157: Money Mindset and Shifts To Make When Business Sucks with Kelly Marshall

Sabrina: On today’s episode of the Shoot It Straight podcast, I have my friend Kelly Marshall back, and we are addressing the elephant in the room. Business kind of sucks for everyone right now. I’m tired of everyone in our industry and in the world, quite frankly, for just it kind of ignoring the issue, blowing past the issue, and we’re gonna address it today.

We are talking about what is happening, but it’s not gonna be this Debbie Downer episode ’cause that’s not what Kelly and I are about. We are going to leave you with both practical and mindset tips, how to handle seasons where it feels like your business is in a drought. Where it feels like things are down and negative, and we’re really stepping into what to do when you feel that scarcity creeping in, and how you can get yourself out of that and move forward with your business and your life in a positive way.

This is a fantastic episode. Kelly is a wealth of information and she’s a gem of a human. Get your notebook out, get your pin out. You are going to want to write down some of the things she says today because it’s that good. Let’s dive in.

Welcome to the Shoot at Straight Podcast, where honesty meets heart and real talk actually means something. I’m your host, Sabrina Gehart, and each week we get vulnerable, practical, and just a little bit bold so you can feel seen, supported, and ready to take the next step in your photography journey.

Let’s go.

Welcome back to the Shoot at Straight podcast, my friends. Today I am joined again by my friend Kelly Marshall. This is Kelly’s second time on the podcast. She is a bookkeeper and a money mindset coach extraordinaire. At this point, I think she’s taught in every program and group that I have multiple times.

And, uh, literally everyone adores her and lots of my students start to work with her. And it’s just really cool to see how Kelly has transformed and impacted women just in my small circle and my business, um, as well. So Kelly, in case somebody hasn’t heard you on the podcast before or does not know of you, is not already in your world, will you just start off by introducing yourself to the listeners?

Kelly: Yeah. Thank you. And thank you for having me back. Um, I love your, the people in your world, so it always, um, is a joy to be here. Yeah. I’m Kelly Marshall. I’m in Buffalo, New York. I’m a mom and I have lots of furry babies at home too. I have a daughter and lots of creatures living in our home. I have a, a business that, you know, has blended bookkeeping and financial coaching in a way that I really love.

’cause I get to have conversations with people that I care about that are doing beautiful work in the world and I get to support them to. Feel good about their money, hopefully keep more of it in their pocket, is the goal. And kind of let, allow me to take care of that part of their business. ’cause it’s not their favorite part.

You know, I can’t take the photographs that they can take, but I can take care of their books and that can be a relief for somebody in their business when they just wanna do what they do best. So it’s my joy.

Sabrina: What you do is so unique because again, it’s that like blending. And so yes, you are looking at numbers and spreadsheets and making informed and educated decisions and and advice and stuff.

But it’s funny, out of all of the calls we have, you and I together, we talk about that the least. And there’s times where we’ll get on a call one month and not even open our spreadsheets, and we’re just talking about offers and pricing and sales and what’s not selling and ideating things. And then we dig into the mindset behind, well, why are you stuck on that?

And I don’t think I realized when I started working with you, how impactful that piece would be. Because on paper we want the tangible stuff, right? We want the data, we want the things where we can check a box. And I’ve said this on the podcast before, but mindset is not, that mindset is not a box. You can check.

And I don’t think people realize they need it until they’ve had that work. Like I know when I talk to women in the mastermind, uh, when they’re finished with the program, that’s one of the most surprising things for them is how impactful the mindset step was because they joined. They wanted all the businessy things and the boxes to check, right?

So anyways, what you do is so unique and special, and I love it and I love bringing you to all of my groups. Today we are kind of addressing the elephant in the room. I was telling Kelly before we hit record, I’m tired of people not talking about this and skirting around this subject. Money isn’t great for a lot of people right now.

Sales aren’t great for a lot of people. Inquiries are not great between students and friends across industries. We’re not just talking photographers. I am hearing things like leads are lower than they’ve ever been. In my 10 years of business. Bookings are non-existent. Income is abysmal, and those words are literally words I took from messages I’ve received.

So I’m not like making those words sound worse. Those are actual words I have taken from screenshots and text messages in the last week. It’s been this way for a minute. Uh, we’ve been in a weird space at time of recording. We are in summer of 2025 and uh, for those of you that have been in business for a decade or more, we are probably at our lowest point.

And if you’re newer in business, uh, this may be e feel even scarier to you because, uh, you haven’t been in business as long. But I want to address the issue and I wanna talk about ways we can move forward, uh, because it is like a real negative vibe out there right now. Everybody’s kind of in that Debbie Downer.

Scared. Should I just close my business? I mean, that’s. That’s honestly a terrifying thing I’ve heard in the last, I’ve heard it from two, two, that I can think of women who’ve been in business as long as I have and have, have wildly successful businesses that they’ve created, and they are both ready to just shut it all down.

That’s how bad things are for some people. And so I wanna address, there’s, there’s stuff going on. It feels like we’re struggling as a collective. Um, and so that’s what we’re gonna talk about today is how can we move forward with positivity and make money shifts when business sucks? Back to the matter.

That’s, that’s what we’re talking about today, friends. We’re just laying it right out there, you know. So, Kelly, go ahead. Well, go ahead. I just,

Kelly: what I, what I wanna be careful to do is. Not to spiritually bypass that in any way. Like there’s an instinct for me. Um, and I’m gonna to, to go right into a positive mindset and I’m gonna finish today.

I’ve got, I might even read it ’cause that’s the thing I worked on as I was preparing for our talk was like. We need that positive mindset. But before we can get to that, we need to acknowledge these feelings. We need to be real about what people are experiencing. And we don’t want to perpetuate it necessarily.

But there’s a reality out there. I mean, things have been, I mean, what a crazy time period we’ve been in as far as the markets and, and things changing and, and uncertainty and, and people not knowing where things are headed. And it reminds me a little bit of the pandemic and other recessions and things before that.

In some ways with some of it, but it’s also a little more uncertain in, in other ways. Like, ’cause we don’t even know why things are happening or what are, what’s changing. And so I think it’s really important to acknowledge all of that. And there could be, people are, um, have different reasons. Maybe their news sources are giving them different reasons to be afraid.

But I think a lot of people are, are uncertain. What I will say, and, and again, I’m not trying to spiritually bi bypass anything, but people are still spending money. There’s still money to be made out there, and that’s where we’ll end. So stick with us through this conversation. If it feels like we’re going a little negative, we just wanna address that first and then, um, at least my, my intention is to end on that note.

The other piece that just feels important. ’cause I, I might forget to, to talk about this as we get into some of the questions, but more than ever, I think what we’re all craving is connection. And so it’s important to be connecting with other business owners and having these conversations and connecting with our clients and seeing what they want.

And so I hope that comes up a few times as we’re talking today. ’cause I really think that’s the key to weathering this is connection. And conversation and, and just good business practices. It goes back to that a little bit. It doesn’t matter if you’re marketing online or serving clients online, but like, don’t get so lost in that, that we, we forget, like what really makes a difference is getting in touch with our people and connecting with them and having conversations and serving them well.

And what you’d expect from going to your local store. You know, the same things that would serve you there, will serve you in your business. So those are just a couple things that. I wanna make sure I cover.

Sabrina: And it’s interesting when you mention the pandemic. So while it was scary for everyone and a lot of uncertainty in the moment, photographers actually ended up okay.

We had a, as a collective. We had a lot of clients, I don’t know if you remember this, but I, I actually really remember this, that one of the things that happened during the pandemic was everybody, like the internet as a whole, came out to support small business, and there were so many unique ways. It was like, buy a gift card or let me mail this to you.

Restaurants were doing like curbside pickups and there was all these changes that happened and this, this outpouring of love and support for small business, which includes photographers. And so it felt scary at first. Particularly in the wedding industry, but for family photographers, uh, we were rescheduling things, but we still had clients placing print orders, ordering gift cards, booking sessions for way out.

And so we had that income. There was also a lot of economic support for small, small business owners, and so we had a little bit of cash flow, and yes, there was an uncertainty about like, when would it end, but. The world as a whole was kind of struggling together and we were all in it together. And so it didn’t feel like you just said as lonely, even though we were stuck at home, some of us without families, and we were actually alone.

There was this huge outpouring of community support your businesses get on Zoom calls with groups. Like all like the community aspect. People found a way to make it work. And so that’s like, I guess where I wanna start is. It is totally normal for businesses to have seasons of high and low. It is rare to see a business that’s been in business for, let’s say 50 years, where it’s just up, up, up, up, up, up, up.

Like that doesn’t happen. Sometimes the dips are for personal reasons, local reasons, national reasons. It, it varies, but there are ups and downs and it happens, and it’s scary and it’s unnerving no matter when it happens or how, but. I, I do think that there can be this deep feeling of alone because especially for a small business where we don’t have a board or a teams of people supporting us or whatever, it feels almost like a shameful, like, what am I doing wrong?

Why is this happening to me? So what do you tell people? When they are feeling like it’s all on their shoulders and they’re super alone in their, in their financial struggle.

Kelly: It’s such a good question actually. I just wanna acknowledge your prior point about the pandemic being different in that way. I don’t think I had quite thought of, of that piece, so I really wanna kind of acknowledge that you said that that could be its own conversation, how this feels different than that.

I think that’s so important. And there was a mindset that came out of that for me, going back to the pandemic, even though now I’ve got new perspective on the difference, but there was a resiliency that was built during that time, like the lessons we learned during that and the pivoting. Like I, I kept thinking when you were talking, you know, some people switched to outdoor shoots and did different things that they could do.

The creativity and the pivoting, I think are pieces that come in here and we’ll talk about that with doing that with the right mindset. But I think you even used the word moment. Really, this is a moment, and I think it’s important in that moment to give us a chance to, you know, take a breath, recognize what you’re feeling, don’t gaslight it.

Don’t go into that, you know, spiritual bypassing as they call it, right into the positivity. Like take a moment and ref, like, take a breath and acknowledge what you’re feeling, but recognize that you are not alone, that this is not a reflection of your worth, your value, your. You know, necessarily even in your offers, your talent, your efforts really to, to allow that, to pull you outta shame and judgment and the negative feelings, what am I doing wrong?

Um, we can spin on that, right? We could spin on all the things that we’re doing wrong. Even some of what I’m saying today might bring up those feelings. And that’s not the intention at all. This is just meant to be an observation opportunity meant to be a kind of a what’s next moment instead of what’s going wrong.

What did I do wrong? What did I do wrong? Um, I think that that’s the, the most positive thing that you can take out of kind of, this is clearly impacting more than one person, more than just you. So recognizing that, and we’ll get to the other side of that in the positive mindset piece, but recognizing that it’s beyond you.

And it’s just an opportunity to think of what’s next. You know, what am I gonna do next? How am I gonna change things? And we’ll talk through all that today. But sitting in that judgment, that shame, that fear, um, will never serve. So talk to people, listen to, you know, listen to things like this, to move yourself out of, um, out of those feelings.

Sabrina: I know that I like to find like the lesson in things, you know, and not to say that what’s happening around us is a, is you know, a lesson for us to learn. But I think you can learn lessons in every situation. And what can a season like this that feels slow, that feels like a drought, feels financially scary and uncertain?

What are some things that we might learn about our business or our money habits in a season like this?

Kelly: Well, I do think seasons like this certainly shine a light on things that might be unnoticed when everything’s feels like it’s going well. One might be that you’re really reliant on one client or one offer.

One season in your business. So there, there might be, you know, maybe in the past you’ve had a really busy fall season and that has carried you through most of the rest of your year. Maybe there’s an opportunity to shift that or lesson to learn from that. I know we have a lot of photographers on here, so forgive me for this indulgence, but like people in my industry can have, in bookkeeping, we can have really a few really large clients or we can have more small clients.

And for me there’s a comfort in that, that even if a few of my clients. It did end up going outta business. I don’t want that for any of them, but if they did that we’re okay. And, and that’s something that was created intentionally. So you can look, if, if you’re not feeling that way in your business, there might be something like that to look at.

I think this is where if expenses have creeped up. That, you know, and you haven’t taken a look at it in a while, it might be an opportunity, um, to shine some light on that. So where are things that aren’t necessary? And I’ve got some practical tips for that as we go on. Um, so looking at what’s crept up in your expenses that are beyond what you really need for the business.

We’ll talk about this a little bit more too, but you know, did you kind of cut it close every month or did you create a cushion for yourself so that there was some money there? We talk about this in, in other, I think in the other podcast in another times where it’s like, well, when money’s coming in good in a, in a season, you know, at the end of fall for a lot of your people in your audience, setting aside some of that so that it gets you through the following year and, and managing your cash that way can be so supportive in times like this.

So as things turn around and they will, thinking about using a system where you can set, we use Profit First, Sabrina and I, and in there there’s a profit account you build and there’s different techniques where you can build up some reserves so that it weathers you through times that aren’t as flowing the way that they would in the good seasons.

So it’s just an opportunity to look at that and say. I’ve always kind of pulled the money out of the business. Maybe I could have left a little bit more to support me, you know, looking at things like that. Again, not from a, this was a failure more from a. This is information. So if you kind of do that process and you’re feeling a kinda way a little negative about it, just take it as information and something to learn from in the future.

Sabrina: Yeah, I, I think looking at your numbers is so important and, you know, creatives don’t like to do it and it, but it’s, it’s necessary just to have an understanding and like you said, it’s just information. So we’re not talking about looking at these things to make sweeping changes. Fear-based decisions, but like if you are not booking stuff, you have more time on your hands.

Use it wisely. Use it wisely to educate yourself on what your business actually looks like and how you can make some potentially changes from moving forward. Right. Uh, wise decisions, not fear-based decisions. So before we get to like the practical stuff, ’cause I know you have a lot of practical things to share, let’s start with kind of the mindset side.

Do you see that like negative money stories really resurface in situations like this? Like is this when the ugly comes out of the closet and tries to like beat us up a little bit? And then I guess a part B, like a follow up to that would be, how do you see that stress? That response to that negativeness like affect business owners money decisions

Kelly: For sure.

This is when the, the money heal wounds that we haven’t healed or some that we thought we healed that they can kind of come out. What’s ironic about it as you asked that it kind of popped in my head, is. It also happens when we’re leveling up. Some of those things come up. So it’s kind of interesting that that can happen in different cases.

So we always have to be ready to support our mindset and kind of be, look, observing our thoughts and looking for things that, that are popping up. ’cause there might even be people on here that have been doing fine, they weren’t really struggling and they might hear this and go into fear and scarcity and start to to worry.

And we certainly don’t want that happening at all. So for sure this is a time where that can pop up those, those old money wounds. I think the biggest one that comes out is scarcity. So people that really struggle with that, if that’s the place they go to this, the, this can really, um, rear up in these times.

It, it can create like that. Where I was reminding people in the question earlier like, this is not a reflection of your talent and your worth. Take that to heart please, because that scarcity will convince you it is, you know that it’s only happening to you. This must be ’cause you weren’t good enough. You might judge yourself in some of the other little pieces we’ve mentioned that are just meant to be information.

What can pop out as people making decisions from that fear-based? So you had mentioned that too. That’s where that stress piece, like when people are under stress, they can make those fear-based decisions. They might choose to start undercharging. They might over deliver. They may cancel supportive services that are helping them.

They may even try to pivot their entire business in a week. And what happens is none of those things are really sustainable. If you start undercharging, then you’re gonna be overwhelmed and not able to do a good job if you’re over-delivering. Same kind of thing can happen if you cancel your supportive resources.

In some cases that might be the thing to do, but if it’s coming from fear and not from informed decision, and this is gonna be the thin line we’re gonna walk through this whole conversation is how are you making that decision? But if you’re canceling supportive services, so now you’re busy doing your own bookkeeping, your own social media, your own whatever, then you’re less able to, to service your clients when you’re ready to build the business.

Back up could be an intentional choice, but if it’s coming from fear, it’s not gonna serve you. It’s. So I really think mindset and, and nervous system support are really important for this. Taking a chance to breathe, getting in your body, staying grounded, leaning into those practices. Now we always need them, but we need them now more than ever to keep out of those fear-based places and, um, making decisions from the, from that place of scarcity and fear.

Sabrina: I agree with that so much. So let’s just go straight in to the, like the making informed decisions part. I know that. That’s the first place that people go often is. Oh my gosh, I’m not making any money. I’ve got to cut everything out. And there that is, that can be wise to a point, right? Like if you’ve got fluff, this is a great time to dig in there and cut that stuff out.

But it’s the sweeping changes that aren’t wise. And like you said, there’s some moves that don’t actually make sense. For the future. So how do we make those informed decisions on, you know, maybe to, to stop paying for certain things or to change how we’re managing our cash flow? What are those tactical things that we can do to kind of stretch ourselves a little bit in that slower season?

When we, when we do

Kelly: need more financial support. Okay, I’m gonna go practical ’cause I’ve got mindset thoughts on this too. So we can go there if we have time later. But I’m gonna stick with practical for a moment. I think a lot of people in this season wanna put their head in the sand too. Like they don’t wanna look at their numbers, they don’t wanna look at the, the realness of it.

And I’m gonna encourage you gently to, to look at the numbers, to, to, to take a hard look at an understanding of like, what’s the minimum my business needs to bring in to make this work for me? And am I okay with that? Is that the business I wanna build with that? So looking at that, not just your bank business, but what’s coming in, what’s going out, what’s essential?

I keep talking about the pandemic. I don’t know why, but like, what I loved about that was the scrappiness that people had, like the creativeness, the scrappiness. And they, we weren’t afraid to do certain things. I mean, my clients, it, it was crazy to see the, the cool things they did to, um, support their business during that time.

And, you know, so there are things like, we’ll, we’ll talk about some offers and stuff, but on the other side of it, can you ask for a payment pause on something? Can you spread out an expense? Can you. Maybe offer a paid in full incentive to bring in quick cash on something you’re already doing. There’s just little shifts like that that you can make.

Things that you may not, you know, in, in good times, you’re not having to think about it, but in lean times it’s like, okay, what can I do about these things? These things are essential. What could I do here, um, to make this work better for me during this particular time? And it might be the perfect time to create that like minimally viable income plan.

That’s always where I start with people. I look at, okay, what do we, where do we have to be? What is our basic needs? Absolutely. We need to cover this, and I have an understanding for that. Make that your, you know, the bare bones income target. Then go on from there. Like what’s, we can add the nice to haves and the, the other pieces from there, but having an understanding of your minimal, your leanest version of your business that supports you, can help you feel more in control because you are, you are in control of your business and feel outta control when you don’t have that awareness around those pieces.

Sabrina: I love that you say that because many times I have walked a woman through a situation, a season of slower. Maybe it’s not this year in this exact moment in time, but something has happened locally or personally or whatever, and it’s felt like a slower season to them. I cannot tell you how many times we’ve had a very similar conversation where I’m telling them, I need you to look at your numbers and tell me what your bare minimum is.

I need you to know what that number is because. Oftentimes we feel things going negative or leaner or slower because it’s not what happened last month or what happened last year, and it feels different. And we immediately just panic without looking at our numbers. We’re not getting as many inquiries. I don’t have as many sessions on the books, whatever.

And what happens more often than not is that when they actually look at what their minimum is, they’re hitting that minimum and they’re fine. That peace of mind, that’s like the immediate rush of relief when they’re like, it’s not actually as bad as I thought. Yes, I’m down. Yes, I’m down. Yes, inquiries are down, bookings are down, but I’m actually okay.

And all they had to do was look at their numbers and that that peace and that freedom came immediately. Their energy, their tone of voice, how their face looks, which then we know carries over into their decisions and how they relate with their family and the energy of their marketing. I mean, just, it literally is like we’ve opened up Pandora’s Box and we’re, I mean, it’s amazing.

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And then the other thing I would say is when you mentioned like pausing payments. I personally love this route and I, I’m always shocked that more people don’t take it. And I think there’s like a shame there. Like a shame in having to ask, you know, like, I don’t want to email so and so service provider, whatever, and ask for a pause if it’s not something they can just automate on a website.

There’s like a shame there. And I just wanna say, why, why is there a shame there? Because. It is so commonplace, it’s not a big deal. You don’t have to give them any reasons. You don’t have to, uh, to pour out your life story. You just have to send an email, make a phone call, whatever. Is it okay if I just pause for 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, or can I downgrade my support plan?

It’s the easiest thing in the world, and it can come up. You can come up with a lot of money right off the bat just by doing that.

Kelly: I’ve had people, I’ve had some clients where they just needed an extra week before that payment went through. It was no big deal for me to do that, and I did that. So, and some other vendors may not be able to, and that’s okay too.

You know, the worst they can do is tell you no. And so, you know, and there’s, and that isn’t just for other small business providers. There are things that they can do. They can change when their payment comes out for credit cards sometimes, or different loans. Like, there’s so many different ways. If you’re willing to look at it and get creative, you may not even need that.

But if you do, it’s certainly a resource you can have. I don’t know how you feel about this. I hadn’t really thought this out, but I’m wondering in your space too with like how, how they bill for their services, like, you know, to kind of shift, I’m sure there’s lots of different ways that photographers could shift the way that they’re currently pulling their clients that could support them.

And it might support the clients better too. Like sometimes opening up the payment plans and, and different pieces like that can really give you some beautiful cash flow so you’re just not waiting for the season, but make it really accessible for your clients too.

Sabrina: Yeah, a lot of photographers do, you know, the deposit and then the balance, but it, it’s, it’s one industry where for some reason there’s not a whole lot of monthly payments.

And I’ve always thought why? Because. Especially when you are in that higher end, you know, your clients are paying you a thousand dollars, 1200, 1500, whatever. How amazing to tell them like, sure, your session’s not for five months. Let’s do five payments instead of just two. Yes, you’re getting paid less at a time, but you have the beautiful benefit of monthly hits coming to your account, which.

You know, um, in the education space, we love recurring revenue. And so, um, how easy would it be to email your clients that, you know, you are now offering monthly payment plans where they can split up their payment even smaller?

Kelly: Yeah. Or even as a way to get new business without changing anything else about what you’re offering.

That’s the type of decision. That comes from intentionality and like a, you know, a calm breath and not from like scarcity freaking out. It, that’s the whole difference between kind of calming that nervous system and getting creative and, and you know, maybe talking with your business besties and kind of working through this and create ideas like we don’t have to do it the way we’ve always been doing it.

We get an opportunity to change it without overhauling our whole businesses and making it unsustainable and painful for us. We can make it really easy and in that case of those payment plans, that can be a win-win for everybody.

Sabrina: Speaking of being creative, you know, like I said, one of the things I see the most is like they just wanna make sweeping changes.

They wanna cancel everything. On the other side, I see offers like panic offers is what I call them, where they just immediately say, I’m gonna do these huge flash sales. I’m gonna 50% off everything. I’m gonna, whatever these panic offers that. Most of the time, I’m gonna say, don’t really align with where they wanna go in their business, who they’re serving, what they’re doing.

They’re just scrambling. Those panic offers don’t work. Or maybe they quote unquote bring in a little money and work, but they don’t benefit the future of the business. Um, they can oftentimes end up being a headache for the photographer. And so is there, how can we step into that creative space of generating income?

Without having to create some panic offer.

Kelly: Well, I think you nailed it. It’s the panic offers come from not connecting to our longer term vision. They come from fear. They come from all the things that we were talking about, unfortunately, have even run into people who, without. The economy stuff going on right now kind of exist in that mode that comes from like that scarcity, fear-based money mindset place.

And it’s exhausting. And your clients can feel it and it becomes this desperation on the sales call or whatever that you know, however you wanna word it. And it, it doesn’t feel good for you. It doesn’t feel good for your client, it’s not serving. And it can come from a place that really feels good in the moment.

And that’s why it’s again, important to slow down, ground yourself, breathe, and then come at it from a place of like. What do we, what’s really needed here? What would really serve my clients? What would, what would I like to do differently? Like give yourself this again, we, you mentioned that if it’s a slow season, you might have more time.

So give yourself a little space to let that, that idea kind of bubble up too, and kind of come from that place of grounded intentionality versus fear and you know, that frantic energy and you can feel the difference even as we just say it, so that from a, very much, from a mindset perspective. Is where I would come at it from and then get creative, like just what we were talking about on the last question of like, what are these little changes?

What, what’s a small step that could shift what’s needed here that could support me, that would, my clients would love it. Set that intention to find an idea like that versus an overhaul, pivot, frantic energy. You know, just kind of give yourself a moment to get through that.

Sabrina: I think a good kind of checkpoint is, is this something that I’m coming up with?

On the fly that I’m trying to immediately launch that I think is going to solve all my problems, that’s a panic offer. Whereas if you give yourself the time and use and space. I really love to see when photographers come at it from a perspective of I’ve always wanted to try this, now’s my chance, right?

Because then we were coming from that place of like, it’s been bubbling up Anyway, the idea that won’t go away. Tell me those two. Yeah. Like you didn’t have, yeah. Like you didn’t have time. To try it before and now you do. Um, those offers are the ones that I’m like, go for that, because that is from a healthy place.

And then on the other side, again, those, those panic offers are rushed. And not only is the ideating rushed, which ends up causing problems later, but oftentimes the selling is rushed, which is gonna leave you with very little results. But when you have, when you give yourself, um, breathing room and time to like really let something blossom, you can build it with intention so that it will be successful and received well, and you can test it out and see if it’s something that becomes part of your business going forward, you know?

It’s just from such a healthier place instead of I have to create a discount offer right now to bring people in. That’s not true.

Kelly: I love the energy. From what? Like just the, I just the comment of like, I’ve always wanted to try This has such a, isn’t this fun? Aren’t you so excited to share that with your audience?

Um, kind of energy to it versus the other? You can absolutely feel the difference in that, and I promise you, your clients do too. There’s no question about that.

Sabrina: I mean, I can see it. I’m on Instagram scrolling and I can see it, even if I don’t know these people. I’m like, that’s there. That’s a panic offer.

That’s a like, I can just tell, I can tell in the language, in the voice, in the copy, it’s just so obvious. And. Panic does not attract.

Kelly: No, you know, it reminds me of the, um, I’m on TikTok a lot and there’s, it’s all TikTok shop at this point, and I can absolutely tell if somebody has bought the product or, or is given the product and they like it and they’re selling it from a pace, place of alignment versus the one that’s just putting everything up there.

And it’s not because I’ve seen them before, it’s because their energy is different in that sale. And I guarantee everybody’s felt that on something they’ve. You know, been marketed to them. They have felt that difference. And your clients do too. You know, your clients feel that too. So it’s really important to kinda stay in your authenticity, stay in your alignment, do it from kind of the business you wanna create and make your decision and offer from there.

And that fun. I love that fun energy. I’m not gonna let that go of like, this is something I’ve always wanted to do. Even if you don’t have something like that, what feels fun to you? What would you love? Take a chance on that. I’d much rather somebody take a chance on that than create that like discounted panic offer.

That doesn’t mean there’s not a place for, you know, somebody isn’t in education and wants to do a flash sale or somebody is, you know, even wants to do mini sessions that are fun. But it’s a difference of coming into that from a, from an aligned. A place that feels fun versus kind of a panicked, well, I gotta throw throwing spaghetti at the wall kind of thing to see of what’s gonna stick.

It’s a totally different energy. Get a totally different result.

Sabrina: So I, I kind of wanna circle back around to something that you said at the beginning when we talked about how negative money stories resurface in seasons like this. And the biggest one that you see is scarcity. And often what you see is, you know, people with a, a deep scarcity story struggle, whether they’re in seasons like this or not.

But it’s particularly rough in this season. I know that scarcity can rear its head for a lot of people, some more than others. So if a listener is, is hearing this and they’re like, I know that I’m in scarcity and I’m in a spiral and I’m in this place of panic and fear, what can we say to her? What can we say to her to help her step out of it, to take a step to move forward?

Kelly: I kind of wanna bring in this powerful, it’s, it’s not the timing I expected to share this, but I kind of wanna bring in the powerful mindset piece. I do wanna say, just on a simple perspective, one of the things you can ask them is, am I doing this? Because I believe in it. You can ask yourself, am I doing this ’cause I believe in it, or am I doing this because I’m scared?

That’s a piece. I have one client where the second anything triggers her scarcity, she’s ready to fire her whole team. And I’m like, but wait. I go, is this coming from scarcity? That’s not really where you wanna go. And then she’ll calm down. But it’s like her trigger. And it’s, that’s just where she goes. So if she was to ask herself, luckily she always ask me, but if she to ask herself, am I doing this?

’cause I’m scared? The answer to that would always be, yes, of course. You want your team there. You know, you’re, you’re up to big things. If you get rid of the team, you can’t serve your people. So I think there’s an opportunity to ask some of those, but I’m gonna actually read this, which I’ve never done on a podcast before, but I just, I just think it’s important and I don’t wanna miss any of it, but I want us to maybe anchor into this truth.

Yes, it’s a challenging season for some, but right now in this same economy, plenty of people are making great money. Coaches are fully booked. There’s photographers that are, you know, booked out. There’s artists that are selling out launches. Service providers are getting referrals. Brick and mortar shops are thriving in local markets.

Digital creators are finding new audiences and new income streams, and the difference is not luck. It’s clarity, alignment, consistency and belief. That scarcity triggers that. The belief that spirals in a downward direction. It’s what it’s meant to keep you safe. Like that’s what it’s there to serve. It’s not kind of aligned with where you wanna go.

So instead of asking, why is this so hard now, try asking what are people who are thriving doing differently? And what can I learn from that? So look for that evidence. Look for people who are, you know, still doing well. Talk to other people, ask questions. Um, use their success as evidence of possibility, not proof that you’re falling behind.

That’s really key. Don’t use it as a comparison to beat yourself up with, use it as evidence. ’cause if it’s possible for them, it’s possible for all of us. All of us. And you’re not broken. The opportunity didn’t dry up. It’s still here. Money is still circulating. You’re still spending money, you know, people are still spending money.

Clients are still saying yes, and your work is still needed. You just may need to adjust how you’re showing up and receiving it. You don’t have to wait for the economy to turn around to make money. You just have to believe that it’s possible for you. Even now, I say that not again to spiritually bypass anybody, but we get to make this decision.

We get to decide how we show up. We get to decide how resilient and creative we wanna be in this season. There are others doing it, so let’s use that as evidence to support ourselves to do it too. That’s the mindset I’m taking on.

Sabrina: Yeah. I love that so much. I hope everybody like, like I’m almost tempted to pull that out, that part out and do something with it for our audience so that they can like have a tangible, readable.

Nugget to take with them. That was beautiful and so impactful. So many statements you said in there were fantastic. I personally wrote down evidence of possibility. Um, I think that’s huge and that can really rewire kind of what we said all the way back at the beginning, that I’m alone in this, that I’ve done something wrong, that I’m broken, my offers are broken.

You’re right, there are people that are thriving. I’m still spending money. Like a lot of it, you know, and there are things going really well. So the evidence of possibility is just that statement is extremely positive and just feels really good. So I hope our listeners latch onto that because I think it’s really impactful.

So. Uh, you know, ’cause you’ve been on the podcast before that. I love to end with kind of rapid fire questions, but I’m gonna give you the chance. Is there any last thought that you didn’t get a chance to say about this topic that we’ve been chatting about that you wanna throw out there before we get into the rapid fire?

Kelly: I guess the, yeah. Thank you for, for that. There’s one other thing I want people to think about is like, because sometimes they can feel like, oh my God, I need a new offer. I need to find, find new leads. Where are they? Where are they? Like, that’s a mindset in and of itself. And so I just thought about some things like, and especially in this season, like.

New offers can take a lot of energy. So what are the things that you’re doing? And I wanna share a story and it’s evidence of possibility. What could, what are you already doing that’s working? Maybe it’s the payment plan, like those little tweaks of, of offering it just in a different way or taking something you’re already doing and putting it into a VIP.

People love like to hurry up or they like it, you know, maybe there. You know, maybe you’re not booked for this weekend and somebody would love that opportunity to book you. Like put it out there. You know, it’s still something you’re doing. It aligns for you. It could align for them. Might be an opportunity they don’t normally get to book somebody that quick.

You know, asking for referrals from your current network. Like there are warm opportunities out there and it can feel like there’s nothing but they’re in your universe. It’s just kind of. Getting creative, not being afraid to ask for them. Um, I think that’s really important too, that we don’t have to recreate things here.

It’s just, again, little tweaks, creativity, what’s already working, what could be changed a little bit to make it feel fresh and new and exciting for you and for the people you’re you’re selling to. And then the little story, we have a mutual and she just boxed me today. She did a, it’s, it’s a new offer, but it’s her offer with a little more personal touch.

I know what story

Sabrina: you’re about to tell and I’m excited about it. Yeah, but go ahead. Alright, well I’m not

Kelly: gonna name names. Yeah. But she sold eight of her offer for something that normally might be different. Normally it’s like 1500 for her program and she’s selling at 35, 400, 4,000, 3,500, 4,000 because people wanted that little more personal touch.

She had no idea it would sell like this. She just told me about it today and I’m like, I’m gonna mention this because it’s just evidence of possibility. She sold eight of those when she never dreamt and it had been kind of sitting there. People were ready for it. Um, and it was fun and exciting to her to offer it.

She didn’t even have to do an email. It was all through Instagram. If anybody showed an interest, she replied to them in the dms personally and sent them to the, to a little sales page. She never even had to email the audience. So I just share that, not, not for comparison, but just to say it’s happening, you know?

And I get that benefit. I get to see the, you know, in everybody’s drawers and everything, everything that’s happening and people are still making money. And I promise you that. And even if you need to borrow my belief, ’cause it’s not feeling like it’s happening in your world. It’s possible for you to, um, especially when you, you know, just ground yourself, feel the feelings, and then move into a new mindset to create from there.

Sabrina: That was so good. And it’s so funny because I know exactly who you’re talking about and I totally thought I’ve watched it happen and I was like, good for you girl. I was so happy for her, so that’s exciting. Um, okay, let’s do the fun questions to end with. Kelly. Do you have a hobby or something fun that you are pursuing purely for joy this year?

Kelly: My favorite thing right now is that we’re fostering kittens. This started in like November when I had no time to add anything like this, and I started volunteering at the shelter, and then I started fostering and I call all the applications. So it’s my pure joy. It’s so much fun.

Sabrina: Oh my gosh. How many do you have?

Kelly: We have five right now.

Sabrina: Oh my gosh. We’re

Kelly: keeping one of them.

Sabrina: Is it hard for your daughter to let them go?

Kelly: She like, it’s exciting to get the next batch. Okay. We are keeping one. ’cause we’re all smitten with her. But, uh, yeah. You know, so far we’ve been doing good with it. You do kinda have to go in with that mindset.

You’re not, you can’t keep ’em all because then you have no space to help the next group. Yeah. Oh my gosh, that’s so fun.

Sabrina: Yeah. I love that. Um, what is something that you are always up to talk about?

Kelly: Well, we know it’s money. That’s, yeah. I’ll always talk about animals. I’ll always talk about politics, but only with certain people and, um, art, creativity.

Sabrina: And then I am super curious, where’s your next vacation or travel planned for?

Kelly: Well, I just got through a bunch. I’ve done, I’ve been all over little trips, concerts. Um, our next one’s, not till Thanksgiving, we go to just Justin, Lily and I go to Ithaca for a little getaway and it’s so peaceful and so much fun.

Do you go for the whole week? We leave on Wednesday. We do Wednesday through Sunday and just cook our little dinner. And our family doesn’t love it, but it’s become a little thing for us. That’s, we just need that time. Just the three of us together.

Sabrina: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I love that so much. And then last thing, what is a business tool or a hack that you’re loving right now

Kelly: we’re back into Notion.

Have you ever used Notion? Yeah, I used it years ago just for notes and then I. Sorry, I got a template for, you know, to use and we use probably 30% of it, so now we’re expanding into more of it and it’s really fun, it’s really capable. I, of course, love my income tracker, and that’s a shameless plug, but I really do think now, now more than ever, like track what’s coming in, like celebrate what’s coming in, be really grateful for it.

That also is a good part of the money mindset. You have to manage your command, your energy when you’re doing it, to not be like, oh, it was zero today. You really do have to navigate that. But when you can come at a, from a place of like setting a goal, celebrating every little piece that comes in, it can be a really powerful shift.

Um, so it’s a shameless Yeah. But it comes out in letters if anybody’s interested.

Sabrina: Yeah. I love that. So let’s end with that. Will you tell the audience where they can find you and how they can work with you?

Kelly: Yeah. So, um, Terra Care, T-E-R-R-A-C-A-R-E financial.com is our website. I love when people start with, I’ve got a Sacred Money archetype assessment, which I’ve talked about in some of your, some of the opportunities I’ve had to be with your group.

I won’t go into that today, but it’s a great place to start. It gives you some insight into how you make your money decisions, and it’s a great place to start. And then you get on our newsletter list. I have free strategy calls. Somebody can book, you know, they may not even know that they’re ready or what they need yet, but I’m always open to those conversations and, um, we have ways to serve people that just kind of want a little insight.

And then we have ways to really fully support them monthly with bookkeeping and or bookkeeping and CFO advisory to coaching. So we’ve got a lot of ways that we can help people and I’ve love to have those conversations. Our people are always very aligned, so I, uh, I love getting people from your world.

Sabrina: Yeah. And I can personally vouch for, I think, every way to work for with you. I mean, we’ve done ’em all. We, I think we’ve done them all at this point. I dipped my toes in at first, and then I have slowly expanded, um, how much I’m working with you. And so I can vouch for like every step of the way that. Truly, even if you decide just to book like a one hour call.

Uh, because for a long time I did that and then I just walked away and we were friends. And then it wasn’t like, I, like you can, you had a bookkeeper. Certainly. Yeah. Well, and you didn’t keep like, upselling me into things. It was just like, when you’re ready. And so I can say that even from the smallest thing, it’s incredibly impactful.

So. So everybody reach out to Kelly and then in the event that you are not in this position that we’re talking about today, you’re not feeling that kind of financial ick or struggle or drought business is booming for you. Amazing. Go back and listen to our chat from episode 113 and we talked about the opposite.

We talked about how to make money moves. When things are good. And that was a great chat. So we’ve got both sides of this, of the coin covered. I about that. Yeah. That, yeah. So, uh, go back and listen to that episode. I’ll have it linked in the show notes, um, if you’re in a different season. But my friend, thank you for your time today.

I knew this was gonna be a great chat and it was great having me. Thanks so much for listening to the Shoot It Straight podcast. You can find all the full show notes and details from today’s episode@sabrinagehart.com slash podcast. Come find me and connect over on the gram at Sabrina Gehart Photography.

If you’re loving the podcast, I’d be honored if you hit that subscribe button and leave me a review. Until next time, my friends. Shoot it straight.