Ep. 060 - Judith Hill: The Universal Power of Connection
Episode Overview
How do you create portraits that feel more like stories than snapshots?
In this episode of Generator, I sit down with Judith Hill, a fine art portrait photographer based in Nashville, whose work is filled with texture, emotion, and intention. Judith has built a style that slows everything down, where connection is the point, not the afterthought. We talk about how she went from second-guessing herself to directing shoots with clarity and confidence.
Judith opens up about the importance of creative direction, trusting her gut, and why her best work happens when she stops trying to chase the "right" way of doing things. This conversation is about staying curious, letting the process evolve, and making space for the work to breathe.
Podcast Title: Generator
Episode Title: Judith Hill: The Universal Power of Connection
Episode Number: 60
Publish Date: 29 Sept 2025
What you’ll learn in this episode:
• Why slowing down can actually make your work more impactful
• How Judith approaches creative direction and builds intentional shoots
• What it means to “listen to the work” instead of controlling it
• How to trust your ideas even when they don’t fit a trend
• The challenges of creating art while also running a business
• Why planning matters—but overthinking kills momentum
• What it looks like to lead a client through an experience, not just a session
• How Judith blends narrative, styling, and trust to create soulful portraits
Resources and Links
- WEBSITE: www.judithhillphotography.com or www.judithhill.academy
- FACEBOOK: judith hill photography
- INSTAGRAM: @judithhillphoto + @the_judithhill
Calls to Action
- Website: https://generatorpodcast.com
- Subscribe to Generator: Never miss an episode – subscribe on your favorite podcast app.
- Leave a Review: Head over to https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/generator/id1668192673 and leave us a 5 Star review if you liked the show! Help others discover this podcast.
- Follow on Social Media: Connect with us on Instagram or TikTok @generatorpodcast or on YouTube @stonetreecreative
Hashtags:
#JudithHill #PortraitPhotography #CreativeProcess #GeneratorPodcast #StorytellingThroughPortraits
Transcript
My friend Judith Hill lives down in Nashville and makes her living like many of us do, as a photographer, focused on portraits and branding and campaigns like 40 over 40.
Speaker A:But as I've gotten to know Judith over the years, the thing I love most about her is that I never walk away from a conversation with her without feeling better about myself or more inspired to create or build or succeed.
Speaker A:You see, Judith has this superpower to hold space for people, and it's a big part of why she's become so successful.
Speaker A:In the past, we've had hours long conversations about stuff that would probably be considered pretty woo woo.
Speaker A:Stuff like meditation and manifestation, quantum physics, the universe, all in an effort to understand each other and to become better versions of ourselves.
Speaker A:So because of that, she's become a really close confidant.
Speaker A:And I'm really happy we finally had a chance to talk on general narrator so that you can hear her for yourself.
Speaker A:In the course of this episode, we touch on a lot of stuff, like how she started in economic development in Nashville, how she translated that into building a portrait studio.
Speaker A:We talk about community and fear and imposter syndrome and all the techniques and mindset tricks she uses to not only keep herself motivated, but to make everyone who steps into her studio feel seen and heard.
Speaker A:Judith is truly one of my favorite people on the planet.
Speaker A:And I dare you to listen to this and not come away with at least one inspirational message because they come at you fast and furious.
Speaker A:They're non stop.
Speaker A:I'm so happy she joined me the same way.
Speaker A:I'm just as grateful that you keep coming back here to listen and help me grow generator.
Speaker A:So before I get too carried away, let's just start the show with my friend and soon to be your new best friend, Judith Hill.
Speaker A:Hello, Judith.
Speaker A:Welcome to Generate.
Speaker A:No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker A:I'm just.
Speaker A:When was the last time I saw you in person?
Speaker A:Was it.
Speaker A:Was it last year or WPPI?
Speaker A:Was it WPPI last year?
Speaker A:Not this past one year before 24.
Speaker B:I almost said three.
Speaker B:I lost years.
Speaker B:Yeah, 24.
Speaker A:Good God.
Speaker B:I know.
Speaker A:How's Nashville?
Speaker B:Nashville's great, man.
Speaker B:Yeah, Nashville is booming.
Speaker B:You know what's going on here?
Speaker A:Have you seen.
Speaker A:Have you seen.
Speaker A:There's a new documentary out on.
Speaker A:It's either prime or Netflix about the songwriters in Nashville.
Speaker A:Have you seen that yet?
Speaker B:I haven't seen it.
Speaker A:Do you know that there are songwriters in Nashville?
Speaker A:I just wanted to ask you that question.
Speaker A:I just didn't know if you knew.
Speaker A:There's a big music team down There.
Speaker B:Yeah, you know what?
Speaker B:I'm very familiar.
Speaker B:You know, I've had about three different lives here in Nashville, almost seven of them with a songwriter.
Speaker B:My husband works in the music business.
Speaker B:So, you know, you're in here in healthcare music.
Speaker B: usic until I got here in like: Speaker B:So was it three or four?
Speaker B:Either way, I. I didn't really realize it was a whole industry.
Speaker B:And to be quite honest with you, that was the first.
Speaker B:So I used to date a songwriter, very successful songwriter.
Speaker B:Y. I found one Grammys hit songwriter.
Speaker B:I didn't realize that you could actually make money and a good living as a creative until I started hanging out with songwriters.
Speaker B:And then I was like, okay, this is an actual thing.
Speaker A:And it's.
Speaker A:It's the fact that they're making money as royalty and licensing on all of that, right?
Speaker A:Not necessarily.
Speaker A:I'm sure they get paid to write the song right in the studio, but they're also getting paid for the licensing and the publishing and all of that as well, Correct?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, it is.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:It's a whole.
Speaker B:There's like three big players where you.
Speaker B:I don't know, it might have changed by now, but you essentially, they kind of put you together in a room and then you just share stories and something might click.
Speaker B:It might be a lick on the guitar, it might be a line that you came in with and they just, you know, make music.
Speaker B:Are you here that so and so.
Speaker B:So like Lainey Wilson or whoever fill in the bland now is.
Speaker B:Is in the market for a song, and then you're.
Speaker B:You might go get with your buddies and try to write a song and pitch it to their publisher or whoever is choosing the music for the album.
Speaker B:Or you might, you know, develop a relationship with someone.
Speaker B:But it's also a really small, you know, sort of community here.
Speaker B:But if you are in any type of genre, you're going to come through Nashville.
Speaker B:I mean, that's why they call it the third coast, because it's New York, LA and Nashville.
Speaker B:And it's just honestly, to that point, it really has in the beginning, fueled the creative economy here in Nashville.
Speaker B:Like, it's a place where people will come and take risk to start their own thing, to start their music career, maybe or open a restaurant or a photography business.
Speaker B:But it's definitely a place that fosters that creative talent and spirit.
Speaker B:So from that aspect, it's a really Great place to.
Speaker B:To be and to be around.
Speaker B:I mean, my, like, my husband works.
Speaker B:He.
Speaker B:He has worked at a label, he's worked at Sea Sack, which is a songwriters performing thing.
Speaker B:And all of our friends are in the industry in some way.
Speaker B:He manages a band now.
Speaker B:So just being around all of those people, it's, you know, it's a different.
Speaker B:It's definitely a different industry for sure.
Speaker B:But everyone, it's just a cool, like creative, you know, very creative outside of the box kind of.
Speaker A:I can hear you pitch in Nashville to me.
Speaker A:Isn't that kind of where you got started?
Speaker A:Like you were pitching the city?
Speaker B:I know, I know, I know.
Speaker B:I switch back to that so quickly sometimes.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:I came to Nashville to do economic development.
Speaker B:So I did economic development for 14 years.
Speaker B:And what that means is I was on the team that was selling the city as an ideal place to relocate their business or expand an existing business here.
Speaker B:And so really we were just kind of.
Speaker B:We were going out because we were known as music City.
Speaker B:But the main economic driver here in this town is healthcare.
Speaker B:So we would go out and say we're music and more we would take.
Speaker B:Before Chris Stapleton was Chris Stapleton.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:I named Chris and I was like, we gotta get Chris and Morgan to this songwriters thing.
Speaker B:We're going to bring all these site selection consultants and the.
Speaker B:We were at Chicago.
Speaker B:I think we flew Chris with us to Chicago.
Speaker B:And Chris is not a salesperson.
Speaker B:He doesn't have to speak, he just sings, you know, and then you win them over.
Speaker B:But I remember we.
Speaker B:So we would do that.
Speaker B:We'd bring the Nashville show on the road all the time to enter to entertain these business people and to really kind of just brand the city.
Speaker B:Because my boss used to say we got to get the talk on the street, right?
Speaker B: Because in the early: Speaker B:I mean, that's just.
Speaker B:Or they thought country.
Speaker B:Like, do you guys.
Speaker B:Y' all wear shoes down there?
Speaker B:So we had to go out and tell a different story about Nashville.
Speaker B:And we did that in conjunction with building off the established brand, which was Music City.
Speaker B:And so she would say we'd have to get the talk on the street, right?
Speaker B:Your brand is what people say about you when you're not around.
Speaker B:And so we really did that for a lot of years.
Speaker B:And I will say, the Chris Stapleton story, that was probably about two years before he had.
Speaker B:He went.
Speaker B:He was at the CMAs with Justin Timberlake.
Speaker B:And then I feel like the whole blew up and the whole world movie was then and then we would like reach out to all of those people at that slack selection singer songwriter thing that we put on and I don't know, we, it was another chance for us to get in front of them about Nashville and how cool we all remember when you saw Chris Stapleton and all this stuff.
Speaker B:So anyway, bringing that all around, that's, that's how I ended up here in Nashville and that's what I did for 14 years.
Speaker B:And all of that branding and messaging and marketing helped me when I went to go do photography full time.
Speaker B:So as it, as it turns out, a brand is a brand.
Speaker B:It doesn't matter if it's a city or a person or a business.
Speaker B:You kind of approach it the same way as far as messaging is concerned.
Speaker B:When you figure out like, you know, I mean like what I said in the beginning is absolutely true.
Speaker B:Where people come to start businesses to take risks, that creative spirit, when you get your pulse on that like then you can translate that into a message that sells the city.
Speaker B:It's the same thing of like in my business when I started getting feedback from clients and I was understanding the, the ripple effect that was happening after someone just holds space for you and someone like through understanding posing and lighting and all the dynamics, you can really pull out an energy of a person.
Speaker B:All the different facets of who they are can show it back to them before they even see it.
Speaker B:They feel it and embody it and they leave here carrying themselves very different.
Speaker B:And then when they see the images, it's in the.
Speaker B:Either it's an even a bigger like self realization kind of thing.
Speaker B:You're like who is that person?
Speaker B:Or you know, and you're just hyping them up.
Speaker B:So all of when, when you then get feedback from your clients that that is what they are experiencing, then you can take that information, that data so to speak and create your brand message around it and then be known for that thing.
Speaker B:So I, it took me a minute though that didn't translate like immediately when I left my, my economic development career.
Speaker B:But once I got into a few years in and started understanding like marketing campaigns and how to apply it and I wasn't running around like a crazy person with my camera because I was doing a lot of high volume work in the beginning.
Speaker B:And so I think anyway, I just think that translated pretty well and helped me like kind of revamp how I approached my business and how I talked about it, just having that branding marketing background.
Speaker B:And also I will say I was very well, networked in the city, so that has.
Speaker B:That has helped me a lot.
Speaker B:I still do a ton of construction headshots.
Speaker B:Like.
Speaker A:Yeah, well, I was.
Speaker A:I was gonna ask, like, how did you go from this economic development to port of portrait photography?
Speaker A:Did you kind of burn out of the corporate side?
Speaker A:It's the first day with the new lips.
Speaker A:I have no idea how to actually use my mouth today.
Speaker A:So did you get out of economic development because you wanted to follow something creative?
Speaker A:Did you see a gap where you're like, hey, there's no photographers around.
Speaker A:I can do this.
Speaker A:What was the catalyst between going from.
Speaker A:I mean, it's a huge career shift.
Speaker A:Even though there are branding similarities.
Speaker A:How is.
Speaker A:How did you shift from really corporate to photography and doing portraits?
Speaker B:Yes, they are completely different things.
Speaker B:You.
Speaker B:Like, one is definitely business and selling and corporate, and the other one's creative.
Speaker B:Well, I mean, I think.
Speaker B:What happened.
Speaker B:What.
Speaker B:I actually really loved doing economic development.
Speaker B:You know, I loved the people that I work at the Chamber.
Speaker B:I still am friends with everyone.
Speaker B:I actually.
Speaker B:I still do all the headshot for the Chamber.
Speaker B:And they were also really supportive in this career change that I was embarking on.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:But how did I make that change?
Speaker B:That's a good question.
Speaker B:I mean, I. I think with anything, you go through these cycles and.
Speaker B:And so I got to a point where I could just do this job in my sleep.
Speaker B:I mean, I could.
Speaker B:I do.
Speaker B:You saw how quickly I went right back into, you know, talking about Nashville.
Speaker B:So I think at some point, though, I just.
Speaker B:It wasn't just it, like, professionally.
Speaker B:I think personally I was going through a phase where I didn't feel seen or I didn't feel valued, and I was a little bored, and I needed an outlet of some sort.
Speaker B:So I had picked a camera up when I was 25, and I went to Italy by myself, and I took all these pic.
Speaker B:This is when I discovered I had an eye.
Speaker B:But everything there is beautiful.
Speaker B:So, you know, everybody takes great photos in Italy, but I just realized that I had this eye and, like, if I needed something, this would be something good to pick up the camera and learn how to do it.
Speaker B:And that's what I did.
Speaker B:I actually.
Speaker B:This was before.
Speaker B: This was in: Speaker B:So the only way I knew to learn a camera was to go back to school.
Speaker B:So I went to community college here in Nashville.
Speaker B:I learned how to use my camera, and then I learned Photoshop and black and white film photography.
Speaker B:And I was in some class.
Speaker B:And I remember that's when creative live had just started and someone suggested Creative Live.
Speaker B:And then I went down a Creative live thing, and I realized that I could.
Speaker B:That, like, people could come and have hair and makeup and multiple outfit changes, and that that was a thing that I could do because I never had, like, glamour shots or anything as a kid.
Speaker B:Like, I didn't pick a camera up until I was 30 years old.
Speaker B:So I had no idea.
Speaker B:I just kept following this thing that, like, lit me up.
Speaker B: nd I've been wearing it since: Speaker B:And that's what I try to do is, like, this just makes me happy.
Speaker B:And then once I got into a groove with it and I. I built this thing out of my house for five years on the side.
Speaker B:Like, for five years, I was moving furniture.
Speaker B:People were getting ready in my guest bedroom.
Speaker B:I had hair and makeup in the bathroom.
Speaker B:I did this every weekend for five years.
Speaker B:And I started finding my value by showing other people theirs and that I had to make the change because I could always go back to economic development.
Speaker B:Theoretically, I could always get a job.
Speaker B:But I had to try this thing full time.
Speaker B:I just really wanted it because I saw.
Speaker B:I even saw the impact it was having before I understood what that impact was, that ripple effect that I was talking about, I was.
Speaker B:I was seeing that, and I wasn't.
Speaker B:I was single at the time.
Speaker B:I have no children.
Speaker B:And so it was.
Speaker B:I had.
Speaker B:It was like, I don't want to look back.
Speaker B:You know, they say keep the end in mind.
Speaker B:I didn't want to look back and regret that I didn't try or I didn't do something.
Speaker B:And my.
Speaker B:When I said the chamber was super supportive.
Speaker B:My boss at the time was my first client.
Speaker B:I photographed her kids, you know, for like 50 bucks, as we do.
Speaker B:But she also.
Speaker B:There's Nashville has this thing called the Arts and Business Council.
Speaker B:And I.
Speaker B:This is for all.
Speaker B:All types of creatives so that you can be visual music, you know, different mediums and crafts.
Speaker B:And I actually.
Speaker B:And I would.
Speaker B:It's a.
Speaker B:It's an entrepreneurship kind of accelerator program for creatives to look at their business like an entrepreneur at wood.
Speaker B:To monetize it and price yourself accordingly and all the things.
Speaker B:So my boss, like, submitted my app, like, she recommended me or like, whatever.
Speaker B:I don't know which.
Speaker B:Like you.
Speaker B:You recommend you.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:You know what I'm saying?
Speaker B:With this program.
Speaker B:And I got accepted, and it required me to be gone on Thursdays all day for six weeks.
Speaker B:And that's how supportive she was because she was like you are the most talented artist I know.
Speaker B:You need to go through this program.
Speaker B:So I went through that program and it wasn't long after that that I ended up leaving.
Speaker B:But as everyone knew that was going to happen probably.
Speaker B:Probably before I knew but.
Speaker B:And I now go back to that.
Speaker B:That class every year and speak to them about how to set themselves up for success.
Speaker B:But anyway so that just sell that to say that it was a very supportive environment.
Speaker B:I did a lot of learning and I was long to.
Speaker B:I could have done it sooner but I was afraid.
Speaker B:You know how it is.
Speaker A:I do.
Speaker A:And let's.
Speaker A:Let's talk about fear a little bit.
Speaker A:So fear is something I know you and I have talked about on just other personal phone calls before and you know we struggle with some of the same things about putting ourselves out there or feeling good enough.
Speaker A:Fear I've learned to embrace.
Speaker A:How do you deal with fear when it comes to something major like a career shift or you know, shifting a style of photography?
Speaker A:How do you deal with your own fear?
Speaker B:I mean I.
Speaker B:Well, fear in the beginning, I mean it's just.
Speaker B:It's a feeling, you know, you're just going to feel.
Speaker B:Feel it.
Speaker B:It's going to.
Speaker B:You're going to feel it in your gut and it's going to feel real, but it's not real.
Speaker B:You know, like you're not actually faced with life or death right now.
Speaker B:And I.
Speaker B:When I was going to leave my.
Speaker B:I remember I was on a walk with my husband at the time is my, my, my now husband.
Speaker B:And he said false evidence appearing real.
Speaker B:That's what fear stands for.
Speaker B:Or, or said another way face everything in rides because my big fear was that I was going to fail and be bankrupt on the side of the street.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And then it was like well play out the worst case scenario.
Speaker B:Is that actually going to happen?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:And if it does, I would not allow myself to get there.
Speaker B:I would probably go get a job or something.
Speaker B:So I think it's just one of those.
Speaker B:You have to.
Speaker B:There's a few things that I have learned I've had to do.
Speaker B:Number one, I have to understand that these feelings are coming up for me because I'm have.
Speaker B:I have some sort of belief or thought that is trying to keep me actually safe that it may not be true and that I just have to kind of let it cycle through and then I have to take action.
Speaker B:The, the quickest way through is by taking some sort of action or step.
Speaker B:So like when I went to leave my Job, I, I just had to put it on a meeting on the calendar.
Speaker B:I wasn't going to be able to go in there, like for no reason.
Speaker B:I had to like set a date and just say it, like, let it come out of my mouth.
Speaker B:Now when my boss at the time saw this meeting on her calendar, she already knew what it was for.
Speaker B:Like, she was like, I shut the door and she goes, I already know what this is about, you know.
Speaker B:But I also did a lot of other things to help me feel safe.
Speaker B:So the year before I went, I left, I joined a bni.
Speaker B:I joined a networking group because it was before, it was like they met at 7am So I did and I tried to get myself cushion financially.
Speaker B:So I tried to do like all of these things.
Speaker B:I was still afraid, but I just had to, to bet on myself.
Speaker B:And I think we oftentimes stop before we allow, you know, ourselves to take an action.
Speaker B:I also am big on community and mentoring, so I hired a mentor to help me.
Speaker B:Like, I, it's almost like looking outside of yourself sometimes for, you know, like that validation.
Speaker B:But I, I hired a mentor.
Speaker B:She was in Memphis.
Speaker B:And so, because then I could go down there, I could travel there, I could see the studio, I could see this, like see it to believe it.
Speaker B:And I, I just did all these things that helped me feel as safe as I possibly could before I took this jump.
Speaker B:Because I'm the first entrepreneur in my family.
Speaker B:My family didn't understand this.
Speaker B:My friends don't all understand this.
Speaker B:And so I had to have support, you know, outside of that to help me.
Speaker B:You know, you've got to have that community to like, either you have the shared language, you understand, you know, like where the other one's coming from, because you're doing the same thing, you're walking a similar path.
Speaker B:So having those positive, or just someone that can, you can have a frank conversation with and help you navigate things is really, I think, key to that.
Speaker B:But I mean, fear just never goes away.
Speaker B:I mean, as, you know, like whether you decide to really niche down and focus only on women or men or whatever, or fill in the blank genre, or if it's leaving a job like it's, or if it's raising your prices.
Speaker B:I've raised my prices probably five or six times since the beginning.
Speaker B:It's, it's always there, but it's just a feeling that you can't buy into or like really entertain.
Speaker B:And the only way to shift it is to take some sort of action, I think.
Speaker B:What do you think why do you do it?
Speaker A:I think, I think we often stop before we take the action.
Speaker A:I think we give into fear a lot.
Speaker A:I think it stops a lot of great art from being created.
Speaker A:I think it stops a lot of great businesses from seeing how successful they can become because we get to a point where it's uncomfortable and we don't have the energy or insight or wherewithal to push through that discomfort in spite of the fear, Right?
Speaker A:So I think unless you have techniques or capabilities to push through the fear, a good support system, a good sounding board, unless you have that, it's hard to talk to yourself and believe a hundred percent of what you're saying to yourself because you can read it and say, you know what?
Speaker A:Just push through the fear.
Speaker A:Don't just take the action.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:We can say that to ourselves all day long.
Speaker A:And then when it comes to it, you're just like, ah, shut the fuck up.
Speaker A:Like, it's just me talking to me, right?
Speaker A:So, yeah, but when you hear this exact same thing from someone you respect or trust or spouse or a partner or a friend, it hits different.
Speaker A:So was there a point where you were able to start doing that for yourself without a support system?
Speaker A:Because I know you and we've had these conversations and you have this wonderful inner strength.
Speaker A:And so to hear you talk about fear and to hear you talk about support systems, how do you do it for yourself when that support system isn't around?
Speaker B:So, I mean, first of all, understanding that fear is just our biology.
Speaker B:Like when you said the unknown, you're uncomfortable and I just wrote down unknown biology.
Speaker B:So it's our natural response because it's unfamiliar.
Speaker B:We would rather like, be unhappy and miserable in something familiar than take a chance and do something unfamiliar that, that we really want to do.
Speaker B:And if it's in you and you desire it, then it's really already yours.
Speaker B:You just have to go after it because that's who you are.
Speaker B:You wouldn't desire it if it wasn't in you.
Speaker B:So I've had to do a lot of work and understanding that unknown, the biology.
Speaker B:I'm a, I have a, I'm also, I would consider myself an athlete.
Speaker B:And in that I, I, and that's, you know, an athlete mentality has served me well.
Speaker B:So, meaning in that, like I, for a long.
Speaker B:I used to run, then I did yoga, and now I'm running again.
Speaker B:And like, I would just taking the risk or chance on like, can I sprint?
Speaker B:Can I ride this bike?
Speaker B:Can I, like just trying those things and also working like working cycle, like cycling that energy through.
Speaker B:Because when you, anything you do, even if you're not an athlete, that stress, that fear, when your heart, like when you get into your heart space, both physically and through meditation, you will.
Speaker B:You.
Speaker B:Well, first of all, the physical part is letting your body know you're okay and you're alive.
Speaker B:You know, so like using.
Speaker B:Sometimes I just gotta go walk in nature.
Speaker B:Sometimes I need, like if I'm in a funk, sometimes I need to listen to the generator podcast or something like that.
Speaker B:Because no, you, you, you get, you know, like that industry people like.
Speaker B:Yeah, you know, like getting inspiration from other people.
Speaker B:But I mean for myself, I have to talk to myself about like this is just your biology.
Speaker B:You are just afraid because you haven't done this before, right?
Speaker B:Just, just try.
Speaker B:Just like you started sprinting, just like you started getting up extra an hour earlier so that you could get the meditation in.
Speaker B:Because I mean the meditation also is one of those things that I'm an.
Speaker B:I'm definitely a believer in aligning your energy.
Speaker B:Like when you're.
Speaker B:Your heart and your mind are in alignment, when you have that desire that you're afraid of, well, that your heart is shut down.
Speaker B:So there's.
Speaker B:It's going to be hard to draw it to you because you're in a panic mode.
Speaker B:So you're going into survival, which is, you know, kind of the lower energies and you're in.
Speaker B:When you're in survival and you're in, you're in fear, that's not a time to create.
Speaker B:Your body actually can't create at that time.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Because like inside you, your body is saying there is a tiger out there in the dark that you can't see that you need to be afraid of.
Speaker B:That's kind of like happening on the inside, but that's really just up here and you're in.
Speaker B:All of those fears and emotions are responding to this.
Speaker B:But like if you really want that thing, sometimes you just have to get into your heart center.
Speaker B:I know that sounds like Judith.
Speaker B:How do you do that when I'm afraid?
Speaker B:I actually had a friend of mine who has franchise and probably like at least a million dollar company asked me how to deal with fear and I was like, well, you have to first be aware, you know, you have to be aware of what's causing your fear, which is hard to do when you're in fear.
Speaker B:The point being is that you have to just be like, you have to be fully aware that it's really just the unfamiliar that you're afraid of and that you will always figure out a way.
Speaker B:And then you just have to just pick yourself up and just take a step.
Speaker B:You know, I mean, sometimes, I mean, like, I'm, I'm moving into mentoring and coaching and I started a website.
Speaker B:I couldn't even hit send, like publish on the website because it was something new and I had to have my ba.
Speaker B:I was like, you need to hit publish on this and let me know when it's published.
Speaker B:Life, you just have to trick yourself.
Speaker B:I think our jobs are really to try to stay as elevated emotionally as we possibly can when we want, when we're trying to create something for ourselves, meaning stay in a state of gratitude is the biggest, the best way to shift from fear.
Speaker B:Because, and I, and I say all this because especially as creators and so openers, everything's coming from us, right?
Speaker B:So like, like, you are a whole person.
Speaker B:You can't really compartmentalize.
Speaker B:What's happening out here is, is not affecting what's happening at work, and what's happening at work is going to affect home.
Speaker B:And it's just, you're all the same person, right?
Speaker B:So in your, in your mind, if you are looking for proof that something's going to work, you will find proof that it's going to work.
Speaker B:If you're looking for proof that it's not going to work, you will find proof that it's not going to work.
Speaker B:Because your brain is, is just looking for patterns.
Speaker B:It's also like a record of the past.
Speaker B:So which brings me back to, like, if I say, well, when I try something new and exercise, I can usually crush that.
Speaker B:So maybe that means I can crush this other thing.
Speaker B:Because if I can sprint at 11 a speed, 11 on the treadmill, that's basically like riding a bike, then I can, I should be able to do this one thing, like just psychoanalyzing.
Speaker B:I mean, not psychoanalyzing, but like, kind of just tricking myself into shifting my energy a little bit.
Speaker B:So like in the graphic, like the other day, every time I see somebody on my calendar that's inquiring about a photo shoot, I'll be like, thank you.
Speaker B:Like, yes, I can't wait to talk to her.
Speaker B:Or anytime I get paid, I'll just say, thank you, bring me more, or, you know, or whatever it is, I try to stay in that, that level of gratitude as much as I can.
Speaker B:And sometimes it's really hard and you just have to be like, well, grateful for the studio.
Speaker B:I'm grateful for whatever.
Speaker B:Anyway, that's.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:Does that answer your question or did I go down a rabbit hole?
Speaker A:You answered about 30 more of my questions, and that's fine because I'm going to go back and ask you a handful more.
Speaker B:Before you do that, I wrote down one more thing that I also want to say that I sometimes also get tired of hearing myself over and over again if I haven't taken action on something or if somebody goes, well, do you talking about that two years ago?
Speaker B:And I'm like, oh, like now we've got to go, why am I stalling?
Speaker B:And then I have to, like, figure out that.
Speaker B:But a lot of times I'm always also just sick of hearing myself say the same thing over and over again.
Speaker A:I'll start with that first.
Speaker A:I think going back through my journals, you.
Speaker A:You don't realize how much time passes between identifying the thing that you desire and taking that action.
Speaker A:Sometimes, like you said, it can be a day.
Speaker A:You just start taking the action.
Speaker A:Sometimes it could be two, three, four, five years.
Speaker A:I used to beat myself up about that, a lot of coming up with the idea for this podcast, for example.
Speaker A: s, since the late: Speaker A:But it was also not the right time.
Speaker A:I didn't have the things that I wanted in place.
Speaker A:Therefore, it all happened when it was meant to happen.
Speaker A:And I keep coming back to that is if the thought keeps popping up in your mind, clearly it's something that's coming from your heart, and it's something that is probably meant for you.
Speaker A:But if you let the fear and the resistance take over, you'll never actualize it in any way.
Speaker A:One of the things that Sue Bryce had said years ago was focus on the what and not the how.
Speaker A:And a lot of times I personally get caught in the how.
Speaker A:Oh, I want to start a podcast.
Speaker A:Well, I gotta get a camera and I gotta get guests, and how am I gonna do this and what platform is it gonna be on?
Speaker A:What am I gonna talk about and how am I gonna focusing on the how and not the what?
Speaker A:When you focus on the what, the how shows up, that path shows up between A and B and.
Speaker A:And it was that piece of advice that really brings me back to center all the time, to focus on what it is that I want versus how I'm going to get there.
Speaker A:But you have to focus on what is it that you want in the first place.
Speaker A:And it has to come from you.
Speaker A:It has to come from the center.
Speaker A:So you had said some things in there.
Speaker A:You know, your brain is always going to give you the answer that you're looking for.
Speaker A:You can ask it a million questions.
Speaker A:The great thing about brains is that they'll always answer the question.
Speaker A:Whether it's right or wrong is totally dependent on if you believe your own brain or not.
Speaker A:But you can ask it, should I do this?
Speaker A:Yeah or no?
Speaker A:It's going to answer you based on what is true to you.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And very rarely will your brain say, you know what, this is going to be really scary and you're going to be super uncomfortable, so you should do it 100%.
Speaker A:It's always going to want to keep you safe, and it's always going to give you resistance.
Speaker A:You just have to be aware of that enough to know, hey, wait a minute, that's just the resistance.
Speaker A:That's just the fear.
Speaker A:How do I move past?
Speaker A:What if I did something different?
Speaker A:How bad could it be?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:It comes back to your original.
Speaker A:How bad could it be?
Speaker A:What's the worst case scenario?
Speaker A:So I just love that you covered all of that, because we all need that reminder from time to time that, yes, times might be tough.
Speaker A:I don't know how this is going to work out, but that.
Speaker A:That sense of inner faith, that voice that keeps coming back to you saying, you are doing this for all the right reasons, you are doing this because you can do it, rather than you're doing this because you have no other options.
Speaker A:And you're going to be shitty at this, too.
Speaker A:Like, your brain never talks to you in that way, but it's always going to give you the answer that your heart really wants to give you.
Speaker A:So I ask you all of that, because at the beginning, you started to talk about how in your portrait sessions that you started to realize that it can affect people differently.
Speaker A:Was there a session that clicked in your brain to say, you know, I'm offering more than just pictures here.
Speaker A:I'm not just pressing a button.
Speaker A:Was there a moment that that was pivotal for you where you realized that what I do is way more than what people think photography is?
Speaker B:I don't know if there was a specific session, but what I was realizing is, is that everybody was coming in and they would go, I don't know who she is, but that is a badass woman right there.
Speaker B:Or, or, God, I look so confident.
Speaker B:Or one woman who left my session and said, I, whatever energy I was having, into that session, I left there and just had the best sex of my life.
Speaker B:And I was like, can I get that on video?
Speaker A:Wait, the testimonial.
Speaker B:The testimonial, Right.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Just making sure.
Speaker A:Just making sure.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So anyway, so I just started hearing the same things over and over again.
Speaker B:And then I went to redo my website and.
Speaker B:Meaning that I realized that there was, like, a myth.
Speaker B:Not a myth, but I feel like people would go to my website, it would be.
Speaker B:You'd be hit with a grid of gorgeous images, and everybody thought they were models.
Speaker B:So I had to, you know, rework the homepage and start talking about, like, this ripple effect.
Speaker B:And what I did was I just went through.
Speaker B:And people would give them feedback of, like, just recently, two people said, judith, I came to you five years ago.
Speaker B:I didn't know what I was doing.
Speaker B:I was starting this new coaching business.
Speaker B:I didn't have any confidence.
Speaker B:And she was like, what you do for people, you know, you.
Speaker B:I'd like.
Speaker B:I changed.
Speaker B:I just took that leap.
Speaker B:And I have so much confidence.
Speaker B:I've got 13 clients now, and it's.
Speaker B:It's remarkable what you do.
Speaker B:Someone else.
Speaker B:Judith, I came to you.
Speaker B:I don't even know why I did this 40 over 40 thing, but I felt like I needed to do it.
Speaker B:And I was still, you know, living at a friend's house, and I was going through a divorce, and I was trying to start this business.
Speaker B:And you saw something in me.
Speaker B:I didn't see it.
Speaker B:And I became that person two years later.
Speaker B:And I was like.
Speaker B:I mean, I have chills saying that right now.
Speaker B:So I. I realized that, like, I'm a pretty good photographer.
Speaker B:I'm also doing this because of that ripple effect, that connection that bringing.
Speaker B:So, like, I believe in the power of a portrait.
Speaker B:To see yourself standing there, embodying your own personal power, something that someone brought out of you, like, put you in a way so you could actually see that confidence.
Speaker B:Because when we.
Speaker B:We don't see ourselves that way.
Speaker B:We just pass through a mirror, and we're just, like, passing through.
Speaker B:We don't see.
Speaker B:When you light up, when you see your pet or your child or whatever, whenever you're in your flow, like, we don't see that energy in us necessarily.
Speaker B:So being able to bring that out in someone, capture it and show it back to them, is the greatest gift that I can give another human being.
Speaker B:And I realized that when people just started freely giving me that information or actually answering the questionnaire after the photo shoot and reading through all that stuff to see like, oh, they're also taking better pictures because I'm coaching them through how to pose for the camera.
Speaker B:Oh, they're also like, they're carrying themselves differently and that's having.
Speaker B:Now they're, they're showing up differently and people are experiencing them different and that's having this ripple effect at their house and their business and community and.
Speaker B:Or this is giving them permission to do something else.
Speaker B:I had someone that had a photo shoot and left her corporate job and started her own thing because she saw herself differently.
Speaker B:And that is the power of a portrait.
Speaker A:I believe it's easy to see in other people's portraits the person that's there, the confident person, the strong person, the sexy person.
Speaker A:How do you work with your clients to explain to them without blowing smoke that there's always clients that have a hard time believing that they're going to be capable of being seen like that.
Speaker A:How do you start working with your clients to teach them in a way that's authentic and genuine, that builds that trust in you?
Speaker A:This process is going to make them see themselves differently.
Speaker A:How do you talk to them about that?
Speaker A:Because believe me, I've had some of the conversations where no matter what I say, it ain't getting through.
Speaker A:So how do you work with those more difficult cases where they have such low self value that it's hard to bring out the person that you see in front of the camera?
Speaker A:How do you do that?
Speaker B:Yeah, that's a good question.
Speaker B:I, I mean, I prepare people in advance.
Speaker B:There's a lot of prep, like prep guides, pre shoot zoom calls.
Speaker B:I'm also a hype girl.
Speaker B:Like I am hyping.
Speaker B:It is hype the entire time.
Speaker B:I'm very animated when I shoot.
Speaker B:Like this should probably be on camera somewhere because I'm, I'm not blowing smoke up anybody's ass either.
Speaker B:I mean, I'm like, literally like, I see, see this in them.
Speaker B:There was a woman that came to me a few like earlier this month and she had, I'd been on her wish list, which is kind of bizarre to think about.
Speaker B:But she's like, I've been wanting to do this for a long time.
Speaker B:And she didn't eat for two days before the shoot.
Speaker B:And for whatever, whatever it is, I just, I have this ability to hold space for people and that's what I tell everyone.
Speaker B:I said, my superpower is my ability to hold space and to connect with you and to bring out all these different facets of who you are because you're not just in this little box.
Speaker B:And I've had to, especially when I'm trying to do this like in a high volume situation or even if somebody has hired me.
Speaker B:Like high volume meaning corporate shots in companies people weren't.
Speaker B:Or even if they've hired me and they cannot get out of their head.
Speaker B:I, I'll just put my camera down and I will say I need you to get out of your head.
Speaker B:And trust me right now, I got you.
Speaker B:This is just a system to take beautiful photos.
Speaker B:Just do what I'm telling you to do.
Speaker B:I got you.
Speaker B:I mean I just have to call them out on it sometimes I'll just call them out and say I need you to stop.
Speaker B:Or I'll say, you know what?
Speaker B:I've got some, I've got Prosecco over here if you need a little liquid courage.
Speaker B:Absolute campaign.
Speaker B:Because we do offer that.
Speaker B:You know, it's the whole customer experience of like some, some people are into it, some people aren't.
Speaker B:But I also set a stage like we're playing their favorite music on Bluetooth speaker and like I said, the energy is always high.
Speaker B:So when you get energy high then it can kind of shift things.
Speaker B:But at this point I feel like people, I have such a reputation that most people trust me no matter what.
Speaker B:I will also cut, cut up like just cut up with people and get them laughing.
Speaker B:And that usually shifts it to like I, I've told you this before, doing all the high volume headshots.
Speaker B:I've learned how to do man speak or whatever.
Speaker B:I can talk about pretty much anything.
Speaker B:Fishing, football.
Speaker B:I figured it out.
Speaker B:Talladega Nights is always, you know, what I do with my hands and then, then I give a whole interpretation of Talladega Nights and get people laughing and you know, you just have to shift that energy in a way.
Speaker B:Either call them out on it or shift it with like keeping that energy high through conversation, music, whatever.
Speaker A:Has doing this with clients transformed your own self value?
Speaker B:Yes, I mean absolutely.
Speaker B:I think I even, I mean that's, I found my value by showing other people their value and I, and so absolutely like even.
Speaker B:I mean when I think back like for example I'm sitting here in my studio right now and when I was one of the last clients that I had as doing economic development was Warby Parker, the eyeglass manufacturer.
Speaker B:And I was bring around the co.
Speaker B:The two owners of Warby Parker touring around Nashville showing them different locations.
Speaker B:And we came into this building that I'm in right now in a, in a space much like I'm in right now.
Speaker B:And I, this was probably 12 or 13 years ago now and I was like, this is the dream, this is my studio, this is what I want, this studio, you know.
Speaker B:And I'm, and I'm not anywhere near going full time at this point.
Speaker B:But I looked when I got this space, I looked back and I was like holy shit, I did it.
Speaker B:You know, like I got the space and I did the whole thing.
Speaker B:And when I look back and think like I, I did it, I was, I did it single, I wasn't married, I was doing it all on my own.
Speaker B:I built it from scratch.
Speaker B:And, and look at like also the impact that I'm having on the individuals I'm shooting.
Speaker B:So of course my self value has gone up and I think that that's probably why I'm a, one of the reasons I'm a portrait photographer is the connection and self value piece and the conversations that you have.
Speaker B:I photograph a lot of women entrepreneurs or just high achieving women.
Speaker B:So you know, naturally we have a lot of meaningful conversations in the studio which is always really good.
Speaker B:I mean that whole gratitude thing that we were just talking about recently, I, I had this conversation and I was like, if I could like what could you, what would you tell your younger self?
Speaker B:If you had one thing to tell your younger self is a question.
Speaker B:And I was like, I would tell my younger self that, you know, it's, it's all going to like work out.
Speaker B:Like you've just got to keep following what you desire.
Speaker B:Put one foot in front of the other and keep your energy elevated in.
Speaker B:The best way to do that is to stay in some form of gratitude.
Speaker B:And she was like, I'm so glad you said that because I just, I had this necklace, it's gratitude.
Speaker B:And I looked at, I looked at it before I came here.
Speaker B:She flew in from Florida and she was like, but I didn't bring it.
Speaker B:And I just really needed that reminder because there was a few years ago where I was trying, I was practicing that and the only thing I had great I could think of to be grateful for was that I had sheets.
Speaker B:She was like, and sometimes that's all you can do.
Speaker B:Like just, she was going through a hard time, like just, you know, like just the smallest things.
Speaker B:But it was just a reminder to have that like that, that how important that is.
Speaker B:And just like sometimes you can do, do, do but if you're not in that alignment, it's not going to happen or it's going to take ten times as long.
Speaker B:So anyway, just Whatever is going on in my mind was the conversation we have in the studio.
Speaker B:And it's, I think that is what makes it so rewarding and fulfilling for me.
Speaker A:I was going to ask you this question specific to photographers, but with the economic development background and all the high value women that you photograph, you're seeing people from all different industries, all different brands, at oftentimes the creation of their brand.
Speaker A:I'm starting to do this, I'm starting to build this.
Speaker A:Is there a common mistake that you see people making as they're building their brand?
Speaker A:That now with your years of experience you're like, ah, hold on a second.
Speaker A:And you give them a little bit of guidance towards maybe how to do things better or more thoughtfully?
Speaker A:Do you see a common mistake that folks make?
Speaker B:It's a great question.
Speaker B:I'm going to think about that.
Speaker B:There's definitely themes that come up a lot just but like tactical system type of themes.
Speaker A:Can you give me an example?
Speaker B:Well, I think a lot of times when people are starting out, they're trying to do everything themselves and they questioning, second guessing everything.
Speaker B:There's a lot of imposter syndrome that also comes up.
Speaker B:It doesn't matter.
Speaker B:You could be, you could be super successful leaving and doing something else and you have complete imposter syndrome.
Speaker B:And so we have a lot of conversations about that.
Speaker B:Systems would be like, well, do you have a CRM?
Speaker B:Because you're going to have to manage this and if you don't, if you're, if you're answering a question more than once, you've got to create a system around that.
Speaker B:So just like those beginning things, whenever you start trying to do everything yourself, that, that comes up a lot.
Speaker B:But I think the imposter syndrome is definitely everywhere and with everyone.
Speaker B:And it doesn't really matter the level of success that you have.
Speaker B:If you are leveling up in any way, imposter syndrome kicks in.
Speaker B:And I'm not, you know, to be honest, I just feel like it's your potential.
Speaker B:Like you just, you're still maybe a student, you haven't like maybe fully recognized it or realized it for yourself yet, but you're doing it.
Speaker B:So you're in the arena.
Speaker B:If you're not in the arena and you're talking about it, you are an imposter, you know, but if you're actually in the arena, you've got, I mean you just have to navigate that.
Speaker B:It comes up though every time you level up anywhere.
Speaker B:And I think like when I was doing economic development, you know, people were making huge Decisions on if they were.
Speaker B:And you, you come from the merger and acquisition world.
Speaker B:I mean, I was, I was, you know, like that was.
Speaker B:They were going through mergers or acquisitions and they were deciding on consolidating into Nashville or Austin or wherever else, you know, Charlotte would.
Speaker B:Might be another person or Atlanta.
Speaker B:And you're like, trying to make the case, but your talk would.
Speaker B:At the end of the day, you are talking about people.
Speaker B:Like, part of my job was whenever, like the last big project I worked on was Warner Music Group consolidated LA and New York into Nashville.
Speaker B:And when they made that decision, I had to go out and then talk to LA and New York, their staff about what it would be like to live here in Nashville.
Speaker B:And so from that standpoint, at the end of the day, people what make business work.
Speaker B:And so you're really just caring for people and taking care of people.
Speaker B:You have to bring it back to that purpose of, you know, like, understanding.
Speaker B:Like, I'm helping these people make a transition, a transformation.
Speaker B:And this in turn is helping the company, which is helping the city, because there's the multiplier effect with, you know, investing into the city, bringing, you know, different people into the city, diversifying culture, all those things.
Speaker B:So I think that's another thing that, you know, people kind of, you've got this thing that you're good at and you've decided to start your own business with it and you just go about doing it this way.
Speaker B:And it may take you a minute to find your purpose.
Speaker B:But again, like, when you.
Speaker B:Like that will help you with imposter syndrome.
Speaker B:Just you come back to, why am I doing this?
Speaker B:What's the purpose of this thing that I'm doing?
Speaker B:Because, number one, your purpose is going to help with your messaging, how you talk about your business.
Speaker B:When things get tough, when you feel like I am an imposter or it's hard to put myself out there, well, stop making it about you and come back to the purpose and who you're serving.
Speaker B:Okay, so that's all common.
Speaker B:All of those things are thoughtful.
Speaker B:And so that's a conversation I have a lot too is like, what is your purpose?
Speaker B:Because at the end of the day, people buy products and services because they're looking for a transformation, they want status of some sort, or you're going to just help them benefit in some way.
Speaker B:Like, it's.
Speaker B:It's pretty common throughout.
Speaker B:You know, it's.
Speaker B:And it's like anything.
Speaker B:Like, you know, Apple, they don't just sell computers, they sell, you know, you're on the Leading edge of whatever, you know, fill in the blank.
Speaker B:So it's, I think you can, as a brand or a business, when you bring it back to purpose and how you're going to take someone through a transformation of some way, or you're providing a luxury service that if I work with this person, then I have this status.
Speaker B:Then when you understand those things that people are more emotional than they are logical, then you know, you can really kind of bring it back.
Speaker B:And it'll also help you be more fulfilled.
Speaker B:It will help you like, also get, like, keep your clients talking about you when you're really bringing it deeper than just taking pictures.
Speaker A:We're talking about human connection, right?
Speaker A:We're talking about intention and the why behind what it is that you do.
Speaker A:I know that a lot of creatives struggle with building that human connection.
Speaker A:How do you think, whether it's musicians or photographers or sculptors or authors, what's your best advice to help creatives build these lasting human connections instead of just surface level networking?
Speaker A:How do you go about building something deeper rather than just that surface level?
Speaker B:Do you mean in the way you think about what you're doing for people through your business or are building meaningful relationships?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Okay, so no, I say.
Speaker A:I say yes to let you answer that in two different ways.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Because we can talk about it at two different levels.
Speaker A:You can talk about it as, how do you build that connection into your brand, if that's something that you want to do?
Speaker A:And then secondarily, once you have that connection, what do you do with it?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Is it just to say you're connected or is their intention behind it?
Speaker A:But what I see are people talking about connection and not really making it.
Speaker A:They just say, oh, this is part of my business and I want to know all about you.
Speaker A:But they don't really make that connection.
Speaker A:It sounds like you're able to make very deep, very intentional connections with people.
Speaker A:And it's all different.
Speaker A:It's not formulaic.
Speaker A:What's your approach to that?
Speaker B:Well, I think that, number one, I understand that people are emotional more than they are logical.
Speaker B:When you buy anything, you buy on emotion and you justify it with your logic after the purchase.
Speaker B:I'll give you a few examples.
Speaker B:I was in Seattle doing executive headshots a couple of years ago, and company had sent me all over to the major markets.
Speaker B:One of them was in Seattle.
Speaker B:And I remember talking to this guy.
Speaker B:This man came in, he goes, I'm about to retire.
Speaker B:What's.
Speaker B:Why don't.
Speaker B:What's the.
Speaker B:Why do I even need to do this headshot.
Speaker B:And I said, let me ask you a question.
Speaker B:When was the last time you were photographed?
Speaker B:So if you're about to retire and something happens to you, what kind of pictures will your family have?
Speaker B:Maybe you'll have like one good headshot from me.
Speaker B:But you.
Speaker B:It can be more than that.
Speaker B:It goes a little bit deeper than just like, you're here to do this headshot.
Speaker B:This can be part of your legacy.
Speaker B:And so that almost had that man in tears, but he.
Speaker B:He came.
Speaker B:He, you know, he came back and came in and we.
Speaker B:And we did the shoot.
Speaker B:And I always ask people, you know, to another question to put people at ease, even in networking or like in a photo shoot, is what do you love to do when you're not working?
Speaker B:And then there's likely something they're going to say that I will, you know, oh, I like this.
Speaker B:You know, I like to fish.
Speaker B:Salmon.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:Here they put up a good fight.
Speaker B:How do you like to cook them?
Speaker B:You know, just follow up, like, with these questions.
Speaker B:But that's putting people at ease.
Speaker B:But back to your question.
Speaker B:You.
Speaker B:I just bring it back to something I know is going to resonate with that human, that person that there is.
Speaker B:You've got to go a little bit layers, deeper.
Speaker B:So if you're a musician and your band is putting on shows, like you are bringing a community of people together, there's all kinds of things happening that you may not even fully be aware of.
Speaker B:But I guarantee you, somebody met their spouse at your.
Speaker B:At your show, or you said something.
Speaker B:Your lyric of your song resonates so deeply with somebody that they went and made a change in their life for good.
Speaker B:Or this is it.
Speaker B:Like, my group of friends grew up going to this one show and hearing their music just brings, like, just lifts me up, you know, I mean, there's so much with music that you can always bring it back to, but there's usually something that's major that's happened.
Speaker B:If you're a stylist.
Speaker B:Well, I mean, everybody hangs on to, like, people hang on to.
Speaker B:I'm like, I'm going to fit back in those jeans.
Speaker B:You know, I'm going to hang on to these when I put on a few pounds.
Speaker B:Or you're just.
Speaker B:You're just accumulating clutter in your closet, and it's just old energy, and you're just hanging on to something that may or may not ever happen.
Speaker B:So if you're a stylist, you're not just cleaning out closets.
Speaker B:You are cleaning out clutter.
Speaker B:You are getting rid of stagnant energy so someone can become more with their own wardrobe.
Speaker B:You're showing them how to put things together or you might actually go take them shopping.
Speaker B:Maybe they're going, going through a different transformation, starting a business.
Speaker B:Maybe they need a new wardrobe and a photograph, you know, so it's like you just, there's, there's probably a way that you can think about what you're doing and tie back to who you are and then it's just going to be easier to talk about it.
Speaker B:I mean also people like we've talked about, it's like, don't chase money, go looking for people.
Speaker B:Well, why is that?
Speaker B:That's because people bring you opportunities and opportunities bring in revenue.
Speaker B:And so that's why you go.
Speaker B:It's much easier to go look for people and opportunities than it is, you know, $5,000, $10,000, whatever it is.
Speaker B:That's why I think the meaningful relationships, like making those connections, not selling right off out the gate, just like getting to know people.
Speaker B:How can I help you?
Speaker B:What's your business?
Speaker B:People and those relationships is how I've gotten everything done in any career I've ever been in.
Speaker B:You know, I mean it is through people.
Speaker B:So if you are in a service providing industry, unless you're shooting food or something like that, I mean, you're going to have to, you know, you're going to, you're going to have to bring it, you're going to have to talk to people.
Speaker A:Let me, let me ask you this.
Speaker A:So you, you talk a lot about your photography, giving people evidence that we exist, right?
Speaker A:I've heard you use that phrase before.
Speaker A:Is there a truth that you give to every woman that steps in front of your camera?
Speaker A:And I, I, I say women specifically because I know you work with probably more women than men, like most of us do.
Speaker A:Is there one truth that you want every woman who steps in front of your camera to know or that you found you need to tell everybody that steps in front of your camera outside of your education and outside of your consultations.
Speaker A:Is there something that you find that you have to tell someone in the moment every time?
Speaker B:Trying to think I was about to say I don't think so, in that I don't feel like I have a specific thing to say to every client every time that they step in front of the camera?
Speaker B:I will, I mean, I think when we do the first initial call, I'm always saying like, this is the reason I exist.
Speaker B:I exist because my superpower is holding space for people, because, you know, I want to capture every facet of who you are, and I'm going to cultivate your confidence, reflect that back to you.
Speaker B:And that's why I exist, so to speak.
Speaker B:I mean, that's kind of like what I talk about.
Speaker B:And I talk about that in all of my marketing and all.
Speaker B:And that's what goes back to the purpose.
Speaker B:You weave all of that through everything that you say and how you interact with people.
Speaker B:And so, you know, the ones do I want somebody to know.
Speaker B:I just, you know, I mean, the first thing that pops in my head is just that you are worthy.
Speaker B:You don't have to have the reason.
Speaker B:It doesn't have to be branding.
Speaker B:And most people come.
Speaker B:I mean, honestly, I do a lot of branding and boudoir in the.
Speaker B:In the, like in the.
Speaker B:In the single session, because they want boudoir.
Speaker B:But the branding is the excuse.
Speaker B:We don't even have to have that as an excuse.
Speaker B:You can just do it because you're worthy of it.
Speaker B: bly from, I don't know, early: Speaker B:I don't know, it's like, really old.
Speaker B:And in it are all of these photographs, generations of my family on his side, where he's taken the time to write on the back of who.
Speaker B:Who they are and what they were doing and all that.
Speaker B:And, like, I can look at those.
Speaker B:I know who those people are by looking.
Speaker B:I can hold in my hand their image, look at them and see who they.
Speaker B:Who they were, how they lived, what they looked like.
Speaker B:And so to me, that's why I say that it's evidence we exist in this world.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And there's nothing like holding it in your hand and experiencing, you know, I mean, and we play too small anyway.
Speaker B:We're extremely hard on ourselves.
Speaker B:So, I mean, I've had clients say that they've gone back through their box some days when they're just down and they'll just like, oh, look at.
Speaker B:You know, like, it'll lift them up.
Speaker B:Look at these images of themselves, you know, So I think sometimes we get caught up in vanity, but it's not.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:It's where you got to come back to that purpose.
Speaker B:It's not.
Speaker B:And even if it is vanity, like, who cares?
Speaker B:Like, be who you want to be.
Speaker B:This.
Speaker B:You got this one big life.
Speaker B:Show up for it.
Speaker B:That's my message.
Speaker B:Show up for it.
Speaker B:If you're not.
Speaker B:If you're not going to, if you're going to hide from the little iPhone camera, much less me, like you're hiding everywhere else in your life.
Speaker B:So show up for yourself.
Speaker A:I love how you read my mind and I think this just kind of speaks to our friendship because you've read my mind about every successive question I was going to ask you and you answered.
Speaker A:And in this particular instance I'm like, all right, so we've talked photography, branding, mindset, intention, how it all works together to transform self image and self value and we've put together this beautiful narrative.
Speaker A:My question was going to be, if someone's listening and you had one thing to say to them because they're stuck in business or life, what would that be?
Speaker A:And then you just drop that beautiful answer, right?
Speaker A:And so I think everybody needs a mini Judas bobblehead on their desk that they can just hit this button and it just inspires them really, really quickly.
Speaker A:And then the head goes back and forth.
Speaker A:Where do you see yourself going?
Speaker A:Because you do, you do photography, you do mentoring, you do help people with their branding in kind of this consulting sort of role.
Speaker A:Whether you charge for that or you're doing so much at this point, do you feel like you've hit your stride or is there some place that you're trying to get to?
Speaker A:Do you have a what but don't yet know the how?
Speaker A:Is there what out there for you?
Speaker B:Yeah, so well, I'm going to continue taking portraits, you know, and yeah, I love.
Speaker B:I'm a natural.
Speaker B:Like I'm.
Speaker B:I have a. I'm a naturally.
Speaker B:Know how everything connects somehow.
Speaker B:Like I understand people's secret sauce, I understand how things are connected.
Speaker B:I'm naturally a positive person.
Speaker B:So that lends itself very well to coaching and mentoring.
Speaker B:Like you said, I am working on right now launching a YouTube channel.
Speaker B:I recorded my first video, I think a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker B:I was like, thanks.
Speaker B:So we're starting a YouTube.
Speaker B:I say we my have a virtual assistant stay, which we didn't really talk about VAs, but at some point you can't do it all alone and.
Speaker B:Or if you want to sleep, you know, sleeping simple.
Speaker B:So I say we and that my VA team and I are starting a YouTube channel.
Speaker B:So there's going to be more, I think online talks, online coaching.
Speaker B:I'm looking at having in person workshops in the studio.
Speaker B:I am very passionate about have like helping people connect with clients, pose them.
Speaker B:That's how I feel like I've been able to go blind Anywhere I've gone is because I understand connection, I understand posing and I understand simple light setups.
Speaker B:So I'm actually doing a little coaching on lighting on Friday.
Speaker B:So yeah, so I'm moving into kind of coaching or expanding into more coaching, mentoring, education.
Speaker B:This is so classic me.
Speaker B:Meaning that I.
Speaker B:There's an entrepreneurship center here in Nashville called the EC and I was like, oh, there's a talk here.
Speaker B:I'm going to go to this meeting and maybe I'll just meet some new people and I'll find out I'm interested in Imposter syndrome was the topic.
Speaker B:And so I went and what I didn't realize is that I basically joined a speaking professional.
Speaker B:Speaking dories, that's what we were doing.
Speaker B:I thought I was just going to listen to a talk and meet some new people, but I went and we were, he was like giving his speech and we were giving him feedback and now I'm a part of a, a speaking organization so I'll probably be speaking some more out there in the real world.
Speaker B:And yeah, so I mean that's all exciting because I, I've come from that, you know, I've done a lot of speaking in my previous life.
Speaker B:I think right now we'll always.
Speaker B:We just need more light.
Speaker B:We need more people out there that have their own unique experience in ways of how they've done things.
Speaker B:Being a guiding light, just being a source of wisdom, guidance, inspiration.
Speaker A:I've seen a lot of that in your social media as of late and I think there was a couple years ago might have been where were it must have been in Vegas a couple years ago we went to dinner, you and I, and we were talking about social media and our mutual hatred for the, the fact that we have to now become content creators on top of everything else that we're doing.
Speaker A:And you've done a really good job.
Speaker A:I've watched it from afar over the past six months.
Speaker A:Year of really creating good informative, short form, entertaining content and reels.
Speaker A:And I see you doing this and it's not long form.
Speaker A:Here's my long winded sales pitch.
Speaker A:Here's some stuff that I'm gatekeeping.
Speaker A:It's just good solid information in a very consumable format.
Speaker A:Is that something you feel now very comfortable doing or is it still a struggle for you to put yourself out there in that way even though you have the experience and the knowledge to share?
Speaker B:Yes, thanks.
Speaker B:That's a great question.
Speaker B:Thank you for, for saying that because it's, it is time consuming and it can be A lot of effort to record those little short things.
Speaker B:I also started, I kind of was trying to separate out now my, that, that content from my portrait work just because it's not the same audience.
Speaker B:You know, like my portrait page is not the same as like creatives or photographers looking for guidance that way.
Speaker B:So I kind of started a new, a new channel.
Speaker B:I still overthink it all the time.
Speaker B:But then I'm.
Speaker B:You were talking to our friend Valentina and she said something that resonated so, so much to me, which was my.
Speaker B:Our generation is not used to having the phone in our face all the time.
Speaker B:So it's not as natural to want to put your, your life out there.
Speaker B:And I also am a person that wants to be present.
Speaker B:I tried, I've worked really hard to try to be present in everything I'm doing.
Speaker B:So I don't want to like have my phone out thinking I had to create content all the time.
Speaker B:So I just, I like for my pro productivity hack is to batch things and I, the way that I can also get around my own overthinking is that this is if one person in the world sees this and it helps them.
Speaker B:When, my God, it was worth the three hours it took me to make a six second reel in the beginning.
Speaker B:It was like, oh my God, it took me a whole day to make two reels.
Speaker B:But I mean, the point being is again back to that like guiding light of helping people.
Speaker B:I mean, had I not, you know, come across some of, you know, a mentor, you, Sue Bryce, you brought up, I don't know how, what kind of business model I would have as a photographer.
Speaker B:Again, just going back to that, that purpose of that alignment makes those reels more worth it.
Speaker B:It's crazy that now every business owner has to be a content creator and be out there doing things.
Speaker A:It leads me to connecting to something you said a few moments ago and you, you've referred to a few times.
Speaker A:So I wanted to call this out the necessity for systems and workflows and having a repeatable, efficient process.
Speaker A:Content creation aside, I mean you can address that if you want.
Speaker A:Where do you start with your systems and processes and what's most important to you?
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:So I mean, the workflows for clients are probably one of the most important themes of making sure you're following.
Speaker B:I mean, like if I had to constantly be following up with people to pay invoices or just sending them information, like that would just take so much time away from creating anything else.
Speaker B:You know, like one of the things That I, that I try to ask myself every day is like, what is, what's one thing that I can do today that is going to move the needle in my business or take care of a client or something and then try to do that one thing before I do anything else.
Speaker B:I think that's also sometimes a hard question to answer.
Speaker B:The first year and a half of being, being full time, I got really burnt out and stressed out because I didn't have any help and, and I was just doing things.
Speaker B:I was just everything like we all are.
Speaker B:When you go into business, you know, you have this creative thing that you're good at.
Speaker B:I'm going to make a business out of it.
Speaker B:And then you're like the technician, right?
Speaker B:And then you're like, oh, but I have to be the visionary and I have to be the manager and I have to be the marketing agent and I have to clean the studio.
Speaker B:So in order to be sane, I realized, okay, I spent a lot of time actually putting together systems, trying to figure out, like, how can I accomplish all this stuff?
Speaker B:And a lot of just learning about batching, learning what days that are good to have office days, what days are good for networking and client interaction, what days are great for shooting.
Speaker B:And then I just try to stick to the batching and the system that I've created.
Speaker B:I mean, even posing as a system, how you do anything, it's the order in which you do anything is a system.
Speaker B:So you're creating systems whether you know it or not.
Speaker B:It might be efficient or it might not.
Speaker B:And if it's not, then you need to like, get somebody that knows how to do that to help you.
Speaker B:Which is essentially what I did with the VA team.
Speaker B:My first BA was in the Philippines.
Speaker B:I went super cheap on that.
Speaker B:It wasn't the best fit because I'm very particular about grammar and like how people like email.
Speaker B:They're still experiencing your brand.
Speaker B:Like every touch point needed to be to a certain level for me.
Speaker B:And so I ended up getting VA Team Stakeside.
Speaker B:That really helped me.
Speaker B:Like, I, I did a really good process of like, what my workflow was and the touch points and when people get emails and reminders and all of that.
Speaker B:But they really made it succinct and helped me kind of manage that and, and all of that kind of flow.
Speaker B:And then with social media, I mean, there's a lot of people out there that you can get their services and they can kind of help you with.
Speaker B:Like, this is a trending audio or trending than we're doing and then you can try to make it your own.
Speaker B:I, I think like using AI too now has helps people.
Speaker B:Like, honestly, I asked AI the other day, I was like, if I'm trying to accomplish starting a YouTube channel and keeping my portrait studio booked, what.
Speaker B:And like, I just listed all the things that I do in a, in a day and I was like, what would be my ideal schedule?
Speaker B:And then it gave me a schedule and I was like, wow, if I really stuck to this is actually a really good schedule.
Speaker B:Like, I don't know if I could have came out with this, but I think this is doable.
Speaker B:This is what it would be like.
Speaker B:So, I mean, I lean in.
Speaker B:I'm not afraid to lean in on those tools and feed it information so it can sound like me and help me just brainstorm.
Speaker B:I use it mostly for brainstorming.
Speaker B:And so I just lean.
Speaker B:I'm.
Speaker B:I'm going to lean in on tech and I'm going to lean in on systems because I can't build something off of shaky ground or sand.
Speaker B:Like, that's what makes the solid foundation is it's going to keep things going and it's just going to help me be able to stay in a lane where I'm going to be happier and thriving and more fulfilled than the person that is writing emails and doing all those things.
Speaker B:So, so it just took me, I think it took burnout definitely to help me figure out another way.
Speaker B:Like, you're never going to change unless you're challenged.
Speaker B:And it's true.
Speaker B:I mean, it's like, why wait for the shoe to drop to change?
Speaker B:It's always going to drop.
Speaker B:It won't be as hard if you are, if you start taking steps to change before the shoe drops.
Speaker B:But that's just kind of my, my approach.
Speaker A:I wrote down earlier.
Speaker A:What are you using for a CRM?
Speaker B:I use Dubsado for CRM.
Speaker A:I am a 17Hats user.
Speaker A:I know some people use Tave or Honeybook or Dubsado or there's a million of them out there.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:What's the one thing in any system like that that you think photographers get wrong?
Speaker B:Hmm.
Speaker B:Do you mean how they.
Speaker B:It's going to be how you set it up?
Speaker B:I mean, because it's only going to work to the ability that you set it up to succeed.
Speaker B:The CRM, you know, like the workflows.
Speaker B:You have to learn whatever system, platform, technology that you're.
Speaker B:You've got to learn it first and so that you understand the ins and outs of it and how to fix Something.
Speaker B:If something comes up, you gotta learn how that system works.
Speaker B:So like 17 hats and even I know I'm familiar with 17 hats and then Dubsado, obviously familiar.
Speaker B:I actually interviewed all of them.
Speaker B:If you were like trying to find a CRM, you can sit down and get demos and all of this I did.
Speaker B:I went to Dubsado before 70 NATS had made some like, really key, like they made some really great, um, changes and updates over the years.
Speaker B:I'd already onto Dubsado at that point.
Speaker B:One of the things like with Dubsado that was a key factor for me is that it has a scheduler in it and so it requires.
Speaker B:So I didn't have to go through another like a can can candidly or acuity.
Speaker B:Like, everything's just right there.
Speaker B:And so I like, I like that aspect.
Speaker B:But I think the hardest thing about a CRM and Tave is like so robust.
Speaker B:Like, there's like, they can just be like very granular or anywhere or not.
Speaker B:But you've got to go in and learn that platform.
Speaker B:So what if you are getting a CRM?
Speaker B:Get with the 17 hats people get with, like, let tutorials show you how to work it.
Speaker B:Really think about your workflow.
Speaker B:You're not, you don't want to edit something on the fly.
Speaker B:I mean, you might have to make changes from time to time, but you want to sit down, you want to learn the system, you want to write down your workflow and all these different steps.
Speaker B:Also want to create all your canned emails and just setting yourself up for it to run on autopilot without you.
Speaker B:Unless there's something that needs checked.
Speaker B:And there's always going to be things that come up.
Speaker B:They all have like, little quirks, you know, of how they work.
Speaker B:So I don't know, what do you think?
Speaker B:What, what would be yours?
Speaker A:There's.
Speaker A:There's no.
Speaker A:Well, I, I, as an ambassador for 17 outs, I kind of have to plug them.
Speaker A:But I've been through all the systems.
Speaker A:I started with Tave, I tried Dubsado, I tried Bloom.
Speaker A:Go be creative.
Speaker A:I flirted with Honeybook Zoho.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Which is kind of like an open source one.
Speaker A:I've tried all of them.
Speaker A:And I settled on 17 hats because I realized very quickly there is no perfect system.
Speaker A:What you have to do is find the one that fits your workflow the best.
Speaker A:And what I found was I was trying to find a system and then fit it to my workflow instead of really understanding what my process was.
Speaker A:So, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Before I got to moving I was on Tave when I started, and then I moved over to 17 hats eventually.
Speaker A:The reason I did that was I was really frustrated with Tavern because it was so big and so vast and you could do anything with.
Speaker A:You can make your breakfast in the morning with Tave, right?
Speaker A:If you really program.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:But I found I didn't even know what my process was.
Speaker A:I didn't know what my workflow was.
Speaker A:So I spent a couple of days with a legal pad and I just literally wrote out every single step that I do.
Speaker A:I thought of a client and I said, all right, well, let me take this client and go through from initial inquiry, how did they get in touch with me?
Speaker A:Where did they find me?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Went through everything.
Speaker A:How did I get back in touch with them?
Speaker A:What did I say?
Speaker A:What were the emails that were sent, yada, yada, yada.
Speaker A:And I drafted this all out and it must have been 10 or 12 pages of a legal pad of every single subtask, and then the reasons why, so that I could look at it in aggregate and say, well, I'm duplicating effort here.
Speaker A:I'm not doing enough here.
Speaker A:This would be a great place to add this in.
Speaker A:And it just showed me visually all the stuff that I was doing and all the places that I was screwing up.
Speaker A:So I was able to compress all of that into a workflow that really felt good and right to me and how I wanted to run my business.
Speaker A:And then I started doing.
Speaker A:What you did was interviewing these different companies and finding out, all right, can I do this in your.
Speaker A:Well, no, you need a zapier integration or do you have calendar?
Speaker A:Well, no, you've got to use calendly, those sorts of things.
Speaker A:I wanted as much of my workflow in one place as possible, and so 17 hats had all of those pieces for me, and I've been with them now for years, and I'm still not scratching the surface of what I can do in their system.
Speaker A:Every system that's out there, there's a constant battle for who has the most features, the best features, whatnot.
Speaker A:That's like technology.
Speaker A:I could still be using a flip phone and not need an iPhone.
Speaker A:37 plus.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Because I'm just making phone calls.
Speaker A:So when you have a tool that addresses your particular system and workflow, stick with that.
Speaker A:There are always going to be more features and there always are different ways to go about this, but just make sure that it's fitting your business the way you need it to.
Speaker A:That's my big sell on it.
Speaker B:I I 100 agree.
Speaker B:I mean, and, and I did exactly what you did with the notepad.
Speaker B:I just did it in a Google Doc and I color coded things to be like, you know, send an email.
Speaker B:This means, this is a reminder.
Speaker B:This is a, you know, approve before sending situation.
Speaker B:It's the worst is sending something on act or strain name, blah, blah.
Speaker B:You know, like, hi Plaid.
Speaker B:Like, oh, I should email him back and tell him it's hi Plaid.
Speaker A:You know, it's, it's, it's so funny how, how we can depend on these things and we still make the mistakes.
Speaker A:Everybody does it.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, but it's, it's true.
Speaker B:Like, I think I did the exact same thing you did.
Speaker B:And I created a long workflow and then my VA team that.
Speaker B:She's the, the one of the women that I had in the very beginning, she was a good systems person.
Speaker B:So she was like, you did a really great job here.
Speaker B:But after she got to working with me, after a few months, she was like, she made some really key improvements because sometimes you're just too close to it and somebody else can like shorten it and like that I have now I have a bunch of short workflows.
Speaker B:Meaning, like, this is what you do when they inquire, then when they go into their client, then they go into like the photo sheet one and then when the photo sheet's over, then you go into like a reveal workflow for the, the sales session.
Speaker B:So that's how we have it set up now.
Speaker B:But everything in one place was really important to me as well because I, right now I'm looking and I have, I'm not even going to tell you how many tabs I have open on my.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:That, that is going to give me a level of anxiety that no one in this world is ready for.
Speaker A:Because if I have, I think more than three tabs open, I lose my mind.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:I would rather not have a screen on than have.
Speaker A:I've seen people.
Speaker A:They.
Speaker A:It's caused me pure panic.
Speaker A:When I see people's browsers and there's 37, 40 different tabs open.
Speaker A:I'm like, so, yes, please do not show me that.
Speaker B:But some of these are like, I don't have a. I don't know.
Speaker A:I don't care.
Speaker A:I don't care.
Speaker A:You.
Speaker A:You want to send my TISM into overdrive.
Speaker A:Show me more than like five tabs and I'm going to lose my mind.
Speaker A:I'm just going to start shutting them down for you.
Speaker A:You'll have history for that.
Speaker A:You can go back to it.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:I know as I try to land this plane impossibly as.
Speaker A:Because we keep circling the airport, I'm going to land eventually.
Speaker A:We've talked a lot about mindset and intention and we've gotten a little woo woo here and there, which is great.
Speaker A:What resources have really made an impact on your life?
Speaker A:Books, speakers, methods?
Speaker A:Has there been anything that you can recommend to people to say?
Speaker A:All right, outside of straight understanding how your business works, how do you work on the mindset stuff?
Speaker A:How do you work on the self value piece?
Speaker A:Where do I go for that sort of information?
Speaker B:Well, Sue Bryce for one, has a self value.
Speaker A:Of course.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I'm a. I'm an advanced student of Dr. Joe Dispenza.
Speaker B:And you are a student of Dr. Joe?
Speaker B:Yeah, I.
Speaker B:My husband and I went to a week long retreat, a meditation retreat of his that was in Nashville in September of last year.
Speaker B:And it was transformative.
Speaker B:I now, I mean and he's written a bunch of books, but he's got great talks.
Speaker B:You can go on YouTube.
Speaker B:I love listening to Dr. Joe and Jay Shetty and what I love about like Dr. Joe and also like the 369.
Speaker B:You're familiar with the Project 369 book that is also kind of like a mindset thing.
Speaker B:I go to YouTube a lot for these things.
Speaker B:There's actually one I listened to a 369 talk from YouTube on my walk this past weekend about how we self sabotage and dude was speaking directly at me and I was like, I was like brisk on my balls the whole time.
Speaker B:People were staring at me because I was like making all these like I was having all these aha moments.
Speaker B:Dr. Joe has written a bunch of books, I think.
Speaker B:Becoming Supernatural or also Breaking the habit of yourself.
Speaker B:I think that's what it's called.
Speaker A:That's the one that got me is Breaking the habit of being yourself.
Speaker B:Yes, that one.
Speaker B:Yes, that.
Speaker B:I've listened to a workshop of his that's about that book and what I love about Dr. Joe.
Speaker B:But I was going to say is that essentially like it can go way deep into quantum physics.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:But if you believe that your thoughts can make you sick, then you have to believe that your thoughts can make you well.
Speaker B:And if you do the same thing you did yesterday and you take.
Speaker B:You think in the same way, you wake up in the same way, you have the same cup of coffee, you go to the same coffee shop, you go to the same gym, you see the same people and you.
Speaker B:And you're you're going through your life and nothing is different that day, then you can take your yesterday and put it on your tomorrow and it's going to be the same thing and nothing's actually going to change.
Speaker B:And he talks a lot, he teaches a lot about how you're like the thoughts and your feelings in the biology and science that are happening in your body when you are thinking, when you're having feelings that are causing your stress levels to go skyrocketing, cortisol levels are going up and that your brain has been stimulated in a way that, you know you're just feeding this machine.
Speaker B:And then if you just mean what Dr. Joe would say is brain cells that wire together, fire together or fire together, wire together, something like that.
Speaker B:But what he's saying is, is that you are becoming addicted to these emotions because there's these highs and lows.
Speaker B:When your stress level skyrockets, then there's a down and there's an up and you're becoming addicted to those emotions into the very life you don't even really like.
Speaker B:And how do you change that?
Speaker B:And his approach meditation through synchronizing.
Speaker B:I did a meditation this morning that was synchronizing my energy to love, joy and opportunity.
Speaker B:And that was an hour and 15 minutes.
Speaker B:But I mean, I really like my heart opened and I felt my body was vibrating.
Speaker B:I wasn't really aware of anything, know my reality around me.
Speaker B:And I really got into alignment there.
Speaker B:And so the thought would be, if I keep doing that and I carry that with me throughout my day, then something will change and something will shift.
Speaker B:And when I do find myself in a funk or stress, I often will go to these tools.
Speaker B:This is what I will listen to.
Speaker B:I will listen to a Dr. Joe talk.
Speaker B:I will listen to the all the 369 Lewis Howes go to a podcast that will shift me.
Speaker B:So I'm very much a student of that and living that way.
Speaker B:And I will say that in times where it's uncertain and people feel like since the pandemic, it's been a really weird ride, right?
Speaker B:So it can just be hard, especially if you're someone that kind of picks up on.
Speaker B:You're an empath and you pick up on all the emotions.
Speaker B:So you've got to really stay into what can I can control and how can I be about it and get out and feel about it.
Speaker B:And I've like learning all of the science and the biology behind the thoughts, our thoughts and our feelings and meditation has really helped me.
Speaker B:So stay calm and it's really been productive for me.
Speaker B:And I would say that like you're letting the hormones of stress run rule your life, then it's only a matter of time that something's gonna happen that you're gonna then be challenged enough to change because your body is reacting and you can turn on genes and turn off genes and all of those things.
Speaker B:But I would say that like Dr. Joe brings the mystic and science to together and there's a lot of great documentaries that he just put out.
Speaker B:One is because they, they measure brains when in these med, in the week long retreats, they're measuring what's going on.
Speaker B:There's so much scientific data now that's.
Speaker B:And so they have massive amounts of research.
Speaker B:They're probably 50 years ahead of actual medical science right now because they just have people saying like yes, test me instead of having to go through a trial.
Speaker B:There's a documentary out there called the Source that's a Dr. Joe documentary that has all of the information about the science and everything around how we're, what we think about, what our thoughts and our feelings and what's happening in our body when we're producing these hormones and all of this stuff.
Speaker B:So it's pretty fascinating.
Speaker B:So I'm, I'm definitely a believer there and you know, I just think that we create our own reality.
Speaker B:Like, you know, if you're in a really great mood, then somebody cutting you off at the traffic light is not going to be a problem.
Speaker B:You're just like, cool, I'm really enjoying this podcast or you know, my cup of coffee, I'm just easing along.
Speaker B:But if you are in a different state, you're going to be, it's going to throw your whole day off, you know, so you've got to be able to bring it back.
Speaker B:But you know, books also, I just want to say I'm in a business book club with a bunch of badass women entrepreneurs who have become really great friends and, and a great community for me.
Speaker B:And we've read a bunch of books lately that have been really good.
Speaker B:One of them is Hidden Potential by Adam Grant.
Speaker B:And that's the one that talks about imposter syndrome and also procrastination, which I didn't realize that procrastination is really just avoiding the feelings that are being stirred up within me when I think about doing that thing.
Speaker B:That's really all it is.
Speaker B:So it's again, this is why to me the Dr. Joe's up in learning how to manage my thoughts and my feelings is so vital because it all.
Speaker B:It comes back to all of that.
Speaker B:It doesn't matter.
Speaker B:Buyer psychology, how I'm showing up, what I'm taking action on.
Speaker B:So hidden potential.
Speaker B:Adam Grant.
Speaker B:Slow productivity made me feel really good about myself because it was like, you don't.
Speaker B:It doesn't have to be done in three months.
Speaker B:Like, actually, this thing that you think just happened overnight took 10 years to create.
Speaker B:So slow productivity was a good one.
Speaker B:Right now we're reading E. Myth revisited.
Speaker B:But anyway, the.
Speaker A:The last question that I'm going to ask you, and it kind of ties into that, since you mentioned this, this women's group that you're in, what's the biggest thing that a supportive community has given you that you don't think you would have been able to create on your own?
Speaker B:It's a good question.
Speaker B:So I am definitely community over competition any day of the week.
Speaker B:Well, for one, if you are a photographer, creative entrepreneur, solopreneur, and you're working on a silo by yourself, that can be very challenging sometimes.
Speaker B:Also, you don't have anyone holding you accountable but yourself, which is not always the best thing.
Speaker B:I give you permission to spend that money on this.
Speaker B:And you're like, somebody else might not have given me that permission anyway.
Speaker B:I think so Accountability also just having a space where people understand what you're going through.
Speaker B:So like I said earlier, I was.
Speaker B:I'm the first entrepreneur in my family.
Speaker B:Not most of the women in my.
Speaker B:My like, best friend group from childhood or just that I've made early on in Nashville.
Speaker B:Not all.
Speaker B:Most of them are not entrepreneurs.
Speaker B:So people you don't really understand kind of the challenges you face.
Speaker B:And also, like the, the book club that I'm in came out of this other group that I'm a part of called Brain Trust, which is, in a way, we've talked about this.
Speaker B:I'm in a small forum where we meet monthly and I have a fractional cfo, a stylist, caregiver, a coach, interior design.
Speaker B:Me in my group.
Speaker B:And the thing that, that helped me with is that I don't know about you, but before, I had to report to these women every month about the top three things that happened this month, whether it's business or personal.
Speaker B:And then I rate like, this pants are on fire or this is not that big of a deal.
Speaker B:Like, I think, think about what it was.
Speaker B:What is the significance of this thing that's coming up for me and what are my next steps?
Speaker B:And then I report revenue numbers and I report on goals, and I have to Come to them every month.
Speaker B:I have this meeting on Wednesday.
Speaker B:Tell them that.
Speaker B:So before that accountability, I never reflected back on what was working this month and what wasn't working and was that a big deal or where am I going?
Speaker B:I didn't have any of that accountability.
Speaker B:So I think even having that piece where you have to like really look at that every month and also report on it, and then you say, I'm really stuck here.
Speaker B:Can you help me navigate this through experience shares and whatever.
Speaker B:And even if they're not a photographer and I'm faced with something, fears coming up or fear of rejection or something like that, like you might have a personal story about that, that you can help me, how you navigated that, that's going to help me.
Speaker B:So I think that.
Speaker B:And then just hearing what everyone else like, learning from everyone.
Speaker B:I never want to be the smartest person in the room.
Speaker B:People that are ahead of me made me want to be better and make me strive for more.
Speaker B:So not only is it the accountability piece, it is motivating me to be a better business person, show up in whatever way.
Speaker B:And also just having a sense of someone who's understanding me.
Speaker B:Like, I know that women can kind of bring a lot of stuff with them.
Speaker B:Like, you know, I don't have kids.
Speaker B:A lot of people that have children that have a different obstacle or different like things that arise for them.
Speaker B:So I mean, just the whole person approach is been really good with a group of women that are running, that are entrepreneurs running their businesses and not just like going to the chamber of commerce or BNI or whatever.
Speaker B:It's like we're working on our business together.
Speaker B:You're going to help me navigate?
Speaker B:I'm going to help you navigate.
Speaker B:You're probably going to have something that's come up that's really.
Speaker B:I also am having come up for me.
Speaker B:But we're going to help you.
Speaker B:And what's going to help me?
Speaker B:I think just that community of being not feeling alone, not being isolated, not working in a silo, having someone that I can call on or lean on, that's going to understand because I mean, I have a very supportive spouse.
Speaker B:He's very positive and he's someone that I can, I can lean on.
Speaker B:But I also sometimes I might just want to vent and not problem solve everything.
Speaker B:I got these other people that are going to maybe problem solve, but not everybody has that.
Speaker B:And when I started my business, I had a man tell me, you've got to surround yourself by positive people just because it's going to get tough at some point, more than once, and you're going to need positive people.
Speaker B:So I think some of these entrepreneur groups help that.
Speaker B:And also photography community, where you're speaking the same language, you're having the same experiences, having that community to lean on too.
Speaker B:Like, I'm so grateful to have the one that we're both a part of.
Speaker B:And then there's another guy that's leading one here locally where I've hosted a few times in my studio.
Speaker B:So just photography photographers getting together and just talking shop or what they're struggling with.
Speaker B:I mean, I think that's really, really important.
Speaker B:And I don't know that you can survive necessarily without it.
Speaker B:I mean, I personally don't think I could because, yeah, it's like, let me get a sanity check here, you know, what are you experiencing in your market, you know, or whatever.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:And a lot of times it's, me too, me too.
Speaker B:And then you're like, oh, not alone, you know, and not only just that piece, but also the inspiration that I get from other people.
Speaker A:There isn't a time that I don't talk to you and wind up smiling for the rest of the day or feeling inspired or absorbing all of this energy from you.
Speaker A:And it's always such a great feeling.
Speaker A:There's never a time where I hang up and I'm just like, jesus, Judith.
Speaker A:Like, God, I just can't stand talking to her.
Speaker A:Like, it's always so energizing.
Speaker A:It's always so inspirational.
Speaker A:I love that, that you give this so freely to so many people.
Speaker A:Free being an operative word.
Speaker A:Like, I know you charge for your stuff.
Speaker A:Where, where can everybody find.
Speaker A:Like, do you have all your coaching and mentoring and photography all on the same site or do you have different sites?
Speaker A:Where can people find everything about what you're talking about?
Speaker B:There's Judith Hill Studios and the portrait side is Judith Hill Photography.
Speaker B:And the business side is the business studio.
Speaker B:So the Judith Hill Studios will be the YouTube channel.
Speaker B:The Instagram is the underscore Judith Hill.
Speaker B:The portrait work is at Judith Hill Photo.
Speaker B:Judith Hill Photography is everything.
Speaker B:Portrait.
Speaker B:The website is Judith Hill Academy.
Speaker B:But yeah, it's all going to be Judith Hill Studios or the Judith Hill TikTok is the Judith Hill.
Speaker B:It's weird to have the Judith Hill, but there's another famous Judith Hill that's a singer, so she has monopolized my name online.
Speaker B:Beautiful voice.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:I think you are a bright, shining star and I'm so, so happy to call you my friend.
Speaker A:So thank you for spending what 97 hours with me here talking about all this stuff.
Speaker A:This is the conversation that we always have.
Speaker A:So, Judith, thank you for spending so much time with me.
Speaker A:I can't wait for everybody to hear this.
Speaker A:And I can't wait to see you in person again.
Speaker A:And let's not make it just be another conference.
Speaker A:Like, maybe I should come to Nashville, and you can, you know, bring Chris over and we can just kind of chat old stories about music and whatnot.
Speaker B:Just right down to Florida.
Speaker B:I think Stapleton moved to Florida.
Speaker B:But anyway, yeah, come see me in Nashville, man.
Speaker A:I would love that.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:Thank you so much.
Speaker A:Hang out for just one more second, and then I'll see you when I see you.
Speaker A:Sound good?
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:Thanks, man.
Speaker A:Bye.
Speaker A:Bye.
Speaker B:Bye.
