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Ep. 118 - Nathan Chanski - Personal Branding
132 Plays1 year ago
Happy Woo Wednesdays. If you don't know who Nathan Chanski is, you are living under a rock. He is known for his vibrant and humorous reels on IG and personal branding.
Our hot topic today : Personal branding because we crave real human connection.
Nathan Chanski is a Wedding Photographer, Business Coach, and Course Creator based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He runs a full-time wedding photography business, an education and
coaching platform for photographers, and is also the host of the Passion With Purpose Podcast - a podcast for photographers and creatives. While he lives and breathes for the entrepreneurial
journey. His primary passion is always centered around glorifying God through everything he does, building a life with his wife Kayla, and inspiring individuals to create the life and career of
their full potential.
Connect with Nathan
Get my free INQUIRY EMAIL RESPONSE TEMPLATE: https://view.flodesk.com/pages/64cc1935e7271772c0fccf82
https://www.instagram.com/nathanchanski
Connect with Carissa Woo
https://www.instagram.com/carissawoo
Sponsors: 17hats: Get 50% off if you use code HECKYES
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Transcript
Introduction to Carissa Wu and Guest Nathan Chancey
00:00:00
Speaker
Happy Woo Wednesdays! If you guys have any wedding photographer friends, go ahead and get my book, Woo Them to Heck Yes. You can get it at heckyes.co backslash book and I've sold about 200 copies
00:00:15
Speaker
super super excited and people are giving me great feedback saying that they absolutely love it and they have all my work from like the past 13-14 years and if you buy the book you get a free mini course it's a bonus and it's my introductory call to my clients how to raise your budget how to get that heck yes
00:00:40
Speaker
had a book on the spot, and just how to conduct that first introductory call to see if they're a good fit. Anyways, I have a very special guest. His name is Nathan Chancey, and I'm sure you guys already know him because he's super insta-famous. He gives so many tips and tricks on Instagram, photography, tips and tricks, business tips and tricks, and he has a very popular
00:01:07
Speaker
podcast called Passion with Purpose and it's one of my favorite photography podcasts. So today we talk about your personal brand and the mindset you should be going into 2024. Enjoy this episode.
Carissa's Transition from Photographer to Coach
00:01:26
Speaker
Welcome to Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. I'm your host, Carissa, and I've been a Los Angeles wedding photographer for over a decade. I've traveled the world, built my team, and seen it all. I now coach wedding photographers hit 10K a month and build a thriving business. In this podcast, we are going to deep dive into how top wedding creatives get that heck yes from their dream clients. We are not holding back on the struggles of the business and how to push through the noise. Some healthy hustle, mindset shifts, up-leveling your money story,
00:01:54
Speaker
Time-packed because I'm a mom of two, a little bit of woo-woo, and most importantly, self-love and confidence are just a few of the many things we will talk about. I want to give you a genuine thank you for following along my journey. I hope to inspire you every Woo Wednesday so that you say heck yes to listening to this podcast. See you guys soon!
Nathan's Year in Review and Business Reflections
00:02:17
Speaker
Hey everyone, welcome back to Get A Heck Yes.
00:02:20
Speaker
I have a friend, I can say you're on my podcast before. This is your second time. His name is Nathan Chansky. I feel like everyone and their mamas know you, but he is a wedding photographer. He's a business coach and course creator based in the Grand Rapids of Michigan. He runs a full time wedding photography business and education and coaching platform for top photographers. And literally one of my favorite podcasts, passion,
00:02:48
Speaker
with purpose podcast. Welcome Nathan. Oh, thank you so much for that introduction, Chris. I really appreciate it. And yeah, just thank you so much for having me. It's amazing to be here. Yeah. You're super famous now. Um, I was going to say like some podcasts, sometimes I just don't want to listen to business podcasts anymore because it's just, I just feel kind of overwhelmed and I want to listen to like call her daddy, but for some reason your podcast, I can listen to it anytime and it doesn't make me feel overwhelmed.
00:03:17
Speaker
Wow, that's a, that's high honors. I'm really happy to hear that. Yeah, I totally get that too, where some podcasts, I don't, like I almost feel like I have to take them in doses because if I, if I hear so much at once, yeah, like you said, I get overwhelmed and I'm like, whoa, I feel like, yeah, just a lot that I need to do. But, um, yeah, I appreciate that. Sometimes it feels like a college lecture and I'm like, uh, I wasn't really like that in school.
00:03:44
Speaker
Totally. But yeah, I mean, everyone's always like, oh, Nathan Chancey, I love him. He's so nice. Oh, I'm so happy to hear that. That's really good. You always wonder what people say about you like behind closed doors. So it's good that it's good things. But anyways, how have you been? What have you been up to?
00:04:01
Speaker
I've been super good. Yeah. I, right, right now this time of year, um, I take it pretty slow. Like I had a busy fourth quarter, but then my December, I always like to take really chill and just kind of like focus on rest and, um, kind of getting back to just like my, more like my personal life, I guess. Um, so yeah, it's been a really slow December so far, which I guess we're only in the first week of it.
00:04:27
Speaker
But yeah, it's great. I'm like working around my house doing like home rental projects. So it's fun. Isn't it cool to just be like, I'm slow. Like, I know, like wake up at like 830. It's like whatever. Who cares? That's awesome. How many like weddings did you have this year? And like, what did your year look like?
00:04:46
Speaker
this year I took I think 10 or 11. And so yeah, it wasn't like heavy in the wedding side of things because I've definitely started pulling back. But with more of like, you know, I launched my signature coaching program this year, the Business Blueprint. And so that was definitely
00:05:04
Speaker
Like a lot of, it was, it was a big undertaking for sure. And so, um, yeah, that launched in the beginning of November. And then, you know, like right after that you have like black Friday sales. And so, and then even like a lot of my weddings and just like different travel engagements were in the fall, like August to October anyways.
Business Blueprint Program Overview
00:05:23
Speaker
So it was definitely, yeah, a busy latter half of the year, but it was good, all good stuff. And yeah, I wouldn't have it any other way, so. Yeah, I was listening to one of your podcasts, like I always do, but you mentioned that you were still straddling the wedding photography business and the coaching business. And it is kind of like these two minds that you have to kind of switch and it could be very difficult. It's so true. I resonated with that so much.
00:05:52
Speaker
Yeah, you know, and no one tells you that no one tells you that you're going to be going through that process of kind of like, you really are learning to run two different businesses. And as similar as they are, they do still feel very different in many regards. And so you have, I mean, you're serving different types of people, ultimately four different goals.
00:06:12
Speaker
So it's definitely a bit strenuous at times. And I think next year I'll probably even take more of a step back from weddings. So yeah, it's, it's interesting, but yeah, I don't know. It's just all like learning experiences and yeah, haven't
00:06:29
Speaker
gotten in over my head quite yet. So I think we're good so far. Yeah, my brain is so tired. But in the night, I'm like, he's just like, Oh, shoot, I gotta make a real for my photography. Oh, no, I gotta make a real for my coaching. Totally. Yeah. Tell me tremendously, but tell the audience a little bit about the business blueprint. And then like, how many photographers you got until just maybe like your hurdle that you went through this year and how you overcame it.
00:06:54
Speaker
Sure, yeah. So yeah, the business blueprint is basically, it's kind of like the aggregate sum of everything that I would put into a business course for photographers. And instead of, you know, I kind of
00:07:09
Speaker
initially when I got into education I was kind of like okay I don't really know what I want to make courses on or what I want to make products on or a coaching program or whatever because there's so many different options right and so many people do different things and so I think at the beginning I started thinking well I can do multiple different offerings and different types of things but then I think as I got further and further into it I realized that I just had a really strong heart for teaching people
00:07:36
Speaker
how to scale their business or not necessarily scale their business how to grow their business to their first six figures at least and i think you know a lot of that comes down to the way someone brands themselves the way someone markets themselves and the way someone sells themselves and i think a lot of photographers i found we did not know how to do that and there is a lot of like.
00:07:58
Speaker
misinformation out there about how to do that and even just like information that was feel good but it wasn't actually helpful and so I was like okay so what if I were to create something like that that would have been honestly perfect for me years ago when I was in the same predicament that maybe an average photographer was trying to get to those first six figures what if I created a program like that that was just my signature program that I poured all my heart into so that's really what I that's really what I built and I tested it and and I
00:08:28
Speaker
honestly built the program for about a year before I even launched it and so then finally launched it and yeah so exciting to see like how big it's grown and just like I mean it's not like it's massive but I guess what I'm saying it's it's really exciting to see how we have a little community in there and just kind of the wins that I'm seeing are so encouraging and then your second question was what are one of the biggest hurdles I
00:08:57
Speaker
Yeah. So I mean, shoot, one of the biggest hurdles I think I overcome or am overcoming is probably what we just talked about is like how to really navigate those two businesses. And, you know, on the one side, I'm coaching photographers and teaching them how to grow their business. And then the other side, I still am a photographer and I'm still, um,
00:09:20
Speaker
figuring out how to best serve those clients that I have booked while still pouring my heart into the other side and the education side of things. And then even also just giving myself the space to evolve and just tell yourself like, okay, yeah, it's okay that years ago your heart was so heavily interested in serving clients, but now
00:09:44
Speaker
If your heart is more into educating other photographers, that's okay. And that's something that you kind of have to, uh, you just have to kind of roll with what, what, where your heart's at on that kind of a thing. And even just like where the, the business demand is going as well.
Podcasting and Personal Branding Insights
00:10:00
Speaker
So that was maybe a big hurdle. And I feel like I'm still overcoming it in a way, but it's good. No, I think last time I, you're on the podcast, I was, I feel like it's been like a year.
00:10:11
Speaker
Yeah, we talked about social media, but I was still like a baby coach. And, you know, after like 100 podcast episodes, coaching, master classes, I did learn and I put them into three buckets, like, you know, you said branding, marketing and sales. So it's interesting, because when I started coaching, it's like, you know, you just want to give them the answers. But
00:10:35
Speaker
You know, you think there's like one thing, but it really, there is a thousand things, but it goes into like these three buckets. So I like how you said that. Yeah, absolutely. It did. It, I found that, and even like when I talk about branding, I'm even thinking sometimes I call it product instead of branding. Cause I think a big part of that is like, what is in your, uh, product and even like.
00:11:00
Speaker
the pricing you have, how you communicate the value of the pricing, what's actually in the offer that you provide to people. So yeah, it's definitely something that I keep coming back to. I'm like, yep, it's these three that pretty much really kind of build the bedrock of your business. It's like if you can't sell or
00:11:21
Speaker
If you can't get eyeballs on your brand or if you don't have an incredible offer, like you can't really do much in your business. So you got to get those three figured out.
00:11:31
Speaker
Yeah, totally. Tell me or tell the audience a little bit about like your podcasting journey because I remember the day that you started it was just kind of similar time when we talked and I just felt like I listened to all of them but and you evolved a lot and you started talking to interviewing your past students and you just give like really great value but what has like your podcasting journey been like?
00:11:57
Speaker
Yeah, totally. Great question. Yeah, it's interesting because I am so new to podcasting, I think. I mean, obviously, I've been doing it for over a year now, probably more like a year and a half now. But I still feel very new to it in so many senses because I know that so many people out there have been doing it for like a decade. And I think
00:12:19
Speaker
It's a very rewarding slash, I guess, like, yeah, I'd say it's very rewarding to do a podcast because you can just go deep with people, you know, it's not just like a 30 second reel. It's not just like an Instagram caption. It's not just something quick like an email or whatever. It's actually like a full piece of
00:12:42
Speaker
content and it lasts for yeah like maybe 30 minutes or up to an hour or something like that and so I really like the impact that I can make with the podcast more than you know other forms of content where the other forms of content are almost kind of like a hook to get people interested. So that's what I've really found is really cool and I think sometimes you know you can get worried about well is this podcast resonating more than like
00:13:10
Speaker
or this episode is resonating more than like another episode and like why is that and like how do I recreate that and like you know all this types of stuff which is really good to do when you're creating content but sometimes I can get in my head and be like well what if this isn't like the topic people want to hear from me or like what if this is whatever but I think I go back to what would I want to listen to
00:13:31
Speaker
And what really resonates with me, what really sparks my energy to talk about something. And so I find that that has served me well of just talking about what I think is important and bringing on people that I think people need to hear from and all these types of things. Because at the end of the day, that's what's going to create my podcast as opposed to someone else's podcast.
00:14:01
Speaker
If I start doing what other people are doing or I start doing stuff that I don't fundamentally want to do, then I'm going to be creating this persona of Nathan Shansky as a brand that doesn't align with who I really am. And then it's just going to be draining for me and I don't want to do that. So to me, it's like, hey, if I don't, like for instance, I don't want to talk about gear, right? That's just not my thing. And so maybe a chat about gear on my podcast would be like, oh, it's something people love to hear from me.
00:14:31
Speaker
Yeah, but I'm like, I don't want to be talking about gear in five or 10 years. So I'm not going to talk about it now. I'm not going to build my brand and that reputation. So so yeah, it's been it's been a journey and I'm still figuring it out, but I love it so far.
00:14:44
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, totally. I was just looking at my episode like, Oh, weird. Like last week I had someone talking about like tarot reading. This week I had human design. Next week I have micro dosing. So it is like everything I'm interested in. I don't put too much thought into it, but I'm like, if you're interested in it, then I think your audience will be interested in it. Yeah. Your people will come. Yeah. So interesting. Um, interestingly enough, I went to wedding MBA a couple of weeks ago in Vegas and
00:15:12
Speaker
You know, I went through the whole like brochure like every day. It was like three, four days and no one talked about personal branding.
00:15:20
Speaker
Interesting. You said wedding MBA. Yeah, my husband always makes fun of it because he's like WNBA. He's like, are you in the WNBA? That's so funny. Wait, is it like a conference? I've never heard of this. It's a conference for all wedding pros and there's like a bazillion people there and it's really cheap. So a lot of people go to classes all day and there's a big like all the booths.
00:15:44
Speaker
Um, it's a big convention at that's awesome. Um, but yeah, one of my favorite things to do is go through the whole brochure and then no one talked about branding. So Nathan, what are we going to be talking about today? What is our hot topic? Yeah, we want to talk about personal branding a little bit and we're going to throw in some mindset because this is going to go live probably right in the new year. So all of it, we'll just banter, but tell me about like your personal brand.
00:16:15
Speaker
Pardon this short interruption, but guess what? I have a new program. It's for all wedding professionals. It's called The Triple Threat. We redo your brand messaging, the homepage of your website. Part two is we do all your marketing.
00:16:32
Speaker
create a beautiful brochure so you could start getting on Prefer venue vendor list and we do all your sales so we actually make you a sales presentation leading your client to the heck yes so you get paid. I have a free 20 minute demo training. It's only 20 minutes. Go to my Instagram at Carissa Woo.
00:16:55
Speaker
and DM me the word DEMO. I will send it right over. It's how to get 10 to 15 quality leads in your inbox per month. Enjoy guys.
Authenticity on Social Media and Content Creation
00:17:07
Speaker
Krista Wu is a LA based wedding photographer who's actually turning business coach. She helped me grow and change and I'm so proud to call you coach.
00:17:18
Speaker
tell us how you're feeling. Like, I want to just know a little bit more about your thoughts. Yeah, it's beautiful. And you're, you're awesome. It's beautiful. I'm speechless. I just like the fact that it feels like myself. I can I feel myself when I see this. Oh, man. Well, you got me pumped and excited for this. Carissa, thank you.
00:17:39
Speaker
Sure. Yeah. Personal branding is a massive topic and there's so many different things that kind of go along with what makes a personal brand. I think in a nutshell, what makes a personal brand is just you're basically tying the value of your brand and your offer and different things like that.
00:18:01
Speaker
You're tying the value of that primarily to you as the person rather than to the services or products that you provide to somebody. So for instance, for a photographer, you're tying the massive value on you as the photographer and you as the human so that when people come and
00:18:22
Speaker
you know, they're in your inquiry box or they DM you or they follow you on Instagram or whatever they're doing. So because they're, they feel that connection with you as the person rather than only just connecting with your images or connecting only with like, you know, a certain thing you provide in your packages. Right. And so what I think is so powerful about personal branding is that in our day and age of
00:18:47
Speaker
2023 or 2024 whenever this airs. It's a culture that loves connection and human connection because we are in kind of like a scarce amount of it or it's a scarce resource and there's so much that can just be
00:19:03
Speaker
kind of like thought of as just professional and businessy and you know this product and this product right but it's that human connection that people want more than anything and especially I think when it comes to a photographer it is a very personal experience with the photographer so personal branding really sets again that value on you as the person rather than just your work
00:19:28
Speaker
Uh, which is ultimately what makes you stand out because no one can be you. So that's kind of personal branding in a nutshell. Yeah. I love what you just said there. I've never really like described it like that, but it's so true. But I show my, I show your Instagram account to like, you know, some of my closest friends and one of them's at my videographer and he just like,
00:19:47
Speaker
He looks like he got something to say. He looks like what? He's got something to say. Just looking at your Instagram like, this guy's got something to say. Yeah, for sure. Always got something to say, right? Yeah. And I remember our last conversation, you were like, wow, like,
00:20:05
Speaker
you know, um, your client say, Oh, this guy's really generous with like, you know, sharing all his tips and trips to other photographers. He must be really good. Like let's book him. So yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It's just, it's, it's, it is a real thing that people connect with people. And when you show up, you know, passionately and you show up in an energy that feels kind of like we were just talking about the podcast where you're showing up with topics and
00:20:32
Speaker
with things that you just wanna share about that are passionate for you, it's gonna show because, or it's gonna connect with people because they're like, oh, I finally am getting in touch with a human. You know what I mean? And they wanna connect with that human. So yeah, it totally is a thing. It's weird sometimes to feel, it feels like you're selling yourself, but part of it is, and I think that's okay. And I think that's what makes it so beautiful when someone does book you because of you, because they just trust you and they connect with you more than anything instead of just being like,
00:21:02
Speaker
we have to have our gallery look just like the gallery you delivered for this other person or we're going to pick you up against another photographer because you have similar styles or we're going to compare you to this photographer because your prices are so similar and they're cheaper or something like that. But if you can really tie that value to who you are, well, you don't really compete with anybody else. Totally. Some people you just, you could tell that like, just get you, right?
00:21:29
Speaker
Exactly. Yup. And you'll connect with those people and then the people who don't connect, you won't connect with them and they'll go their own way. And that's totally fine. Yeah. We have to like really understand this because I know people are so scared to show their face on Instagram. And yes, I was there. Like I still, I talked about my coaching program when I just started, I was like sweating profusely. I was like stumbling over my words. Sure.
00:21:53
Speaker
I put it up there because I just want to, you know, show that, you know, I improved in the past year and show to myself that India Earl was on your podcast and they really resonated with the episode and she actually said, you know, she her personal brand is so strong that she's bulletproof because of the connection that she has with her clients and
00:22:15
Speaker
that kind of stuck in my head because I am confident in my photography business. But sometimes I do start comparing myself if someone goes a different direction or I get ghosted. But I just have to remember that like, the connection I have with my clients is like no other. And that is bulletproof for the rest of you know, the next 20 years until like I'm on, you know, a walker. Continue to do weddings because
00:22:43
Speaker
the way I make people feel and you know, 13, 14 years of experience, the things that I've learned, like no one could really take that away from me. And that podcast really helped me understand that. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, India is definitely somebody who has an incredible personal brand and it shows. And I mean, I think if you have that mindset going into something like an inquiry process or even going into something like posting an Instagram story,
00:23:11
Speaker
you can then confidently show up as yourself and be okay if someone rejects you. You know what I mean? Because you're just like, hey, if someone rejects me, that means that they weren't for me in the first place. And so I'm happy that they like rejected me now instead of like,
00:23:29
Speaker
hanging on a little bit longer, you know what I mean? And I always say to the extent that you repel people, you will probably also attract people or even to the extent that people, I mean, this sounds like a little bit aggressive, but to the extent that you like annoy people, you will probably also
00:23:48
Speaker
really make people passionate about who you are. Because again, it's the human. If you just give people like this lukewarm version of yourself, no one's going to have any, what would I say, strong thoughts about you. But if you give someone a passionate or a, I mean, this is crazy, but maybe even a polarizing version of yourself, then people are probably either going to love you or
00:24:15
Speaker
maybe strongly dislike you. And that's okay. But then you get the people that love you and that's, and then you're their number one. You know what I mean? Yeah. I know we talked about our last episode, like you had like a God moment when you just, you know, we're ready to like give up, but then you really like honed into your craft and became like who you really are, like Nathan Chansky and that everyone knows and loves now. But in the beginning, like,
00:24:37
Speaker
what did it take to start just showing up every day and like posting these reels every day and like making this crazy content? Um, it's humorous. It's so you, but I'm sure that was kind of hard in the beginning. Like, did you have any mentors or like, did you like, are you a Gary V fan or like, what made you like, be like, Hey, I'm going to do this full, full out. Yeah, that's a good, that is a good question. I don't, I really didn't have any like,
00:25:03
Speaker
mentor at that point necessarily. I think it just came down to me of, I guess, I guess I just had this moment where I thought to myself, I, you know, I have to live with the decisions that I make and I have to either reap the benefits or the consequences of my action or inaction and
00:25:31
Speaker
nobody else does. So if I want to show up doing something or even if I don't necessarily want to show up doing something and somebody thinks a certain thing about me, that's fine because they don't have to live with the action that I take or don't take.
00:25:52
Speaker
You know what I mean? So it's like someone can think I'm cringe. Someone can like hate what I'm posting. Someone can just be annoyed by me. Someone can be like, Oh, like I don't like what you're, I don't know, whatever. They can have whatever thoughts they want to have, but
00:26:08
Speaker
I wake up every day and live the life that I live. Like they don't have to live the life I live. You know what I'm saying? So I'm like, I don't, I can't afford to care what somebody else thinks of me at that point. And so I'm just going to do what I need to do to get the result that I want to get. You know what I mean? So that's really the point it came down to for me. And, um,
00:26:35
Speaker
I know it sounds like maybe a little bit hyper dramatic and like cutthroat to think that way, but sometimes I think you have to get there and you have to kind of almost like hold your feet to the fire and just be like, okay, do you want this or don't you? Because if you do want this, you'll do anything it takes to get there, even if it means like,
00:26:55
Speaker
posting something that feels really vulnerable to post or just really like yourself to post and no one's gonna make you do it and you just have to like get it between your ears that you're just gonna do it you know I mean so yeah I think that's the point I came to was just like nothing else ultimately matters
00:27:17
Speaker
in terms of what people think of me, I just, I just need to do this for me.
Handling Feedback and Embracing Multifaceted Personalities
00:27:21
Speaker
And yeah, and I think also, yeah, it was a big benefit to me that the Lord showed me that this is what I was supposed to be doing anyways. And so I had that confidence of like, okay, well, I'm just going to follow his direction and no matter what it's going to work out, even if I fall in my face. So yeah, it's just, you got to get to those, you got to get to those crazy, like looking down the cliff moments of like, okay, are you going to do this or not? And are you going to jump or not? I mean, you don't have to.
00:27:47
Speaker
But you got to make a call, you know, so this is kind of a point I came to. No, I love that. And I think what you said is very freeing. I talked a lot about this with my therapist. It's like, how do you not want like outside validation? But when you keep wanting outside validation, like, if you get one negative comment, or
00:28:07
Speaker
you know, someone doesn't like your, your posts or your friends is like your posts, like it could ruin your whole entire day. And it's like, you really want to live your life like that? Or do you want to live in like your power, your purpose and your success? Because, you know, I haven't bought anything from anyone that hasn't shown their face on Instagram or Facebook because why would I trust them? Um, so true. And now, you know, I'm saying the same thing over and over again on social media, but it feels,
00:28:34
Speaker
very natural and authentic and I don't have to be like, oh, do they like it or not? Because I know what I'm saying that like, I'm in my power. So yeah. Yeah, I think so often too with artists, they like to hide behind their work, which is fine. And I don't think there's anything like inherently wrong with that. I just know for myself, I don't connect with that at all. I know that like when artists never show their face,
00:28:57
Speaker
Um, even if they are an amazing artist and they are an amazing photographer or whatever it is, I'm just bored. Honestly, I'm bored. And it's like, yeah, you took an awesome photo, but I'm not like connecting with you at all. Um, and even like the idea of, you know, I think a lot of artists think that showing up in video is like this. Oh, what would I say? Almost like this, uh,
00:29:23
Speaker
less credible form of content or it's like a watered down or like cheap version of art. And it's just like, yeah, that's fine. You can think that, but the fact of the matter is, is it's human connection. And so if you can be that person who again connects with people well, I think your art goes that much further. And we also have to remember that
00:29:46
Speaker
you know, our art or our content or whatever it is, is going to always be accepted by some and rejected by others. And the more that we can look at that as just data and the more that we can look at that analytically rather than emotionally and tying our self-worth and identity to it, the better.
00:30:07
Speaker
because then we can just keep moving and we can just be like, oh, that reel flopped or, oh, that post didn't do very well. And, oh, like me showing up in my stories today, like didn't really seem to connect with that many people and you just move on and you can take that as like data. And then the next time maybe something did connect really well and you can be like, oh, awesome. And instead of even, even from something that performs well, instead of finding your self identity and worth in like that dopamine hit, like just being like, no, like that's just data for me.
00:30:36
Speaker
that performed well, that did not perform well. And sometimes you can look at that and be like, okay, so that's how I'm gonna direct myself for next time. And it doesn't have to be this highly emotional, oh no, this is a reflection of who I am as a person and a human. No, it doesn't have to be. It's just all data. Just see it analytically. Yeah, no one cares. Yeah, literally no one cares as much as you think. It's so true. No one's watching you as close as you watch yourself.
00:31:05
Speaker
Oh my God. Okay, so I talk a lot to a lot of photographers and professionals, same as you. And everyone's like multifaceted, you know, they're into mental health, they're into goth, but they love light and airy, but they love moody and then but they love pop to color. And then their animal lovers and they love legally blonde. And you know, like, there's so many different things like how does one like kind of hone in to
00:31:32
Speaker
their personal brand to what they want to put out to the world.
00:31:37
Speaker
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00:32:03
Speaker
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00:32:58
Speaker
I think that in so many ways people over obsess about what they're like brand pillars are or whatever, um, or what their, uh, niches or whatever. And I think that's, I think there's a time and a place for that. And I'll get to that in a minute, but I think it's always good to remember that. And I've heard multiple people say this and it's always resonated with me.
00:33:21
Speaker
that you are your niche and you don't have to have your niche be something else outside of you. It's just you like if you like for me, you know, like you could say my niche is that I am a photographer and I'm an artist and I am a husband to my wife Kayla and I live in the Midwest. I have a dog. I am a Christian.
00:33:49
Speaker
Um, I am also an educator. I'm a coach. I'm a podcaster. Um, sometimes I share about my home, Reno projects, like literally the most random things ever. Right.
00:34:00
Speaker
All of that is my niche, right? That's what I talk about. That's who I am. So I'm going to share all of it, right? And then I think it's really good to remember that there's also certain buckets of your content that lend themselves to that type of multidiversity and content more than others.
00:34:22
Speaker
So to me, I always think of it as like, okay, there's certain parts of my content that are better suited for like cold audiences. And there's certain parts of my content that are better suited for warm audiences. Same thing for hot audiences. And so I look at my, like, let's say my Instagram stories as my warmer hot audience, right? People that already have signed up to follow me, they know a thing or two about me.
00:34:48
Speaker
And so in that space, especially since it's like a 24 hour cycle of content, you know, it's so low stakes and I can kind of share anything in the kitchen sink that I want to there, right?
00:35:00
Speaker
Um, but then there's other content that maybe is more like an Instagram real, right? Or maybe it's something like, you know, my homepage on my website, right? Um, these are things that much more likely a cold audience member who has no context for me is going to see for the first time. And so for those people, I want to be very specific and that's kind of where I get like more like quote unquote niche specific.
00:35:25
Speaker
to who I am and what I do in terms of the offer I have or the value I provide. And so for me in that space, I'm going to be sharing things like specific things to my coaching program, specific things to my photography offers. And then I think also it's really good to remember that there's also a sequence, I think, of sharing your niche as well.
00:35:50
Speaker
if somebody was immediately, you know, if they were starting their, let's say brand today, I would say your sequence needs to be that you need to have, you need to pick a space and be laser focused on that space before you start showing people the multifaceted parts of who you are. And I don't say that because there's anything for you to hide. What I say that though is because like,
00:36:18
Speaker
just being blatantly honest without trying to step on toes, nobody cares about you yet. So you have to give them a reason to care about you. It's true though. And so to me, that's really how I started things was when I first started growing, I was like, I'm going to stay very specific to my photography and what I'm educating in photography and that's it.
00:36:42
Speaker
And then I think over time I started sharing things about more of my personal life because I gave people a reason to care, right? And it was like, oh, like I trust this guy, I know this guy and I know what he's about. And I kind of want to go a little deeper with him now. I want to see a little bit behind the scenes of like who he is. You know what I'm saying? It's kind of like as if maybe you were listening to a business podcast or
00:37:07
Speaker
Something like that and you're getting great value from that podcast and then probably you know five ten episodes in you're gonna be like now Who is this person? I kind of want to know a little bit more about their personal life who they are as a person No, but you didn't you didn't care on episode one. That's okay
00:37:23
Speaker
So there is a little bit a sequence to it as well. So that's kind of how I bring everything in together is that understanding that we are multifaceted and dimensional and that's good.
Sustainable Growth and Avoiding Comparison Traps
00:37:34
Speaker
And let that be your niche, but then also I think there's a sequence to it as well. Oh, that's interesting. It is kind of like, I think what you're saying is, say someone wanted to shoot like crazy party, like,
00:37:49
Speaker
you know, high fee weddings, like on the dance floor, like really tap into that and like perfect it and like know everything about it, post about it, study it, you know, your whole brand is that and talk about it a lot. And then you can start sharing stuff about you and that like what you like to do for fun on the weekends playing pickleball and you know, stand up paddle boarding and stuff.
00:38:12
Speaker
Yeah, I mean you can you can share all that stuff like at the beginning if you want to but just Understand that people probably won't care as much as later and that's okay like you you you have to be like willing to Kind of slug out that process of building the audience before people Have a reason to kind of care about who you are as the person But I think it will come over time and yeah, and then you're able to just share more about yourself Wow
00:38:42
Speaker
Yeah, I think this is really good for people just starting out or even if you want to refresh on your brand and you just feel like you want to tap into your personal brand this upcoming year. But let's talk about some mindset tips or anything about mindset for the new year. Like what is how is your mind right now? Like what what are you doing to goal set? What are you doing to be organized next year? What are your goals? Tell me everything.
00:39:08
Speaker
Totally. Yeah. Uh, that's a really good question. I feel like I haven't put all that in a super digestible, um, nutshell format quite yet for myself.
00:39:21
Speaker
I think as I look into 2024, but then it's also been in my mind for 2023 as well. A big mindset that I think I really stick to and something that I really want to kind of build into my business is longevity and the idea that
00:39:48
Speaker
You know, in some senses I think there's this push to grow everything fast and to just rocket launch yourself.
00:39:58
Speaker
into the stratosphere of business or your goals or money, whatever it is, as quick as humanly possible and spare no expense for doing so, right? I completely disagree with that. I think that in so many ways we have to think about like, okay, but is this sustainable?
00:40:21
Speaker
Is this a sustainable action plan? Is this a sustainable, uh, business model? Um, and maybe even looking at a specific product, is this a sustainable product, you know? And I think people, I wish people ask themselves that more. And I wish that was more admired in our entrepreneur culture, because I think what is most admired these days is just like the quick rise and the quick goals and the quick money.
00:40:50
Speaker
and the quick fame and whatever it is. But I think something that is so, so underrated is like, can you keep it? Can you sustain it? And it doesn't even build into your life well. And so I think that's something that I have really focused on in 2023. And I think I will be focusing a lot on that in 2024 as well.
00:41:15
Speaker
Yeah, I love that you say that. That kind of f me up that mindset of like, you know, oh, I made $63 my first month and my second month I made $500,000. It's just like all of those Instagram rails. Exactly.
00:41:28
Speaker
like it, you'll actually get more and more of those type of things. And it's like, okay, well, if I don't hit that 1020 K my first first year, I'm just like total like failure, you know? Yeah, it's so it's just so not. It's not a good indicator of of like,
00:41:47
Speaker
what really is. And it's just, it's so misleading. I mean, we see all these posts too, that are like, you know, I made XYZ and passive income in this amount of time, or like I did this in this amount of time and whatever. And it's, it's ridiculous because, you know, I, I've gotten to some of those, like not to, it's not like braggy at all, but just like, I've had some of those experiences. You know what I'm saying?
00:42:14
Speaker
I've had six figures made in a matter of hours. But the fact is, that is not telling the full story. You know what I'm saying? You saying that you made $10,000 in passive income while you were vacationing in Bali over the weekend.
00:42:35
Speaker
And I'm going to show you how to do it. No, you're not because that's like completely telling small, it's seven years in the making. Exactly. And so it's like people are, people have such a skewed view of what it takes to succeed in business. Um, and it's just so frustrating. And so I think if we looked at it more from the perspective of like,
00:42:58
Speaker
What if I just like did whatever it takes to get somewhere and I stuck with it and stayed consistent with it for as long as it takes to get somewhere.
00:43:11
Speaker
You know what I mean? But, um, but yeah, people's attention spans are so short these days. Cause me of the ADD because you know, I was blessed to be in this industry for when I didn't even have Instagram. I'm a lot older than you. And I was like slow and steady wins a race. Like I would blog one wedding would take me three to four hours to blog. And I would take my big iMac to my grandma's house and just blog till like 6pm and like let the like sun go down and while I could be at the beach.
00:43:37
Speaker
um, lane and you know, now people can't even, or I'm talking about myself. I'm with, I have kids, but it's like, I can't even like watch like a 10 minute training because it's like my mind just like all over the place. Yeah. Yeah. But I think, I think in so many senses we can, I think in a way we, cause I have that too, but I think sometimes like if we almost limit ourselves with certain types of
00:44:04
Speaker
Rhetoric or certain types of media that perpetuate that type of short attention span. I think we can like combat that. Hopefully I don't perpetuate that mentality. You learn, but you're also like chill and like, um, you don't want to like have a panic attack, but like all this stuff that you have to do.
00:44:27
Speaker
Totally. Yup. Last question. It's a 40 minute mark, but just speak to wedding professionals, their hearts, like they're struggling. They really want to do well next year, but they also want to take their time and they also want good mental health and they also want to become the one and they also want their personal friends to be killer. Like what would you say to them like today to just kind of get them out of their head and just like make it, make it happen. 2024.
00:44:53
Speaker
Yeah, I'd say one of the biggest things is stop comparing yourself to other people and their journeys because I think that is probably one of the biggest things. I mean, that's when I talk about that quick growth and like the reels we see and like all this type of, uh, you know, false information, really we're getting that all because of.
00:45:10
Speaker
competition or not competition. We're getting that all because of comparison. Um, so I think comparison is just, it's, it is, it's just deadly and it keeps you from sticking with what you set out to do. Uh, it keeps you from encouraging yourself along the way. And, um, yeah, it's just, it's just a, it just drains you in so many senses. So I think,
00:45:34
Speaker
That is one of my biggest pieces of advice for people just getting this freaking work done is like, stop looking at other people. Just do what you set out to do and keep going with it and stay consistent. And obviously, yes, so much has to do with
00:45:53
Speaker
getting the right strategy, getting the right coaches, getting the right direction, of course, absolutely. But in so, I think one of the biggest issues of entrepreneurs not getting where they want to be is that they simply just get distracted with what other people are doing. And they think that they're missing out on something and it's just like, no, just like do the work and just do the dang work. And if you stick with it,
00:46:22
Speaker
I truly think you'll get there. Totally. Yes, comparison is a thief of joy. Thank you so much, Nathan, for being on this podcast. Where can everyone find you and just tell everyone like how to work with you or get on your wait list or anything like that?
00:46:38
Speaker
Yeah, I would say honestly, the best place I'd point everybody is just head to my podcast passion with purpose. That's probably that's, or, or follow me on social media and Instagram at, at Nathan chance key. But, um, but yeah, that's kind of where I hang out the most. And that's where I'd say, yeah, come hang out, come see, uh, what we're doing over there. It's a great time. Thank you, Nathan. This is a great conversation. Absolutely. Thanks for having me.
00:47:07
Speaker
Thanks for joining me this week on Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. Make sure to follow, subscribe, leave a review, or tell a friend about the show. Take a screenshot and post to IG. Tag me. Also, don't forget to download my free guide on how to become a lead generating machine. See you next time, wedding pros!