Is it possible to have both your dream life and a business you love? Can you have everything you want and still enjoy success at work? The answer is a full body yes! Whether it's a life of travel or spending your days happily at home, living your dream life is completely possible. Many people think you need to hustle 24/7 in your business to have enough freedom to live the way you want to. However, that's not the case — if you’re living from a place of deep worthiness.
Diana is living proof that you can live a life you love and still run your dream business. In this solo episode of The Pollen Podcast, Diana reflects on how you can connect your dream life with your real life. She dives into three things you need to do to nurture your dreams and goals. From setting boundaries to knowing what you want, work towards living a life you love.
Tune in to this episode and find out how and why you need to know your worth to attain the life of your dreams.
Create your own creative entrepreneurship story of clarity, professional confidence, and profit. Join Diana’s 90-day group course Camp Clarity and learn everything you wish you already knew, like how to land dream clients, harness the power of social media, and make the money you deserve. Learn more here.
🔥Here are three reasons why you should listen to this episode:
Visualizing your day-to-day life and identifying what doesn't align with your big vision for the future.
How to anchor your prices in a way that feels deeply in line with your innate worthiness.
How setting boundaries with your time and schedule create space for abundance.
📘Resources
Achieve the life, career, and clients you’ve always wanted (and fully deserve!). Sign up for Diana’s Camp Clarity Course now!
Join the Spring Retreat this May in Greece. Get your slot and sign up before January 15, 2023 to get a bonus one-on-one coaching call with Diana!
Are you an entrepreneur who wants to create something new and take the next step forward? Join the Ascend Mastermind and keep thriving with Diana and the class!
Pollen Episodes to look back on:
Access other courses from the Diana Davis Creative
🎧Episode Highlights
[01:19] Diana’s Days in Brisbane
Diana's recording this episode from Brisbane, Australia, after a tough week.
For a while now, she has been feeling lonely and lost. However, she’s now on the upswing and getting back into the groove of work and life.
[02:52] The Connect and Disconnect Between Dream and Reality
Diana asks: can you build a life you love while running a business you enjoy? The resounding answer is yes, it's definitely possible!
[03:43] Diana: “You really can have a life you love and a business that supports it. And a business you love not just a business that makes you money, but also an actual business that you're excited to wake up and do in the morning.” - Click Here To Tweet This
Here’s a little exercise for you. Picture the day ahead of you and how it might go. Think about how your day-to-day life goes.
Look for the disconnect between what you imagined and how your day goes.
You can also find out where it connects. These are the points in your day when what you’re doing works for you.
[07:15] Setting Your Boundaries In Time
Set yourself up for success by setting boundaries in your calendar and time.
Don’t be afraid to have hard conversations to enforce your boundaries. Take control of the hours in your day and how you spend them.
Know your worth, how much your time is worth, and how much your effort is worth.
Block your days and hours. When are your work times? When is your personal time?
[09:17] Know Your Worth
Pricing is another boundary. If you find yourself burnt out and still not making enough, maybe it's time to consider how much you charge.
Don’t be afraid to charge more. Know your worth. Don’t do yourself the disservice of undercharging yourself.
[13:34] Diana: “Make sure you're stepping into that sommelier avatar, that alter ego. Step into that high status and know your work is fucking worth it. And by making more money and working less, you are going to automatically start to have more of a life of your dreams because you have space and time to breathe.” - Click Here To Tweet This
Align your business and your pricing with the life of your dreams.
If you’re new to the field, you might not be able to charge higher. But as you gain experience, you’ll get to where you want to be.
Find ways to reach more people while spending less time and effort.
[12:19] A Clear Vision of Your Dream Life
Be clear about what your dream life and business look like. Know what you need and desire to have in your life.
Diana knew that she wanted to travel the world. She actively worked toward making it happen; now, she's living her dream life.
[18:03] Diana: “You can't just sit on the couch and expect it to happen. You can't complain that your bank account is empty, and be like, ‘What the fuck, where's my dream.’ You have to be smart and proactive and your own biggest advocate.” - Click Here To Tweet This
Know what you’re worth and set your pricing and boundaries. Be clear on your dream and proactively work towards it.
[18:46] How Diana Made it Happen
Before traveling the world, Diana had plans to support herself while living her dream life.
Diana planned to hustle photoshoots and take jobs wherever she went to make her dream become reality.
Things didn’t go exactly as planned, but everything happened as it did for a reason.
Everything will fall into place, but you can't just wait for it to happen. While waiting for your dream life, set your boundaries and prices. Keep on enjoying each day.
Let your business support you even if it’s not yet the dream life you’re looking for. In time, it’s what will get you to your goal.
Enjoyed this Podcast on Cultivating a Life and Business You Love?
If you're pushing aside your dreams because you think achieving them is impossible, pause. Check that limiting belief. You may be closing yourself off to opportunities before they even come. If you know your worth, you can create boundaries and set prices that bring you closer to your dream life and a business that supports it.
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Transcript
Diana Davis: Can we build our life around our business? Can we have all the things we want and still have a booming, successful entity? Is that possible, and how? Right? And I do want to tell you that it is possible, because I'm living it right now, and, of course, there's ups and downs.
Welcome to Pollen, the podcast for creative entrepreneurs. I'm your host, Diana Davis, multi-passionate creative, business coach, Gemini, manifesting-generator, matcha drinker, and travel junkie.
I'm also the founder of Diana Davis Creative, where I went from a six-figure photography business to coaching creative entrepreneurs like you. If you want to have a career and a life you love, you're in the right place. On this show, I'll be coaching on all things creative entrepreneurship, and you'll hear stories from fellow creative entrepreneurs that will show you it is possible to do life the way you want to.
They'll share the nitty gritty of their journeys, like the real shit, and how they are doing it differently. I'm stoked to have you along on this journey. Let's go. Yo, yo. Another solo soapbox episode coming your way. We're coming at you from Brisbane, Australia; new place every week. I won't lie, this one was a little bit of a tough week, it was kind of one of the first times I was feeling super solo, and a little lonely, and a little like I needed to hit the panic button.
Just feeling like even if I had a chance to go “home,” I don't even know where that is because I don't know where I want to live. I don't live anywhere, and I'm literally on a completely different continent away from everything; completely different timezone. And I know no one here but my web designer and whoever I meet on Hinge. I did meet a lady on the ferry yesterday and a couple have bought me a drink at the bar.
So, you know, to be fair– but that aside, we're on the upswing, taking care of myself. I was able to get back in the swing of work. It's actually Thanksgiving week when I am recording this, which its– I think its own flavor where everyone's just kind of doing their thing with their family. And I'm over here in Australia enjoying the weather and sitting in my tower looking at the beautiful Brisbane skyline. But other than that, definitely not celebrating with family.
Sending you all my love. I hope you add a Happy Holiday, those that celebrate and those that are in America. But today, I want to talk about can we have a life we love– Like really love, not just like compromising, and a career we love? Can we build our life around our business? Can we have all the things we want and still have a booming, successful entity? Is that possible, and how? Right?
I do want to tell you that it is possible, because I'm living it right now, and, of course, there's ups and downs. Just like this week being really difficult and lonely and a little like mentally challenging, right? But you really can have a life you love and a business that supports it, and a business you love. Not just a business that makes you money, but also an actual business that you're excited to wake up and do in the morning.
An exercise I just want you to think of right now, maybe close your eyes for a second. Just wherever you are, unless you're driving. Maybe put both feet flat on the floor. Put your hands on your thighs and actually feel your physical body and get into it for a second. Maybe put your hands on your heart. Close down the eyes again if you haven't, and just breathe, and I want you to picture you’re snugly in bed and its crisp sheets.
Light is pouring in through a window. Maybe you feel a beautiful breeze. It's that kind of naked weather, where it's not too hot, not too cold. What do you get up out of bed to do? What does your day look like? Who are you? Who are you with? Are you buzzing out of bed ready to go to an office? Are you having a slow morning? Are you waking up before sunrise to shoot with your favorite models on the Brooklyn Bridge?
Are you packing for your next flight? Are you sitting pulling oracle cards, drinking your matcha, watching the sun come up, and lazily getting into your work day where you sit at a kitchen table with your computer? What does life look like to you on the day-to-day? What little things fulfill you? What are you yearning for? What makes you happy? And maybe, you're living it right now. So picture that in your mind and really anchor it in. And just breathe.
You can open your eyes slowly, and I want you to just think about that image. Are you there? Where are the disconnects without judging them? Are you working until 2am, and burnt out? Are you doing 11 shoots a week for a little pay? Are you working for the man and you hate it? Are you an entrepreneur and it's just not working for you? You're so stressed about money, etc.? What is going on? Where are the disconnects, and where the connects?
Where does it work? Where are you already doing the thing that you love? And I will say, there's a few things that make it to where you can live a life of your dreams, and have your business support it if that is actually your desire, to have a business and be an entrepreneur. One of those things is boundaries and time management. Where can you start setting yourself up for success in your calendar, in your communication, in your boundaries?
Are you shooting all weekend, and therefore, you are never able to have a family weekend or a friend's weekend, and you're cranky and burnt out and resentful and not connecting with your people that means so much to you? Are you, like I said, staying up until 2 a.m. working on web design with last minute edits from a client who's really finicky and pushy and doesn't respect your time? Where do we need to set the boundary?
Where do we need to say, “Hey, I'm actually not available on weekends. Hey, my prices are actually raising, I'm stoked you're here. Thank you for supporting me. Thank you also for supporting me through this price raise as I grow my business, and as I take more time for myself.” Right? Where is that disconnect? Where do those boundaries need to happen? Where does the communication need to happen, the hard conversations need to happen?
Where do you just need to block it on your fucking calendar, and not let anyone book a session or a VIP day or a phone call on that day or during those hours? Are you always on a call at 7pm at night when your family is eating dinner? Guess what? You're in control of that. What needs to change there? The second thing is pricing, which is a boundary. Where can we raise our prices?
Where can we get smarter about our business model? This is when things come in, like group courses or one-to-many. Is it possible to do one-to-many for your business. And I use this example a lot, but something even like ceramics or being a ceramicist, what if we made beautiful wedding plates or party plates that could be rented out again and again and again, making money off of one piece.
That's one-to-many just like me, teaching 21 creative entrepreneurs in Camp Clarity, or 11 ladies in my mastermind for ASCEND. That's one-to-many as well. Doing many shoots where you are in one location but you have seven people come to you in one day, so you're not moving around and wasting time. They're coming to you and you're just shooting them like crazy. Photographing them one after the other. That can be one-to-many.
Teaching a paid masterclass can be one-to-many. Teaching a group course can be one-to-many teaching a metal smithing course can be one-to-many. And then, those one-off things make it worth it. If you're coming to me, and you're saying, “I'm just so booked out. I have photoshoots all weekend long. I'm so busy. I have so many inquiries.” And you tell me that you're burnt out and not making enough money, something doesn't compute there.
Because you have proof of concept and you have people wanting to work with you, but you're under charging. Right? Again, same example I've used many times, you're charging 100 bucks a person for a shoot. Charge 250. Charge 500. Do what you need to do. Are you going to lose some people? Yeah. And probably end up making more, even if you lose people. And you're going to attract a totally different crowd.
One of the analogies, which you know I love analogies, I use today on a coaching call was– you all know what a sommelier is, right? Like a wine expert– a trained wine expert, and only a certain person can be a sommelier. You have to be trained and certified. To suggest wine, you have to be able to taste wine blindly. It's a very elite position and certification. If you are a sommelier but you are saying you can mop the floors, you can make gin and tonics, you can fry the french fries in the kitchen. You'll do whatever just to have that job. That's putting you on a lower rank than your sommelier status.
If you're a graphic designer that does beautiful custom websites, and you're saying, “It's fine. I'll totally, totally be fine designing your PowerPoint slides.” You're actually doing yourself a disservice by lowering your rank. We're not going to take a sommelier seriously that mops floors. And don't misunderstand me here, I'm not saying anything is wrong with the floor-mopping jobs or the PowerPoint presentation jobs. And I'm not saying there's not a time and a place to sometimes take them. Backup one episode and just listen to no-shame and taking things that you need to pay the bills.
But if you're doing it out of scarcity, that's the problem. So make sure you're stepping into that sommelier avatar, that alter-ego. Step into that high status and know your work is fucking worth it. And by making more money and working less, you are going to automatically start to have more of a life of your dreams because you have space and time to breathe.
A lot of what happens even if we have the house and the car and the vacations and the trips, but if we're burning out, and we're literally editing photos in the backseat of the taxi on the way to our beautiful luxurious trip, that really doesn't make it a life of our dreams, probably, right?
You're not even able to enjoy the trip because you're burning out. So making sure that you are aligning both business and life not just that you have the things, but you're still hustling your butt off. So making sure your pricing is aligned with that life dream. And it takes time.
If you're a brand new baby photographer and have never shot a photoshoot before, guess what? You're probably not going to be able to charge 500 bucks or 1000 or 3000 or 30 grand your first time. But as you build that portfolio, you'll get there one step at a time, right? But just knowing the energy exchanges there, which is totally another conversation that has been talked about on other episodes.
First, boundaries, communication, time management is how we start to have a dream life with a business that supports it, instead of the other way around. And two is pricing and business model. How can we get creative to reach more people for less time, right?
Even if it's like digital print sales, we don't have to touch that. We set up a print shop, we sell our photographs there with a third party, and someone orders them, and it automatically ships, and we just get money in our bank account. What are those ways we can get creative there? Okay. And then three, getting clear on what that dream life even entails? How are we supposed to have a dream life and a dream business if we don't even know what we want?
I suggest you go back to one of the very first episodes, around the cosmic shopping list, listening to that, and figuring out what you actually desire, what you need, what you want, right? I knew, and have known for a long time, that I've wanted to travel full-time. If I wouldn't have had that in my mind, I even had it as my password for several sites, like traveltheworld2020! I don't anymore, so don't go try it.
If I wasn't looking for that, if I didn't have my brain programmed to seek out that opportunity. I would not be in Brisbane, Australia right now by myself, living out of a suitcase, which is my dream life. I can't even believe this is real. Are there ups and downs? Yes. Is it butterflies and rainbows? Absolutely not. Do I pinch myself when I'm reading by my Airbnb pool looking over the skyline watching the sunset? Yeah, this is wild.
I did not know this was possible, three years ago. I did not know. Did I desire it? Yes. Was it a kind of a little seedling that I've been watering, that dream, just like keeping it alive? But not putting so much pressure on it, not suffocating it. Not keeping it for myself, just like seeing what grew, what kind of fruit it would bear, and how, and when. And my dream was two years late, and I'm so grateful for universe timing.
Everything is exactly as it's supposed to be. But you can't just sit on the couch and expect it to happen. You can't complain that your bank account is empty, and be like, “What the fuck, where's my dream?” You have to be smart and proactive and your own biggest advocate. Know what you're worth. Stand behind your prices. Stand behind your boundaries, most of all.
Get clear so you can communicate clearly with your clients, with your family, with your friends, with people, right? And get clear on your dream. Know what you're actually looking for. It is so possible to live your dream life and have a business that supports you. And a lot of you might be thinking, “Well, Diana, I don't know how to do that without just being on Zoom calls all day like you are.” I'm fully remote now, which I'm so grateful.
That wasn't the plan. In 2020, I wasn't planning to be remote. I was hustling my butt off doing photoshoots all over the city and all over the country. And when I wanted to travel full time in 2020, before the Panini hit, I thought I was going to just hustle for shoots everywhere I went.
I can tell you, if I would have had the opportunity to go do that, I would have made it happen through Instagram, through networking, through taking jobs maybe that weren't totally perfect, but allowed me to live my dream. I would have made it happen. I was also planning on doing a stock photography website.
That was how I was maybe going to make this happen. To be shooting photos that I would upload every week or every month to put on this custom stock photography website for my wellness entrepreneurs. That's probably the first time I've ever talked about that. It never came to fruition. I did a ton of research around it. I started to create my packages and my pricing and all of the things in the infrastructure to make this happen.
Guess what? The universe had some other stuff in mind, but how cool, right? Sometimes, we have those flopped ideas that bring us to something else. Sometimes we have dreams that are postponed for a reason. But that doesn't mean, while we're waiting for our dream life to happen, we can't be totally stoked on everything that's happening every minute of the day. You know, within reason, obviously.
I'm not trying to promote a toxic positive environment. I'm just saying, don't wait for everything to be totally lined up and perfect as you think it should be to set your boundaries, set your prices, and enjoy your day-to-day, and let your business support you now, even if it's not quite the dream you're looking for. So let me know if this resonated. Let me know if you do these things.
I would love to hear from you. I also want to invite you to our retreat in Greece in May. Spots are open– like wide open. And if you sign up before January 15th of 2023, you get a bonus one-on-one coaching call with me after the retreat. And I also want to invite you into the ASCEND mastermind.
If you are an entrepreneur who is already making money, already has clients, pretty clear on what you love to do, you have experience, then, you're wanting to expand, you're wanting to maybe higher, you're wanting to get your name out there more, maybe create something new, expand your product suite, meet some amazing women, and get advice and coaching from everyone in the room, the ASCEND mastermind might be for you.
Shoot me an email, shoot me a DM, even better, @dianadaviscreative on Instagram, or go apply on the website, dianadaviscreative.com/ascend. Go apply. It's already halfway full. By the time this episode drops, probably even more so. And it's an amazing group. It's incredible. It's my actual favorite program I run. So if you're interested in either of those things, let's do it.
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