Podcast Ep 382 - The Missing Piece: How Kelly Transformed Her Photography Business

In this inspiring episode of the Flourish Academy Podcast, host Heather Lahtinen sits down with pet photographer Kelly McNamara to talk about her incredible journey from a 20+ year legal career to building a thriving photography business that aligns with her passion.

Kelly shares how shifting her mindset, embracing coaching, and using the Model transformed not just her business — but her marriage, her health, and her self-concept.
This is a conversation about courage, clarity, and building a life and business that truly lights you up.

Show Notes:

• The mindset shift from “hobbyist” to professional photographer

• Letting go of financial pressure and redefining success

• How the Model helped Kelly through challenging sales calls and self-doubt

• Applying mindset work beyond business — to marriage and health

• Building a business based on passion, purpose, and joy

• Why community and coaching can be life-changing

 

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Join our next free coaching workshop: www.getcoachedbyheather.com

Connect:

Heather Lahtinen: Website, Facebook, Instagram

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TRANSCRIPT

You're listening to the Flourish Academy podcast, and today I'm sharing a recent

conversation with one of my photographer friends on how she manages challenges in her

business.

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 leave 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. My

friend Kelly reached out to me recently about a breakthrough she had whilst coaching

with me about a challenge she was facing in her business. Except it wasn't me,

But it was, but not really. This is an interesting story.

I hope you enjoy our conversation. Kelly, I would love if you could start by

telling us a little bit about who you are, what you photographed and when and how

you got started.

- Okay, I am Kelly McNamara, founder and chief treat officer of Kelly Max Studios.

So I photographed dogs, cats, and horses, and they're humans.

I started officially as a business in,

it was the end of 2022. We were living in Texas at the time. And so I formed my

LLC, got everything all ready to go. I was all excited. And then we decided to

follow our kids back to California. And so I was like, okay, great. Well,

let's move back to California. And so officially beginning of 2023,

I started up the business part -time. I was a full -time attorney,

had been since, gosh, 2001.

And So, I just ran the business part -time until earlier this year,

2025, what was it, end of February, beginning of March,

I was able to retire from that job so that I could then do the business full

-time. How's that transition for you from attorney to pet photographer? tell me about

that because that's kind of a journey in your mind. Oh it was a huge journey

because I wasn't a professional photographer you know before any of this.

I when we moved back in 2011 we moved from California to North Carolina for my

husband's job and I had been an it equestrian. So I sold my horse and had to get

ready to take the North Carolina bar exam and found myself needing something,

some creative outlet. And so I picked up, you know, low -end consumer,

you know, camera at Costco and just started photographing anything and everything,

taking an online course about just how to use the camera and then just eventually

you know started you know taking that on as you know a real passion I was really

I loved it and it wasn't until gosh 2014 when we moved back from North Carolina to

California we got our first dog together and you know my obsession you know with

him turned into an obsession photographing him and by that time you know I developed

you know some pretty decent skills and so everybody kept saying oh you should you

know do this professionally and so I was like why not but calling it a business

dropping into that. Yes, I am a professional pet photographer. That took a lot of

work. Both on myself and just on the people around me. My husband,

you know, particularly I kept having to say, "It is not my hobby. This is my

business." So I finally convinced him and my tax guy that this was a business and

sort of treating it as such.

So yeah, that was a big transition. Did you always know that you had like a

creative artistic streak? Oh, gosh, no No, right. Same. Neither did I right because

engineering lawyers are just like using a lot of your logical mind So so that

happened around that time when you picked up that Costco camera or

before I always

Equated creativity with being artistic. And I had never done anything artistic before.

So I was like, no, I'm not creative. But if you can think about it, I mean, I

was a trial attorney.

You have to be creative to convince a jury that they should do what you want them

to do.

- I've

creative, you know, with words, with ideas, things like that. I've just never

considered myself creative because I always equated that to, oh, you have to be able

to draw or paint or yeah, I'm crazy. So the reason I point this out is because

for many of us that photography was sort of our second or maybe even third career

is that we have this self -concept we need to develop as an artist, as a

photographer first, apart from our previous self -concept, which is absolutely a

transition in of itself, and then transitioning also to a self -concept of

entrepreneur or business owner. So about a year ago, you and I met, you joined

Elevate about a year ago, and you had mentioned to me when we were talking that

prior to that, you were working on getting all of the strategies for pricing and

marketing. So tell me about that and how you were thinking about it or feeling

about it. Yeah, it was April of that year when I started working with a coach who

just really honed in on, here's the structure we're going to put you on a CRM,

we're I'm going to, you know, kind of done for you workflows and emails and all

those things. And here's how you're going to market and here's how you're going to

do this. And so I'm the, you know, perfect rule follower. I'm like, okay, you just

gave me a recipe and I'm going to follow. I mean, I'm a former prosecutor, of

course, I'm a rule follower.

So you know, I follow all the rules, I do all the things. I'm just like,

"Yay, this is all working." And one of the strategies was around a certain type of

marketing and social media marketing, doing Facebook contests, you know, model calls

or register to win type things. And so, you know, I was getting the leads,

I was, you know, doing all the things, but we'd get to the sales portion and you

know I'd kind of you know freak out a little bit and so my average sale was

nowhere near I wanted it to be and I had this this like idea in my head that I

knew I wanted to retire I knew I wanted to bring my business full -time but I

wasn't in my head it was like you can't do that until you can match the difference

between what you'll get in retirement and what you're currently earning as a salary.

And saying this out loud is just, I always feel a little tacky, but I was making

my salary at that point was about a quarter of a million a year. Let's go.

I love a quarter of a million a year. - Yeah, so I called it the golden handcuffs.

- It was. - Yeah. - I was gonna walk away from that. - Right. - In my head, it was

like, I have to be able to justify retiring by saying, okay, well, I can make up

the difference. I can be a six figure photographer, you know, six figure plus, and

then make up that difference between what I'll get in my pension and what I'm

getting in my salary. And so when I wasn't, you know, when my average sale was so

low, I'm like, I'm never gonna be able to do this. There's something missing. And

I, you know, was a real avid podcast listener, so I don't know if I heard it on

Flourish Academy, if I heard it on Nicole's Hair of the Dog at the Time Academy,

but I heard about Coach Week and I was like, okay, maybe there's something to this

because I really, maybe there's something to this thing. - Maybe. - I had really

thought, okay, I, all I need is, you know, I've got my skills where I want them

to be. Now all I need is the systems and then I'll be golden.

- Right. - And then when it turned out to be the case, I'm like, okay, well, maybe

there is a missing piece. So I went to Coach Week. I think after the first or

second day of Coach Week, I had another sales call.

And I was doing all in -person sales by Zoom. So I do the Coach Week thing.

I go on to the call. All of a sudden, it's like, "Oh, I'm rocking this." And I

started with, you know, the client saying, you know, I don't think we're gonna be

able to get anything, it was her and her, very grumpy husband.

And, you know, she was just kind of saying, we're probably just gonna take the free

print, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, great, well, I still wanna go through everything

with you, show you what your options are, la, da, da. We went through everything

and they ended it as a really good sale a little higher than my current average.

And I was like, yep, I'm signing up for elevate. I implemented that thoughts and I

put it into action. I worked through it and it was like, oh, yeah, it is the

thoughts and feelings in action. It is the model. There it is. Yeah. And you signed

up for a year because of a thought. Can you go back to that so you're in Coach

Week, you're seeing everyone get coached, we're talking, you have this challenging

call. Can you remember, I know it's been a year now, but can you remember what

thought or thoughts or feelings shifted

You know, I have a hard time really remembering just because I think it was,

I had this preconceived notion, you know, having been through another group with a

different photographer who

was very kind of woo -woo.

And that just wasn't working for me. And so I had this like preconception that what

you were all about was just kind of an extension of that. So after the first day

of coach week, I'm like, oh yeah, this is not woo -woo. This is science. - Right.

- This is real.

This isn't the old well if you believe yes, right?

I'm like, yeah, I'm too old for that I you know That might have that might have

spoken to me in my 20s and 30s, but in my 60s. I'm like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah

No, because you wanted the science and the actual strategies and approach and I

think my gift is Marrying the woo -woo with that because I'm an engineer. There is

no one more skeptical of WooWoo than me. No one. But I figured out the equation,

Kelly. I figured out what part of the WooWoo can I understand or maybe even buy

into. And then as a scientist, how can I marry that and create an equation?

And that's what I'm doing. That's what I'm teaching people and it's very real and

it's very tangible. And you heard that, you implemented that day and you got a high

sale as a result of shifting your thoughts around a difficult client who says,

"I'm only going to get the one thing or the free thing or whatever." And we hear

that all the time from photographers who have that type of approach that clients

will say that. And oftentimes they do convert into higher sales, sometimes they

don't. But wasn't it easier, better, more fun to go into it with better thoughts

about how you were going to approach it? It was so much better. Instead of going

in with a shaky voice and a, "Gosh, I don't want to take up more time that I

need to and let me, let me just get through this. I'm like, no, let me serve

them. Let me figure out what it is they need and see how I can,

how I can serve them without tearing down all my boundaries. Oh,

that's it. That's it. Being very strong in your business policies, how things go,

believing in your value instead of, You know, shaky or uncertain,

you adopted the mindset of confidence and you just decided this is the way it's

going to go and it did, which is so fascinating.

And you had said something, I just want to, I wrote it down while you were

talking. So many photographers think I'm never going to be able to do this or they

think something is missing and it feels very defeating and very hopeless.

So you were there and then you decided to seek out the resources to help you work

through that, correct? - Absolutely. - You were just, you had decided, so instead of

I'm never going to be able to do this, you decided to think I'm gonna figure this

out or I'm gonna get the resource, do you remember? - I'm gonna get the resources.

This coaching program is something that I need to be a part of. I need to be

surrounded by these people.

And when, you know, the options are, okay, you can go month to month, you can sign

it for a six month, you can sign it for a year. I'm like, - Why would I do

anything less than a year? - Right.

- I just, that doesn't even make any sense. - Right, I'm with you. Let's just go

all in.

- Yeah, I'm not, you know, at this point, I was just like, I'm not going to just,

you know, dip my toe in the water more. Yeah. If I really want to make this

happen, then yes, I'm going to invest in my, I'm going to back myself. Yeah,

you believe in yourself, correct? You believe that you could figure it out. That

was, that was imperative for you at that point. And you, did you make your money

back pretty quickly? Oh, within a week or two.

Oh, my word. So then at that point, Elevate is free for a year. If you made your

money back, it's basically free. And then everything on top of that is compounding

interest, which by the way, you get to keep forever in terms of what you've shifted

in your brain. Yeah. Yeah. I personally think it's the deal of a lifetime,

but that's just me. Believe in my own program. Okay. So you're in Elevate.

I teach a concept called the model. I've taught it on the podcast. So most everyone

should be familiar with that. I'll put in the show notes, links to previous podcasts

on it. What were your thoughts when you first heard, so at a high level, your

thoughts, create your feelings, lead to your actions, and then ultimately your

results? When you first learned that structure, what were you thinking?

It was a freaking lightbulb moment.

It was like that missing piece that I had been searching for. It just made

everything make sense.

And I was so convinced that that was the missing piece,

not just for my business, but for my life. And I don't know if you recall this,

my very first lifeline, I was like, okay,

so I get one lifeline with Heather and one with, you know, each month with the

other, you know, coaches. Okay, I'm going to use the Heather one first.

I'm not going to save that till the end. Right. Right. And you had set something

in one of the podcasts that just resonated with me about,

if you've got this other like mental garbage or whatever,

you gotta deal with it before you can even think about dealing with your business.

It's always gonna drag on you. So we talked about my having kind of hit this

critical critical mass where it was just like, okay, we're either going to fix this

or we're going to be looking for attorneys. And I just,

you

know, it was just such a low point.

And you, you know, worked me through it led me to a great resource,

you know, the life coach school, you know, other coaches. I was like, you know, I

think I really want, you know, somebody who works with couples because I really felt

like I didn't want to be the only one that wanted to save, you know, our marriage.

And so I'm like, I have to get somebody that I think he's, my husband is going to

want to, you know, work with as well. So we found somebody wonderful and,

you know, things are, you know, definitely much better.

And then when I was thinking back, you know,

a couple months ago, three, almost three months ago, I, you and I were talking

about, you the uh you know when you hit a certain age you know some things start

slipping you know and for me it was my body had become my my enemy post -menopause

I'm like oh my gosh I'm heavier than I've ever been I don't feel like myself I

look in the mirror and I'm like who is this person and so went back to the life

coach school I'm like let me find somebody who specializes in menopausal weight loss

and applying the model to that. I'm like, "Great. I have lost over 20 pounds.

I have no way." Yeah, I have absolutely no doubt that I'm going to reach my goal.

And I'm just like, "Oh, yeah. I'm not on a diet. I just have,

Again, transformed into this person who eats and does things in a certain way and

has used the model to explain to her brain,

"No, you do not need Ben and Jerry's, you do not need to buffer with food.

You need to work through your emotions. I'm like, wow, what a concept. Everything

that we've been doing in elevate, but applying it to different parts of my life.

And so yeah, if you ask if I'm a total believer in the model. Yeah,

you are genius is what you are because here's what you did. You learned the model.

And you knew, as did I, by the way. When I first learned it and immediately

decided to get certified in it, because I knew this was like a ninja, you know,

like magic trick on life, you learned it as it relates to photography and business.

And then you were like, wait a minute, if this is the missing piece there, then

how can I apply this to relationships, health, finances, everything in your life,

which is what I did as well. And I mean, to me, it sounds like an exaggeration to

say, but the model changes lives. It saves marriages. It alters your perception of

yourself, all from you investing in a photography coaching resource that uses that

tool. And then you had, I think there was this pivotal thought of curiosity that

was like, wait a minute, What else, what else could I,

so you are not the first person who has said to me some version of like the model

or understanding or watching the coaching has saved my relationship because of what

I've learned and that is just so inspiring to me to think that we're all working

together to grow our photography businesses And people are saying, people are coming

back to me, people are staying in elevate for years because of what it's done for

their lives.

Yeah. Like, wow, right? That is mind blowing and amazing to me.

And I knew it because I knew, I knew it was the missing piece. I agree with you

completely. I could not, I couldn't go full on into the woo -woo, but when I had

this, you know, approach, it was like, "Oh, my thinking creates my feelings and then

actions and then results. Oh, okay, then this is what we're going to do." So would

you say like, "This is like so lofty because you did the work, you and your

husband did the work." But the model was the foundation to save your marriage.

Oh, a hundred percent.

Unbelievable.

- Okay, so we, you know, you'd learn the model in Elevate and we work through the

model. Oh, I don't know, every day of every call of every week, whether that's in

the Facebook group or on our strategy calls or on the private coaching calls, all

of the coaches are trained in the model. One of them is actually even certified in

it, Michelle Crandall, she's a guest on the podcast pretty often and We use it in

everything we do. So at some point, I don't know, do you remember? I mean, we

could look it up. Do you remember how long you were in Elevate before we created

this like next version of the model, automated model? Do you remember? Yeah.

- I mean, don't. I want to say within the first six months. - Yeah,

I think so. I think you're right. So what I did is I'm a tech person,

I love tech, so I knew the model was the answer to everything and coaching on it

is just so, so powerful, which is why I do coach weeks and fast track coaching so

people can get exposed to that. But I decided to take what I knew and put it into

chat GPT. So what I did was I created a custom GPT based on the model.

So I took, I essentially taught at the model. So I started with teaching it like

the basics, you know, and then I fed in transcript after transcript after transcript

of me teaching the model in Elevate and coaching on it. I mean,

I want to say the document ended up being about a hundred pages long.

I wanted to train the GPT on two things. One is the model,

but secondly, in my voice, which is why the transcripts.

So you were there when I announced this, and I was like, "Hey, this is beta

version. I'm testing this, AI can go sideways." Often,

I tested it internally first with a few of the coaches. They loved it. I said,

"Okay, I'm gonna release it you know, and just ask people to try it out and see

what they think and get back to me. What were your first experiences like of using

the model GPT model?

I probably wasn't using it as often because I think by then I was feeling pretty

confident in a lot of things. So I would come back to it every now and again if

I was having like doubts about things or, you know, if I had a session that didn't

go well and I needed a little boost. But I've been really using my own GPT,

which I even named and provided a personality for. I love it.

Yeah. And so, you know, for some of the more like Logistical things.

I was using my own chat GPT and not going to the model

But every once in a while if it if there was something that I wasn't able to

bring to one of the elevate discussions Or just you know Just you know wanted a

little extra, you know, um,

then I would go to the model and kind of recently I was,

I had had, I did a book project that's part of this whole collaborative with an

Australian Peppachock with the Tales of the World project. And I had my very last

session from that was somebody who ended up being,

you know, a no -sale, but not just a no -sale, he had kind of undermined my

confidence in my technical abilities. I was like,

okay, I need to, you know, I need to, you know, model this and,

you know, went back to the model, he worked it through. I was like, okay, I'm

feeling good. This was him. This was a him thing.

I'm, you know,

I'm proud of the fact that it didn't send me off the, you know, the deep end.

- Yes, yes. - You know, for anything else, it was just like, but it was a list for

me because at that point it was just like, okay, I had a goal before.

I knew where I wanted to be with the business and everything was,

you know, focused on revenue and average sale and, you know,

all these things.

And that bad sales call Um,

maybe take a step back and go, well, wait a minute,

maybe this isn't who I am. Maybe it's not who I want to be as a business owner.

Maybe it's not, maybe what I'm valuing, um, you know,

maybe,

you know, the, the valuing the money aspect of it, you know, having a revenue goal

and working towards that,

maybe that's not what I need to do. Maybe that's, you know, not it because,

you know, financially, I'd finally come to that point where I realized I didn't need

a whole lot of profit from the business. I didn't really want a whole lot of

profit from the business because my husband and I have no debt, and he makes a

significant amount of money. And

if I don't have some good deductions from business, we have no deductions.

I run my business to provide us the deduction so we're not paying extra taxes on

my pension that I wouldn't want to pay etc etc so so taking that step back I was

like well wait a minute if I don't have to chase this big revenue goal what is it

that I want what is it that lights me up.

And one of the other elevators, Michelle, and Jess Wasek,

also have done book projects that are very much passion projects for them. And so I

thought, well, I enjoyed the Tales of the World project in the aspect,

you know, of being the charitable, you know, aspect, charitable side of it. I

enjoyed really loved the calendar contest I did because it raised more money for

that rescue, which is the rescue I got my dog from than they had ever raised in

any of their fundraisers in their 15 -year history. Unbelievable. I was like,

"Okay, that's what lights me up." It's like, did I make some money from that?

Yeah, I did, but the fact that I made four times more for the rescue than I made

for myself, that's what made me feel so good. So I was like, what if I could do

that with a book project? So I had this like middle of the night, you know,

light bulb. I'm like, I know what I want my book to be, what I'm passionate about.

And then I wake up with this doubt. What if it's just another big idea that I

don't follow through on? Oh, wow. Yeah, because I, I, so my,

my 20 plus year career in law

came 15 years after I dropped out of college as an accounting major. So I'm

probably the only lawyer you'll ever meet that doesn't have an undergraduate degree.

Is that right? I did not know that. Yeah. So I, you know,

had a history up to that point of being a good starter, but not a good finisher.

Got it. So when I came up with the idea for the book project,

I'm like, okay, I'm in love with this idea now. But is it something I'm going to,

you know, just let fall by the wayside. So I ran that one through the chat GPT

model. - This is actually why we're here today because you ran this through the GPT

model which is this self -doubt, right? You asked yourself a really good question

which everyone should, what do I want? And what do I want this business to look

like? Like, what am I really going after? Now, when you have a challenging client

or sales call and you ask yourself that question, you have to make sure it's coming

from a very clean place. Like, it's not because I can't deal with that. It's

because I'm genuinely curious, is this what I want? Do I want this to go to a

different direction? You felt pretty solid with that until your brain got ahold of

it. (laughs) - Right? - And then said, it said, Kelly, are you sure?

Are you sure you're not, this isn't just one of those ideas you're not gonna follow

through. And this self -doubt came up. And the beautiful thing about the chat GPT

model is what you had said earlier, which is, if you can't attend a strategy call

or you can't get a lifeline scheduled and it's the middle of the night or first

thing in the morning and you really feel kind of tied up in your own thoughts and

you want to work through something. This is an exceptionally effective way to do it

and you had emailed me and you had said as much, correct? Yeah, I wrote it through

and I tend to do this with my morning coffee, you of sitting in the recliner,

sipping my coffee, typing away. So I'm having this like conversations the model,

which is really in my head, it's a conversation with you.

And by the end of it, I was just like, oh, my gosh,

this is, I mean, I didn't even know what I needed when I started typing. I think

I started out saying I honestly don't know if I need coaching on this or maybe

just some validation and here's the situation. So I laid out the whole situation and

then my my question at the end of it to the to the model was am I crazy?

And oh my gosh, I I always hear your voice coming through when the model responds,

but this time I it was like you were literally sitting in front of me.

And we got to the end and I was just, I was so,

so grateful, so moved and so just, I just don't even know how to say it.

It was like

taking a big breath for the first time. And I just,

I was like, I have to share this with Heather. I have to let her know how like

literally life altering this has been for me because I think like a lot of people

who start a coaching program that is based on, you know, making more money,

you know, you're very upfront about, hey, I want to help you earn more money in

your photography business that that's you know that's your passion your purpose and

so I was almost like you know I don't know because I'm really this now it's not

about earning more money am I going to feel as good about this is is Heather slash

the model going to support me as much in this when it's not about any more money.

When it's just about, hey, I want to build my business in a way that is from the

heart. That lights you up. That lights me up.

I just want to say that, yes, I focus a lot on money,

but obviously I will support you in what it is you want that fuels your soul,

that lights you up and that drives you. I want to make sure everybody is able to

reach their goals in the way they want. I just happen to like money, you know, but

I don't dislike it. And I had told you privately that there are actually a lot of

people in elevate that are not driven financially. They're just not for various

reasons, but you're definitely not alone. So, okay, so you work through this model

and you sent it to me and as I was reading it, I've got to tell you, I read,

especially the first part, when you asked it, am I crazy? It said, where is that

coming from? And I would have literally said that. (laughs) I would have actually

Ask that question. It's almost, it is scary, it's not almost. It is scary how good

this is. I mean, how much it sounds like me and my approach. And it asked you

several questions that gave you different things to think about and then slowed you

down and got you to the real, the heart of it, the heart of your confusion.

So, okay, let me just like bigger picture this for a second. Give me some emotional

words prior to, you felt a little crazy, some self -dial,

insecure, anything else, what else?

- I

think it was

kind of wanting to not be an outlier, wanting to fit in and worrying that,

well, wait a minute, is this gonna make me different to the point where I'm not

gonna be a part of something that has been so meaningful to me for this past year.

Isn't that interesting how your brain told you that being different, like, like

exclude you from the tribe? Right. No, of course not.

Being different is what makes you who you are. But your brain was, you know, Kelly,

it was just simply messing with you. Oh, yeah. I was the, you know, fat kid on

the playground who never got picked for the teams. So, you know, it was always, you

know, I want to achieve things that make me, you know,

a part of, you know, the fun. - Fit in, fit in. - Yeah, fit in,

because nobody wants to be lonely or feel like they're the outcast. So we're always,

it's so funny, because instead of looking for ways where we do fit in, our brain

just wants to show us where we don't or where it perceives that we do not because

we have a different approach. This was, I want to continue. I'm saying, I'm not

concluding. I'm just saying this was so helpful in something I want to teach inside

of Elevate about different approaches and different thoughts. So, you know, so I

know, thank you for bringing this to me because I want to make sure that people

feel like they do fit then no matter what their goal or their approach is, I've

done that very directly with pricing. You know, you'll often hear me say, I think

any pricing model will work. I think professional pricing is simply pricing that's

profitable. I don't care if you do UIPS. I don't care if you do Digitals. You

know, like all versions of that are welcome here. And I think I need to make sure

I say this as well, that like if the Profit is not your goal,

but lighting up your soul is then let's talk about it And I think this will open

up a lot of space for others

Yeah, I mean, you know, I

I knew that my renewal time, you know was approaching and

Even before this I was like

I can't imagine stepping away from elevate. Of course, I'm gonna read you. Of course

I am. And then this, you know, happened and, you know, the end of it,

you know, I end up with an intentional model and,

and then an offer, hey, when you're ready, come back and we can build this, we can

anchor into this, this weekend, or we can just, I love this, or we can simply

celebrate where you are because it's already enough. Oh my gosh. And that,

I mean, I literally, I still tear up every time I read that and I reread it many

times because, you know, a not enoughness has been a theme, you know,

for many of my, you know, 62 years.

So, you know, knowing that I've got this tool and these people and,

you know, you and this community that you have built,

yeah, that's priceless. - Oh, I'm with you. Thank you for saying so.

I, obviously I agree, but I mean, I believe in it so much that we are changing

lives through what we're teaching. And it also said that you're an outlier, you're

not an outlier, you're a trailblazer. I love that. So you go through this

conversation with me, me quotes. - Yeah. - Okay, you go through these unintentional

models. Oh my gosh, everyone else is focused on profit. But if I don't want to

make money, people will think I'm lazy. Okay, fantastic. The whole thing is

fantastic. So you get through your unintentional model, it helps you walk you through

an intentional model. How did you, what were your emotions or feelings at the end

of this?

Just a wonderful sense of relief, this confidence that,

oh my gosh, you know, she's right. I am right where I need to be.

And I am a leader, not, you know, I'm a renegade.

Right. A trailblazer. You know, just seeing this,

this, you and I were talking about this, this arc from feeling insecure or crazy or

not confident, just, you know, all of these negative feelings, to be able to go

from that to feeling relief and confidence and like a leader and secure and certain

in a matter of how long do you say, would you say you sat with this model?

Like, how long did it take you to go through it?

A couple hours. Yeah. To be able to transform that. And I often,

Often every day I quote you every day because you are the one who said I am now

floating on a cloud of confidence And I love that because isn't that what everyone

wants? What if that were possible for anyone listening? What if that were possible

for you? in a few hours in in one specific area and then you work on all of

these different areas and you're just generating this new self -concept that you would

have never imagined was for you.

- I could not have imagined this.

- Feeling this way, thinking this way, growing the business this way. Like,

yeah, oftentimes people hear the pricing models or the way of doing business and

they think, well, if I don't do it that way, I'm wrong. Or is wrong with me if I

don't feel that way.

And I really, really wanna create the environment of encouragement and inclusion.

And there's no right or wrong. I say it all the time. I've said it for years.

There's no right or wrong way to do anything. It's just the way that works for

you. You are now living proof of that. But this model, I mean,

I I read through this, it's like, at first I thought Kelly's a genius.

This computerized version of me is a genius. Like, you know that I actually even

use my own model. I coach myself in my own model. It's hilarious.

I do it. I mean, like, fairly often I'll have like a challenge like, this is it.

You can't get on a coaching call for whatever reason, it can't get a lifeline. You

go to this model, you can work through the smallest of issues, the biggest of

issues really quickly. Can you imagine how fast then you move through like making

changes in your business and getting results? Yes?

- Absolutely, absolutely. - So I recently, I think within the last couple of months,

I put app, the chat GPT app on my phone. I didn't have it on my phone. And I

logged in and one day I was really struggling. I want to say it was something with

my daughter or my husband. Oh, it was my daughter for sure, because, you know,

we're like the same person. And I used the audio, like you can press the little

microphone. And I just talked, I just talked into the chat GPT model.

And, you know, And it thanked me for being vulnerable. Yes, you're welcome. And then

it walked me through my situation with her and just lightened my whole attitude,

shifted my whole mood, probably in less than 30 minutes. And I thought,

this is incredible. One of my favorite parts in your chat was, you told it

something, I don't know if I can find it. I think it was the model, or was it

you? The model was like, it was the model said this to you. You said, I'm allowed

to build a life that prioritizes joy, even if it looks different from what others

expect. This makes me feel at peace and self assured. And like, I'm finally showing

up my authentic self and I want to lead with joy and a giving heart in this next

chapter. You said that to the model, and it said, "That gave me chills." I thought

I gave a computer chills. It was like, "You just gave a computer chills." That's

fantastic.

Yeah. Okay. All right. Let's wrap up with your

Final thoughts on your transformation and your journey?

I think my final thought would be I'm

finally you know where I want to be but I know I'm not where I'm going to be

that there's always always something on the horizon and maintaining that curiosity and

surrounding yourself with people who believe in you, tools like the model.

I really feel like, yes, I'm turning 63 in a few months. And it's just the

beginning. You know, where most people in their mid 60s are like, Oh, well, you

know, I'm getting older and like, I'm just getting better and better. - And it's

like, there are no limits. You are limit less. And when this podcast actually drops,

we will have already been through our capacity work training, which you are going to

love by the way, because it's like, I'm expanding my capacity. I have learned that

I'm capable of so much more than I thought. And that's really exciting. First of

all, you should be very, very proud that you've worked through all of these things.

And it's so exciting because you're like, what's next? Like nothing can stop me.

Nothing can stop, I can create anything I want. And that's so exciting, encouraging

and hopeful. Like I'm just, I'm only going to get better.

It's only going to grow from here, which is amazing. So can you let people know

how they can find you or look at your work? - Oh my goodness. I am Kelly Mac

Studios, K -E -L -L -Y -M -A -C Studios.

At, I'm there on the internet. I am that same handle on Facebook and on Instagram.

- Perfect. I will include that in the show notes. I just want to encourage everyone

to think the way you do, which is you can create it any way you want, a

trailblazer, and also still be in community, in connection. It doesn't take you out

of connection, it can bring you more into connection.

Thank you so much for being here. Thank you, Heather. Wasn't that a fantastic

conversation? I think, Well, let me rephrase, I know that you need elevate.

If you're listening to this podcast and you're a photographer and you would like to

grow your business, you need to join us inside of elevate. I have never heard a

more glowing review and testimonial than what Kelly has shared here in the podcast

and publicly in different forums. If you are interested or curious,

head over to www .flourish .academy /elevate.

The link is in the show notes. I'll see you in the next episode.