Episode 100 🎉🎉🎉 – You can change your mind and your offers

To be technical, Episode 100 is not the actual 100th published episode 😂But it seemed weird to celebrate Episode 94 and have to explain I had a bunch of published bonus episodes without numbers… my bad!

For Episode 100, I invited Sabrina Gebhardt onto the podcast as a guest host to interview me about the pivots I’ve made over the last 11 years of business.

The Business-First Creatives Podcast is brought to you by CRM and Dubsado expert Colie James. Join Colie each week as she discusses how to build a business that brings you joy and a paycheck! From business advice with fellow entrepreneurs to sharing automation tips and tricks, Colie and her guests are sharing industry trends and resources, along with a little bit of sarcasm.

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Guest Bio:

Sabrina is a lifestyle photographer of more than 11 years in Fort Worth, Texas and a business coach to photographers and other creative entrepreneurs. She is married to her college sweetheart and they have 3 kids and 2 dogs. She loves caffeine, emojis, color and reading anything she can get her hands on. She is a strong enneagram 3 who really does have to force herself to sit still but over the years, she’s learned that her business (and her sanity) benefit from slowing down.

If you’ve tried setting up your Dubsado account, yet aren’t actually utilizing all of the features it offers, I want to invite you to check out The CRM Blueprint. My course includes templates for all of the forms, emails, and workflows that you need to get paid in one easy step. Ready to maximize your use of Dubsado, enroll in The CRM Blueprint today! Use the code PODCAST for 10% off.

Here are the highlights…

00:02:07 Chloe’s school increased my capacity, offers stayed the same for 7 years, and then a pivot into systems.
00:06:07 Teaching photography, building business, then taking break.
00:08:06 Helped others improve systems, created CRM course.
00:11:57 Pivot during COVID led to new business.
00:15:17 Seeking smaller client projects due to capacity.
00:17:26 Personal and industry needs shape your journey.
00:22:34 Course provides tools, templates, and trainings.
00:25:36 Curated weekend mastermind: grow business together
00:30:29 Want everyone to succeed, Disney is therapy.
00:31:11 Encouraging non-traditional paths to success.

Review the Transcript

Sabrina: All right. Welcome back to the Business First Creatives podcast. I am not Colie James, but today as a special plot twist, I’m Sabrina Gebhardt, and I’m going to be your host for Colie’s 100th podcast episode. Congratulations, my friend, and welcome to your own podcast.

Colie: Thank you for allowing me to come on my own podcast. It’s so great to be here and not be the one asking the questions because every once in a while, that is just a great thing to do.

Sabrina: Yeah, it’s going to be a fun chat today. I’m actually really, really excited about what we’re talking about because this is something that you and I as business besties, like we talk about off camera, off mic all the time. Like conversation happens a little bit on my side, a little bit on your side. It’s kind of like the ever going what’s next discussion. And we’re talking about pivoting in business. And I know your history of pivots, but I’m going to ask you for your audience. Since the beginning of your business way back in the day, what has it looked like since you started as a family filmmaker and family photographer? And what kind of pivots have you gone through to get to where you are today?

Colie : Okay, so first, let me start by saying I’ve said it in a couple of places, but just in case you didn’t hear this particular story, uh, Colie wanted to be a senior photographer or a pose, newborn photographer, like, in the very beginning now, guys, I never took any clients for either one of those things. I was smart. I did mentorships and was immediately like, no. This is not for me. What else can I do? So I did the in home family photography and then taking video clips almost from like the very beginning, from the very, from the moment that I opened my business and I took money, uh, I was doing those two things. And then, Just in terms of like growing my business, not necessarily pivoting it, but like I have increased my capabilities and my capacity as Chloe has attended school more and more. So, I mean, I know that first year she was only going to school two mornings a week. From 8 to 11, y’all, that was rough.

Colie: I mean, and when I think back now to what I was able to accomplish then in two, three hour periods each month, it’s a miracle that I did not quit and like, go running for a teaching position or some other kind of job where someone paid me. But so every time Chloe went to school a little bit more, I increased my capacity and in terms of like what my offers actually were, my offers were almost the same for the first 7 years of my business. It was all in home sessions. Either really short ones, which short for me guys is two to three hours or like my full day in the life where I hang out with you and your peeps for 14 hours in a day. I’ve always done travel photography. I’ve almost always made films, but like I did all of those things for seven years in my business. And then. As an extension of like my mentoring and my teaching, I found my love for systems and I was like, okay, wait, I could, I could do this as its own like thing, which happened to be like a really good pivot right before the pandemic, or I guess during the pandemic, if we’re thinking about 2020 as a whole.

Colie: That was when I was like, okay, I can’t chase toddlers around forever. I mean, I’m old. My eyesight is getting bad. My knees are telling me that when the two year old wants to run between rooms every three minutes, I can’t keep up. So I was like, what am I going to do next? So then I pivoted into the systems world. And then as the pandemic hit and my child was virtually schooled and then I homeschooled her for a year, just like every iteration has forced me. To like make clearer boundaries in my business and get my offers to be just a little bit tighter so that I could still do the things that I needed to do in my personal life and still have a business that was thriving.

Sabrina: so I do want to back up for a second because you did say briefly that you went, you know, you stepped from photography and filmmaking to education to systems, but there was a little bit of a pivot in there. There was a big pivot from where you were just. doing photography, just serving clients to where you stepped into the education space. And so I do want to talk about what caused you to start doing that. Was it a stirring? Was it a feeling? Was it you missed your teaching days? Like, how did you get into that, which then led into system?

Colie: I mean, I think I skipped over that cause it really wasn’t a pivot. Sabrina, you know, I did all that in the first

Sabrina: there are, you have always, you and I are very similar in that when we get a gut feeling, an instinct, it’s time to move. It’s time to switch. We do it. Not a lot of people have that. They get stuck in the, well, this is what I’m doing. This is what’s working. This is what I’ve decided. I’m going to call myself quote unquote, and they get stuck with that, that gut pull.

Sabrina Because they’re like, I don’t, I don’t know. I mean, should I really? Is that just, do I really want that? Why? So I do think it’s important to talk about how you kind of followed your instinct a little bit, because it’s not normal for everybody.

Colie: So the thing about what I do in terms of in home sessions and lifestyle and not posing people and not chasing the light was back in 2012 when I started my business, there were very few people talking about that. A lot of people were starting to do it for newborn sessions, but not family sessions that didn’t involve a brand new baby. Like Leah Cook is a really good example. She’s out of Dallas. Um, she was starting to really teach people how to do lifestyle newborn sessions and like a really great. A really powerful way, but there was no one doing the same thing for families, like just going to your house and hanging out and eating pancakes. So, I mean, as soon as I had, like, my first, I don’t know, maybe 10, 12 paying clients, I was like, you know what? Someone needs to teach a course on this and I guess it’s going to have to be me because no one else is doing it. So, before I finished my first year of business, I had already created the course and I will say at that time it was because I miss teaching.

Colie: I have no desire to go back to a classroom, even college kids, where I’m teaching them math. Like, I have no desire to do that, but I do love to see people when it clicks, whatever it is, like, whether you’ve now priced yourself and you get it, like, this is the thing and people will pay these prices. Or if you can’t seem to get how to go into someone’s house where there’s no light and shoot at 5000 or 6400 and still get images that are beautiful and print worthy. Like I like seeing those kinds of things click for people. I was teaching my students everything that they needed to know to basically build the business that I had built. So how to create a website that sells, how to price yourself to where you’re not going to go broke in a year, um, how to create the kind of photos that I was creating, which was not chasing light, because I didn’t want to direct my clients, I had to figure out ways to get those kinds of images by either waiting for the moment or like, gently guiding them without actually telling them, okay, go stand over there. And do this, and then I’m going to take your picture. So, that was how I got into education initially, and then I took a break.

Colie: 2016 to 2019. I really wasn’t doing any one to many courses. So no online courses. I was still doing mentorships. Um, and then in 2019, right before the pandemic, I was like, okay, I’m going to bring this back. And girl, as you know, it was going to be my second set of in person retreats. And because of COVID, I never got to, I never got to meet all of those wonderful women in person in order to do the retreat. Because, you know, no one was flying, no one was, no one was doing any of those things.

Colie: So that was kind of my pivot overall, as an educator.

Sabrina: Yeah. And then pivoting into systems, did that start as some of the students you were mentoring were asking you those questions or was it just, okay, so it was your students. So you kind of caught on to the theme of the stuff you were getting asked. Um, and then that’s what made you step into systems.

Colie: I mean, Sabrina, you also know, I love telling people what to do. So it was basically like, I would hear someone like, you know, we’re in those photography, Facebook groups together. Some will be like, Oh my God, like I accidentally double booked myself. And I’m like, do you not have your calendar in your CRM talking to your external calendar? And they’re like, no, how do I do that? And I’m like, Oh, you just do this. And I mean, I was giving that kind of advice for years before it dawned on me that, Hey, maybe I should create like a, a whole course to teach somebody how to set their CRM up from like beginning to end. It just, it never dawned on me, but I mean, I’m constantly telling people how to improve their systems, inside of those communities and groups that we’re in, because I want everyone to like be able to let their systems work for them and not be afraid to turn them on or let them be automated or any of that thing, because confidence is where I finally learned was like what people felt like they were lacking when it comes to systems. They spend a lot of time setting them up, and they still don’t want to hit publish because they don’t have the confidence that they’re going to work correctly, or that someone’s going to get the wrong email or, you know, any of those things that we’ve heard inside of those communities.

Sabrina: So you have just kind of naturally let this progression right from like being able to really see where your expertise lies and then taking it to the next step and then just kind of slowly leapfrogging to where you are now. I do think part of. When we think of pivoting and transitions in our business, part of the thing that people get stuck on is, well, I’m still doing this current thing, but I want to add in this other thing. Like I want to dip my toes in and there’s a time management problem there because they already feel potentially stretched or a capacity. So how do they have time to create space to work on this thing they’re excited about that they want to try? Was that ever an issue for you in finding balance in, While you’re still in one area and leading into the next, or did it all just kind of naturally work out?

Colie: I mean, like you said, I’m an action taker. So when I decide something, like, I think everyone knows me well enough to know that if I decide something this week by next week, I’ve already got a rough draft and I mean, what I think that it’s mostly I don’t overbook myself. I am never really at like a full capacity. So, like, if I need the time, I make the time. Like, I make it work and you and I are big believers in like working weekends. I mean, I don’t know that I’ve ever come up with a working weekend that quickly, but like if I feel like I need a few days to just be by myself and get this thing figured out, I mean, I tell my husband, Hey, James. I’m going to leave you alone next weekend. You’re going to have to do all the things.

Colie: I’m going to be gone and he just says, okay, and then I go off and I do the thing and I come back and, you know, I’m usually ready to launch it, or I’m at least ready to get somebody else’s eyes on it so they can be like, okay, no, that is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. You are not allowed to do that. Or they’re like, oh, my God, why didn’t I think of this 1st? When are you launching this? I need this in my business. So, I mean, it’s somewhere in between.

Sabrina: Have you ever found yourself? So let me back up. You are an action taker. I mean, a hundred percent, a hundred percent. You are an action taker and it’s not even, you’ll have something done the next week. Half the time. It’s later that day, you send me a text and you’re like, look, what’s live, you know, um, which I love about you, but what about when you’ve created the thing you’ve offered it. It’s, it’s out into the world and people are buying it and they’re excited about it. Have you ever found yourself a little bit overwhelmed with like, Oh my gosh, this new thing is going really well, but I also have all these clients on the calendar.

Sabrina: And so there’s a little bit of a balance shift where you’re like, okay, I actually I’m liking systems more. I’m going to stop booking as much clients so that I can have the space to do more of the systems like, you know, like as, as it’s going, have you ever found yourself in that, in that little bit of overwhelm with everything’s going great?

Colie: So I should say yes, but I’m going to say no, but it’s only because I was lucky I did that pivot during COVID. And I mean, although some of you guys that go outside, not you, Sabrina, but like some of the listening audience, you guys were able to get back to shoots way faster than we were. I mean, here in Colorado, I don’t think I shot a single client for three months. For three months I was down with COVID and that’s actually when I did like a big pivot in my business and then when it came to my clients. Yes, I had a full roster, but I also had all of this open time and space because of COVID. So, when COVID was still here and it, well, I mean, COVID is still here, but when COVID was still like dictating everything in our lives, I was only photographing one client a week so that I didn’t accidentally share COVID from one household to the next. So, I was shooting every single weekend, but it was okay because I was only shooting one day, like one day of work and then one day off. I was okay with that.

Colie: My normal way of like scheduling my in home sessions before COVID was I would do two or three in one weekend and then I would take a weekend off. Like I always wanted a full weekend to like, you know.

Sabrina: Yeah.

Colie: Take a break and get back to myself. But after I started doing that, it was easy for me to fit the systems clients during the week. And then I only had 1 session on the weekend. And I mean, at that point, I wasn’t editing. I wasn’t making films. I was only doing the shooting. And so it did make it easy to kind of transition. And then, as you know, as we came out of COVID, I was like, okay, I think I’m just going to work with returning clients now.

Colie: And so COVID gave me like the space to like take a breather and make that pivot. I think if I had done the pivot even one year earlier, I would have had what you said, like, I would have had to like really consider clients and like figuring out how to send all of the inquiries that I was getting to other people because now when I’m getting Google inquiries, I am mostly sending them to two or three local photographers that I love and trust. I’m like, Oh, you want a family session? I’m sorry. I’m not taking clients right now, but these two people will do wonders for you. Here’s their name and their, you know, emails, that kind of

Sabrina: Yeah, very cool. So I know what’s going on with you, but let’s have, let the listening audience in on what’s going on with you. So you’ve been through a lot of transitions. When you go back to the very beginning to where you are now, there have been a lot of little small transitions in your business and. I, like I said, I know what’s coming, but before we talk about what’s coming, what have you been feeling as far as how your business is going right now, what it’s, what the balance feels like, who you’re working with, let’s talk about how you’ve been feeling first, and then we’ll go into what, what’s next for you,

Colie: Well, so there’s been a lot. I, again, my life is kind of dictating the business decisions. There’s been a lot with Chloe and like education. And like, I’ve talked some about it in my email newsletter. If you’re not on my newsletter, you should get on there, because that’s where I share the things that I won’t share publicly on like Instagram or podcast or stuff like that. But we’ve been going through a lot of pivots and changes with Chloe’s education. She’s currently going to a public school for half the day in the morning and then a private school for half the day in the afternoon. And as you guys can imagine, or as you heard me talk about on one of the podcast episodes, I’m now just her Uber driver.

Colie: I mean, that is like what I’m doing this year. And so when it came to VIP days, which earned me the biggest chunk of money in 2022, that wasn’t going to work for 2023. Between driving her everywhere and still homeschooling her in the spring of, you know, early this year, I was trying to look for ways to work with clients in a smaller capacity. Because I felt like I was getting to the point to where when it came to like these really large builds, which you guys know, I do them all in like 1 day, but there’s a lot that goes into that 1 and 2 day build. And I was finding that I wasn’t having the capacity to kind of get it done. And then I was also finding, let me be honest, and completely transparent, I was finding that not as many people were coming to me for that big transformation as they had in 2022. I think that as a whole, as an industry, we are getting a little burnout on like completely transforming our business from A to Z all at one time. And so I started to think to myself, what are the things that I really want people to do? Like, I want people to know how to get paid using a scheduler.

Colie: I already talked about getting overbooked and double booked and all those things. So I started to like really write down what it was that I actually wanted my clients to do. Because at the end of the day, I don’t want to transform your whole business, if you’re not going to actually use the entire transformation that I’ve given you. And so it gets to like these micro wins. I feel like. And I don’t want to say that everyone expects like instant gratification, although a lot of people do, but like I think it’s a bigger conversation than that. I think people now are much more willing to pay like a hundred, couple hundred dollars to get this one thing that they are really feeling now fixed. And then when they have the capacity, they can work on like this other thing.

Colie: I do feel like it’s a shift from like 2020 to now. And so I have been trying to, not only from my own capacity, but from what I’ve seen in like the outlying communities and the people that inquire with me, I’ve been trying to figure out how I can get people bite sized wins without, you know, feeling overwhelmed and stressed about doing an entire transformation at once.

Sabrina: Yeah. So for you, it really was almost like a combination of like what’s going on in your personal life and also what you were seeing industry wide was like the next need, how the needs were changing. I think that’s so important because, not everybody pays attention to both of those things at the same time, right? I think oftentimes we can see, um, a need in our personal life and things that need to shift, but we don’t pay attention to what’s going on around us or vice versa. And it’s really important to have that whole picture so that your next step forward is not only something that serves you and that you’re excited about, but also with something that people want and will serve your clients and your industry. Well, you know, because you can create an offer that you’re excited about all you want, but if nobody else wants it, it doesn’t matter, you know?

Colie: I mean, but the thing is, if you’ve got this offer, I mean, because I think we all know by now my VIP day is $5k. Like it sold like hotcakes in 2022 and then it didn’t sell like hotcakes in 2023 and nothing changed. My marketing didn’t change. The people that I was talking to didn’t change. I think as an industry, just what we were seeking at that time changed. And it wasn’t until I mean, and I get that it’s like, Ooh, not as many people are inquiring. I wonder why. Do I need to increase my marketing efforts? But it wasn’t until I realized, okay, but if someone inquires today, like I really don’t have the capacity to help them for like another month.

Colie: I was like, Oh, maybe there’s a bigger picture here. Maybe it’s not just them. Maybe it’s me too. Maybe it’s, you know, like this holistic approach to still getting people the systems that they need and that they want, but doing it in a way that… I don’t want to say felt more ethical to me, but like I was starting to feel this, I’m giving you this whole system and maybe you don’t need this whole system right now. Like maybe I just need to fix your booking problems. If I can fix your booking problems, you’re going to book more of your clients. You’re going to make more money.

Colie: You are going to feel less stressed. You are going to be able to have the capacity to then go after more clients. And then maybe you’ll be ready for like a step two in your systems. So I started to look at how I could break down what I was doing, like overall the big transformation, but like what does that look like if I did it in incremental steps?

Sabrina: Yeah. Yeah. How is that going so far?

Colie: I think it’s going well, I mean, so I intended on really launching it after this podcast episode came out, but there were a few people, Olivia, if you’re listening, I’m talking to you. There were a few people. Who were like, okay, Colie, like, when is this coming out? Like, seriously. So I ended up putting out, like, an early access to people who were on my email list or who joined from Instagram. And several of them bought things out of the new DIY Systems Shop, and then they came back and bought more.

Sabrina: hmm. That’s

Colie: So I think it’s going well. I’m getting good feedback, but it also feels good to me because people are like, they’ll buy something on a Thursday and then on a Friday, they’re sharing on Instagram, you know, the set of emails that they’ve already customized and are inside their business. Or in Olivia’s case, she did a proposal for a brand new offer in under an hour. And she was like, okay, I’m ready to sell this offer. I was like, okay, this feels really good. Like, it really does feel like instant gratification. And if it feels like that to me, what does it feel like to them? I mean, because. Usually when I do my full builds, I mean, you’re doing your pre work inside of a week.

Colie: I’m doing your first offer. We’re having a meeting where you’re looking at things. You’re approving things. And then I start to duplicate it for your other offers, but like that is even in a VIP day format, like I do that is still like. Weeks, probably at least a month before you’re fully in it. Whereas when people are buying things from the template shop, I mean, within the day or two, they’ve already got this thing implemented, and then they’re just trying to see how it works. So, I mean, that was a really good feeling for me!

Sabrina: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that’s such an awesome gift because a lot of newer photographers and newer people in the industry, they don’t know what they don’t know. Right. And so maybe they don’t even know that a CRM can do that. And then they see a reel or something on Instagram or they hear from a friend or whatever. And they’re instantly like, Oh my gosh, I wanna get that set up. And then they find something in your shop that tells ’em they can do it in an hour or two hours. I mean, how incredible to go from not even knowing that was a possibility to having such a big win in their business almost instantly.

Sabrina: Um, that’s such a great gift.

Colie: Well, and I almost feel like in a way, a VIP day. Because they’re like, Oh my God, it’s $5k. I could never afford that. And while I would always come back and argue, yeah, but the return on investment, like depending on what your prices are, two or three clients is going to get that for you. Like people don’t think about it in terms of that way. They’re just like, wow, $5k is a big price tag. So I feel like some people who were tuning me out or who were inside of my audience, listening to the podcast every day, reading my emails were just like, okay, I love what Colie says, but I’m never going to be able to work with her. And so I do feel like by taking it and breaking it down into bite sized pieces, because I thought the course was at a pretty good place.

Colie: You know, my course was 997. You get all, you know, you get everything that you would ever need to set up your photography business and then you also get me like constantly to ask questions and then I came to the realization that even that was too much for some people like some people really just wanted the tools and so that was where the template shop came from initially, but like, I was only selling templates. They didn’t really have trainings that were attached to them, to help you with your strategy as well as implementing the template. So I think that was the big aha moment that I had was that if I broke it down in a way, to where I could still give you like five, 10 minute trainings to put you in the mindset of how to use these templates properly and customize them for your business, that that was going to give me my happy medium because it didn’t feel good to just sell the templates. I wasn’t sure if anyone was ever using the templates properly.

Sabrina: Hehehe.

Colie: teacher, my teacher mindset just couldn’t let that go. Like, okay, but are they using them right? Like, do they know how to do this? And I mean, I couldn’t just give them all the trainings because then all I was doing was diluting the course. So now I feel like I did it in a way to where I wasn’t taking away from my VIP days. I wasn’t taking away from what the course used to be, I was kind of like creating this new system for everyone where everything was bite sized and Hey, if you get stuck. You can add support onto your self study course, or you can actually upgrade to a VIP day. But I feel like by helping you get those micro wins, I am setting you up for success up front, so that then you can think about long term strategy, and you’re not overwhelmed by the possibilities up front.

Sabrina: Yeah. So you just said thinking about long term strategy. And again, I know behind the curtain that Colie James has all kinds of future next level plans. Like we’ve already talked about things that can go way far in advance and it may or may not happen someday. So when I look at you now from when we met, how long ago did we meet? Did we, have we done that

Colie: was 2018,

Sabrina: five

Colie: so five years?

Sabrina: years ago. Okay. So. You now, from Colie James of five years ago and Colie James beyond that, starting as a photographer, stepping into in person education, stepping into online education, stepping into systems, stepping into being a speaker, a podcast host. I mean, we’re in a very different place. I wonder, I wonder if you will talk about, and I’m not going to hold you to any of this. But will you talk about some of your ideas that you have for maybe down the road? What are some rumblings and some stirrings that you’re, that you’re thinking about?

Colie: Just in case you guys don’t follow me on Instagram, I recently had dinner with Sabrina and Annemie Tonken, and we are thinking about some things. We are thinking about bringing some new things into education, both in person and online. Um, but I will say, Sabrina, something that you didn’t know about, I am thinking of doing Curated Girls Weekends. And I know you’ve never heard this, so,

Sabrina: sign me up.

Colie: So… Kind of like a peer mastermind, but like in a weekend where everybody brings a certain skill set to the group and it’s curated in that we don’t want five copywriters in the room. Like, that’s not going to help anybody, but if we can curate it to where we’ve got a systems person, a copy person, a website person, and we are all trying to grow our business in similar ways, and we can like, see the pieces that are missing for each other. I just, I came up with this idea after I left Make Your Mark. I’m like, I love being in person with people. I love hanging out with people. I love it, if I can pay for these things and make it a business expense. I’m just saying like hanging out in a house with a pool and working on my business, but also taking time to like refresh myself.

Colie: So. That was something. I mean, I don’t know that this is going to come to fruition. If you heard that and you were like, holy shit, Colie, that sounds good. Hey, come drop into my DMs. Cause I mean, I’ve got June in Colorado on my mind, but, that aside, because you didn’t know about that. Um, we do see some gaps in the online education space for photographers and specifically non wedding photographers. And so we have just been thinking of how we can take some things that we see in our bigger business community.

Colie: So like this weekend, I wasn’t with photographers. I was with business owners, women, but like, there are a lot of things that we do in that space. That just haven’t seemed to come into the photographer space yet. So online summit, I think is like number one on my list of things. Because I have a lot of ideas. Like I know the topics that would best help someone. And so, I mean, if I can get that done and like help people with their business and perhaps it will help, like you said, those more beginning photographers who don’t have the budget to come to an in person event or any of those things. Like that’s, I mean, I usually don’t use this word, but since I’m with Sabrina, it’s perfect probably fitting.

Colie: I think that’s on my heart right now. Like, and I would never say that in general, but I am feeling the call to maybe use like what my actual education is and curriculum and instruction and somehow bring that to my Colie James brand more than just the individual courses that I am offering people.

Sabrina: Isn’t it funny how, and this, we’re just, we’re old. Isn’t it funny how with time,

Sabrina: with time and experience things change and, and our need to like give back and to see other people rise and to see other people have the success that we’ve had. It really does shift from like us just wanting to make it and want to make a good money and do this. It really does shift to being full circle, you know, like really wanting to be one of those people that gives back and uses their leadership and their skill to better everyone, you know, um, you don’t know this. I don’t think I’ve told you this yet, but after we had dinner, the three of us, and I posted on Instagram that we were together and I posted a little gushy statement about how much I love you too. And it just filled my cup and then I think I put in really tiny letters at the bottom.

Colie: I saw it.

Sabrina: something along the lines of, you guys have no idea, big things are coming, or something like that. The number of responses I got from people saying, oh, OMG, this is the best trio ever. Whatever it is we’re in, I was cracking up. So, um, people are

Colie: I mean, we are quite the trio, let’s be honest. We are quite the trio and we work really well together. And guys, I’m just going to put it out there. Sabrina has not answered my text

Colie: So guys, we are putting working weekends, um, I mean, Sabrina and I have done them before and now we have invited Annemie along the ride. So, uh, as soon as we’ve had our first one guys, one of us or all of us will be updating you guys on what’s to come, but it’s going to be look out world.

Sabrina: It’s gonna feel really good. I’m excited about what’s coming. So, um, I am really excited. First of all, it’s your 100th episode. So let me just gush on you.

Colie: Yes.

Sabrina: I am really excited to know you. I’m excited to be in your circle. You do lift up everyone around you. Um, I think people and listeners of the podcast know and can tell just from hearing your voice that they haven’t had the benefit of meeting you in person. You are the biggest cheerleader. You are the best hugger. You are the best supporter.

Sabrina: Any way that people can get you in their corner is just… is so amazing. So I am so happy to know you. I’m so happy to have seen you grown and just to have gotten to be a part of the ride a little bit. Um, so happy 100th episode. You’re a joy.

Colie: For those of you not watching, she made me cry.

Sabrina: You’re the best.

Colie: Aw, I love you too.

Colie: I just want everybody to do better. I mean, I want all of us, I want all of us to have businesses that go around our life and not the other way. And I know that you guys always see me talking about Disney, but I really do think about Disney as like my therapy. Like, I, I do business so that I can afford to go to Disney. I mean, I like paying my bills and all that, but like, you know, I just want to go to Disney all the time. And so it’s great that I am in a position where I can not only help people around me, I can build a business that fulfills me, but also in the case of my daughter. I mean, I know that we don’t think about this very often, but like Chloe is very artistic and you know, my husband’s a scientist. I’m a mathematician statistician by training.

Colie: So we’re very STEM oriented and our daughter is definitely not. So I think that it’s good that I’m in a position to show her, that, you know, going to college and getting a degree and getting a nine to five job is not what everybody has to do like that. That does not have to be everybody’s life path. And so, I mean, I think that’s the thing that I’m most proud of is that, you know, now that I’ve got my kid and she can see, oh, no, my mom, my mom makes money taking pictures and she makes a lot of money taking pictures. I mean, I just, I think that that’s the best feeling. And so, those of us that are, you know, doing the work and having the businesses and doing all this, I really do think that we should all give ourselves a hug sometimes, because we are really showing not only our children, but like also our fellow business entrepreneurs, what’s possible, you know, when you sit down with a little bit of strategy and you get it done.

Sabrina: Exactly. Agree. Uh, thanks for letting me interview you, my friend. Congratulations. This was so fun. I cannot wait for the world to hear all of the things we talked about today. Um, and that’s it for this episode Business-First Creatives. Colie, will see you next time.