#465: The Key to Going Bigger with Heather!

0:00I'm on this journey with me. Each week when you join me. You're going to chase down our goals, overcome adversity and set you up for a better tomorrow. I'm ready for my close-up. Hi, and welcome back. I'm so glad you're back here with me this week. Okay, so I told you last week that I was heading to LA to speak for an event, to work with this team that I've recently partnered with and also had a pretty big photo shoot. There was a lot of stuff going on, a lot of events in this one week. So it was interesting. I had posted some behind the scenes on my Instagram. If you don't follow me on Instagram, it's at Heather Monahan.

0:42And I usually give some real time stuff. I mean, obviously, my social media is always planned out in advance. But my stories are oftentimes if I can get myself to do it, you know, if I'm like, oh, my gosh, can someone film while I'm doing this? And they do. Then I post in real time, you know, in my stories, what's happening. So last week, one of the days I was at a photo shoot with my new partner. And it's interesting because I asked one of the women that was there on the team if she could just do some, you know, BTS behind the scenes for me. And she did. She was great. So, so thoughtful. So nice.

1:18There aren't always people there, you know, to do that. Plenty of my speaking events. Sadly, I'm by myself and there's no one on the team that's available. And I don't get to share that stuff with you guys. it bums me out truly by the time I'm leaving, I'm rushing to catch a plane or whatever. And I don't remember to ask for, you know, the follow up or you just don't have enough bandwidth and you leave and you're on to the next thing. So I love when I can get this behind the scenes stuff for you. Listen, it's not all of it's perfect, but you know, geez, not most of it's not perfect. However, like anything, it's like a podcast, right?

1:51If you, whenever I have someone on my show, I say to them, listen, there's something that comes up during the show. You didn't like it, let me know. My team can fix it in post-production, right? Same with when you're doing a photo shoot or a video shoot. We were doing both on this day and last week. So I know that. The way I know that is because I've done this so many times. I started doing shoots for my brand seven years ago. Might even be seven and a half years ago because it was right before I got fired. To that end, I know that number one, I'm going to hire and work with the best. I only want to work with good people.

2:24I'm not working with people who have never done a professional shoot before because I know the quality is not going to be as good. I know they haven't been where I want to go, right? I have a vision of where I want this to go. My partner had a vision. Actually, this was definitely led by my partner, but I trust her immensely. She's running at a much higher level than I am. So it's all about, you know, the people we choose to run with are either going to speed us up in the process and get us to the next level, or they're going to hold us back. You need to take a look at the people you're running with, the people you're partnering with, and the people you're in business with, right?

2:53And in your personal life too, it's no different. the friends you're running with, the whole thing. It's all so similar. Who you run with is going to be indicative of who you're going to become. And I'm so happy that my new partner is so, gosh, she's light years ahead of me in many, many, many ways. And so I'm so grateful to be partnered with her. Okay. So what I would say is this, you know, she had already brought in people that were next level, great, knew what they were doing. She'd worked with them before. They were incredible, right? They had vision, they've done big things, like they know what they're doing.

3:22So invest in yourself. I will always go back to this. One of the biggest things you can do is make an investment in yourself. It's you telling yourself that you're worthy, you telling yourself you're worth it. My first photo shoot I ever did, I'll never forget. Like I said, it was right before I got fired, a little before seven years ago. I paid$20 ,000 to spend a day with a really high profile photographer and videographer. And that was a fortune. That was aggressive that I spent that much. But I had this idea in my mind. I really wanted this to be so, so good. And it's funny. People still ask if they can use one of the images from that photo shoot because it was that good.

3:58I mean, it literally it made it to the cover of the finance section on USA Today. So make that big investment, make that big, bold move. And you might be surprised how long it will serve you for. Right. So I'd rather make a crazy big investment in something and then use it for seven years versus not spend a lot on something and never even use the pictures. Right. That's a waste. Okay, so work with people who are real high caliber and know what they're doing. The other thing, you know, people are sending me all these messages. How do you find confidence in yourself on a shoot, a photo shoot or a video shoot?

4:28Here's what the reality is. I've been recording podcast episodes in audio and video now for more than five years, right? So put the reps in weekly. I'm constantly seeing myself on video. I have been speaking my entire career in corporate America, which is 20 something years ever since leaving, which is over seven years. So almost 30 years I've been filmed speaking everywhere I speak. People have been taking pictures everywhere I speak. Right. That's just par for the course. So when you put the reps in, of course, you don't get as nervous. When I first started, when people first started filming me, I was a train wreck.

5:06I was so nervous, right, sweating bullets and you could see it. But the more you show up and put the reps in, the better you're going to get. You got to start as a beginner. You got to start one day. Why not start now? And I'll tell you, one of the people in my September group, I have my September group coaching program. I record each of the live Zooms and I share it back with the team after. And she watched it and she was really upset at how she looked on camera, at how she sounded, at her voice. Here's the thing. Until you become aware, you don't know, right? So until you start watching footage back of you, You don't know how you seem or appear.

5:41And these days, everybody's on Zoom at some point, right? You're on a Zoom meeting, you're on a Zoom deal, you're on a Zoom conference, whatever. Start to get to know how you show up on camera. It's going to help you in business and in life. A hundred percent, right? You want to put your best foot forward. Meet a different guest each week.

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9:15One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was the day I was doing a brand shoot that I had been asked to be in because of my brand. There was a supermodel there. And so they asked me to do a couple of pictures alone with her. Mind you, I was 20 years older than her. I was like rolling my eyes. I thought, oh my gosh, I can't believe you're doing this to me. But she was so cool, so nice. and I said to her, what piece of ice are you going to give me before they start snapping that camera at the two of us? And she said, just keep moving. Whatever you do, don't get stuck. Don't stay still. Just keep moving.

9:45And it's so, so true. And I just think about that message that she imparted on me. I also think of, you know, I judged Miss America and being around that team and the contestants for a week and spending time with all these people who had done these things so much more. They've been photographed so much more than I had been. I got to hear their conversations, see their poses, see what they were doing. And it's funny, I'm never in a photo anymore without hitting the angles. And even if you look at it, it's crazy. I can even be speaking in most of them. I'll be hitting angles. I don't even know I'm doing it anymore, but I've spent so much time in front of cameras around people who are in front of cameras and being covered with video.

10:25It's second nature, right? Like I saw for a year stuff I didn't like. So I silently started tweaking it and fixing it. And I always watch the video back. You want to see yourself back, right? So put the reps in, get real, spend time with people who've done the thing you want to do and you want to get better at. The other thing I would say is only ride and die with people who have your back. My partner totally has my back. She's a very confident person. She doesn't second guess things. And I'm similar in that way. So for us, we kind of go in there like knowing it's going to go amazing. Those are the people you want to be with.

10:55You don't want to be with people full of doubt that don't really have your back. They're second guessing you. They're giving you side eye, right? All of that's going to throw you off and not allow you to be your best. The other thing I would say is colors matter, right? Like the colors of the set, the colors of the clothing you're going to wear. If you're doing, I was doing a shoot with somebody else, right? So knowing that our colors could work together, all those things impact a final image and the final work that you're going to get. So you want to be thoughtful about stuff. Doing a mood board ahead of time is super important.

11:24My partner had built out a whole mood board about what she wanted us to do. Put the time and like success and great things don't just appear by chance. 99 % of the time, it's hard work. It's preparation. It's thoughtfulness. It's communication, right? It's working with people who are running at a high level and investing in you. The other thing I would say is remind yourself of other times you might've been nervous, what it was that you did different to pull it off, right? The things in the times I don't like photo shoots or video is when I was stiff and sweating and nervous, right? So I step into, I don't need to be like that anymore.

11:58I know things can, you know, there's tons of outtakes. We don't need to use that stuff. If it didn't come out well, we'll throw that part in the trash and pick up the next part that looks great. Something will end up great. Like you could go and take nine or 10 pictures and one of them will be great, but that's probably all you're going to get, right? So go in with that mentality and be good with it. Like even these pro photo shoots or these, you know, Miss America contests, it's not all gold. Most of it gets tossed out the window and that's okay. That's par for the course. So like be accepting and be real with yourself.

12:30Don't set this unrealistic idea that, you know, it's all has to be perfect. That's not real. That's fake. And that's going to set you for failure. The other thing I would say is music. Music is so important for me. It's that is everything. If someone said to me, there's going to be no music on set, I'd be like, what? Bringing my own boom box. Forget that. No, I need my hip hop, right? Like if you hit a beat for me, I don't care if it's that soul cycle on a run or in a photo shoot, you are going to get next level Monahan. That's what's going to happen because I can't help myself. I get soul fired up, right?

13:03And I'm sure there's, I don't know what your music is. It could be anything, but just like bring that playlist of your life and get fired up for it and visualize that whole day going amazing and get excited and like start stepping into that persona of like that best version of you fired up, having fun, constantly moving, constantly vibing. Don't judge yourself. And I promise you, you're going to get something really good. But again, it starts with that mindset and that knowing that, listen, I know this is going to be crazy. I know this is going to be next level. By the way, I haven't seen our final picks yet, our final video.

13:35So I'm talking a lot of trash right now. I'm assuming it's going to be great. But the stuff I saw behind the scenes, I was super happy with. So we'll move forward with that attitude and move forward with it. Of course, the best is yet to come. I can't wait to see it. Okay, so that's my tips on how to show up as the best version, most confident version of you with photography, with doing a video. Again, don't take it too seriously. Just have a blast. Have fun and stop judging yourself. Know that everyone's more concerned about themselves than they ever are with us. Okay, so today I had the opportunity to go to church and it was the nine-year anniversary of VU Church, which is, if you've been with me, you know I love my VU, and you can watch VU Church online.

14:13Today was the nine-year anniversary. It was so cool. My son and I have been going now for, I think, almost four years, at least three, if not four now, and we absolutely love our church. It's incredible, but to hear our pastor walk us through that journey and hearing him talk about how nine years ago, it was him and a handful of friends sitting in his apartment, calling it a church, right? They had a vision for the future. They had a vision for where they were going, but that vision wasn't real. They were in a little apartment room calling it a church. And then he walked us through how over the next year he started, you know, to build and encourage others and the people who started it with him started encouraging others.

14:52And the next thing you know, they got a really small place at a rescue mission, which was really small. And he showed us a picture. And then a year after that, it started building and getting bigger and bigger. and they went to an elementary school and the elementary school allowed them to use their facility on the weekend so they could fit more people. And then by the third year, they were able to get a much larger location. And then the pandemic hit and everything went to virtual. And that's hard because you think you're going to lose some ground. But instead, they came out of the pandemic so much stronger.

15:20They had built their online presence, their YouTube channel, their podcast, like, you know, starting to get millions of downloads. and they now secured a second location and bought a building. They didn't own it outright, but they were making payments on it. And then a year later, they paid off the building and then they got another location. And then our pastor's father became ill and he had to step back from running his church. So our pastor bought his location. So now there's four locations and they also are preaching at prisons. And like I said, online. And he just walked us through this whole trajectory from in his apartment nine years ago to now where they have four thriving locations, millions of views on YouTube, on the podcast.

16:04They're working with these prisons. I mean, there's thousands and thousands of people in Miami going to these different locations in Voo Church every single week. And the impact they're having is incredible and massive. But he shared that if he had known how hard all this was going to be nine years ago, he probably wouldn't have done it because it would have been too daunting a task. but instead he would just focus on that big vision that he had for his future and that next step that he could take not knowing what would lie ahead but having faith that God would guide him in that right direction and that having faith that the best is yet to come and he shared with us today that after his father stepped back a year ago and had cancer and was going through medical treatments that today he is healed and healthy and it's just it's one miracle after another and it just reminded me, you know, of my own journey, my own challenges.

16:53And I want you to think about yours that my gosh, of seven years ago, I'd known how hard it was going to be to build my own business and get here today. I probably wouldn't have done it. I probably would have just said, hang it up. I'm going to go back to corporate and, you know, figure out another job. And I'm so grateful I don't. But to my pastor's point, finding success is a lot of work and it is a journey of highs and lows and not giving up believing in yourself and focusing on your faith and reminding yourself that you need to surrender. You need to surrender to a higher power because you're not going to have all of the answers.

17:28And we can't assume that we are or blame ourselves when we don't, or get locked up with fear because we don't know how to handle the uncertainty. Instead, let go, let God and remind yourself that the best is yet to come because it truly, truly is. And it was just such a fun journey today to go through that experience with him. You can absolutely see if you go to his YouTube channel, Voo Church YouTube, you'll be able to see this message. And it's a nine year anniversary of Voo Church. And it's just, it's such a beautiful story. And it made it so real to me that we're all going through this journey, no matter what it is, nobody has all the answers.

18:08And yes, it's so much easier to do in community when you're in community with others that have your back that are good people that are like-minded with you and when you have faith. And it was an incredible day-to-day because Mass was that good and the message was that good. So no matter where you are on your journey, if you're not there, oh my gosh, life is short. Just start stepping into your passion and your purpose and know that the doors will open. No, it's not all going to be perfect. There's going to be plenty of turbulence along the way after I just got off my flight from LA and there was plenty of turbulence on that flight, but turbulence is temporary, right?

18:41And we just have to have that faith that we're meant for more. We've been put here for a reason and not sure exactly how it's all going to work out, but it's all going to get better. And I'm going to stay focused on that future cast vision of where we are going and why we are doing what we're doing. And as we do that and we move forward with faith and we practice gratitude and all that is so good in our lives, more goodness keeps coming in.

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20:35Visit northwestregisteredagent.com slash confidence free and start building something amazing. Get more with Northwest Registered Agent at www.northwestregisteredagent.com slash confidence free. I ask you to try to find your passion. But the keys go back to you. And then I just say this, you know, having left this week with all these amazing women and my incredible partner, surround yourself with great people that have your back. It all starts there. For me, when I was running with people who did not have my back for years and years, I wouldn't understand why things took so long. I wouldn't understand why things weren't necessarily going the way I'd hoped or wanted.

21:18And I understand it now. You've got to remove the negative, toxic people from your life if you want positive people to start showing up. and winning and succeeding and building momentum all comes from running with people who are running a little bit ahead of you. Stretch yourself to find those people and I'm so grateful in so many different areas of my business, my podcast, my new business ventures that I'm running with people who are ahead of me. That's how we start running faster. So if you wanna run faster, you've got to get in community and I have my October group for you. This is the least expensive way to work with me live that I ever do.

21:54I haven't done it since pandemic and I've been doing it for the past two months. I keep saying, I don't know if I'm going to do it for one more month. I am going to do it for October. And the reason why is I had a few people reach out to me directly and ask me to. And so I'm going to do it because I don't want to let people down. So it's every Monday night at 5 p.m. EST. We are live on Zoom. The link is in my bio on Instagram. The link is in my bio on LinkedIn. The link is on my website at heathermonahan.com. And I'd love to have you while we have seats left. The transformation I've seen in people over the last few months has been nothing short of incredible.

22:27And it's not surprising anymore because I see what happens when like-minded people start running with people who are running a pace or two ahead of them. They start moving faster and they start being blown away by the results that they're getting. So today is the time to invest in you. Maybe five years ago was the best time. Today is the only time. Don't wait any longer. Don't wait for that future vision of you. I spent a couple of days this past week working with people I had never met before, forming relationships with incredible people that I know will be in my life as friends forever. And the only way you're going to start finding people like that is to show up in rooms where you don't know people, to show up and put yourself out there, to step into fear.

23:10Because fear is a green light that means go and go faster or grow and grow faster. And that's what my hope is for you. And if my stuff isn't the right stuff for you, that's fine too. But find a group where you feel you are called to join. Don't do it alone. No one succeeds alone. And that includes your girl right here. That is for sure. So wanting you to know that one of the messages I took away from this last week was everything is rigged in my favor. And the reality is it's all rigged in your favor too. Just start allowing it. Have faith that that is exactly how it's been set up for you and that the best is yet to come.