Podcast Ep 318 - Navigating Unexpected Challenges in Your Photography Business
![mindset](https://kajabi-storefronts-production.kajabi-cdn.com/kajabi-storefronts-production/file-uploads/blogs/2012/images/353eea0-bd3e-3ea8-247e-503e6d3fb2d4_Thumbnail_-_318_1_.png)
In this episode of the Flourish Academy Podcast, Heather Lahtinen discusses how to deal with unexpected and undesirable circumstances. As a photographer, educator, and entrepreneur, Heather shares her personal experiences with health challenges and provides actionable steps for managing your mindset during tough times.
Tune in to learn how to stay resilient, plan effectively, and turn obstacles into opportunities.
Show Notes:
- Heather shares an update on her health and current neurological situation.
- Discussion on how health issues can impact photographers and entrepreneurs.
- Importance of managing your mindset and planning ahead.
- Heather's mantra: "I make money every day, and some days I collect."
- Encouragement to work on non-photography tasks that set you up for future success.
- Five key questions to ask yourself during uncertain times:
- Emphasizing the importance of acceptance in reducing suffering.
- Encouragement to cultivate tenacity and never give up on your goals.
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Connect:
Heather Lahtinen: Website, Facebook, Instagram
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<p><b>TRANSCRIPT</b>
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Transcript:
You're listening to the Flourish Academy podcast, and today we are talking about how to deal with unexpected and very undesirable circumstances. My name is Heather Lahtinen, and I'm a photographer, educator, and entrepreneur, and I founded the Flourish Academy as a resource for photographers of all levels. We want to help you pursue your passion on your own terms because we believe there is room for everyone.
In this podcast, we focus on creating breakthroughs with your mindset to discover the things that are really holding you back in business and life. In episode 313, I shared an update on my health and the current neurological situation that I find myself in.
And part of the reason I shared my story is because dealing with health issues, whether it's your own or something with a friend or family member can be very challenging as a photographer and entrepreneur.
We just don't get sick leave or paid time off. But one of the things I like to remember is that this is a mantra I have. I make money every day and some days I collect.
I tell photographers in Elevate that just because you aren't photographing doesn't mean you aren't working or earning money. If you are working on your website or marketing or pricing and you're setting yourself up to make money or more specifically collect money in the future,
then that means that you are making money every day. In some days you collect, but okay, that's kind of a tangent that and actually a lesson for another day.
I received so much feedback about that episode and many of you indicated that the way I deal with things is so inspirational. And first of all,
I wanna say thank you. I really appreciate your kind words, but the truth is I just like to demonstrate what's possible when we manage our minds. And I think I'm just really good at planning and creating systems and developing tools for myself.
I am a mechanical engineer after all. And if you happen to find that inspirational, then fantastic. I received that. I wonder if there's a parallel or metaphor I could create there around a mechanical engineer using tools to fix physical systems.
And I am What some type of mind engineer that can use tools to manage my brain? I don't know. I'll have to work on that one But in today's quick episode, I want to give you my steps for dealing with life Or you know when things happen that are less than ideal and we will together Metaphorically prepare your tool belt so that it's handy and ready for use And that's because we know that life is going to happen.
It always does. You are going to get sick or injured. A child or family member is going to require your attention and maybe even for an extended period of time.
And yet still you will have to find a way to deal with your job or in our case, our photography businesses. And believe it or not, I tend to have anxious thoughts.
I don't like to classify myself as an anxious person. You will never hear me say my anxiety or I have anxiety because I don't appreciate that. We've talked about that in the past.
I just tend to have anxious thoughts. So I find that planning for these types of scenarios is helpful in order for me to maintain a calm mind.
And as I give you these steps. I want you to keep in mind that you must play in these ahead of time. When something happens and you're in it, your emotions are high.
And when emotions are high, intelligence is low. And we know this, but when things go sideways, we somehow expect ourselves to be able to think clearly,
but you can't solve your way out of a problem that you're in in when you have no brainpower. It's just not going to work. Okay. So I have these five questions that I ask myself.
And then, um, number six is just a statement to remind myself. So the first question is, how do I want to show up during this uncertain time or during this emergency?
Number two, who do I want to be? Number 3. How can I make my future self proud? Now I would say that these first three questions are very similar.
How do I want to show up? Who do I want to be? And how can I make my future self proud? 4. How can I appropriately manage my expectations? I think we just expect too much of ourselves during a crisis.
We think we should be able to do more. And we're not, which then makes us mad and frustrated. And I'll come back to that in a second. Number five, where do I need to find acceptance and stop resisting?
The biggest problem I see during these types of circumstances is resistance. You don't want this to be happening. This is what I said a moment ago. It shouldn't be happening on and on.
I don't want this. It shouldn't be happening. Oh my goodness. And resistance multiplies suffering. Acceptance brings peace. And I would add,
if you're in a season of dealing with your own health, maybe you're sick or something's going on, I think that because acceptance brings peace, you will typically heal faster.
I think, okay, I don't want to say this is the most important question because they're all pretty important. But I think this is one you really need to be aware of. Is the circumstance that you find yourself in as bad as it feels?
Or are you multiplying your suffering because you are resisting it? Like what would it just look like to lay in bed and say, "Yeah, I'm sick. I don't want to be sick.
I'm not suggesting that you like any of this, but if you accepted it, you might just relax and then it might not be as traumatic of a season for you, which leads me to number six.
This is the reminder I tell myself, this season is temporary. It will not be like this forever. This cannot last forever. Even though somewhere in the back of our mind,
we, we think that it will. Oh my gosh, I'm going to be in bed forever. I'm going to die. I'm never going to heal." And that's simply not true. Another spin on this, I say, especially if I'm in pain or there's something going on with my body,
is that I am at peace with my pain because I know this is temporary. And sometimes when it's really bad, I have to repeat that over and over and over, just to get some relief from my own brain.
So really quickly, I want to recap those. Number one, how do I want to show up during this uncertain time or this emergency? Number two, who do I want to be? Number three, how can I make my future self proud?
Number four, how can I appropriately manage my expectations? Number five, where do I need to find acceptance and stop resisting? And then number six,
remind yourself this season is temporary. I mean, honestly, why do we act surprised when life happens? I wonder what it might look like to stop resisting life,
like resisting these seasons and instead welcome them knowing that we can ride the wave and we can manage our mind. But the key to all of this is answering,
addressing these questions ahead of time, trying to get a handle on managing your expectations when you are in a crisis is, I believe a fool's errand and that's because your emotions are high,
which means your IQ is in the toilet. You're trying to think and you can't think and then you're mad about it and you're trying to solve a problem. It's just not going to work. One word that also comes to my mind for me is tenacity.
I want to be tenacious, which is the quality or fact of being able to grip something, firmly grip, or being very determined, determination, or continuing to exist,
persistence. These are the dictionary definitions of tenacity. And so I ask myself, I guess we could add this to the list. How can I cultivate tenacity?
I want to be the type of person that never ever gives up and never ever stops trying. Another thing I always consider during a season of adversity,
you know, when I'm trying to persist, I'm trying to cultivate this tenacity. Ask myself, what's the alternative here? Seriously, if you aren't going to push through,
then what, what are you going to do, or you're just going to give up, quit, lie down, abandon your goals and dreams. No way,
man. That is just not on the table for me. And because I am very aware of who I am, my values, what I stand for, I know this. So when I go into these seasons,
it's just, it's just not an option to give up. I always had when I in my photography business, failure just wasn't on the table. And by the way, I don't think there's such thing as failure.
It's only feedback and the only failure in my mind is to quit, is to stop trying. That is simply not an option for me. So if you take that option off the table,
then you have to ask yourself, what's left, what can I do instead of focusing, dwelling, ruminating, spinning on what's wrong with this season and what you can't do and how terrible it is.
Because that's really to do anyone. Really easy to do. Excuse me. Anyone can do that. But instead of doing that, could you use these five questions in the statement that this is temporary to ground yourself and give your brain something to work on to help you move forward.
I wish you all the best. In your upcoming seasons of adversity, I heard once that you're either in a crisis, coming out of a crisis or about to go into a crisis.
So why not prepare for that? Why not get your tool belt ready so that you can manage your mind when it happens? I hope that you found this useful. I'll see you in the next episode.