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Ladies Kickin' Ass
Welcome to "Ladies Kickin' Ass," the podcast where kickass women in the service and trades industries spill the real tea on making it big. Twice a week, host Tanya Wilson brings you the gritty, the pretty, and everything in between.
Catch us every week for a deep dive with a powerhouse entrepreneur. Hear her raw, unfiltered story—from breaking ground in her field to celebrating the ups and downs while scaling her business. These aren’t just chats but your battle plans for crushing it in your business and life!
Then, swing by later in the week for some fierce coaching. Whether from Tanya or a top-notch industry expert, you get the insider tips you need. We’re talking nitty-gritty business & life tactics—from whipping your systems into shape to mastering the art of a kickass workplace vibe and all the marketing savvy you’re skeptical about but seriously need. But let's not forget, it all starts with our mindset, so we'll pepper in some amazing support from women specializing in health, wellness, parenting, and personal development.
"Ladies Kickin' Ass" isn’t just a podcast; it’s your new squad. Here, you’ll link up with fellow badass women, share war stories, swap wisdom, and find tools to amp up your business and life! For every service-based entrepreneurial woman hustlin' to make her mark—welcome home. Let’s rise up and kick ass together!
Ladies Kickin' Ass
#118 - From Construction Sites to Camera Clicks: Megan Duffy's Journey to Brand Photography Mastery
Ever wondered what it takes to make a bold career switch and succeed beyond your wildest dreams? Meet Megan Duffy, a powerhouse who transitioned from the construction industry to becoming a celebrated brand and family photographer in Arizona. Megan's journey from navigating job sites to capturing authentic moments behind the lens is a testament to resilience and courage. If you've ever felt stuck in your career, Megan's story will inspire you to take that leap of faith and embrace new opportunities.
We go deep into the art of brand photography, exploring how to feel relaxed and natural during photo shoots to bring out your best self. Megan shares invaluable tips on communicating with your photographer about body insecurities and choosing poses and outfits that highlight your strengths. We also discuss the magic of candid moments and the importance of authenticity in branding photos, with practical advice on planning your sessions for the best results.
Finally, we discuss the significance of investing in your business and the power of community. Megan unveils an exciting new brand photography membership aimed at helping small businesses level up their visual content. This episode is a heartfelt celebration of female friendships, entrepreneurial risk-taking, and the importance of supporting each other in our journeys. Tune in and be inspired to find your true passion, take risks, and support your fellow entrepreneurs.
You can follow Megan on Instagram or on her Website
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Hi ladies, welcome back to the podcast. Today I'm so delighted to be able to introduce you to my friend, megan Duffy. She is a ex-construction girl Well, maybe it's still in her still Becoming an amazing brand photographer and family photographer here in the great state of Arizona. And today we're going to talk about a lot of different things. One like the awesomeness of female friendships and what it means to get out and meet people, and that is exactly how I met Megan was by stepping out of my shell that I often can find myself reclusive in at the end of the night, being like, nope, I'm going to go to the middle of the ghetto in Phoenix, to an undisclosed location and go listen to a marketing presentation, and then I met this beautiful woman there. So it was super awesome.
Speaker 1:But we're going to talk about branding your business, what it looks like to make a huge career shift after being somewhere for 20 years. I know a lot of times we feel like we're stuck in this business because we started it, we created it. We're like the big head honcho here. We can't leave. What will it do without us? You can, if you really want to make that pivot, and Megan is proof of that. So, megan, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. Why don't you go ahead and tell us a little bit about yourself first yourself, not your business and then you can tell us why you decided to make the shift from construction to photography?
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me. It's exciting to be here. So a little bit about me. I love to read. I have a seven-year-old daughter. Had her a little bit later in life. I am married to my high school sweetheart. We have been together. I think this year marks our 27th year together. So I'm nothing if not loyal and, yeah, they're kind of my whole world. But I also have had a few girlfriends that you are very well acquainted with. That I've had for like 20 plus years and is part of how we met, because she drags me to all the things that I don't want to go to. I'm an introvert but I think over the course of my life I've had to become an extrovert for business and I think as you get older it gets a little bit easier to put yourself out there. But I love nothing better than being at home with my family reading a good book. So, yeah, a little bit about me.
Speaker 1:Love that me, love that.
Speaker 1:I love that and thank you for saying that because for a lot of us I think too, even I've learned so much like going to conferences and learning, like from speakers and people that, like so many of them, identify being like I'm a very introverted person, and then you look at them on the screen like movie screens or talking on a conference screen, and you're like you're full of shit, like you were like out there, like as big as life ever, but afterwards they're like back into their little hole.
Speaker 1:I find myself being like that a lot, like I can be really loud in a group of people, but I'm also like the one that wants to sit back and observe. And, like you, I love to be at home with my family. You know, I was telling my husband I'm like I don't know how people travel for work all the time. I would lose my mind, because I just love being in my little comfort spot with my family. So I love that and I think a lot of women can identify with that. I think it's fantastic. So talk to us about what you were doing in the construction world, because a lot of the babes that listen to this podcast are from that world and kind of what made you want to make a shift into what you're doing now.
Speaker 2:Well, I kind of have two forms of that. When I was in high school, my dad owned a professional employer organization which essentially did like HR benefits and payroll for construction companies. So I was this cute little 17 year old be bopping around all these construction sites delivering paychecks and that was back in the day when they could cat call. So I could have been really intimidated by all of that. But as I got to know, a lot of the superintendents realized that they were really all good dudes on the site and you know, while they may look a little rough and gruff on the exterior, they were actually really great men, a lot of them really good business owners, and so that was kind of the intro to my construction world. And then I've always been really creative. But I knew that I couldn't go into art as a profession.
Speaker 2:The gig economy in 1997, as I totally date myself was not a thing. The internet and all of those things were not available at that time, and so I decided I wanted to be an interior designer. And you think, oh cool, yeah, that sounds great. So I was a commercial interior designer, but a lot of the time you spend the majority of your, or a good portion of your career on a job site, working through issues and coordinating with all of the trades and all of the different components of construction, and so that was really eye opening and fun and I felt really comfortable doing it because I spent so much time, you know, as a young kid, you know going out to these job sites. But it was really cool because I felt always like I had the freedom to ask the questions if I didn't know how something worked or if I, you know, sometimes you'd go back and forth and you're like this is the code, this is how it should be, and they'd look at you and they'd be like you're a girl, how do you know the code and how do you know the code better than I know the code? So I felt like there was a lot of power in that in some ways. But it was always kind of fun to be like I know what I'm talking about. Like let's work this problem as equals versus you know me, a young woman, and you, you know, a veteran tradesman. So that was always kind of fun to work through. I always thought that that was a cool challenge and I know a lot of people and a lot of the younger girls that I mentored always found that really intimidating. I think once you find your groove, it's kind of fun. So yeah, so I spent 20 years doing interior design and I traveled a lot and I got to work on a lot of really great projects. I worked on a lot of really cool projects in the Valley, um, specifically, that people would know of, um, quite a few community colleges I worked for on a couple of projects at ESU downtown. I worked on um, the Madison jail project, where they actually turned that into an attorney. They took it from a jail that had been abandoned for 10 years and turned it into the attorney office. So just a lot of cool things that I got to work on.
Speaker 2:But the realization that I was spending a lot of time away from my family. My husband works a shift job, he is a chief in Tempe Fire Medical Rescue and so I was really sacrificing all the things that I had worked so hard for. And I know they say, like you can have a great career and you can be a mom, but I had had a really great career and I'd done really well for myself and I was losing. I was losing the mom part. It wasn't an equal trade.
Speaker 2:And so the realization came that I needed to spend more time with my family and I was like take off, three months, I'm not going to work, I'm going to, you know. And I got a few job offers and I was like that's really cool, but I'm not going to make a decision in January, cause that was in like September. And then three weeks later I, my photography company, was kind of up and running and I had a project and there's a funny anecdote that's on my blog that you can read more about. But I was like God, I really want to work with kids, like I have my daughter, like that was always so important to me family photos. And you know, god has a sense of humor, a really big one. And he was like sure, your first project is going to be photographing 12 goats and, if you don't know, goats are also called kids. And so the irony was not lost on me that this is how this is all going to go. He's like you're going to ask for things and I'm going to give you whatever. Whatever is meant to be. And so I've just kind of been flowing along with that.
Speaker 2:But I have worked so much with brands and creating space for brands.
Speaker 2:So it's really exciting now to take my creative knowledge and not only be able to kind of understand a brand just from my past life, but be able to translate that to the person now and how important whether it's good, bad or indifferent social media and you know your imagery is these days is just so important and so how do we translate that? How do we get the unique business owner, the small business owner really, you know, projecting who they are through their images, whether that be social media, their emails, newsletters, their website, and just that's been really fun to kind of evolve and I love helping small businesses. That's another proponent of like not doing the design anymore is how can I help my community, how can I serve them? Have a lot of this kind of random knowledge and information, and so photography has really been fun to take the branding portion from my old life and you know my creativeness in this new kind of merge them together and hopefully help a lot of small businesses. Nonprofits, you know, just work with a lot of really great people one-on-one.
Speaker 1:Well, the stuff that you have posted and you're working on already is absolutely beautiful and it's the importance of being able to show authentically who you are in your business. We were talking before we hit record on this, about the trends that are going on with things, and we were talking about how important it is like quit using stock photos of your technicians that are out doing things. Like it drives me crazy. I'm like the guy is not showing up. The plumber that's coming to your house does not look like you just walked out of a GQ magazine. I'm sorry, most of them don't. There are some Most of them don't and it's not even about what they look like. It's a matter of like what they look like. Like I'm sending Seth to your house. This is what Seth looks like. So if somebody knocks on your door and says, hi, I'm Seth and they don't look like Seth on the phone, don't answer the door. You know like I look at that very much. Just, it's so important that you show up authentically.
Speaker 1:People know what you're doing. It's your equipment, it's your people and people want to do business with people. That's one of the many differentiators in the service business. People can call anybody to get a septic tank pumped out. But why am I going to call you? Because you see who my people are, you see how clean my trucks are, you see the value that I'm providing with things.
Speaker 1:People want that kind of service. You know if somebody's looking for the cheapest person and they don't care. If you know the scary guy shows up at the house or the clean guy shows up at the house, you know that's not my customer and that's okay. And I think a lot of times we try to appeal to the masses, to try to alleviate getting no's from people, but those can be some of the healthiest things ever and it comes across properly to attract those proper clients or the good clients that you want through your branding. So if somebody wanted to set up a branding photo shoot with you, what are things that you talk to them about? Because you may get somebody like me and we talked about this over brunch one day. It was like I feel like there is something wrong with my body when I'm in front of a photographer. I'm like you know, like uh, what is that? Talladega nights, where he's like I don't know what to do with my hands.
Speaker 1:you're like, hey, do I like? Do I pose? Do I put them in my pocket? Like what do you do? And we've been to photographers before where we're like these look like shit and we just spent all this money because no one directed us how to do stuff. So somebody's looking for a brand shoot with you for their kind of service business. What are questions that they should ask you or things that they should be prepared for that you'll want to do with them in a photo shoot?
Speaker 2:Definitely. Well, I think planning is always really important. Like, what are you planning on using the images for? Like, having an end goal is really helpful for me A lot of the times. Um, formatting, like does it need to be long, horizontal for Facebook? Does it? Does it need to be vertical, Cause you're posting them on social media? That's really important. As we're we're shooting and planning a session, Um, you know the story that you want to tell. Who are you? What are your goals? What is your brand voice? You know you deal a lot with shit. I think that's awesome.
Speaker 2:So there has to be some funny meme kind of moments in that. I think, when we're, when you're looking at that kind of stuff, to like who are you? Because, yes, we are humans and the funny stuff is the stuff that I think is attracts you to other people. And like your quirkiness, your awkwardness, you're like you know the behind the scenes of like I don't know what to do with my hands, but also you know knowing if you have a really good photographer, they want to catch you relaxed. They're going to make you feel really awkward. Trying to get you relaxed and I'm really self-deprecating. So I will do all kinds of weird stuff to make people feel comfortable. So I will probably be the weird one in the photo shoot not you and I show up looking like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle with my like giant backpack that looks like a shell. So you should be worried about that with me. I will embarrass myself before you can embarrass yourself. But there is some planning and prep. Like I mean, if you aren't comfortable with certain parts of your body, give your photographer a heads up, or give me a heads up, because there's things that you could wear and things that you can do and things poses that we can do to help either accentuate that or de-accentuate. You know those things that you are uncomfortable with. And honestly, I think it's like anything else, it's practice. It's like you hate hearing your voice, right, when you do a podcast, but now that you've probably done this so long, you're like my voice doesn't annoy me like it did when I first started doing a podcast.
Speaker 2:It is the same thing with photos the more you look at yourself, the more you kind of distance yourself from that and you're like it is what it is. But there is also a component of self-love that is really hard, I think, specifically for us women, and so if you're having a hard day, don't look at your gallery. If you get on your gallery and you're like you hate everything and you're just picking yourself apart, close your laptop, walk away. That is not the day to look at your images, which you know, and maybe, hopefully, you can go back and look at them and be a little, in a little bit better mind space to do that. But your photographer should guide you. They should understand the poses and the angles of the body. They should know your goals and hopefully able to evoke the spirit.
Speaker 2:And then I think also photographers just love people, Like I think people are so beautiful just as they are, and so I always think it's interesting to see what photos people download, because they're usually not my favorite photos. Like I love the spontaneous laugh or where you're not fully posed or you're just walking and it's like the movement of the body and it's like in a crowd. I could recognize you, I would know you, or it just there's a little sparkle in the eye, there's just some things. And you may not like it because you're like oh, I look like I have a double chin or I don't like the way my arm looks. But sometimes it's not about the picture. It's just about the feeling and the emotions that it evokes jokes and those.
Speaker 2:That's always a really interesting dichotomy of what I see versus what what the person sees on the other side. So I think everybody is pretty cool and beautiful and, you know, unique.
Speaker 1:So I love that you said that we were talking about this at the dinner table last night and we were. My husband was talking about how annoying he finds duck lips in pictures and he's like, because we have two teenage daughters, okay, my daughter is like, oh yeah, this and everything right, and so she's. Every time he like watches her TikToks, he's like there it is, it's it, it's back again. He's like just smile, like when you like she started laughing and he's like that's the beautiful smile that you need to have. That's when you look most beautiful is when you're not trying to be like like a doll. You know, yeah, and she's like, no, that's not it, but we had taken some pictures. She had this really cute outfit, of course. They got to take pictures of every outfit that they love, of course.
Speaker 1:So, mom, I'm going to go out. I'm going to go out, I'm going to like twirl in the skirt, you know, and take these pictures and the ones that she picked out I was like interesting, because my very favorite ones were the ones where she almost ate shit, because she almost fell and she was laughing so hard. But it was like that pure expression of just like having a great time on her face that you just didn't get in the posed pictures. So you know, like I think those are the things that differentiate yourself from everybody else out there too, like you don't have to be completely polished all the time. And please don't show authentically, yeah, because people don't resonate with that. They just don't.
Speaker 2:They do not and I don't resonate with that. They just don't. They do not and I don't resonate with it. I think that's why I like the ones that are like a little bit off or, you know, catch a different angle or you're not necessarily looking into the camera. And then let's be real branding photos in general aren't about you and your face. You know it's doing an activity, it's showcasing the tools of your business. You know bringing props. You know there's so many facets of us as individuals that make you who you are, and so how can we showcase that? And hopefully the majority aren't just. You know you as a headshot.
Speaker 2:it's you doing something or something related to things you love or hobbies, your personality, you know, there's a whole list of them that I try to go through and capture when we do a brand session so that you have lots and lots of uses for them.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love it. I love it, and it's important that you go into it with an idea of things too, of what you're looking to do with stuff, and being really clear. I've really noticed, like working with different photographers, it been, uh, the more that you plan, the better they turn out to be.
Speaker 2:yes, yes, I would say, if there's a really clear shot list which is really difficult, some for some people to do they just want to wing it and winging it, we can get a lot. But if you have specific expectations, the best way to achieve those expectations is to express what they are to your photographer and then plan, like, what shots you're going to use, what props you want to bring um, you know the locations, your outfits, um, I love when there are particular branding colors that someone has, um and they. We either use them as what they're wearing if it's a good color for them to wear, or it's as a backdrop, or it's as a prop, and so that that color shows up kind of consistently through a session, so that then when they pop it on their feed, you can kind of see the pops of that too. So there's a lot of things that I'm thinking about, like how can I showcase who you are through the lens of what you're telling me you are, and where do those align and maybe where do those not align? So I love seeing everybody's accounts ahead of time so I can be like, okay, well, it looks like you were doing this. Are we staying with that? Are we going to transition? Are we rebranding in a way, you know, is it a soft transition or is it going to be a hard transition, like there's just so many components to it.
Speaker 2:Like I have a huge questionnaire that I ask people and also, you know, thinking about your business as kind of interesting things, like if your business was or you as a brand, or your business as a brand if it were a song, what would it be? If it were a cocktail, what would it be, you know so? So try, because I think sometimes it's hard to describe who we are as a small business, and when you start to metaphorically think of it as different things, it's like oh yeah, I would totally be, you know x or y, and it's a lot easier for someone. And then you're like okay, that is a language I can speak with you and I understand what you're trying to convey, and so then I can take my creative juices and get, take it even farther.
Speaker 1:I love that. I was looking through a brand book yesterday and they asked the question wow, that service was? And then they had like three words that showed up and they wanted to define kind of what their service looked like with that. But when you put together a branding kit and you have these things, even when you go to do marketing stuff you're using those specific words. So people will consistently see them with that throughout your business and they will start to associate those things with your company. I think it's really cool. On like Google reviews. I just figured this out so I like to share it with people. If you're concerned or you're thinking, oh shit, I wonder what three words would be for mine, go to your Google reviews and it'll tell you the top words that are used throughout your reviews.
Speaker 1:There is nothing better than getting a big group of people together and you're like what are they commonly talking about? So, like in my septic business, it was professional, nice and educational, and those are like the three words that I hope more than ever that people use. Like, if that was my wow, that was that's what I would want them to say. So it's a really cool thing to even have a meeting with your team about, or even brainstorm yourself if you're doing marketing yourself, or with a person that does your marketing, and say this is what I want people to feel, because you're always making somebody feel something, I think, and you get to decide what that is. It's either I felt nothing. They never feel nothing, not, but they'll come to some kind of conclusion. Help them determine what that is by being more consistent with service.
Speaker 2:And I would also say, if there's a gap, if what you're seeing as those consistent words is not what you want your clients or your ideal client to feel, then you kind of know where you need to hone in and change that so that it does, it does alter and become what you want it to be Right.
Speaker 1:Sure, absolutely. It's also great things to use, like for you to come out to do a brand session with us. We're like, hey, you know, we want to focus on the professional nature of these guys and the equipment that we use. We want to talk about how nice they are. You get their smiles, you get their personalities in the pictures, you know, and again, like the educational tools, drawing back to what we do to provide knowledge to that homeowner, because it's important that you convey that throughout all of your messaging and it just stays uniquely put together. So there's so much opportunity to really stand out from your competition. If this is something that you're willing to, it's not a cost.
Speaker 1:Investment into your business makes a massive, massive difference in who you are. You know, so many times people say, oh well, the competition's lowering their price, especially in this economy. Like, well, they're price checking and they're just going down and for, okay, then we have to position ourselves, value wise, differently. They're looking for something different. We have to talk about everything they're going to get before we tell them what the price is, because sticker shock will kill you and then their ears go deaf after that. Yeah, so talk about it first, then add the price and even that quick little swish we've made in our office this week crazy, crazy difference.
Speaker 2:It is amazing those small little tweaks make a huge difference. I mean, when you know a person's why too, and you're conveying that as part of your professionalism, I think that makes a huge difference. Because I want to buy from Pat who has two kids and his daughter wants to go to Duke, and so he's doing all this because he wants to help support her in that dream. And you're just like cool when Pat comes to my door to do whatever he's gonna do, like that I, you just intrinsically want that person to succeed, and so I think sometimes that's that can be the thing in branding that's missing, because people don't want to talk about themselves. They don't want to talk about what's important, not only to their employees but to their, you know, to their company, and I think it's fascinating, I want to know all that stuff about all my science and their businesses.
Speaker 1:And it's so important and the people's favorite thing to talk about is themselves. They just need to be prompted on it and then they're like they'll just keep going on and on, like my big thing with my guys is always like, if they have a dog, just ask them oh, what's your puppy's name? What kind of dog is it? They will keep talking to you. Well for it.
Speaker 2:Well, I also psa. If anybody wants to bring their dog to any session or their fur baby, I am totally down. I secretly. If I could only be a dog photographer, I might. If you have a goat, bring your goat, I mean.
Speaker 1:It's got to be a thing you could probably specialize in that. You know, I probably could.
Speaker 2:but I like people too much too. But I will say some of the dogs have stolen the show, so yeah, oh, that's so awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, talk to us about what's next for the modern edit, and what are you coming up with?
Speaker 2:So we're coming up with all kinds of things, so we're getting ready to go into the hot summer season, but I think this is a perfect time for businesses to really evaluate where they're at in 2024 and look at where they want to be in 2025. And one of the things that I think can help with that is obviously consistency. We talk about it in almost every facet of business. It's just if you're consistent, there are results, and so one of the things that I'm offering is a brand photography membership. So I'm looking for 10 small businesses and they don't have to have had a lot of experience doing this If they do, cool.
Speaker 2:But I really want to help those smaller service-based businesses that really want to elevate their visuals. And so May 25th, I'm watching the brand photography membership, and what that is is a monthly membership where you get you can either choose 20 minutes a month, an hour a quarter, two hours twice a year or four hours once a year and come in. We will evaluate all of your brand information and then plan some really cool photo shoots based on what you need for your business and what your goals are, and I just want to get really intimate and collaborate with some just really cool small business owners, entrepreneurs, and hopefully help them elevate where they're at.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's kind of the safe zone that's coming up so exciting. So if they're part of this membership, do you do kind of like the whole discovery thing with them prior to the time that they get with you? That's the time they get with you behind the camera taking pictures yep.
Speaker 2:So, um, I have a a whole bunch of huge kind of additional packages. I don't typically get to the big offer like my regular brand clients. We'll do kind of a deep dive into where you are with your brand and where you want to go. And then there's like posing guides. There's wardrobe guides, there is some social media templates. We'll break down what their pillars are and kind of help plan what that content creation looks like. If they want help with that, I have a gal who has a branding course that's going to be rolled into it as well if you want some education, especially if you're just starting out on your life.
Speaker 2:I hear brand, I hear branding all the time, but I don't really know what it is versus what marketing is. There's some really great information related to that and, yeah, my goal is just to help some small businesses that are like I don't think I can afford this because, honestly, this is the most affordable that it will ever be. Because my goal is really just to provide some outreach to people who are like I don't want to be in front of the camera, but I know I need to do it, I know my business needs it and I just want to help those people, um, kind of break out of that shell and and get to know them and get to know their businesses and the first 10 members that are going to have the stellar deal, um, I am willing to hold that price until 2030. So, holy cow, yeah, because, like I said, I really want to grow with their brand and I really want to help. I want them to develop me as much as I'm going to help develop them.
Speaker 1:Sure, so yeah, yeah, that's so exciting, like that is a hell of a deal and we'll be promoting that. We'll put all of the stuff here in the show notes for all of that stuff. So I just I think this is so incredible. If you are seriously looking for something to invest in in your business this next year even if it's not 2023, you can still get in on this membership and use it at the beginning of 2024.
Speaker 1:You know, like, think about what you want people to feel. Not even just necessary Seeing is good too. You want to be catchy, for sure, but what do you want people to feel when they see your business? I want people to look at my service business. It's a shit business. Like it's not something pretty, but my website is really pretty because it's bright colors, it's clean trucks, it's, you know, nice looking, clean people that are working at the business. Like you don't have to worry about your wife being at home with my technicians coming to pump the septic tank because they're great guys. They're like they're you know they're professional people. They're professional. They're like they're you know they're clean. They're professional, good people. They're professional. They're going to help her understand she can so much so that she can regurgitate all of that to you when you get home later, if she's the one that's there or vice versa.
Speaker 1:And I think it's so important that we really, really hone in on making people feel something. We've really got to differentiate ourselves. This is one of those markets where people are like oh, another AC company, except everybody goes to your ship because there's more people moving here than there are people going into the trades. That's for damn sure. So how do you continue to stay relevant? How do you continue to be that business everybody wants to be? That's how you elevate an industry as a whole, and so sometimes you got to kind of take the reins of that. Maybe it hasn't been shown to you before, but get creative and partner with somebody like Megan that can help you bring that creativity. Who better to take your photography and to help you with branding than an interior designer? This woman's been doing it forever, like she knows how to design shit. She can make your business look beautiful. And it all starts with the visual things that people see, because that's what they see first. It makes them feel something and it prompts them to call you versus someone else.
Speaker 2:Well, and I will say there have been a lot of studies done that say you know, if you have a really great, great visuals on your website and someone is looking between two different companies, if your visuals are articulating, like a clean professional, you know, look, and somebody has like a random iPhone selfie on the other and it's not quite as professional, then they tend to go the more professional route because they're like look, this person invested in their business and those visual visuals they've done some studies of like three days later, who do you remember? And they're like the more professional looking images are usually the companies that stick out, like usually when you're thinking you're like I cannot remember that person's name, but I remember the picture, I know what they look like, they were wearing the blue shirt and it had the thing. And so visuals for human beings are just so important and we're obviously we're in like a crazy visual world right now, but it's even more important now than it's ever been.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Well, so good. This is so much fun, are you? I want to know, though, with all of this beautiful success that you're having with business and you're launching this membership, are you finding more time for yourself? In all of this change that you've made.
Speaker 2:It's so funny I have a coach who is helping me and I think because being in the service industry for so long and you're working your way through it and it's really hard to give yourself permission to take the time for you. But one of my 2024 goals was to make sure that everybody in my family had their passport renewed and was ready to go. I hate to say it, my seven-year-old does not have a passport, so we're in the process of getting that worked out so that we can all go travel. So that's actually one of my. Our goals for 2024, 2025 is for all of us to get out of the country and go do some traveling. So it's funny when your business coach gives you advice like that, like hey, that's one of your top priorities versus like the business stuff. So I love that about her and so, yeah, we ski a lot just trying to spend time.
Speaker 2:Some of my non negotiables in this new phase are picking my daughter up from school and taking her to school and making sure that my schedule allows for that and being able like I'm getting ready to hop off of here and I'm going to go read to her in her classroom, and so I would have never been able to do that, I know, and so it's just a fun little things like that where you can go, do it without guilt, without like being like I'm on a zoom call, I'm picking the kid up, I'm also ordering groceries online and I'm doing like 20 things at once and so I do feel like this new life has allowed me to like be more focused and be more intentional with my time and be more invested which I hate to say and I feel like I was in my phone, you know, answering questions, problem solving, all of that and now it's like much more structured and healthy. My mental health is in a much better place that's so good.
Speaker 1:And if you're in that position, listening to this podcast, you know, make it available on Instagram, shoot her a DM and say, hey, you know kind of going through some of this stuff to. You know, kind of like, how'd you feel about this? This whole point of being on the podcast and being part of the ladies kicking ass community is knowing and introducing you to people that maybe you resonate with and that you find a familiar story with, so that if you need help. That's why we put here's how you can contact them. It's because everybody that is part of this community and comes on the podcast really does have that heart of service and that's obviously clear with you and what you're trying to do with your family and with your daughter and with your community and helping the small businesses get ahead.
Speaker 1:It's a beautiful thing to be able to know that there is resources available for you. So you know this. It's a difficult thing to make that decision. So kudos to you. I'm working really hard trying to do that myself. It's and I do have this.
Speaker 1:It's so cool to be able to help people Like I think you just kind of get to that point too. We're very similar in age that you just get to that point where you're like, okay, I've came, I've done, I've kind of done my thing and now I really want to be able to give back and help other people and it's those people that turn around and want to help the people coming up behind. That is full in this community and so it's really beautiful. So thank you so much for agreeing to be on the podcast and sharing your story and your wisdom with people, because it just helps one more woman be able to say I don't have to do all this shit, like I can put myself as a priority on my list and I can still be really awesome and really involved and I don't have to be driving myself crazy at the end of the day to feel like I'm a success.
Speaker 2:And I'm going to say, just as a preference it's not. It's not that it's not hard, it is hella hard, but this has been it. You know, I'm two years post and I would say, you know it's a rocky road. It was the best decision I could have made and I can't imagine where my life would be without that. But it is hard and it's. It was hard to make the decision to not go back into design. It's. It's hard being an entrepreneur I mean, it is probably the toughest thing that I've ever done and but at the same time it's so rewarding. So, you know, the juxtaposition of all of it and the irony of all of it is not lost on me and while it you know, right now I'm in a really positive phase of all of this. I'm not going to say it hasn't been hard. It has been hard.
Speaker 2:I mean detangling your ego from a career and getting into a new one, and the learning process, which has been so fun like learning something new, is so fun. So I'd love to encourage anybody that is like on the fence about it jump. You have one life and you have no idea how much time you actually have If you are thinking or have thought about something that you want to do, like explore it, do it, figure it out, because I don't think that you will look back and go, oh darn it, I did that and it failed. I shouldn't have done that. Like I don't, I don't, I don't think you can do that. I think it's more of like the regret, right, like you don't want to regret not doing something.
Speaker 1:Yes, I'd rather have the lessons of a failure than regret that you never even tried anything.
Speaker 2:So absolutely.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love this so much, it's been so good. So at the end of every podcast, I love to ask this question, because everybody kind of resonates with it differently, and I think that's what's so cool about this community. So, megan, when you hear the phrase ladies kicking ass, what does that mean to you in your life?
Speaker 2:Right now. For me, I think it's community over competition. I think I have met some really kick ass ladies and they are the reason that I'm trucking along and I'm doing what I'm doing and I just keep meeting more amazing women and honestly, let's be real, if women were running the world, what a cool place it would be. So the more of us that can be leading the charge on that and supporting especially small businesses run by women, I just think that the opportunity for failure is significantly less when you've got a community helping you.
Speaker 2:And I know, because in service-based business specifically, it feels like it's only competition. And you know what? There is room for all of us, for every single one of us, and that's why I think being unique and showing who you are in the business allows for that. And so you know community over competition. Let's all link arms and figure this shit out together.
Speaker 1:That is the best ending to any podcast ever recorded. We'll just link arms and figure this shit out together. Thank you so much. You're welcome Awesome. Thank you, you're awesome. Make sure that you check out Megan and everything that she has to offer, and I can't wait for the membership to come out, and if you own a small business, you most definitely have to check this out.
