249 - The No-Mistake Mindset

that question. Certainly, it's not the biggest mistake, but it feels a little bit like a mistake pertaining to a purchase that I made in the fall. And I'll tell you about that in just

a few minutes. But I have to check myself and I, as I was checking myself, I thought, You know what, I want to actually talk to the podcast audience about this, because when someone asks me, What the biggest mistake that I've made in my business is, I can certainly come up with answers about times that I've wasted time times that I've wasted money times that I have wasted effort, clients, I shouldn't have worked with, you know, things that caused me financial stress, mental stress,

all of those different kinds of things that therefore feel like mistakes, right. But at the end of the day, I am Here I am 14 plus years into my photography, business, I am four plus years into my education, business, things are going well. I have certainly had a winding path to get here. But even the and I'm using air quotes here, wrong turns that I have made have ultimately led me to where I am.

And if I'm honest with myself, 99% of the time, those errors that I made those choices that I made, that got me into situations that were uncomfortable in some way, you know, when I said yes to working with a client who proved to be a huge pain in the butt, or when I spent money on a thing that I ultimately didn't use or turned out to be kind of a, you know, a bust in terms of effort, all of those things. And I've done that countless times over the course of this career, all of them have

taught me something. And if I hadn't made those specific mistakes at those specific times, I probably would have made similar ones at a different time, because I wouldn't have learned the lesson that I learned when I made that mistake. So in many ways, I feel like those mistakes or those

choices were inevitable. And the only real negative thing that would come from that would be not learning whatever it was that that lesson could teach me and I have certainly, I have a friend, very specific friend in mind, who's local and who may recognize herself if she's listening. Who overbooked herself like crazy every year. And she has not raised her prices to the extent that she should. So she continues to book

these like insane numbers. And I always end up talking to her toward the end of the busy season. And she's like, I'm so burned out, I'm so burned out, I'm not gonna do it again. And yet she comes back and does it again. And again. And I'm not gonna call that a mistake. That's her choice to continue to make. But those are the kinds of things that you know, I would look at and say, Well, if you're not learning from these painful processes, maybe you should try to not go through them in the

first place. But I digress. My point today is that in business, as long as you are not lying, or cheating people, or neglecting your core values in some way, as long as you're not doing those three things, then I would wager that there are no real mistakes in business. Welcome to this can't be that hard. My name is Annemie Tonken. And I help photographers run profitable, sustainable businesses that they

love. Each week on the podcast, I cover simple, actionable strategies and systems that photographers at every level of experience can use to earn more money in a more sustainable way. Running a photography business doesn't have to be that hard. You can do it. And I can show you how. So this past fall, I had a project that I was working on for this can't be that hard, is an educational sort of project. I wanted to get it done by the end of the year. But it

had a ton of moving parts. Lots of kind of pieces that needed to come together. And I felt pretty overwhelmed by like how I was going to get this all done. It was something that I haven't launched yet, so I'm not going to going to go into details about it. But it was a big project. And it's not something that I've seen anybody else do in A space. So I didn't really have any clear models for how I was going to accomplish it. So I

did what I always do. And I started looking for online courses, to teach me how to get this done. Because I know about myself that if I have like somebody's action plan, that gives me a little bit more of a checklist, that saves me a ton of time, like almost to the point where if as long as I feel like that project is going to ultimately earn me money, I lose all sense of what I should pay for, for a course to help me get there. If the course is good,

it'll be worth it. That is what that is what I have learned, having taken courses that range from terrible to great. So anyway, I'm out there looking for a course on how to do this thing, and I can't find anything. And I finally find one course. And it's $3,000. And that is I think, the most I've ever paid for any course, bar none. So I've done like mentorships, and things like that, that are more expensive, but a self study online course that's, you know, that definitely like caused me to sit

up and pay attention. And the weird thing about this $3,000 price tag was that it did not seem particularly substantiated when I was reading through all the different sales materials. So it was like, I didn't have 100% clear idea of what was going to be involved in the course, it seemed like in the list of things that were pointed out, there were many of those things that I already knew. And that's fine. I mean, you know, if I'm too advanced for the

course, that's one thing. So I actually reached out to the course creator and said, you know, here's my situation, this is what I have already squared away, this is what I need to learn is this course going to be the right course for me. And she was like, Yep, I still think that this is going to be very

valuable for you no problem. And typically, I mean, really untruly, I do not waste a lot of time thinking about a course purchase, once I find a course that I'm excited about because again, even though I have taken great courses, and I've taken terrible courses, I almost always get something out of them. They helped me get past whatever like block I have. And then again, every once in a while I come across a class

that's like mind blowing. And I'm like this is amazing, it's worth the cost of this one plus the last three courses that I purchase. So it was unusual for me to even slow down for the week or two that I did around purchasing this course. But between the price tag and the fact that and this is big, there was no refund option. I definitely wanted to like think it through. In the end, the promise of the course was what I wanted, you know, I had this end

of year goal. And I had a giant pile of stuff that I figured needed to get done. I didn't know what order to do it. And I didn't know if there were any like pro tips and all that sort of thing. And this course promised, like you will have this done in this amount of time. So at the end of the day, I figured even if the course wasn't great, I would probably get something out of it. And and this is important. Because I know myself, I knew that with

that skin in the game. And it doesn't have to be $3,000 God knows I would have much preferred it was you know, a couple $100. But when I spend money on something like a course, I know about myself that that actually helps me take action and cross the finish line. That's not true for everybody. But I know it's true for me. And because I had this tight deadline on the goal. I figured, okay, this is a painful check to write. But I'm gonna do it. And I'm going to, I'm going to make it worth it. So

the course, was not great. I got a few tidbits out of it, I guess. But it was definitely not anywhere near $3,000 worth. I feel a little irritated because I feel like when I wrote to the course creator and said, you know, this is where I am. And she was very like, oh, yeah, no problem. That's definitely still

going to be worth your while. I feel like she probably could have been a little bit more transparent about like, yep, that's about, you know, two thirds of the courses, stuff that you're already good with. And I have had some feelings of annoyance about that. But I did meet my deadline. And as we get ready to launch this thing that the whole project was built around. I have every confidence that that is going to bring in a lot more overtime than what I paid for the course. So let's

talk about that. Let's break it down. That was not a small investment. And that was not a small mistake if you want to call it a mistake. But if the ends justify the means, then I am here where I am, I'm not sure I would have been here, if I hadn't gone ahead and taken the action of getting a course and using that to sort of like, take this step. And now this step,

and now this step. Ultimately, it's not worth my time to worry about that mistake, I have learned that I won't take another course from that person. But I got the project done, I know we're getting ready to get it like out the door. And I think that in many ways that just sort of speaks for itself, I truly believe that the only way to avoid mistakes in business is to remain in place,

right? We make purchasing choices that turn out to be less valuable than we were hoping we spend energy on projects and people and all those kinds of things that don't ultimately deliver what we're hoping that they will deliver. But the alternative is to just stay in place. And if we do that, we will not achieve any of the goals that we set for ourselves. So in that way, I really do think that there are no mistakes. And I want you to ponder for a moment what it

would mean to your business. If you honestly believed that there were no mistakes. Would it helped you get unstuck? Would it help you move forward on a goal or a project or, you know, just taking some sort of risk with your art, even if you were unsure of the outcome? Because even if we try that thing, and then figure out like, you know what, that was not the right

choice for me. The fact of the matter is, as long as you come away from that, having learned something having realized like, oh, I, you know, don't want to do that, again, in the future, you are making progress. I've said before on this podcast that one of my mantras in business is what's the worst that could happen. And when I was purchasing that course, I almost I mean, I probably didn't say it out loud to myself, but I basically did, I was like, Look,

this is a lot of money. And the worst that could happen is that I could be out that money. However, I am committed to myself, that I am going to turn that into a worthwhile endeavor. So the worst that can happen is that compared to me just trying to DIY this project, which is probably going to take me more time, maybe I'll save that $3,000. But maybe the extra time spent will mean that I make the money back three months or six months later, as opposed to getting it done getting it

shipped. And you know, making that money but having to pay the $3,000. And that's it. Like that's the worst that could happen. Money can always be made, you can always go out there and figure out the next way to get a client, you know, make more money, charge more whatever the case may be. And with that attitude of abundance with that mindset, you are more willing to try something and

find out. And so I want to encourage you, especially at this time of year, as we have some time on our hands, and it is a great time to do things like invest in education and sort of flex your creative muscles, all those different things. It can be scary, because sometimes those things cost money. Almost always they cost time. And more than anything, you know, we fear failing and telling people hey, I'm gonna try this thing and it not working out and having to go back and be like, yep, that

didn't work out. I'm trying a different thing. But whichever one of those is the case as the sort of what's the worst that could happen scenario. It's not the end of the world. It's not even the end of your business. So I encourage you to identify those blokes for yourself. And then free yourself of the idea that there are mistakes to be made. As long as you are following your heart, you're sticking to your principles. And you are genuinely excited about this idea. And this path

forward. I want you to be empowered to make the leap. Well, that's it for this week's episode of This can't be that hard. I'll be back Same time, same place next week. In the meantime, you can find more information about this episode, along with all the relevant links, notes and downloads at this can't be that hard.com/learn If you liked the podcast, be sure to hit the subscribe button. Even better, share the love by leaving a

review on iTunes. And as always, thanks so much for joining me So I hope you have a fantastic week