So here's a fun story for you. A couple of weeks ago, Riley was out of town and I was home alone with our two older dogs, Otis and Florence, and our 12 week old puppy lasso, who we had just rescued four days prior. So I was trying to feed everyone breakfast. But you know, feeding time with a puppy is kind of crazy, right? So whereas the older dogs know how to sit and wait patiently lassos at that age where he is so excited when it's time to eat
that he can barely sit still. So on this particular morning, Otis, who was 11, and he's starting to show his age a bit was feeling, I'm guessing kind of stressed out by this little fireball bouncing all over the kitchen. So while I was in the next room, preparing their food, he did what he sometimes does when he's stressed, and he goes to the water bowl, and he drank
like a gallon of water. Then I walk into the kitchen, holding these three bowls of dog food, which immediately prompts the puppy to start like jumping up and trying to get the bowl. And while I'm distracted with lasso, I didn't see that Otis wasn't in his normal spot. So then I trip over him, which startles him makes him barf that full gallon of water all over my bare feet.
And between being kind of off balance, and being surprised by being vomited on, I spilled all three different bowls of kibble all over the kitchen floor, which sent all three dogs into a total frenzy. So I almost wish almost that I had a video of this scenario, it was like straight out of a movie. And although I can laugh about it now, at the time, it was like I don't know, I could even sort of
laugh about it then. But I was pre caffeine it was, it was rough start to a day when I think about the fact that we have several months of this kind of puppy chaos ahead of us. Sometimes I just want to curl up and take a nap. But the thing is as cute and as exciting as a puppy is the reason we got him the reason that I am sort of putting us through all of this is that I believe, and I know that it will get easier and easier and better and better.
This first year of training and sleepless nights and puddles on the floor is a very small price to pay for what I know will be years of wonderful love and companionship. And that got me thinking about running a business, how exciting it is, how hard it is, how long the road feels sometimes and how worth it it all can be. So I figured that I would take a little break from the bigger, you know, business II stuff to share some of the thoughts that are rolling around in my head this week.
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 Puppies are all those things,
right? They're so cute. They're so easy to idealize because from the outside, they're pretty ideal. They're adorable. They're full of potential. And at least in theory, they will love you forever and ever. But we've all heard of those people who adopt a puppy on a whim without really giving it any thought. And then a few weeks later, they're back at the shelter saying, you know, we just didn't know what we were
getting into. And that's actually how I got my dog Florence, thanks to not one but two families who returned her to the shelter for being kind of more than they had bargained for. The same is often true of a new business, right? People open up their photo business thinking, to quote my favorite podcasts, this can't be that hard. You know, I love taking photos. And once I start a business, I'll be able to make money taking photos
as well. And then, you know, fast forward three months, six months a year, and their friends and family who were telling them like yeah, you should totally do it are no longer the ones that are hiring them. And maybe they're having a hard time getting booked. They're being told their prices are too high. They're losing sleep because they're staying up late trying to figure out how to make their business work, all that stuff and they start to wonder what
they got themselves into. The thing is, those of us who have made it through that stage of the game, know that the promise that first motivated us to start our business wasn't really misguided. You can make good money doing what you love every day. It's just not as easy as it looks. It's also not as glamorous as you might have thought it was going to be right when it comes to having a puppy.
You imagine taking long walks cuddling with your puppy, all the compliments that people are going to pay you but because your puppy is adorable, that companionship that you'll have for years and years on end. And then in reality, there's a lot of, you know, bodily functions happening in places that perhaps you were hoping they weren't going to happen. Your furniture is getting chewed up, your arms have little pinprick holes all over from those little needle
puppy teeth. And you're not getting anywhere near as much sleep as you normally do. Same kind of thing is true in a business as well, right? When you imagine opening a photo business, you imagine spending all your time taking photos, you're getting accolades, and those likes that you already got on Instagram are being multiplied by hundreds and 1000s. And you imagine filling your calendar with clients who just love what you do, and are kind of throwing money at you to
do that, right. And then there's the reality, where you're not spending most of your time taking pictures. Instead, you're trying to, you know, run your business and find new clients and pay your bills, and all those sorts of things. And when it comes to like that, those accolades, and that feedback, even if you are still getting good feedback, you realize that, you know, just people telling you, your photos are great, doesn't end up paying the bills,
right. And as it turns out, getting dollars from people is harder than getting like the double tap or the thumbs up. And then when you do finally get those clients to hire you, it's not what you were kind of thinking where somebody was just going to give you free rein to do what you wanted, especially in the beginning of a business, oftentimes, people are kind of micromanaging or are directing you telling you, you know, oh, you've done it wrong, I need you
to do it again. And that can be pretty disheartening. Another way that having a puppy is kind of like having a new business, is that it turns out that it's way more expensive than you thought, I think a lot of people when they think about a puppy, or even a baby, right? They're like, well, I'll just breastfeed that's basically
free. But you know, hopefully, people have a better sense of that, when it comes to puppies, I really think that, you know, people look at the price of puppy food, and they're like, yeah, it's 20 bucks a bag, I'll go through one bag a month, you know, the adoption fee is $200, or $300, I'll just, you know, it'll be a little more expensive that first month, and then going forward, it'll be $20 a month, where the reality is that between the gear that you need, and the vet bills, and the
lessons and the you know, maybe your furniture needs to be repaired or replaced, that first month alone of owning a puppy can easily run 1000s of dollars. And the same is true with a photography business. A lot of people think, well, I already own the expensive stuff, right? I have a camera, I have a lens, all set up a website, and you
know, a little bit of money. And then and then I'm good to go, I can just kind of make money and grow the business by the bootstraps, which is true, you don't necessarily need to take out loans to start a photography business. But it's definitely not as cheap as people think. And I think that people are actually surprised. Even once they're six months, a year, two years into business, when they actually sit down and run their expenses, it adds up really
quickly. You've got software insurance, marketing, costs, subscriptions, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And of course, the gear that you have as an amateur is rarely you know, what you want to end up with when it comes to your
professional gear. The kind of fourth lesson that I think is strikingly similar is how much more time consuming having a business and having a puppy is than you thought it was going to be with puppies, your you know, having to do training and potty breaks and playtime and feeding time. And not unlike having a newborn, it's easy to feel like your whole world kind of shuts down, you're just going from one thing to the next with a puppy.
And you're thinking you're lucky stars that they take a lot of naps. And you know, the same again is true with the beginning of your business. Because the learning curve at the beginning is so steep, right? It's not just learning how to take better photos. And it's not just learning how to operate your gear. But you're learning what software you need and then how to use it. You're learning how to communicate with clients, you're learning kind of what's standard and normal, what's
expected. You're learning how to manage your business finances, like there are so many different pieces that take time ongoing in your business. But in the beginning, they take so much more time. And whereas as puppies grow and become trained, hopefully well trained dogs. They're much easier. They're much less time consuming. You can you know, look away and your house isn't going to flip upside down. The same is true with a business
right? As you kind of get past that initial learning curve, things start to operate on more autopilot. Hopefully you get systems put in place, you're learning how to manage your time, you're getting faster at doing things like editing and communicating with your clients, you've got templates, all of those things contribute to a much less time consuming business that you're running.
And then the last couple of things that strike me as very similar when you're talking about new puppies, new businesses, and then even like, older dogs and older businesses, you know, you kind of imagine that, okay, I'm going to get a puppy and at the beginning, it's going to be time consuming, and then we're going to train and it's going to get better and better and better.
But like, progress isn't linear, you're going to have setbacks, you're going to sort of hit roadblocks, where all of a sudden, you need to introduce a whole new thing. And it's going to expand again to fill your time, and it's going to be more expensive. And that same thing
is true in a business. So you, you know, you're kind of chugging along, things are getting better, and then you realize, like, oh, I actually need to educate myself on this whole new thing, I need to create a whole new system, I need to, you know, I want to either expand into a different area of expertise, or I need to reduce, like, I no longer want to shoot weddings, for instance.
So I need to put more time and effort into building my family business, those kinds of roadblocks, or I shouldn't say roadblocks, but like curves in the road, turns in the road, those things slow you down, they create like a hiccup. That means that your progress isn't linear. But again, with both new puppies, new businesses, and then ongoing in your relationship with your dog or your business, consistency is key. So you know, in particular with dogs, they need to know
what to expect from you. So routines, using the same commands, having sort of an expectation that this is how you behave, that consistency, if you can maintain it at the beginning pays huge dividends over the course of your dog's life. Not only are they perhaps better behaved and everything else, but they're way less stressed out. They trust you more like that builds your relationship because they know what to expect. When
it comes to your business. Every aspect of your business benefits from consistency, your marketing in particular, I think is you know, can sort of hinge positive or negative on how consistent you're being about your efforts, the systems that you put in place, all those kinds of things are essentially reliant upon
consistency. If you are all over the place, it is going to be very difficult to get your business off the ground, much less keep it positive and, and you know making money in the long term. But the final lesson that I feel like little lasso has taught me. And actually, lasso hasn't taught me this lesson yet. I would say that Florence and notice have taught me this lesson. My children have taught me this lesson. But as hard as it is, especially in the beginning, it's all worth it in
the end, right? Because I've got these older dogs, I know that what we are currently going through with Lasso, there's chaos, and this sort of like added stress in our lives is totally going to pay off. In the end, the reality of a well trained adult dog is absolutely everything that a would be puppy owner dreams of right. Except that that rarely happens at the same time that the puppy is that the puppy is this little like
fluffball right? You imagine having this like cuddly little baby, when in reality the cuddly little baby bites you and and pees on your lap or whatever. The same is true with a business when you are thinking about starting a business or your business is new, you have these expectations that like all this stuff is going to fall into place. And that rarely happens until you have put in the time and the patience and the attention and the money and the
And to close this out today. I feel a little guilty about you know titling this episode Lessons from Lasso because I imagine I got you all excited that I was going to be talking trust to get to that point. So you know, the beginning is hard. about Ted Lasso, which I totally might, in the future, create an episode based on lessons that I've learned from Ted lasso. Lasso was in fact, named after
Ted lasso. And so I figured I But if you lean into the fact that it is going to be hard, it would close with a quote from Ted lasso that I feel like applies really nicely here. And that is, the taking on a challenge is a lot like riding a horse. If you're comfortable is going to take more money, it is going to take more time in while you're doing it, you're probably doing it wrong. I hope you guys have a great week. And if you are listening to this one, it drops in the US
Happy Thanksgiving. Well, that's the beginning, but you keep your eyes on the prize. You take 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 those consistent steps in the direction that you want to go. 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 You will eventually get there.
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