Happy Monday, friends!
If you’ve been around here for a while, you know that we’re major Dave Ramsey fan-girls. Like we’re one step away from hanging a poster of his face in our house and making matching t-shirts for his next webcast. He’s never written a hit song, and he doesn’t exactly look like Ryan Gosling, but the wisdom he shares in his books and on his radio show about financial peace and entrepreneurial principles has radically changed our life. The longer we’re married and the longer we run this business, we’re only finding what he teaches to be more and more powerful, and so, so true. One of our all-time favorite quotes from him is:
“The next five years of your life will be determined by two things: the people you meet and the books you read.”
And oh, friends, nothing has been more true in our life. When we think back to where we were five years ago, we were just two newly married elementary school teachers with a dream that seemed far-fetched and almost impossible. We had no formal training in photography or business, and in fact, we didn’t even own a single piece of professional equipment! We knew nothing, and we craved knowledge. We read a mountain of business books, absorbed them like sponges, and worked day and night to apply all that wisdom to building our dream. And one thing we know for sure, is that without the people we met who took a chance on us, believed in us, poured into us, inspired us and cheered us on, we would never be where we are today. The people we’ve met and the books we’ve read have actually changed everything for us. That’s why we’re so passionate about empowering other creative business owners. We know what it feels like to start with nothing but a dream, and we want to be those people for as many people as we can.
And here’s the funny thing about business, friends. We learned pretty quickly that there’s no such thing as “making it.” In fact, we can stand here today and say “making it” is a myth. Every goal we’ve set for ourselves to this point? We’ve hit them all. Exceeded them, actually, and even accomplished some things that were so far beyond our radar that we never even imagined them. But we’ve also learned that “it” just doesn’t exist. We now know that if we ever get to the point where we feel like there’s nothing left to learn, that’s when we should be worried. We’re committed to being life-long learners and bringing as many people with us as we can. We want to impact lives and make a real difference in this world, and we know that if we’re not growing, we’re dying, which is why we make furthering our own education a priority and carve out a part of each week to do it. This week, we’re re-reading Entreleadership, one of Dave Ramsey’s books — because we’re in the process of making a big business decision in the next few months and needed some advice from someone who turned his business from a card table in his living room into a team of people (more on that later this summer) — and we just had to share something we came across that struck us and spoke directly to our hearts.
“Benjamin Zander has been the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra since 1979. At age forty-five, something changed within him. He explains, ‘I’d been conducting for twenty years, and I suddenly had a realization. The conductor of an orchestra doesn’t make a sound. His power depends on his ability to make other people powerful. And that changed everything for me. I realized my job was to awaken possibility in other people. If their eyes are shining, you know you’re doing it. If the eyes are not shining, you get to ask a question: who am I being that my players’ eyes are not shining?'”
Wow. Awakening possibility. That is what it’s all about. That’s what we want to be all about. And that’s why we’re so excited to announce that we will be speaking at Creative at Heart in Charleston, South Carolina this November. We’ve been watching this conference grow from afar, and love that it’s all about awakening that possibility as creative entrepreneurs and supporting each other, learning from one another, building each other up and cheering each other on. There is an incredible lineup of speakers who have huge hearts for strengthening this industry as a whole, and we are so honored that we get to be a part of it. We’ll be speaking on the power of social media, and we can’t wait to dive deep! Here’s a little look at what this conference is all about:
Photo by Annamarie Akins
P.S. The last Creative at Heart Conference sold out in only 18 hours, so we wanted to let you know to set your alarms for tonight! 8pm EST (5pm PST) There will be a special early bird rate that lasts for 24 hours only, which will save you $250 when you register! You can find out more about the Creative at Heart conference and register right here! We hope to see you there, friends!
P.S.S. Wanna catch the other conferences we’ll be a part of this year? We’d love to see you at United and Reset!
