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Andddddddd.......We're Back.
48 Plays1 year ago
You missed us. We know it. You know it. The feeling is mutual.
We're excited to update you on what's been going on the last 10 months and where we are headed next for SEASON 2 of the Rule Followers Podcast. It'll be a little sweet, with a bit of spice, and sometimes, maybe not so nice. But you like it that way...don't you?
See you on the other side, RF.
xoxo
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Transcript
Return from Hiatus and Yearly Catch-Up
00:00:03
Speaker
I love role followers. We all back. We're back. Did you miss us? It's been how long? A hot minute. that's Like 10 months? Um, okay. Well, I think it was like, yeah, it was right before wedding season was kicking off ish. So yeah, almost a almost a year, which is wild.
00:00:30
Speaker
Oh my gosh. Time. Where are you? So for this episode, we're just going to do a cute little catch up. You can find out what was happening with us for the last year, last nine months. It wasn't a baby.
00:00:47
Speaker
That would be hilarious. We were just like, well, we just sat here yeah for 10 months.
00:00:54
Speaker
um So let's start. I was kind of thinking we could start just talking about our new year.
Personal Stories and Reflections from January
00:01:02
Speaker
Do we have some fun little cute things that have been happening or not so fun cute little things happening?
00:01:09
Speaker
Yeah, I have some fun cute little things happening. um So a couple of things for this new year. First of all, I was in Mexico for the actual new year. Mexico.
00:01:22
Speaker
And it did not start off that great because my child got extremely sick. And I was freaking out because she had a very high, very, very high fever, even though we couldn't find a baby thermometer in any stores to be able to verify that. But yeah she had a very high fever. Her throat hurt. She was coughing. and She was super lethargic. And I was literally up in the middle of the night, like trying to Google, how do I take my kid to the ER in Mexico? And Like looking at Alaska, like how how much would it cost to book a flight a couple days early? And it was just so expensive and thankfully JoJo was feeling better in the morning and we were able to make it through the last few days, but that was terrifying. Yeah. I also can't believe that it's still January. Like I feel like January flew by, but also it's been like five years inside of this January. I think it always feels like that, though. It always feels like we live a lifetime in January.
00:02:21
Speaker
Well, I feel like especially this year being that we are under a new administration. um I can't believe the number of things that have happened in the last eight days, but we'll get to that. The fun stuff is I did this thing.
Mindset Shifts and Personal Growth Strategies
00:02:36
Speaker
um with Lorcan Kendall called The Shift. It was basically like a 30-day intensive, so it's still going on about just like shifting your mindset and all this stuff. and It's interesting because a lot of the exercises are things that you and I have talked about that we've kind of been working on. so like
00:02:56
Speaker
cleaning out your junk drawers and cleaning out your house and setting these goals and getting real with your like money beliefs and it's all been really great and really fun and she's had some really cute um exercises where you make like aura boards and you make like an avatar. so I know you and I talk about like when we step onto a wedding day, like who is Jamie Ridgewood and who is Sarah M. Thompson? So you get to make this like avatar of like this inner badass you and you call upon her when you're not feeling it. So mine looks like Monon from Throne of Glass. I will never call her Monon.
00:03:36
Speaker
Do you just call her Manon? Yes, that's way better. No. It's Manon. Get the fuck out. I hate that so much. There's no sexy way to say Manon. Manon or not. Manon, Manon.
00:03:54
Speaker
We can discuss that later, but I feel like Sarah J. Moss would have corrected her audible narrator if it was Manon. No, I know that how you pronounce it is Manon. I read it, Manon, and when French people say the name, it is so soft. I think the way Americans say it, Manon, it's so like bonbon, and it's so like aggressive. I'm not going to try and do it the French way.
00:04:20
Speaker
Watch Great British. Yeah, exactly. That's beautiful. The way we fucking say it is disgusting and I hate us. Well, but when you think about her as a character, I don't think of her as a soft French character. I don't think of her as... Mona.
00:04:42
Speaker
OK, what are the fun things you've had, Jimmy? Wait, did you finish your thought?
00:04:51
Speaker
Your avatar. So mine looks like her because I feel like I'm currently i at a pause with a Throne of Glass. I'm rereading Fourth Wing so I can read Onyx Storm, but we still have to finish Kingdom of Ash, which I know is going to wreck me. But anyway, in that series, I just feel like she is continually this badass who just like, no shits, no fucks given. And that's kind of the person I need to be in my business this year.
00:05:22
Speaker
And I also like it because in her character arc, she grows a heart and has empathy. So it's like she's this badass that also cares. And I feel like that's who I am when I'm getting out of my own way. So that's who I am invoking for my 2025 spiritual guidance. Cute. She also gets Dorian, who's my book daddy. So Dorian's your book daddy. Yeah, he's my number one book daddy.
00:05:50
Speaker
Well, have you read Quicksilver yet? Yep. Okay. Cause I heard that King Fisher is the new book daddy. Okay. Well, we should have a whole episode about book daddies. Oh, we should. We should.
00:06:07
Speaker
Because I just finished Onyx Storm and everyone's putting Zayden as their- Don't tell me anything. I'm not going to, but everyone's putting Zayden as their Zaddy. And I just could give a fuck about him, to be honest with you. What? Okay, I just read chapter 30, a fourth wing, where they find it finally do the dirty. And I'm not gonna lie, I was so turned on by the end of Riddinette chapter.
00:06:33
Speaker
I was so turned on and my husband is reading it because he wants to read the books with me and he was at chapter 30 and he decided to go game and like he comes to bed and I'm like, sir, you need to go finish that bitch.
00:06:47
Speaker
Because if he had been reading it, it could have it could have resulted in a fun little evening for us. But I was in my turn on by myself. And honestly, I wanted him to take notes. So anyway, readers, you can go read that for yourself and get on.
00:07:08
Speaker
our level. Yeah. um Okay.
Reading Preferences and Literary Inspirations
00:07:11
Speaker
My January. um I always love a January because I am definitely like love the refresh after the holidays. I love making goals. So January is always feel pretty good to me.
00:07:27
Speaker
um I made a bingo card of goals which is fun because if you get bingos, you get ah you can make prizes for yourself essentially. So there's that. um i read I've read a couple really good books this month.
00:07:42
Speaker
I read another Jermaine fan fiction, which if you've been here a while, you know, I i love me some manacle. So I read my second ever Jermaine fan fiction, which is called The Auction. And for those of you that don't know, Jermaine fan fiction, we have three books from that world actually being published as real books this year. That's wild. Yep. So, Manna called the auction and then a fluffier one. I can never remember the title because it's long. But anyway, they're all becoming published this year. So fun. Obviously, a lot of it has changed to not be actually Draco and Hermione, but if you're a day one, then you know, you know.
00:08:25
Speaker
um And then I also read read ah The Will of the Many by James Islington, I think is his last name. And that book is just so fucking good. Like I can't, I can't.
00:08:38
Speaker
The writing is just so brilliant and I think that is part of why I struggled getting through Onyx Storm is because I read the auction and then Will of the Many and I would straighten to Onyx Storm and I needed a palette cleanser between because James is LinkedIn is so good at world building and character development and magic systems and all this stuff.
00:09:01
Speaker
And honestly, Rebecca Yarrows is just so-so. She's fine. I think this is probably the first fantasy she's written, and it shows, which is fine. I don't think it is. I think she wrote other things. I think they're contemporary, though. oh I might be wrong about that. don't Don't hold me to that. But anyway, so that was
Health Journeys and Lifestyle Changes
00:09:21
Speaker
all fun. And then the other thing I started this month, do we want to get into that?
00:09:27
Speaker
now. Yeah. Okay. So I decided to start taking GLP ones compound semaglutide, which is like a zempic will go be that whole thing. Um, and that may come a shock for anyone that has known me since I was a, um, what's that called? Not a crusader, but like, uh,
00:09:53
Speaker
Anyway, advocate. Yeah, I've always been very like plus size positive and body positive, which I still i am. I can still be those things and be taking this. Surprisingly, I still think everybody is a good body. I still think that.
00:10:12
Speaker
everyone, I don't think health is the marker of worth in a human being. I think everyone deserves equal treatment and et etc, etc, etc.
00:10:24
Speaker
I'm taking this mostly out of curiosity, just to like see how it affects me. And to be honest, so far I'm on week two or three now. I didn't really understand the idea of food noise being quieted until being on it and realizing what it's like. And I know a lot of people say that when they go on this.
00:10:44
Speaker
It is bizarre. Okay, explain. Yeah, so I'll be eating a meal, and I will get full, and I will stop, and there will be no question in my head that it's okay to stop. I would eat, and then I would get this panic in my body if I stopped eating. Like, you may never get this again. And then I would keep thinking about the taste, and I would keep thinking about wanting more, and like,
00:11:11
Speaker
I would eat like some more and then I would keep eating it or you know whatever it is and being on the meds it's just like giving me the capability to eat and stop when I'm full and there's no nothing else in my head going on. I can keep I can think about the next thing. That's wild. It's wild. And it's very hard to explain until you have experienced it. And obviously people just call it food noise. That's what the term that they they're using to talk about it is. So, yeah, in that way, it's been great. I haven't had too many symptoms that I know of. I went off alcohol when I started it. In a funny way, I have like a counter story to your story. um So I decided to drink more wine.
00:11:56
Speaker
Oh, I wish. No, I've actually, in the in the wine category, um Heath and I have gone sober. I don't have a an end date to mine, but Heath has decided he wants to do sobriety for a full year. That's my husband. So he's just like, I'm going to go a full year. And I'm just going to see how I feel. And I'm like, fucking fantastic. I love this for us. And so we haven't had drinks since January 3rd when we came back from Mexico.
00:12:24
Speaker
And honestly, I don't miss it. I truly don't like I have felt so much better. And what it's allowed me to do is I feel like I've finally like gotten back in touch with my body and like feeling like, I don't know, just being able to attribute my exhaustion to things other than just alcohol, or how I'm feeling in my body or how I'm feeling in my anxiety, because I feel like alcohol is the great masker. And so like it just kind of covers everything up. So I just feel like I've been able to get a lot more in tune with what's going on with my body, which leads me to my story that is opposite of your GLP one is that I was taking fentermine as an appetite suppressing. Cause I went to my doctor and I was like, look, I have been holding on to these like 40 pounds
00:13:11
Speaker
since a little bit before birth and through having Jojo and I just can't shake the baby weight and I don't know what's going on. Um, and so to like, I was a little disturbed because like I am not, I am considered the quote unquote obese category, but like if you were to look at me, I feel like I just look like a normal person, like a little heavier and she was willing to offer me, I was empic like out the gate and I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
00:13:38
Speaker
I'm not at risk for diabetes. like I'm just talking about like something feels off in my hormones. like I'm experiencing extreme exhaustion, like no matter how much sleep I get. We decided to try Fenturine. Fenturine is a stimulant that gives you a lot of side effects like Adderall does, and it just suppresses your appetite.
00:14:00
Speaker
And I will say that over the last few months of taking it, A, it did suppress my appetite, but my weight never changed. And I eat a pretty clean diet and I exercise regularly. And then um I realized I was developing a lot of side effects that I was not okay with. So like I was looking at my health app and my resting heart rate had increased by 10 to 12 beats per minute. Oh my gosh.
00:14:27
Speaker
and I was developing eczema on my eyelids and around my eyes, and it was very painful. And then I was also having insomnia and a couple of other things. And I was just like, this feels really weird. Like, what could this all be related to? So I looked up the Fentramine side effects and obviously, lo and behold, that's what they all were. And I was like, okay, well, clearly this drug isn't doing anything for me anyway. So I stopped cold turkey.
00:14:57
Speaker
resulted in a horrible migraine, but honestly, I haven't taken it since last Friday and we're recording this on a Tuesday. So I feel like I'm over the hump and I'm not going to like do any more tapering. um I will say I extremely miss the ah boost of chemical energy it gives you and this hyper focused sensation of what like Adderall is like.
00:15:22
Speaker
And I absolutely love that I would get so much shit done when I took that medication. um Like I have a ton of like back end stuff I've been working on things in my house and like I've just been able to like really power through a lot of that stuff. um But yeah, so I decided that instead of going back to my GP who no offense to her was not very helpful in this category. I have stopped alcohol. I have switched up my diet and exercise your routine. So I'm basically doing only Whole Foods.
00:15:51
Speaker
Um, keeping everything really clean. And if I want sweets, I have to bake them at home with organic products, like really trying to clean up my diet. And then, um, I have a natural path appointment in March to have someone actually look at my hormones. Cause like thyroid issues run in my family and I've always been like borderline. And so my GP, like my entire life, no matter who I've gone to, they're like, Oh, you're fine. You're within range. And I'm like,
00:16:17
Speaker
Yeah, but I'm getting older and like my symptoms are getting worse and I am so tired of being fucking tired all the time. Doctors, doctors for women, it's just so rough out there. I feel like we're constantly desolate. And my doctor is a woman!
00:16:34
Speaker
But it's the system of it, right? Yeah. I mean, it wasn't that long ago, I want to say like 30s, 40s, 50s, that doctors still had the mentality that like they knew what was best and the patient wasn't involved in the care decisions at all.
00:16:51
Speaker
Well, yeah. And then you find out that most medical studies have never involved women for the first time. I think in like 2023, they actually tested period products with female like period blood, like ah for the first time yeah ever.
00:17:10
Speaker
It's just, yeah, it's the the medical science world is absolutely mind boggling. And I think that like there's just a lot of disillusion. I'm very like disillusioned with a lot of institutions right now.
00:17:22
Speaker
And it's really, it's tragic guys. And that's part of why January has felt like a fucking lifetime. It's like when we were living through March of 2020 and you're like, holy fuck, it's still March. That's how I feel. Yeah.
Travel Excitement and Upcoming Adventures
00:17:35
Speaker
Guys, I'm going to Scotland and I'm going to England and I'm so excited.
00:17:42
Speaker
But you're doing it solo. Yes, which is even more fun. I yeah got the opportunity and I'm doing it for fun. I'm not going for work. um I do have a a wedding in Boston right before I go, which is kind of like a helpful catalyst, sort of like, oh, you're already halfway there. just go the rest of the way. But yeah, Edinburgh has been like my dream trip forever. And then I have a friend who does live in London, so I won't be alone the whole time. I have a friend who lives in London and she and I will go to Southampton for the second half of the trip, which is kind of at the bottom of England. Because we're going to go see Jane Austen's house and be cute.
00:18:25
Speaker
I'm so excited. I'm so excited for you. So you guys, if you're not following Jamie's personal account, you need to go to Ridgewood Films on Instagram because she has posted her whole all the little hotels she's found and they're so freaking cute. And like we all know that Jamie is um basically was born in the wrong era. Like she should have been amongst the books in the Victorian libraries. Yeah. and So those are going to be some big stops along her way. So I recommend following her just for the content purposes. Like yeah we are about to have a major FOMO over here. So what days are you going? So I go March 14th to the 25th.
00:19:09
Speaker
ah Amazing. I know. So I'll be there over my birthday, which is also loverly. But yeah, so yeah, I might drink on the trip. I'm actually not sure because ah sometimes people who drink on compound semaglutide will vomit. yeah Because alcohol fucks with your blood sugar so much.
00:19:33
Speaker
ah Well, what's really interesting is I think part of the reason why I've been driven to clean up our family's diet and to get off of alcohol is just because like I've been reading more articles about like like the true carcinogens that we have to worry about because like the statistic has increased now to where one in two people will have a cancer diagnosis in their life.
00:19:54
Speaker
So that's either me or my husband. And that really freaks me the fuck out. And so we have completely discontinued any sort of processed or lunch meat. Like we do not participate, which makes me so sad because I love a cold sub. but Like that is what I craved my entire fucking pregnancy. um And then alcohol. And I think for the most part, like even before reading that and how like the um CDC or the FDA wants to now put warning labels on alcohol bottles. um And it's like relation to cancer. I just like...
00:20:30
Speaker
Alcohol just wasn't doing it for me anymore. like There was no like happy, buzzy feeling, and then like being okay later, it was like, ooh, if I get the happy, buzzy feeling, we are not gonna feel good tomorrow. and so it just It just wasn't adding anything, and I think there's so many other things that I want to do with my time, my energy, and my money. I'm just like, you know what? I'm good on pressing the pause button for a
Exploring Healthier Habits and Routines
00:20:56
Speaker
while. yeah Well, and I used alcohol as like a mood stabilizer partly like I would get to the end of a day where I was just like I'm done being a mom I just want to like cook a good dinner and like sit on the couch and be done with life and like check out essentially Which it's fine guys. I'm mom to a three-year-old. So this is like normal ah Girl Jojo isn't even two and I'm like getting to that point
00:21:26
Speaker
But even if that is normal, it's not a good way to regulate your emotions. So of course, of course. And so I think Heath and I. So one thing that we've been doing is like instead of watching TV at night, we go upstairs and we read our books and we have sleepy tea and we have this like cozy romantic evening where we just have quiet time together. And sometimes he'll be like putzing on his phone or something. But ah really deleting or like putting your phone on silent and actually honoring the fact that your phone is on silent or in sleep mode, it really has changed my sleep patterns. And I really want to try to get maybe like the aura ring this year and see what other things I can track because I think I'm just tired of living in my bullshit. I feel like that's what 2025 is really awoken for me. So unlike Jamie,
00:22:18
Speaker
normally I am just like you and I'm like goal setting and we're gonna do this and we're gonna do that and this is gonna be amazing and this year I really stepped into January very slowly like I purposefully have not put out a lot of like big goal energy changing. It's more of like really getting quiet and being like, okay, what actual, what work do I need to do? And like just fucking get it done. But it's like, what actually feels good? How can I set up a system or a goal or something where I'm actually going to honor it and not continually like disappoint myself by like not stepping up and just getting the work done. And so that's actually something that
00:23:01
Speaker
Lorcan's, the shift has really helped with because like some of the things we talked about like money blocks and so one of mine, and I'll pull it up. One of mine that I really obviously know, but like putting it in words was like, oh shit, was I use spending money on education to avoid stepping into my power.
00:23:24
Speaker
because I'm, oh, Jamie's nodding her head, y'all, because she knows me. She literally watches the ah logins come into my inbox when I've bought something. so um So just like kind of looking at my money blocks, I'll yeah i'll just read them for you now. So the shadows just do five. And you you I use chat GPT to help me because like you fill out this like fat questionnaire with like how you feel about money and all this stuff. And you ask chat GPT to like spit these out for you.
00:23:53
Speaker
like analyze the data tell me what I believe and so for instance very embarrassing but I struggle with overspending and using credit cards to sustain my lifestyle. So as people in the wedding industry, weddings have been really kind of funky the last few years. And so like bridging the gaps between feast and famine, like I, I preach to everyone else, do not do this. And yet I've been doing it myself. And so that doesn't feel good. And the spending money on education. And then I struggled to spend money in ways that align with my integrity and values. So like,
00:24:32
Speaker
Like spending money at Amazon. I don't love Amazon. i knew you're to say that I don't buy fast fashion anymore. Like if I buy something, I literally expect to have it with me for years. So that's gotten much better. but
00:24:48
Speaker
I think January has been really good because I've done a no spend month and so I've really been analyzing where this like impulse comes in. um My fourth one is I feel out of alignment with money if I spend it on myself rather than others. So I love being able to treat other people and one of my integrity or values is being able to do that for others because I think it's really important to give when you come from abundance. um But then I also will spend that money on education because I'm like, oh, but i but but I need to have this because then I can do the things I'm meant to do. So it's just like a very interesting multilayered onion of issues. And then my last one, which I hate to admit is I envy the financial success of others because I have a
Financial Awareness and Business Planning
00:25:33
Speaker
scarcity mindset around money because I always fear
00:25:38
Speaker
that this is going to be my last season, that my clients aren't going to come back, that for some reason I fucked up along the way and I am done being a business owner and I have to go back to a nine to five and rebuild a career from the ground up and literally nothing is more terrifying to me because I looked for the sake of argument, I went on LinkedIn recently and looked at, what are some jobs that are out there? And to match the level of income that I've been able to create in this business, like I would have to sell my soul to the devil and go work for a big tech company. And that is so out of alignment. And it just, it's terrifying. So it's been really nice to slowly kind of like
00:26:16
Speaker
Instead of using the very small time between Christmas and New Year's to like evaluate yourself, come up with all your new goals and then launch on January 1st, I've kind of been using January as the trial for 2025 and going through, ah yeah, and doing that work nice and slowly and really kind of digging out underneath it. It's like, okay, I have financial goals, but what's sitting underneath those goals? What do I actually want to do with this money? Where will this money go when I get it? And that just feels a lot more approachable and doable and like, oh, okay, this is why I'm going to drive myself to do more mini sessions or this is why
00:26:54
Speaker
I'm willing to take weddings that maybe aren't my ideal client or ideal price point because this money is going to help push into this category I've already set it up for. So yeah, I think I've just really enjoyed the slow this month. When it sounds like this education through Larkin has been really valuable to setting up like all that you want to do this.
00:27:17
Speaker
Yeah. And it it feels it's just like someone being able to kind of lead you through intentionalism because again, like I've been cleaning out my house since what I was pregnant with Joe. And it's like now I know like the true intention behind it. It's because like I've exceeded my capacity to manage it. I like part of my alignment is not just buying frivolously, but buying for things that will last or that like actually add to my life. And So it just feels really good to start putting the work where my words are, if that makes sense. Yeah, that's awesome. So do you have like, what is next step with the money stuff? Yeah, so next step with the money stuff is part of the homework that I wasn't able to do this weekend is like setting up your like, what is for sale? So she has you go through and like really
00:28:11
Speaker
dream up your dream year of like, if you wanted to take your business to the next level, what things would you need to outsource? Where would you need to be? What would you need to attend? Do you need to do gear updates? Do you need to go meet somebody? Like, do you need to pay for a mentorship? And so you literally make this huge list of stuff that you need or think that you need. And then you divide that amongst 12 and that becomes like your goal monthly income.
00:28:34
Speaker
And then from there, now we're breaking out. Like what is for sale? Like what are the things that I am doing in a business that can make this money? And we're kind of like launching from that point into this week. So I haven't watched the videos for this week yet. Um, cause yesterday I had Jojo being Toto being with me and I couldn't tune into the live, but yeah, so we're taking, we got what our life costs. We know where we want to go with our life. Now it's so what's for sale and how do we get there? I'm excited to see you like what happens and how you feel about it in months and if it's sustainable and all of that.
00:29:07
Speaker
Yeah. And I think for the most part it is because I've had a lot of like big ideas of like how I could make money. But then I go back and I'm like doing that much more work to build this whole other thing is not in alignment with what I'm doing. And I think that what happens is a lot of people we get to a point in careers where we're really frustrated or we feel like there's like a stop gap happening. And I think a lot of wedding photographers or videographers or professionals get stuck in that trap and they don't realize like all the years that they've spent investing in this career are worth something. You just have to figure out how you're going to pivot to then break through and feel great about the next level of what you're doing. That's amazing.
00:29:48
Speaker
Well, I also joined a a little groupie, a little mentorship program.
Creative Pursuits and Photography Insights
00:29:53
Speaker
I'm so jealous of, was that your mentorship this morning? Yeah. All right, still the beans. So Jennifer Moyer, um who is a photographer based out of Toronto. And Kanada. Kanada, please adopt us.
00:30:14
Speaker
no Just come for Washington, Oregon, and California. We're waiting. We're ready. Our bags are packed. I'm ready to trade in my passport. ah Jennifer Moyer.
00:30:26
Speaker
a delightful human being. She created a group called Film Club and it is surrounded around cinematic storytelling in weddings, but just in photography in general. And so as a group, we kind of study films and we try to like bring those things into our own work. um And the most shocked I've been about this group is that the community is actually the best community I've been a part of. Like in terms of like, you know, when you join like any sort of mentorship program, you have like a community of people. And most of the time, like some discussion happens, but for the most part, like it's blah. This has been great. I love these people. I love our group chat on Instagram. um There's just so many interesting ideas. People from all over the world.
00:31:23
Speaker
We have a couple of people from the UK, some from Brazil, a lot from Canada, America, Australia, like Germany all over. So it's just been really cool and seeing everybody's perspectives. And then, yeah, I had a mentor call with Jen this morning and she went through my website and gave me a lot of cool ideas and like ways to refine and update. um And then the coolest part is she is going through my portfolio. She brings everything she loves into Lightroom and then she'll crop it differently and then she'll actually place it in the way that she thinks you should curate it.
00:32:03
Speaker
so And she is brilliant at it. She's so good at curating. So I'm very excited. She's she worked like basically she got to know me a lot and like we talked through my business and things today and then um She's doing that like outside of our call even so amazing. So jealous i literally Okay, so first of all everyone This is where I had FOMO and this is where I started flexing my, I will not spend money on things that I know I technically don't eat, I can go and do it. And so this was one of them because Jamie told me she joined and I immediately looked it up and was like, how much of this and can I join? And I didn't do it. um
00:32:45
Speaker
but It is open by the way, so anybody can join at any time if you change your mind. I know, I know. Well, I have two other educations that I am investing in, but they're in person for networking more so.
00:32:57
Speaker
um But I'll I'll tell you that about that in a second. I wanted to ask you if you could summarize like a couple of points that you feel like have just been like these golden nuggets or even just one. If you just want to share one, like what has been an idea or an approach or something that's really like shifted in your mindset like after you've done this workshop with her. The biggest thing is cropping.
00:33:22
Speaker
And also that Instagram is not you catering to clients, not you being like, oh, I have to show something from the sweating because they'll feel bad if I don't show it.
00:33:34
Speaker
your Instagram is your art gallery. And I loved that idea because then thinking that way, it's like, oh, I can do whatever I want there. And it is like me just like showcasing whatever I want. And it can be a single, po I don't have to like basically feed into the idea that like it has to be a carousel or it has to do this or it has to perform at a certain level to be worth it or anything like that. Like it's my art gallery and it's my place to like play.
00:34:02
Speaker
And it give gives me a bit of permission to do what I want rather than what I think I should do. And Jen is particularly brilliant at cropping. There's a lot of ah education out there about cropping and editing, but I've just like never been very good at that because I'm not perfectionist. So once I like edit a gallery, I'm like, it's good.
00:34:28
Speaker
But um learning from her to see how she sees an image and figuring out like, okay, let's make a virtual copy and I will play around with the second copy and see like, how can I make this different? How can I make this interesting? How can I better tell a story from this session?
00:34:46
Speaker
Because no matter who you are, story resonates with people. um So telling that story through your gallery is like an added piece of artists you can give to your clients.
00:34:59
Speaker
I love that. Yeah. And then she does she's had a sorry she's done a bunch of interviews with other um creatives, and I've only watched one so far, but um it was with Mari Turancoso. And one of my biggest takeaways from that was, Mari said, is it is as important to deflect people as to attract people.
00:35:23
Speaker
So thinking in that sense, it's like, no, I don't have to be palatable for the masses. I can be me. I can create the art I want to create. And it will turn people away. And that's OK, because I'm looking to create for a certain type of person. Yeah. And I feel like, honestly, what you're talking about with the deflection and attraction and Lorcan in the shift has been really like that's been a really big undertone for her. Like she is really stepping into her power because I think what was really shocking is I did not realize like the level of her success and then the level of herself sabotage. So like she had made
00:36:07
Speaker
like $370,000 by herself in her business with one assistant. And then she was experiencing a major lawsuit over the farm that her and her husband own in our state. And had basically been you know tricked by a lawyer and they lost a fuck ton of money. And then she just got into this head space of like, I can't do this and like just went down this bad path. And so she's really been recreating herself. And so that's where the shift was reborn out of. And so a lot of her
00:36:42
Speaker
like the exercises we do, she showcases what she did when she did the exercise. And you can just see a lot of defiance of like, I am no longer creating for the masses. I am no longer catering or quieting myself or just being a version that she saw the world asking her to be. And she's really stepping into her individuality and encouraging us to do the same. And I really love that. And I think that That's fascinating. But that feels I feel like that's like that's a lot of artists are feeling that right now, especially in the era of social media and Instagram and like this demand for this level of content. um
00:37:19
Speaker
And then I was also going to say what's so fascinating about the cropping thing is that like my entire photographic career has always been I've been taught to get it in camera. And so like I, for instance, for camera nerds out there, there's the R5 and there's the R6 in the Canon line. The biggest difference is when you jump from the R6 to the R5, you get like double the megapixels. So it allows people who are cropping in their post-production to have more material to work with, which you can't really do with the R6 without compromising the integrity of how big the files can be.
00:37:58
Speaker
And for me, I was like, fuck yeah, I'm going to buy the R6 because guess what? I'll get the trillion camera. And I would like look at people's work like Annie Graham's. I looked at Jennifer Moyers. I looked at other people and I'm like, wow, you have to get so close to do this shot. And you have to like. So when I've been shooting, I've been having to do these crazy shots like in camera to try to get what I want. And now realizing that like so much of that is done in post-production.
00:38:25
Speaker
It feels so against my grain of integrity, but it also feels really freeing because you can just create whatever you want. And I like the way that some people see in that way. But one thing I will say is it does add to your time behind the computer. Yeah.
00:38:42
Speaker
So I mean, it'll be interesting to see how it goes this year. I'm working on just curating my galleries and my videos better and being a little bit more choosy with so what I present to the client. So we'll see how that goes. um But the last thing I wanted to say about the group that just came to mind, and which this has been said by other people, but it's worth re-saying is what you consume is what you'll produce. So that makes a lot of sense in Film Club, right? We're working on like watching a lot more films and analyzing them and not necessarily taking screenshots and putting them into a Pinterest board that we can pull out at a shoot, but just knowing that if we're consuming that versus TikTok versus other wedding images versus whatever,
00:39:33
Speaker
we're going to be taking in that cinematic art and being able to better produce it in our work. um So yeah, I'm going to be, I'm working on that. It's one of my goals to watch 24 new films this year that I've never seen, um which is not very many for a lot of people, but it's a lot for me as I've gotten really bad at watching movies. um And And then, yeah, not scrolling through wedding stuff as much, I think, because it's just it it creates just copies of each other like over and over and over again in the industry.
00:40:12
Speaker
I completely agree. I completely agree. And so I like that idea of consuming more of what you want to create. Um, cause I know a lot of people are also talking about like the magnetism of like the five closest people you spend your time with. And I know that I have not been investing in the relationships that like really pushed me to like feel this pull to like do more, be more, create more.
Networking and Future Plans
00:40:38
Speaker
So definitely like deleting social media off my phone um as my wonderful VA. You are doing my captions and my posting for me, so I don't really feel a call to like be on my phone as much. um And then I'm going to Kinetic, which is a an intimate like luxury level wedding conference in March. And then I'm thinking about buying a ticket to hybrid today. So hybrid is a normal like conference. And what's cool about them is like you buy a ticket for like the main stage and then you can choose a bunch of different add-ons for different classes. And I'm really going to walk into that experience if I decide to do it. I'm literally, I have to pull the trigger today or not. um
00:41:20
Speaker
but going and using it as a networking opportunity because there are a bunch of big names that are going. So like Corbin Gherkin will be there, Jose Villa will be there, um Abby, you will be there. Oh my God, if I just pronounce her last name wrong, I'm going to be very embarrassed. um And then my mentor that I had last year, Paul Von Reader is going to be there. So there's just like a bunch of people that I want to meet. I want to learn from. Caleb Norman James will be there. So that's a chance to take one of his classes um because when I go to kinetic, kinetic is not a shooting opportunity. It is purely a networking opportunity. And so he is going to be the creative designer of kinetic.
00:42:01
Speaker
So this is a chance to learn from him at hybrid. And then I have a one-on-one with him when I get to kinetic. So they little amazing. So yeah yeah, I think that's, I think that's like manifest destiny. Like you have to go out and make it happen. I feel like that's what 2025 is really saying to me. Yes. I love that. I love you. I love you. And we love you rule followers. Woot woot.
00:42:28
Speaker
um Thanks for playing catch up with us and we will be back in a couple weeks with our next episode that's back to more of our system. But we wanted to just do a check in since we've been going for so long and yeah. I must say that the first episode of I'm just going to call it season two, it's going to be a spicy one.
00:42:56
Speaker
hot button topics guys. So tune in. um If you're following us on Instagram, we love you, but make sure you're over there at rule ah.followers and we'll see you next time guys. Bye.