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This Can't Be That Hard
294 - The Sustainability Series: The Importance of Sustainability (Part 1/4)
00:13:10
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- [00:00]
A
You probably are familiar with that fable or parable or whatever you want to call it, of the farmer and the horse. I'm sure you've heard some version of it at some point, but it's short, and I think it's kind of a perfect way to kick off the subject that I want to talk about today. So the story goes, there was a farmer lived in a, you know, village with his son, and one day the farmer's horse ran away. So all the neighbors gathered around and they were commiserating like, oh, what terrible luck. This is so sad, so bad. But the farmer just said, maybe we'll see. And then a few days later, lo and behold, the horse returns, and it brings with it a whole bunch of wild horses. So now the farmer has a whole herd of horses, right? So the neighbors come back and they're all celebrating, and they say, what amazing good luck. What great fortune. And once again, the farmer says, maybe we'll see. Then a couple of weeks go by, and the son is out trying to tame these wild horses, and he falls and breaks his leg. And the neighbors come, you know, bringing casseroles or whatever the equivalent of a casserole was back when this first came to into being as a story. And the neighbors are all saying, oh, this is so terrible. What a tragedy again. And once again the farmer says, maybe we'll see. And sure enough, a few days later, the army marches into the village, and they are conscripting all of the young men in the village to come fight in this war. But because his leg is broken, the farmer's son doesn't have to go. He gets spared. So once again the neighbors are saying, what great luck. And once again the farmer replies, maybe we'll see. This parable is. Is typically attributed to some form of ancient Chinese philosophy, and I think it's specifically supposed to be rooted in Taoist beliefs or Taoist thought. Right. Its origins align with the Daoist principle. It's important to adopt kind of an accepting perspective on life's ups and downs. But I wanted to share it here today to introduce a series of episodes that I've put together for now through the end of the year that are all focused on building sustainability in your business. I certainly agree that it's important to be accepting of life's ups and downs, because accepting or not, they're definitely going to happen. But in business, it's equally important to be prepared for ups and downs, because prepared or not, they're also going to happen.
- [02:46]
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Welcome to this Can't Be that Hard. My name is Anna Mi Tonkin, and I help photographers run profitable, sustainable businesses that they love. Each week on the podcast, I cover simple, actionable strategies and systems that photographers at every level of experience can use to earn more money in a more sustainable way. Running a photography business doesn't have to be that hard. You can do it, and I can show you how.
- [03:16]
A
So since I started teaching in the photography community, I have had more than a few people point out that all of the systems that I teach, all the courses that I've created, seem to be in response to some kind of crisis. And, you know, to the extent that if you were shopping for my courses and you heard the backstory on all of them, you might just think that my life is like one big crisis after another. It is not, I assure you. But there were definitely a few years where things got pretty hairy. They just sort of like all these things happened. It felt like one right after the next. In 2017, I got divorced. In 2018, I had this ankle surgery that put me out of work for four months. And those two things, even though I guess they're just two things, felt huge, right? It felt like one blow after the next. Prior to that, in my business, I had been, turns out to be quite fortunate for seven years. I hadn't really had any sort of major situation during that first seven years where my business was tested. But when that started to happen, it wasn't like I looked back and was like, wow, I've been so fortunate to now. And even when I was going through it, you know, it always felt like a little bit of a struggle. I was always working, so I didn't really recognize that or see that as being particularly fortunate. It was just that when all the hard stuff happened, I definitely felt unfortunate. I felt like I was dealing with, you know, a series of unfortunate events. But now that it has been seven additional years since that time, since that sort of like particularly difficult era in my business, I've got some more perspective. And I feel like now I can sort of see the whole thing through the lens of the farmer in the story, right? When I think back on my divorce and how that impacted my business, it was extremely stressful at the time. Scary even. It wasn't just stressful, I was downright scared. But what it ended up leading to was simple sales. The simple sales system. Of course, I didn't call it that at that time, but that was what came out of that situation, which, you know, revolutionized my photography business and then went on to kind of change the course of my career in that I started doing all this education. And then a year later when my ankle surgery meant that I couldn't work for four months, and I was freaking out about the fact that, like, I had this business that if I couldn't work, I couldn't make money. And how was that a reasonable or a responsible thing for me, especially as a single mom? And that got my wheels turning and ultimately resulted in me launching the portrait membership that I launched in August of 2019, which then, you know, went on to save my bacon during COVID and has been the stabilizing force in my business ever since. So if those two major things that felt really bad at the time, if they hadn't happened, I wonder honestly whether I would even still be working as a photographer today. Because the path that I was on prior to my divorce and let's say prior to, you know, let's say that the ankle surgery thing never happened, that path that I was on wasn't really sustainable. I had sustained it for seven years, but I don't think it would have lasted another seven years. But who knows, right? But since then, since that sort of turning point in the 2017-2019 timeframe, it hasn't been smooth sailing. It hasn't been as rocky as it was during those times. But I mean, think about it. First there was Covid, right? That happened to all of us. And then there's something that I don't really talk about on the podcast or in public all that much, just because it was a personal thing. But my son had a major health crisis that was lasted for over a year, that cost a lot of money and was extremely emotionally and mentally time consuming. He is fine now. And then, of course, you know, there was sort of the fallout post pandemic post, all this money being forced into the economy during the pandemic to keep people afloat. There was the correction that took place. And thankfully, that correction hasn't been as bad as some people were predicting. But it led to, you know, there's been a downturn certainly in the photography market, in the luxury goods market, which has affected me as a photographer and it's also affected me as an educator. So again, from 2010 when I launched my business, to 2017 when I got divorced, during those years, I can't really point to a single major crisis in my business, which was extremely fortunate and totally went over my head. I didn't even recognize it or appreciate it at the time. But the hard things that happened during that 2017-2019 period made it so that from that point to now, I was able to not only survive, but really and truly thrive. Everyone who is in business for any period of time, right? I think I was probably pushing the limit pretty hard at seven years. But if you are in business for any period of time, you will eventually encounter some major event that's going to test your business. Whether it's something in your personal life, like illness or a divorce or a, you know, death of someone close to you, or a major financial hit, like a spouse losing their job. Right? All of those things can be a major event in your life, or it could be something in the wider world, like a natural disaster that happens local to you, or a pandemic or the, you know, an economic downturn. There is an author by the name of Bruce Filer. I think that's how he pronounces his last name. And he coined the term lifequake. If you search lifequake on the Internet, you'll find TED Talks. And, you know, he wrote a book. Anyway, he coined this phrase that I heard about a while ago that is used to describe these kinds of major events that cause significant upheaval in our lives. And I came across that term a while ago. I watched his TED Talk, and I was like, ah, this is such a perfect term. Because that's exactly what it feels like, right? When something like this happens, it shakes you like an earthquake in your life, like a lifequake. And as we all know, putting our heads in the sand is probably what most of us want to do. When something like that isn't happening to us in the moment, we're like, maybe it'll never happen. Maybe I'll just avoid it. Wouldn't that be nice? But doing that sort of pretending like you don't have to think about it, doesn't ultimately do anything to stop the bad things from happening. Which is why the fact that my business survived those first two major lifequakes is something of a miracle. But because my business did survive, my experience has had a profound effect on the way that I run my business. Number one, I have realized that although the relative ease of the first seven years of my business felt nice, it meant that I actually worked way harder than I needed to. There's that saying about how work expands to fill the time available. And that was absolutely true for me in my business. I was doing a bunch of things in my business that I didn't need to be doing because I had available time or was allowing my work to take up available time. So the side benefit of ultimately kind of disaster proofing my business to the extent that anybody can disaster proof anything is is that when there isn't a crisis happening in my business, I have so much more time to fill. I have so much more available time in my life, which is honestly how you're hearing my voice right now. Podcast Education all the stuff that I am now doing would not have been possible prior to me getting really serious about putting those boundaries in my business. So if the last seven years have taught me anything, it is truly to take that farmer's will see approach instead of, you know, riding the neighbor's roller coaster. And thanks to that, I have to say it has been a much smoother ride. Which is why I am dedicating these last few episodes of the podcast this year to sharing my best strategies for sustainability in your business. I know that a lot of us tend to think about setting revenue goals at the beginning of the year, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that. I will encourage everyone to set goals for themselves around those kinds of hard things, but I also want to encourage you to think very intentionally about building your business's resilience in the next year. Because come what may, I want to see your business continue to grow and flourish. Not just next year, but every year going forward.
- [12:41]
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Well, that's it for this week's episode of this Can't Be that Hard. I'll be back same time, same place next week. In the meantime, you can find more information about this episode along with all the relevant links, notes and downloads@thiscantbethard.com learn. If you like the podcast, be sure to hit the subscribe button. Even better, share the love by leaving a review in itunes. And as always, thanks so much for joining me. I hope you have a fantastic week.