Influence School

Valeria Morris, the author of We're All Ears, is joining me in this podcast as we dig in the topic of what influencer marketing is all about. Keep listening and learn how Valerie defines influencer marketing, what makes an influencer, and why this has become the trend in today's marketing industry.

Welcome back. Today we're talking about influencer marketing. I've got Valerie Morris here. Why do I have Valerie? She is the author of Influence. You wrote this book. And when I saw this book, instantly I knew I had a good friend. We're going to talk about influencer marketing and what it is. So, I'm just going to start out throwing that question at you because I have my own definition. But how would you define influencer marketing? -Well, gosh. So, influencer marketing. It has really become this explosive concept in digital marketing. It really wasn't a thing 10-15 years ago. And it's become a really big thing. In fact, law makers are starting to actually start paying attention because influencers have so much power. And really it all stems around real people influencing their network to buy or do or invest their time and money in certain things. And it's all because they have built this relationship around a certain type of niche topic or industry. And they all feel like they're this tribe and they're following the influencer. And so when the influencer says, "Hey, I love these shoes. You might too." They get a huge influx of people who want to buy those shoes just because this one person did. So influencer marketing really has exploded and it's all because of social media. Prior social media, it was very hard for people to have that kind of  influence. And something that they built themselves. -When you mentioned the word power, you talked about influencer really as a power there. It's been around for a while but the term influencer marketing hasn't. -Right. -Well, I mean there's been celebrity endorsements or something. Maybe is what we called it in the past. So, you brought that the key today is social media. So, what's the biggest difference today than you know in in the past this celebrity promotion. -Yes. So, in the past, prior to social media, it really was on if you had those deals, if you had the the popularity, if you had the contracts, if you had made the team. You know, Michael Jordan was a great spokesperson for Nike but he had the Athletic ability to get on the team first for people to even know who he was. Today, anyone can set up shop on social media. Build their prep platform, build their influence and build this audience around them. And then from there, you have the  ability to influence a ton of different people. So, influencer marketing really from my perspective has only been around because of social media. Because of the ability for anyone to build up their network regardless of if someone decides to give them a book deal or sign them to a team or to make them some famous actor. Really is open to anyone that wants to do the work, build the authority, build the audience and go out there and make a difference. -Okay. So, a question I've got on I'm sure question then viewers have is how big you have to be then? How many followers... Let's say we're talking about YouTube. So you want to be a YouTube influencer. Do influencer marketing... Where does that start? -You know, so there's different terms in influencer marketing. One of the big terms is micro influencer. And that really... I mean you can be... You can have just a few thousand followers as long as they are hyper targeted and interested in your specific topic. So, even if your network is smaller and you don't have tens of thousands of followers or even hundreds of thousands of followers, you can get that influence, you can get that influencer status. And get different promotions for sponsorships or advertising deals. Different ways to earn an income, you know, you're the expert on YouTube. You know, you might have some impact on what does it take to get to that point on YouTube to be able to monetize it as an influencer. But really, as an influencer, you can build your network to be whatever it needs to be as long as you're being strategic about how you're building the system for people to actually plug their credit card and do something about it. So, I've seen people that have brand new channels, brand-new platforms that are being very targeted with who they're reaching and they have influence over those people. And they are out making some great deals getting promotions, getting sponsorships for their podcasts. There's so many different angles you can go at. The number to me isn't nearly as important as it is the quality of who is in that number. You know, you really need to have people who care about your topic if you're really going to want them to to take some action. -One great advantage that I see to influencer marketing today compared to... I'll just use your example of Michael Jordan. Michael Michael Jordan is a big name. Nike is a big brand. Well now you can have smaller name with a smaller brand. -Yes. -And so smaller brands couldn't do this type of marketing in the past because they can't... They couldn't reach celebrities like Michael Jordan. But if you've got somebody say like a mommy blogger or vlogger. -Yeah. -And they feature their  dog, let's say in a lot of their episodes. Well, a local dog food company might be able to approach them and say, "Hey, I've got a few hundred bucks. Would you mind showcasing this dog food? Or this doggy sweater or something like that?"Iit's pretty cool. -It is really cool. And you know, it's interesting because a lot of smaller and more local based businesses haven't really brought on the concept. They haven't embraced the concept of influencer marketing just yet because it is such a new way to think. It was unattainable in the past to do this kind of thing. But now, yeah you're right. You can get in from the right people, in the right location if you're willing to think that way. And I've seen it do some amazing things just with local businesses. And again, a lot of people that are just starting off and wanting to make money doing influencer marketing on the blogger side. They can reach out to those smaller businesses who are much more likely to take that first leap of faith. Because it's not tens of thousands of dollars that they're putting their faith into some new bloggers on. So, as far as like audience size, you really can make a difference. It just depends on who you're playing with as far as those kinds of relationships go. -So, do you have any tips for either small business owners or for smaller channels as far as how to get started? Let's start with the business owners. How could small business owners start and reach out to these smaller influencers? -Well, I think one of the biggest things that small local businesses need to do is be paying attention to who the voices are in the market. They need to do their own research to find out who they should be targeting. And it's not something that you take a look at just over one weekend. You really want to take a look and see over time, is this person consistent? What are they doing? And sometimes, if they aren't doing influencer marketing already, they might be really open to it but they might have been nervous to take that first step. So sometimes, if you are the business reaching out, you can get some really great deals by reaching out to someone that isn't even aware that they have so much influence over the local network and make a big impact. From the bloggers side, the biggest piece of advice I can give people is to provide value. Like give way more than you are ever planning on initially. Just give, give, give. The more you're offering up to a business, the more beneficial it's going to be for them. And it's okay to keep your rates low at the beginning as far as influencer marketing goes. That's okay. Especially if it's your first couple of deals. Because you're going to get a feel for how much is involved on your end, how much they're getting. If they provided that, if they felt like they got value. And if they feel like they've got value from the experience, they're likely to continue doing it in the future. Plus, they are going to be a great reference for you if you go out to get other sponsorships. And so, you can always increase your rates later. Those first few don't worry about the price so much as getting the experience. -So, I like that. So, if you go a low fee, then you you over-deliver. So they're really happy. They're going to return to you and they're going to be a case study. You could show, "Hey, look what we did for this." I like that.  -Yeah. Always be thinking through like it's not... The stuff that you get from the experience is not always money in your paycheck or money in your bank. It's your... You can get a lot more out of the experience than just those dollar signs. And it can be really beneficial for your influencer marketing strategy at large. -So, can I share a bonus with you? -Sure. -And for you guys. So, maybe you've heard of this website. But this would be for business owners that a lot of business owners probably don't even know this exists. There's a website... I'll bring it up. The website I'm bringing up is called channelcrawler.com. Have you heard of this? -I've heard some things about it. I've never really used it though. -So, I'm going tO come over here to keywords and let's type in dog food. Or just dogs. I'll type in dog food. And for subscribers, I'm going to say a minimum of 1000, maximum 10,000. So, I'm not going after a huge, huge channels. Let's just see what we find. Okay, so we've got 64 channels here that have between 1,000 and 10,000 subscribers. So a business owner could comb through these. Some of them are going to be relevant. Some are not going to be relevant at all. -Right. -But you'll find ones that they... Actually, you know, why did these come up for dog food? I have no idea. But it's a tool that can help. Because a lot of times as a business owner, like well yeah. I'd love to be able to find a channel that's maybe at 5,000 subscribers and see if they'll take $100 or $500. You know?Just... But... Right. So, you know... Anyway, that's a tool that I have found to be helpful for things like that. -That's great. -Now, in the notes, you had mentioned something about brand ambassadors in relation to influencer marketing. What's a brand ambassador? -So, brand ambassador is really just someone who is kind of... They're kind of like a spokesperson. I mean you can think about it kind of like Michael Jordan with Nike, He is a brand ambassador for Nike and he is really... You know, representative and really pushing that brand strategically. And when it comes to influencer marketing, when you're a brand spokesperson, you or brand ambassador, you are being strategic about how do I bring this brand into the normal Instagram footage that I'm making? The normal video vlogging that I'm doing? How do I bring this brand into it where it's going to be natural but it's also going to be strategically focused around that content? And so, influencer marketing is all about throwing that brand in there, right? So, you're not going to be... You're not going to get money from a brand for talking about their dog food when you never even mention the dog food. You have to put it in there strategically. So, a lot of times you're doing things specifically and you're doing things intentionally to highlight and feature that brand. -Well, it's in my mind, when you talk  about that, it makes me think that I'm not just doing a sponsorship or some brand deal. But I want to be a brand ambassador because that's going to be a long term relationship. -Yeah. -I can think of a lot. And all the ones that stand out is like really good. Like well... Maybe I'll rephrase it the other way. That's the... That are not salesy because I would never want to come across that way. -Yeah. -But I can think of somebody that represents Tesla. I think of somebody that represents Taco Bell. And it's like... That's not a part of their brand. They've written that guy really eats a Taco Bell like every day. -Yeah. -You know? So, that's awesome. -Well and it's got to be in line with your personality. If you really don't care about you know, earth-friendly sustainably sourced dog food  that's going to be healthy for a dog, you don't really care about animals that much. It's just not who you are, being a dog food brand ambassador is probably not the best option for you. -They're probably not one for me then. -Yeah. You got to find... Like, you got to find the dog lovers who just love their dog so much so they would you know, run in front of a car to save their dog. Those are the kinds of people that really do the best on influencer marketing because you can see the authenticity come through. -Well thanks so much. I really appreciate you sharing your expertise. For those who haven't heard of this book yet, we're all ears. Definitely check it out. Where can they find it? -It's all on Amazon. Go on Amazon ebook and print. -Be sure you're a subscriber and we'll see you tomorrow.

Does education define one's success? Education is a good investment, but it should'nt dictate one's path. In this episode, Emily London Miller, a professional photographer, shares with us her inspiring story towards success as an entrepreneur and how she had not let educational attainment dictate her future.

Welcome back. By popular demand, we're here with Emily London Miller. And in this one, we've got an amazing story. We're talking about high school dropout to very successful entrepreneur. Stay tuned for this one. Yeah. Let's go back to where this started. High school dropout, what's that all about? -Okay. So, 13 years ago, I was a high school dropout. Teenage mother who was living in a trailer park in the cheapest trailer on the trailer park. And with my husband was going to school at the time. And I had this idea that I, you know, I was actually maybe had a big hobby of shopping online a little bit. And so, I would spend all this time online shopping and I wanted to buy this specific type of product. It was basically like stickers they put on your wall to put a poem on your on your wall. And I I'm doing all this online shopping and I can't find anything that's like really well done. And I just remember thinking... Even as a high school dropout who had no graphic design background, like, "I could do this better." And so, I went to my husband who's in school and I was like, "Can I... Can I take some of our savings?" And I think we had like $500. You know, our whole savings. And invest in a machine that cuts this this kind of vinyl stuff out and the vinyl sheets. And he's like, "Oh, my gosh. This is good to get you off of shopping online then  just take the money, let's do it." So he... He gives me, you know... We get... He gives me... It's funny to think about now. I get the go-ahead and we go ahead and invest in this business and started. And the... After I sort of get involved in the graphic design like learning and making some of the designs themselves, I realized, you know, I really need to distribute these online which was my original goal. And I said, "Oh, honey. You're  a computer engineer student." I was like, "Make a website." And he just laughed at me like, "I'm a full-time student. With a full-time job and I'm a dad. Like I want to be able to see my kid. I don't have time to make you a website. Why don't you do it?" And I just remember just being like, "I can't honey. You know ,I'm a high school dropout." And I just kind of... I'm laughing now at my mentality because it seems so foreign to me now for 13 years later. But at the time, I was so limited by how I felt about myself based on that framework. And he just kind of laughed and he's like, "I'm a computer engineering major. And I don't know how to build a website. Like that's not something that's part of my curriculum. What I would do to build you a website is I would start by looking up how to use Dreamweaver and how to use..." And this outdated software, it doesn't even exist anymore. I can't remember. And he's like, "Just Google that. Start there." And I remember at the time being really irritated to him. And after I built our website which was very ugly. I built another one. And it was marginally better. And then I built another one and then our business took off. And I look back now you know at that moment in time as being the... Almost the cornerstone of my what I became. Because my husband didn't just catch me a fish. You know build me a website. And he didn't teach me to fish. He didn't say like, "This is how you build a website." He gave me the best gift ever which was to realize that I could teach myself how to fish. How to build a website, how to take pictures, how to become a better graphic designer. How to do anything that I... That eventually came in my path that I wanted to learn how to do. Which gave me enormous confidence. And also gave me basically the only tool that I needed to become a successful entrepreneur. -So, because we've talked previously, I've heard you say the phrase self realization. Is that what you're talking about here? -This is definitely like the very, very beginning step of my self realization journey. I think even at this point in time, I didn't even realize that I was lost yet. I was still so young back then. I was 19 with my brand-new baby. So, yeah. My self-realization journey really didn't begin till I was like 25. -Okay. So,  you started out not feeling very confident about yourself because you're a high school dropout. That's the label you put on yourself. But then through this experience, especially in retrospect looking back, it's like that kind of where it started to pivot. Because I realized, "I can achieve things or I can learn, I can figure things out." So, what happened at age 25 then? -Okay. So,  age 25, that business that I was talking about before become a 7-figure business. And we're doing really well. And my kids now I had another one. So 2 kids. My youngest was 4. And I think in that, you know, as a mom... And also because I was spending so much energy building my businesses that I was not progressing as a human. Like I was progressing as a business person and I was  progressing my children, you know, keeping them alive. But all of a sudden like I had some space to kind of (Breathes Heavily) realize that I was feeling super unfulfilled. In that point in my path, I  was basically... I was blaming my kids in that moment for all of the lack of self realization that I had in my space. And also a little bit on my husband. And I went on a trip to Europe. I actually  want a ticket from British Airways. And while I was there, it just had this big opportunity to just start exploring myself and growing up and become myself. And I kind of... I had a really  interesting year after that where I basically came home and told my husband like, "Maybe this marriage thing isn't working out. Like, we need to... I want to grow up and become myself." And I'm really lucky that I have a husband who just said, you know like, "Let's go together." So, we both went to Europe. We both... We backpacked through Europe. That trip was not super romantic and fun. It was like an opportunity for us to kind of break down our old marriage and make a new one when we got home. And gave us the chance to kind of say okay, "Emily needs to have some space to grow up and become herself." My husband was 25 when I met him or when I married him. So, he'd already had some time. And at this point, I was just turning 25. So, for me, the way that that looked was that instead of focusing on my business (with the first business that I had made) that I was going to just try lots of things. So in my case, it was like, "I don't learn to play the  ukulele. And I want to learn French. And I want to go to Europe and I want to go to China and to Hawaii and skydive and play the cello and all these different things." Including pick up a camera and learn how to take pictures in manual mode. Which ended up actually starting me down the path that I am on now. Which is as a photographer. It also was a time when I realized that I really didn't have a lot of close relationships with girlfriends and that I was really yearning to have bonds with other women. And that was a big part of why I specifically you know niched myself to be working with women because I was so longing for those connections. And so, you know now, I look at that. You know, it's maybe... It was seven years ago? And I just think like, "Oh, my gosh. I  wish I could show that person. That version of myself." Like how I how the path progressed. Because it ended up being... Like that I was able to create those specific things that I was really looking for. You know, the bonds with other people. The business that really fits me better than my other business. Which was just kind of like on a whim. Yeah. That for me, you know, self-realization when I talked to my clients about who do you want to see when you're looking at your portraits, I just really remember that story. Looking back on not knowing who I was and not having grown  into myself. And I... The reason that I'm able to help my clients to hold space for them to have that journey is because I've been on that journey. And I think that as humans, we go through versions of that journey over and over and over. You know, in your 20s, in your 30s, in your 40s. And so no matter how old my clients are or what they're doing in their business or their life or their family, you know, experience. They're usually going through some aspect of that self-realization journey. So, that's why it's a huge core theme. -Awesome. So, as I've been trying to define in my mind, "What is self-realization?" It's kind of like... It sounds like you're describing discovering who you are. -You know, I would say, "Yes, it's like finding yourself." But at the same time, the word realize  is something that it... That I very specifically chose because it's not just like finding and discovering but it's actually like becoming. Growing into. Evolving into. Like taking the step in doing. -What about any part of choice or creation? Is that part of it? Creating who you are? -Absolutely. Self-creation, for sure. -Okay. So for our viewers, you know, we... I love hearing stories like this and seeing stories or seeing people that go from a place of, you know, struggle to success. Or from lack of confidence to confidence and clarity. What would you say were the key things or the key attributes that helped you do that? I mean, how can... How can our viewers face their challenges and get through them like you have? -Okay. So, I definitely want to say that I can appreciate  that I had a lot of things going for me. I had a lot of support. I had a partner who was helping me through some of those kind of discovery. So, I don't wan to say that everybody's path is going to look like mine at all. But I think that what definitely can relate to anybody is that... My takeaway of... If you learn no other skill after you watch this video, like stop the video and immediately begin learning the skill of finding education for yourself in any way that you excites you. So for me, I never went to college. And ever did that route. But it was like if I wanted to learn how to become a photographer, I found a website. You know, education, incredible resource. Where I had an educator who mentored me and you know, really pulled me up to a certain level. If I wanted to learn  how to play the cello, I actually found a guy on YouTube and I to him and I said, "Hey, do you do Cello lessons?" He lived in Texas and I live in Utah. And so, I bought a really good microphone and we would do Skype lessons where I was learning the cello on skype. So, I mean... When I wanted to learn how to build websites, it was just looking videos on YouTube. Videos like this, right? Or going online and finding articles. So, every different type of thing that I've learned, I wanted to learn how to do watercolor painting... -So, does this come back to belief then? -I would say, "Absolutely, yes." That you have to know you can learn anything that excites you that you want to learn. And an enthusiasm to only be learning stuff that that thrills you or that leads to what you want to become. So, as far as a step-by-step detailed blueprint of how to get from point A to point B, that's not what we're talking about here. But at the foundation to have a belief of... A belief  and a confidence that, "Hey, I can do this. Hey, I can learn this. Where do I want to go?" And just really having the confidence and making that decision. -Well and also, creating the time... -And the priority. -The priority in yourself. So, I think a lot of people prioritize all of the busy work they have to do over themselves for a long time at the expense of themselves. And so then they never get that opportunity to do it. So, it's carving out the time and the space for it. -Awesome. Well, thanks so much Emily. I really appreciate you being in this episode. Emily, if you don't know already. She's an amazing portrait photographer. Check her out at Emilylondonportraits.com We'll put the link down below. If you're on YouTube, be sure to subscribe. If you watch this far in the video, I know that you've enjoyed it. But we've plenty of other videos you'll enjoy. And if you're watching this on LinkedIn, you can also give it a thumbs up there. Comment below. Share. There's lots of  good ways that we can interact and engage on LinkedIn. We'll see in the next episode.

Nate Woodbury invites Emily London Miller, a professional photographer, to tackle the topic of photoshoot preparation. Here's a refreshing way to offer products and services regardless of any field, as shared by Ms. Miller. Check it out!

Welcome back. We're here with Emily London Miller. We're talking about how to prepare for a photo shoot. And I'm real excited to have you in this episode because I recently did a portrait photo shoot with you and I experienced something in the preparation that I've never experienced before with any other photographer. So, she is the perfect person to learn about this. So, I'm real excited for my viewers here to kind of see your process. Both because it'll help help them prepare if they're going to go for a photo shoot or a video shoot. But I also really like your model of preparation and in creating an experience. So, kind of the subtle undertone of this video is take notes on how you could create your services or your products or offerings in your business and prepare your clients in a similar way to create that experience. Okay, let's jump in it. Grab your beauty guide there. I didn't get this upfront. I was kind of in a hurry and I'm like, "Okay, we got to film but..." But as I look through it, a lot of... You talked to me about a lot of these things. So, I mean, you talked about... Ho would you best... How do you want to introduce this to? -Okay. So, this is a basically a conversational resource for me. So, I can have a consultation with my clients and I can go through all the bullet points on in this guide and then send them home with my client. But at the end of the day, it's about the conversation. So, I'm not going to just just mail these to somebody and like hope for the best, hope that they read it. They probably won't. But I'm going to be guiding them. So, one of the things that I tell my clients all the time or that I tell mentoring clients who are also photographers is that one of my main jobs is to hold space for my client. Especially  because my transformational, you know, what I'm really selling is the transformation. And so, if I want to give that client a transformation, it starts with the early conversations with telling them to set their intentions. You know, how do you want to see yourself versus... You know, and then holding them through the steps. You know, how would you like to be dressed for the to show those  sides of yourself. And then once it gets down to (Okay) the immediate preparation before the shoot, this isn't about checking off all the things on the checklist. They're like three things that I always tell them are like, "You must do these 3 things." But everything else in this checklist which is kind of comprehensive is more about giving permission to invest time and love and attention on  yourself for just a few weeks before a photo shoot. And so giving them that opportunity to hold... Like I'm holding space for that time and love and attention. So, at the end of the experience, when  they look back on the whole process, a lot of my clients even say like, "Oh, it was the getting ready and all that." And it's like, "I wasn't even there when they were getting ready." But they associated those good feelings with me. So, they walked out with those feelings. So, yeah. -Yeah, I like that. -So, the 3 things that are essential, you must do: Get your nails done and I even made you do this, right? Like to just have it manicured. I usually recommend to my girl clients that they have a neutral nail polish. And then to have your hair color touched up not something that I had you do. And then and obviously, that only applies if they color their hair. And then the other super critical thing is to create the space for 8 hours of sleep the night before the shoot. And I say it that way specifically because I used to get people who are like, "I couldn't sleep 8 hours. I was so nervous that I wasn't sleeping that I stayed up all night being nervous that I couldn't sleep." And so I said,  "You know, it counts. Just closing your eyes in bed with no electronics on. That counts." So, the space. As long as you had enough time for the 8 hours of sleep where you were just quietly in bed, that's good enough. -A couple of things that I want to comment on. So, you talked about getting your nails done or having a manicure. Prior to that, I've never had a manicure in my life. And I don't know that I was really intending on it but then I was.... I was getting smoothie, there's the nail... I'm like, "I'm right here, I might as well... It's karma or whatever." So, I went in and I really... As I  look at the photos, I don't... I've never even looked at my hands to see if you could even tell. But one thing that you mentioned earlier is kind of the preparation because I had taken that step and suggestions that you've given me, I put more priority on the photoshoot itself. Because I'm like, "Okay, I'm preparing for this. I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this. And I've done this, this,  this and this." I show up for the photo shoot and so yeah, I'd had a lot of... Even just mental preparation to be there. That's kind of interesting. -Very cool. It's like you're investing in the experience. Even, you know, on your own time. Whether that's with the money that it took to do the manicure itself or the time, right? -Okay. But I know our viewers are going to want some of the practical step-by-step things. So, one of them what are some of the main things that you suggest people do to prepare? -Alright. So honestly, the first thing that I tell them to do is that they really need to set their appointments with anybody that they're going to be doing any kind of beauty treatment with. Right? So for women, it's a little bit different than men. That looks like we're, you know... Are you going to get your brows done? The timing is kind of important for that kind of stuff, right? If you do it too early then your brows are hairy again. And if you do it too close to the shoot then you might have redness or swelling. So, I do give an outline of timing that basically says the first thing that we take care of can be about 3 weeks ahead of time. That's where you start drinking lots of water regularly. Start getting really refreshed on your own skincare routine that you know you should be doing or I already do. And to set your intentions for how you're going to show up for your shoot and make your appointments. Okay? The 3 week mark is where you have your deadlines for your shopping. Especially for shopping online. And where I started asking  people to stay out of the Sun. Red skin can be really, really horrible on camera because it kind of makes your hair look green on camera. The camera has to choose which is correct. And so if it's going to choose your skin as correct then your hair will look green. So, that's one thing I say. No sunburns, stay out of the sun the 3 weeks before the shoot. And just start stretching but that's not necessarily the case for every photo shoot. It's... I do recommend it for my shoots because I do a lot of head back neck and lower lumbar region. Kind of stretching with my shoots so I don't want my clients to be uncomfortable beforehand. Obviously that's... It's more for the self-care aspect of taking the time to stretch for 20 minutes everyday. Okay? One week before the shoot is when we start getting into that's when you want to have your brows waxed. Maybe your upper lip waxed. Any body hair that you're going to be removed. Don't wax yours. With women, depending on how  revealing  their clothing is. They may want their legs to be waxed or their underarms or it depends on the woman. And then at the one-week mark, I do tell people to cut off spray tans. For me, a lot of people with spray tans will get crud in their knuckles and knees and stuff like that. So, that gives enough time for all that to kind of wipe off or wash off. 3 to 5 days before the shoot. That's where we talked about getting your hair color  refreshed. While you're there, you might as well get a little trim in your haircut. And you can have your hairstylist do a gloss treatment or you know, a deep conditioning treatment on your hair. Which is going to make it look really fabulous during the shoot, okay? In Utah, it's really popular to have false or lash extensions. And so, if you already have them, I always tell my clients to make sure to get them refreshed that 3 to 5 days before the shoot. And if they don't already have them, I usually don't encourage them to because we used to fake lashes in the studio, okay? The day before the shoot and the photo shoot day probably have the most intensive instructions. And that's where I, you know, I'm talking to my clients about cleaning your wedding ring and making sure that you have your manicure, your brows are tweezed, you could... You're going to get a blowout for your hair. And then the morning of the shoot, it's like I want them to show up with a fresh face. So, clean, moisturized skin. Clean dry hair. We do the styling for them in the studio but if you weren't going to have a hair makeup artist on set in your own photo shoot then obviously, I would recommend styling your hair completely to the point that you'd like for your photos with maybe a little extra volume. And then to do your makeup. One of the things with makeup. If you're doing it on your own that I always tell my makeup artist as a rule is to never use shimmer. Because shimmer on camera translates not as well as you might think. Certainly glitter is terrible. But shimmer for anybody who's over probably 30 is going to emphasize everything that maybe you don't want emphasized. So, I would say use matte products for your skin. And then... -Quick question: You mentioned jewelry. And I remember I did something. You had me do something... -You can use a toothbrush and toothpaste in cleaning your wedding ring. -Brushed my ring. -And and in fact, like I did last night. I know I was going to be doing the shoot. I took it off, I cleaned it and then I put it in a pouch to bring with me on the day off because the morning of the shoot, you're also going to be like moisturizing your entire body. Anything that's going to be visible at least. And so, I didn't want to put lotion back in my ring. So, I saved it for when I right before we got here. So yeah. Basically, the the key things for the morning of they've had they're sleep, you have a really good breakfast. And that you are going to arrive on time to your photo shoot. Because lighting is a big deal and if your photographer uses natural light, that's going to be pretty important. -Awesome. So, I hope that's given you a lot of practical advice on how you could prepare for your photo shoot. Thanks Emily. -Thank you. -So, after watching an episode like this, I'm sure everyone wants to work with you now as a photographer. So, where do they go? -So, I'm at Emilylondonportraits.com or you can find me on instagram at emilylondonportraits. -And you're going to really love her portfolio. Seeing the work that you've done. Pretty amazing. Be sure to subscribe if you're on YouTube. Or if you're on LinkedIn, go ahead and follow me because I'm posting out regular videos like this every day.

Have you ever decided whether happiness is a choice or an emotion? Dr. Paul Jenkins is a positive psychologist and he's here today with Nate Woodbury to answer what happiness is and why it is both a choice and an emotion. Tune in!

We've got a big dilemma today, Paul. -Okay. -Trying to decide is happiness a choice or is it an emotion? I mean, I brought in positivity psychologist, Paul Jenkins because you've got to figure this out. It's got to be a yes or no question, right? -It is. -Is positivity and emotion or a choice? -Yes. -Wait. -You said it was a yes or no question. -Well. But I'm confused. -Do I have to pick one of those? Because Nate, it's both. It's an emotion. We describe happiness as a feeling. -Okay. -Okay. An emotion. You've also heard that happiness is a choice. -Yeah. -Which can annoy people sometimes. In fact, sometimes when I present that issue, people feel offended. -Why do you think that is? -Because they're not happy. -Okay. -"Why would I ever choose this? I would never choose this." And so they don't see it as a choice. It's just something that happens to them. -Or the absence. If they're feeling an absence of happiness, they might think, "Well, I choose happiness. How come I'm not happier? I haven't..." -"I'm just not getting it?" -Yeah. -Yeah. And it's because there are processes that are going on in our mind. As a psychologist, my job is to illuminate the obvious. Which is cool because I get paid to tell people things they already know. How awesome is that? But there's obvious things that are  unnoticed. Obvious but unnoticed. Like the feeling of your shirt. Can you feel it? -I can now. -Is it obvious? -Mmm-hmm. -Yeah. But totally unnoticed until I called it to your tension. -Correct. -Fair enough? Or the fact that we're speaking English, did you notice? I wasn't... - Obvious but unnoticed. And the process is in our mind are in that realm. We're inside of our own skin. We don't see what's operating the machine. And it's obvious as soon as it's called to your attention. But unnoticed until that point. So, the process... And that's what I get to do in my practice. It illuminate the obvious. These processes that are going on in our mind. For example... -Okay. -Evaluation, alright? That's a... That's a  process that our mind does for us. Evaluation means judging. And notice first Nate that you can't turn this off. You're constantly judging aren't you? - Hmm. -You judge yourself, judge your spouse, your kids. You judge me. It's alright, I judge you too. -And relating this to the feeling happy... -Yeah. -...I had a circumstance happen. Something happens and you're saying that I'm evaluating... -Then you judge it. -I'm judging. -Yes. -Whether that was a good experience or bad experience? -Exactly. So, let's say you're just driving down the street out here. -Hmm. -And you get rear-ended. Okay? You know, Munches the back into your car. You're suddenly judging this experience, aren't you? It's like, "Oh, this this sucks. This is bad." Well, it is what it is. You've heard that phrase before. And that can be annoying too. But all it means is the way things are. It's what you've got. -It could have been worse? -What if you knew  for sure that had you not been rear-ended at that intersection, had you continued to drive along, you would have been hit by a train and killed instantly. -I felt... I feel pretty happy about there... -You'd be like, "Oh, this is the best thing that could have happened." Right? It's the same event. It's the same event. What changed? Your judgment of it. And we don't always have all of the data all of the information. We don't know what would have happened. So, all we can do is take what we've got. What it is and we judge it. Now, notice this. Judgment implies comparison. Evaluation implies comparison with some standard. If you don't have a standard, you're going to make one up. And you've got a really great imagination. So, notice this. You can always imagine something better than what you've got. And you can always imagine something worse. Is this true? -Yeah. -So, you get a pick one of those directions to make your judgement, your evaluation. If you compare what you've got to something better, how do you feel about what you got? It's bad. -Okay. So, we've got... We've got this emotion. -Yeah. -In specific, we're talking  there about happiness. -Happiness. -Whatever happens to us, we can... -It is what it is. -By this process of evaluation, kind of judging the situation, depending on how we do that will then dictate  how we feel? -Yeah. And you're never wrong about how you feel. It's not wrong to feel badly about getting rear-ended. It's not wrong to feel grateful about getting rear-ended. Pick one of those. -Hmm. -And you don't always have all of the data. So, you have to just pick a position. This is why happiness is a choice. -Okay, so if we're saying that happiness is an emotion and it's a choice... -Yes. -...are all emotions a choice? -Yes. -Ah, there's some hesitation. -Well, because they happen so automatically. We don't see it as a choice. We don't see all of the intervening pieces. In fact,  we've got a word, a term for this in psychology. -Okay. -We call it the fundamental attributional error. Alright? -Mouthful. -Yeah we made all that up because we feel smart when we make stuff up. But all it means is that when we experience a feeling... And notice how automatically feelings come. -Yeah. -Something happens, you feel something. As soon as we feel that feeling, our mind kicks in to analytical mode. "Why do I feel this?" And like with the being rear-ended, okay? You, immediately feel. Why do I feel "Arrrh"? Well, obviously because I got rear-ended. The part that we leave out is a little intermediate step. We get rear-ended, boom! Our mind evaluates it. -Mmm. -Comes up with a conclusion that this is a bad thing. And then we feel the feeling. -But you also mentioned that it's kind of an immediate thing. Emotions happens happened so quick. -Absolutely. -So, is there a way that we can... Maybe we get rear-ended, we feel angry and then we like, "Wait a minute." And we can go back and reverse and go  back and, "I'm going to change my thinking here." -There's some brain hacks. In fact, here's a really good one. -Awesome. -When you get triggered, practice saying, "This is good." -Okay. That makes sense. -It sounds crazy. -So, something happens, I get rear-ended... -You get rear-ended. -Good. -Well this is good. Now, do you notice  the fight? -Uh-huh. -That happens mentally? Because immediately you've got fight on your hands. That more accurately in your mind. -Well, I noticed the tone that I said. It was different. I said, "This is good." But you said, "This is good!" -This is good! And the question pops up. "What? How could this be good?" And it's not even a question? It's a statement disguised as a question? Hear the exclamation point? It's not a question. Watch your punctuation. Put a question mark back on there. How could this be good? Alright, do you see what happened in your mind? It shifts gears in to, "Wait a minute." Now we're at a metacognitive level. We're thinking you're thinking about our thinking and we start to look for possibilities that we didn't see when we were just doing the  autopilot reaction. So, you push the pause button. Insert a new response. Okay? A chosen response. "This  is good!" Even if you have no idea how it  could possibly be good. Because that changes the direction of your mind. And you will start to see how happiness is a choice. -Okay. So, we've been filming videos up for YouTube for over a year now. -Yeah. -And I've heard this principle a lot. -Right. -And what... One block   in my mind is, "Okay. This is a longtime practice. It's going to take me a long time to perfect this." Perhaps. -Okay. -But the other thing that I'm just recognizing now is... I mean, there's in a 10 minute episode, there's some practical advice here. It's just question. "How could this be good?" -And make sure it's a question, not a statement disguised as a question. - So, if I can just get into the habit of asking that question, that's going to help me choose happiness? -That will give you the practice that's necessary to build that skill. And maybe that... -Happiness  as a skill? -That's the acknowledgement. Happiness is a choice, yes. And it's a skill set. -That's actually comforting. That's comforting for me because... -Yeah. -It's not like I've got a master my  brain in order to be happy. I mean, I can... I can practice. It's something that will take time. -Yeah. -Okay. -Well, you mentioned the practice. I call what I do a practice. I show up and Live On Purpose and I'm filming videos, I'm doing podcasts, I'm seeing clients, I'm speaking, I'm writing books. I do full-time practice of the principles that we're talking about here. I'm a black belt at positivity. -Mmm-hmm. -I'm mixing metaphors here but you get to what I'm talking about. I have put in the 10,000 hours. I've got all of the prerequisites out of the way. And the more you practice, the better you get at it. So, yeah. I'm glad you said that. That's... It's a choice, it's also a skillset. It's going to take (you said) sometime. It's actually going to take some practice. And practice requires time. -Yeah. -And effort. But it's not just time if you're just waiting, you know, for your happiness to come. Have fun. It's going to take some specific skill practice to get there. -Awesome. Well, I... I'm glad we had this conversation. I learned a lot. -Oh, good. -So, hopefully enjoyed this episode as well. I'm curious to know what your thoughts are. What are your takeaways from this or what's your reaction about this? Do you agree? Do you see the power in this? Go ahead and comment below. We'll see you in the next episode.

Nate Woodbury and John Jonas work with Filipinos for several years now and in this episode, they discuss their personal experiences in their companies and share their thoughts on outsourcing. Check it out and see how outsourcing has changed the way the business world works!

Welcome back. Got another episode about outsourcing. John Jonas here. Creator of virtualassistanttool.com. And in this video we're talking about what life would be like without outsourcing.  Now, we filmed a few videos earlier today and we kind of referenced the fact that we're in a new paradigm. I've been hiring people in the Philippines for 9 years now and you said 13? -Yeah. -13 years. So, we live in this world where outsourcing is our everyday thing/ I've got 10 full-time employees. You've got 24. So, where do you think life would be right now if we had never learned to hire people in the Philippines? -I mean. where would life be? I don't know. man. That's. what... -My company would not exist. The services that I  offer, I could... -I wouldn't either. -Yeah. -I'm sure I would have something else, right? But there were so many things that I did along the way that weren't possible without understanding this. I remember... I'll give you an example. -Sure. This didn't happen for me. I was working with 2 guys. One guy had this big dropship... I'll talk about the whole thing. -So, like guys here in the U.S? -In the U.S. Yeah. One guy had a big drop shipping catalog. And I was working with someone else who understood a whole bunch of business stuff and connecting the 2 together of like, "Hey, he's... His drop shipping catalog is being sold to a little bunch of people and he's letting them pick pieces out of it. But we want to take the entire thing and put it all  online." As a website, right? And it was so daunting to take the idea of we have thousands of products here and we have to write descriptions and content around him and adding them into it. Because there's no he doesn't have a feed. It's all... It was so daunting to take  that, that we just gave up. Right? So, this business never happened because I didn't know at the time what was possible. If I had had the knowledge that I have now of like, "Oh, I can hire a couple people in the Philippines who are smart and they're going to take this and write good content. And they're going to organize it correctly and it's going to be well done. I would probably have a website today that was selling a whole bunch of things that are drop shipped." For me, that was like... I think about that often like... I just... I had... I didn't have to knowledge. I didn't know what was possible. I didn't know that I could hire someone for $400 a month for full-time work and they're intelligent. -Yeah, looking at the... If you do an internet search around outsourcing, most of  stuff that you find is pretty negative. It's... There's a positive stigma about things that are made in the USA. -Yeah. -But it's... It's kind of hypocritical because everything that we buy is  manufactured... I mean, you know, this is an older iPhone. The iPhone 6S. But it's what a made in the USA. And like, we shop it. We shop at a grocery store... Well, let's use Walmart. -Yeah. -All the items on the shelves, you pick it up and we'll say made in China or made in Indonesia, made in Brazil. So, obviously, I guess... You know, if a product is made in USA, somehow that makes it better but... -So, when I got started I tried hiring people in the US and it just didn't work for me. And there were multiple factors involved. Whatever, okay. Today, I have 24 people in the Philippines and I have a couple people in the US who work for me. And that wouldn't exist... Those jobs don't exist without outsourcing because I don't get to this point where I can afford these really specialty people in the US without my team in the Philippines getting me to that point. -Well, it... Totally applies in my business as well. I mean, I've got some amazing services that I offer and it's not... My services are not cheap. So, to work with me on my done-for-you service, it's a 6-figure package. -Okay. -It's an expensive service but that is because it's actually extremely affordable. We're creating like a year's worth of episodes and we're able to do all that and do it at the quality that we're doing it because of our amazing team in the Philippines. -Yeah. I don't think we realize what our quality of life is because of outsourcing. -I definitely think we take it for granted. -Yeah. -So, yeah. The blessings that we have of living in a great country like this with the freedoms that we have. But especially the prosperity that we have. The comforts that we enjoy. We really live like kings and queens. You know, that things the luxuries that we enjoy in our home that just rewind a hundred years. -Yeah. -Well and I see people all the time that you know, I'll talk about this. I'll talk about how you can hire someone full time who was intelligent and  talented and hardworking and loyal for $500 a month. And they're as competent as the person that you would have paid $15 an hour in the US or more. You get this and... And when people hear  this and they hear all that goes into it and their loyalty and the kind of work that they do. Often they're like, "Oh, my gosh. You just opened up a world for me." And they didn't know that. And  so for when for me, when you asked, "What would the... What would life be like without outsourcing?" I see so many people that like have no clue. -Yeah. -And then they're like, "Dude, you got to make this more known." Because they start a business and they succeed with it and that's kind of the reaction I get often. -I mean, it's it's such a great blessing, it's such a great help. It provides so much more to be created. You know, all the different services I've offered through the years from Web Design the marketing services that I've had the different video services, they would not have existed for small businesses at the the price point and the the value that... They would not have existed without outsourcing. And thinking about like what you said, there's a lot of people around me that I associate with that they have no idea that this opportunity exists. That's part of the reason why I love making  videos like this is because it's like, "Come on guys. This this is available." -Yeah. So, what would it be like? I guess it would be like what it's like for them where they don't... They're not... Their business was growing really slowly. -Yeah. -I  hope this video was helpful. if  his brings up any other questions, I want to continue this conversation about outsourcing. I'm in the paradigm of... I've been outsourcing fir from 9 years. You even longer. So, there's probably questions that you have about outsourcing that we would know exactly how to answer. We just don't know what those questions are. So, whether on YouTube or on LinkedIn, comment below and that will give us ideas of future episodes that we can come out with. Until then, we'll see in the next episode.

Dr. Paul Jenkins is a positive psychologist and he's back with Nate Woodbury on another episode, talking about psychology behind our emotions and how it affects us in our daily lives. If you're interested in learning more about how feelings influence our life, check this out!

Okay. If you saw the title of this video, you've got 2 grown men here to talk about feelings. -I know, right? -And how feelings influence our life. Alright. So, I'm excited for this video because as I've gotten older and I've... I love personal development. And so I've learned about how emotions are actually a powerful tool. -Mm-hmm. -We typically bottle up our emotions or we we hide our emotions. We apologize out sorry for crying. But emotions, they're important. -I was giving a training to a group of executives and I made this statement and it cut a little bit of flack. -Hmm. -The statement was, "Every decision we make, is an emotional decision." And this executive on the front row, he's like, he's got his legs crossed. He's like, "Ah, Dr. Paul, I don't think so." I said, "What do you mean? Tell me more." He said, "I make my decisions based on data." -Mm-hmm. -"Give me the data, I'll process the data, we'll analyze the data." And I said, "Then how do you know when you've got the right decision?" -And...? -"Well, I just... I'm satisfied..." -"Wait, satisfied? That's a feeling, isn't it?" I feel good about it, it seems right to me, I'm satisfied with today. See, this is all emotion. -So, even if you're looking at the data, there's a point where like, "Okay, I feel that we've looked at the data enough." It comes to a feeling, okay. -Yeah. There's 3. So back in psychology 111, alright? When you're just getting your introductory psychology class, we talked about the cognitive triad. The cognitive triad is basically what you think, what you feel and what you do. And  those 3 things are tied together. You cannot separate them. So what you think affects how you feel. How you feel affects what you do. What you do affects how you think. And it goes both directions and so, if you picture a triangle with these 3 things. -- Think, feel and do at the points of the triangle. And there's bi-directional arrows between each one because they all affect and impact the others. -What does this mean for somebody who... This is kind of a new information to me. Meaning, they've been bottling up emotions or they don't feel that, "I'm not a very emotional person."  Or maybe it's the executive that's like, "I make all my decisions just by looking at the data." How do we then use this knowledge if emotions are such a big, important piece of our life and of growth and what not? What is this? -You know, the first step I think is obviously to acknowledge it. Just acknowledge it. We are emotional beings. It's how were created. And maybe the example that I shared upfront couldn't help with that. -Okay. 0Because it might not seem that making a decision based on data is an emotional decision. But realize there comes a level of satisfaction or where you feel. Feel that that it's the right answer after having studied the data. And so, even something as simple as that is driven by emotion. So, let's just acknowledge it. How we feel impacts our behavior. And because those 3 -- Think, feel and do are so inextricably tied together, we can if we want to shift or alter one of them, we can work on the other 2. -Okay. So, if there's the decision or or something happens, I have a feeling. One, step 1 is just to acknowledge. "Okay, I'm feeling something." Does it... Is it helpful then to kind of pause and think, "What am I feeling?" Like, "Am I  eeling angry.?" -Oh yeah. -"Am I feeling let down?" -It's interesting. They've done studies before where they have people just come up with feeling words. And people always come up with happy, sad, mad and then they get a little stuck. Can we really...? Can we expand our vocabulary a little bit around feelings? Anger is a secondary emotion. Meaning, it typically comes up after a more primary emotion occurs. Something like disappointment, sadness, loss. And because we don't know exactly how to deal with those primary emotions, we converted over to a secondary emotion. -- Anger. Because I know what to do with anger. It's a much more active acting out. More expressive kind of an emotion. -Okay. So if I'm feeling angry, I might then pause and think, "Okay, where is this anger coming from? Ah! I'm feeling disappointment in the outcome." -Disappointment is a really common precursor to anger. -So, what would then be the next step? If I recognize and  acknowledge the emotion... -Hm-hmm -...what can i what can I consciously do? -Once we're aware of it, we're in a position of choice. Until you see it as a choice, it's not. So, that awareness is huge. And if you become aware that, "Hey, I'm feeling some disappointment." Well, think about it, Nate. Are you can handle disappointment differently than you would handle anger? -Mm-hmm. -Yes,  you will. And there are appropriate ways to address that disappointment which are more likely to create a positive outcome for you than if you were to act out in anger. -So, I mean in my mind, this is something that I'm... That I'm learning and I'm practicing. So, if I discover I'm disappointed about something and I remain kind of conscious about this, I then have a choice. "Okay, I'm feeling disappointed. I have a choice to either  go this direction or to go this direction." -Mm-hmm. -And I mean really, that keep that keeps me in control. -Right. Which gives you additional choices too. Anger typically leads to one of 2 choices. Fight or flight? It's a threat response and the limbic system in our brain responds to threat in a chemical way by secreting chemicals into our bloodstream that facilitate either fighting or fleeing. Getting the heck out of there. -Okay. So that obviously is a big separation between mankind and animals. You know, we have prefrontal cortex in our brain that allow us to have this ability to think. And so... But it's all... It sounds like it's also a level of maturity. As we.... As we learn to recognize the emotions and get down to the root and then choose... You know, make a conscious choice of what we're going to do in that emotion. It takes practice. -And I'm thinking about something you just said about our ability to think and this cognitive ability. Which is centered in the prefrontal cortex of our brain. It sets us apart from the animals. That's both good news and bad news. -Okay. -Okay? I had a colleague of mine share an  example that there's a herd of gazelles out in the African Savannah. And they're they're running from a lion, okay? And the lion reaches up and swats one of them on the hindquarters leaving a big gash. But it escapes, okay? Moments later, after the dangers past, the gazelles are out there grazing on grass. Flicking flies with their tail. They're off to their gazelle business. Even the injured one is in pain but just going back to its gazelle thing. They don't ruminate about, "Oh, that nasty lion." They don't keep it alive in their thinking. They go on with life. Because we have the ability to think like we do. We'll keep that lion in our life perpetually. -Wow. And it continues to injure us and cause our feelings to come up. So, it's both good news and bad news that we can think about these things. -Okay. So, let's go there. What can we do about that then? If we have... If our cognitive ability gives us that disadvantage? -Yeah. Awareness is the key. When we become aware of something, we're actually at a level I call metacognition. It's thinking about thinking. And that's what puts us back into choice. It creates a little space and that's where choice exists. So, becoming aware that, "Wait a minute. Am I being attacked by the lion right now? Well no, I'm not. Why do I still experience it?" You know when you go to a movie and you're kind of drawn into the movie and it feels like you're in it for a while. Well, why don't you run screaming out of the theater when the lion shows up on the screen? Because you know at some level it's a movie. What if we knew at some level that this story we keep replaying in our mind is a movie? -Yeah, it's not going to happen in the past. It's not... -And it's a movie that we have a private screening to. Nobody else could see it it's just us. -Okay. So what's what's a practical application or even an exercise of how we can become better thinkers that our thinking? -Once you're aware of it, pause and actually do what you just said. Think about your thinking. And use the movie analogy if that's helpful. Is this real? Is this now? Is this here? There's this a mental movie. This a mind movie that I am watching. Should  we think about our thinking five minutes a day? 5 minutes several times a day. 1 minute? -Oh, man. -Where do we start? -I did... I'm a full-time psychologist. I'm doing that all day. -24/7. I'm thinking about my thinking? -Well, raise it to another level. If you're just blissfully going about your life, never thinking about your thinking, then try being mindful for a bit. Think about your thinking. Just see what that does to you. aAd as you practice it, it gives you more control over what you're experiencing. It's pretty cool. -Alright. Thanks for watching this episode. I have a great idea. If you want to be able to think about your thinking more, something I think would be helpful to subscribe to his channel. Because it talks a lot about this and it will bring it. Live On Purpose TV. Obviously, like and comment, subscribe. If we're on YouTube. Share it if you're on LinkedIn. And I'll see in the next episode.

John Jonas has influenced Nate Woodbury to outsource in the Philippines and just like any other system, there are challenges to deal with. Here are a few of them and hopefully this will help set your expectations. Tune in to learn more about the challenges of outsourcing!

We are back with another episode with the amazing John Jonas. The guy who taught me how to outsource in the Philippines. We're talking today about the challenges and what are the challenges of outsourcing. Alright, so is outsourcing all cupcakes and roses?  -Not always. -So, we're going to focus... We talk about the cupcakes and roses and a lot of other episodes. When this one specifically the challenge is. I've got I've got some challenges. -Yeah. -I'm going to start with mine. My very first outsourcing experience and this was a challenge really because I had a lack of experience. And it was a funny one and hopefully it doesn't dissuade anyone from trying to outsource because I got the bug. I got the bug through outsourcing. So, this was back when I was still an  employee. Okay, I was an employee doing telemarketing. The company offered me an independent contractor position to write articles. Back when article marketing was a real big thing. I could write an article and get paid 8 or 10 dollars per article. Or... -Yeah. -...10 or 12. They paid me 10 or 12 depending on the length. And I had that... I learned about outsourcing. And so I thought, "Oh,  this is perfect. I'm going to hire an article writer that will write these articles for me. I'll just proofread it and I'll send it in as if I wrote it. They're paying me 8 or 10 or 12 and I'll pay them two." -That's right. -And it started working out great. And I thought, "This is so amazing. Look at this." And you know, using arbitrage, you're leveraging. Okay. So... But I got lazy. -Yes. -I got lazy and I stopped doing the quality control. And then I just had a feeling after a while. I looked at one of the articles, I thought, "That sounds... I wonder if... Did she really write that?" And I checked it... And this whole paragraph had totally just been copied. So she had been kind of... What's the word? Just... -Piecing things together. -Well use that. Piecing things together. Basically plagiarizing. I  don't think she was doing it like to be, you know, intentionally... -Malicious? -That's the word. I don't think she was being intentionally malicious. But I have gone back and the previous, if it was a  round number of 50. The previous 50 articles have been written that way and I'd submitted them and I gotten paid on it. And so I fired her. Which I kind of feel bad about. I probably could have  salvaged a situation. What ended up happening is I went to my boss. And I said, "This is what I was doing and this is what's happened." A boss just thought it was hilarious. So, I mean feel better. But he said, "But I'm not the decision maker on this. You got to go talk to the the supervisor." Who was this young kid. Like 21 and he was upset. He... So, he said I couldn't couldn't do that position anymore. He let me rewrite the article so I didn't have to pay back the money has already paid. Anyway, so challenges of outsourcing, I guess if I was inexperienced. And so, I should have been  better at managing my time. But I do want to emphasize that that really helped me catch the bug of what's possible. -Yeah. -And very quickly within a couple of months, I had quit my job. Hired some graphic designers for my web design company and obviously, I've been... My original graphic designer still works with me for today. That was 8 and a half years ago that I hired him. -That's awesome. -Okay, so let's talk about some other. What challenges have you seen? -So, the first challenge a lot of people see is the time difference. You know, if you're in the U.S., the Philippines is 14 hours different, 12 hours different. -So, we can flip that because while I'm working then I assign them tasks, they're working on it while I'm sleeping. -That's right. But so many people... So many  people often are like, "No, I want to be at the same time." And and they'll do that for you. They'll work at night. It sucks for them and they hate it. But you can do it. So, that's... That's the first thing. The second thing is like, when you have a relationship with someone, you're sitting in the office next to them. You see them, you interact. You don't get that here. -Alright? So some... Sometimes  there's a little bit of trust issues. That's in... It's a difficulty with outsourcing. Where I don't really know for sure if they're doing what they're doing other than based on productivity. Or if you want to use a time tracker, which I don't use time tracker. So, sometimes it's a matter of trust and when you don't see them come into the office every day and something takes longer than you think, without really good communication, that can turn into like, "I don't think you're working." -Yeah. Instead of like I had a... I had this happen to me once where I gave this guy something to  do. And I was like, "Dude, why isn't this done yet?" And he didn't say anything because that's typical Philippines. "Dude, why isn't this done yet?" A while later I figured out, "Oh, what I gave him  was impossible, right?" It was totally my fault and yet most of the time... And this is classic outsourcing thing. We think, "Oh, it's their fault. They're lazy, they're not working, whatever." When I  end up seeing... because often, running the website that I do, I'll see both sides of the story. I'd say 80% of the time it's not the worker, it's the employer who did something silly or gave terrible  instructions even though they thought it was really great. But that's a difficulty that doesn't happen in the office. That's an outsourcing problem. Okay, so I have another one. When people find out  that you are outsourcing, so your story was you had to go to your boss, right? I have different side of it. People finding out you're outsourcing things and they either hate you because, "How can you  give away American jobs?" Which is completely not... In my situation that's like a real... And yours... In most situations where people are having people in the Philippines, that's not even a thing where either I'm hiring someone in the Philippines to do this work or I'm not hiring anybody because I can't afford it. I can't afford to hire someone locally, right? So, that's... That's a challenge one. The other side of that is... And this isn't thing I've had more of an issue with. But when they find out how good my workers are in the Philippines, they think, "Oh, I got lucky. Oh, he got lucky. I'm going to hire his worker from him." -Mm-hmm. -And so, that's something that I like I'm super careful with. Because people try all the time to hire my workers from me. And  I've had people tell me like I told a girl one time. And this is specific to... Well this isn't outsourcing, right? This hasn't happen to local companies. I'll stop there and just say, "Don't tell people your workers names." -So I... I fortunately haven't or had that, haven't that happen. But I could... And I have had that concern. Like, "Ooh, what if..." -It has never actually happened. I've never lost someone. That's one of the great things about the Philippines are. They're super loyal. But they will try. -Like the... Your clients or other competitors? -Yeah they try and hire your people. -Here one final thing that that all share is a disadvantage. Is not really a hundred percent even knowing my team. There's some team members that I communicate with so regularly that I know them, I trust them. I consider, you know, my project manager, I consider him like a brother. When I met him for real a few weeks ago, it wasn't anything new. I really felt I knew him. But I don't have that same relationship with everybody on my team. And there was... There was one team member that's no longer on my team. He did take advantage of that. And I don't need to go into the details of  that, the specifics. But at the same time, I wasn't upset. I had found he was doing good work but he was taking advantage of me in another way. So, I appreciated the good work and I look back and said, "You  know what? This opportunity that I have with outsourcing is so huge." That even though this happened, I didn't get anger. It's like, "Alright. Well, let's just... We'll make sure this doesn't happen again." And that's really all the emotion that I felt with it. I kind of... I used some... I used some detective skills. And I'm like... I was actually kind of excited that I'm like... I was disappointed that he had taken advantage of me but I felt kind of excited that I was able to use my detective skills and figure it out. So, that's really the emotion I was feeling. Maybe I'm weird. Anyway, the kind of the takeaways that I hope you get from this video is, Yeah, there's some disadvantages but the advantages so far outweigh. It's such a blessing for us to be able to hire these amazing people. It's such a blessing for people in the Philippines. You know, I'm going to have one more thing under this video. I actually... And you've got to see this video. It'll be posted here soon. I asked my team, "Do you think that Americans hiring people in the Philippines, do you think we're taking advantage of you? Do you feel that paying you such a low amount compared to what we'd have to pay somebody in the United States, do you feel that that's fair? How do you feel about that?" And every one of them, they use different words like, "No, you're providing us an  opportunity or you are you're really helping us out." It was just... It was, you know, they really thought about it and they weren't providing these quick answers. So, anyway. Thank you, guys. I  appreciate. I'm pointing right now not to the viewer of the video but I'm pointing to my editing team. Thanks for the great work that you do. If there's any, any feedback that you give to me about  how to be a better boss or whatnot, let me know. For those of you watching this video, be sure to subscribe. Be sure to LIKE on both YouTube and LinkedIn. Be sure to check out the website that this amazing man created to help me hire my amazing team. virtualassistanttool.com. We'll see you in the next episode.

Dr. Paul Jenkins is a Positive Psychologist and he teaches a lot about positive parenting. In today's episode, he along with YouTube Producer Nate Woodbury touches on the topic of controlling and manipulating our children versus instilling a good influence on them. Check it out!

Welcome back. Here with Paul Jenkins. Some of the videos that have been most popular on your channel are around parenting. -Yeah. -How to got to get your kids to listen without yelling. So, in  this video, we're talking about influence again. But how parents can influence their children. Alright. So when we're talking about parenting our children, we want to give our children choice and they do have choice. We can't make choices for them. But we do have influence, right? -Yes. In fact, that's one of the first things that came to my mind around this topic, Nate. Parents do influence their children. -Is that at all ages? More or less a different time? -You can't not influence your children. In fact, there... I think the main question is, "How do we influence our children? What kind of an influence are we going to have on our children?" But you will influence your children for sure. -Okay. So, even if we're not doing it intentionally, maybe influencing them for positive, we might be influencing them... -One way or the other. -Okay. -Yeah. So, the influence that we have with our children, I think boils down to 2 primary factors. Number 1, you have to be able to set and enforce appropriate limits. -Okay. -And this has to do with sharing of control. There's a model that I shared on my channel about how control and maturity go together. And the more mature kids  are, the more control they can have over their own life. That's the short version. Well, until they reach that level of maturity, somebody's got to be in control. And I hope that that's the parents. Because if the parents default, guess who's next in line? It's the State. -The government. -Right, the courts, the police ,the Youth Corrections. So we really want kids to be in control of themselves. But they can only do that when they reach a level of emotional and moral maturity that allows that. So parent have to take up the balance of that control while kids are less mature. -And more and more of that control is given kind of in by degree. -Yes. -As their maturity increases. -As their maturity increases. Exactly. -So,is influence and control... Are we're talking about 2 separate things  here then? -Yes. Because control... Think about it. There are some things you control and other things you don't. If you control it, control it. If you can't control it, your only hope is influence. -So, let's give some specific examples or what some things that you can only control? -So, you can control for example what you provide. And there's some freebies. You have to provide certain things to your kids. There's 5 actually. Shelter is one. -And I've heard of it. Let's see however. Yeah, shelter, food? -Uh-huh. -Is water separate? Or is that? -Water is separate. -Air? -Yes. -Some people skip that when they forget. And you don't provide your kids air. -Clothing? -Well, I put that in with shelter. It's what's your main job as a parent? You heard this from me before. -Love. -To love them no matter what and even if. So, love, air, water, food and shelter. Those are freebies. There's 5 of them. You don't get to mess with those. -Is there a law against the love portion? Because if you don't provide shelter or proper care but there should be there should be a law... -Well... Yeah. And it depends on the jurisdiction. But there are some statutes out there about emotional abuse for example. That's probably the closest that comes or neglect. Your job as a parent is to love your kids. And that's not a legal obligation as much as it is a moral, ethical obligation. -Okay. So, we've got areas that we control. We control their environment, we can... And we control over their safety, their security. -Right. -So now, let's... Let's jump over into influence. -So, to influence, you have  to be able to set and enforce appropriate limits. And that has to do with getting straight on the control and maturity, okay? The second thing that's required to have influence... This is interesting.  This came out of the research. You have to be seen as a provider of good times and good things. In other words, they have a positive impression of you because of the good things that you bring into their life. If you... If you can set and enforce limits but you're not seen as a provider of good times and good things, they won't respect you. You don't have authority. -Make sense. If you  provide all kinds of good things but you can't enforce limits, then you still don't have any authority or influence with that child. -So the child might comply in in certain situations but they're... As they mature and whatnot, they're not really going to respect... -Right. -Yeah. They're just going to be making their own choices independent of their parents influence. -The other thing that goes into this. And we talked about this in another video about influence. Where's our focus as a parent? If we are truly focused on what we called the influencer quadrant in that other video, where our focus is on how they feel about themselves. When we're truly invested in that child's best interest for their sake. In other words, we're not doing the discipline because it makes our life easier. Even though it might. But that's secondary. Our primary focus is on that child, how they feel about themselves. Their own interest. When our focus is there. And we... We can set and enforce limits and  we're seen as a provider of good times and good things. Then we truly have influence. -So that. That makes it simple in my mind. -It is simple. -Where let's say.. -Simple and easy aren't the same thing though. -Let's say my son is doing a homework. He's having a real challenging time. Maybe he's just frustrated and he, you know, says, "I just don't like math, I'm not good at math," -Yeah. -And I want to want to step in. You know, there's a variety of things that I can do but if my focus is helping  him feel good about himself, kind of putting the focus on that he's great at math and showing him his capabilities and... That's the best way that I can influence him. -Why do you care if he gets his math done? Is it about showing that you're a good father? Well, that's not focused on him and his interest. If you really understand his getting his math done is good for him, see that's where we start with the focus. And then be able to arrange the limits around that. -Alright. So, what about a scenario maybe teenagers. And... -They're fun. -We feel that my daughter... Let's say, she's made some friends that I wish she would choose some different friends. -Mm-hmm. -And I  kind of want to influence the best that I can because I care for her and I want what's best for her. -Mm-hmm. -How should I approach that situation? -Now, it's fun when we work with teens because they are more mature physically. They take more control. -Mm-hmm. -Whether you want to share it with them or not, they take the control. So, your relationship becomes even more important as these kids get older and especially in their teenage years. Your relationship is what's going to create the influence there. -Okay. And don't try to control something that you don't control. So she might come to you and say, "Dad, I really want to go to this party." Okay. A good response to that is, "Tell me more." Okay? These kids kind of leave you in the dark about  some of the crucial details. So, get her to tell you more about party. Now, let's say that you're not comfortable with her going to the party. What do you control? Do you control whether she goes to  the party or not? Probably not. -Probably not. -Probably not. How many teens have snuck out to go to the party? Okay? I don't think you control that. Not at this point in the game. So, what do you control? You control whether you give her permission or not. -Yeah. -Now this is huge because what if you said, "Sweetie, it's up to you. I am NOT giving you my permission. So, if you go you're going without my permission. Any questions?" -So, what I... Something you said earlier is building a relationship. So, if over time I've had that focus on, you know, how they feel about  themselves and I've focused on building that relationship and generally caring. When it comes to this specific scenario, my permission really means a lot. -It does. More than you think. She does not want to go without your permission. Why? Because you can set and enforce limits. And she knows that there's going to be a consequence she's not going to like if she goes without your  permission. And she doesn't want to disappoint you because of the relationship. -Okay. So, influence isn't a tactic that we're like, "Alright. I want her to make this choice. So, I'm going to use this strategy to get in here..." -Not a manipulation. -Yeah. So, it really is about... If I... If I want to influence my children, it's something that's going to grow and build over time as there's a relationship of trust built and that there's love and it's focused on how they feel about themselves? -Yeah. Well said. -So, there you have it. That's how parents can influence their children. If you liked this episode, whether you're watching on YouTube or LinkedIn, give us a thumbs up. -Yeah. -Then we can, you know, people liked this episode. Comment below share it and we'll see in the next episode.

John Jonas, creator of Virtual Assistant Tool, and YouTube Producer Nate Woodbury share with us what it's like to manage a virtual team. They've hired people specifically from the Philippines, and they're here today to share with us their experience of managing a virtual team. Tune in if you're looking to hire a virtual employee.

Welcome back. In a previous episode, we talked about how to build or how to hire your virtual team. So in this episode, we're going to talk about how to manage your team. Okay, managing a team in the Philippines have to give you tons of credit. So this is John Jonas. He's the guy who taught me to outsource. He taught me everything. I remember learning about outsourcing in the in the 4-hour workweek. And I actually I loved that book. I listen to it many times. But the concept of outsourcing seems so foreign to me. It really did. It seemed like an impossible thing for me to outsource. But I listened to audio you've created and I realized, "I could do this right now." So within 36 hours, I'd hired my first virtual assistant. That's so awesome. So, anyway. Now, we're... I've been doing this for 9 years. How long have you been hiring in the Philippines? 13 years now. 13 years, okay. So, we've learned a lot. I originally learned a lot and a lot of the things that I do now were because of what you taught me and it really worked on how to manage a team. So what's kind of the first pieces of advice that you'd share on managing or leading your team?

Okay. So, first thing is the opposite of what everybody thinks. When everybody is building a virtual team, they're like, "I don't know if I can trust that person." Yeah. Right? That is everybody's first fear. I had that fear for sure. Yeah and so did I. I want to turn that around and say, "They don't trust you." And as soon as you stop worrying about, "I don't know if I can trust them." Start worrying about, Do they, trust me?" It'll change their attitude towards you, their work ethic towards you. It'll change everything. That's when you will start to succeed. As soon as you say, "What can I do to gain their trust?"

I love that. I'll just echo what you say. So what's your second piece of advice?

So the second thing is... And this is kind of a general management thing across the board but... This is especially important in the Philippines.  So, in the Philippines, they thrive off of feedback and positive feedback. So, when you have something negative to say to the Philippines... There's a culture of pleasing. Like, they want to make you happy. And so, if they do something to let you down or you're disappointed in them then rather than being like, "Okay, I'll tackle that", they're like, "Argh, this  is really bad." "I guess I'll go have to find another job." Yeah, "Go find another job." Right? So, when you're dealing with them, always give positive feedback so that they know you care about them. If you're going to give negative feedback, give positive feedback then negative feedback then positive feedback. And what it does is it alleviates their worry about disappointing you, about letting you down. Because that's supercritical. Because that's the number 1 problem people have with the Philippines is the disappearing virtual assistant.  The disappearing VA. That's what people say. And if you will try to gain their trust and give them positive feedback, you'll basically eliminate this problem. So that's something that I learned from you in the beginning but it's something that... I would say today, I am still not where I want to be with that. But I put a lot of attention to it. I try and focus on the positive. And some examples of things that I do is when a client sends me a message of  compliment saying, "Hey, you did a great job in this video." I'll copy and paste it right then and send over to my team because they did. They did most of the work, right? And I'll... You know, whenever I'm watching a video that they edit for my channel. And you know, a vlog and they use their awesome creativity, I'll just say, "This was amazing." Because it's easy. It's especially easy for me to just say, "Oop, can you tweak this here? Can you fix that there? Can you fix that there?" When like 99% of it was perfect. And so, that's something that I have to remind my self because I've found that just like you said... They value it so much.

Yeah, and there's this... This is general management, right? But this is as especially important in the Philippines. Now, one thing I want to bring up is tracking time. I've kind of evolved the way that I track my team's time. It's just through trust. I don't micromanage their time, I have them report their hours just so that they can be conscious of it. When they tell me at the end of the month, "I worked 160", I pay them for 160 hours. As long as the work, you know... They're getting... The projects are getting completed, the progress, everyone is in communication. That's what I really look at. What would you say about that? I mean, I see you're nodding your head.

Yeah, this is what I do too.  And I've tried different time tracking things. And you can get stuff that'll like to sit on their desktop and it'll take screenshots every couple of minutes and report to you exactly what they're doing. They don't like that. They hate it. And I've done it. And in fact, I developed a tool to do it because so many employers want it. I don't use it. But it's available for free at virtualassistanttool.com. Yeah, when I used it, I didn't have anyone quit over it but I kind of felt the idea like, "This is... This is... I don't know if I want to continue working with you" type of attitude. I had that kind of feedback too. And I don't think productivity would've gone up. They don't like it. So, I don't do it. I know people that do. And frankly some employer... Like, they have different personalities, right? Some employers need that.

They need to know that you're 100% productive all the time. There is something where I track time but I tried and let my team know why I am using it. So on my project management tool that I  use, I am really wanting to track how much time does a task spent in this column and then it moves to this person and goes over here. So I can... I really use that initially because we're having some bottlenecks and I'm like, "How can we fix this?" But that's all that I use it for it. I've never gone to my team and say, "Hey, I see that you've only worked 7 and a half hours on this day, what's up with that? You know, you could've..." You know, that... I don't know. Don't do it. Yeah, don't do it. My video guy here mentioned that the autofocus was off. I am not going to go back and restate that. So, sorry for the blurriness of the video. But we're just going to continue on what we're talking about. Sweet. So what's another piece of advice that you have on for managing the team?

Okay, so most people don't want to hear this. That's the type of stuff that we want to share in the video so go for it. But they don't want to hear it. Train. Train them? Give training. So training will do a multitude of things but... So the first thing about managing your team is it gives you time. If you will teach them things, it gives you time back in your life. And I get that it takes time to train someone. I get it but it's super important. Number 2 this is special important In the Philippines. They want to know that you're there for them, basically. And if you're willing to train them then they'll start to trust you. And it's one of the biggest things. So, I remember the first guy that I ever hired. When he... He told me... Probably 4 years after I hired him. He said, "Sir when I started working for you, I was so scared. I didn't know anything. I didn't know what was going to happen. And then you started giving me training and it changed my life." And that guy still works for me today. And he's completely amazing today, right? I can ask him to do anything. He comes to me all the time with like, "Hey, we should be doing this in our business and you're not doing it. Here's why and here's how." Right? But in the beginning, he didn't know anything and he just saw... Oh, he's willing to give me some training. He's willing to invest in this relationship. I'm all in. That was kind of the thought process. His thought process was, "I'm all in." And if you're now willing to give that training... And I get it sometimes. It's a program. You're not going to train a programmer, right? But in so many things, if you're willing to give that training, it'll bring them in. If you're not willing to get it, then they're hesitant. And they'll just kind of standoff. Giving training will create a rock star worker. Awesome.

So something that I've discovered just a few weeks ago. That now looking back, it's like, "Why didn't I do it sooner?" I went to the Philippines. So having a team of 10 employees that have never met each other other than 2 of them are brothers and these 2 are brother and sister. It made such a difference to actually go there and meet them. And for obvious reasons... But I am going to share one that I think... It wasn't obvious to me. Having met my team now, I see them more as human beings. And I am feeling the emotion when I say his because it's so easy to communicate back and forth by text message or in messenger or something. And we're just communicating with the machine. Until like they forget that they're human beings that have personalities, that are amazing and that they are so capable. And we haven't... You know, it's not that we haven't any conflicts but just think about the difference and communication. And you know, here I am. We're talking about managing a team. Here I am managing a team of 10 people and yet, I'm just connected from a fact that they're human beings.

So having met them... So, I want to go back. I mean... I want to go back and associate with these great people. And I wish that I would've gone to the Philippines a lot sooner. That's one of the things that I tell people often. It's... I show a picture. Look, these are humans. They comb their hair, they put on different clothes every day. And if you'll treat them as a human instead of as a robot, it makes all the difference in the management of them. Well, thanks so much. I appreciate you joining me in this episode. Who else would I bring on to an episode like this? So hopefully you found it helpful. Be sure to subscribe if you're on YouTube. If you're watching this on LinkedIn, you can't subscribe but you can follow. Because I'm posting videos like this on LinkedIn now. And we will see you in the next amazing episode.

Emily London Miller joins Nate Woodbury as they discuss the right pricing for your services and products. This episode serves to help you make the process easier by understanding what hierarchy value is. Watch on to learn more about how to price your services or your product.

Welcome back. We're talking about how to price your products or services. We've got Emily London Miller here. And the conversation that we're going to have in this video is going to make this process a lot easier for you. Before we hit record on the camera, we are having a conversation about the hierarchy of value. And I think that's a good place for us to start. You know, it's a little bit different. Value is different necessarily from the price that we charge. But let's talk about that first. What is this hierarchy value? Where did you hear it from? -Okay. So, I found it online. It was like an article I think even on Wikipedia. -We don't know the exact source. -Yeah. But I mean I literally think if you just search hierarchy of value. I'm pretty sure that's what it's called or something to that effect, you can find it. They also turned it into a book. And I haven't read the book. Just from what I gained from the article. It's basically this concept of that people are willing to spend certain amounts for certain types of products or services or goods, okay? So, the article kind of starts by saying, you know, the bottom tier what people are willing to spend the least on our commodities. And they used in that article coffee beans as the commodity that they're they're using this example. -It could be lumber, it could be cotton. It could be... -Pictures. So, in my case, I'm a photographer, right? And I have an iPhone that takes tons of pictures, right? So, pictures are worth very, very little at the end of the day, okay? So then at the next level up where you're willing to spend a little bit more. Let's say for example, per cup of coffee is on a can of Folgers coffee or whatever brand it is that you buy but it's a branded product at this point. So, it's product at this next level of them. Okay? And in my case, maybe that's like an Emily London portrait, okay? So, it's still at the bottom of the hierarchy really when it comes down to it. Even though it's something that I captured or created for them.  Maybe it's the delivered photograph with you know printed and matted and all that. -Well, you assume that there's a certain level of quality control when it comes with a certain brand versus something else you just don't know. -Sure. And you know what? I've had conversation with other photographers where I'm trying to explain to them the conversation that they have with their client is sometimes too focused on the lower-level stuff and not the higher level things that are coming up. And so, what will happen is people get really wrapped up and "Well, I only... I only give printed images. I'm not digital side. I'm not at that level. You know, I wouldn't work with somebody who just wanted digitals." And that's kind of putting the focus in the wrong place. -Okay. So, what's the... What's the next level of product. -Okay. So the next level above product is service. And I just want to back up and say really quickly all of these foundational things are critical. They are essential to having the higher value stuff as well. So, you have to have each of these locked in before you can really be, you know, talking about the higher level stuff. So obviously they're important. They're just not what you want to spend all of your time talking about. So, the service level in the coffee example is like when you're at a cafe And you order a cup of coffee. And the waitress is going to come around give you coffee, keep it warm. She'll keep refilling your coffee and you'll probably spend more for that cup than you would have spent for your  Folgers coffee. But it's maybe  in the realm of a couple of bucks. Okay? In my case, you know, that's when you're talking about a photographer who shows up on time, who is clean, who makes you  feel like you're not in a physical danger. You know, that kind of level of service. They meet with you when and where they say they will. That kind of stuff can be keeping your commitments. -I like the restaurant example because I definitely recognize I'm paying a lot more for that as a service for somebody else's doing the cooking, the preparation for it or you know, even compared to just buying a packaged product, I'm paying a lot more for that service. That makes sense. Okay. Now, I think I'm guessing the next one is going to be experience or we go in the right direction? -Yeah, exactly. -Some restaurants not just provide a service where they hand you the food and it's provided in the environment but it's like. "Oh, this is an experience and you're paying even more for  that." -Yeah. You'll find it at some restaurants and in fact, in the coffee example, they talk a lot about Starbucks specifically in the article, okay? So, Starbucks when they originate, $5 for a cup of coffee was a little bit obscene, right? It was unheard of almost. And what they really focused on with their baristas with training them was creating an environment where you would have some kind of experience or a feeling. And so, they trained them to be able to educate people about coffee if they aren't already very familiar. They teach them to be maybe to banter and to play. Even one thing that they tell them to do is to spell names wrong on the cup on purpose. Just because it makes you laugh or it gives you a feeling of just being involved in something like an inside joke. They also... If you think about what else you get when you go to Starbucks, you'll get a feeling of maybe comfort if you're in a foreign country and you find a Starbucks. It's like, "Oh, that's going to taste familiar or that environment. I know what to expect." Or maybe it'll even be a feeling of prestige. You know, you can even buy the Starbucks coffee you know, cups to take around with you and even put your own normal coffee in it. But there's something about carrying a Starbucks coffee that gives you some kind of a feeling or else you want to do it, right? So, anyway that's part of, you know, in the experience situation. For me an experience is I want you to feel important, I want you to feel seen beautiful and loved. And to feel like you're the star for a day, right? So, that's kind of where... If we're really focusing on what are the feelings that you're going to get, that's going to be the answer to what the experience is. -So, I've experienced many different photographers over the years had different experiences. I would have... I would never categories to any of them and tell working with you as an experience. The other ones, it's a service. I didn't really connect with the photographer but I was just there to get a result. They were supposed to know how to push the button on the camera and get this photo for us. But when I had experience with you, first of all, it  started before the photo shoot. Just planning for it, talking about it. You gave me a lot of things to prepare for. And I don't want to give secrets away about what comes after experience. But you kind of talked about the purpose of what we're creating when we really created that you in our mind. And then when I showed up for it, the word that keeps coming to my mind is I felt pampered. I felt like everyone... You have a whole... You have a whole crew and the whole crew was there paying attention to me. Making sure that I was comfortable, that I felt great and that I was taken care of.  And it was wonderful whole time. So. I... That's a really cool thing. And obviously, if people are paying for an experience versus a service, the price point, you got to expect it could be a lot higher. -Yeah. And if you actually compare, you know, where we went with coffee. I don't even know how much raw coffee beans cost. Folgers kind of coffee per cup, it's probably less than a  dollar, I would guess. Probably several cents. The service at a restaurant maybe 2 bucks. And then we're talking about Starbucks. $5 is more than double, okay? So conceptually, you can get an idea of where we're going with value. It's more than double, more than double, more the double. When we get to the next level, it almost can become exponential. And the next level is transformation. So, in the article, it kind of cuts off there. It says like, "There is no coffee correlation with transportation." Yeah. And I kind of laughed because I had just watched a documentary on Netflix called barista. And it's... This incredible like hour-long look inside the National Barista Championships where... I don't know how much they spend to like become a contender. But it's I think over  100 bucks, right? To be considered. And what they do is they have like a year to prepare their coffee. And it's like they're going to find their beans and they're brewing method and then not even...  Not even that but like what kind of cups they're going to put them in and then how they're going to like perform making the coffee for the judges. And it's... It's so to the point of like if you drip, you  lose points and like... It's so at this next level that you are really competing for the opportunity to become the best at what you do. Which I would say if that's not a transformation, I don't know what is. So for me at that point, you know, it's like, "Oh, no, no, there's definitely a coffee version of transformation." And I laughed you know at the barista that I was like, "This inspired me like I wanted to become a barista." We're watching this this you know documentary. And so it had a profound effect on not just the people who are contending but more people watching it. At any  rate, I would say that in my industry, a transformation, you know, if I'm going to offer my clients a transformation, obviously, there's a physical transformation component because I do the before-and-afters and we've got the hair and makeup and all of that. You know, bringing you out beautiful. You know, your beauty out. But there's also the emotional and maybe even spiritual transformation that I really focus on with my clients. So, you know, you kind of touched on that before where we kind of get clear on, you know, how do you want... In your case, you were  doing your photo shoot for branding, right? So, how do you  want your clients to see you? Who do they who do you want them to meet when they're looking at your portraits? Kind of getting clear on what are the different aspects of yourself that you want to come through? And maybe some of those aspects, you're already really comfortable and confident in and proud of. And maybe some of those aspects are parts of you that you're growing into. That you're not super familiar with yet, that you're wanting to become to next level into. And so, I often invite my clients to think about those sides of themselves as well so that we can capture those sides in, you know, proof and show them. And say, "Here's that side of you." And then it gives them this feeling of being able to channel into that aspect of themself. A lot of my clients even it's not a new thing that they're growing into. It's like a past thing that they've lost touch with. A lot of my clients are moms... And you know, raising kids kind of puts you in a survival mode that shuts down parts of yourself. And so when I talk to them about I want to help you reconnect to those parts of yourself. That's an opportunity that's almost spiritual in its, you know, how personal it is and how emotional it can be. So, that's really what I spend most of my time talking about when I talk to my clients before they book with me and they're not sure how they feel about doing a photo shoot that cost as much as it does. That's where I really, you know, this is what I'm going to do for you. -Right, awesome. So, as you're thinking about how to your products or your services or your experiences, it's going to be really helpful... At least it's helpful for me to think about it in terms of this hierarchy. If you're going to compare what's out there on the market, similar to what you do is what you're looking at. Is it a commodity? Is it just a commodity? Or is it actual product? Or is it you  know, it's a service? And where do you sit? And if you want your services to be a little bit higher or more elite, thinking about, "Okay. Well, I'm going to provide an experience or I'm even going to... I'm providing a transformation for my clients here." So, it's not necessarily direct answer on exactly what you should price. What you're offering. But hopefully a good framework. If you enjoyed this video, be sure to give it a thumbs up, both here on YouTube. Or if you're watching this on LinkedIn, where can they find you, Emily?  If they want to find more about you and your hotography? -So online, I'm at Emily londonportraits.com and on Instagram at emilylondonportraits. -Awesome. We'll see you in the next episode.