In this episode, I'm pulling back the curtain for all of the twists and turns of building my business from when I first started my photography business 15 years ago to where it is now and how it got here, and how it's messier than ever, but more impactful than ever and just really everything in between. So there are lots of lessons to be learned. 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 everybody. Welcome back to the Freedom Focus Photography Podcast. I'm your host, Nicole Begley, and I am joined with my partner in crime, Heather Lautnan.

And by the way, our crime is fixing your thoughts. What is our crime? Yeah, I mean, we just want to listen. Here's my crime. I help photographers make more money. That's what I do. And I'm very clear on that. And if anybody has a problem with it, I don't care because I want to help people make more money. Like, what could possibly be wrong with that? I love it.

We're coming in hot on this episode and this, this intro here. So funny. I honestly don't even give myself like a second to think about what I'm going to say until I start the introduction. And then I'm like, oh, how am I going to introduce Heather? I don't know, let's make something up. You guys are seeing my mind in real time, which can be kind of terrifying. So welcome, welcome.

Come on in. You're actually really good at that. And listen, this is, I know this is a side note, but it's important because you have to recognize your strengths. So you're very good at riffing. You could just like we could start a conversation and you could do it. And I am fairly decent. Not as good at riffing too. I mean, all Podcast episodes are rift. Some of mine are scripted.

Yeah. If you and me, I mean, we get. And we're like, what are we talking about today? We're like, all right, people need help with this. Let's go. These are always rift, you know, because we just are able to bounce ideas off of each other. When I'm doing an episode alone, there's sometimes, like, points that I really don't. 100%. I need an outline if I'm doing. Which. It's funny, when I started this podcast four years ago, it was March 2020.

We're working on five years of this podcast. What. What is happening? Yeah, when I started, I thought it was going to be solo episodes. And then I realized, like, I actually despise the solo episodes. They're really hard for me. Um, I really enjoy just talking with someone and hopefully you guys do too. Cause you're still listening. So. Yeah, so that's definitely something in my business that started one way that I thought was going to go one way and then ended up not.

Which is actually what we're going to talk about today. Because so many times I see so many photographers that think their business needs to be this way or needs to be that way, but they can make it however they want, or they get stuck in a certain path and then they want to pivot. But are they allowed to pivot? Spoiler alert. Yes, you're allowed. We can do whatever you want.

Yeah. So anyway, sometimes you just don't even know kind of where the path is going to take you. Which I think is really a beautiful thing about life in general. Yeah. And you know what? This is just like, I'm on this journey, this path of entrepreneurship, really, and I'm willing to follow that path even when it changes. Like, the fastest way to get from one point to the other is not always the interstate.

You have to be willing to take the back roads and enjoy it. Like, be up for the travel of the journey. I said in Elevate recently, your only job is to not quit. Just don't quit and commit to the journey. How could you commit to the journey and the process and just understand that that's going to look different in any given season? Like, you might be doing really well.

I was working with a photographer yesterday who's been in business for 16 plus years and does exceptionally well and is having a moment, like a season of challenge, and she was really upset about it. And I said, you just have to commit to this journey. And this is part. Part of the journey. Yeah, absolutely. So let's get into today's episode. Heather and I wanted to put this episode together for you guys to kind of review our business journey as an entrepreneur, because it is full of twists and turns and windy roads for two reasons.

Number one, so that you kind of know what's going on with us and where things are, because there has been a lot of confusion in my world over the past year as we've changed a lot of things. But also, I want you to listen to this episode from the place of, like, how can this apply to my business? Are there places in my business where maybe I need to pivot or I need to streamline or maybe I'm doing something that doesn't feel quite as aligned anymore, But I really am pulled over here, but I'm a little bit scared to make that leap.

So as we go through this, that's just kind of what I want you guys to keep in mind. Yeah. This is not just like, some conversation about our journeys, our businesses, or where we're at. Whenever I'm listening to someone talk about something like this, I'm always asking myself, how does this apply to me? Or how can I relate this? Or draw a parallel? And you will get so many good ideas.

So I'm wondering if you could start by sharing, like, just take us, like, to the beginning and you don't have to go, like, really into a lot of detail about everything, but, like, how you got started in sort of those major transitions over the years. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So back 2010, I was year 13 or so in my zoological career, training animals, managing departments of animal care teams and animal training teams.

And I had. Was pregnant with my son. And I realized that my salary, which was meager because I worked in the zoo world, was, like, barely covering childcare. So it's like, what am I doing? And at that point, I was kind of like middle management. The we had just had a restructuring. My previous boss that I loved working with, I was no longer working for him. I was reporting directly to someone.

That was not the best. It just was challenging. I was like, this is no longer kind of fun for me right now. So I was looking for a change. And I always knew I had this entrepreneur, you know, bug that I wanted to do something. And I thought about becoming a dog trainer because I'm like, I knew animal training so well, but I. I knew my limits, Heather.

And I knew that I would have be so frustrated coming back to somebody's house, like, the next week and them being frustrated their dog's still doing the same Thing and then me saying, did you do the homework? And they would say no. And I would say, well, how can you expect your dog to change if you're not going to do this every day? And I just knew that wasn't for me.

God bless all you dog trainers out there dealing with people because the people are definitely the hardest piece of that. Oh, that's for sure. Yeah, yeah. It'd be like, I just do like a board and train. Just send me your dogs, I'll train your dogs and then hopefully you can manage it when I send them. But anyway, so I'd always love taking photos of the animals I worked with on PE for professional, obviously.

Of course. Yeah. And I was like, huh, I guess I could be a photographer. But it was 2010, there was like two pet photographers in Seattle. In the whole world. Yeah, yeah, yeah, pretty much. And they were both in Seattle. And so it's like I could do family photography. I have kids. Like, that's fun. That's great. I like taking photos. And so I built my family photography business.

But I was always encouraging people to bring their dogs and I would try to like do some like high school seniors with their horses and as many dogs as I could. And. And then after a few years I realized I'm like, oh, pet photography can be a thing. It was just starting to become a thing. And so I was like, let's maybe transition. So the first big pivot in my business came in 2015 when I gave up the family side of things.

Like I was running basically two businesses at the time, which you'll see is a theme of my life where I had the family side and I had the pet side and they had. It was like the old school website that you go to the landing page and it was like pets or families. And then it was two separate websites, even though they were subdomains, but it was still managing like three websites on WordPress, which, I mean, good lord, that was a full time job.

And I knew I wanted to grow the pet side of things, but I also knew that something had to give. I didn't have the time to put into marketing and growing the pet side without giving up something, which ended up being the family side, which was a terrifying experience because my family side of the business brought in a lot of money and like a $3,000 sales average. It was easy.

I did zero marketing. It was all word of mouth and I liked it. I didn't dislike it. I just knew that the next stage of my business required more for me. And I Needed to give something up. And I was more excited for that next stage than I was to continue there. That was the first big crossroads. Okay, so we went from families and making good money to maybe taking a risk, you know, like, huge risk.

Yeah. Taking that chance. And then how long would you say it went? Like, well, did you experience a dip in income revenue? I don't think so. You just kept it. You. You did like a. It stayed pretty level. Yeah. But it didn't. It didn't really dip. And it was. I purposely set it up this way, too, of like an easy exit from my families, where I stopped marketing.

And by marketing, I took down my website because I wasn't doing any marketing for it. But I told the families that I loved working with. I'm like, listen, on the front side of my business, you're going to see, I'm going to be marketing only to pets and high school seniors with horses. But I will 100% take your family photos for as long as you want me to. So I still had some, because family photos, like the yearly repeat for some years, at least every couple years.

Like, the business cycle of repeating clients for a family photographer is much faster than the turnaround for a pet photographer. So I still had some of those repeat clients over the next several years. Really? Really. Until I moved. And then. So, yeah, so that kind of helped ease that transition. And I always like to ask myself too, when you're facing that big choice. And I know you are a fan of this too, of like, all right, so say I have to add families again.

I just. What? I just reload that website. Yeah, exactly. So easy, right? Yeah. So, okay, let me ask you this. When you. When you started doing these pets, when did you first realize, oh, wait a minute. This could be very lucrative? Like, when did you have that. Maybe that first big sale or you got clued into that? Oh, it was my very first sale in 2011 with my.

The. The. An auction client in Florida. It was just a married couple and their dogs, and it was my first $5,000 sale. Now it took me like seven years to get to $5,000 sale. Again after that, maybe eight. But. But I was like, oh, people that don't have kids have some disposable income and they love their dogs. And they love their dog. Yes. So, yeah, no, that. That lesson was taught to me very early.

Oh, my gosh. It's funny because, gosh, even still, not as much today. Although I'm going to imaging, so we'll see if it still happens. But certainly in like the mid teens, late teens, you'd have all these, you know, old school photographers that have been in the industry for decades. And they would laugh at me that I take pictures of dogs and be like, what's your average sale? Okay, mine's three times that.

So step off. Oh my. Fine. I mean, that's. That was what dark Heather would say or that's what dark Nicole would say in her head. Yeah. They just didn't understand. I would just, you know, like, just kind of laugh to myself like, you have no idea. You have no idea. I'm laughing all the way to the bank. Thank you. Okay, when did we meet in this timeframe? Timeline?

What's that? When did we meet? Oh, I remember exactly when we met. It was somewhere early teens and I was really struggling with greens editing greens. And I came to your house in the quote city and did and did a little like one half day little mentoring on editing stuff with you. Hilarious. That had to be 2011, 12 or 13 because we moved to our homestead in 2013.

2012. Yeah. Yeah. That's incredible, huh? Yeah. I remember you coming to the house and teaching you those things and it was fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. And actually, do you remember this? I remember when we were done, you're like. I was. You're like, anything else? I'm like, no, that was awesome. Thanks. She said, do you remember this? He said, I'm never going to see you again, am I? Did I say that?

I didn't. I don't remember that. I think that's what. If I did say that, it's probably because I had complete faith in your ability to create a successful business. Like, I just knew. Yeah, you knew that. It was like, oh, this was like a one. A one stop shop because I'd had like a particular problem and then. Funny. And then you were doing your little business boot camp, and I forget how I knew.

Like, we were just still on, like online friends or something. Of course. And then I came to. That. That must have been. That was early in your. In your homestead. Yeah, we had just moved here, so it was probably 2014, maybe 2015. But I remember you signed up sort of out of the blue. Like, I didn't expect that. And you got here and I was like, I don't know if I said this to you or I thought it in my head, but I was like, hey, what are you doing here?

Like, you, you are so good. You are set. You know what you're doing. I did say it because you had said to me something like, oh, I just always like to learn. I like to invest. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that was the point at which you and I really hit it off. And it was like, we're gonna do great things together. Yeah. And then it was like, shortly after that, I was like, I wanted to make a Pittsburgh little mastermind.

Yes. Me, you, and two other ladies. Yeah, yeah. And then our businesses became very similar. Okay, that's the story. Perfect, perfect segue. What happens next? Okay, so Hair at the Dog actually started. I don't even know what year. 2014. Maybe it's been 10 years. I think it has. And it started as a blog. Like a straight up blogger blog? No, it started on WordPress, but it was straight up just a blog.

And it was just me having an outlet to share and hopefully help somebody that was, you know, a couple steps behind me because I always. That always just. I always loved that and always enjoyed that. And so, yeah, so created that and had no idea what the hair of the dog side of the business would become. Like, that was never the plan. Plan was always to just run my photography business.

And then, like, I on accident, started this blog and then I started teaching a couple workshops because I just really enjoyed helping people. Yes. And then it was 2016 that we created the original version of the post processing course and the business pet photography was created shortly thereafter. It was like, it was either December 2017 or December 2016. I think it was December 2016. That was the very first time I launched that.

And. Yeah, and that's all she wrote. And then. So those were courses, and then we kind of changed it to the membership and, you know, it's. It's pivoted and mixed and matched a few times because, like, it really started out as, hey, I have two courses. And then it's like, oh, but people need help with this and people need help with that. And so then it was like adding all this, all this support because.

Yeah, because I wanted to help people. And then you get to the point where it's like, oh, my gosh, there's too many things here to, like, keep trying to help at this level for all these pieces. So I can certainly still help someone with your website and this and that. But it was like, it got to the point where it's like, all right, I need to niche into what I absolutely, really freaking love, and that is pricing sales.

And, you know, along with that comes some marketing, some workflow, like the basics of those. But, like, really digging into. I want to help people with pricing and sales. And I still love My pet photographers and I want to help people with the craft of pet photography. From 2017, when it started, it was two years of just courses of the business, pet photography, Photoshop for pet photographers. And then 2019 is when started Hair of the Dog Academy said, let's just put this all together into one kind of membership.

And then it was over the past really, it's been two years. And I remember the moment when I realized I'm like, oh, the world needs me to focus more on this pricing and sales piece and go deeper in this. It was at our very first progress lab when our friend, the people's coach from Elevate, Michelle Crandall. I was going over her pricing and I was helping her come into this, like, basically like a 1000, 2000, $3000 collection.

But then the $3000 collection would really include almost everything. And I remember her saying, like, but isn't that going to cap my sale at 3,000? And I said, yes, but would you be excited for that? She'd be like, oh, my God, yes. Yes. Because her average sale at the time, which Michelle, forget, forgive me, was I think about $1,000 or so. So, like, getting to a two or $3,000 consistent sale would, like, mean the world to her business.

And I realized I'm like, there are different levels for pricing for every level of your business. And there are so many people out there educating the $10,000 sale, it has to be here. It has to be here. It has to be here. But if you start your business today, you can't start there, right? It's a stepping stone. You can get there quickly, but there are certain, like, when you're still building your website, you're not going to get a $10,000 client.

Like, here's how you make some money now. All right, now we're going to start to learn how to work with our products. All right, let's. Now we're seeking some more money. All right, now we're going to get to that bread and butter, that 2 to $3,000 average sale where we're providing great service. And yeah, maybe we have a three or $4,000 package that caps our sale. But, like, we're pretty excited about it.

And then when you are no longer excited about that, that's when you can elevate to that next level up there and have really those uncapped sales. But it's a process. And so that's what, like, made the button go off that like, oh, I need to. I need to make this pricing course, because no One is talking about this. They're all talking about this is how you price it, period.

Done. And not realizing that there's a path and you can stop at level three or level four. I love that. So that's when Freedom Focus Formula was born. Yes. Yes. Yeah. It was in my head, I was like, I need to do this. So then it took. Because I had so many other things going on, it took probably about six months to get the first version of the course.

And so that was over this past year. And I knew. So we started that just earlier this year. And I know you guys, you guys that have been with me for a long time, I get that you're probably like, what the heck is going on over there? What is she doing? And sometimes I wasn't even clear. I was just following the, like, what I thought, like, I was being called to move into.

And. And so, yeah, I know it's been messy, but, you know, over the next couple of months, it's getting cleaned up and, like, the basis of it. What I realized that, like, what my business needs to look like right now is to have Hair of the Dog Academy, Pet photography, craft freedom focused formula business. Right. You know, and then there's the commercial course, too, which is for pet photographers.

So it's still kind of in the Hair of the Dog Academy kind of world because it's very pet niche. But anyway, so, yeah, so that's kind of how this has all been happening. Let me tell you guys, when you decide to create a new brand, create a new website, move four and a half years of a podcast over to a new website, start to move all your content courses onto another portal, like, it's a little overwhelming.

It's not without pain. There's a lot of, like, questioning my sanity and my decisions. But I know in the end, like, I can see the end of vision and I can see how it can be so helpful to people because I have seen how it's helped people so much, and that's really the driving force that keeps me going on all this. Okay, do me a favor and recap.

Give me, like, you said it really quickly. I want you to slow down. Yeah, Hair of the dog. Give me the, like, Hair of the Dog Academy. And yes. Like. Yep. Yeah. High level. Okay, so super high level. Super high level. I own three businesses. There you go. Okay. Why? Why? I don't know why, but yeah. So Nicole Begley, Photography is the main business. And inside of that, we have the photography business.

We have Hair of the Dog Academy, which is all craft so right now, as you listen to this, those of you guys have been academy members forever. Like, all your business portal stuff is still in there. But we are over the next few months going to be moving all business content into the Freedom Focus portal. Still have access to it as an existing grandfather and member. Have no fear.

Nothing changes for you. But the end goal is that Hair of the Dog Academy, that website and that portal is all pet photography, craft, and then Freedom Focus Formula portal, it's all business. Got it. Period. Done. With a big focus on pricing and sales and messaging, marketing. Yeah. So the Hair of the Dog craft, obviously, because it's called Hair of the Dog. Yes, yes. It's for pet photographers.

But Freedom Focused Formula could be anyone. Portrait photographers. Okay. I mean, theoretically, it could be applied to, like, weddings and other things, but really it's. It's portrait and it's the. It's the processes that I used as a portrait photographer, as family photographer, pet photographer. It works exactly the same. Like, my pricing was always the same. Whether it was families or pets I was photographing, what I was offering was pretty much the same.

My families would sometimes buy second albums more than my pet clients do because they wanted to give them to grandparents. But yeah, I mean, Freedom Folks Formula is for portrait photographers. Of course, there is a large percentage, mainly pet photographers in there currently. Yeah. Because that's who follows you. But that's really like your love, right? Your zone of genius. Is that pricing? Yes. Yes. Oh, my gosh. Give me a price list, Heather, for 15 minutes.

I can double how much money you make. I know you are a master at it. I've watched you do it. And then send them to me when their thoughts derail them because of the money. Exactly. I'll say, here's what you have to change it. And then they'll go, oh, my God. Okay, now you need elevate. Yes. You go straight to Heather. And then the two. This one, two punch will, like, handle everything.

So. Okay. I'm just. I'm just doing this for my own brain because, remember, I'm simple. So you have Nicole Begley Photography. Like. Like photography clients, like. Yes. Yep. Yep. Like, you had a photo session last night. I did. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And I have another one on Monday. Okay. It's October, you guys. I have like four this month, which I questioning, but they're all. They're all. Yeah. People I know and have connections with because that's how we build our business.

Meeting people. Yes. Yep. Okay. So you have Nicole Begley Photography, you have Hair of the Dog craft. And you have freedom, focused pricing, business. Boom. Yeah, okay. Yeah. And then there's. Well, and then there's the commercial course. So commercial photography academy, which is kind of under hair of the dog, but it's commercial selling to commercial clients and pricing and all those different things. Okay. What over as you like 30,000 foot view this.

What has been the most challenging of these transitions? The most challenging transition. It depends on how you want to define challenging. The scariest was giving up families and going all in on pets. The most challenging logistically is right now because there's so many more moving parts and I have so many clients that are already in process in my business that than like long term clients. So it's messier.

It's very complex. Yes, it's much more complex, but it's worth it. But yeah. So it depends how you want to define challenging and what is your favorite part? What has been your favorite transition or you've loved the most or you've been the most proud of. That's a good question. Most proud of. Gosh, I mean, really, all of it. Like, it wouldn't be where it is now without where we went through.

And had I not started with family photography too, like, it. I wouldn't feel that I was in a place that I could help other portrait photographers. But I know that this works in no matter what genre because I've been there. So. Really? Yeah, it's just like all of this, I mean, and the one thing we didn't talk about is I have the nonprofit. Right. So I have hair of the dog.

Yeah. That's a pretty big deal. What, what's. What am I. What do I have a propensity for? No, what is it? I have. I love complexity. You. I have noticed about you that you are a problem solver. So you like things to be complex so you can solve the. It's like, you know, a Rubik's cube. You want it to be as messed up as possible so you can fix it.

Maybe not as messed up as possible. Maybe that's pushing it a little bit far. But I do thrive on complexity. But. Yeah, but the conservation fund was never even on my radar. I went to my very first Mastermind meeting, which is a group of online entrepreneurs that run like education based online education based businesses. And the first one I went to, I just remember going into that meeting and I was just.

My intention was I am here for whatever needs to come through me this week. Like, I have no expectations. I am just open and I was eating dinner. The one Night with one of the other members, also the wedding photographers, KT Mary and her husband Chad. And I was eating with Chad, he was sitting next to me and we were chatting and talking about how they go to Africa and they give top line revenue to some of these conservation projects.

And I was just like, well, obviously I need to come with you to Africa one day because that sounds amazing. And if you ever need contacts in the conservation world. For my 13 years in the zoo world, I have a lot of contacts in the conservation field because the zoo world, despite what some shows and PETA would like you to believe, is heavily involved in conservation work. They pretty much are the backbone of all the conservation work going on everywhere.

Any large project is being funded by numerous zoos. But anyway, so I have all these contacts from my time in that world. And then I was like, I woke up at four in the morning and I was like, oh my gosh, I have all these contacts in this world. And it was always like, if you didn't have to make money and you just did something, what would it be?

I'd be like, well, travel the world and see animals in their native habitat. Yes. And then I realized I have this whole entire world of animal loving photographers and I'm like, what if I made a nonprofit that could support these different things? And me and my board members are very, oh gosh, a lot of times people that love animals because they are so heart centered, like they sometimes have this unrealistic view of like it needs to be this.

And there can be nothing like, I don't know, just like kind of a Pollyanna kind of view of like they want it to be perfect, but the real world is never perfect. So like being able to look at these different projects and be like, all right, what is going to make the actual most impact here that you know, that will actually move the ball forward for the species, for that community, for the people that survive, that require that ecosystem.

And like, how can we make sure that they can have, you know, enough money to put food on their table without poaching the animals and selling them and you know, like just all these things need to work together. So it's not always like, oh, everything's perfect. But anyway, so having that has just been, it's just been really, really great and fun. And right now it is still kind of a side project just because of time.

But yeah, I mean, it's growing. We've raised over $200,000 so far for it. What? Actually, after the summit, it's probably going to be over 250. Over a quarter million dollars. Quarter of a million dollars. You should be extraordinarily proud of that. Yeah. Yeah. That's pretty incredible. Yep. So there it is. So that's. That's my whole life in a nutshell. But the one thing we didn't talk about, which actually ties it to you, is the Elevate program.

Yes. And it's like, Nicole, you mentioned all these things. Where the heck does that fit? Yeah, we talk about elevate a lot. Yeah. Yeah. So going back to 2019, you and. Well, let's. Let's finish. Save Elevate for the very end. I want to ask you, high level, when did you start getting into the education piece? I mean, you were always. I was your. Your student because you were focused more on local education for a long time before I even met you.

Well, give us your kind of background, because the Internet didn't exist. I know, I know, I know. Heather went to college, and my roommate, my freshman roommate, I never. I'll never forget this. We're chatting like, you know, we didn't know each other, and then we're chatting before we go, and she's like, do you think we'll have email? And I said, what mail? I didn't even know what it was.

That was 1994. Okay, great. Just dated myself. Oh, my gosh. That's incredible. Yeah. What happened was I started my business in 2003. Ella was born in 2002, and I got into photography, left my engineering job, and I had a lot of success really quickly. And because of that, people asked me to teach, mentor, coach them. I was. I was asked by the community college to teach there. I didn't.

I didn't seek any of this out. I didn't consider myself an entrepreneur or an educator. It's just like you said, it was, like, natural. I just want to help people. I just want to help. I had success, and I was like, oh, my gosh. You guys should check this out. Let me help you with this. So I was teaching for the entirety of my business in those seasons.

I was portrait, and then I focused on weddings. But it wasn't until probably 2015, I was. So I was always teaching for, you know, like a decade and a half. It wasn't until then that I thought, I maybe want to retire from weddings because I'm just tired of working Saturdays and focus on the education. It might have been 2014, but whenever that happened, it was like, man, I'm gonna take a huge hit in my revenue because I was the Fear?

Yeah. Oh, my gosh. I was averaging between120,150 in my wedding business back in the day. And that was great, but I just, my heart wasn't in it like it had been. So I wanted to teach more and I was like, here was my thought. Never gonna make any money doing that. You're gonna be so poor, like, there's no way you can make money. Just like teaching. This was just when things were start starting to be able to sell courses.

So when you approached me, when we I started, I created a Lightroom and Photoshop program around that time. And then when you approached me and said, hey, do you want to record some Lightroom or Photoshop videos for me? I was like, yes, of course. It's like what I'm doing now. I mean, all of the systems were new, you know, even like the microphones and the editing software and what you had to do was all new.

But I always loved tech and being like an early adopter and innovator in those areas. So that's when I started to focus more online rather than just the in person, because you can't, you can't reach as many people in person as you could, obviously on the Internet. So, yeah, that's when I started the Flourish Academy. And so I had Weddings by Heather and then the Flourish Academy. And then in 2019, you and I, at this point, from 2017 to 2019, you and I had started working really closely together in creating what I call parallel businesses where we're doing the same thing, but you were focused on pets and I was focused on people.

So we created our memberships that same year, 2019, well, we were in a Mastermind together. And so we were working on all of this, like on a very daily basis. That's when our daily Voxer conversation started. Yes, it did. And thank goodness for that. Technology so much has evolved and given us the opportunity to do that. I'm incredibly grateful. And then we came up with the idea of elevate in late 2019 and launched it in December of that year.

So 2020 was our first Elevate and Elevate was all about business. We wanted to focus on pricing, marketing, business coaching, meeting more people, getting more clients, making more money. And we wanted it to be a group coaching program. So that was the key. It was a six month commitment, group coaching to help you, like, really invigorate your business. And at the beginning we had Hair of the Dog Elevate and I had Flourish Academy Elevate.

But I taught in both of those I coached in both of those. Yeah, you were a coach in my Elevate. And at some point I noticed I was replicating effort and I was like, this is not making sense. I'm literally teaching the same thing here and here. And we came together and thought, how could we combine these and just let me run it. It's my zone of genius.

I love it. But obviously you're a component of that as well. But I wanted to lead it. I was ready to step into that role of taking both of them. So in 2022. Yeah, it's been two years, right? Yeah. Early, because we had started toying with this Idea in late 21, we decided to combine them. And it's just been a massive success. It has gone really, really well.

People are getting results because I am able to, as an engineer, simplify, find the efficiencies, eliminate overwhelm, make it super simple, give you the equation, and then we're off and running, all the while coaching around our thoughts. Which has sort of become the foundation of Elevate is that you can accomplish anything if you shift your thoughts. And it has just grown since then. And I can see where people might be confused about that, but pair the dog.

Elevate was you. Flourish Academy. Elevate was me. But we combined them. I run them both under the Flourish Academy umbrella. Elevate is my flagship program. It is what I am most focused on in my business. I do have a membership. You know, there's still Photoshop and Lightroom and some craft, but that's there and that's great. But I am focused on helping photographers make more money. So Elevate is like my thing.

It's where I spend all day, every day, working. And so since that shift, I have grown it significantly, both in terms of elevators, we call them, and in terms of the content and the courses I've created. This year, our friend Amanda Engel said to me, your content this year has been prolific. And I like that word. I just really took what I was hearing on a regular basis and put it into really simple, straightforward mini courses someday.

Just like a one day, sometimes just a one day training. And I said, this year we have elevated Elevate. It has gone to like. And even you had said the coaching has become like, really next level, just a very, very powerful container. And every single person that joins it says to me, oh, my gosh, this is so much more than I thought there. Because there's content. You could watch content.

There's like, processes and steps, and then there's the Coaching and the Facebook group and the support and the lifelines. We have multiple coaches. It's just a really, really robust program. And I'm so, so proud of what we created. And you know, it's a six month commitment, but I have found that so many people stay in over and over and over. They renew for years on end. And you have to ask yourself why?

Why would someone continue to renew? Because they're making money and they're making more money and they're making more shifts and it's working and they don't see a reason to leave. Now I'm not saying everyone does that. Certainly there are people that get what they need, they move on or they shift in their businesses. But there are so many long term elevators. I'm incredibly proud of that. And I'm also proud of the way they welcome in new people.

And those new people could be new to business, like they just started their business. We have a few of those now and new people that have actually been in business for a couple years or longer that just want to go to the next level. And we've created this container that I feel does a remarkable job at supporting both of those. Because you know how sometimes you get into programming, you're like, oh my gosh, I don't want to listen to the newbies or I am the newbie and I don't know what's going on.

Like for instance, we have people making multiple six figures in elevate. Their challenges might be a little bit different from someone just starting. So within our container we have a group called six figure superstars and we meet periodically to deal with the challenges at their level. But we are also accommodating of people just starting. And by the way, those six figure elevators take great pride in helping the people who are just starting.

So everybody's really in it together. And I often get comments about it being one of the most positive, supportive communities that they have ever been a part of and active. I mean, you still have the group of the Facebook group. So that's a little bit different than our hair of the dogs in a circle community. Yes. So, you know, and it's, it's. Whenever I go into your group, it's amazing.

Just the supportiveness. And it's not because of the platform, it's because of the people. That's right. They like. I just, I'm blown away every time because everyone is so active in there and it's incredible. And I do want to say, can we share my nickname, please? Yes. You are Action Girl. Yeah. Yes. I am lovingly referred to as Action Girl inside Elevate, you know, because you guys know I love the checklist.

I love the checklist. I love the processes. Heather loves the processes too. And Heather always jokes, like, whenever she's working on my thoughts, I'm always jumping to the action line, like, every time. Every single time. So I am Action Girl. And one of the great things about Elevate, when we decided to merge them, so it was just like we were both kind of, like, doing the same thing, but it was like, why are we both spending so much time running these separate things?

Let's bring them together. And it's been such a great way, too, because everybody that comes through, you know, to Elevate through the Hair of the Dog world has access to all of the business stuff, which right now is on Hair of the Dog Academy. But where's it going, everybody? Freedom, Focus Formula. Will you continue to have access? Yes. Nothing will change for you if you're a current member.

Okay. Anyway, you're Elevate. When you're in Elevate, you get access to all that too. So it's like, as a bonus, like, yeah, it's a bonus. Totally free. That's valuable. Very, very valuable because we treat people and elevate extraordinarily well. Whenever I create and I create a ton of new of these new mini courses, like I created the Empowered Money course, everybody in Elevate instantly got access to that.

Where that was a paid program, it was separate. So I treat them very, very well because I value them and I am so invested in their success. I tell them all the time, when you win, I win, and I don't lose. So when you come into my world, this is the energy we're winning. This morning, 6am, one of our elevators posted about a challenging client. She was real.

She really needed some help. And when you're in that position, you know you want help quickly because your mind is spinning. And sixam, you and I both have. I don't know what was going on this morning, but we both happen to be there. And so we're answering along with Jessica. She was helping and we just supported her. And by the way, this client was threatening to call a lawyer.

So this was, like, really upsetting to this photographer. And we want to be able to support you as quickly and as, like, completely as possible so that you don't have to navigate this alone, which means you reach success or whatever. Your goals are so much faster because you're not spiraling or spinning in a Challenging client situation. Like, my thing is, I want you to get help really quickly.

In other words, I never want you to stay stuck, which is something I hear. I feel stuck. I don't know what to do next. Oh, not around me, sister. We are moving very quickly. Action line. We're taking action. I'm looking at the thoughts behind that. You know what I thought the other day? Nicole was like, I was an engineer, and I optimize processes. So am I photographer, behavioral engineer?

Is that what I mean? Yes. Yes. I think yes. You should put that on your business card. I like it. Yeah. I love it. I love it. Oh, my gosh. So, Heather, what has been the most. Well, I think I pretty much know what's been the most rewarding for you. We just talked about it. It's 100%. Elevate is my life's work. Like, it finally came together. I was always invested in helping photographers, you know, like you said in person, local and helping them succeed, because I love them all, and I believe that every single one of them can do it.

Like, that's another thing people have said to me. They were inspired by my unwavering belief in them when they didn't even have it. And I just believe that anybody can do it and it's easier than they think. Like, it's not. It doesn't have to be some big, complex thing. Like, it starts with belief in that you can do it. And because I believe that you can do it, I always say, you can borrow some of my confidence because I have enough for both of us, because I'm so certain you can do it.

And I just honestly don't like to see them struggle or suffer unnecessarily. Sometimes when you and I are doing maybe a free training and I see people with these challenges, I am. I don't even know the word. It's like my heart hurts. I'm like, please let me help you. I know that I can help you. If you would just give me 20 minutes, I know that we could turn this around.

You know, I've infused that's Elevate and it. I am so proud of that program and what we've created. It just. It just warms the cockles of my heart. Nicole. I love it. I love it. Fantastic. So, anyway, we wanted to make this little episode. Hopefully you found value in it. Not only knowing what the heck's going on in our worlds and where you find things and what these different programs mean, but also just some places where maybe you can apply some of these pivots and focuses on, like, what you love into your business and know that there's no right or wrong.

You can make your business look like whatever the heck you want it to look like. And I think that is just, like, so magical that if you just continue to follow your passion and what you feel called to do, it won't steer you wrong. And the key that pivoting. I like that you said that. Is like, I really want to encourage you to pivot or shift as much as necessary until you land where Nicole and I are, which is with, like, so much love and gratitude for what we do, that we wake up every day so excited.

Oh, my gosh. Nicole Will Voxer me. It's a work day. It's a work day. We're getting to do this work. We love it so much. And by the way, I think both of us loved every step of our career. Yeah, absolutely. It's just that season shifted and things shifted for us and we learned and we grew and. And now we're in this place where I'm like, I cannot believe I get paid to do this.

This is just the most amazing thing. Like, I have so much awe and wonder over what we've created and so much pride over it. And I think you just have to be open to, like, what that looks like for you, pivoting until you find something that just literally lights your soul on fire. Okay, not literally, because then you would be on fire. We know. We don't want actually be on fire.

Stop, drop and roll. We learned that before. I don't think they teach that in school anymore. Oh, they do. Listen, side note, I had a friend last year. Yeah, listen. You know those little tabletop fire burners that use alcohol to burn? It spilled and it got on him. Yikes. And he was significantly burned over a major part. Like, he is still recovering. And in one of his posts, I follow his journey.

I mean, it was really bad. He had said he was so grateful for the stop, drop and roll, because that's exactly what he did. And it could have been so much worse. So there you go. The podcast just took a dark turn. Public service announcement. Like, he has recovered, by the way. He is, like, not. He still has trouble walking because his legs were burned so badly. And then the skin, Blah, blah, blah, whatever.

But stop, drop and roll. I'm going to start calling you my mom. We call my mom Mother of Doom. No matter what we say. It's like, oh, here's some horrible story. I'm like, where'd I do that? I'm Sorry. That's okay. That's okay. It's all good. Sorry. Anyway, I had a thought before that, but now it's gone. I ruined it. I know what it was. I know what it was came back.

I just want to just clarify real quick the difference between going towards something and quitting because you're frustrated. Ooh. So, I mean, this could be a whole nother podcast. We're going to wrap it up in 30 seconds here. Because I see so many photographers that it's not working. They're trying, and they're like, maybe this just isn't right for me. Maybe I'm supposed to go somewhere else. And to that, like, if you want the end goal of a profitable photography business, stick with it, and you will find success.

If you stick with it, you have to just continue to go through those bumpy roads. Like, there's a lesson there you need to learn. There's a new thought you need to embrace. There's something there. But if you want that end goal, you can do it. You wouldn't have that desire if you didn't want to. But likewise, if you. Though I think the easiest way for me, when it's like, okay, am I giving up my family photography to go to pets?

Like, maybe say, let's say my family photography wasn't working. And if it was, like, I'm giving that up and I'm just going to go over here because this isn't working, like, that doesn't feel like a good reason to pivot. The good reason to pivot is like, I am so pulled to this over here that this just has to go. Even though, you know, it just. I just have to go here because the pool is so strong.

So I want to make sure you guys are pulling towards the thing that's pulling you and not just making an excuse of, oh, it's not working. It must be a pivot that I need to do. Okay. I do have something really important to say about this. What I tell people when they say, I just feel like quitting. I said, you may quit, you may do that, but I only want you to do it when things are working.

Do not quit when it is not working. When things are working and you're making money, you're getting clients, and you feel compelled and pulled and drawn to something new, of course you may do that. I left weddings when I was making over $100,000 a year. Yeah. But family photography when I was doing very well. Yes. So it wasn't. That wasn't working. It was working so you can quit.

That is always on the table. But I only want you to do it when things are working and you're making money. I love it. I love it. So good. All right, this has been fantastic. Hope you guys enjoyed this and hope you guys found some value in it as well as usual. Hair of the dog academy.com for craft stuff. Freedomfocusformula.com for business and pricing. The website is still kind of finishing things up because remember I said it's really messy.

And then Flourish Academy for Heather's stuff too. Yes. And you can find elevate stuff at Hair of the or no, no lies. You can find our elevate [email protected] Elevate. Yes. All right, Heather, so good. Thanks for being here with us you guys. Heather and I are like this is going to be a quick 15 minute episode. Oops, one minutes later. I had that backwards. All right, bye guys.

See you next week.