The Secret Sauce So You Can Define Your Success

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Difference Maker Revolution – "The Secret Sauce So You Can Define Your Success"

Date: October 13, 2025
Host and Guests: The Difference Maker Revolution team (Ronan Ryle, Jonathan Ryle, Janine McLeod, Steve Saporito)
Theme: Defining your own success as a photography business owner and the mindset, planning, and motivation behind it.

---

Episode Overview

In this episode, the team dives deep into what it truly means to define your own success, especially within the photography industry. Rather than defaulting to comparison with others—whether by financial averages or social media “success” stories—they advocate for a personal, holistic and meaningful vision, aligned with individual values, lifestyle aspirations, and a deeper “why.” The hosts break down practical steps to clarify this vision, plan for it, and execute on a weekly basis, emphasizing the vital role of purpose and community support.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Trap of Comparison

• Most photographers are hesitant or insecure about naming what success looks like for them, often due to constant comparison.

• Success is frequently misrepresented through selective sharing of only positive numbers and highlights, much like on social media.

  “People only tell the good things on social media. No one tells the bad things usually. And so it's the same thing when people are sharing their averages, their sales, they only share the good.” – Janine [01:52]

• Defining your own success isn’t about the sales average or vanity metrics, but about lasting satisfaction and personal happiness.

2. The Many Faces of Success

• Lifestyle goals are as valid as (or more valid than) raw financial targets—e.g., working less and having more time with family versus scaling to millions.

  “Some people just don't want to scale and make millions. They're happy serving X number of clients per week and paying themselves, you know, 30, 40, 50 grand a year and spending the rest of time with family.” – Jonathan [03:55]

• There’s no hierarchy; diverse visions are equally legitimate.

3. Developing a Personal Five-Year Vision

• The team’s mentorship process begins by prompting members to envision their life five years in the future—not just financially, but holistically.

• The business should be shaped as a vehicle to deliver the desired lifestyle, not the other way around.

  “What is your vision for your life, and then what business do you need to create to deliver on that desire for your life?” – Ronan [05:20]

• Few people in the industry take time to define a concrete, personal five-year plan.

4. Anchoring Vision with Purpose (“Your Why”)

• Vision provides the “what” and “where,” but a strong “why” keeps you persistent and fulfilled.

• Defining “who you want to serve and why” is essential—without a meaningful why, the risk of burnout or failure increases.

  “Unless you've got a true purpose and a why behind who you want to serve and why… you are more likely to fail if you don't know that and far more likely to succeed if you do know it.” – Ronan [10:11]

• Discovering your “why” is hard to do alone; outside coaching helps dig much deeper than surface-level answers.

• Caution against copying others’ whys or business models—success isn’t transferable without authentic alignment.

  “They see someone having success in a certain genre and they're like, oh well, they're getting success there. I'm going to do that… They fail miserably because it's not them, it's not what they're supposed to be doing.” – Janine [12:42]

5. Distinguishing Between What, How, and Why

• Confusing “what you do” (e.g., photographing robins) with “why you do it” is a common pitfall.

• Hobbies and casual interests don’t always translate into sustainable businesses; knowing your true why can clarify what business can support it.

  “Photographing robins… that’s not a why. That’s what you do. Right? And often people mix those up.” – Ronan [15:58]

• Reference to Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle model for understanding and discovering your why.

6. Why Your “Why” Matters

• Purpose provides deep satisfaction and resilience, beyond just monetary gains.

  “Your why gives you… a purpose beyond the absolute basic human desire… We all as humans crave to have a greater purpose… we actually feel that we're making a difference. We're leaving the world a better place than we entered it.” – Ronan [18:45]

• When your business reflects your passion and purpose, clients are drawn to the difference you make.

7. Bridging Vision to Execution—Planning and Accountability

• Big visions need to be broken down into actionable, incremental steps—a large “elephant” is eaten “one small piece at a time.”

• Utilization of the “12 Week Year” framework: splitting annual targets into focused 12-week “sprints,” and further into weekly projects and daily tasks.

  “We operate it in our business, we encourage photographers to do it in their business. And that idea is that you just break the year target into a 12 week year.” – Ronan [22:19]

• Distinguishing “projects” (large goals like “book Christmas sessions”) from discrete, assignable “tasks.”

  “If I just had Christmas bookings on my list… that is a huge project that involves many small little tasks.” – Janine [23:34]

8. The Power of Community and Accountability

• Consistent self-accountability is hard—community support, such as the podcast’s “Inner Circle” and Accountability Edge calls, gives members a nonjudgmental environment to share goals, track wins, and stay motivated.

• This sharing accelerates success through support, feedback, and friendly encouragement.

  “There’s no judgment on the wins, big or small. There’s no judgment on the goals. And I think it helps our members to have their level of success quicker than anything else out there.” – Jonathan [25:52]

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Comparison:
  “The first step is not comparing yourself to others.” – Ronan [00:06, 04:39]

• On Numbers and Ego:
  “People don't think about it. Like if you have a business that's doing 300k a year and your average is 1500, that business has served, like, over three times the number of clients… So I think that factors into it too.” – Jonathan [07:49]

• On Discovering Your Why:
  “Money is a lousy motivator. So… we've seen this, guys. You don't do something because it's successful for someone else. It's got to be something you want to do.” – Ronan [13:18]

• On Planning:
  “You're not constantly running behind the eight ball… You need to break down, all right, what does that actually involve?” – Janine [23:34]

• On Accountability:
  “The accountability edge call… allows you to network with a community of people who want to see you succeed… And there's no judgment on that.” – Jonathan [25:52]

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Dangers of Comparison & Defining Success: 00:06–03:55
• Lifestyles & Business Models: 03:55–05:20
• Personal Vision Process & Implementation: 05:20–08:39
• The Importance of “Why”: 08:54–18:00
• Discovering & Clarifying Your Why: 15:58–18:00
• Value of Purpose for Business and Clients: 18:45–20:50
• Practical Planning (12 Week Year Framework): 21:16–23:34
• Task vs. Project & Organizing Execution: 23:34–25:20
• Community, Accountability, and Support: 25:20–27:13

---

Conclusion

This high-energy, honest discussion challenges photographers and creative entrepreneurs to move beyond industry noise, vanity metrics, and external comparison. Instead, the team calls for a deeper personal alignment—finding vision, purpose, and sustainable joy in how you define and pursue your own version of success. By breaking big dreams into small, manageable steps and finding community accountability, you can build the business (and life) that truly fits you.

Transcript

[A]

We try and open up people's minds to what can be possible, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But at the end of the day, you have to make up your mind as to what you actually want. That's going to make you happy. And the first step is not comparing yourself to others.

[B]

Hey, Difference Maker. Welcome back to the Difference Maker Revolution podcast. And we are here with Ronan and Janine and Jano today. So today we're going to talk about an interesting topic because a lot of people, I think, are a little fearful to share what success looks like for them because they're always comparing themselves to other people. But one of the principles we have at the Difference Maker Revolution is that you define your own success. So what does that mean?

[A]

What does that mean, defining your own success? Well, I think we should explain, like what it doesn't mean first. And you've sort of alluded to it there, Jono, in the introduction where, you know, Janine, we see this all the time, right? We see people comparing themselves to someone else, right? And saying, oh, look at that person. You know, they have an average of whatever it is. How come I don't have an average like that? And you know, and often when you look beneath the bonnet, the person who's talking about the big average to have, it's an average of one year, you know, so, so, so, so it's, it's, it's really interesting concept in that you shouldn't, you shouldn't compare yourself to others because you actually don't see beneath the bonnet of what others have, are going through. What's your thoughts on that? Have you seen that?

[C]

I have seen that. You know, and it's people, it's always interesting, like when you, when you hear people talk about their numbers or their success, they only share part of the story. You know, it's kind of like social media, right? People only tell the good things on social media. No one tells the, the bad things usually. And so it's the same thing when people are sharing their averages, their sales, they only share the good. They don't share the no sales, they don't share the cost it takes to make that sale, which I always find to be, you know, a very important number. We talk about that, right? Like, what's your actual profit? So, you know, and everybody has a different, everybody has a different view of what they want. But yeah, no sharing. Sharing numbers when you don't fully share is always interesting and it's twofold. Like one, obviously you want to be able to inspire people what's possible, you know, and so we have members that have incredible sales and I think it's really cool when they can share what is possible because I think it feeds that belief that people will invest in portraiture and photography and creating these experiences for their families. So I think it's nice to hear because sometimes we doubt it, you know, or, you know, and. But then I also think it goes the other side where then it can be like, I'll never be able to do that and, oh, they're so much more successful than me. And, and success is not defined by your sales at all or your average order. Well, it's defined, I guess it could be defined by your overall sales, but it's not defined by your average. Um, I mean, Ronan, you talk about that one client that you had in your other business where their average was £400, but they made more, they made millions because of the volume that they did, you know, and so it's very interesting to me how photographers define success. And, and I think that's part of what you want to break through today. So people can redefine that so they can be inspired and feel good about what they're doing, but then also, you know, not be discouraged by what they hear others do.

[B]

I think it's about more than just that, though. It's about being like, some people just don't want to have, you know, to scale and make millions. They're happy with serving X number of clients per week and paying themselves, you know, 30, 40, 50 grand a year and spending the rest of time with family or doing whatever. Like it's, it's, it comes down to a lifestyle as well, I think, and what you actually want from your business.

[A]

But isn't that why we, as a team, like all four of the coaching and mentors, like we try and open up people's minds to what can be possible? Right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But at the end of the day, you have to make up your mind as to what you actually want that's going to make you happy. And the first step is not comparing yourself to others. I had a call with a member literally earlier today, and he was comparing himself to others rather than trying to figure out, so what does he actually want and what's going to make him happy? And looking at what others are doing, not based on the gap between where he is and where they are, but looking at what can I learn from them to get to where I want to get. And I think for me there's a really important steps you need to go through to define your own success now. So where I like to start with people is I like to understand what vision do they have for five years out, right? So you guys have seen us do this with members, right, where we get into a time machine and we go forward five years. And it's not based on what their sales number will be, Right. It's based on what life do they want to have, which reflects what you're talking about, Jonathan, in terms of. Of course, there's a money element to that. But like some people's vision is, well, I currently work six days a week. I only want to work three days a week. So I can spend one day on the golf course and I can spend the other three days with family. Right? And that's their definition of success, you know, and then there's other people who want to work seven days a week and have a studio in every major city in the US or in the UK or wherever. Right. And none of those are better than the other. I think that's the key thing. None of those is better than either. But the important thing is, is to go through that process and understand, well, what is your vision for your life? And then how does your business, what business do you need to create to deliver on that desire for your life? And you don't see people doing this a lot in our industry who can actually say, well, this is what I want in five years time, they might say things like, well, I want to have an average of 10,000. They've no idea how many clients they want or they don't know what the result of that will be other than what we often see, which is just a way to boast and say, look how successful I am. When you look beneath the bonnet, they may not be successful at all. I'm not saying you're not. We're just saying you may not be. Right. But if that's. What if that's so understanding that vision as to where you want to go, what you see, your life, and we have a. You know, the only way to do that is, is literally to go through a process to figure out what do you want your life to be. And working through that with a coach and a coaching team to understand what that is. And of all of our members, everyone's is different. I don't think we've any member where it's actually the same. Zero, zilch. So it has to be. And that's a good thing. You know, that's a good thing.

[B]

I think as well that I don't want to go down this rabbit hole, really. Of Talking about attaching ego to numbers and stuff. But people don't think about it. Like, if you have a business sustain 300k a year and your average is 5.5k, so you're serving 60 clients a year, average order. Right. And you have a business that's doing 300k a year, your average is 1500. That business has served, like, over three times the number of clients, so has infinitely more exposure to clients and experience than the one doing less clients. I think that's an important lesson as well, is that the more exposure you have to clients and doing something, the more experience you actually are. So I think that factors into it too. Yeah.

[A]

And I don't want to go down that rabbit hole on purpose. I don't want to make this all about numbers defining your own success. I think the numbers are part of it. But I think having a vision like. Janine, you declare vision for what you want to achieve from your business, right?

[C]

I do, yeah. You know, and it's. And I, I state it repeatedly to you guys and I, you know, and to my team here. And I want to go through life with my clients. You know, that is my vision. That is my why I want them here all the time. I want to see the kids growing up. I want to see them multiple times a year. I want to see them for every holiday, for every birthday. And so that is part of my why. That's what makes me happy, what drives me. And so that obviously affects the way I price, it affects the way I market, it affects the products that we offer, and it affects the services that we create, you know, and how we innovate, what we're doing. So it does, it, it, you know, but I have a very clear vision of what I want.

[A]

You've just jumped on to sort of, for me, the next, the one of the next steps in all of this, to find your own success. And you've just told us there about who you want to serve. Right? But importantly, when you're figuring out who you want to serve is why do you want to serve them? So, you know, like, you've told us who you want to serve, but the why, the purpose behind that, you know, is really important to understand because, you know, business is not easy.

[B]

Right?

[A]

But it's. For me, the benefits outweigh any of the negatives of owning and running the business. Right. Um, for me, and that's not for everybody, Right. But for me, it's certainly the positives far outweigh the negatives. Um, and I think you've seen that too, Janine. And you've seen that too, Jono. You know that it's, it's, it's. But it's really, really important that you can have a vision for what you want your life to be and you can have a vision for what your business needs to do to deliver on that. But unless you've got a true purpose and a why behind who you want to serve and why is it important to you that that's who you serve, right? I think you are more likely to fail if you don't know that and you're far more likely to succeed if you do know it. And for me, you can have the vision which we explain how we're doing this. It's like getting out your wide angle lens on your camera, right? It's the big picture, it's the big landscape, right? That of where we want to be in five years time. But your why, which is like your macro lens, you know, you're deep diving into your heart and biologically it's not, in fact your heart, it's a part of your limerick brain, as Simon saying teaches us to understand. Like what actually gives you the energy to keep going for why? What makes this important? What makes this vision important? And it's not about money. That's the result. Money is important, but that's not the reason why you do it. That's the result. And just, and, and when you combine the vision as to where you want to go and you've got a compass for that, right? So you've got your wide angle lens and then you get your micro lens and you look in to your heart and your purpose and that part of your brain that can't verbalize but you eventually discover, you know, why this excites you, why is this important to you? You know, and the how you, the how you do it and what you do to make it happen, everyone can describe, but it's really, you really have to take some time with somebody with a coach that can help you discover your true purpose and your why. And at Difference Maker we do that with people, right, that we, we help them discover what their purpose and their why is. Because that's equally as important.

[C]

Well, for sure, Ronan, because if you, if you can't borrow someone else's why and we see a lot of people that make that mistake. They see someone having success in a certain genre or niche, niche, however you want to say it, and they're like, oh well, they're getting success there. I'm going to do that. They don't have a why, they don't have a purpose, they don't have a story and they fail miserably because it's not them, it's not what they're supposed to be doing. And instead of taking the time and effort to focus on their why and discovering it that way, they just want to borrow someone else's and think that that will bring success. But it doesn't.

[A]

And we've had members who've done that. Right. Like we have members, we remember who told us that they started in newborn photography because a coach told them it's a great way to make money. Right. Fail, fail, fail. It fails because that's not your, that's not your. That wasn't their vision. Two, it wasn't their why. And, and three, money is a lousy motivator. It's a lousy motivator. So, so, you know, so we've seen this, guys. You know, you really, you don't do something because it's successful for someone else. It's got to be something you want to do. And I've, and Jono and I, we've talked a lot about this recently about Weiss. It's come up again and we've been talking about it. And you know, when you have your why, there's multiple ways you can deliver on that why. Right. It should not just be related to photography, but of course photography and making a difference and delivering a wellness experience with photography can be the how and what you do to deliver on your why. Yeah. So it doesn't go the other way around. It doesn't go around. Well, what I do is I'm a photographer and this is how I do photography and that informs my why. It's the other way around. And your why you can achieve it not just through photography, but through other things as well. Right. But you might choose to do it through photography and true difference maker experiences. But it's, you know, it's, and you know, it's hard to discover your why because we can do this with people is, and the reason why is just biology. It's your why comes from a part of your brain that can't verbalize. So we have to use other techniques to see patterns in what your why might be and work with you to do that. And even then when somebody says, well, I've listened to what you said and I think this might be your why, it won't immediately resonate because you're going to have to think and reflect on it because the brain has to process it and can't Verbalize it to tell you. Yes, that's correct. You know, it's really interesting. It really is interesting.

[B]

What happens if my why is something that I just can't make a sustainable business out of? Like if my why is taking pictures of robin sitting in the tree in the forest. Like if I'm a landscape photographer, nature, you know, what if my why I just can. Will never really make money off or have a sustainable business from.

[A]

Okay, so the first thing I would say is that photographing robins, if we take that as an example, right. Or wild birds or whatever it is, right. That's not a why. That's what you do, Right? Right. And that's often people mix those up. So what I like to do is I start with people and I say, so what do you do? Right. And then I'll ask them, when they tell me that, I say, so how do you do that? Right. And then I'll say, so why do you do that? And 99 of 100 people don't know why. Right. So. So it's important to be aware of those distinctions between what you do, how you do it and why you do it. And often when we go through that, their why, they haven't thought about their why and discovered their why. So they may change now, right? Because a lot of it is. Is a lot of that can be do with. I don't say the campier why, but a lot of it can be. Well, I just enjoy doing it. I'm not sure why I enjoy doing it. And that's okay to have a hobby, right? But if your goal is that you got. You want to create a sustainable, profitable business out of that, right. That's a different lens to view that through. Right. So it's important to distinguish that and discovering you why. Like the leader in this is Simon Sinek, writer, who is Golden Circle. I've just described to you, you as Simon's in this golden Circle, right. So get his book know your why or discover your why or whatever it's called. And, and, and it'll give you a clear indication of it. But you do need to. It's rare you can discover your why on your own. Right. That you. That, that, that you need somebody who knows this to work with you to try and discover it. It's where you figure it out in your office.

[C]

Yeah. Because you don't go deep enough. You don't go deep enough.

[A]

Correct. And that's just human nature. Right. Because we teach photographers to discover what clients secretly want. Right. Because they tell us what they think they want, right? Rather than what they secretly want, right? And that's just the way we're wired. We're wired that way as humans. And you know, it's just part of it, you know, and I know that we teach, you know, and Steve teaches about discovering your clients why. And for me, it's really hard to discover a client's why unless you know your own why.

[B]

So why do we need to know our why?

[A]

You need to know your why. Because your why brings you happiness. Your why gives you because it gives you a purpose. It gives you a purpose beyond the absolute basic human desire, the first of which is food and water, and the second which is shelter, right? But once you start to deliver on your food and your water and your shelter, right. We all as humans crave to have a greater purpose, right? Which can be, you know, love and relationships is the next step, you know, but then we want to get to a step where, you know, we actually feel that we're making a. We're making a difference. We're leaving the world a better place than we entered it. Every human desires that, right? But you have to go through steps to get there. But understanding your why can actually help deliver those first two steps to because when you know your purpose and if you're linking it to a business that you have, right, it doesn't have to be, but if it's linked to a business that you have, right, the end result will be that your clients will reward you because of the difference you're making. And the reason, part of the reason why you're making that difference is because you are so passionate about doing it yourself. It's part of your why. Everyone's gone silent. I've dumbed you all into silence. Come on, guys.

[B]

You fairly silent.

[C]

I know it's my name for. Jonathan, like unmuted his mic. I thought he was going to say something. He like opened his mouth.

[B]

I'm speechless.

[C]

Why are you speechless?

[A]

Yeah, but you speechless.

[B]

Just nothing to say. You've talked about it so well that I've run out of questions.

[A]

Well, do you want to fill in some of the other gaps that defining your success? So once you know where you want to go and you understand your purpose behind it, right, that's still, it's still a bit aspirational, isn't it? So you have to figure out, so what do I need to do now to deliver on my why and my vision, right? And you know, we talk a lot, don't we, Janine, about the best way to eat an elephant?

[C]

One bite at a time, one small.

[A]

Piece at a time. Exactly. Because if you try any, if you look at an elephant, say, oh, I have to eat all that in one go, you're likely never going to start. Right. And of course I'm making the assumption that we eat elephants, which we don't. But if you did. Right. And so it's important then that once we've got that five year vision, you know, we have to break it down into shorter targets based on the next five years. So what are we going to do in the next year? Right, but even that's too big, right? That's sort of a middle sized elephant. So we've got to break that down then into smaller pieces too, you know, and that and what we do, we're great believers in the 12 week year, right. We operate it in our business, we encourage photographers to do it in their business. And that idea is that you just break the year target into a 12 week year. But it's more than just breaking it down into, into a financial target, it's adopting the mindset that we do with a year that we need to get this done in the year because then the year's over and we're starting again.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And it breaks it down as the 12 week year, call it into, into shorter sprints. Right. But then that's even too big, right, because we've three months, you know, and we're human, right. So sometimes like we start we're coming to the end of a 12 week year now at the end of September. Right. But no matter, even when you know this stuff and you've got three months to do it, you know, it's human nature sometimes to put it off. So the last month, you know, and then you don't get everything done. So we gotta break that 12 week year, those three months into weekly, weekly goals. Well, weekly projects first, right? A goal, a project that defines that. And as you've told us all, Janine, then a project is just a project and that's different than a task, right? So then we've got to break that project into individual tasks and then assign those tasks to a week to achieve it by within those 12 weeks. And nobody's saying this is easy, right? But Janine, you're really good at this. You're really good at the planning and breaking it down and all that. When you do it like it just makes it easier for you and your team. Can you give us an example of that as to how it makes it easier for you and your team?

[C]

Well, you're not constantly running behind the eight ball, you know, so let's break down something simple like, you know, us right now working on our website to get it switched over and updated for AI searching as opposed to just Google searching. Right? You know, and so that's a project and it involves researching and understanding and then programming and then writing. And so you can't just say, you know, my task is to update my website for AI searches. That's a project, that's not a task. Right. And so if that's just your project and your goal and you have it on your list of things to do, you're never going to get it done. Right. You need to break down, all right, what does that actually involve? And then when you break down those individual tasks, you either assign them all to yourself, you know, if it's you, yourself and you, or you assign out those pieces of, of those projects to different members of your team to get them done and when they need to get done by. Right. So I mean, that's like we, even if we want to take Christmas, for example, you know, that's a huge project booking our Christmas calendar and our Christmas sessions that we started. I mean, we started last year for this year, you know, so if I just had Christmas bookings on my list, which we have a lot of people who say, I need Christmas bookings or I, you know, that is a huge project that involves many small little tasks. Like, I'll give you an example. Yesterday I was not in the studio. One of Betsy's assigned tasks for yesterday and today is contacting all of our clients who did Christmas last year who have not already booked for Christmas this year. And she called them and she texted them, you know, and that is, that is a task in our project of having being fully booked for Christmas.

[A]

And then we all crave, you know, to achieve any plan, we all crave and need some accountability, Right. And particularly if you're working on your own, right. That can be difficult, right. To be accountable to yourself. It's easier to be accountable to others than be accountable to yourself. So, Jonathan, that's why we have the accountability edge call in inner circle, right? Just tell people a little bit about accountability edge code. And then if I want to get involved in with help to make this happen, what I need to do.

[B]

Yeah. So like you said, like staying accountable to yourself, especially if you're working by yourself and you're, you know, all on your own, it's just you and you're doing everything. It's tough, right? But the accountability edge call that happens in the inner circle every week basically allows you to network with a community of people who want to see you succeed, allows you to share your commitments for the week, allows you to share your wins for the week. And that ultimately gives you a support network, but also gives you, you know, an outlift for you to stay accountable, to actually achieving what you want to achieve and actually achieving your defined level of success. And there's no judgment on that. There's no judgment on the wins, big or small. There's no judgment on the goals. And I think it helps our members to have their level of success quicker than anything else out there. So to take part in the accountability edge call, all you need to do is be a member of the inner circle. So. So just click the button below and get signed up to the inner circle today.

[A]

All right, I've really enjoyed. As you know, this is one of my favorite topics, so I've really enjoyed sharing this with you, Julie, and with you, Jonathan. So thank you all to our listeners, and we'll see you in the inner circle. Bye for now.

[C]

Bye, guys.

[B]

See you soon.