Make sure to tune in this Friday, Saturday & Sunday on creativeLIVE because that is where we will be making some big announcements! :)

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I (Jody) love the song, “Billionaire.”  The lyrics often get stuck in my head…  And is that such a bad thing to want?  What’s the point of having $$?  We love what Dave Ramsey (the smartest man on business and finances we know).  He says money is good for three things – saving, spending, and giving.  I love that! Ever since we came across Dave Ramsey, almost 7 years ago we have followed that idea as well as his financial principles.

We’re always eager to learn more about how we manage our money better, and of course, grow it! (Not sure where to start with your finances?  Try reading Total Money Makeover by DR).   I recently picked up a book, Think and Grow Rich, thanks to the high recommendations from a friend of ours.  Our friend read it, applied the principles, and a year later, made $1,000,000.  Um, if that doesn’t  get my attention I don’t know what else will!

I started the book on vacation and am about a third of the way through. It’s really good stuff so far and I wanted to share the biggest thing that has struck me so far.

The battle for your success will first start in your mind.

Yup, read that again and soak it in… then move onto these quotes from Think and Grow Rich.

“…no more effort is required to aim high in life, to demand abundance and prosperity, than is required to accept misery and poverty”  (p. 22).

“Both poverty and riches are the offspring of thought” (p. 30).

“There are millions of people who believe themselves ‘doomed’ to poverty and failure, because of some strange force over which they believe they have no control.  They are the creators of their own ‘misfortunes,’ because of this negative belief, which is picked up by the subconscious mind, and translated into its physical equivalent” (p.33).

“If a man repeats a lie over and over, he will eventually accept the lie as truth.  Moreover, he will believe it to be the truth.  Every man is what he is because of the dominating thoughts which he permits to occupy his mind” (p.35).

Our successes and failures begin in the mind.  Your mind will determine if you will win or lose.  This reminds me of Zach’s story.   What’s cool about this is it not only applies to finances but to life as well.    For those of you not aware, Zach great up in a small, cold, northern, depressing town.  For 21 years he did the same thing, until his youth pastor took him out, breathed truth and life into him and Zach immediately was encouraged to think that he could do anything and didn’t have to settle for what everyone else was settling for.  He got out of there and look where is he today.  It reminds me of Prov. 18: 21a:

“The tongue has the power of life and death.”

If you want something different for your life, if you want something better than what you have now, know that you CAN do it and the only limitation is yourself!  Surround yourself with positive people who love and encourage you and BELIEVE you can do it!

Some food for thought this week :)  To read the rest the book has to say, put it on you To Buy list and dig in!

And now, I leave you with this poem from Think and Grow Rich…

“I bargained with Life for a penny,

And Life would pay no more,

However I begged at evening

When I counted my scanty store.

“For Life is a just employer,

He gives you what you ask,

But once you have set the wages,

Why, you bust bear the task.

“I worked for a menial’s hire,

Only to learn dismayed,

That any wage I had asked of Life,

Life would have willingly paid.”

See ya’ll on creativeLIVE starting this Friday and see some of you in person in New York at next Tuesday’s Adorama business workshop!

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Here is some more info on the gig!

Where: Adorama | New York, New York

When: January 31st, 5:30 to 8pm

What: Do you feel your market is flooded with photographers and you’re having trouble standing out?   We will be speaking on differentiating yourself and growing your business in today’s crowded marketplace.  See full description here.

Cost: Essentially free.  To reserve your seat, the cost is only $25, and then you receive $25 gift card to buy gear at Adorama!

(The Adorama NY workshop studios!)

We hope to see all of you there and if you are ready to sign up and get in on the goodness (seating is limited and this baby is going to sell out fast!) then sign up right HERE!

See you in the Big Apple!

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Enjoy!

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I come from a long line of crazy independents… Asking for help just wasn’t what we did.  Once I became a photographer,  I heard outsourcing preached everywhere.  However here I was … operating a full time business AND being a full time Wife/Mom while also being involved in ministry and a million other random things.  Yes, I was a photographer, but I was so much more than that.  Why was so much of my time being taken over by the business? I wanted to gain my life back and outsource… but I battled heavily with these thoughts.

A) I can’t afford to send every aspect of my business off to be done by someone else.

B) I’m the only one who can do it right so I guess I just have to do everything. YIKES!  The result was this.   I was overwhelmed constantly, short with everyone, and on the verge of tears continually.  Not to mention the horrible effect that my countenance was having on my family.  Eventually it all came to a crashing point where I realized I just could…. not….. do it.  I did not sign up for this.  I started my photography business because I wanted the freedom of owning my own business, I loved taking pictures and I knew I could help out the family with added income.   Wars with my husband, working til 3 am and a life of tears was not what I had envisioned.  In fact, it couldn’t be further from what I had pictured.  Something had to change.

After taking a hard look at where I had come, I had to ask myself…..So what was it that I envisioned?  What was it that made me sign up for this career in the first place?  I was at a breaking point.  I didn’t care if I lost everything because I didn’t want it anymore.  But what DID I want?  What DID I love to do?   Why wasn’t I doing those things?  After all, I do own the business right?  I realized that every minute I was spending on all of those mundane tasks that I hated was a minute I couldn’t spend doing what I loved.  And life is too short to not do what you love.  So I gave myself 3 slots on a piece of paper.  Three.  And I asked myself, “If I could only do 3 things for the business, what would those things be?  After much thought I came to realize that aside from the act of actually photographing, the things I loved most were writing/storytelling, teaching, and designing.   This meant a few things….  I knew what I wanted.  But I had two choices.  I could run after those 3 as hard as I could and delegate the rest.  Or….. I could make excuses why I still had to pick up everything else that wasn’t on the list and skip back to the land of overwhelmed & depressed.

I chose the former, and now, I had a list.  A black and white filter system of which to organize my life.  If it didn’t line up with one of the 3 things on my list and an opportunity presented itself I just wouldn’t do it.  Simple as that.  It was like someone had given me that publishers clearing house check but I had REALLY won!  I felt like I had gained my life back by just defining what I wanted.  I now had that strength to turn down that family session that I dreaded shooting.    I now had a spark within me that just HAD to figure out how to run my business right.  So that is exactly what I dedicated my time to doing.

After I had my Yes list… I realized I needed a No list as well.   It seems rather simple but most people don’t take the effort to actually write these things down on paper.

I challenge you to do that today.  Write.  It. Down.  When things are staring back at you in the written word it brings about a sense of accountability, and you are much more likely to stick to it.   My list looked something like this…..

I will say No to.. Editing, Album Design, Animoto Videos, Writing Thank you notes, sending packages, checking my Pursuit 31 email, cleaning the house, washing the car, and preparing my photos for my blog.  You are probably thinking, Holy Cow that is a TON!  And yes, it is!!!! Imagine all of the time I was spending doing things I absolutely despised or, just wasn’t good at!  Now, imagine taking all of that time and turning it into things I LOVE!!!   A date night with my hubby, taking the kids to the park, getting a massage, writing, blogging, mentoring another photographer, creating packaging, you know, everything that makes me smile.  Doesn’t that seem just grand?  Can you even imagine doing only what you love in your business so that you can do more of what you love with your family?  Go ahead…think of it!  What would you do with your free time?

Wonderful right?   And it is easier than you think to get there.

I didn’t have the money to outsource everything to big companies so I reinvented the wheel.  I started asking around my church until I found people who were interested in doing what I didn’t want to do.  I found a stay at home Mom who wanted to make extra money cleaning houses… boom… done.. one off my list.  I found a high school girl that was interested in photography and taught her how to create Animoto videos. boom. boom.  I did the same thing with a college girl who now edits all of my weddings.  Are you seeing a pattern? I now get a wedding completely culled & edited and back to me within a week, exactly like I would’ve done it ( because I trained them) and it costs me about $80.  And in turn, I have 6 free hours to do as I please!  I simply found people who had strengths where I was weak.  They are all around you if you just look.  I’m still a work in process and I do not have it all together, but what I can say is that this concept changed my entire life.  Outsourcing wasn’t this huge, complicated thing.  It was simply a matter of choices.  Do I? Don’t I?  And if I Don’t, who can I find that will Do?  Try it.  I think you may just get hooked!

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Great stuff!  Start saying YES to some things and NO to others!

Alright, time to all win something cool! Want to win a $20 Starbucks Gift Card and tell Karen how great this most was to you?

All you have to do is:

1) Comment on this post

2) Tweet about Karen’s post using using @Karen_Stott, this link – http://tinyurl.com/6r5mwxo 8 and make sure to include the hashtag #ZachJodysBlog.

Winner will be chosen next Tuesday from all the Tweets!

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