239 - Welcome back to the Freedom Focus Photography Podcast! As emerging photographers, many of you might be grappling with the question: "Am I ready to start charging for my services?"
It's a hurdle that every new photographer faces at some point. You might feel like your skills aren't polished enough or your portfolio isn't vast enough to justify setting a price. Perhaps there's a lingering doubt whether your business structure is comprehensive enough to start accepting payments.
Today, we're diving deep into these insecurities. We'll debunk the myth that you need to be perfect to start charging, explore how to recognize the value you already offer, and discuss how to gauge market response to your pricing. Our goal is to equip you with the confidence to move past self-doubt and start building a profitable photography business, step by step.
What To Listen For:
Resources From This Episode:
JOIN THE PARTY:
239 - Welcome back to the Freedom Focus Photography Podcast! As emerging photographers, many of you might be grappling with the question: "Am I ready to start charging for my services?"
It's a hurdle that every new photographer faces at some point. You might feel like your skills aren't polished enough or your portfolio isn't vast enough to justify setting a price. Perhaps there's a lingering doubt whether your business structure is comprehensive enough to start accepting payments.
Today, we're diving deep into these insecurities. We'll debunk the myth that you need to be perfect to start charging, explore how to recognize the value you already offer, and discuss how to gauge market response to your pricing. Our goal is to equip you with the confidence to move past self-doubt and start building a profitable photography business, step by step.
What To Listen For:
Resources From This Episode:
JOIN THE PARTY:
I am 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.
With welcome to the Freedom Focus Photography podcast. Welcome back to the Freedom Focus Photography podcast. I'm your host, Nicole Begley, and we are back week three of this special series with Heather lain. And yeah, we're still wearing the same clothes because we recorded them all on the same day. We've Had a lot of things to say, and we were really excited and kind of amped up about these thoughts because we both believe that they're so critical and so impactful to your business.
Like really excited for you to just maybe pick one thought that you could shift and just see what happens. Just try it out. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Yeah. And we felt like we needed to break 'em up because otherwise this episode would be two hours, number one, and B, it allows you to really explore these thoughts a little bit more intently by having less to look at at a time.
So just to recap, two episodes ago we went over these five thoughts. So if you have not listened to that episode in any of these, you're like, oh, I think that sometimes stop, go listen to that. Come back here. So number one, that won't work in my market. My prices are too high, which is why people aren't booking.
I don't have a studio, so therefore I can't charge high dollars. I'm not as experienced or talented as others in my market, and I can't compete with low price offers that others are offering. So that was our episode two weeks ago. Last week we talked about I need more followers or a bigger audience before I can, you know, charge and move forward in my business that I'm not good at sales or marketing clients only care about digital files,
not prints or albums, and I just need to find the right only marketing trick that works for me. So if any of those seem familiar, make sure you go back. Listen, let's rewire those thoughts. And today we are gonna dig into, well, really a favorite one for both of us. And that is I need to perfect my skills before I can charge more.
Okay. Or charge in general. Okay. I need to relax. Take a a breath. I I, So we're getting Heather all hyped up here. Oh my gosh. So rephrase that. 'cause what I've heard is I'm not good enough to charge, so maybe not. Yeah, I think there's, I think there's two options here. So there's the,
like, I'm not ready to charge period. Like I'm just getting my business started and my work's not good enough to, for anyone to pay me even a quarter yet. And I'm not good enough to charge at the level that I wanna be charging. Yes. So my work's not good enough for a $2,000 sale. Yeah. So there's it's the same,
but slightly different. Yeah. No, that's fair. Okay. So how do you know that What? That it's not good enough? Yeah. I don't know because many people that have asked me this question, I look at it and their work is nicer than mine. I know, I know. So if you were, you need to take on the identity.
Have you ever done this with chat GPT by the way, where you're like, Hey, I need you to take on the identity of, oh No, Yes, I've done it. Oh my gosh. You can tell it take on the identity of a pet photography client who doesn't understand pricing, and I, and I need to explain to them my packages.
How would I blah, blah, blah. And you let it go. Yeah. So a couple weeks ago I had a situation and I said, I need you to take on the role of a life coach. I'm having this situation, I'm not sure how to handle. Oh my gosh. And it, its advice was actually pretty good. That's crazy.
Okay. Where was I? You need to perfect your, oh, how do I know that my skills aren't good enough? Oh. So yeah. I need you to take on the role Okay. Of a photographer that's kind of newish. Okay. And you wanna get better. And so you say to me, I'm not ready. Am I brand new?
Or am I been doing this for a while? And it's just like, let's do, let's do brand new. Like, I'm not ready to charge yet. Okay. Okay. All right. How Would, how, how do you know that, and how would you know when you are? Well, I just, my photos, I mean, they're not,
I still struggle. They're not really consistent. Like my editing's not very good and, you know, and it's just not where I wanna be. Like I, I see work that is beautiful and mine is just, mine is not. Okay. So you're saying you wish to improve your skillset in all areas of photography, right? Yes. Yeah. So are you shooting and editing and practicing?
I am, I am. Okay, Great. So how would you know when you get to the point where you could charge? When I feel like my work is better? Oh, well, good luck with that sister, because you're gonna feel like, okay, I wouldn't say that to a client. Okay. That was dark Heather. All right.
That was a side dark Heather. That's dark Heather right there. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. No, for real. What I would say is like, but when, when do you really think that that's gonna happen? That you're gonna wake up one day and be like, oh my gosh, I love my photos. Well, yeah, here's the kicker.
All right. I, I'm stepping into action, girl Nicole here for, for a minute. Because you guys, I still look at my photos sometimes and I'm like, oh, that's not what I wanted it to be. Or that session didn't turn out the way that I hoped it would. Or, you know, like, there's always more to grow there,
so you're never done. Okay. Anyway, lemme jump back into the, so what, what question did you just ask me? How will I know? Yeah. One, I can, I think consistently create the images that, that are, that I mean, to create that I can consistently feel confident at different locations and feel confident in different lighting scenarios of being able to deliver quality photos.
Okay. Define consistency for me. Define that for each one of those scenarios. Being able to really just have technically correct photos in any scenario Really. And you really, you think that's possible because I'm still struggling with that. Oh my gosh. I mean, what my line of questioning here is meant to uncover the fact that what you think you where you wanna go is like actually not achievable.
Mm. Like you will never get to the point where you are a hundred percent consistent a hundred percent of the time. Even close to that. Yeah. Loving your photos, feeling competent in every scenario. Like that's just not possible because we're always, to your point, we're always trying to get better and improve. So, And some sessions are better than others.
So you're always gonna have one always that's like, oh, that was not as great as I had hoped. So is that an ideal that's really achievable? And the answer is no, it's not, because you're always getting better. So if that's the case, then explain to me this gray area of like when you're going to be good enough or have consistent or competent enough work to charge.
I mean, I know the answer is whenever I feel like it Yeah. When you decide, I, I think here's, here's the challenge and action. Go reporting for duty. I feel like, well, actually this is more even just our thoughts and feelings. Like we are way more critical of our own art and our own work than other people are.
And I see two different things. I see some people that maybe their work is not great, but they think it is like off the charts. But yes, those are very, very, very few and far between, very few and far between. 99.9% of people think their work sucks way more than it does. Like their work might actually be gorgeous and beautiful and they're just like,
ah, no, no, no. 'cause they're so in that gap of whatever their artistic ideal is and where they currently are that they can't see their work now is lovely. So I highly recommend if you have this thought at all that you go post in our hair of the dog academy community, you post an elevate, you post freedom focused formula, whatever program you're in,
if you're not in one of our programs, then whatever program you're in, find a knowledgeable professional to literally ask like, Hey, like is this sellable? Like, is it technically correct? Meaning my technical correct is like, is the exposure reasonable? Is my white balance reasonable? And is it in focus? Is It in focus is my thing? Yeah.
Like those Are the three kind of like, if you're not hitting those three things regularly, okay, let's keep practicing. But that doesn't mean you can't charge still, you still can we'll get there. But like once you can do those three things, then it's like about massaging, all right, expression, let's make sure we're getting good expression. And then it's like,
all right, now let's make sure like we can start to learn how these different lenses affect our work. And now we start to learn some more editing and we start to learn about choosing where we're gonna be and choosing the lighting. So you start layering on all these skills as you improve. But really like my bottom level of like, sometimes you just need to be like,
is this, is this sellable? Which to me, sellable work is in focus, reasonable color management and reasonable exposure management. That's it. Yeah. But when you said to me like when you were playing the role of a news photographer Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you were like, well, until it's consistent or until I Yeah. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah. Until, I like it until, but my question to you or to anyone would be like, how do you know that you are seeing your own work? Clearly? No, you don't. You don't. It's impossible. Yep. So if that's, if that's the case, then, then how seriously if you, you know, you can't see your own work clearly,
how, how would you ever know that you are at the point where you are able to sell it? Like you either just need to try to sell it A or ask a professional B? Both. Both. Both. I mean, you can do both. Yeah. Like if, if you want, and here's the thing. If you're gonna ask for someone you trust,
like it should be someone that you know, not like your mom or not like your aunt, you know, Who doesn't know, right? Who is out there that's like I used to photograph. That's beautiful, honey. Like, no, ask an actual professional, someone that you trust that can give it to you straight. Like, I will tell all my students like,
that is great. These are great. And if there's something to improve, I'll let them know like, Hey, this is where you're doing well, here's where you need to work on improving. And then like, okay, here's your kind of plan of action. And so then you know where you stand and believe people when they tell you your work is beautiful.
Like, I am not just gonna go tell someone, your work is great and like, if there's things that need to be improved, I will tell you. Yeah. That's actually offensive to me. When I tell someone their work is beautiful and they don't believe me, I'm like, are you saying I'm a liar? Yeah. Like, okay, I'm gonna like sort of,
I wouldn't say disagree with you here. Yeah. Take, I'm gonna take a slightly different avenue. Okay. But like, it's not up to you whether you're good enough to charge. Like you set a price and, and the market will tell you because they'll either pay you or, or they won't. You know? So like, yes, I think you need to do all those things and feel comfortable with your,
your pricing. But good news is, I didn't know any of this when I was starting and there weren't any critiques because there wasn't much online. So guess what I did? I just made up a number and I went for it to see, you know, like, I don't know, just again, I try to keep things really light and simple.
I'm just gonna see if people will pay for this. And then that will kind of like help me see. And obviously you're always getting better, you know, this is the worst your work is gonna be ever. Right now it's only going to improve by default because you're gonna practice, you're gonna shoot more. So I know you're going to improve, but you can't see it clearly.
And when you say, how do I know based on like how good I am, what to charge like this, like, I don't know, is there's like this matrix of, okay, like on a scale of one to 50, if I said, okay, Nicole, your work is a 48.2 and that means you can charge this amount of money for your packages.
Like that doesn't exist. That is not a thing. Okay. Right? Yeah. So none of that is out there, which means you can just, you know, obviously reasonably make something up. I'm not saying pull it out of thin air, like obviously there's a, you know, a process for that. But you can say like, oh,
I'm gonna experiment with this, try it out and see if the market thinks that I am worth paying that for. And then, and, and then just figure it out from there. I mean, why are we overcomplicating this? Yeah, No, that I agree a hundred percent. And yeah, you can also kind of short circuit that by getting that.
'cause we do have some people in like freedom focused formula that it's actually someone posted the other day in the community, it's like, I wanna be at this eagle level at the two to $3,000. Like can you, is my work sellable at that level? And the answer was, yes, it was beautiful. But you know, and if you're just starting and you're like,
oh, these are yellow and overexposed or underexposed and all over the place craft wise, like someone like myself or you could look at and be like, oh, we do need to bring this up before the market's gonna pay. We need to have a general rule of what the market will pay. However, even if you're at that early starting point, there is nothing wrong with being like,
Hey, I'm building a portfolio 50 bucks. I'll do a little session, I'll give you five digitals. Like, there's nothing wrong with that. That's Totally what I Did. For all the people out there that are saying that's ruining the industry, it is not. No, please stop saying that because it's not, it's just allowing people that are learning their craft to make a little bit of money while they do so,
and you know, and kind of get that practice to be able to build their business because they're not the same Client. That's right. Yeah. And that's exactly what I did. Nicole. Yeah. I photograph my friends and their mean families and children for like $50 and here are the digital files. Yeah. And by the way, I did my first wedding,
I did on a point and shoot camera, my first two weddings I didn't like, I didn't even know what A-D-S-L-R was. So, and then I got the DSLR and I, I didn't really even know how to turn it on, let alone what all of these things meant, you know? But I was charging, I was, and the photos I think were reflective of that rate.
Right, Exactly. You weren't charging $5,000 A wedding at that point yet, right? Not even close. Yeah. I mean, I look back at those photos now and I'm like, is that in focus? Because I don't think it's, you know, but I was talking to two of my one-on-one clients yesterday. They're also in Elevate, and they are amazing.
And they said to me, so I'm just gonna put these thoughts together. It was like some version of, I want to reach a hundred thousand dollars in my business. Like my goal is to be a six figure photographer, but I don't know when my work will be good enough to be a six figure photographer. And I was like, what do,
what do you mean? Like how, so again, with this like imaginary scale of rating. So, and for example, if you charged, you know, a thousand dollars a session and you multiply that by a hundred clients, you can make a hundred thousand dollars. Right? Right, Right, right. Or you could do five. Okay. Do the math however you want.
In one case, the photographer has had consistent $3,000 sales. And I'm like, are you kidding? You just need 33.3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 clients and then you're fine. Like, you'll hit six figures. So what does that have to do? Like really with what level your photos are at? I mean, if you, if you have the foundation, you could,
you could set it up. However, I know these big photography like studios have multiple photographers working for them that are well into the six figures for very, very low pricing. Yep. Yeah. Just based on volume. Yep. So like, what do you mean? And she's like, well, I don't know if I'm worth it. Well, I,
okay, quite frankly, I don't care what you think. Okay, I was being funny. You know, like all that matters is, does the client think that this is worth paying that number? And you let them decide and then you work from there. But if you have this thought, I don't think I am, you know, worth x number of dollars session or being a six figure photographer,
I promise you it's gonna feel like crap. But if you thought, I'm learning, I'm getting better, I'm, I know what I'm doing because I really believe that anyone listening to our voices right now actually does know something. Okay. Yeah. Right. Maybe at different levels, but they know what they're doing and they can figure it out from there.
Okay. Case in point, I had a, a new client contact me years ago when I was doing in-person mentoring. And she scheduled four hours with me in person because she wanted to learn photography. That's all she put on her form. She comes into my house with a cannon rebel in a box, and she says to me, I bought this at Costco yesterday and I need you to teach me how to use it because I have four clients next week.
And I was like, ma'am, what? And she's like, yeah, I just booked four clients. And I think those ones were free, but the next week she was charging, she was just hilarious. So I taught her the exposure triangle. I taught her the camera. Okay. I'm like, listen, you shoot in one of these modes,
figure it out. You'll learn as you go. She had no problem getting to the point very quickly where she would charge. Following week, she comes back to me, sets her laptop down on my desk and says, I need you to teach me everything you know about Lightroom and Photoshop. 'cause I gotta edit those four sessions I did last week, which is hilarious,
right? And she, she captured this one core truth that I think so many of us miss. If you purchased a camera, it costs you money. If you go take photos of someone, it's your time. And that's worth something. Okay? I don't wanna say regardless of what the photos look like, because I agree with you, I think they should be like somewhat competent,
right? Yeah. But the point is, this is what she thought. She was like, I spent money on this camera. She spent money to sit with me and she took her time into her that was valuable enough to charge something. And she had not even seen the photos yet, nor did she know if she even had the ability. And I just thought that was so interesting because the client decides,
you know, if the client sees your website, or in her case she posted a couple photos on her personal Facebook, if somebody sees that and they like her and they wanna hire her, then her only job was to let them. Yes. Yeah. I, I say this all the time. Like, unless you are stealing somebody else's photos to put on your website,
like you're using, if you're using your own photos that you took with your camera and your hands, then your client is booking you based on the expectation that you're going to do similar type work for them, which is what you're offering right now. So there like this whole thing of like, oh, I don't know, I'm gonna disappoint the client. Like,
they know what you're producing. 'cause that's what you're using to market your work. So if they know the level of work that you're producing and this is the price attached to it, and they say yes to that, they're excited, they want to pay you, they want to work with you at that level because they see what you are doing. Okay,
I love this. I, I think you hit the nail on the head. So I was talking to this client of mine yesterday, wants to hit six figures, right? And I said, if somebody finds you on the, on like your social media or your website and they like your photos and they call you and they like you, and they say,
yes, I wanna hire you, you have already won. Like, because they chose you, they know what you cost. They like you, you shoot the session before one single photo is delivered, they are already like, invested in, probably they love you. And so they'll like the photos and here's why. Key point people are forgetting this, listen,
this is important. If somebody hires you, it's because they think you are going to deliver good photos. And they like you if they're thinking that their brain is scanning the environment to prove them, right? You've already won. Your brain wants you to have made a good investment, a good financial decision for a product or service. So when you pull the trigger,
when they pull the trigger, their brain is like beep, beep, beep. Scanning the environment, scanning the, I wanna prove this person, right? So I already know in my mind that this is gonna work out like perfectly. I'm gonna love this photographer, I'm gonna love the photos. Okay, listen, there's always like a 1% chance somebody's gonna be unhappy.
I'm not negating that, but I'm saying before you fire the first shot, you have already earned your money and they've al they already like you because their brain wants some to be right. They've, they've talked to you, maybe they've even met you in person, they've seen your photos. You are win win, win, winning before you take a photo or deliver anything.
And when you do, because of all of these other factors, there's like a 99.99% chance that they are going to love the photos done. Yes, a hundred percent. Just Allow it, just let it happen. And you put the prices out there and then you do the math to figure out what you wanna earn, which is Nicole's specialties. That's right.
Which she does all the spreadsheets. Yeah. I can't tell you Heather, how many times I hear people that they marketed with their photos, they get hired based on those photos. They get paid based on those photos, based on what they were asking to charge. They shoot the session, they felt like it wasn't their best work. And they are ready to go back to the client and be like,
here, just take it off for free. It's not good. Like, what Do you say to them? Yo, zip it, keep your mouth shut. Do not sit down. Shut up. Let the client determine that. Because I think more often than not, we're harder on ourselves. We've already established that the client sees it and will love the photos.
Now, in the rare circumstance that a client comes back and says, you know, I, I kind of wish, or I don't like this, well, then you can decide what to do at that point. We can offer a reshoot throw in a product, depending, you know, whatever makes sense. Like you can handle that, but don't ever preemptively lead the client to not like the photos.
That is very stupid. Okay? It does not make sense. You can have your own thoughts, work with your brain, gimme a call, let's work it out. But don't say anything until they do. And again, most, more often than not, the client is like, oh my gosh, I love these. You, hey, I want you as the photographer to love them.
But you don't have to. And maybe you're like highly critical and you wanna get better. And maybe that's a good thing. I don't know, maybe that like inspires you or motivates you. I mean, don't be too hard on yourself, but let somebody else have an opinion. And by the way, Nicole's opinion or any opinion from like a critique in a professional community is going to be different than a regular person for the most part.
A Hundred percent. So let get, take the critique from the professionals to make you better. But understand that, think of your first couple of clients. My first couple of clients loved their photos and they were complete and utter crap. And they still, and they'll, I'll run into them, you know, on social media or actually even in person,
and they'll tell me how much they enjoy their photos and I just wanna crawl under a rock and die. But I zip it, I shut my mouth and I let them love the photos. And I say, thank you. That was vintage Heather. I appreciate it. You know, vintage Heather. Yeah. And I look back at those photos, those weddings of do You have special vintage weddings by Heather imagery?
I do. I actually have a couple of keynotes that I've shared. My cousin's wedding was my first wedding where I did selective color, you know, it was great. Oh, nice. I back focused several images that I delivered. I did not know what back focus was. I shot an entire giant bridal party at F two eight. The bride was in focus for sure.
And I delivered these. So I didn't even know about exposure, white balance and focus. I didn't know. Right? Right. So I, and I delivered them now, okay. They didn't pay me. Sure. But my next wedding did $500 and it was slightly better, but it was still a pointing shoe and not by much. Yeah. So like maybe you're putting too much pressure on yourself to reach this certain level.
And what if there's no hierarchy? Because Nicole, you had said this earlier, there are actually some photographers out there that are just, you know, decent but charge a crap ton of money. And people hate it. Some people hate it. So it's, it's, there are no rules. No, there are literally no rules. The only rule is really just this rule of how our thoughts will affect our behavior and results.
So if you are not secure in your work and you're trying to charge what you don't feel it's worth, you're gonna have a really hard time. That's right. Because there's gonna be that disconnect there. So like, you need to do whatever you need to do to feel good about the work you're producing. And yes, listen, you guys don't come at me.
I'm not saying to go out there and like just sell crap work. Like, like just sell where you're at, sell. You are allowed to sell your work at the level you are at, period. And with that, knowing that we're always gonna be practicing, we're always gonna be improving and you know, and we should want to improve to, you don't have to improve to be the world's best,
but you know, we should always be looking to improve our craft. And if you're in this industry, you'd likely got into the industry because you enjoy the craft of photography, which you're gonna end up wanting to improve it anyway. So the point is move. Yeah. Yeah. And it's all good. Lighten up. Gosh, this has been my theme for the last couple of episodes has been like,
maybe you're just taking this entirely too seriously. Like take it seriously. How can you honor that thought of I wanna do everything well, but also like lighten up and just to have fun and allow people to pay you. I sold crap work now. No, I wouldn't recommend doing that either, but in my defense, I didn't, I really did not know it was crap.
No, None of us didn't. We were starting really, and I even if truly, if somebody came to me and said, Nicole, like, how's my work? Can I start selling it? And like say it was terrible. You know, like, and I can say, Hey, you know, I'm, looks like you found a subject you like to shoot.
Great. We need to focus on our exposure and this is off here or there, you know, and like give them the actual things and listen, when you ask for critique from professional from us, like at least us, we are very, all of it comes from a place of service and love. Like, I would never, ever, ever critique someone like,
this is total crap. Yeah. You should never, like, you should put your camera down and because my first pictures were awful, you know? Yeah. Some people maybe have a better composition eye naturally than others, but it can be learned. Like, and for someone to like naturally come out of the womb and pick up their camera and be like,
I immediately know the exposure triangle. Like, no, nobody does. Like we all are thinking, wait, all right, if I open up my aperture, what do I need to do with the shutter speed? Okay. Like, have to think about it until it becomes second nature. So like, just, just follow your heart of what you wanna do.
If you want to get into this business, if you want to start selling your work, just start and, you know, let the market kind of tell you what it will pay or ask, ask your opinion. I mean, I can truly, I would tell you like, hey, you're still learning, you know, you're not quite ready to start printing products and do all like,
or like having these thousand plus dollars sales, but you know, you can certainly offer some, some inexpensive sessions to keep practicing and here's what you should work on. You know, like there's, there's no rule that says you Can't get paid. Yeah. I had a photographer come back to me recently and she's been in business now, I don't know,
a little less than 10 years, and she's really good now. And she said, I'll never forget what you said to me when I showed you my first set of work. She's like, I, it was terrible. I know it was terrible. And you looked at it and you paused and you said, well, there's a few things we could work on.
I don't even remember that conversation, but listen, one time I went to a workshop in Dallas where I was learning from photojournalist, like, like legitimate newspaper photographers in the field. This is a rough crew. Okay, yeah, I can imagine. And they were, they, we would go out and shoot like a 10 to 12 hour day. They purposefully like beat us down.
They would bring us back to the hotel, display our images, and they would critique them, go through it. And I'll never forget, they put my images up and started going through it. And they were saying things like, well that's the stupidest thing I've ever seen. Why did you use that lens and that, and what were you doing with that?
Oh my gosh. Ripped me apart. I wasn't the only one. And somebody came up to me, actually somebody got on an airplane and left. They were like, yeah, yeah. And someone came up to me and said, how did you sit there and take that? And I said, well, because I'm here to get help. And they're entitled to their opinion.
And, and some of it was like useful and some of it was not. You know, I, it was definitely harsh. So the next day my mentor sent me out into the field and he said, I want you to take one camera, one lens and you have to shoot on auto mode, no flash. And I don't care about your exposure,
I just want you to shoot and I want you to connect emotionally with your clients and what you're documenting and just stop you because you know, I'm an engineer, I overthink, I wanna get everything right because we were not allowed to delete in camera at all. They would look at your numbers. So I did that. I was given a camera and a 50 millimeter lens auto mode and off I went with this family for like 12 hours,
came back that night and they put up my images and oh man, I was exhausted sleep deprived and nervous wreck at this point. And they actually applauded one of 'em. One, okay, let's not get crazy. They didn't love 'em all, but they applauded one. And I thought, oh my gosh, that's it. That's what I was missing was the connection.
And that was so helpful to me and it was so painful, horrible. But, and again, and I think two or three people actually left because they were like, I, they just didn't wanna hear it or couldn't take it. And I just thought every fee, every piece of feedback could be useful depending on how I receive it. Yep. And so I connected with the photographer who was my mentor was so,
so, so hard on me. And two years after that I was shooting Miss America's wedding alongside of him in Dallas. Like, what is even happening? And I don't think that opportunity would've happened had I got on an airplane and hightailed it, you know? Yeah. Like, so I just look at it as like all working for me and I try to have like a fun light attitude about it.
Like really that's the stupidest picture you've ever seen because I've seen your work sir. Alright. Like lighten up is what I'm saying. Yeah, Yeah, yeah. And also for the record Heather and I don't critique like that. So no, I would never, I would never, I'm actually very, very careful 'cause I understand people are connected and sensitive about their work.
I really respect that. So I'm, I try to approach it just like you do, which is like, okay, there's a few things Yeah. We might wanna work on. Yeah, Yeah, yeah. For sure. Oh my gosh, so good. So good. So let's start summing this up here. It's, I got it. I really,
I was gonna say really it is just like show your work, have a price attached to it. People are pay or not and get paid And stop believing your brain. Yeah, that too. Don't believe what you think throughout all of these last three episodes, this series. Like just question your thoughts. Like, is that true? You do not have to believe everything you think.
That's all I'm saying. And if you can't see another side of it, because when we are so close to our thoughts, I think it could be hard to see some alternative thoughts that we can think, which is where coaching comes in and we're asking our communities come in. So like come ask in the community, come ask on one of our office hours,
if you're in the academy, ask an elevate call. If you're an elevate, let us help you find a new thought because the thoughts are so powerful. And remember, action girls quote that your feelings are a barometer to your thoughts. Love that. So if you are feeling like really stressed and awful and not good about your work or about photography or about your business or whatever it is,
like ask yourself what you're thinking about right now that's causing that. Because that's a thought that needs to be explored. And as soon as you shift it, you're gonna see a difference actually coming to fruition in real life. I love it. That's been, this has just been great, Nicole. I love these types of episodes where we look at all of these different thoughts or what's holding us back or how do we get unstuck.
I think, I hope this was helpful to everyone. Same. All right guys. Well we will see you back Heather as a regular here on our podcast. So we will all chat soon. Bye everybody.