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Common Challenges Q&A And Hot Seat

Lesson 38 from: Building Your Family Portrait Business

Tamara Lackey

Common Challenges Q&A And Hot Seat

Lesson 38 from: Building Your Family Portrait Business

Tamara Lackey

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Lesson Info

38. Common Challenges Q&A And Hot Seat

Lessons

Class Trailer
1

I LOVE Photography and I Want to Make Money

11:34
2

From Photographer to Business Owner

21:15
3

Building Your Business To Fit The Life You Want

07:01
4

Business Is Business

08:03
5

Creating a Simple Business Plan - What To Know And What To Skip

14:29
6

Branding And Identity

11:24
7

Significance Of Constantly Marketing

11:37
8

Social Media Marketing

08:05

Lesson Info

Common Challenges Q&A And Hot Seat

A couple things, that I want you guys to consider, I would love to hear from some of you, if you've already thought about it, moments that have been turning points for you, in last couple of days, cause we're all in this mode of trying to make decisions, and what to do from here, running a portrait business. I would love to hear from you, moments you've had that have really clicked things for you, and in a addition from that, we're gonna pull like four of you up here, and we're gonna do a hot seat, that we just thought about a few minutes ago. (instructor laughs) I was like wouldn't it be cool, if we had someone come up here, and you had to race through it. Kenna's gonna do a count down for us, and you have four minutes. You have four minutes to quickly tell me what the problem is, the obstacle you think you're gonna have, I will respond. You will tell me why you don't think that it'll work for you. I will respond, and in four minutes we have to settle it, yeah, alright, so let's start...

. Does anybody here have like a turning point, in their experience of being in this workshop figured something out that maybe was a problem before. I think, especially applicable to me is brand consistency, and I think you really drove that home, and is something I really feel like I need to go home, and change and it'll make a difference. Yeah, it will make a difference. Yeah. Just one point on that, in terms of brand consistency, it's not just about you having one brand, that everybody can recognize, but what you're also doing is eliminating confusion in that market, about who you are, there's two things happening here, ya know, you're being smart about your branding, and you have one sort of look and feel, but you're also not having people come to your website, or hear about your name, or all that sort of thing, things and think, I don't who she is, and what she does, and what is one of the major barriers to sales? Confusion, when people feel confused, about what they're buying, they tend not to buy. If it's simple, it's straightforward, they know what they're gonna get, the sales go up, if it's confusing, they feel like, there's something else going on here, they're not quite sure how to lock you down, they back up, okay, good, Thanks. Yes. When I came into this, I was thinking money was my biggest barrier, but I actually was completely dismissing a lot of opportunities and options that I had, and I was just thinking well, I'm not ready, I can't do that, and so, I wasn't even like really entertaining the thoughts, I was just like kind of like meeeh, and now like, I think with the mindset of like even, considering that ya know, maybe the money's not the biggest barrier, like I'm not asking for things I'm being given. Right, right that's fabulous. Love that, (Instructor claps) cause it's so, I mean, the amount of times everything's lined up, and the only reason you haven't said alright let's go is cause you haven't said, alright let's go, cause everything else if there, wonderful, I love that. Yes. Yesterday, when we were talking up there you mentioned what sets me apart as a photographer, and I realized it's not portraits, I tend to do, as with a film and documentary background, I tend to do more photojournalism. Mmmhmm. Of families, and so that was a realization to me was to stop thinking about portraits, and start figuring out how to explain to people, that I look for, the, ya know, I'd rather see a real kid crying. Yeah. Versus a ya know, a posed thing, that I don't know how to do very well. Right, right. So, that was. And there's a good market for that. right. Yeah, yeah, I love that, because once you're there, once you're like okay, this is what I do, because we talked yesterday, like well, I did this, I'm going into this, I'm not exactly sure what this is yet, cause I just got here, which is ya know, really human, I gotta figure this out, for you to say, no, no, actually what I loved about this is this was photojournalist component, there is enough room in this market to get this everyday, kind of all the stuff, the ugly stuff, that is us and real, and the pleasant portraits that you do something else with, and maybe something in the middle. It's not like there's only enough for one photograph of your child, that only one person can take, there's room for multiple services, where people are focusing on different things, and as soon as you keep honing in on that, you're gonna stand out pretty quickly, cause you're gonna say yep this is me, consistently across the board, and that's what I'm known for. Yeah, now I just have to figure out to market, quote ugly photos. Yeah. (audience laughs) There is a marker for ugly photos, and I would say, first and foremost, strongly consider the package of them, not necessarily the large one print, but the. Yeah, I would lean toward more like a book, like spend a lot of time with them, get lots of photos to. Yeah create a whole book. Do more of a book. Yeah, I love it, yeah, some of the photographs I have of my family are the ugly ones that I love, I also want the beautiful ones, like there's a market for all of it. Two things, one thing I love that you said yesterday is nobody stops you more than you, and I have this conversation over and over, with my husband, like, he'll say just launch, just do a website, just launce your business, and I'm like, but, but, but, and when you talked yesterday about the excuses, that people give you, and how a lot of your students, just walk away, and you know they're not going to do anything with it. I was like I don't want to be that person. Oh, good. So, that was really inspiring. Good. Good. But another thing. Wait, let's take a moment. Good. (audience member laughs) Because what you're doing right there is you're practicing self awareness. Right. Which is massive, and you're saying okay, I can see how that would happen, I wanna pull myself out, and not be that person. What strategic plan can I put in place to ensure that? That's so much of it. And the second thing is I have to nail down my target audience, cause like Matt, I just think about, what would I pay for photos, well, I have a camera, so, I'm not gonna pay a lot, cause I know how to take photos, and what would my friends pay for photos, and my friends are not gonna be my clients most likely, and they're not gonna pay the huge session fee, and so I need to nail down my target audience. Mmhmm. Then I think I'll feel more comfortable saying, this is my price list, because it's not friends, that are saying hey, you're my friend with a nice camera, take my Christmas photos, and. Yeah, well, see what's interesting about that, when we go back to the idea, of determing what people value, I always liken to this, I'm next door neighbor to another family, whose kids are about the same age as mine. We kind of all work similar hours, and stay home similar hours. We literally live next door to each other, and I pay for cleaning service in my home, because I outsource that. I don't wanna do it. My husband doesn't want to do it. My kids just generate messes by the hour, and I want to be in a clean uncluttered home. So, I am going to invest in a cleaning service, and pretty regularly too, because it's so important to me, and I deeply value the way I feel, when I walk into a clean home, and I do not value the way I feel, when I'm scrubbing a toilet. (audience laughs) I would rather pay, exactly the same amount to this person, as I will make doing some other job for an hour. I don't even have to make money, well, and pay them less money. I would probably even give them a little bit more money, and make less money for that hour, that's how much I know I don't want to do it. My neighbor, actually, we had this whole conversation, she's like, I can't even believe you pay someone to clean your home. I would never do that, like why, she's like cause it's my job, it's my home, seems like it's such a luxury, right, I'm like, okay, meanwhile they drive a car, that is really nice, and it's well equipped, and I sit there and think, wow, you're gonna pay that much for that car, when you can get a great car for $30,000 dollars less, that does everything you want, is safe, and all that sort of thing. They value that car, I do not not. We're making different decisions about what we value, and we're spending accordingly, and she's not wrong, and I'm not wrong. We are both willing to pay for different things, and so, what you need to do, as a car salesman is find them, and what you need to do as a cleaning service is find me. Yeah. Alright, should we start with our hot seat? What do you think? Let's pull in our seats. Did anybody get the fire for the hot part? (audience laughs) I love this whole hot seat thing, it's so fun. Aaah, who feels like they have something that is going to be an obstacle for them? I am looking at you, you have an obstacle, come here. You, gonna be dramatic, you, okay. Tell me when to start. Okay, right you're gonna set the timer up. Okay, Pause, alright. Oops, microphone. Microphone, okay, get ready. Take some deep breaths, ha, ha, cross your legs, if you need to or don't, this is the time, don't waste it later. (audience laughs) Okay, alright, roll up your sleeves a little bit, huh Look'in at you? Yeah, you can just look at me. If you wanna look over there for effect, just do this when you do it, yes, okay. No no, like this. Oh. Like it's an arc. Right to left. Yes, Kenna knows that very well, how to do that. Okay, so I think we're ready, okay. Wait, can I state the rules real quick? Yep. Alright, the rules are thusly, you're gonna start out by saying the question is when you leave here after intense two days, we're you've gotten so much data in your brains, and you've written a lot of notes, and you've had questions answered, and you've gone through your own head, while I've been talking about things, that might make a difference in your business or not, you are now going to walk out the door, after this segment, and we'll never see you again, but you're coming back tomorrow, right? I'll be here all week. Okay. (instructor laughs) But generally speaking, I will never see you again. Right. But not specifically here in this case, and what do you think will be the biggest challenge for you, the largest obstacle, that you will have, knowing all this, but going out, and practicing it, that's the questions, don't answer yet. Okay. Okay, ready. Go. Go, you tell me what you think it is. Oh. What do you think will be the largest obstacle for you, the biggest challenge you'll have leaving here today? In terms of when you face your work. Setting prices that I feel comfortable and confident to sell my work at, and not, in one month changing them, because somebody else is lower, or somebody else is, but I'll hire you for this amount. So, do you have a history of this already? I do. What's your history very quickly, cause we have four minutes. Changing back and forth. So, you've adjusted your price up and down? Yep. How many times? Probably, in the last year four times. Okay, that's a lot. Why did you bring it down? Because I go through moments where people are not contacting me, as much as I was the month before, goes back and forth. How do they know how much you cost? My website, word of mouth, they contact me, I let them know. You have your prices on your website? Yes. (instructor gasps) That means we have three more minutes that's tons of times. So, you have your prices on your website or no. I do now. Okay, so, let's, because of your specific situation, I would advise you take your prices off your website. Okay. Okay, because if they're going up and down, and up and down, you are being inconsistent. Right. I don't know who you are, I don't know how to value you. Every time I go to your website, you charge something different, that's confusing to me. Okay. So, take your prices off your website, that doesn't mean you aren't very transparent, with your pricing, but get in a conversation with people, who are inquiring about your work, first and foremost, secondly, set a price, at that higher level, whatever that is for you, and keep it, but if you find you're in a situation, where you really wanna photograph this client, or think it's something that'd be fantastic for your portfolio, or you just wanna do the damn work, and haven't been scheduled in awhile. Right. Go ahead, and say this is my normal price list, what I'd like to do is give an incentive to you, and whatever that amount is you can decide for yourself. If you move your prices down 30%. Mmhmm. Before, to get more clients, just tell that person, this is what my prices are cause you're basically assigning a value, you're assigning a value to yourself, through those prices, and, and I wanna say this one more time, cause I think it's really important, if the reason you are bringing your prices down is cause you are afraid you're not booking, and isn't that mostly the reason, we pull our prices down, or we don't raise them, cause we're afraid no one will buy us at that rate. Mmmhmm. So, that is what's happening. I'd like you consider, making sure you keep a consistent price, at that higher level, that you know your worth, do you know you're worth it? I'm not saying this like dig deep. I am worth it. But are you worth it, like you've look at your. I am. Yeah, you've looked at your work. I'm good, I'm pretty good. Oh my god, I'm pretty amazing. So, you know what your work is, you know it's there, keep it there, offer this incentive to people. So, you can keep the engine going, you can keep having more work to showcase to other people. You can keep the portfolio going. You won't feel so stressed about it, and know this, when you get them in the door, you can do your thing, which you know is worth it, and do it really well, and sell more. Mmmkay. Even at the lower rate. One minute. Even at the lower rate, but if you wanna go out from here, you need to just sit there and say, this is how I'm gonna do it, lock it down. Mmkay. I've gotta be consistent, I've gotta be at this one thing, I'm gonna take the prices off my price list, but I'll have either a hidden link, or designed thing that I build, I always suggest you have a hidden link on your website, that's well designed, cause then you don't have to worry about people saying, I didn't get it, or the attachment was too large, or it hasn't been put in the mail yet, all this sort of thing, like made it really easy for them to find, and then offer incentives as you go, but get in those conversations, offer the incentives, until you feel like you don't have to anymore. Mmmkay. It's tough going back and forth, because you're confusing the market. Got it. Got it, alright. But sometimes, honestly, all joking aside, sometimes it's that easy. Yeah. Like, it's just set a clear plan, have a direction for it, get started on that, and don't waver. You can still make adjustments, without adjusting, the value you set for yourself. Okay. End time. Perfect, ended it perfectly. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Wonderful, hot sitting with you, no, no, we're shaking hands, cause we hot seated. Thank you. (Chelsea laughs) Thank you, I will now take this, wonderful job. Thank you. Have a seat, introduce yourself to the people's. So, I am Janeen Sorenson, and I am like at the very beginning, of any sort of business, so. Okay. I do have a website, it's wildvanilladesigns.com, yeah, and probably won't be my final thing. Yeah. But. Which it doesn't have to be. Yeah, and. Wait, we have to wait first, she's gonna set the clock. I probably designed it like four years ago, last updated like four years ago, so. I know, one of the things you do right away. So, it's not exactly, current or anything. Good, good. And actually, could you, sorry, we didn't, we couldn't hear you, if you could say. Oh. Your info again. My name is Chelsea Tornga, and my website is Chelseatornga, t, o, r, n, g, a .com Wonderful, awesome. Okay. Okay, we're ready to go four minutes, and start. Okay, so my biggest obstacle would be, I guess would be committing to starting a business, I have been shooting for about ten years. I do families. Shooting what? Shooting what? Basically families or my life, people who've come to me, and like, oh, you take pictures, ya know, and stuff, I do events, I shoot at the school, and stuff like that, I'm really drawn towards real expression, not really, it's not even really my personality so much to host people. Mmmhmm. I'm not as comfortable with that, I like catching the in between moments. Mmmhmm. And interaction, and stuff like that. Okay. Recently, quit my job, not actually to go into photography, but cause I needed a life change, and so. You need to lean forward, I wanna be with ya. What is your pain point right now? My pain point right now is believing in myself, and committing to giving photography a try. But you've been shooting for ten years. Yeah. Okay, and have you been charging for money? Three minutes. No. No. Not really. Why? Occasionally. Just because I'm not in business, I'm not in business, and ya know, I'm just doing it for fun, and it's been more of a hobby. Okay, but you love doing it. Mmmhmm. Okay. What is the feeling your having right now? Just, just fear really. Yeah. Confidence in myself. Yeah. So, what is your biggest, when you say fear, are you afraid, that you're gonna set a business up, you're gonna say I wanna charge for this, and people are gonna do what, like what is your fear, name it. Nothing. (Janeen laughs) No, yeah, no one will be, Ill put myself out there, and no one will of, it won't find any value in it. Okay, but you're not charging now anyway. True. So, why would that be different. I have no, cause I, I don't know, you've taken that step, that risk, and you know, you live in that, well, like I could've tried it, and I never did. So, that's okay, cause I never failed, cause I never tried it ya know, right. So, have a built in excuse. Right. Right. So, basically, your fear is you rid yourself of the scuse that would basically. Two minutes. Justify away nothing happened, whereas here, because you never put yourself out there, your couldn't fail, okay, and you hear yourself say that. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So, maybe a shift that I love for you to explore is a keep going with that self recording, the ability to see what it is that's stopping you, and think to yourself, write down, the ten worst things that could possibly happen, if you put out business, and people don't come, like what will actually happen, like at a threat level. Nothing. What would happen? Would they tear down your house? Would you be able to stop eating? Probably not. I love eating too. Would it be something, that you think people would log on, and say I hate you, I can't believe you did this. No. No, it would all be in here, right. Yeah. Okay, so, what I would love for you to do, because, I'm not even kidding the biggest barrier we have to this is ourselves, what I would love for you to say, is and I don't care if you think this is cheesy, write down the ten things you do best. One minute. And go over that again, and again, and again. You need to convince yourself, that you are worth putting yourself out there, and you need the focus to be on you, and your effort, and not all the noise and the crap, the amount of times I hear what you're saying to me, said in a number of different ways is a little heart braking, cause you love what you do, and you've been doing it for a decade, you think you could do it as a business, but you're mostly afraid of what people will say and think. Yeah, and so you're letting everybody else's opinions hold you back from being who you wanna be. Yeah. Your assigning them all the responsibility in the world to your success or failure, and you're not holding it accountable for yourself. So, I want you to take charge of that. You need to stop giving them all the power. I want you to have the power. Yeah, all right awesome. (audience claps) And thank you for being so honest. That is more brave than putting a business up, that is far, wouldn't you say guys, that is more brave, than saying I'm in business. So, you already did that. (audience claps) Alright, come on, jump up. Four minutes or less. Yes, oh no she's going. Hello, this is the mic for you. Alright. Please embrace it. Name, website. Bar Perry, barperry.com. Okay. Yep. So, you've taken, oh wait, we gotta wait till she starts it. Start. Go. Alright, my biggest pain point is to stay focused, despite, or in spite of a lot of background noise in my life. Background noise being people, situations. Personal mental health stuff, just my whole life. Like that, and, the fact that photography was always an outlet. Mmmm. For creativity, and passion. Yeah. And I kept buying gear, and then I started raising my business through that. Yeah. Now, I just want to completelty invest myself in the business part. So, it's a big shift, of actions, and the things that I say to myself, and to other people. Okay. So. So, when you leave here today, what's the first thing you're gonna do, as it relates to your business? Stay on track of the systems, that are working for me. Mmmhmm. And do more self care, even when it's difficult to stay focused on that. Yeah. So, when you say you're being distracted are you saying more like, there's so many things that you have to think about, or you're battling things, or it's the people around you. Like get really specific. Three minutes. Yeah. And no pressure. No, it's okay, I'm way more relaxed than I thought I would be here, the information overload, it's just always kind of, there's so much information, that is coming at me, and I'm processing, or I'm talking to myself about constantly. Mmmhmm. Trying to not make a mistake. Yeah. that it takes away from that creativity, and that relaxed state of mind. What we were talking about max productivity. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Do you meditate at all? Yep. You do, how much? Not often enough. Okay. So, again, I think meditation has a weird name, call it whatever you want, but it's basically, you're doing an exercise, to clear your head of all the noise and distractions. So, that you can think more clearly, you can perform better. You can process emotions. Mmmhmm. More smoothly. And start like with a minute dotted meditation, but the thing you hear all the time about meditation is if you don't think you have enough time to meditate, meditate twice as long. So, I would say. Two minutes. That for me it's been so impactful, most of the time, I have a routine now, that I have to set up, because I take everything in too, that's that idea of being highly sensitive, and you have to protect yourself from everything flooding in, and so, I have these routines set up, to protect me from me. Yeah. Yeah. And so, it's not always people's fault, that they're all coming at me, it's my fault, for how I'm handling it, like how I'm processing it all, and so, if some of my processes are everything I stepped through for max productivity, those allow me to go to bed feeling really clear and focused, about what's in front of me. Mmmhmm. And then the meditation is the last thing, I usually do at night, if I can fit it in the morning too, and it's like five minutes, and the exercise I step through is focus, awareness, ya know, managing concentration, I think that would be brilliant for you, I think if if you took if really proactively. I already, the interesting thing about this workshop is that I've been around CreativeLive, and just listening to these messages for a long time. One minute. Yeah, and it resonated throughout that the whole time period, it's about taking actions, sticking with it. Mmmhmm. And not getting in your own way. Mmmhmm. So, that's. Yeah, yeah. That's my biggest challenge And protecting you against you. Yeah. I mean, that sounds weird but it's completely accurate. If you're too negative you have to, actually. Well, and we sabotage ourselves, yep through our fears, through past things that have not gone well. Mmhmm. Ya know, being able clean slate it, and there's a few things, that will help you kind of hone in, on managing your emotions, the influx of information, and the chaos of everything you have to do, when it comes to running a business, then, order systems, processes, and mind clearing. Okay, yeah, thank you. Okay, good, thank you. (audience claps) Just nailed it, didn't he. He did. At the four, at the four, it's starting to feel like four's coming together, but I wanna address for everybody else, what he just said, because that, he's being very clear and aware of, this chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter but it's when you tune in, and you really focus on the chatter, that it's insane. Like we're all insane, we are, and that's just how we operate, because the amount of things we're telling ourselves all the time are increasingly, not only are we telling ourself things all the time, but they've done studies on the amount of thoughts, that flood through your head, and it's like thousands and thousands and thousands of thoughts a day, that are just flying through, and the vast majority of them are negative, they're negative constructs, and we need to be able to better see, the chatter, and step away from it. So, that we don't find ourselves holding ourselves back, again and again, and I love that you're aware of that, cause that's the, it's, ya know, you have to know there's a problem first, and once you know where the problem is, and you name it, now you can do really tactical things to address it. Only one brave more person left. What have we done, one, two three, we're fourth yeah, we said we'd pull about three or four, okay, mmmm, mmm, mmm. Alright. (Sarah laughs) Do you want to tell me to go. She's gotta tell you. I'm just gonna be right here. Tell them your name, and your website first, and then. My name's Sarah, and my website is sarahjanemphotography .com. Alright. And go. I've been in business awhile, and I think ongoing. What's awhile? Six years. Six years. I think ongoing is always insecurity in my work. kay. So, I think. Expand on that. Well, I think that holds me back from, even marketing super proactively, I'm like, oh, I could that, but then everyone sees my work. (Sarah laughs) I know it's a weird. No, I just want you to break it down more. So, insecurity in your work. And so, I think the majority of my work comes from, word of mouth. Yeah. Which is great, and I feel good about that, cause I think they've heard from a friend or whoever, so, I'm like oh, they already like my work, okay, I'm good. Okay. It's a weird, yeah, I don't know if I can break it down further. Okay. So, when you leave here. Yes. You're number one fear is that your continued insecurity will continue to hold you down. Yeah. Am I hearing that right? Yeah, I think so. Okay, So, can you come up with tactical ways to address that? I, no, I think, (Sarah laughs) I try to ignore it is what I try to, like as a tactic. Yeah. Three minutes. So, I think ignoring it doesn't work. (Sarah laughs) I think we can cross that one off your list, as a means to address it. Yes, and I do courses and workshops, in attempt, like always trying to better myself. Yeah, yeah. So. But. My work. But, again, and I think I said this earlier in the program, I can teach you methods and systems and methodologies, and cropping and posing and lighting, but I cannot teach you how to embrace your own worth. Yeah. That has to come from you. So, you can take all these workshops, and you can look at a bunch of things, but at the end of the day, if you're leaving here, and saying yeah, it's still a sticking point for me, that has to come from you. Right. And so, tactically, I think there's ways we can address these sensitivity issues. Okay, and it's funny, cause we're a business workshop, but listen to what the issues are, these obstacles are, are any of these obstacles, I can't get my website to load, those aren't the obstacles, you guys know what the obstacles are, it's consistently us. Yeah, and I think that's like, I procrastinate because of that, like. Two minutes. And so, business wise, is like what you mean you said from being super proactive with marketing, or, thus it's not probably not gonna stop me from doing my website, cause I feel very inspired about doing brand consistency. (instructor claps) Like I save for it, that feels super easy, it's the more, putting myself right out there. Yeah, yeah. So, I think one exercise, that would be great for you is during the day, all the day long, and I've done this, one of my mentees, I do mentor sessions with, she had a great response to this, like, having a little journal, and like get a great one, like a really beautiful book, that you're like, I would never spend this much, on a writing journal, get something gorgeous. Yeah. Make it a physical thing, and write down every single time, that you hear yourself saying, I'm not gonna do that. Okay, Alright, right now I'm gonna mark it, oh, I'm hesistaing, why, I think I suck. (Sarah laughs) Right. Yeah. And do it again, and again, and again, at the end of the day, it's not only, it's not just about tracking your negative thoughts, but it's also really seeing the patterns, there's a few things that enable us to see our patterns better than journaling, and this is a form. One minute. Of just writing things down. one minute, so, you'll start to see, if you do this, very, very, you have to be committed to it, Yeah. You have to commit. You have to make the decision, that you're going to do it. Yep. Every once in a while, I do food tracking in my diet, not necessarily, because I'm trying to lose weight or anything, but I wanna know kind of, what my break downs are, we covered that in the health and energy class. I like to think about am I getting enough fruit and vegetables, and this and that, and I find that when I commit to documenting it, in an app of course, at the end of a couple weeks I start seeing, like, gosh, I'm having too much sugar, or things that are not conscious. Right. With this, with your thoughts, after a week or two, you'll start seeing really clear patterns, and one of the patterns you'll probably see, based on what you told me is I don't think I'm good enough. Yeah. I don't think I'm good enough, and it's, and that I can do this thing, and then you might be able to start breaking down where those messages first came from. Right. Ya know. Sometimes there'll real subtle things, that get baked in at an age, that you were very receptive to hearing it. You mean my parents. Well, I'm not blaming your parents, no I'm not. No, I said I can. No, you can blame your parents, sure, but like, sometimes it's schoolmates, and sometimes it's experiences you had, that didn't go the way, you thought it was gonna go, but it was out of your control, and you just know it. Right. And so you assign the blame to yourself. You'll start seeing these patterns, but I want you to start with that. Okay. Cause I think that is the, (instructor laughs) Kenna you're so nice, it's been four minutes, but this seems very nice, so don't interrupt. (instructor and Sarah laugh) Right, right, I can tell, I saw the like, time. Just, so, think about that from a tactical thing. Okay. And I'm gonna let you go, cause it's been four minutes, thank you, but I do wanna say this. (audience claps) Cause I think this dovetails in very nicely, if you are taking emotional, cognitive, self worth issues, which we all have, I absolutely have, what did I say, before we started going on, I'm like, how are my bangs, we all have these things, ya know, we all have insecurities, and concerns, and we might do a lot right, but we also know we're slipping up, on these other areas, and we either learn how to tackle them, in a tactical way, or we try to ignore them, and they build and build, and they hold us back. So, one of the things I think is very valuable is to say, and real quick, let me just make a little point, cause this has come up before, what the difference is between strategy and tactics. Your strategy is kind of the overall plan you have to go, to get somewhere, this is the strategy I have, the tactics are all those little steps that get you there. In the vein, of what I'm talking about right here, that would be the definition I would use, for the tactics. So, one of the things, I think is very, very helpful, if time and time again, the obstacle to the success you want, the life of your dreams, and the business that you wanna create, that fits into it. If the obstacle for that happening is you not thinking you can do it, because of these thought patterns, because you're concerned, more concerned with other people think, than what you think, because you're being held down by all these things, I would like you to employ tactical steps, an example would be this, the obstacle I have is emotional. It's a sensitivity factor. It's a insecurity that I feel about not being enough, not being good enough, not being worthy of putting myself out there, in a way, and also, being really frightened, about getting knocked down, because when you put yourself out there, you get knocked down. So, when all this is going on, these are all the soft things, right. What if we address these soft things, with actual exercises, that are really specific and clear, and they're step by step by step, and they're not soft things, they're like great do this, do this, do this, it's approaching real emotional concerns, with analytical responses, which seems crazy, that's not, if you, by the way, caveat, if you're dealing with significant, disabling, kind of crazy, like issues, that are really like, they just plague you all the time, and have had certain things, I've had to get like different ways to deal with em. We all do. This isn't for you, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm saying if you are hesitating to make that next step in business, because of these recurring things, that keep coming up for you, let's deal with em tactically. One of the tactical examples is this. If every time you're about to do something. You think I need to pull back, write it down, write it down, till you keep saying, that I don't think I can, because, just keep answering that because thing, over and over, that's a tactical step. If you're more concerned with a, if you're more concerned with how other people view you, than you are with the life you wanna lead, this is your life, this is your life, this is the only life that I know of, that we have, I mean I believe in reincarnation, but it's a whole different topic, and not one for today. (audience laughs) Right here, right now, you know for sure, at least this, this is the one and only life you have, why would you keep stalling it, out because of your constant concern about what you think and what you think and what you think, and what you think. None of those people are living your life. They're not gonna live it from the beginning to the end, and when it all is said and done, and the moments are gone, that you had to change your life are now done, what does it matter what they thought? What on earth does it matter? One of the best quotes I ever heard about this, I'm gonna paraphrase it a little bit is how on earth is one day meeting, at the end of your the life, the person you could have been? Like, what is the worst thing that could happen to you, you get to the end of your life, and you meet you, but without all that fear, and all that restriction, and you actually fulfilling the potential, of who you could be, that you've always had, I want you to think of it that way, like you do wanna keep going this way, in way that's just holding you back from everything you're capable of, and you know you're capable of it. Let me ask it this way, specifically, cause we just had this conversation. What scares you more, that other people think that you tried and failed, and their opinion of you, or you looking back one day, and realizing who you could have been, but never did take the chance to become, which is scarier to you, if we're talking about fear? Absolutely the second. Take that somewhere, read it everyday, speak it into some sort of, ya know, voice memo, and play it every morning, afternoon and night, and every time you're about to launch something, play launch.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Tamara Lackey Posing Book Discount
Nations Photo Lab Discount

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

This course was fantastic. I learned more on what I need to improve and change in my business. I especially liked learning how she balances all the things in her life. She is a fantastic teacher who keeps you engaged throughout the course. Thank you creativelive and Tamara for producing such a great course!

user-5731db
 

I thoroughly enjoyed this class, Tamara Lackey is an amazing individual and trainer! I loved what she said about not letting ourselves be diminished by someone else's narrow view... This class touches on many business related topics, I had many "aha" moments and feel excited and committed to tackle various aspects of my business in small steps!! Thanks for sharing so much of you!!!

Dewitt Hardee
 

This is a great class. Tamara is such a great instructor and the subject matter is relevant and useful. Tamara is really the key, her personality seems like a ray of sunshine.

Student Work

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