The Updraft Podcast

When this episode goes live, I will be exactly 1 day away from officially reopening my studio post Covid. Can I just say, I am RIDICULOUSLY excited about this?! Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for the time off… I got to spend more time with my kids than ever before in their lives, I got to relax, clean the house, reorganize, got a ton of work done on my photography business course that I have been building AND we got to spend so much time outside in the beautiful weather being active… But let's be real – I have missed my work, and when they announced earlier in the week that my region was moving to phase 2 and I could reopen my business I totally squealed like a little girl. It feels like Christmas. In June. The best. Its going to be a bit different, I need to figure out how to balance working with being a full time Mom to 4 with no school or daycare which I have literally never done – but I'm excited and willing to take it on! I'm hoping that lots of you are either open again, or opening really soon and I wanted to go over a game plan on how you can do that safely, smoothly and successfully. Now as usual this will be geared a bit more towards photographers because that is the area that I know really really well, but for the most part it all transfers over to any small business – so just apply it to your own business. . . Ok so if you have the go ahead for reopening and have a date in site you are going to want to start with some prep work. First, and oh so important is to learn what the health and safety guidelines are for your area and figure out what it is going to take to comply with them, AND how it's going to affect your business. For many businesses they are going to have way less volume, more labour for cleaning, more overhead to supply PPE to employees, clients or both, more overhead for sanitization, etc. So it is entirely possible that you are going to need to do a price increase to make up the difference and stay profitable. Its fine. Raise your prices. Prices are going to be going up on a lot of things, you will be in good company, and there is zero point in running a business that isn't profitable. It also isn't possible – you are going to end up putting yourself out of business if you do not do what you need to in order to stay profitable. So before anything else you need to sit down and do a realistic rework of your cost of doing business, and volume and then figure out what your new prices need to be. For some of us, we are fine at the price point we already had – but MANY MANY businesses are going to need to adjust and that's ok! Next is the logistics – can you even GET the PPE and sanitization supplies that you will need to run your business?  Finding Lysol wipes was no easy feat guys… there is a massive increase in demand on these products and the suppliers are really struggling to keep up. Make sure that you can find the things you need to use in order to keep yourself and your clients safe BEFORE you open and are stressing trying to figure it out. How are you going to manage traffic and volume? How are you going to manage physical distancing in your business and if you run a business where physical distancing isn't possible then what other precautions are you putting in place? How are you screening people that you are working with? You need to have the answers to all of these questions figured out so that you can responsibly and safely reopen – AND so that you can confidently answer and reassure any clients or potential clients who ask. Having this information posted at your physical business location and on your website is also a great idea to help people feel more confident in working with you. A lot of the photography groups that I am in have been buzzing as the photographers try to figure out the best approach to this new normal. Many of us were debating what to do about newborn sessions where we typically hold and pose brand new babies and are at close proximity. It has been really interesting to see all of the different takes and comfort levels. For me personally I have decided to offer two types of newborn sessions to my clients – physically distant sessions where I demonstrate with a doll for them on how to hold the baby, wrap the baby, and create much more baby led, relaxed poses or they can have a traditional posed session where I will hold and handle baby with a mask on, a clean shirt and regularly sanitized hands and arms. That way they can chose their own personal comfort level. Thankfully, due to the fact that I work with tiny humans who are more vulnerable to viruses I am well versed in having to be extra careful to make sure all surfaces are clean and sanitized, so there isn't AS much for me to change. Another pre opening step is to evaluate any financial damage and make a game plan moving forward. It is SUPER tempting in times like this to want to stick our heads in the sand and ignore out finances but trust me when I say that isn't going to help. Take a good look at your business finances, make a plan for how long you think it will take to get rolling again and then decide if you are going to need a loan to bridge the gap, or if you can make it work until you are going full speed again. If you are considering a loan I also urge you to make sure that the loan WILL be enough to salvage the business. Be realistic because it would be heartbreaking to take on a loan when the business is already over the edge and won't be saved. No one wants to be stuck trying to figure out how to pay back money on a business that they don't even own anymore. Look into any grants, or other offers that are being made by your local government or other organizations too – there are tons of people still looking out for us small businesses so there might be help available to you! The next thing I want to say and this might seem like the most obvious point ever, but I have legitimately seen businesses fail to do this – Tell your customers that you are reopening! Shout it from the rooftop guys. Post on your social media. Email your list. Announce on your website. Make sure your hours on your google and Facebook pages are up to date. Spread the word and tell EVERYONE. Don't just say it once either – a lot of our social media accounts are notorious for having poor reach so you may want to do a few posts that talk about the reopening to make sure you are hitting as many people as possible. Do not leave them wondering and then find out later that some of your best customers went elsewhere because they just didn't realize you were open! Hopefully you have been active, or at least somewhat active on your social media, blogs, etc. during the time off so you are still serving and connected to your target audience –if so keep the momentum up and if not, then it's time to gear up again! I will admit that I wasn't as active as I could have been – I was definitely still posting occasionally and offered up a couple of resources, but there was also a lot of silence, so now I am gearing back up again. If you don't have new content to post then either try to create some, share some entertaining and relevant posts from other businesses that are different but related to yours, or go back and re share some of your popular content from the past. This is a REALLY important time to stay top of mind for your people. You want to make sure that when the time comes for them to hire or buy, you are the first person they think of. This is also an excellent time to ramp your marketing back up. I turned my Facebook ads on the day after I found out that we were reopening. Honestly, I think it was one of the most exciting things I have done all week, I am such a nerd for marketing and I seriously enjoyed clicked that button to turn them all on again. I drafted a couple of new ads announcing the reopening with the date that will run for a couple of weeks until everyone gets the memo, as well as turning on all of the best performing ads from before the shutdown. Facebook and google ads are amazing in that you can reach a very specific, well targeted audience without paying a ton of money, and the better your ads perform the cheaper they are to run. I didn't need a huge budget to get started running my ads again – and I'm already seeing the pay off with my first week back to work booked solid. Get those ads running guys, and don't forget that on Facebook you are NOT boosting posts, that will typically just waste your money, you are creating an actual ad through the ads manager with a targeted audience, budget, and carefully crafted copy. Get those pixels running again too so you can be marketing to the people who have already shown an interest! A warm audience usually converts really well! If you are wanting or needing to get the ball rolling quickly you could also plan a new offering, or promotion. That might look like a sale. It might look like a new product. You might be able to find a hole in the market that was created by the shut down and now needs to be filled. For example, I have a little girl graduating from kindergarten this year. I have cheesy but adorable graduation photos for all of the other kids that were done through the school, but she missed out because of the lockdown – so I'm now looking for someone that can either create similar photos of her, or has a cap and gown that I can borrow to create the images in my studio. She also missed her end of year dance recital and the adorable pictures they normally do of the kids in their costumes a few weeks before the recital. That one was easy – I have a white backdrop just like they normally use so I gussied her up, brought her to the studio and created her dance photos. I can now use those images to advertise to other parents who also missed out on the end of year dance photos and not only will they be thrilled to have one less thing that they lost out on due to COVID, but I will bring in some extra business as well. There are tons of holes right now that need to be filled, and problem that need to be solved, so if you want to make sure that you are coming back in with a bang then take a look around your own community and see where you can help out. Now is also a great time to network with other small businesses with similar audiences. See if you can trade social media posts where they share about you and your business with their audience and you share them with yours. See if they would be interested in sending out a certificate or discount code to their email list, or hand them out in their stores. Ask if you can write an expert article for a blog post that serves the same ideal client. Reach out and see if there is something you can do to HELP a local business or an online business that you love – it doesn't even have to always be a trade. Think of what entrepreneurs you know and love, the ones you would hate to see disappear and make an effort to support them – either through purchasing their products or services, giving them a shout out on your social media or leaving them a positive review on Facebook or google. Every bit helps.  We have an incredible opportunity right now to rally together with the small businesses in our communities and make sure that as many of them as possible are able to survive this – including our own. Another thing that I am working really hard to keep in the back of my mind, and think that as business owners we all should – is that there could be another wave. We may get shut down again. So recover as quickly as you can, and then start setting aside some cash to keep your expenses covered if we get hit again, by the pandemic or something else.. I am really, truly hoping that COVID doesn't come back at us seasonally and that we can keep the curve flat, but there is always the chance that we are going to be heading into another shut down in a few months, so I am going to make sure that this time around my family and business are better prepared to weather that storm. Keep brainstorming ideas on how you could diversify your offerings so that you can still maintain income if we get shut down again. If you are reopening soon or have reopened I want to hear all about your successes! Tag me on Instagram or send me a message and share your reopening story, and I will happily shout out your small business on my Instagram too! Happy reopening everyone – see you next week!

All over the photography groups, the business groups and the internet right now I am seeing people shutting down their businesses, or talking about shutting down their businesses and getting a more “reliable” job. COVID 19 has been INCREDIBLY hard on many, many small businesses. I see that, and I understand that. I also understand that in some cases it will be necessary to close due to financial hardship – there are businesses that won't be able recover from this shutdown – which breaks my heart, and I truly hope the owners of those businesses are able to get something new up and running eventually. The questions and conversations I am seeing though, the ones I am talking about, are not from those businesses. They are from people who are contemplating or planning to jump ship out of fear, panic and anxiety. And that is something we need to have a chat about. . . I am a huge fan of entrepreneurship. Huge fan. It allows for flexibility, it allows for unlimited potential, growth and creativity. It allows people to accomplish what they want, look around and then start reaching for the next level. It allows people like me 8 years ago, to support their kids as a single Mom without having to miss their children's entire lives. For me, entrepreneurship is a huge gift and I don't want to see anyone bailing on themselves, their family or their dreams because of this pandemic and the fear that it created. So… if you are out there contemplating if you should be closing the doors on your own small business I want you to think about a few things to make sure that you are making the RIGHT decision in closing your business, and not just having a knee jerk reaction to massive amounts of anxiety. First, what is the biggest reason that you think you should close? Is it because you are completely dreading going back to work and just want to be a stay at home Mom? Is it because you feel your business might not have any customers when you reopen? Is it because you feel it won't be profitable with the new restrictions that you are required to follow due to COVID19? Is it because you feel having employment would have been “safer” from an income protection perspective? Or that you heard someone else say that small businesses are going to die out? There is only 1 reason on that list that would make me actually consider closing my business. The only reason on that list that would be valid for me personally is if I DECIDED I didn't WANT to run my business anymore. If I decided that this no longer gave me joy, was no longer something I wanted to participate in – then I would consider closing and either staying home with the kids, or looking for employment elsewhere. Every other reason is based in fear, and anxiety and likely has little basis in truth. I have been hearing over and over from photographers that they feel like they need to cut their prices in half after this for a variety of reasons including the idea that people will be unwilling to come in for photos and risk exposure, that people won't have money to spend on a luxury service like a photo shoot, or because they need to book so many sessions to make up for the lost revenues In the weeks or months that they were closed that they will need low prices to make the competitive. I can tell you, very confidently, that the moment my studio's doors open I will have a list of people waiting to book their photoshoot. I know this because I have already had people calling, willing to hand over their 10 day old baby to have their portraits done. If your customers trust you, then they know that you will do everything in your power to keep them safe and minimize risk. If you follow careful protocol and do an excellent job with what you do then people will trust you, and they will return or send their friends. There are people who are stuck in fear and there are people who are chomping at the bit to get back to their lives. Don't let your own personal perspective cloud your judgement on how other people are feeling. While many of us who own small businesses have taken a massive financial hit, we have to keep perspective in that there are TONS of people out there who have not seen any change in their finances throughout this pandemic. Some businesses have seen an increase. My husband owns a logistics company and has been run off of his feet, seeing his revenues double, because suddenly everyone wants everything under the sun delivered to their door so that they don't have to leave the house and risk exposure. There will still be people out there who are ready and willing to purchase your product or service. And on that note – if you need to raise your prices to remain profitable then do it. There will be many businesses that have to operate at a reduced capacity in order to comply with their city's safety guidelines. Additional equipment or cleaning supplies may be required, increasing the bottom line for each transaction. Higher costs and less volume means less profit, which may mean you need to raise prices and that is ok! Prices will be going up on all kinds of things and the businesses that are willing to raise their prices to stay profitable have a far better chance at surviving than those who try to operate at a price point that doesn't allow them to generate a profit.  I have seen posts about businesses charging a “covid” fee, which personally I would recommend staying away from as people don't like to be penalized for things out of their control, but it is totally fine to build the additional costs associated with the new regulations into your prices. Some people are jumping ship on entrepreneurship because they think they might have faired better if they were employed by a larger company, or in a different field. This could be true in some cases, but I would urge you to look up statistics on how many people were laid off from their quote unquote “safe” jobs throughout the pandemic. A year ago I would have thought that working as a pilot was a pretty safe job, there are always people and cargo that need moving - but there are a LOT of pilots who are suddenly unemployed. On top of the fact that this was a once in a life time thing, that no one would have been able to predict – you have to weigh out the cost of giving up doing something you love vs. feeling more secure in a job that you don't. No one else can answer for you whether or not it is going to be worth it, but before you make a quick or panicked decision and start selling off your equipment or supplies I would ask you to really consider what you are giving up and if it is actually worth it long term. To me entrepreneurship has always been somewhat of a known risk, but it comes with such a high potential for reward that is was worth it. I could have very easily gotten a job in a corporate office and climbed the ladder. At a restaurant that I worked in I was hired and promoted twice within a year. I worked hard, I took initiative, and I was always offering up creative new strategies – I'm sure that I could have been very successful in any field that I applied myself to. But, I also would have lost a ton of freedom. As entrepreneurs we carry some risk in that we are responsible for generating our own income, creating our own safety net, and often times we take on the responsibility or creating income for other people as well – be it our contract workers or employees. There is a good amount of pressure that can come along with that responsibility. We also have the opportunity to create an UNLIMITED amount of income. Working for a restaurant I was paid a set amount – first hourly and then on salary. I would be eligible for raises each time I got a promotion or at an annual review, but the amount would be kept within a certain boundary. There was a ceiling. Within my own company there is no one that can tell me what the ceiling is. That is up to us. How hard are you willing to work? What are people willing to pay you? What are you willing to charge? It is all up to us. When working for another company there are typically set hours – usually determined by someone else in the company. Within your own company it is entirely up to you to create your own schedule, and lifestyle. If you want to work when the baby sleeps then that is up to you. If you want to work a 3 hour work week then that is your choice. If you want to work your butt off for 4 weeks so that you can take 2 off – go for it. You have all of the flexibility in the world.  For me, this one right here is worth all of the risk in the world. Remember all of the reasons you opened your business in the first place. What was it that drew you to the field that you chose? What were your dreams? Spend some time revisiting those dreams and see if they still hold true before choosing to end this journey. There are also added bonuses like being able to make a real change or impact in the world, having control over your company's culture, being able to change the lives of your customers and clients or employees and being able to get up every day and work on something that you truly believe in. That isn't to say that you couldn't find a company with an amazing culture or a mission that you believe in – but you have no control over it. If the management or ownership changes and the mission changes along with it then you are along for the ride, but when it is a business or your own then you have full control to make as big or as small of an impact as you wish – in any given area. For most of this, these were the reasons that we decided to open our businesses in the first place. For some, they may not hold the same weight anymore – priorities and passions change and that is ok. If it isn't for you anymore then by all means, close up shop and move on to something that DOES excite and light you up. But if you are only contemplating a closure because you are filled with doubt and fear then I urge you to remember the determination and grit that you had when you started this journey, and summon it up again. Make a new business plan, develop a marketing plan for reopening. Reevaluate your current pricing and costs and see what adjustments need to be made to stay profitable. Reach out to your customers and community and see how you can serve them in this time to stay top of mind, as well as find out what they will be looking for when the time comes to reopen. Make the necessary adjustments and you can hit the ground running, make up for lost time and revenue and build your business to be better and stronger than before. If you have taken a hit then you may need to consider cutting back hours, downsizing, moving to a less expensive location or taking on part time work to help with the recovery – but its temporary. Remember, I run a 6 figure photography business out of my Mom's basement – you don't necessarily need all of the bells and whistles to run a successful business.  You can build this thing back up to where it was over time, but for now focus on survival. You've got this and if this is your dream, your passion, or your ticket to freedom, then don't let anything take it from you. the choice to keep going or not is YOURS and yours alone. And if you truly want it – then it is yours to take so go out and get it.

I had an episode planned for this week, and thought about continuing that plan. I considered putting myself on Mute, and saying nothing this week in support of the blackout for Black Lives Matters. Then I saw a friend's post, where she said that instead of muting ourselves (as in, we white people) entirely, we should just be pausing our content and using our platforms to educate our white friends about systemic racism and how we can HELP our friends in the black community. I don't think anyone could be at this point, but if you are unaware of what is happening currently in the United States… yet ANOTHER black man has been killed in by the police.  A man named George Floyd was murdered senselessly in the streets of Minneapolis, while 3 other police stood by, stopped anyone from interfering or saving his life. The officer kneeled on his neck, until life left his body, and then offered no medical treatment. This man's quote unquote “crime” was paying for his purchase at a local grocery store with a counterfeit $20 bill.  He leaves behind many friends and family, and a little girl named Gianna who is all of 6 years old. This is horrifying, and should be shocking but at this point it has happened SO MANY TIMES that it didn't shock me at all. And it shouldn't shock you either. Protests have cropped up not only all over America, but all over the world to show support and solidarity, and many of us are left feeling helpless or wondering what on earth we CAN do to make an impact and drive change. I want to talk about some of the ways we can do this, and I am hoping for real change. . . As a white woman, I want to start out by saying I may not get this right – but I am going to try my best. In the past I have made mistakes – thinking that something I was saying or doing was helpful to POC only to find out that I was wrong. I'm going to do my best to share the information I have gathered through reading, watching and listening and I am going to keep working to do better in future – there is always room for improvement. In the past few days my husband, my black husband for the record, has actually gotten calls from white friends asking what the right thing to say or do is, because they feel like no matter what they do they are getting it wrong and someone is getting mad. His answer was basically “there is no right thing. Just be yourself, and do your best” This can be tough to swallow, because we always want to get things right and live in a fairly perfectionistic society - but it is pretty accurate. People process trauma differently, and right now the black community is experiencing and reliving YEARS, GENERATIONS, of trauma. What one person might find helpful or supportive might be offensive to others – and they are all entitled to process in their own way. As a white person who is genuinely trying to help it can feel really awful when you are told you are doing it wrong. It can make you want to stop trying, to stop stepping up. It can make you feel like you just shouldn't say anything at all – but then of course you get called out for silence. It's hard. But right now isn't about us – it is about supporting another community who is suffering. So let's try our very best to be open to criticism, critique and to learning new methods. Let's be open to the opinions of the people we are trying to help and hear them when they express what they need. Addressing our privilege can be uncomfortable, but it will be worth it. So here are some of the things that I have learned and want to pass along to help anyone out there who is trying to learn, to listen and to support: First…  The fact that you have been friends with, work with, dated, are married to or have children with a black person does not give you an automatic pass as a non-racist.   I once accidentally blew up my entire Mommy group getting into it with a racist woman who had NO IDEA that she was in fact racist, and used the fact that her ex was black to defend herself. She believed that this gave her a pass, and that it automatically meant she couldn't be racist. It is possible to like or even love a person of colour, and still be racist. In fact many, many racist people have a person of colour in their life that they exclude from their racism. Probably because they got to know them well enough that the differences between them no longer mattered. Now if we could just get them to realize that this would apply to all of the people in the world then we would really be on to something. Next.. When you say “all lives matter” you are MISSING THE POINT. Of course all lives matter. No one is saying they don't. But if someone calls the fire department because their house in on fire then the fire department is going to focus on THAT house. The burning one. Does that mean all the other families' homes don't matter? Nope. Does that mean that they wouldn't fight it if the other house caught fire? Nope. It means that the house that is on fire is the one that needs attention and so that is where they are going to put their attention. Right now, the black community in America is ON FIRE. Instead of being mad that we were left out of the statement “black lives matter” let's work on being grateful that we didn't need to be included. Use your privilege to protect, help and shine light on the accomplishments of people of colour. If you see a black person (or a person of any race for that matter) being harassed in the streets, pay attention and see if you can use your whiteness to help. A woman on twitter recently shared how she had intervened to help a black man who was being harassed by police, despite the fact that he had done nothing wrong. She had been in the area, had seen the direction from which he came from and could hear the police arguing that he fit the description of someone that had committed a crime in the opposite direction.  While they wouldn't listen to him, she was able to walk over and calmly but firmly insert herself into the situation in his defense. She took their badge numbers and sent them to her Mother as documentation. She was well versed in her rights, as well as those of the man being harassed. She confirmed for the police that he had come from the opposite direction to the one that the crime was committed and wasn't bothering him, and then he was released. But the most important take away I got from that post and what I want to make sure everyone out there knows it that is it is NOT YOUR PLACE TO GET ANGRY. Your job is to stay calm, while using your white privilege to defend the person being harassed. It is not to get in anyone's face and start screaming. If that situation escalates, chances are it is not you that will feel the weight of it, it is the person of colour – so it is your job to make sure you do not participate in any escalation. Do not make it worse for them. Be careful here – do not be a hero. If they are being harassed, whether by police or civilians, online or in person and they are doing a great job of articulating themselves, and appear to be in no danger then please do not start talking over them. The black community has many strong and beautiful voices that are more than capable of speaking up. Only intervene and use your whiteness when someone actually needs your help – do not do it so that you can look or feel good as some white hero. (and this one is tough – you need to be really aware of your own ego here, because it is VERY easy to forget and start talking over someone who didn't need you) If you have a platform – be inclusive. Showcase the work and talents of people from all walks of life, not just those similar to your own. People of colour are severely underrepresented in so many spheres, and anyone with a platform has an opportunity to change that.  Likewise, you can support with your dollars. Patronize businesses owned by people of races other than your own. Buy their books and learn from a new perspective. Add a podcast of a person of colour to your playlist. Watch tv shows and movies about people from other races. On that same topic – educate YOURSELF. Learn about black history. Not the white washed version that is taught in schools for one month out of the year, but the actual history and stories or the people who lived it. Learn about how the systems in so many countries are designed to oppress. Learn about how this affects their children growing up, and their upward mobility. Read books. Watch movies. See the documentaries like 13th on Netflix. Read articles on how to be an ally. Ignorance can be SO comfortable, but trust me when I say this is something we should all be acutely aware of. These resources are not hard to find at all. A quick google search will bring up fantastic options. Please do not expect your black friends to educate you. They might be willing, and if they offer – awesome, have the conversation and be grateful for it. Please don't expect it though. It is not their job to teach you why they should be entitled to the same opportunities, privileges and treatment as you are. It is not their job to relieve the horrors of their own life or that of their ancestors in order to educate you. It is not their job to share their experience of racism to prove that it still exists. If you can't honestly say that you would be 100% ok with yourself and your children trading skin colours with a black person, then you can safely assume that racism is alive and well and that we are NOT all being treated equally. I made the mistake as I was getting an education in black history and racism of wanting to TELL my husband all about my discoveries, and all of the injustices I was learning about. I was shocked, horrified and ANGRY all at the same time and I wanted to share with him that I understood or at least I understood as much as a white person could. My intentions were good, but it was emotionally exhausting for him to have to go through it all over again with me. None of this was news to him, and the stories that he hadn't heard, he didn't need or WANT to hear. It was just more anger, sadness and trauma for him to process. My husband handles all of this really well by the way. He is not quick to jump to discrimination, and he generally assumes the best in people – but even for HIM this was hard. So my advice is to find a white friend to be enraged with instead. Your black friends are already well aware and are trying to move past, so share it with your white people and you can be freshly mad together. And that brings me to another point which is: as an ally it is your JOB to be anti-racist. You need to take some of the burden off educating the white people around you about how wrong this all is off the shoulders of the black community and start stepping up yourself. Sometimes this is uncomfortable because it means telling your uncle that his comments or actions are inappropriate and unwelcome. You love your uncle, you know he means no harm and so it's tempting to let it slide – but as an ally, I'm sorry, you can't. You need to try to educate those around you. Educate your children too. Teach them about and expose them to other races and cultures. Have books in the house with children of all colours, and stories from different places around the world. Don't just purchase dolls and action figures that look like your child, but get them a variety or skin tones to love. So much of the time our anger comes from fear, or misconception – and a lot of that can be prevented through simple familiarity and understanding. And finally, PAY ATTENTION. Start watching for injustices and inequalities and call them out. Look at the the disproportionate representation in magazines, advertising, toy aisles and children's books. Look at the way your black friends are treated while shopping, dining out, or in the street. Notice if your black colleague has to work twice as hard for their accomplishments and accolades. Look for the way things are worded – example “It's a shame that another black man was killed, but this looting and rioting has got to stop” vs. “It's a shame that there is looting and rioting, but the killing of black men has got to stop”. Can you hear the difference there, in where the emphasis falls? Don't ask either, what the person did when they are gunned down in the streets by police, or some vigilante citizen with a gun. If you think about it, it doesn't actually MATTER what they did – that person had no right to take the life of another human. The victim never got a trial, they never got a conviction or a sentence. They were NOT assumed innocent until proven guilty. Asking what they did, or suggesting that they had illegal drugs in their possession or any other attempt to slander their character by the media, or by us, is akin to asking if the woman was drunk or dressed provocatively when she was raped. It. Is. Irrevelant. Racism isn't always in your face, it can be very quiet and subtle, almost imperceptible. And while I have never experienced it myself, I would imagine that the quiet systemic racism that slowly drags you down day after day could be even more dangerous that someone spitting in your face – because how do you fight an enemy that you can't see, that you can't pin down? This conversation is happening everywhere right now, the world is watching and the internet is on fire. There is a TON of opportunity to learn and I have hope that the people in THIS community are ready and willing to do so. Yes, some people are tired of this being all over their news feed all day every day and are emotionally exhausted from it – but just imagine how tired THEY are. Let's work to do better. Let's make this the generation that FINALLY addresses the pain and loss of the black community, and brings true equality.

Listen in on my interview with Dr. Nima, Chiropractor turned Edutainer. He is on a mission to teach business executives, entrepreneurs, and teenagers about how to dissolve the ROOT CAUSE of stress. Dr. Nima has helped countless people in his 20+ years of practice as a chiropractor and helps people who are stuck in toxic relationships, career limbo and emotional trauma to overcome their anxiety and create powerfully aligned relationships by deepening their intimate relationship with the most important person of all – themselves. Connect with Dr. Nima Instagram Website Online Training (Promo code "triggerproof")  Connect with Annya Website Instagram Email - hello@annyamiller.com

So the first thing on my list is “if you go the extra mile for them, they will go the extra mile for you” and to be honest I did know this, sort of, but I didn't realize just HOW true it was. I get that happy clients tell their friends and all of that, but what I didn't realize is how MUCH they will rave when you are willing to put in the extra work. That can come in a lot of forms. It can come in the form of a special little extra or add in that they didn't know was included, it can come in the form of a surprise call or note to let them know that you were thinking of them – like for a birthday or anniversary. It can come in the form of offering extra support, extra time, kind words – pretty much anything that goes above and beyond what is set out by your job description and packages will get their attention and help them to form a lasting and positive impression of you and your business. Maybe it's even that something went WRONG but they way you handled it was so impressive that they were blown away by your customer service. Sometimes it isn't even the clients that had a super smooth and perfect experience that have been the most impressed, sometimes it is the ones where things went wrong but the effort put into rectifying the situation was so amazing that they left delighted and thrilled. It can be easy to get our backs up, to be defensive or to start laying blame because we are nervous – but honestly, most of the time it is worth sucking it up and doing whatever you can to make the client happy and turn them into loyal customers and raving fans. #2 Word of mouth is THE most powerful form of marketing. I love marketing. I love facebook ads, google ads, running events and promos on social media and email lists. I seriously love all things digital marketing – but I have to let you in on this – there is nothing, and I mean nothing more powerful than word of mouth marketing. People trust their friends. They want what their friends have. So when Jenn shows her bestie the gorgeous photos that I did of her kids, and raves about how comfortable and fun the experience was, how much the kids loved it and how happy she was with the end result? There is an incredibly high chance that that friend is going to book in for a session of her own. Even better is when you have been creating tons of happy, raving fans and then you start getting someone who hears from you not only from one friend, but another, and another. I remember the first time this happened to me. A client came in and told me that while she was pregnant she had asked on facebook who she should use for baby photos. 2 friends that didn't know each other both recommended me, then her hair dresser mentioned me while she was at the salon and then the cherry on top was when her neighbor said she used me as well. Honestly – with positive recommendations from all of those people why woudn't she hire me?! Word of mouth is HUGE my friends, absolutely huge. Start making connections, get your name out there and make sure you are going above and beyond with every client. #3 The Customer is always right – except for when they aren't. I started my journey into customer service working in retail and then in restaurants where the saying goes “the customer is always right”. I learned quickly that as a customer service representative there is a very large portion of your job that involves biting you tongue, swallowing your pride and doing whatever it takes to make the customer happy. This is a really good strategy, and it served me well most of the time, but it also created a situation where people could walk all over me because I would just keep bending, and bending… and bending. So. The customer is always right – except for when they aren't. You need to be willing to go above and beyond. You need to be willing to fix your mistakes when you inevitably screw up. You need to be willing to provide top notch service – but – you also need to be willing to stand your ground occasionally when someone is being over the top in their requests. My experience has taught me that most people are amazing to work with. Many of them even become friends. There is going to be the odd sour apple though, and you need to be ok with standing up for yourself when you come across them. I remember when I was pregnant with my son and working crazy hours. I had done a Groupon – not wisely, either – before I found myself pregnant and those Groupons expired just 2 weeks before I was due to deliver. I had an insane amount of sessions to get through and they were all super cheap and not especially (ok let be real, at all) profitable. I actually have some incredible, long term clients that came through doing that promo, but most of the people that purchased were NOT my ideal client. I had one woman who came in for her session with her family, showed up late, was a bit pushy and went WAY over on time allowed. She was NOT taking my subtle hints that the session was over, but I was afraid to appear rude or as if I was rushing them so I let it happen. After the session I found out that she had purchased multiple vouchers despite the 1 per family rule, and again I was nervous to say anything. Then the editing requests started. Could I change the colour of this, photoshop the phone out of her kids hands (spoiler alert, I couldn't), remove the pattern from their socks, get the images done before the schedule due date because she needed them for an event, add in extra images because she was really unhappy with how her older son behaved – and on and on and on. She was not right. That customer was not right. That particular customer was being a wee bit nutty and I was on the receiving end and I honestly wish that I had known then that sometimes it is ok to recognize that the customer is not ALWAYS right. Which brings me to lessons 4 and 5 - No matter how good you are you can't please every client – and you shouldn't try and It's ok to let a client go. There are cases where no amount of bending and flexibility and effort is going to make the person happy. There are cases where the more you bend the more they will push, until you feel like you might snap. In those cases you need to push back before you DO snap which will really look bad, or let the client know that you are not a good fit and can't work with them anymore. Recognizing when you are not a good fit for someone is a really important skill to develop and it benefits you as well as them. Ideally it doesn't happen. Usually it doesn't happen often (and if it does it may be time to reevaluate how you are running your business and what your own expectations are for the client). In over 10 years of owning my photography business I could count the number of clients I have had to fire on one hand – but it would have saved me SO much time and stress if I had known right out of the gate that it would happen, and it was ok to admit defeat when it just isn't a good match. There is no one size fits all for most businesses – especially small businesses. You can't please everyone and you shouldn't try. We need to focus in on who our ideal client is and then concentrate on serving and OVER serving them to create those raving fans that we talked about earlier. And on that note #6 – you don't need to have a package or product for every budget. When I was first starting out I wanted to make sure that anyone and everyone could work with me and that I was offering something for every budget. At one point I was even offering free newborn sessions (honestly, for way longer than I even want to admit) where they could choose how many and which photos they wanted AFTER the session and with zero commitment. For a lot of people it went well for both of us. For lots of other people they bought 1 or 2 images meaning I was making pennies per hour, and some lovely folks just took a screen shot of the images in their gallery despite being watermarked and walked away with a completely free set of images – and didn't seem to care that it had Proof and my name stamped across it. This is NOT the way to do business! Again we want to focus on our target market and then create packages that will appeal to THEM and fit in THEIR budget. There are lots of other products and businesses to serve other price ranges – you just stay in your lane and focus on your people. Chanel and Louis Vuitton do not care that not everyone can afford them – in fact they like it and use it to market to the people that can. Scarcity and exclusivity are a thing and while you don't have to use those in your own marketing plan  you also shouldn't feel bad if you do. This brings us to #7 – you don't have to offer a discount just because someone asks. When I first started my business I was the queen of giving out discounts to people that asked, simply because I just didn't know how or felt to bad/awkward/whatever to say no. Sometimes people would give me a story on how hard things had been for them, sometimes people said that someone else was offering the same things cheaper and sometimes they just flat out asked without a reason. This one was hard for me. I'm kind of a bleeding heart. I love my job and wanted to book the sessions. I still questioned my work and value as a photographer and so I often said yes, or met them in the middle. I also took days to respond because my stomach was in knots and I was so stressed out about how to respond because I didn't WANT to give the discount but felt this weird obligation. (Maybe a bit more of that “the customer is always right” attitude?). Eventually I realized that it was actually bad business to give out random discounts and came up with this simple statement that I use to respond to virtually every request for a discount. “In fairness to myself, my family and my other clients my prices are non negotiable”. That's it. That's the response, and I no longer feel at all bad about it because that statement is 100% true. The session will still take the same amount of time. It will still take me away from my children and husband and why should my loyal clients who didn't ask for or expect a discount pay more than this person? There may be the odd time when I surprise someone with a little something extra, or apply a discount at my own discretion – but it is ALWAYS at my discretion at this point and never because someone asked, pressured or guilted me into it. Ok, so #8 - People are willing to pay for the combination or speed and quality – 1 is great, both is gold. People want quality. They are really good at seeing through poor service or a lousy product – but we also live in this super fast paced, instant gratification world so they also want speed. If you can find a way to offer a quality product or service, at a faster than normal speed – you will have no issue getting people to pay for it (or getting them to rave about you to their friends for that matter). I always did my best to produce really beautiful, high quality images for my clients. Obviously over the years I have improved but I really did give it my very best from the beginning and invested in whatever training I could find to improve. It was a slow process though. It took me a long time to get through editing each and every image. For quite a few years I tossed around the idea of having someone take over the editing for me so that I could get people their images faster but I was convinced that people would want ME to be the one editing, that I couldn't risk the quality and that they were happy to wait to make sure it was perfect. Wrong. I outsourced my editing, cut my turnaround time in less than half and my sales went through the roof. People were shocked and THRILLED to get their images back SO quickly and the quality didn't suffer at all. They sent referral after referral and I actually got bookings specifically based on how fast I had gotten other people's images back to them. If it is at all possible – find a way to give them quality AND speed. Its gold. #9 Clients want to know you. They need you to focus on them, but they also want to know who you are. As a business owner, entrepreneur or basically anyone that wants to sell anything to another person – we need to remember to focus on our clients. Be interested in them, care about their families, learn their name, use their names and let them do most of the talking BUT don't forget that they want to know about you too. Let them have a little peek into who you are. Don't be so focused on them that it feels like an interview or interrogation, or so professional that they don't get to see a bit of your silly side, sense or humor or personality. Those are the things that will help them trust you. Learning about your family, your hobbies or your quirks will let them connect with you and that connection will help them like you, remember you, and refer you to their friends. In the beginning of my business, and honestly for quite a while, I maintained a VERY serious level of professionalism. It was a very buttoned up version of me that probably wasn't especially likeable or memorable. Eventually I started letting myself out, telling little stories about my life, my kids, laughing and swapping jokes or just being a bit playful. The number of clients that became repeat clients must have doubled, as did the number of referrals. People that like you will come back. People that like you will send their friends. In order for them to like you, you HAVE to let them get to know you – which brings me to #10 relax and have fun! When you relax, they will relax. When you have fun, they will too. Honestly as I was typing that I was thinking, well there are some professions where that might not be the case, like a lawyer probably doesn't have much room to be fun – and then I remembered our experience with a lawyer not that long ago and she WAS likeable and funny and fun. She did seem relaxed, and put us at ease. Obviously she doesn't have as much wiggle room for personality and creating a fun environment as a lawyer as I do as a baby photographer – but she still pulled it off wherever she could and it did make us trust her. So regardless of your job, don't be afraid to relax (at least a bit) and infuse some fun wherever possible! Fingers crossed that my experience and lessons learned will save you at least a few headaches and help you out in your journey. I will see you next week!

Allison is the Founder of I Swear I Love My Kids. She is passionate about helping empower moms who love to work AND love their kids (most of the time) with sanity-saving strategies and self-care programs like morning routines. She lives in the Chicago suburbs with her 3-year-old daughter Julia who thinks Doc McStuffins is her bff, her 8-year-old Sebastian whose love language is ninja fighting, and her husband of 10 years, Kevin. She is a high school counselor full-time. Today we are talking all things parenting - life as a working Mom, Mom guilt, self care, morning routines and how the heck we are supposed to balance raising a family while working from home amidst a pandemic!  Connect with Allison  Website Instagram Facebook Group Free Download, "I Need to Keep My Kids Busy" with 40 unique, age-specific activities  Connect with Annya Website Updraft Insiders Facebook Group Beyond the Photos Group

  How many times have you looked around and wondered if you are running your business right? How many times have you looked at a competitor in your industry and questioned if their method works better – or even tried to copy it? Recently I got into a little mini tiff, debate, I don't know what to call it – let's just say a polite disagreement with another photographer online. This person was trying to argue that the way I do business is unrealistic and basically that I was wrong. There is some controversy in our industry surrounding different business models. There are people that offer cheap sessions where they show up, take pictures, put the pictures directly onto a flash drive, disk, etc. and give them to the client – this is called “shoot and burn”. There are photographers who do IPS or In Person Sales which is typically a higher ticket session where they pay a session fee and then have an in person (or these days over skype) meeting and choose prints, products and occasionally digital files that they want from their session. And then there is something of a hybrid in the middle which is where I fall. I offer predetermined packages that include the session as well as a set number of digital files (which are fully edited) and then they have the option to purchase more. There is typically no sales meeting, definitely no pressure on the client to purchase anything additional and it is a mid-range price. There are a million different ways that photographers organize their businesses but it usually falls into one of those 3 categories. Anyway, this person was trying to tell me that my business model wasn't sustainable, that clients wouldn't be happy because I was skipping out on the full service aspect of designing the art collections for their walls for them, and that I would be completely burned out because I'm doing too many sessions per year. That may all be true for them and their clients but it is clearly not true for me because I have been doing it happily and successfully with a huge number of repeat clients for YEARS, so I wanted to jump on today and remind you that you should ALWAYS being doing what works for YOU. Don't worry about what anyone else is doing – do what works for YOU!   Here's the thing… when you are starting out or when you are struggling, it is really tempting to look around and start following exactly what the first successful person you see is doing. It might even work. Maybe. If you are similar people, with a similar ideal client, with similar strengths and similar weaknesses. You get the picture. It also might fail horribly because they are REALLY good at sales and you are still struggling in that area. Or they are fantastic on the phone, but you really prefer writing it in an email. Now if you were to take the time to really look around, instead of panicking and jumping on the first bandwagon that you see, you would see that there are lots of really successful people that are running their businesses in completely different ways. They will all have some things in common, like excellent customer service and a quality product, but there will be tons of things that are done completely different. The one thing that they will all have in common though is that they are doing what works for them and their business. There is absolutely nothing wrong with taking inspiration from the way other people are doing things, in fact is it a great way to learn. I teach my students how I do things all the time. My advertising methods, my workflows, my customer service processes – all of it, I try to lay it out in a blue print that they can copy so that they can have the same success that I have – but I ALWAYS tell them that they need to take what works for them and throw out the rest. If something feels unnatural and isn't working, then see if you can find an equally effective way to accomplish the same thing. Take a minute and think about your business and the areas that you have success vs the areas that you are struggling. What are the areas that are hard for you? What is making it so hard? Is there a way that the same goal could be accomplished in a way that feels more natural or true to you? When I first started out one of the areas that was a huge struggle for me was calling clients, or calling other businesses or people in my area to network. I was super shy, I had major phone anxiety and it never seemed to work anyway.  A) I would procrastinate all day or for multiple days and leave it way too long before I finally picked up the phone and b) when I did get on the phone I was nervous, and awkward. It didn't make people trust me as a phone call should, it probably made them think I was lacking confidence in my own work or wasn't trustworthy. And yet, you hear from people in business ALL THE TIME that you need to get your clients on the phone! Get them on the phone and start building a relationship before you ever talk pricing. Get them on the phone to build the “know like and trust factor”. Just get them on the phone and you will make the sale! For lots of people this is 100% true and good solid advice – in fact if you are not a phone person then I would suggest trying to get more comfortable speaking with people in real time. But to say that this is the only way to be successful in business, or the best way to communicate with clients? Not the case for people who are anxious and nervous on the phone. I say it all the time – people's BS meters are SO high now, they see right through it, and in a case where you are just having anxiety over the phone call itself it can trigger that meter to make them think that something is off even though it's really just that you are nervous. On top of it – if you really, really hate doing something then you are more likely to keep pushing it back and putting it off. Not great customer service when it is taking you longer than it should to return a phone call. People want quick responses, they want to know that you are attentive to your clients – and if you are in a saturated market then there is also a good chance that in the time it takes you to work up the nerve to call them back, they will already have hired someone else. So what did I do? I worked around it. Yes, I still had to make calls some of the time – but I also made it REALLY quick and easy for people to email me through the website instead. I also mentioned email as being an option on my answering machine and suggested that they contact me that way for the quickest response time. If I needed to network I would reach out via email, showing them that it was my preferred method of contact. When is felt appropriate I might also apologize when I stumbled over my words and just let them know straight up that I get a bit anxious on the phone. You might be surprised at how nice people are when you are willing to be honest and a bit vulnerable – and it would let them know WHY they might be picking up a strange vibe, instead of leaving them to assume that I was untrustworthy or didn't know what I was doing. I also practiced getting on the phone and talking to people. I wrote scripts for myself so that when I panicked or my mind went blank I could refer to them and read the answers to their questions. Because while I truly believe that you should do what works for you, I also believe that we should work on our weaknesses. Now I am completely fine with jumping on a call with a client, and chatting with them. I still prefer email – I like being able to refer back to what was said, and it is easier when there are kids running around, but with time I was able to work through the anxiety and by using what worked for me I was able to continue building my business successfully in the meantime. So what are the areas in your business that you struggle with? Is there something you could use as a work around until you can strengthen that weakness? Or maybe there is just a better way of doing it for you and your clients? Are you struggling to hit deadlines? Maybe you were following a higher volume business model but what you really need to do is take on less work at a higher price point. Are you terrible at sales? What if you created a streamlined process that took the actual selling out of your hands? Struggling to meet people and network? What about trying social media instead? There's always more than one way to tackle a job – find the one that works for you. I am confident that if I WANTED to do fewer sessions for a high ticket price as this other person was suggesting that I could do so successfully – but the beauty of being in business for yourself is that you get to CHOOSE. I ENJOY seeing many clients per month. I love snuggling their babies, I like chatting with people. I love doing mini sessions and having a weekend that is just packed with kids getting to see their familiar faces a few times year. I LOVE my business. I am willing to bet that this other person could say the same. She probably gets a thrill from seeing how high the sale goes, from planning out wall collections from her clients and working with only a few people a month which allows her to free up more time for other things, or to have a really intimate experience with her clients. I am also willing to bet that we are both successful as a result of the enjoyment we get from our own business and the way we do things. People are attracted to success and happiness. People are attracted to confidence. When you feel good about the way you are doing business, and confident in your methods and business model it shows, and it will draw people to you. Be authentic in your business. Enjoy running your business. Think about the needs of your clients and how you can really and truly fill those needs, and serve that client. These are the things that will help you build a business that thrives. Don't worry about what everyone else is doing – just make sure that you are doing what works for you, your family and your business. Make sure you are profitable, make sure that the workload isn't too much and do your thing. As a bonus, doing it your way will also set you apart in a saturated market. If we are all running around copying what the other people in our industry are doing then all of the businesses are going to look identical. Where does that leave the client when trying to choose who to work with? Honestly, if they are all identical then it's going to come down to price – and that's not an area I want to have to compete in. This applies to creation as well – not just the everyday management of the business or customer service and sales. When I first started out it was very trendy to be a natural light photographer. People were using their “natural light” studios as a selling feature in their advertising. It was so tempting to jump on that bandwagon, regardless of the fact that my studio was in a darkish basement and I far prefer working with predictable lights and soft boxes. These other photographers appeared to be doing really well for themselves, I was seeing this marketing everywhere about how great natural light was and for a second I almost jumped on the bandwagon. I'm glad that I didn't. I would have hated working with natural light indoors. I would have been super stressed every time it was overcast or cloudy and I would have loathed the inconsistency in my images as the light changed from session to session based on the time of day or weather. My work also would have looked just like everyone else's instead of staying true to the style that I had developed – the style that my clients hire me for an expect. The same thing happened when the editing style changed – everyone was adding these colour tints or filters to their images, giving them a moody, dark sort of feel. I was seeing it all over social media and started questioning if I should be following suit instead of sticking to my classic, light, airy, natural style. Again – that classic, light and airy, natural style is WHY my clients hire me. Why change it? If they wanted dark and moody, or coloured filters they would be going to a photographer that offered that, instead of coming to me. If I had followed suit then what would be setting me a part from those other photographers? The same goes for any industry. Find what works for you and stick with it. If we want McDonald's fries we go to McDonald's. If we are craving New York Fries then that's where we go. I don't know about you but if I went to McDonald's to get fries and suddenly they were serving thick fries with the skin on I would be confused, and quite frankly annoyed. Find your style. Find ways of doing business that work for you. Go above and beyond to serve your clients. It will set you apart, it will help your business thrive, and it will leave you feeling great while doing it.

Today I am interviewing Jackie of Jackie Shagen Design. An entrepreneur with over 15 years experience in Kitchen and Bath design, Jackie helps clients plan their home renovation projects.  As home renovations are often the biggest purchases you'll make, she'll help you make the best decisions for your home, your family and your budget. I actually had the opportunity to meet Jackie last year to create her headshots, and I'm so excited to chat with her and have her share some of her journey in starting her business!

Today I got to have a blast interviewing my sister, Natalie Miller. She is a talented maker, and the owner of Fledgling Studios. Nat makes beautiful mugs, planters, and other pottery which she ships to collectors all over the world. I personally own a few of her mugs and honestly they are the only thing I want to drink out of anymore! Today we are chatting about some of the struggles she had while trying to get her business going, how she grew her impressive Instagram following and more! Connect with Natalie  Website Instagram Email - Nat@fledglingstudios.ca Connect with Annya 

Every person on the planet has been given some form of a gift. We all have something about us that make us unique, or special. The range is huge. For some people their gifts are obvious, and easily put into practice. For some people if feels like everything they touch turns to gold, and everything comes easily to them. For others we need to dig a little bit deeper to see what specific areas they have been blessed in, what talents lie beneath the surface, but I promise you – we all have a gift. We have all been given an edge in some area of life – be it brains, beauty, empathy, compassion, skills, heightened senses or perception – there is always something. To me this is a given. What isn't a given is our ability to first recognize it, and second to make a decision to use it. Are you able to see what areas you are blessed in? Or are you feeling ordinary? Do you spend all of your time trying to cover up the things that make you special? Or are you willing to shine a light on them and use them to your advantage? The gift was just that – a gift. What you do with it is ENTIRELY up to you. If you have been listening to the show for a while then you might know that when I was in high school I was super nervous, socially anxious, did anything to avoid being seen kind of girl. I had friends, but I was lost without them. I wasn't teased or bothered for the most part – in hind sight I think most people probably thought I was nice and a few guys even tried to ask me out, but I was too shy for them to be able to form any connection with. I was clueless about my own gifts, and the ones that I did recognize terrified me so I tried my best to cover them. The anxiety eventually came to a point where I wasn't sleeping, I was exhausted ALL the time. I would wake up in the mornings when my alarm went off and then find myself in bed again hours later, haven fallen asleep and having no recollection of going back to bed. I was missing classes left, right and center – both from not being able to get out of bed and from not being able to force myself to walk into a class of my peers on the days when I did make it to school. If my friends weren't going to be there – there was no chance I was showing up. If I had to do any form of public speaking – not happening. I would pick up homework, show up for tests (I have always been the odd one out that loves taking tests) and I would drop off assignments, but the social aspect of high school was a complete deal breaker for me. Eventually the school kicked me out for poor attendance. The Vice Principal told me that “I was making the other kids feel bad” because they never saw me in class but always saw my picture on the honor role. It was setting a bad example and instead of them trying to address the root cause they decided to kick me out until I could maintain better attendance. That's when I started doing correspondence and homeschooling myself, which honestly was a WAY better fit. The following year I caught wind that the school's musical theatre class was going to be doing Les Mis and I HAD to be in it. I talked to the school about doing just 2 classes in school and continuing the rest through the online program I was currently using. This would mean that I could be a part of the musical, and because the arts programs for our high school took place in an entirely different building – my social interaction with the school's general population would be pretty limited. Win win. I was also a year older, in the 12th grade (so the oldest in the school) and had gained a touch of confidence in the year I'd been off. I don't 100% remember what brought the conversation about, but my music teacher, who was doing the casting for the play, told me that when we have been given a gift like the ability to use our voice to bring joy into the world, and into people's lives it is a responsibility to use our gift, to spread joy and to not be so concerned with what other people think that we selfishly hide our gifts away. She probably doesn't remember saying this. She might not even remember me – but that conversation has come back to me time and time again over the years, helping me to completely reframe the way I think about myself and my strengths. I STILL don't love singing for people on demand. I know I can carry a tune, I can project my voice and fill a room with the best of them – but I'm also no Whitney or Mariah. I'm decent but I don't want to give the impression that I am some hidden talent that was never discovered – trust me, that's not the case, its more of a sooth your kids to bed at night type gift –  nor is my voice the point of the story. I still feel shy and uncomfortable if someone randomly asks me to sing – but I did walk in, nail that audition and secure my part as Eponine in our school's rendition of Les Mis. I fought through the fear and anxiety and I remember very vividly standing on stage, about to sing with my fellow cast members for the first time and seeing the look of annoyance and confusion on their faces. Completely understanding why they would feel that way – not one of them had heard me sing. Most of them had no clue who I was, or if they did they probably thought of me as the strange kid that avoided eye contact and didn't speak. Why the heck did the music teacher cast HER in this part that SO MANY of the girls wanted? That the star of last year's play had requested. I remember standing there, about to open my mouth and sing, desperately wanting to tell her she made a mistake and that she should choose someone else, and seeing her give me this knowing smile and nod – so I let it all go and gave her exactly what she was looking for, and then watched in shock as every mouth in the theatre stopped moving, every voice stopped singing and they all turned to look at me. After that people stopped questioning her decision, and many of the other kids in the class came and told me they were excited that I had been placed in that role. The play was so much fun. I still look back and don't quite understand why I was able to get on stage night after night, for audiences of close to a thousand people and yet I couldn't bring myself to classroom full of kids. The only explanation I can come up with is that I wasn't walking out on stage as myself – just as a character that I was playing. But it doesn't really matter why – what matters is that I did, and it allowed me to grow, it allowed me to claim one of my gifts, it allowed me to gain a bit more experience and a bit more confidence. It also allowed me to share my gift with others, instead of keeping it hidden – and that is the real point. With everything going on in the world I have seen so many people saying that now is not the time – its not the time to market, its not the time to advertise and its not the time to strategize. I want to tell you the exact opposite. I want each and every one of us to be looking around right now and seeing where our gifts can help. There are so many problems being created, so many people struggling and so many solutions required. How is it not the time to provide solutions?! If not now, when people desperately need them then when?  This is the PERFECT time to be applying your unique strengths, perspectives or skills and whether you choose to do that as a service to your current audience, or to build a new one – you should feel zero guilt in offering your help and solutions as long as you know that you are truly helping. Women have this strange guilt surrounding accepting. We struggle to accept help. We struggle to accept money. We struggle to accept praise.  There is NOTHING WRONG WITH ACCEPTING ANY OF THESE THINGS. There is nothing wrong with offering a valid solution in exchange for money, or publicity, or to grow the audience for your service, product, business. Imagine if someone created a tool that would automatically clean your house from top to bottom each day. You don't even need to get out of bed – it just cleans the house while you sleep and you wake up to clean folded laundry, washed dishes, clean floors and counters and a hot breakfast. How amazing would that be? How much time would you save? How much money could you make with that time? It would be the best right? Now let's say that the inventor of this item felt too guilty charging for it to be able to create them. She has this amazing tool that will change lives but thinks to herself, ugh I just can't, I feel too guilty taking money from hardworking families, I wish I could just give it to them for free because I just feel too bad to charge for it. Since she isn't willing to charge for it, she can't afford to make them, so it never happens. Stupid right? Yep. It sure is. Now what if there was a woman who had an incredible perspective and understanding of the way children's minds worked. She has come up with a routine, a way of parenting that makes for completely drama free days. Her kids are happy, she is happy, the chores are done, they get ready for bed without a fight and all is well – but… she doesn't want to look like a know it all, and she is worried that what she is doing might now be good enough – so instead of sharing it with the rest of us, or better yet packaging it into a course so we can all learn from her – she keeps it to herself, and tries to commiserate with how hard parenting is whenever her friends complain. Personally I would want to throttle her for not helping me out! I am totally fine with her coming across as a know it all if that means that mine and my families lives will be improved! But this is what thousands of women around the world are doing on a daily basis. They are denying the rest of us a product, service or idea that they could have created with their gift – either because they are afraid, they are trying to be humble and don't want to show off or draw attention to themselves or they are too afraid to charge the money that they would need to charge in order for it to be viable!   I want each of us to be looking honestly at what are gifts ARE. Are you even aware of all the amazing talents you were blessed with? If you are sitting there shaking your head and thinking you've got nothing then I want you to get on the phone with friends, family members, anyone you feel knows you reasonably well and ask THEM. Because I guarantee they will have seen your gifts even if you can't. You could even post it on social media – ask them what they think of when they see your name or face. Ask them what they think of you as an expert in. When you can't see your own gifts you might need to look to those who are close to you to get their opinions, because their view won't be clouded with the same self doubt and fear that you possess. Think about the different skills you have developed over the years, or the things you have had to research and learn about. All of this will help you recognize what you have to offer. And then, once you are aware of your gifts, your talents, your skills – don't be selfish with them. Maybe you can use it within your current business – to further support, serve and nurture your clients. Maybe it will help you start a side hustle that eventually blooms in to a new business. Maybe it helps you to help out the people in your community, to create connection and growth. Whatever it is – you have a responsibility to figure out how you can use these talents and gifts that were given to you, because I promise you weren't given this gift just so you could hide it away from the world. There is a big difference between being a self-absorbed know it all, and a confident, open person that is willing to help the people around them to learn, grow and rise. Don't let fear stop you from becoming the latter.

How many times in your life have you heard that you should have 3 – 6 month's worth of expenses saved for an emergency? I know I have heard it over and over. From a teacher in high school. From my Mother. From listening to the Dave Ramsey show. I have heard it SO MANY TIMES, and I had the best intentions, but it hasn't happened. There has always been something that came up that caused us to deplete it, or to stop us from saving. We have made huge financial gains through careful spending over the last few years, and thankfully we still have some income and we will get through – but man, it would have been lovely to be sitting on 3 – 6 month's worth of money. To know without a doubt that this pandemic isn't going to cause us to go into debt, and we don't have to worry for at least 3 – 6 months. So my question to you is – did you have an emergency fund in place? If so congratulations, and I want to hear – how did it make you feel to know that you don't have to think about finances in the coming months? Did you feel relief or are you still freaking out at having to actually use that money? Less panicked than friends who didn't? If you didn't – where does that leave you? Are you going to get through this, or are you now scrambling and at risk of losing your home or struggling to feed your family? I am hoping and praying that all of you listening are going to be able to get through without having to look at those worst case scenario options. If you are in a position where you have no income PLEASE look into what options are available in your area. I know for us in Canada the government has put a LOT of supports in place, and I have heard that other countries are offering help to their citizens as well. Check your government websites, reach out to local online communities and ask for help navigating the system and finding out what help is available. Contact your bank and ask about payment deferrals, credit options, and any other way they might be able to bridge the gap. Call companies that you have services with and ask if it is possible to suspend them, or if they are offering relief. A lot of the companies that I do business with – includes Adobe, Dubsado, and Showit have all offered 2 months off for clients who have lost their income due to COVID19.  Reach out to local churches, food banks, and agencies that might be able to help with essential supplies. I have even heard that some Tim Horton's locations are offering free meals for kids – there are LOTS of companies, agencies and people willing to help if you can get a bit resourceful and not be afraid to ask for help. Communication is a big piece here – if you aren't going to be able to make rent, call your landlord ahead of time. If you can't pay your hydro, water, gas, or car payment – reach out to the companies to ask what your options are. If you stick your head in the sand and just let due dates pass and bills pile up its going to get ugly, but most companies are going to be willing to work with someone who calls up and respectfully explains their situation and asks for options – especially considering everything that is happening in the world right now. I have also seen tons of people posting that they are willing to help out with groceries or paying bills for anyone who needs the help – and its ok to accept that help if you need it. This is an exceptional time and it is going to call on us to be both exceptionally generous and exceptionally vulnerable. Whether you are on the side that is able to give and needs to step up and offer, or the side that needs help and needs to swallow their pride and ask – please know it is ok. Either side is ok to be on, we are in it together and we will get through it together. I also want to encourage anyone who is in a position of need to check out last week's episode on how we can innovate and get a bit creative and scrappy to get some income coming in. If you are in Canada and have applied for the CERB then this won't likely help you, because in order to receive that benefit you can't have any income, but for many listeners in other countries you may not have that support and may need to generate income wherever you can. There are some ideas in there to help. Another thing worth mentioning is that it is VERY easy in a time like this to buffer emotions by spending money and shopping. Our brains love to accumulate stuff. They hate to process negative emotion. So often we will fall into the habit of scrolling through Amazon or some other online shopping site looking at all of the fun things we can buy. We will justify it by saying things like “I need this right now” “I deserve this” “It's for the kids” “Its educational” and all kinds of other reasons that make it feel like it is a good idea to accumulate more stuff –but the truth is that if you don't have money coming in you need to LOCK IT DOWN. Stop spending on anything that isn't absolutely essential. You can start again later, but for now you need to shut it down and make sure you are saving your resources to pay for the things you absolutely need.  This is temporary, this isn't going to last forever – for now you need to stretch that dollar around the block 4 times and maintain the perspective that you are not depriving your children, but teaching them a new skill that may come in very handy at some point in life. When it comes to what you are going to spend on and how to allocate you finances – food and shelter come first. Make sure your family is fed – that is priority 1. If possible meal plan and google low cost meals to stretch your dollar, but feed your family first and foremost and make sure there is a roof over your heads. You can play catch up on the rest later if you have to. I have also found that it has been helpful to come up with a plan on how we are going to tackle our finances once this is all over, when I am back at work, business is thriving and everything has gone back to the way it was, I can tell you that one thing that will not be going back to the way it was is MONEY. Thankfully we had really started cracking down on our finances at the start of the year and we had some cushion, but the truth is that if I had applied everything I know and have been told then we could have been in an even better position. I am by no means a finance or accounting expert. There are some amazing people out there that specialize in all things finances and some really great books. Dave Ramsey has a podcast, or you can check out his book Total Money Make Over. I also loved the book Profit First, or you can check out Suze Orman who drops some serious honesty and knowledge surrounding money management. Who you follow doesn't really matter as long as they are honest and know their stuff – what matters is that you are ACTUALLY applying it. Let's all become responsible for our own finances. Let's make sure that we are ready for the next crisis –be it personal or worldwide. I am SO grateful that our country had stepped up and has pumped so much money out to Canadian citizens, but at the end of the day I don't want to have to depend on what they may or may not decide to do to keep my family safe. I want to be responsible for my own finances and my family's security and I think this is something we should ALL strive for. If you are still working and your business is still functional then I highly recommend crafting a plan and getting started NOW. If you are like me and your business got shut down then get yourself set up with a plan so you can start fresh when your business reopens. (Hopefully soon) If you don't already have your finances separated – open a business account, or even better multiple business accounts, and start the process of separating it out. Decide on an amount you will pay yourself monthly, or a percentage of each sale that you will keep and deposit that money into your personal chequing account. Everything else belongs to the business, and you don't get to touch it. No more keeping everything in one account, or buying groceries with the debit card from your business account. No more waiting until the end of the year and scrambling to figure out how to come up with taxes. No more spending everything you make without saving anything for a rainy day… or a freaking pandemic. We are smart women and we can do so much better. Have an account that you can put all of the money you need for your taxes each year. Pay attention to what bracket you fall into, or ask your accountant what percentage to hold back and then make sure you are taking that money off of each transaction to deposit into a separate account. That money doesn't belong to you – so don't touch it. No more worrying about what you will owe at the end of the year, it will be sitting there ready to go, and if you end up with too much? Bonus! You just got a refund. Set a budget. Set one for your business, and include how much you get paid each month in that budget, and then set one for your personal life or family. People hate budgets, I hated budgets. We think of them as constricting but honestly it is SO freeing to know exactly how much you can afford in any one area. It is freeing to KNOW what your numbers are. How much does it cost to run your business each month? (This you really should already know because you need that number to determine profitability…. Buttttt… I know there's some of you out there that just glazed over that part) How much does it cost to run your household each month? You need to know this. You need to know this so that you don't look at your credit card bill one day and get the shock of a lifetime because you have been spending hundreds or thousands more than you make each month without realizing it. People do this all the time. They end up drowning in debt because they were willfully ignorant to their own finances. We love to stick out heads in the sand and ignore it as if this will somehow make it better. It won't – you need to know your numbers in order to get ahead financially. You can't stick your head in the sand and you can't out earn stupid spending, trust me – my husband and I tried for a bit there, it doesn't work. Taking control over your finances doesn't have to be intimidating and scary. It can make you feel in control and powerful. Even now. Even with all of the unknowns, knowing your numbers and understanding them is going to a sense of control that turning a blind eye never will. My daughter the other day was asking about ostriches… I told her that a funny fact about them is that when they are scared they will stick their head in the sand as if it stops whatever they are scared of from happening. She “Oh yes! I saw a show where a giraffe was doing that, he was trying to hide from the creditors!” I said “you mean predators” and she goes “Yes! I forgot, for animals its predators and for PEOPLE its creditors” I had to laugh, because she has NO idea how accurate that was. Let's not be ostriches, let's face it head on and minimize damage and start making gains as quickly as possible. We've got this. Stay safe and I will see you next week.

One of the common threads that I am seeing is that people are willing to stay home but they are panicking about income, and their businesses shutting down. In Ontario we have been told to shut down all non-essential businesses – which means there are a ton of people who were self-employed that are suddenly out of work. I know this is the reality for a people in a lot of other provinces and countries as well and it is creating a lot of stress for people. I am incredibly lucky in that our government is offering emergency care benefits for people like me, who wouldn't normally qualify for normal unemployment benefits or programs like that – so if I find I am unable to come up with other ways to generate income then I will have that to fall back on and help us keep our children fed and bills paid - but I recognize that for a lot of people this isn't the case. This is why I want to talk about how we as small business owners (or aspiring business owners) can get scrappy, get creative and innovate within our businesses to keep the money flowing in. A lot of people are worried right now – not just about their immediate income, but about how the economy is going to rebound when everything is said a done. How would a potential recession affect them? How will their business and finances survive? I'm not a financial guru or expert, but I do know that some of the most successful businesses were created in recessions. Times of challenge create problems – problems that need solutions. I also know that if you look to the most successful businesses out there you will see a common theme – they change, they grow and they innovate. Logically, this means that as a small business we need to prepare to do the same, and we need to look for needs that our services or products can fill. My business is clearly non-essential, so I wasn't in the least bit surprised when I was told it was time to close up shop. Having professional photographs done of your baby is beautiful to have, but certainly not a requirement for survival. Well before I got that notification, I was already aware that there was a high probability it was going to happen, so I started brainstorming. What can I do to continue generating income through my business without actually bringing new face in front of my camera? What are some ways that I can continue to serve my clients and community so that I am top of mind when things are up and running again? How can I hit the ground running hard once this is all over and get my business back to thriving as soon as possible? I was able to think of a few things pretty quickly. I could offer a sale on digital files for all of those people who had sessions with me over the years. This would supply a bit of income not just for me, but for my retoucher as well. We could offer an amazing deal and send out an email along the lines of “if there was an image that you always wished you could have had” or “ever wish you could have had all of the images from your session? Now's your chance” and then offer an amazing deal on those previously unpurchased digital files. Yes, it means offering my work for slightly less – but this is an unprecedented time where we need to think survival – and let's be honest, there's LOTS of time available to edit them now that we aren't allowed to leave our homes :P Another idea came from seeing a piece of art someone in a Facebook group had made. They were following an online tutorial that helped them turn a photograph into a beautiful digital watercolor painting in Photoshop. They are beautiful images and definitely something I could see my clients purchasing. So there is another opportunity – create a new piece of art from the sessions I have already done and sell those to the clients as well. These ideas aren't going to generate the 6 figures a year that my business was previously making – but they might bring in enough income to buy groceries or keep the lights on. Take a look at your business and see where you might be able to come up with similar creative strategies to repurpose what you have already done. If you own a business where you are handing over a physical product consider if there is a way you can continue to offer that while offering curbside pickup or porch drop off. Toys R Us (yes we still have them in Canada for all of my US listeners who think I'm crazy right now) and Michael's Craft Store are both offering online shopping where you place your order, pull up to the front of the store and then the employees come check your online receipt and ID through the window of your car before placing the items in your trunk for you. There is no physical contact – so they are able to keep making sales. Will they lose sales based on a lack of foot traffic through their physical locations? Probably, but at least they are still able to generate some form of income and keep some of their employees working. A friend said that her friend who owns a plant store is now posting available plants to Instagram and then dropping them off on the customer's porch. Again, she might have a drop in sales from a lack of foot traffic – but she is able to keep SOME revenue going. And honestly, the outpouring of love I have seen for small businesses and the willingness of the still employed to support them has made my heart so insanely full. I am seeing posts from people who are intentionally ordering in from their small locally owned restaurants to keep them going, people who have purchased gift cards from spas, photographers, and the like for future services – just to make sure that their favorite entrepreneur can get through. While sometimes it feels like everyone is in the same boat and no one else is making money or able to spend right now either – we need to remember that there are a TON of people who are working from home, or have essential jobs and that those people are happy to support the local businesses that have served them so well over the years. Another area you can look at is how can your business pivot slightly? Party City went from offering items that would be used in gatherings (not so hot right now when no one is allowed to socialize outside the home) to focusing more on helping parents entertain their kids. Gyms are offering equipment rental and online zoom classes. Restaurants have shifted to allow for curbside pickup, or delivery options. Michael's didn't even HAVE online ordering in Canada 2 weeks ago – but they got it up and running awfully fast when they had to close their physical doors. Is there a way that you can shift your business? Shift your focus or shift the way you are running it as we discussed before? A friend of mine offered to skype in for help her clients set up and take their own simple newborn photos – and then she had them email her the images they took so that she could edit them and send them back. Obviously she isn't going to charge the same for this service as she would for a full posed newborn session, she is going to set it at a much lower price point – but it's still something. We HAVE to get creative. Right now is also a perfect time to be serving your audience. Serve, serve, serve – because even if you have nothing you can sell them right now, by serving them fully during this time you are making sure that you are memorable and that they WANT to support your business in any way they can when that time comes. Now I want to be very clear – serving does not mean giving everything you have away for free. I have seen multiple entrepreneurs offering their online products and class for free, or other people saying that it is wrong or disrespectful to be selling or marketing right now. It isn't. If you CAN and WANT to give some of your offerings away for free because you think it is going to help someone and it won't affect you financially then obviously that is a beautiful thing to do. But if you are struggling and have no income then there is absolutely nothing wrong with continuing to charge for your products or services, or in trying to come up with new ways to generate income. As I said before – there are still LOTS of people working and bringing in an income – if you aren't one of them then you shouldn't feel at all bad in trying to come up with a way to keep your bills paid. Just do it in a way that is respectful and isn't directly preying on peoples fear or something like that. You can absolutely serve your clients without giving everything away for free. You can come up with new offerings, new freebies, PDFS or eBooks that will help them, while keeping you top of mind or positioning yourself as an expert. With everything going on it quickly became clear to me that there were going to be A LOT of new parents having babies who weren't going to be able to get newborn photos done. In the grand scheme of things that might not feel like a big deal, but for someone who is having a baby in the midst of this chaos it feels like just ONE MORE thing that's being taken from them. They can't have their family and friends over to celebrate. They can't throw a welcome home party, or in some cases didn't get to have a baby shower. In many cases they aren't allowed to have their partner at the hospital with them, or have to pick one support person to stay with them. This is NOT the experience that they dreamed of when they first found out they would be welcoming this little person into the world. This is not what they expected, and now they not only can't take the baby to meet all of their friends and family, but they also won't have the beautiful images that they had planned on to remember every little detail of their baby in the first days or weeks of their lives either. I heard the heartbreak in their voice. I had 2 clients who had planned their newborn sessions from MONTHS in advance. Both of these couples have struggled with infertility for years and suffered losses in the past. Both were so excited that they had basically called to book as soon as they hit the 12 week mark. And now they are just waiting, waiting to see how long this will go on for and if it will end before their baby is too old for me to pose in those sweet sleepy poses that they had pictured in their minds for so many months. My heart BREAKS for these people. So. I saw an opportunity to serve. I created a completely free online guide for parents which will walk them through how to create their own newborn portraits at home. I published it online and then sent it out into all of our local Mommy groups. It won't replace what I do in a studio, that takes way more training and equipment then I can pack into a PDF – but it will certainly help them to create much nicer images to document this time in their baby's life. The first priority of this genuinely was to help people. To help them and ease some of their disappointment. BUT. I also set it up as a lead magnet. In order to download the guide, they need to input their email address. Within minutes of the guide going live on my website, I had started to very quickly collect email addresses for local people who were expecting or had just had a baby. So while I was a kind gesture and really did come from a place of love and compassion – it was also an excellent marketing tool that allowed me to reach and connect with lots of new people who are also my ideal client. This is going to be huge for me when the studio is allowed to open again. There will be lots of fresh leads for people who may be looking for professional photographs of their baby. So again, how can you apply this to YOUR business? What guide, service, or tutorial could you make that will help you to connect with potential clients NOW, so that when you are back up and running you have lots of warm leads to market to? Spoiler alert – it will help you feel less lost in the chaos too. Helping others from a place of love and compassion will virtually always make you feel great and give you a sense of purpose. And finally – every single person out there, who has a small business, a side hustle or is planning to open one and has the mental capacity to do so should be working on their marketing plan for when they are able to reopen. You don't want to be fumbling around coming up with your business and marketing strategies while trying to serve a wave of customers that is coming in at the same time. Have it all planned out and ready so that you are all set up and can focus on serving your customers and clients when the time comes. Plan any specials, offers, events that you plan to do. Plan you advertising strategy and any networking that will help spread the word. Revamp up update your website and branding while you have time. Organize your books, get your taxes files, clean and purge your workspace. Start a podcast, a blog, or a youtube channel to start increasing your following NOW. This is all going to make it so much easier for you to hit the ground running and make up for lost time and revenue when this is all over. The last thing that I want to touch on before I head off to tackle my new day job of chef and teacher to our four kids is that if all of this feels completely overwhelming. If you are completely overwhelmed and exhausted from mental processing and trying to take in everything that has happened in the past few weeks or months – it is OK to curl up on the couch and watch Netflix, or lay outside in the sun with a good book instead. It is ok to take this time to play with your kids, or reconnect with an old hobby. Everyone processes trauma and change differently. For some of us the only thing that will keep us going it to focus on what we CAN do, to learn, grow and change because it gives us a sense of purpose and control. For others that is going to be the exact opposite and they need to rest, relax and wait because they can handle a single other things being added to their plate. Neither is right or wrong. Both are ok. Show yourself compassion and love, and give yourself what you need. Stay safe and healthy – see you next week!

Everything is going to be ok… I feel like all of us need to hear this on repeat right now. Everything is going to be ok. We are in this together, and we will get through it together. I have taken about a week, a week of sitting around shell shocked and reeling at the speed at which everything is changing. A week of feeling panicked, of trying to adjust to this new normal. A week of supporting my kids and helping THEM adjust to this new way of living – apart from their friends, on a completely different schedule and at a new pace. I'm hoping that all of you gave yourself that time as well and I'm also hoping that like me you are starting to spring back to life, to plan and strategize how you can best get through this. I am pushing pause on what I had originally planned for the next couple of episodes because with everything that is happening in the world right now there are a couple of things I want to get out there to help people weather this. Today's episode being – how to work at home because with businesses shutting down (businesses… the world), everyone being sent home to work, kids off school and everything else that is happening there are a LOT of people who are suddenly finding themselves trying to figure out how to accomplish much of anything while working at home with their partner, their kids, their pets, the temptation to multitask and do laundry at the same time – all of it. So for a lot of people, this working from home things is pretty new. Potentially they have never done it before and honestly while it sounds simple there are a lot of things that can throw a wrench in your productivity. Way more distractions, way more flexibility and way less accountability. I am a work from home pro. I have been doing it for years and years – both with kids and daycare, and without. In the first years of my son's life, when it was just he and I there was a LOT of time spent simultaneously working and taking care of a baby – its not easy but it can be done. In more recent years there have been times when the kids are home sick and I need to juggle work and taking care of them – again not easy, but I will say its definitely easier as the kids get older. If you have babies or toddlers home right now and are trying to work – my heart goes out to you because I get just how challenging that is – but don't give up, you can do this! First tip – create structure for yourself and for the kids. We all do better when we have some form of structure. Stick to getting up and going to bed at the same times each day. Hold onto your morning routine of getting ready for the day (if you have one, I personally tend to live in pajamas but its been YEARS since I worked a regular 9-5 type job, so that IS my normal). Schedule meals, at least loosely. Schedule breaks as well as your start and finish times. Make sure as well that if you do have kids at home and you are juggling being a Mom and working at the same time that you are scheduling things for the kids. Left to their own devices they WILL drive you crazy and interrupt every single task that you try to complete for the day. It's not an if, it's a matter of when. So give them something to do because the 5 – 10 minutes you spend setting them up on an activity is going to buy you a lot of time and save you a lot of headache and frustration through out the day. If at all possible – preplan the activities for the day. The internet is absolutely FULL of great activities for kids of all ages right now. Jump on Pinterest, ask friends for ideas, google “what to do with my kids in quarantine” and I promise you are going to get hundreds of ideas. Get yourself set up the night before and then when the kids wake up give them a general outline of what to expect. Knowing what their day will look like gives them a sense of security and reduces their anxiety as well. Tell them what activities are planned, what meals will look like and when you plan to serve snacks. Start to create a new routine that they can count on each day for stability. Hilariously, I had initially planned on doing an episode on screen time and the effects it has on our kids. We had cut screens in our house last fall and the results were so dramatic that I actually got a phone call from one of our kid's teachers asking if we had started ADHD meds because the behavior had changed so drastically in such a short span. I wanted to come on and share the statistics and the studies and encourage everyone to cut down on their kids screen time – but guess what? Not today Karen… Today, I am going to tell you that sometimes we are going to need to rely on screens to get through. My kids are all playing video games right now because it was literally the only thing that I could think of to keep them quiet while I recorded this. Not only that but when something is REALLY important, I will even bribe them with a fun activity for after as long as they stay quiet and let me get through what I need to get done. It is what it is guys.. Make it educational where you can – there are tons of great programs and apps – prodigy for math, Teach your monster to read for little kids who are starting their reading or early literacy skills, TVO has games and educational shows, Outschool is a website that offers amazing online classes – again, do a quick google search and you will get a tons of results. So sure, we are going to temper it with other activities – crafts, games, fort building, outdoor time (with proper physical distancing of course) but I don't think anyone is judging right now – just get through the best that you can. Remember to give you kids physical outlets too so that they can expend some energy. This is going to mean happier more compliant kids who sleep better at night. Even if that means using an app or game like Go Noodle or Just Dance to get them moving. (Ideally though block some time each day to get them outside in the yard, on their bikes or for a hike in the woods – it will be good for you too) I'm going to get back to my tips for being productive while working at home in a second, but I want to take a moment to remind you all about Audible. They are the sponsor for today's show and if you haven't been listening to audio books already then you are definitely going to want to start! Audio books are the perfect way to take your mind off the chaos in the world. I listen all the time – flipping between business and self development to fiction and fantasy depending on my mood and what I need more that day. Bonus – they have a ton of titles for kids to keep them engaged while you work! Check them out at www.audibletrial.com/updraft and you can score a 30 day trial and your first book for free!  Despite all of this you are probably going to be interrupted. That is the nature of working from home with children. Try to be aware of this going into the day so that you will feel less frustration when it happens. Remember that their world has been flipped upside down too and they are craving extra attention and reassurance. Another option if you have a flexible work schedule is to work when the kids sleep. When my son was little this is how my life looked. Sometimes I would give him some pipe cleaners and colander and let him feed them through, or give him some new toys to play with, pom poms and a jar and have him pick them up and fill the jar with tongs – sometimes that worked when I had a TON of stuff to get done – but mostly I found I was far more productive if I spent the better part of the day being a Mom and then worked during his nap and at night when he slept. Yes – this means not having much free time. Yes this means not catching up on your favourite shows or movies, and not being able to get much done around the house – but it made me far more efficient in my working hours because I was distraction free. Also – no one works faster and more efficiently than a parent who knows their baby could wake up from their nap at any second. One other suggestion around this is that it generally far easier to get house work done while the kids are awake than it is to get work done. Housework can be done in a distracted state – it generally doesn't take much concentrated thought to sort or fold laundry and you can pick it up and put it down pretty easily without having to worry about losing your place or train of thought. Depending on the age of your kids you can also involve them. Teach them to fold laundry, dry dishes, put away cutlery. Teach them to sweep alongside you, to prepare and chop veggies and to clean a toilet. Involve them, let them participate and you will get way more done – plus they will be learning some life skills and gaining a sense of value and importance along the way. Kids thrive when they are able to contribute! If you have a baby pull out your carrier or learn to wrap – baby wearing will save your life right now! Wherever possible – save the work for when the kids are sleeping and spend their waking hours doing housework, taking walks and spending quality time. I read something recently that basically said, and I'm completely paraphrasing here, that when parents ask their kids 20 years from now what they remember about the pandemic of 2020 the kids will respond that they remember spending time as a family, doing crafts, baking and having their parents home. That they will look back on it as some of their fondest memories. How beautiful would that be? How can we use that to shift our perspective around this entire thing? Yes we need to work, and we need to generate an income, and I have another episode coming for those who like me, are going to have to get super creative in order to do that in the coming weeks and months – but we also have an opportunity to see our kids, to know them on a different level while we are all home together. Whether you are saving your work for when the kids are in bed, working while they are awake and doing their own activities or a combination of both it is going to essential that you plan out your time to increase your productivity. In episode ?? I talked about this – basically you will use as much time as you give yourself to complete any one activity. If you give yourself an hour it will take an hour, if you give yourself 3 you will use 3. Don't allow yourself unlimited time to complete your work – set deadlines and do everything you can to stick to them. You will blow your own mind with how much you can get done within a really short window when you are completely and totally focused in and not trying to multitask.   Turn off your phone, or put it on do not disturb so that only the people who you really need to hear from can reach you. Quiet the room, close any other tabs on your computer and focus only on the work that you need to get done. Don't be tempted to multitask and flip loads of laundry (that's a total pro move – not for beginners guys!) in between. When you are working - WORK. Get it done as quickly and efficiently as you can because you never know when your kid is going to fall and scrape their knee, decide that they absolutely NEED to tell you what just happened to the bird in the yard or have decided that they absolutely cannot make it to the next schedule snack and need one RIGHT NOW. If your spouse is home set ground rules about how it will all look. Who is working in what space. Who is dealing with the children during which hours, and who can ignore any bickering and fighting because they know it is the other person's turn to deal with it. There is a meme going around saying that people who are now sharing a work space are making up an imaginary co worker to blame everything on so they don't start to hate each other – genius! No longer your husband's fault that there are too many mugs in the sink – blame Susan instead. This period of time is about surviving so that when it is done you can go right back to thriving. And speaking of who is working in what space? Have a specific space that is dedicated to working. Convert a closet if you have to – but give yourself and area where you go to work, and only to work. It helps create some sense of separation which is very much needed because as those of us who work from home already know – it is very easy to fall into the habit of working all the time. There needs to be separation – you need breaks and to be able to leave your work space when you are not working and you need a quiet dedicated area when you are. Lastly – try to look for the positives and as always try to look for the things in your life that you can be grateful for. Yes this period is hard, there are some awful things happening in the world – but there are still positives if you look for them, there is still so much beauty and my gosh there are so many amazing stories of selflessness and humanity coming out. Look for those. Don't focus on the negatives and the things you can't control. Don't worry about what other businesses are doing, what your coworkers or your competition is doing – focus on yourself, your family and your business and know that it is going to be ok. It might look different – but it will be ok. Sending you all love right now, stay safe, stay healthy and I will see you next week.

The world is an interesting place right now, to be sure. We are facing a pandemic and with that comes a lot of change, new challenges, fear and anxiety.  In this weeks episode I want to share some of what I have learned, what I am grateful for and how you can be a bit calmer too. I am also bringing our kids onto the podcast to share their ideas on how to keep kids entertained during the lock down as well as discussing some of the fears that kids may have and how to address them.  Connect with Annya  Website Instagram Facebook Updraft Insiders Group Newborn & Baby Photographer - Beyond the Photos Group

Cherie's work as an author, holistic psychologist, international speaker, mom of 6, podcast host, emotional release facilitator and feminine leadership development trainer has helped thousands of women all over the world find wholeness. Today Cherie is sharing her story, as well as how trauma can impact our lives and what we can do about it.  I want to warn you that this episode may be triggering to some people as we are covering topics such as suicide, mental health and substance abuse – but I am hoping that for those that are able to push through, you will find hope in Cherie's message. Connect with Cherie  Email: cherie@cherieburton.com Facebook Instagram Free Downloadable Healing Kit  Connect with Annya  Website Instagram Facebook Updraft Insiders Group Newborn & Baby Photographer - Beyond the Photos Group

The biggest thing that holds us back from our dreams and goals isn't money, or time - its fear. Stop playing it safe, lets build that life you've been dreaming of.  Security is mostly a superstition. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all – Helen Keller Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far it is possible to go.” — T.S. Eliot “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” — Pablo Picasso  “I can accept failure. Everybody fails at something. But I can't accept not trying. Fear is an illusion.” — Michael Jordan Today I want to talk about risks, rewards and fear – and I'm hoping that by the end of this your biggest fear will be not trying.   7 years ago I had a wee little photography business, I was a single Mom to a wee little baby, and had a wee little $1.68 left in my bank account. I also needed a root canal, and had given myself an ulcer trying to manage the pain because I legitimately couldn't afford to have it fixed. I had no idea when the next booking was going to come in, or if it would be enough to pay my rent for the month. Prior to having a baby I had been working a ton and was managing. The year that I was pregnant was my biggest year for income up to that point. I think I hit the $50k mark for the first time that year. It was a struggle being pregnant and working as much as I did, but I knew I was on my own, there was no one else to support us, and fear can be a great motivator so  I got determined and was hustling all hours of the day and night. Having a baby made it impossible to continue though – and there was no other way I could seem to find get money coming in. Even though we Canadian's have an amazing 12 – 18 months of paid maternity leave, that doesn't actually apply to the self-employed, so there was no maternity leave and I was back to work within a few months. I was breastfeeding, he wouldn't take a bottle and I couldn't leave him for too long. Even if I could have afforded full time daycare, it wasn't an option because no one could get the child to eat. So, I would have a baby sitter come hang out with him upstairs, while I worked with clients and then I would sprint up the stairs as soon as I was done to go feed my little man. Side note – my studio and my apartment were the same place. It's a one bedroom and the baby and I lived in the bedroom, while the living area and kitchen were converted into a studio. I STILL use that space today, except the bedroom now houses my props – so I don't want to hear excuses about not having a fancy studio, store front, etc. holding you back! He didn't nap, he didn't hang out in bouncer chairs or swings batting at toys like other babies, he was a very unhappy little guy that had to be rocked and walked constantly. Working while he was awake wasn't really an option. Working while he was sleeping was also tough because for the first 14 months he never slept more than 45 minutes at a time – which not only mean that I would be stopping every 45 minutes, but also, I'm sure you can imagine just how bone tired I was. I was SO tired, so tired, that one time when he was an infant we were sitting in a doctor's office and this sweet elderly lady beside me asked what his name was. I just looked at her blinking and said “I did name him… I swear… I just… I don't remember what” and then we laughed about the exhaustion of Motherhood, and decided we would both find out when the doctor called us for our appointment. Except that when they called his name they used his first and last name, but my son doesn't actually go by his first name, so I still just sat there staring blankly thinking, huh, what a coincidence that was my Dad's name, until the receptionist came over and said “isn't that you?” So yeah, I was THAT tired. Like whoa… Not the best for productivity. I will say I am blessed in that I have a family who would help me. The basement apartment that I was living in belonged to my Mother and while I did need to pay rent and would have been mortified and devastated if I failed to do so, I also don't think she would have kicked her daughter and grandson out onto the streets.  I don't think she would have let us starve either, but the expectation was most definitely that I would take care of and provide for this baby myself, and I was to figure it out. Eventually, I decided I needed to apply for financial assistance. I went down to the social services office to apply for social assistance, in hopes that it would get us through until I could start working more again. At that point he was 7 or 8 months, and I figured once he was over a year and eating solid food then I would be able to leave him for longer period or put him in daycare. I also knew that here in Canada, there is subsidy for daycare. For those who can't afford it, the government will cover some or all of the costs. Awesome service, but the wait list is about 3 years – here's the loop hole – if you are on social assistance you can actually bypass the wait list and get subsidized daycare right away. It all sounded great – I only needed a little bit of help, for just a few months until I could get us back on our feet. I knew that my business was viable because it had done well enough the year before – certainly well enough to support myself and 1 baby in a basement apartment with cheap rent! I met with the social workers, explained my situation and then to my disbelief and horror I was denied. I was told that the only way they would approve me and give me assistance was if I closed my business. Then, they suggested I could stay on social assistance for the next 3 – 4 years, until my baby was in school and at that point they would help me look for an entry level position. WHAT THE WHAT?! I wanted help for a couple of months, just a little bit of help, I didn't even need as much as was being offered and they said “no, we can't help you just a little bit, you have to quit your job, close the business and become completely reliant on us” I was so angry. I was so, so very angry. The last thing I wanted was to become a long term drain on the system. I have zero issue with social assistance and would encourage anyone who NEEDS it to use it for as long as they need. I also have zero intention of sitting around on social assistance, with just enough money to scrape by while living in my Mother's basement or a little rented condo until my kid went to kindergarten and then start climbing a corporate ladder from an entry level position at the age of 30. I had bigger dreams than that. I had bigger goals of owning a home with a back yard that my son could play with. Giving him his own room so that he could have play dates with friends. Showing him what could be accomplished with determination, resilience and perseverance. I remember how desperate I felt. I appealed the situation. I told them that I only needed a little bit of help and didn't want to give up on my dreams but also needed to make sure my son and I were cared for. I was directed to a cold sounding woman who had clearly been yelled at to many times that day and in my desperation I broke down and started to cry. I never cry in front of people. I hate crying in general, but I REALLY hate crying in front of people. I broke down to this stranger and said I just didn't know what to do, how do I possibly choose between my dreams and what I know in my heart and what is clearly the safest option for this beautiful baby I brought into the world. “I can't tell you what to do” she said, “but I will say that from where I'm standing it's pretty darn clear and its time to grow up”. I felt shattered. This was not the first time someone had treated my career choice as a silly hobby. This was not the first time I was told that while it might make me happy I better get used to the idea of living in a cardboard box. This was not the first time that I needed to weight the risk, and the fear with the potential reward. Guys. I could have listened to her. I could have closed up shop, and right now I would probably be back working in a restaurant on evenings and weekends and never seeing my kids, because that was the only other things I knew how to do at the time – or at least that's how I felt. Instead I decided that I would find a way. That I would set an example of determination and resourcefulness for my boy and I would show him that his Mom can move mountains. And I get emotional thinking about it, because that single Mom life is HARD. There is so much guilt and pain, its not just the sleepless nights, balancing working, chores and kids that people see on the outside. It Is the loneliness, the fear or not being enough, the doubt. So to any of you out there raising babies on your own please know that I see you, that I walked in those shoes and that I know.. I know. But what is the point of this story, why did I go down this rabbit hole into my past today? Because.. There is NO REWARD WITHOUT RISK. You will never know until you try. You cannot comprehend what is possible unless you are willing to push through the fear. 7 years later I have a 6 figure business AND I get to pick my kids up from school every day. It IS possible to have both if you want it bad enough, if you are willing to kick fear in the teeth, push through the doubt and hustle harder than you think you can handle. I am not saying to throw all caution to the wind, and just do whatever you feel like. You need to have either a rock solid plan or a safety net in place – but you can't let fear and risk get in the way of creating that plan. You really will never know what was possible if you don't try. You will never know how big your dreams actually are unless you let yourself dream without judgement. You need to quiet the external forces, quiet your own fear and doubt and then listen to what your heart and soul are telling you. Maybe you can't quit your 9-5 today, or leave your crappy relationship, or start a new project – but you sure as hell can start planning for it. You can start figuring out what step comes next. Do you need to start a savings account to build your own safety net? Do you need to get a part time job to make that happen? Do you need to start working from 8 – 11 when the kids are in bed so you can get your side hustle going, or growing? I was terrified when I left my abusive ex. Terrified. I stayed for 3 weeks after I had already decided to leave. I stayed for 3 weeks because I needed to figure out HOW to leave. I had to come up with a plan and then put it into action. In that particular case the risk felt way to high and the fear was way to strong, and so I had to reach out to my sister who helped me not only come up with the plan, but execute it. And even with her there with me, I was still terrified, silently packing things and praying that he didn't wake up and come upstairs to stop us or worse. I was terrified, but it was WORTH IT. There is always going to be a way as long as you are willing to take risks, and the risks will almost always pay off.  Do not fear mistakes. There are none.” — Miles Davis Do you know why this is true? Because even if it didn't go as we planned, it will still push us further along in our journey, we will still learn something that can be applied to take us further on our next attempt. As long as you are willing to look at it as a tool for growth and education, instead of defeat, you will keep progressing. “Necessity is the mother of taking chances.” — Mark Twain – another great one, because when we refuse to move life will often force us. You want to be a frog sitting in a pot? Fine, but eventually you are going to start to boil because you were too afraid to move. Don't wait for the boiling point – start moving towards your dreams NOW, start working on your plan TODAY. Want support? Join the Updraft Insiders group and post it there, if you a photographer go to the Beyond the Photos group and share it. Terrified to say it out loud? Send me DM on Instagram. You can find me at annya.miller and I promise, I will listen to your dreams with zero judgement and I will have your back. If there's something I can help you with I will, if I know someone else who can help you I will connect you. If you don't have someone in your corner rooting for you I will be that person. Not having the support in your life doesn't have to be a thing anymore. I am offering to have your back, and I mean it with every ounce of my being. I see too many people who are stuck, I have been stuck too many times, I want to all of us build the lives of our dreams. Let's do this! Thank you so much for listening today. I hope you are fired up and ready to tackle your goals. Before I go, I have a favor to ask. Could you please hit subscribe and then leave a review for the Updraft Podcast? These reviews make a difference in my day, they keep ME fired up and motivated to keep going – and at this time of year when its dark and gloomy I could use all the motivation I can get. Love you all, and I will see you next week. Connect with Annya Website Instagram Facebook Updraft Insiders Group Newborn & Baby Photographer - Beyond the Photos Group  

If you have ever wondered how to get your business covered by news outlets, what a press release is and if you actually need one, or how to go about pitching a story idea then this episode is made for you! (and if you have a business and HAVEN'T been thinking about it, then you are probably going to want to listen and find out why you should) Over her twenty years as a professional journalist, Ashley M. Biggers has written 2,500 articles and interviewed around 12,500 sources—the majority of them have been creative entrepreneurs and small business owners. Her byline has appeared on CNN, USA Today, and many other top sites. Ashley is passionate about breaking down barriers between small business owners and the media, so more game-changing stories can be told. She's taking her insider knowledge of the media industry and teaching entrepreneurs to do media outreach for themselves. She guides them through pitching the media and earning press coverage, so they can grow their audiences, earn more revenue, and get back to doing what they love. Connect with Ashley Facebook Instagram Website Email - hello@howtopitchmedia.com Freebie - Pitch Checklist Connect with Annya Website Instagram Facebook Updraft Insiders Group Newborn & Baby Photographer - Beyond the Photos Group  

I want to get really real for a second. It might even sound a bit harsh, but I promise it is coming from a place of love and wanting you to be happier and see your business grow. If you are running a business and your clients are driving you crazy it is PROBABLY your fault. Yes, I am laying the blame for your client induced misery squarely on your shoulders. Sorry. One of THE most important things you can do for the health of your business is setting expectations with your clients. Making your products or services and processes SUPER clear, and letting them know exactly what to expect from start to finish, and identifying exactly who your ideal client is. When we fail to do this, we end up with problem clients. There are always a ton of posts in entrepreneurship or photography Facebook groups where business owners are complaining about their clients. It's a safe place to do so, and it's also a great place to get advice from other entrepreneurs in your space to give you advice on how to resolve any issues that arise. (Be careful with that though, I have seen some amazing advice given, but I have also seen equally terrible advice) This safe space allows for people to be really honest about what is going on in their business and for people to commiserate on the problems that keep coming up. Unfortunately there are a lot of problems that just KEEP coming up, over and over and 9 times out of 10 the problem isn't actually with the client, but with a lack of expectations being set from the beginning of the transaction. I mentioned in a recent episode that I used to have tons of clients that would try to take over the entire session – trying to change lighting or poses, moving props. It was really, really frustrating for me, but, as much as I hated to admit it – it wasn't their fault, it was mine. I needed to be more confident, assertive and do a way better job of presenting myself as the authority and the expert. Now that isn't to say that there aren't one off, crazy client issues that come up – because I see a lot of those too. There are some people that are just impossible to please. Generally there are red flags, and I will cover that in a second, but sometimes it comes out of nowhere. These aren't the types of problems I am referencing though. I am talking about the problems that come up repeatedly.  Like clients messaging you at all hours of the day and night, expecting a reply, or clients texting or reaching out on your personal Facebook instead of emailing, clients harassing their photographer to know when their portraits will be ready, or even people asking for discounts all the time. If you are having the same issue over and over with multiple clients then there is probably something in either the way you present yourself and your business, or in your communication process that is causing the issue. In other words – it's not them, it's you. And that sucks to hear because no one likes to be critiqued, but once we can recognize where the problem lies it is SO much easier to fix it. The easiest way to prevent issues is to be so incredible clear and intentional in setting our client's expectations for working with us. They need to know, and therefor need to be told (either directly, or through implication) how to communicate, how long it will take for us to respond, how the service or product is delivered and what the experience is like, what the timelines look like and more. In most cases the entire process actually starts before you ever have contact with a potential client. They generally either find you online or through a referral before you even know they exist. The see your website, or they hear about a friend's experience and this is where the expectations start to be set. This means that you need to be super consistent, and make sure that you are very intentional with your online presence. If their friend says that they got a deal, then this new client will want one too. If their friend says that you response time is really quick – day or night – then this new client will expect lightning fast responses too. This creates a great argument for consistency and sticking to your own policies. They are there for a reason – so stick to it. When someone looks at your website they are going to start to form opinions. Make sure that your website looks professional and portrays you as an expert. Start building their trust and respect right out of the gate. It is fairly easy to create your own website with an online template and a program like Showit, but if you are overwhelmed by that idea then it is WELL worth investing in a site from a trusted web designer who can give you a polished and professional look. People are less likely to walk on someone that they respect. Let clients know exactly how to get in touch with you. Provide answers for frequently asked questions (and then be prepared to answer them for all of those people who didn't read it), and make sure that your location and hours of operation are easily seen. Make sure to include informative articles or blog posts on your site that will guide your clients through the process as well. Remember that you are the expert and things that seem obvious to you might not be obvious to them. Try to be patient in education your clients and view that as a part of your job. They have no idea what to expect from this process, or they might have a completely WRONG idea. Guide them through and set their expectations so that the transaction is as smooth as possible. Each business is going to be different but as an example I would post articles that guide the parents through things like “what to bring to your newborn session” or “how to prepare your little one so they are nice and sleepy for their newborn session”. To me it feels obvious that baby should show up in clothes that zip up for easy removal because I know that I want them sleeping and that 9/10 babies fall asleep in the car seat but that isn't likely to even be on the parent's radar. Try to think of the little things in your business that make the process smoother – but might not be immediately obvious to people who have never done this before. It will make your life easier as well as creating more trust and respect with the client and helping them to enjoy the experience more. When the client does reach out to find out about working with you, or making a purchase you need to keep in mind that the way you respond to them sets the tone for the rest of the transaction. If the email comes in at 10:59 at night and you respond 20 minutes later then that client is going to anticipate that you will answer quickly, regardless of office hours. If they text you and you text back then they will expect that texting you is an appropriate method of contact. Neither of those things is necessarily bad, but if it isn't a habit that you want to start then you will want to make sure you set the tone right from the first contact. Instead of responding a night, you can wait until the next morning when work hours have started and respond then. Yes – we always want to be prompt in our communication with our clients, but if we don't respect our own office hours then why would they? If you find yourself thinking that you do want them to respect office hours BUT sometimes it's just way more convenient to return emails from your phone while relaxing on the couch at night then just write them out and schedule them to send the next morning. You might still get emails in the off hours, but it will cut down on the number of people who start harassing you with multiple emails or email and then call and then text because they were expecting an immediate reply. You can even add a line of text to the bottom of all of your emails that reminds clients or potential clients what your office hours are, when you return emails and how long they should expect to wait before receiving a response. When it comes to texting or even contact through social media, there are more and more people these days that find it easier. For some business owners this isn't a big deal – it's just another form of contact. For others it feels too informal or unprofessional, OR having people contact you in 6 different ways just becomes too hard to keep track of. If you prefer only to be contacted by email you can set that expectation by responding and letting the person know that for the best experience and customer service they should email you, and that you don't regularly monitor your text, or social media for business messages. Be polite, be warm and friendly but let them know what the expectation in for communicating with you. You can also turn off messaging for some apps like Facebook so that clients aren't encouraged to send messages. You can even create a little note in your phone that can be quickly copied and pasted so that you aren't constantly having to type out a message for people who are using a method of contact that you don't like. I'm all about quick and easy fixes! The next step in the process of setting your clients expectations is to have a rock solid contract. This contract is going to tell them EXACTLY what will happen, step by step. Its going to cover price, dates and times, what is included, what is not included, what happens in the event that you are sick or can't perform the service or provide the product, and how long it will take to receive the finished result. You want to cover every single detail so that they know with 100% clarity how this is all going to go down. This contact protects both of you, and ensures that everyone is on the same page. When I first started doing contracts I was really uncomfortable with it. It felt SO formal, awkward and as if I somehow was saying that I didn't trust my client. After using contracts for years I now see them as document that protects both of us AND actually increases my client's comfort level. People like predictability. They want to know what to expect and what is expected of them. When you are creating your contract or policies, really any time you are setting expectations you want to be completely sure that you are under promising and over delivering. If you tell them it is going to take you 2 weeks to get their finished images back to them then you had better be damn sure that you can do that. Better yet, give them their images within a week. THIS is how you create not just happy but ecstatic clients. You also want to make sure that those promises can be fulfilled with little effort. Don't promise unless you are 100% sure you can deliver, even if life happens to throw you a curve ball that week. People are generally pretty understanding, but as a business owner you do NOT want to expect that of them. Stuff happens, LIFE happens, but try to make sure you have set up your systems so that even if it hits the fan you can still deliver. That way when things do go sideways you don't have the added stress of a looming deadline and an angry client. Adding an angry client to the mix adds stress in ways I don't even like to think about. Leave yourself enough padding. One other little thing that I have learned from years of working with people, and years of listening to other people's struggles in online groups is that you can't, absolutely can't, trust your client to read or remember. Yes. They are going to sign the contract. Yes, technically that means that as long as you are sticking to what was outlined, you are in the right. BUT even if you are in the right it isn't going to help you to create a happy and raving client if they weren't clear on the expectations and are now disappointed. The best way to avoid this is to make sure that you are setting expectations in writing AND verbally. Reiterate the process at each step. Remind them of what is needed from them to ensure a smooth transactions and of what they can expect from you. This gives a chance for any misunderstandings to come to light ASAP so that you can address them before they go from misunderstanding to massive problem. The final point that I want to make when it comes to setting expectations and creating raving, happy clients is to know your limits. Don't promise something that you can't deliver on, and watch out for red flags. No matter how clear your boundaries are and how well communicated there are going to be people out there that are not a good fit for you as clients. For your sake and theirs, you need to be watching for red flags AND be confident in sending them elsewhere if it isn't a good fit. If they are asking for services or options that you don't provide. They want the sun, the moon and the stars BUT they also don't want to “pay and arm and a leg” and don't value what you offer.  If they are trying to walk on you, or don't seem to trust you as a professional. If they are rude or disrespectful. If they want a style or design that is completely and totally different than what you have displayed… these are all red flags. When there are red flags it is often smarter to walk away, or to let them know that it isn't a good fit than to take them on as a client and hope for the best. In cases where it's a style or timeline issue, you can even provide amazing service but kindly explaining that it isn't a fit but that you know of some people who might be able to help them – and then referring them to someone who is a better match. Ideally you will catch the red flags before the contract is signed and deposits payed – but when that isn't the case you might sometimes have to offer an out and explain that you want to make sure that they are happy and working with you might not be the best option for them. Give them an out and be willing to let them out of the contract. It can be awkward to turn down working with someone, and it is even more awkward to have to fire a client, but that moment of discomfort is likely going to be far less than if you try to push through on something you know you can't deliver and then have to deal with that person's disappointment, frustration, anger, and bad reviews on the other end of the transaction. Know your limits and stick to them. Respect yourself, and others will follow. As a side note – this entire process can work well in personal relationships as too. Settling clear expectations and boundaries just helps other people to know how to treat you, and if you find that other people are making the same mistakes over and over, or are hurting you in the same way, it might be something you can address by setting clearer boundaries in your own life. I think sometimes we forget how much control we actually have over our own happiness and outcome. See you next week.

Learn how you can use Pinterest to drive traffic, leads and sales for your business. Charisse Merrill is sharing her process for using Pinterest to help entrepreneur's to grow their business.  Connect with Charisse Website Pinterest Facebook Group Facebook Business Page Connect with Annya Website Instagram Facebook Updraft Insiders Group Newborn & Baby Photographer - Beyond the Photos Group  

I think the title of this episode sort of says it all.. Do you ever feel like a fraud? And I'm pretty sure I know the answer. For almost everyone that answer is going to be yes. Because there has been a time at some point in our lives where we felt like a fraud. An imposter. Total fake. Maybe it was at work. Maybe it was hanging out with the cool kids. Maybe it was at a school meeting or giving advice to a friend. That sense of doubt has a tendency to sneak in on all of us at some point or another, even if we are super successful or seem to have it all together. This morning I got up, completely drained and completely exhausted from being up with the kids a million times through the night and because the cat decided that 4am was a great time to attack my feet. Michael was gone for work already so I got up at the last possible second and got the kids out the door to school, before coming home and climbing back in bed for a quick nap that turned into a nap with an extra hour and change of hitting the snooze button cause I just didn't want to get up. In those moments of trying to convince myself to get out of bed and get started on the day, I felt like a fraud and a failure, which is ridiculous because there is zero reason I shouldn't have gone back to bed to refresh and have a better jump on the day, but it is SO easy to feel like we need to be perfect. To criticize ourselves or beat ourselves up for every little thing. I could look at the morning and think “geez, I give out parenting advice on the regular and here I am on a school morning asking my 8 year old to get the 5 year old cereal and help her get dressed and make sure his brothers are up too because I want to hit snooze one more time” Which honestly, if it were every day wouldn't be ideal, but truthfully, because its NOT every day, he probably felt really proud that he could help Mom out and contribute in such a big way. It probably gave him a sense of significance and just isn't that big of a deal. Its THAT easy for it to start though. It can be the littlest action or thought that leads people to question everything, and for some it can be paralyzing. They don't move, they don't change anything because they feel like people will find them out. Obviously the simplest answer is just to be completely authentic, and not present any kind of façade or front, show people just as many of your imperfections as what you would want them to see and accept your entire self, for who you really are… but what about when you doubt even the things you are really and truly good at? Last summer I had a client show up for a maternity session, and she brought her bestie along to the appointment. As soon as they walked in the door I felt like I knew the friend. Maybe not in real life, more like she reminded me of someone, or looked and sounded just like a celebrity. Of course since I pay very little attention to the celebrity world and am pretty terrible with names and faces, I couldn't peg exactly who it was, but I figured it would probably come to me in the middle of the night, at which point I would email my client and prove just how much they looked alike. We joked that she must have a celebrity doppleganger, and that we should take a picture of her and run it through a similar image search on google to see who came up, and then moved on to creating the maternity portraits for my stunning client. I feel like its important to note that this client was just gorgeous. She knew her angles, her body was incredible and she made my job of creating stunning portraits super easy – this will be relevant later in the story. About half way through the session is dawned on me who this girl looked like, but of course, being terrible with pop culture I still couldn't remember the name of the actress, the show (actually I remembered it as a movie) or even the name of the character she played, but I described the show and my client was pretty quick to pick up on which one I was talking about. Oh! That's Life Unexpected. Yes. That's it! I had watched the entire thing on Netflix, and had a total girl crush on the main character, so I go on to confirm, that yes that's the one and then poorly describe the other characters. Yes, with the Dad, I think he was played by Dax Sheppard (totally not, Dax Sheppard, I seriously suck with this part – if you ever have me over for a trivia night make sure I'm on the other team)  They quickly corrected me, with the name of the real character and at this point I am just super impressed with THEIR knowledge and thinking that if I were to play trivia on THEIR team I might actually win for the first time in my life. But yes, this is definitely the show and so I look back to my client to confirm, does she not look EXACTLY like the girl from the movie? Like its really and truly uncanny how much these two look and sound a like. My client laughs and says “totally, that's totally her”. Me, still not getting it, says “right?! Its crazy, they are twins” and then she laughs again and says, no no, it IS her, she's the actress from that show. Her name is Britany Robertson and not only was she in that show, but she's been in tons of other things, including a Dog's Purpose which I had literally watched 3 days before. At that point we all had a pretty good laugh and I jokingly told them off for leaving me hanging and not telling me when I first said she looked like a celebrity and got on the with the shoot. The point of this story though, is what happened immediately AFTER making this realization. I went from thinking “This is a blast, these two are so awesome, confident and fun, I wish I could be friends with them so we could hang out like this all the time.” To realizing that this celebrity has probably been photographed in the most glamorous studios, but the most talented photographers in North America for magazine covers and promotional pieces for her movies and then completely and totally second guessing my skills as a photographer. What kind of garbage is that?! I have been in this industry for over 10 years and have spent thousands and thousands of hours perfecting my craft. I literally have THOUSANDS of happy customers to back up that I do, in fact know what I'm doing and I'm great at it, but this one little realization and comparison suddenly had me feeling like a complete and total imposter in my own studio. Let me be clear. This was ALL me. They did nothing, said nothing. There was no judgement from anywhere except my own brain. Nothing actually happened or changed, except my own thought pattern, and thankfully at this point in my life I was able to quickly recognize exactly what was happening and stamp out the negativity really quickly. My client loved her images. Of course she did, she was incredibly beautiful and I am professional whose job is to make people like ever MORE beautiful. But it is that easy for us to suddenly feel like a fraud, and if we aren't aware we can quickly spiral into believing it and acting accordingly. This is SO dangerous to our lives and businesses. You start second guessing and suddenly boundaries disappear, compromises are made, discounts are given and it is all because of your own thoughts and feelings, not because of reality of anyone else's perceptions. Or even worse, other people's perceptions end up being shaped by your lack of confidence. Think you are a bad parent and feel super unsure of your decisions? Well, kids have the best BS meters I've ever seen and if you don't believe yourself when you tell them to do something there is a good chance they aren't going to do it. Lacking total confidence in your job? No one is going to put their faith in you. I remember starting out as a baby photographer and my clients would walk all over me. They would try to change the way the baby was posed, move the lights, tell me we needed to go to a different spot, ignore my requests to not try to get the baby's attention, and so many other things that completely messed up the session. It drove me nuts, because when super passive people came in and just sat quietly on the sidelines I could get great images, but as soon as parents with bigger personalities came in and started taking over it went downhill fast and I was never happy with the images. This wasn't their fault though. It was mine. MY lack of confidence in what I was doing made them view me as an amateur and second guess my abilities, so they would try to help me – even though they had even less clue about what they were doing and couldn't see the vision like I could. My lack of confidence meant we both lost out. As I gained confidence in my skills and developed a really good system of running my sessions I found I ran into less and less pushy parents, and more and more people trusted me to do my things and create their images while they relaxed and enjoyed the magic. I wish that I had realized this sooner though, that even though I was nervous I needed to show up confident in my skills and talents and take the lead. It would have led to a lot less stress for everyone involved. – So if you are just starting out please keep this in mind and learn from my mistake! Now obviously we have to have some self awareness. Don't claim to be an expert if you don't know anything about the topic, or just started your journey this morning – we need to be as open to consuming information and content as we are to producing and sharing it - but also recognize that in your own field you probably have a lot of experience and knowledge that seems like no big deal to you, but is actually completely ground breaking for someone else. My sister illustrated this beautifully for me this morning. I do not consider myself to be an Instagram expert by any means. As much as I want to love it I just don't find myself spending a ton of time of the app, and consistently fail to be consistent when it comes to sharing stories and posting. I have however done a ton of research because I knew it was something that would help my business, I hoped that I would learn to love it (who knows, maybe someday I will) and I knew that my listeners and other photographers in the industry needed help with it. So, tons of research done so that I could produce episodes to help myself and others be more effective with the platform. I used my own tips for a while to make sure that it worked and the research was accurate, but then fell off the bandwagon. Sometimes I look at my numbers and feel like a fraud for releasing those episodes on Instagram. Why am I pretending to have knowledge on this when I have such a small following? But then my sister texted me this morning, with a  screen shot of her Instagram profile and the comment “Your Instagram tips really worked!” She had gained over 2000 followers since putting my tips into practice, and is seeing a dramatic climb. A great reminder that while sometimes we feel like the things we are doing aren't having an impact – they are. Its easy enough to wake up feeling like we don't know much or don't have anything to offer the world, to guide and contribute to the lives of others – not only in business, but life in general – and this is such a horrible thought, because contribution is so huge to our happiness. We need to give in order to feel fulfilled. We need to understand that we are not only participating in the world, but contributing to its success as well. So while it may be easy to fall into this trap, if you look at your experiences, education and accomplishments you can probably really quickly list a ton of ways that you can help others. Maybe you had to go dairy free and can share all of the amazing recipes you have learned and substitutes you have found. Maybe you have raised a child with ADHD and can support other parents who are just starting their journey. Maybe you have a killer weight loss or strength program that you tailored to yourself after having a baby. Maybe you have spent time learning the ins and outs of marketing on social media or know how to make a fool proof budget. You don't need to have a masters or PHD in any of these topics to be able to help someone else, you just need to look down the ladder to see who is a few rungs behind you, who hasn't had the experience or opportunity to learn the things that you have and then share that with them. There are so many things that we each learn in life based on our own experiences and it means that each and every one of us has SOMETHING to offer and those things are valuable – both as a contribution to society and in many cases, monetarily. Don't doubt your worth. Don't doubt that you are worth charging for your skills and talents in your business, or that you are a valuable contributor to our society, because ironically that doubt actually takes away from your value. So next time you feel like a fake or a fraud, just remind yourself that no one knows everything, everyone is learning as they go and you have so much to offer this world. Allowing yourself to get swallowed up by feelings of inadequacy is only going to deprive the rest of us from sharing in your gifts or benefiting in your knowledge. Get out there and spread around your knowledge, your talents, build your business and trust that as you improve your life, you will also be helping others and improving their lives as well. We all rise when we lift each other. If you are looking for more connection, to learn from and share with others, please come join us in the Updraft Insiders group on Facebook, or if you are a photographer join the group Newborn and Baby Photographers Beyond the photos. I am hoping to build up communities where we can support each other in our journeys and want to be able to help as many of you as possible! Connect with Annya Website Instagram Facebook Updraft Insiders Group Newborn & Baby Photographer - Beyond the Photos Group  

Learn how to pitch podcasts to gain exposure for your personal brand or business. Kelly is walking us through the process from one sheets and media kits, to selecting the perfect show and landing a spot as a guest!  Connect with Kelly  Website Instagram Facebook  Connect with Annya  Website  Instagram Updraft Insiders on Facebook

This week is all about simplicity, how less can so often be more, and how this can all translate into better sales and happier customers in your business. Years ago I was listening to a photographer on Creative Live speaking about how she only had one package, and I thought she was nuts. I was offering my clients all sorts of things. Different packages. Different products, and all sorts of options for each. I wanted them to have freedom and choice. I wanted to make sure that I had something for everyone and for every need. I wanted them to feel like a kid in a candy store with a million options and to know that I had thought of everything. So this concept of only offering clients ONE package and having a take it or leave it attitude about it seemed completely crazy to me. And yet… here she was, speaking on Creative Live about her success. Her numbers were way better than mine, she was booking like crazy and seemed to be having a great time in all of it. I on the other hand was struggling so hard. I was a single Mom who had about a 1.68 in my bank account, no clue where my next sale was coming from and a whole heap of fear that I was going to fall flat on my face and fail not only myself, but the little boy that I had brought into this world and loved so fiercely. So I listened to her. For a while I did her one package system. It worked. Since then I have flipped it around a few times, but I never have more than a few options at a time. I will never go back to having a novel for a price list, and offering my clients a million different choice. Since listening to her I have actually done my own research on the topic as well, and I completely understand why what she said makes so much sense, and it all basically boils down to one thing, that most of us are bombarded with every single day – overwhelm. If a customer or client walks into your store, or is browsing the options on your website and there are too many choices they will get overwhelmed, frustrated, sometimes even angry, and they will walk away. Decision fatigue is real guys! Their brain becomes exhausted from trying to sift through all of the choices and figure out what makes the most sense for them. They get discouraged, feeling like they might make the wrong choice, and then they either opt to not buy or they go to a competitor who has simplified the process. There was a study done in 2000 by psychologists Sheena Iyangar and Mark Lepper, who did a series of tests to see how consumers reacted to choice. They did things like setting up a table of jams in a grocery store and tracking how many people came to look, and how many purchased. On one day they would have 24 exotic jams to choose from. There were sales people there to offer free samples so people could test and trial, peruse all of the jams and then make a purchase if they wanted to. The next day they would run the exact same process, but only have 6 different flavours of jam to choose from. The result was that while more people were attracted to and came to see the 24 jam set up, they were almost 10X more likely to actually make a purchase when visiting the 6 jam set up. 10X! That is huge! They repeated similar trials with chocolates, and then even with university students and an extra credit essay assignment, and the result was the same. When offered a chance to write an essay for extra credit, students were far more likely to follow through and earn the extra credit if they were given a short list of 5 essay topics to pick from, than an extensive one with 30 topics listed. What is happening here? Especially in the case of the jam, when having more options attracted way more people, which you would think was a good thing, except that the higher traffic didn't actually result in any more sales – just empty traffic. In the case of the higher traffic it is likely that people who weren't actually interested in purchasing jam that day where drawn in out of pure curiosity. 24 flavours!? Whoa! What are the options? Kiwi jam? Weird, what does that taste like? They are curious, so they stop, but they never intended to buy jam and they likely won't. The 6 flavours on the other hand weren't interesting enough to cause a commotion and draw people in – unless of course they actually needed to buy jam that day, and then they would wander over and be able to find what they needed – in fact they probably were able to find what they need as well as a bonus option or two. Just enough to be interesting without being overwhelming. This actually relates really well to what I said in episode 20, about long tail and short tail keywords and SEO. The curiosity factor of the 24 flavor jam stand brought in lots of traffic, just as a short tail keyword would. It's not targeting a super specific category or people, it's just reaching out to anyone and everyone. Good for exposure, but not necessarily going to translate directly to sales. The 6 flavour jam stand however it appealing to those people who actually want to buy jam, and are ready to buy jam, just like a super specific long tail keyword would be. So by getting specific you are able to target the exact people you need to reach in order to make sales instead of wasting your time, or advertising budget, screaming at the masses. Now add to that the fact that choice is overwhelming and you can see why less is more, and simplifying equal sales. When I first became a Mom I decided I wanted to use cloth diapers. They were better for the environment, had a ton of benefits to my child – less diaper rash, less exposure to chemicals, less leaks, and all importantly they were going to be WAY cheaper in the long run and as a broke single Mom that was huge. I almost didn't do it though. I started looking at different options for diapers and the choices were endless. There were prefolds and pocket diapers, hemp vs microfibers, sizes or a one size that grows with them, there were liners and diaper sprayers, brand after brand, all offering so many choices and non of it making any sense to me. I had ZERO clue what would work best and where to start and had I not had a lovely friend reach out and offer to educate me as well as lend me hers so I could test them and see what I liked there is no way I ever would have come to a decision. There were just to many options and all of it felt like it was written in a different language. A few years in, by the time my second child rolled around and I found myself needing to go out and purchase a new set of cloth diapers it was a completely and totally different experience. I knew what I was looking for. I understood all of the terms and what they meant, so it wasn't hard to sift through a bunch of information and options anymore. I was a pro at that point and so I could relatively quickly find what I needed and make a purchase. As business owners this is a key piece that we are so often missing. We look at our offerings – our package, price list, menu, whatever and it all looks pretty straightforward. We might even ask a friend in the industry and they confirm for us – yep, makes sense, looks good. What we are forgetting though is that our clients don't spend all day immersed in our world. They don't understand the basic structures, what is typically offered or included, even what some of the terms – that are so obvious and clear to US – mean.  They are looking with completely fresh and often totally uneducated eyes and what looks simple to us is completely out there to them. So as business owners we need to simplify as much as we can, and be ready to walk them through anything that is even remotely complicated or confusing to someone who is new to the process. Don't get frustrated with people when they thought something was included that wasn't or they completely miss what you thought was clearly stated – take the opportunity to review the information you are presenting and see if there is a way to make it even simpler. Clearer. Simplifying is especially important when people are looking to make a quick and easy choice and don't want to spend a lot of time on the decision, when the product or service itself is already complex, when it is difficult to compare alternatives (which often happens in oversaturated and unregulated markets when people are comparing a million different businesses who are all structured completely differently – ahem, photographers, I'm look at YOU) or when the consumer doesn't have a clear preference. Another perk to having a less is more structure to what you are offering is that it increases the likelihood that your customers walk away happy. You would think that having a ton of options to please every single taste and personality would mean that your customers and clients would be that much more satisfied at the end of the transaction but in reality it actually just increase the likelihood of buyer's remorse. Having to choose one out of 15 options means that they are more likely to question if they made the right decision, and have them keep coming back to it in their mind and questioning if they should have gone with something else. Basically they are sitting there enjoying their strawberry ice cream but keep wondering if maybe they should have gone with chocolate peanut butter (always… dude if you picked strawberry over chocolate pb then you are right to be questioning) or if old fashion vanilla would have been right. And when its ice cream, then whatever it was a few bucks and they can just go get another one the next day, or when they are finished the one they are eating, but when we are talking hundreds, or thousands of dollars spent then that little bit of doubt can really tank their overall feelings about the experience they just had. The last thing we want is for the client to second guess the amazing product or experience that you provided. First of all it can cause all kinds of customer services nightmares after the fact, and second it reduces the chances that they rave to their friends! We want them raving guys, you want them loving you and telling everyone they know that they love you! The point of all of this is that if you want to have a successful business you need to make everything about the process as resistance free as possible. Legit, I am sitting here and an email pops up from one of the people I follow. I love her. She was the reason I got into podcasts, and the person who inspired me to start this podcast in the first place. So when she emails I read it. When she asks me to do something or suggests I signed up for it I generally do. Now you ready for my embarrassingly ridiculous confession? In this email she provides a phone number to text, or a link to click on, so that we can now text each other, and I can receive her updates via text. Now I get that this doesn't mean that we are going to be pals texting into the wee hours of the night in a one to one conversation about business, life and babies BUT I actually am cool with being on her text list so that when she sends out what I assume will be mass updates, I will receive them. And the silly part? I click the link and it brings me to a text box to send a message. But I don't. Why? She didn't tell me what to say. I have zero clue where this text is actually going and no one said what to type. Am I actually messaging her directly and should just say “hey how's it going?” or is it some sort of bot and any random string of letters or numbers would do? Should I type “subscribe” and send that? See I told you it was embarrassing! I am CLEARLY over thinking, it does NOT matter what I type, and this is DEFINITELY one of those times where I will be on the extreme end because my brain is just naturally over analyzes everything and that little bit of social anxiety is stubborn as heck and won't let go but guess what happened? I clicked out of her email and came back to what I was doing, writing this episode! I might remember to go back in. I might decide to just send any random message, but honestly with as busy as we all are these days it is equally possible that I will forget, and I won't sign up. It's a perfect illustration of how even the slightest complication or confusing can cause a person to walk away without making a purchase or in this case, signing up. So make sure as you outline your business, your services, products or other offerings that there is no resistance. Be ready to assist your customers with a smile and endless patience, but try to set it up so that they feel like that is just a bonus, not that they are drowning in options and need to you to save them. Get in touch with Annya  Website  Instagram Updraft Insiders on Facebook          

The topic for today's post came from hanging out in different groups online, as well as questions that I have been asked repeatedly by coaching students – how do I get clients, how do I build a portfolio when I'm first starting out, is it wrong to work for free? I'm willing to bet that photographers aren't the only people that contemplate this. I am sure we aren't the only industry that is offered intense gigs in exchange for exposure, or struggles to get clients to put value in our services without being able to show what we can do, or have testimonials and reviews that let potential clients know that we do, in fact, know what we are doing and don't suck. Here's the thing though, in an oversaturated and often severely undervalued market the other photographers do NOT want to see people working for free. It hurts their hearts. People rant and vent online about how all of the fauxtographers (aka fake photographers) are ruining the industry by giving it all away for free, or at such a low price that they can't possibly be making a profit and they are bringing the entire industry down. People get passionate and HEATED on this topic. So then you start to see all of these new photographers who want to do well in the industry but are at a complete loss at how to get their first few clients. Fair… why on earth would you shell out hundreds of dollars to have someone take pictures of your family, or even crazier, let them handle you brand new, less than 2 week old baby – with no proof that they actually know what they are doing, can deliver a valuable product and provide a good experience at the same time. Of course by the time you are starting to look for clients you WILL be ready, properly trained after taking the time (and potentially money) to educate yourself, but how do you prove that without having solid testimonials or a portfolio to back you up? It's going to be really, really hard. So… should they work for free? Or not? Or an experienced photographer that is looking to try something new, switch their style and target a new clientele… or is experiencing total crickets in their inbox and either misses shooting or needs fresh images to post to social to keep it active. What SHOULD they do? A lot of people aren't going to like this answer. But my answer is, yes, sometimes we need to work for free. Sometimes it is going to be the most effective and fastest way to build your business, make connections and get reviews or testimonials. You might take a little heat – I can pretty much guarantee I will take a little heat just for saying it, but its true. AND there are ways of doing it without complete dragging the industry down with you, or ending up known as the cheap photographer. Now I'm obviously not recommending that photographers, or any other person offering a product or service, spend much time in this free zone – in fact I would rather you spend as little time there as possible AND end up making a little bit of money (more on that in a second) while you are at it to help offset your costs. But I do think there is value in offering a up your product or service to the RIGHT people, under the RIGHT circumstances for free. Think of it as an unpaid internship. The value you are receiving in this trade is the experience, the referral and the portfolio. There are tons of careers that start out with an unpaid internship – or in some cases you actually have to pay to play. University and college educations do not come cheap, but we invest in our education. This is the same principle. You are investing in experience. Experience is huge. It is 100% worth the trade. It will give you confidence. It will give you information on your ideal client – who they are, how to find them and what they want or need from you. It will give you credibility. In the case of someone who is just starting out it will also give you insight into if you are even headed in the right direction. Ok, so I need to stop for just a quick second and tell you about this week's sponsor – Flodesk. Flodesk is an email management tool that will help you create the most beautiful emails that your clients will absolutely love opening – with very little effort. They offer gorgeous, customizable templates that are a breeze to use. Flodesk also has fantastic, responsive customer support and a very active facebook group where you can ask questions, get ideas and hang out with other creative entrepreneurs. Best of all, they are offering the Updraft Listeners 50% off the LIFETME of their membership when you go to annyamiller.com/flodesk, AND they have a flat fee per month which means that your costs won't skyrocket as your list grows!! So how do you use working for free to your advantage, without being labelled as cheap and getting stuck in that zone? You set major boundaries to start. Free jobs should always be treated as if they were paid. They need a contract. Expectations need to be set. You need to be SUPER clear on what you are and are not offering. Tell them exactly what is going to be included in the transaction. Do not be willing to bend over backwards because you are so excited to get a client in front of you. You want to be picky and get the RIGHT client, who will respect you, your craft and your time. One of the biggest pitfalls with working for free is that people often don't care if they don't have skin in the game. They will be late, flake out, try to walk all over you and get more than what was offered. This is why choosing the RIGHT person to work with, and then setting super clear expectations and boundaries backed by a contract is huge. Select someone that is your ideal client. Not just any person that is breathing, but someone that you would want to work with as a seasoned pro. For photography this can also mean taking aesthetics into account when selecting the people you will work with. If you are working towards shooting a high end clientele who is very fashion forward then doing portfolio building sessions with lovely people who have zero fashion sense and didn't bother to do their hair isn't going to work. Likewise, if you want to focus on weddings then shooting babies is going to be a waste of your time, and if you want to photograph newborns then photographing your best friend's engagement session isn't really going to move the needle. Another thing I would build into the agreement is permission to use any images of the final product or result in your advertising and portfolio, and willingness to write you a short testimonial or review providing they are pleased with your performance. This is SO important as it will give you a base to build trust with future clients. They are going to be way more willing to hire you if they know that someone else did and they had a great result. Honestly, my experience is that MOST people are going to be more than willing to help you along in your journey. Most of us are rooting for each other - but it is still super important to have it all clearly outlined. Imagine being a photographer and offering a free model session to someone, LOVING the work that you deliver and then finding out after the fact that they don't allow their images to be shared online. Well now that just turned into a pretty big waste of time now didn't it? While setting the expectations in your contract you also need to cover EXACTLY what is included, and any fees that would apply should they want something above and beyond this – because yes, you are doing this for free, but that doesn't meant that there shouldn't be any opportunity for you to make a bit of money if they want to go above and beyond what is offered. So be sure to outline exactly what is included from time spent to product delivered and everything in between, as well as making pricing clear for any add ons that might be available. You need to be transparent and upfront so that you don't end up accidentally damaging the trust you are working so hard to build. They need to know precisely what to expect walking in, and be very clear on any potential costs or upgraded. I also recommend being clear on the fact that this is an experience building or portfolio building offer, and share what your prices will be once this introductory offer has passed. This will let them know what to expect should they refer a friend or come back to you to do more business in future, and take some of the pressure off of you if you don't know the answer to a question and have to look it up or need to take a look at your reference notes. Ok so who SHOULD work for free and who shouldn't?? I'm going to give my opinion but honestly its something that will vary person to person based on hundreds of factors including their willingness, their resources, connects, confidence, etc. Working for free is great when you are just starting out and need to build a base. That one we have covered. It is also great in the rare case where the exposure actually IS worth it. Creatives, especially those with service based businesses will get a TON of job offers that say they pay in exposure. 90% of the time this isn't actually going to benefit you as we can't feed exposure to our families, but in a case where they have a large, relevant platform and are willing to share your work along with a glowing review – it might be worth your time. Another instance where exposure is worth it is when something will look amazing on your resume or give you a ton of credibility. Taking on an incredible project or working with a high profile person – that is again relevant to your ideal audience, might be worth it. Another place where it might pay off to work for free is if you are trying to pivot, or are changing who you are looking to work with. It will give you a chance to update your resume or portfolio, as well as help you to network in those circles. You might also be willing to work for free for a close friend or family member, but I would caution to be careful on that one as it can be a slippery slope… I hear a lot of horror stories from people who have been completely taken advantage by family members (who given the benefit of the doubt probably had no idea of the costs/time involved in their request) and end up feeling resentful and bitter. Be careful there, and again set clear boundaries about what you will and will not do. Finally, work for free when it supports a cause or mission that you are super passionate about. Let me say that again, it is wonderful to work for free when it is in support of a cause or mission that YOU are super passionate about. YOU. Not your friend, your Mom, or the lady down the street that thinks that you SHOULD care about the cause. YOU. You need to be passionate about it because otherwise it won't feel uplifting and like a labor of love, it will be annoying, frustrating and make you resentful. Having a business puts you in an amazing position to donate your time and skills to the causes you love though and while it may or may not move the needle on your business, it will feel great. For instance, 10 years ago I decided to start a Halloween Fundraiser. The basic idea is that I would set up a Halloween set for 4 hours on the last Sunday of October, and parents could bring their kids in costume, along with a donation for the local food bank, and I would provide them with a free printed 4x6 image of their kid. Over the years this has grown, from a tiny little event in my Mom's garage, to a huge one hosted by our local Toyota dealership with hundreds of people, about a dozen volunteers, entertainment, food and a TON of donations. It's a massive amount of work. Every year as we are prepping for it I wonder if I should stop – but the truth is that it lights me up, I feel amazing after and I am always SO proud of our team and the amount that we raise to support the food bank. It's worth it to me, and it's done on my own terms. It doesn't make a measurable difference to how many bookings I get in a year, and I definitely don't make any money on the event – it actually costs quite a bit to run – but it's worth it, and in times where you get so much personal satisfaction and can help the community, I feel it is completely and totally justified to work for free. Finally, when SHOULDN'T you work for free? I would say that any time you think about a prospective job and feel in any way negative about it. Annoyed. Frustrated. Undervalued. All of these feelings are a good indicator that this isn't a good fit and you shouldn't do it. Know your worth, respect your time and the time that the job will take away from your loved ones and make a decision according to that. Do not get stuck in the trap of feeling like you won't be able to get work if you are charging – do a few jobs to get your foot in the door and have something to show potential clients and then start standing by your prices. You are worth it, and you do deserve to be paid.

Learn how you can make small changes to have a big impact on the environment. Elsbeth is giving us some easy to implement tips so that we can all help in curbing climate change. Get in touch with Elsbeth  Website  Instagram  Email - practicallyzerowaste@gmail.com Get in touch with Annya  Website  Instagram Updraft Insiders on Facebook

There is a statistically proven way to become 30X more successful and yet less than 3% of people are actually doing it. Oh, and it will make you happier too. Sounds like a no brainer right? Listen in and learn how setting goals can literally change your life!  Get in touch with Annya Website  Instagram Updraft Insiders on Facebook

In this episode, Allison is breaking down Instagram stories - and how to use them to create engagement and grow your following.  Allison is a Brand Strategist and lifestyle stock photographer. She provides the fun and creative stock photos busy mompreneurs can't live without. Allison also hosts her Podcast, Social Media for Mompreneurs. Each week, the show helps busy moms build their brand online in just minutes a day--even when those minutes are hard to come by. Allison believes social media should be fun and easy, not daunting! With her sassy and fun personality, mixed with her creativity and love for sweatpants and jewelry, she's able to deliver the simple and creative tools to help mompreneurs boost their business with confidence and ease. Connect with Allison Instagram Website Resources allison@bossladyinsweatpants.com  EBook Connect with Annya  Website  Instagram Updraft Insiders on Facebook

Recently I was able to use my email list to make over $17k in just 2.5 weekends. Learn how to use your email list to bring in more clients, more money and serve on a far more personal level!! 

On this episode I am chatting with Stefanie Gass, my friend, mentor and the woman who helped get the Updraft Podcast up and running!  Stef helps mompreneurs create passive income businesses that light them up! Fueled by Jesus, iced coffee, & toddler snuggles, Stef is both an exceptional mama AND an extremely successful entrepreneur. Stef's call is empowering women to claim their BEST lives by working less, yet making more. She believes that when we let God's miracles light our path, we will profit from our passions, live proactively, & design a life that fuels our soul. She believes we can actually have it all. Get in touch with Stefanie Gass Podcast Website Instagram Community Is Podcasting Right for You? Free Quiz and 10 Steps to Podcasting webinar Get in touch with Annya  Website  Instagram Updraft Insiders on Facebook

At this time of year so many of us are feeling like we are completely spent, with nothing left to give. Here are my tips for practicing gratitude, stopping the comparison game and keeping your head above water. 

In this episode I am chatting with Tamika Woods - who promises to help us love our menstrual cycle! (Huh?!?) Tamika is a clinical nutritionist and fertility educator practicing in Bondi Beach, Australia. She works with women who suffer from period problems and fertility issues and helps them to identify the hormonal imbalances that are driving their symptoms and then support their body to find balance again. She is passionate about helping women achieve drama-free periods so that they can finally enjoy having a menstrual cycle, rather than fighting through symptoms all month long. She works with women 1:1 and creates programs to support groups of women all around the world. Get in touch with Tamika Instagram  Facebook Website  Email - tamika@nourishednaturalhealth.com Free Hormone Imbalance Quiz Free Hormone Imbalance Webinar  Get in touch with Annya Website  Instagram Updraft Insiders on Facebook      

I am just about to head into THE busiest month of the year, with over 55 sessions booked and climbing – actually by the time you are listening to this I will be right, smack in the middle of it. Over the years I have put systems in place to keep it flowing smoothly, and I have help, lots and lots of help, with all of the editing. I LOVE getting to see so many of my clients for Christmas sessions, but it still makes for a super wild, and super exhausting month, so this episode couldn't have come at a better time. It will be a great reminder for me, and a great reminder for any of you that have businesses that do a huge spike right before the holidays. Shout out to Nine ah for sending me a message asking me to cover what to do when you fall behind and just can't seem to get caught back up – love the topic and it's something that I have a LOT of practice with. I may have said this before, but we went from 1 kid, to 4 kids in only 4 months' time. We had moved in together the year before, Michael, Peyton and me, and then in December Elise was born. At that time we had pretty limited access to our older boys, Nathan and Anthony. Fast forward a few months, Elise is now 4 months old and we get a call saying we need to take my step sons full time – with just a few days' notice. I am SO glad we have them full time, and can't imagine life any differently at this point, but in those first few years it was CHAOS. Because the family had exploded in size over night and we hadn't raised them one by one there was no easing into it, and there were really no rules, routines or systems in place. So… we have 4 children ages 4 months, 3, 4, and 7 – 2 that had never really been exposed to routines or structure at that point and 2 who were too young for it to really matter. Now add in that Michael, my husband, was working CRAZY long hours, and because there is no maternity leave when you are self-employed, I was also back at work. Pure chaos. Michael and I tagged in an out, keeping moving at all times to make sure the ship stayed afloat. We were in a rough season financially as he had lost his job around the same time we found out we were pregnant, and had just started working again a month before Elise was born – so outsourcing and hiring help was off the table. For the most part we managed to keep things moving. It wasn't perfect. I learned how to apologize well and often for everything from forgetting appointments, to putting the wrong homework in the wrong backpack, and I learned some hard lessons about needing to let little things go and drop my standards just a touch. My business was much smaller back then and between myself and Michael we kept the balls in the air – most of the time. Unless. And this is a BIG unless. Anything went wrong. Especially if we got sick. And oh my goodness, it feels like we were sick every 3 days for years on end. 4 kids, none of whom had attended school regularly and built up their immune systems yet – they brought home ALL of the GERMS. Our house was just a never ending cycle of colds, gastro bugs and sore throats for years on end. If one of us got taken out (and we did, regularly) EVERYTHING fell apart. So… we had to become very efficient at catching up. When everything goes South it can honestly feel hopeless. There were so many times, and honestly there occasionally still ARE so many times where I feel like it will never get done, I am failing at everything and there is no point in trying. When it feels like this the first thing to do it take some really deep breaths, and remind yourself that you are amazing, and you CAN get this done. Then take another deep breath and take yourself through the actual worst case scenario. Will anyone die if the laundry doesn't get done? No. What about if you blow that deadline? Probably not… Sometimes taking a moment to actually go through the end result of something that feels super huge and super pressing can actually take some of the pressure off because we realize it isn't THAT big of a deal after all. Many of us, especially women, have a tendency to try to take on EVERYTHING and then put a huge amount of pressure on ourselves to accomplish this impossible mission. For many I think a lot of our value is wrapped up in this – being all things to everyone, doing everything. Truth is that when you breathe and look at the bigger picture, most of the things on our list aren't urgent and are not going to make a life or death level difference. The next thing I do is make a big fat to do list. Don't let yourself get overwhelmed by the list, it's just worlds on paper.  I make this list for a couple of reasons. 1 – It gets it out of my head and onto paper which frees up brain space. 2 – When I am that stressed I become scattered and start to forget what I need to do and 3 – it helps me to prioritize AND to make a To DON'T list. A to DON'T list is when you look at your to do list, and decide that there are things you are NOT going to do. I am NOT going to go buy a red/blue/green/black shirt for spirit day at school, because I don't have time. I am going to cancel that coffee date because I have so much going on that if I go I will be stressed an miserable the whole time. I am skipping this week's swimming lesson because I HAVE to. I am ordering in dinner because we need to eat. I am going to take it off the to do list, and dump it on the to don't list – and I am going to feel zero guilt about it because I am doing what I need to do to keep this ship floating. This list will look completely and totally different depending on what your priorities are and what your life looks like, but it can immediately take a huge weight off your shoulders. Next, take the remaining items on the list and prioritize based on deadlines. What is time sensitive? What absolutely needs to be done RIGHT NOW in order for life and work to keep moving smoothly? What needs to be done by tomorrow? Friday? Next week? Put your to do list in order based on the deadlines and urgency and then look at the tasks. Are there 2 with equal urgency and the same deadline? If so do the easy one FIRST. This will help you build momentum and feel like you have a quick win, giving you more energy and confidence to tackle the next thing on the list. Create an actual list that you can cross the items off – it feels great to see things getting ticked off the list! Sounds silly, but giving your brain little wins will make you far more likely to keep moving. So now we have our task prioritized and in order of how we are going to tackle them. Look at the list and see if there is ANYTHING on that list that can be outsourced, delegated or you can ask for help with. You don't need to be everything to everyone. You don't need to do it all yourself. Especially not when you are already drowning. Can you hire a cleaning service? Use a grocery delivery service? Hire a virtual assistant at work? Can you outsource any of the tasks in your business? Order that birthday gift, the jeans you need, or your child's school supplies online to save a trip to the store? Get a babysitter, extra daycare day or Mother's helper to watch the kids while you knock some stuff off the list? Side bar - Don't let the Mom guilt sneak in on this one. It is ok to send your child to daycare, Grandma or off with a fun babysitter to allow you to accomplish the tasks that NEED to be accomplished. Quite frankly they will probably have more fun off with someone else than they would with you when you are that stressed and busy, and you will be better able to shower them with love when they get back and you actually have time to dedicate to them. Seeing Mom take care of herself is the best way for your children to learn to do the same for themselves later in life. There is nothing wrong with giving yourself the time and space needed and likely it isn't permanent. Once you get caught up and things are under control you could even plan a one on one day with your kiddos. Are you repeating any tasks? Do you write the same email over and over? Copy it into a word doc that you leave open so you can literally copy/paste the email instead of typing over and over. Look at all areas of your business and life as you move through your list to find areas with repetition or cross over and see if you can systematize to make it more efficient. This is the perfect time for me to remind you about Dubsado. Dubsado is a customer relationship management tool that will help you keep your business running smoothly with proper systems and take a ton of the repetitive tasks off your plate. Having a CRM like Dubsado in place BEFORE you get behind, overwhelmed and start to drown is going to make it a) less likely to happen and b) SO much easier to get caught up! I use it to create pre written emails, send automated reminders and birthday wishes, collect payment, track contracts and more. Go to www.dusado.com  that d u b s a d o and enter the code “updraft” to save 20% off your first month, or year when you sign up for Dubsado. Ok so back to how we are going to get caught up… What about delegating? Are there tasks that could be passed on to a spouse, roommate, or your children? What about in your business? What can you pass on to a coworker, teammate, or assistant to ensure that is gets done? It's ok to ask for help. Again, I repeat it is OK TO ASK FOR HELP. Do not sit there waiting for someone to step in and save you. You don't have time for that right now, and chances are they are busy enough with their own life, thoughts and priorities to realize that you are drowning over there. And, guess what? When you ask someone to help you with something it does 2 things. It creates trust, and it makes it easier for them to reach out when THEY need help next time. Need an egg and the stores are closed? Which neighbor are you more likely to ask? The one that seems to have it all pulled together and never really talks to you much, or the one who admitted she was a hot mess last week and begged you to listen out for her sleeping baby while she ran to the store to grab formula before he woke up? We are more comfortable approaching people for help when they have approached us in the past – so reach out and let them know you need them! In general we are all WAY more willing to give help than to ask for it, so by reaching out you are actually making their life easier and creating a change in your community be it you family community, work community, or friend community. Worst case, they are swamped to and say no, but at least you know you tried! Ok so you have your To do list, your To don't list and you have it prioritized. You have outsourced, delegated, and asked for help with absolutely everything you could. Now it's time to take a good look at your life and the distractions in it. Here's the thing, most people, when they become overwhelmed tend to be far more susceptible to distractions than normal. We want to avoid the feeling of overwhelm so we buffer. Sometimes it's by stress eating or drinking wine, other times it's by getting sucked into social media or telling yourself you just NEED to unwind by watching some Netflix. I get it. Feeling overwhelmed sucks – but spending even 20 minutes of your precious time on Facebook, or watching TV, or stuffing your face with food that isn't doing much to fuel your body is just going to put you THAT much more behind and make you feel even MORE overwhelmed. So can those habits, remind yourself that this too will pass – and honestly it will pass as soon as you get hustling and get caught up and that you can reward yourself with a glass of wine or handful of chocolates and some guilt free TV time once you are caught up. Still with me? Hopefully you are listening to this episode in a season where this ISN'T happening and you can just have it in your back pocket for a time where everything goes off the rails. If you are in a place where you are completely behind and overwhelmed then honestly I'm really proud of you for making it this far because your stress levels are probably through the roof and you most likely feel like you don't have time to even listen to this, never mind take the time to implement all of these steps. But I promise, if you do it will save you time and effort in the long run – and we are almost there! The last step before you start working like crazy and knocking things off your list is to time block. This means setting an allotted amount of time for each task on the list, putting it on the schedule and focusing on that task and ONLY that task for the allotted amount of time. You won't always know how much time to give yourself – that's ok, just take your best guess and do everything in your power to make sure that it gets done within that time or sooner. Generally if you have 2 hours to complete a task it will take you two hours. But if you only have an hour you will get it done in an hour. Think about when you clean your house, and how much you can get accomplished in a half hour when someone calls out of the blue and says they are dropping by to say hi vs. when you have the entire day to clean. If you are anything like me you would get more done in that half hour of panic that someone is going to walk in and think that you have been robbed because it looks like a bomb went off in the living room, than you would in 3 hours on a day where there was no real deadline in sight. Likewise I don't think there is anyone more productive than a Mompreneur at nap time. And if this is you – if you only have nap time to work, then make sure you are using that time for the things that you couldn't possibly do when baby was awake. There are things you can do – housework for example, with a baby on your hip – but tasks that take more brain power and focus are going to need to happen when that baby is sleeping – so plan ahead for that! During the time that you have given yourself to complete each task you are going to focus ONLY on that task. No other tabs open on your browser. Phone set to silent or do not disturb. Get your work station organized with water so you aren't getting distracted by going and getting some. Your brain will WANT to find ways out of it. Whenever I sit down to accomplish something my brain always decides it's thirsty, it's hungry, oh I should check in on Facebook! NO! We don't have time for that, so plan ahead, remove all potential distractions, set yourself up with everything you will need and stick to the deadline you have set for yourself. You will be amazed at how much you can actually accomplish when you are set up this way. All of this, and there might be some balls that still get dropped. I guess that is where learning to apologize well and often, and learning to lower your standards in the really tough seasons of life comes in. Done is better than perfect. Show yourself some love and grace. Think about how you would react to a loved one if they failed to come through and then show yourself the same compassion that you would show them. If you prioritized your list and worked through systematically then whatever didn't get done should be of lesser importance than what you did accomplish, you have accomplished a ton and that is something to celebrate.

Elisha Weger is an award winning photographer with a background in business and today we are talking about all things baby photography and running a successful business. Connect with Elisha Facebook Facebook - Elisha and Co. Coaching Instagram: Elisha and Co Instagram: Elisha and Co Coaching Website  Connect with Annya  Website  Instagram Updraft Insiders on Facebook

I'm dishing my best tips and tricks for you to take better photos! Be it for social media, business and branding or capturing your beautiful camera - with a cell phone camera OR a DSLR, I've got you covered! Connect with Annya  Website  Instagram Updraft Insiders on Facebook  

Laura Beauparlant - award-winning international keynote speaker, an expert on branding and design and the author of Brand Chemistry - is giving us her tips and tricks for finding and attracting the ideal client for our business, while helping us avoid some major branding pitfalls! This episode is FULL of great information that I know will help all of us in our business building goals!  Get in touch with Laura Website  Get the Book Free download  email: laura@labcreative.ca Linkedin Facebook Instagram Twitter Get in touch with Annya Website  Instagram Updraft Insiders on Facebook

Looking to improve your SEO ratings and hit page 1 of Google? This one is for you my friend! I am breaking down my favourite SEO tricks and tips so you can get started in climbing the rankings!   Get in touch with Annya  Website Facebook Community  Instagram 

In today's interview Maggie Tyson and I are talking about the ins and outs of SEO and content creation. As a writer, editor, content creator and strategist Maggie is able to provide actionable tips on how we can increase the visibility of our site as well as the user experience. Get in Touch with Maggie Website Instagram hello@maggietyson.com  Get in Touch with Annya  Website  Instagram Updraft Insiders on Facebook  

If you are struggling with meal time drama, picky eating, kids popping up and down from the table - then this one is for you! I am diving into all of the strategies that we have used to encourage our 4 kids to try new foods, stay at the table and reduce the drama.  Connect with Annya  Website  Instagram Updraft Insiders on Facebook

Listen in on a conversation between myself and Allison Nelson, co founder of the Nelson Company. We are chatting all about creating an ecommerce store, and the challenges and benefits that we face as female entrepreneurs.  Get in touch with Allison Instagram Facebook Website Freebie! 8 Steps to Becoming Your Own Boss  Get in Touch with Annya  Website  Instagram Updraft Insiders on Facebook

Today is all about Instagram - post strategy, engagement and building connections! Learn the dos and don'ts, what mistakes could cost you your account and how to beat the algorithm to reach the most people possible.  Connect with Annya  Website  Instagram Updraft Insiders on Facebook

Karen Clark Salinas is a national board certified health and wellness coach and founder of Rebalance Wellbeing. She coaches very busy women who risk chronic health issues from constantly putting themselves last. Karen helps them take better care of themselves through mindset, healthy living, and happiness practices so that they have the time and energy to put their dreams, goals, and priorities first—at least some of the time. Today she is joining me on the Updraft Podcast to have a conversation about Wellness in Motherhood, including 3 small changes you can make to get BIG energy!  Get in touch with Karen Website Facebook Instagram Take the Wellness Quiz! Get in touch with Annya  Website  Instagram Updraft Insiders on Facebook    

A few weeks ago we covered pricing - now I want to talk about how to add value, so that you can INCREASE your pricing and make MORE money! In this episode I am diving into 4 ways you can increase the value of your service or product to better serve your ideal client, create raving fans and grow your business.  Get in touch with Annya  Website Instagram Updraft Insiders on Facebook

Tom & Ariana are peeling back the curtain on how they have created 3 businesses that allowed them to quit their jobs and live the life they always wanted. Listen in as we chat about how they did it, how they manage and maintain their lifestyle on a day to day basis and their advice to anyone starting a new business.  Connect with Tom & Ariana Facebook Instagram   Twitter Youtube  Pinterest LinkedIn  Website Order Their Book Connect with Annya  Updraft Insiders Instagram   Show Notes

In this episode I want to share a part of my story. It is ugly, it is sad, it is vulnerable but I strongly believe that shame cannot live in the light, in the open and that people all over can be helped by hearing it. I want anyone who is in this situation or knows someone who is to have a better understanding of how it happens, why we stay and to know that there is a GORGEOUS life waiting on the other side of domestic violence.  If you or someone you know is in an abusive situation - be it financial, physical, emotional, sexual, control related or any type - please know that help is available. See links below for help in your area: Australia  Canada China New Zealand  USA  Europe   Get in touch with Annya  Website Instagram Updraft Insiders on Facebook

Listen in on my candid interview with Samantha Johnston as we talk about all things entrepreneurship including building a business and managing the overwhelm that so often goes along with it, giving back and working with non profits as well as some tips on creating your brand.  Connect with Samantha  Facebook Instagram   Pinterest Website  samantha@neapolitancreative.com Connect with Annya Updraft Insiders Instagram   Show Notes 

This week we are diving into Instagram - and how to get it to work for YOUR business! Learn how to adjust your profile so that it converts views to actual living, breathing followers, and how to strategically use hashtags to reach a wider audience.  I have done all the research for you, and I'm breaking it down in this episode - this is one you don't want to miss!!  Connect with Annya Updraft Insiders Instagram   Show Notes 

Erika Ames from Tailwinds Counselling is joining us today for an interview all about perfectionism and how it holds us back in life and business. We are chatting about how to recognize the signs of your perfectionism (even when it is being sneaky) and how to move past it to live your best life and reach your biggest goals.  Connect with Erika Facebook Instagram - @PreviouslyPerfect Website Stuck on Perfect workbook with accompanying audio Email Connect with Annya Updraft Insiders Instagram   Show Notes 

We are covering all things pricing today! How to figure out what to charge, how to deal with customers who disagree, and how to let go of the money mindsets and limiting beliefs that hold you back. If you are running a business or planning to start one you NEED to listen to this episode all about how to Fix Your Pricing Problems! Connect with Annya Instagram Updraft Insiders Show Notes

Andrea Fuller from Fuller Digital Strategy is on the Updraft Podcast to talk to us about Digital Marketing Strategy - what that means, how to develop one, and how to find a good strategist when you are ready to work with one. We are also touching on SEO and different strategies that will help you site rank higher with the big search engines. I learned a ton from this episode and I think you will too!  Connect with Andrea: Twitter LinkedIn Website Free DL of How to Beat Your Competition Connect with Annya/Updraft  Facebook Community Instagram: @annya.miller Show Notes

The struggle is real - how do you get your kids attention, and get them to do what you need them to do without loosing your cool or raising your voice? This episode covers 3 different strategies that you can put in place to cut down on the chaos and build a better relationship with your Littles. These are all things I have used in my own home so I can tell you with confidence that they work!  Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/updraftinsiders/ Instagram: @annya.miller Show Notes: www.annyamiller.com/blog

Let's chat about why it is ESSENTIAL to carve out time and space for yourself - and some suggestions on how you might pull it off! Ensuring that your own needs are being met will increase your productivity both in the home and at work, and make you a better parent, partner and friend to the people you love.    Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/updraftinsiders/ Instagram: @annya.miller Show Notes: www.annyamiller.com/blog

Episode 4 - Join me in this episode to learn about 2 ways to get clients in the door NOW with Facebook Ads, Google Ads and Google Reviews. So simple, and super effective!  Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/updraftinsiders/ Instagram: @annya.miller Show Notes: www.annyamiller.com/blog