Elevate, and I'm like, oh God, I I'm out of my league here. I just, yeah, no, nope. But I know we did the one exercise where Heather worked on me with my self worth,
and that was just, that changed something that day. Just having to say out loud that I am worthy of what I want was, I don't, I don't think I've ever said those words before. So let alone in a room full of strangers looking on. Yeah, because I think that was the first day, wasn't it, Donna? It, I think it might've been that.
I mean, we were all crying, I think. Yes. Crying. Stop. I was not crying. Yes. We made you cry later. Didn't we make you cry at some point? Some point, yeah. But it took a snake. Oh, It took a snake. The snake was planted to make you cry. Fantastic. We had to break through somehow,
Jess, It broke me. I apologize. I do have to run, but if anyone is on the fence, just such an amazing experience and it just transcended the short time that we were together. We're still going strong a year, you know, almost a year later. The friendships that we've created are, are priceless. So y yeah, you just,
you you can't, it was definitely worth every, every cent. Thank you, Carol. Thank you. Good luck today. Have fun with those puppies. Thank you. Okay, Donna, let's go back to this thought. It's interesting that Michelle had a similar thought of like, I don't belong. Definitely like going into, you just feel like I don't fit in,
I don't belong. And then it shifts to, at some point, how did it, or when did it shift for you? Like, oh, I'm, I'm in the right place. Like, I belong. I, I deserve to be here. I think just getting to know everybody and seeing how, you know, we're all struggling with a lot of the same issues and that we were,
and our friendship sort of started there. That we were all, you know, me from before Progress Lab would've been horrified that I was like crying in this group of people I barely knew and unable to say the words that I'm worth it. It's like, oh really? You've gotten to this point in your life and this is where you're at. But yeah,
it just gave me so much confidence. And like, Carol, I had quit my job the year before that with Heather's encouragement. I will never forget that day on that call. Never. Yeah. It was very powerful. More tears. It seems to be a theme of tears for me, of tears. But yeah, so like Carol, I was like,
I gotta make this work. And then of course, you're putting that pressure on yourself of like, I gotta make it work. And we know what comes from desperation, not good things. So this kind of helped me reset and come at it from less of a scarcity mindset and having, you know, having people in my corner being like, no,
you can do this. You know, just rethink how about trying this has been, has been huge. Yeah, I love that. I wanna point out something real quick too that we noticed that we kind of talked about here where Jess is, or Donna's looking at Michelle, Michelle's looking at Don, and they're both thinking like, oh my gosh, that person's here.
That just happened at, I was just teaching home vision last week, and there were two people, like a group of nine students and two particular students. Both of them said, oh my gosh, like the one person about this other person. Like, and then that other person literally said to themselves about the other person, oh my God, what am I doing here?
That person has it all together, which I just thought was hysterical. I'm like, you guys see what's happening here? Right? And so the whole group basically had this like thought of like, oh man, like, oh, they're always, it's human nature, right? You're looking at other people and we're making assumptions that like, oh, they have everything.
They don't have any of these doubts that I have. So they are very confident and secure, and I wish I could be like them. Meanwhile, they're thinking the same damn thing about you. Yeah, it's hilarious, right? Yes. Yeah, it's pretty funny. It's kind of a humbling moment, I think when Donna was like, oh my gosh,
Michelle's going. And I'm like, oh my gosh, Donna's going, Jess is going, what am I doing here? And then you're saying the same thing about me. And I was like, oh, oh, wow. That was a whole moment of my own. Yeah, but listen, think about it also, you, you are, you're a psych nurse,
so you have this type of background. And as a coach in that situation, I'm thinking, oh my gosh. She, she, she knows ev she knows things like, like, how am I gonna help her when she's like, on the inside, she knows the brain, you know? So it's like the same thing. Everybody has that, everybody has that.
It's just a matter of catching it, being aware and, and saying, no, I know what I'm doing and I belong. I belong, I belong in this industry. I belong, you know, in the, in the business that I'm in. I deserve the money that I earn. I deserve the happiness. I'm open to opportunity in receiving it because I belong.
I, I just love, that's like such a simple phrase, but if you just say, I belong and I'm worth it. I mean, I know when Donna and I had, I was like probably three feet from her face and we locked eyes, woo. It was like, let's go. And then I saw it just like break. It's like,
it just like, you know, that she finally started to believe that maybe I was actually telling the truth. It was in fact possible that she was worthy. And I got her to that point. She got herself there. And then I turned and looked at Michelle and I said, say it. And it took a minute. It took A lot of minutes,
I believe, if I recall it correctly. Listen, I am not gonna cry on this podcast twice, so let's just move on. Oh my gosh, I love it. Oh, hey, you know, the breakdown happens to be before the breakthrough. That's right. So it truly, they go hand in hand. Yes. But we'll abide by your wishes.
We should probably start to wrap up now. Anyway, you guys, thanks so much for being here. Before we wrap up, I would love just to get one last comment from each of you really just about now almost, I guess we're about nine months past the, the first progress lab from your event. Looking back on it, either like what's the biggest takeaway?
What advice do you have for other people? Like how much do, are you, like, how do you feel about your decision to invest in that? Like whatever, whatever it is you kind of wanna share now that you're nine months out looking back. Go ahead, Jess. We'll start with you. I just looked back. I track all my wins and I looked back and saw that at the end of June,
which was, I don't even think it was a full month after we left. I had a net income of 20,000 more than I did the year before. And I think so much of that was just from changing the way I thought about everything, like pricing my clients, where I was in my business, where I wanted to go. So that was really exciting.
I had my highest sale to date from the money exercise that we did because I could picture it sparkling in my head and I could feel how it felt in my body. And like so much unexpected good stuff came out of this that I did not go down there expecting to get. And I had nothing on my radar like what is going on in my business now.
So it's been fascinatingly fun. I love It. Fascinatingly fun. I think that could be a tagline or it says Progress Lab student makes 20 K from attending. You know, it's like a Yeah, I love It. It said it was fascinatingly fun. Yes. Great. I love it. Oh my gosh, that's awesome, Jess. I'm, I'm so happy.
And I, I love too, like the, the surprise and delight of like, when you all of a sudden like look around in your business, you're like, like I didn't, I didn't set forward like having this like, oh, this is my master plan. And I experienced that. My very first mastermind meeting I went to in February, 2021, where I,
my intention was I'm here to receive when I need to receive these three days. Like, I didn't have anything specific I was going in for, it was just like, I'm open to receiving what I need to receive. And that's when the hair of the dog conservation fund was born and when came out of left field. And even in those couple years since,
like, I knew it was there and I knew it wasn't important, but then I didn't see how like it worked together with all these other things. But as each year goes by, like by new surprises are uncovered where I'm like, oh, that's how this works with that. Oh. And it's like, it's just, it's fascinatingly fun as you say,
just to see how these things just get, just keep on, just keep on getting built and, and continuing on. I love it. Yeah. I think that's part of the beauty of Progress Lab along with Jess. Absolutely. Like last year was my best year ever. Totally unexpected. I had my highest sale ever, which I'm super proud of.
But the, oh, how do I say like the, the tendrils of it coming out, you know, like all of the things that happen because of Progress Lab that have nothing to do with revenue related, you know, these friendships that we've gained, we often talk about how thankful we are for Progress Lab, for all, all of the stuff we learned there,
but also for these friendships that we gained. That's so, so important when you're a solopreneur to have these people that I can just get on my phone and immediately somebody will answer and say, oh yeah, this is great. Or Oh yeah, you're right. That is crazy. You know, it's just, it's an amazing, it's just been an amazing year.
I love it. Awesome. Donna, how about you? You know, in, in a very similar vein, it's, you know, I went into Progress Lab hoping to improve my business, but the mindset stuff that we did has improved everything. Like every part of my life. It had never occurred to me that I could control what I was thinking.
The thoughts just came, and then the feelings came, and then the lack of action came. And it never occurred to me that I could just, you know, I'll hear myself now if something comes up and I'm just, oh, that's a trash thought. Get rid of that. That's not gonna serve me. And I do that in all aspects of my life now.
And I just, you know, it was like, wow, this, it is changed everything. Oh my God, for so much the better. I love it. That is Wonderful to hear and so affirming because this work we do and working with all of you is just the absolute privilege of a lifetime. For me. I take it very seriously.
I cry with you. I think about you. How can I help you improve? What can I help you with? Your thoughts? What can I teach you? And to hear the impact it's made for all of you is really very moving and humbling. Same. A hundred percent. Same. Truly Heather and I finished teaching that everybody went home like it was the next morning,
went to breakfast before Heather flew back to Pittsburgh, and we were like, that was incredible. Yeah, I've taught a lot of retreats and this isn't to take anything away from all these other workshops that are also, you know, incredible. And I feel like every time one finishes up, I'm like, oh my gosh, that was such an honor to be able to facilitate that.
I felt like the shifts that happened at this one were so much deeper and longer lasting than anything I have ever experienced before because of the level of, of the level of identity that we were working with there. You know, just like instead of working on the surface level of our thoughts or business, like we were digging in deep. And so, yeah.
Yeah, and I loved, I loved the way Michelle explained it. I loved how she said the tendrils, the tendrils just like go like, and to, which is what Donna was saying as well, like it impacted every aspect of your life because you learned one key thing in, oh my gosh, that's just amazing. I just love it. It's the difference between,
like we talked earlier on the episode about how like there are craft based workshops and there are business based workshops. I am not gonna have a breakthrough that changes me to my soul learning the exposure triangle, right? If I don't know the exposure triangle and I am a photographer, I need to take that workshop. Absolutely. Yeah. And I would love to take those workshops.
This is not that, and it's a good thing because it's totally different. It totally changes how you do business. Yes. Like me and Donna, we went into it like, all right, we're gonna fix our business. And we came out of it crying but worth it. And that's a big deal. Wow. I love it. Well said.
Oh my gosh, you guys, thank you so much for being here, for sharing your experience. Again, it's so great to see all of your faces. For those of you guys out there listening, if you're like, oh, maybe I do wanna check this Progress Lab out. Our next one is April 23rd to 25th here in Charlotte. Again, this time in the past,
the last time we, everyone had a hotel room and we met at my house this time. We actually rented a house, took feedback. Everyone's like, man, it would've been great if we all stayed together. We're like, all right, noted. We rented a lake house on Lake Norman. So there'll be a, a great place to kind of all stay together and connect.
And yeah, just go to hair of the dog academy.com/progress. Check it out. Registration's open. Now. We do have two out of the seven spots filled already. So go grab that spot now. And ladies, thank you again so much for being here and being part of that, and we can't wait to be in touch and keep seeing how this ripples through and continues to impact you.
Thanks everybody. Thank You. Thank you. Bye.