In this episode, we saddle up and ride straight into the wild territory of doing the “hard things” — the ones that stretch you, scare you a little, and make you a better photographer and a stronger human. We talk about choosing the right kind of hard… the kind that calls to you from deep inside, not the kind the world thinks you should be doing.

You’ll hear how breaking big, intimidating goals into bite-sized trail markers makes the journey not just doable, but actually fun. And we share why having a loyal posse — whether it’s a mastermind group, your creative herd, or your trail-ride buddies — can make the difference between stalling out at the gate and crossing the finish line with dusty boots and a victory grin.

This one’s all about honest mindset discussions, real-talk photography growth, and finding the courage to chase the challenges that light you up. So grab your hat, tighten your cinch, and let’s ride into the good kind of hard together.

Takeaways

• Mindset is your saddle: if it’s not cinched up right, nothing else is going to sit comfortably — in photography or business.
• Not all “hard things” are worth your energy. Learning to pick the ones your soul is actually craving is part of the adventure.
• Perfectionism? She’s the dusty outlaw trying to slow you down. Progress — even messy, crooked, imperfect progress — is what gets you across the prairie.
• A supportive community is your herd. Big challenges get a whole lot easier when you’re not riding that trail alone.

Links referenced in this episode:

• cowgirlswithcameras.com
• cowgirlswithcameras.community

Foreign.

It's time to laugh, learn, and take your photography to the next level with your favorite cowgirls with cameras.

Kara, Kim and Phyllis.

Welcome to the Cowgirls with Cameras podcast.

I'm Kim with Kim Beer Photography and be more business.

I'm Kara with Fast Horse Photography.

And I'm Phyllis with Phyllis Burchette Photo.

Hello, y'.

All.

Hi.

Where you been?

What's inside here?

Two minutes ago, when we were recording that other episode.

Oh, oh, I forgot.

I just saw you.

You're not supposed to tell people we do that.

Okay, okay, okay.

Ah, how we crack ourselves up.

What's it been?

It's been at least a week since I've seen y'.

All.

Oh.

In person.

Anyway, what do you.

What have you been up to?

We're really spoiling the magic here of podcasting, are we?

Definitely are spoiling the magic.

Completely.

Completely.

I think we've had already done that a little bit before.

Yeah, yeah.

I'll go first with updates.

Let's see.

I have been diligently, like, recording class stuff, studying DaVinci Resolve, and putting in garden beds.

Nick and I, over the last couple of days, have constructed some garden beds for.

From Planter Box Direct, and so we're getting ready to plant some garden stuff in the spring.

So I'm super excited.

That is exciting.

That is pretty exciting.

Have you done any work?

Like, actual, like, photography work?

Oh, yeah.

I edited all my images for wood and put together.

Way to go, Cara Show.

Way to go, Kara.

Really make us feel.

Make you.

And I feel really, like, you know.

Less than what you guys just been hanging out in your damn yards.

Like, come on.

I've done.

I've also done all of the Trapper's lake images.

I've gotten all my cotton.

I mean, my powder horn images up and.

And see, now I'm feeling compelled.

Like, I want to do more stock photography because the one image that I put on Adobe stock sold, and so I feel like now I need to, like, make that, like, personality licensed it already.

I'm very jealous.

How much.

How much have you made from that one image?

I have made 97 cents.

Nice.

You know what?

So, but.

But as I was editing all of my fall workshop images and stuff and was getting everything ready, I was really behind the curve on.

On the cottonwood thing because we just had our virtual viewing party here a few days ago for that event, and I was editing images up to the day before, but I was editing all those images going.

You know, these would make lovely stock images.

And actually my one Image that did sell, which was an experiment to test out A.I.

by the way, I used a tool that A.I.

does the caption and picks the keywords for your image.

Nice.

So that I didn't have to.

It was a test and I just left it up there and then.

And of course it was.

I was very shocked and surprised when I got a little message from Adobe that my congratulations, your image got licensed.

Licensed.

Like I forgot I did it.

I have to say I'm pretty jealous because I mean, I get, I have images licensed all the time, but it's like I've got tons of images that are on there that still to this day have never licensed.

So you obviously have worked in the stock worlds long enough to have a good eye for what is something that people are going to want me.

So well done.

You.

Yes.

Super excited.

So I don't know who possibly licensed it.

It could be that artist that we've been following, paints all of our work, repeats our work from.

Yeah, Sarah, whatever.

Yeah.

Paints from all of our events.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

So who knows, maybe I'll be seen in one of those Instagram videos.

Anyway, it was a very pretty image.

She never tags the, the photographer, so.

No, she doesn't.

But I could see it.

I will recognize it if I see it because it's my only image on Adobe.

But the problem with that was every, every time she posted one that was really Terry's, I thought it was mine.

Same because we were all there, you know.

Oh gosh, that's funny.

I was like, wait a minute, I don't have anything licensed on Adobe stock.

So how is that possible?

Yeah, it's not mine.

Well, at first we didn't know if she was like, you know, pirating, but.

We realized she is definitely licensing the images.

I know that.

Yeah, no, she's very on the up and up.

Yep.

I like Sarah.

Definitely licensing the images.

And yes.

So for you guys that are artists out there, that is how you go about it.

License the image from the photographer.

And if you want exclusive deals, you gotta talk to the photographer in a separate thing because we have reserved images.

Better yet, come to one of our events and create your own reference images.

And the final thing that I've been getting prepared is I built all the website and CRM automations and all of the cool stuff for our brand new Arizona event in between putting in garden beds.

That's exciting.

I'm excited.

We're all excited.

We are very excited.

Yeah.

Yeah, I can't wait.

Thanks to Jane and Brooke and everybody for Making that happen.

So yeah.

Yep.

The KL Bar in lovely Wickenburg, Arizona.

And I don't know about you guys, but the Old west feel, I'm so super excited.

I of course, course had to dive into all of the pictures that the KL Bar sent and it just is amazing.

And I. I've had the best experience working with the Tree Ranch collection, which books for that.

That ranch.

And super excited about getting to go there and visiting the historic Old west and then getting to shoot with Arizona Horse Company's horses.

It's too much fun.

Well, I think that people out there in the world are excited about it too, based on how fast this event has filled.

I mean we are down to right now.

I think we have three spots left, which after just a couple weeks is pretty good.

So everybody wants to go to Arizona in February.

I can't imagine why.

Well, and then I can't imagine why.

I though we haven't mentioned it yet, but it does back right up to Art of the Cowgirl.

So I know photographers love to go to Art of the Cowgirl and shoot that event and photograph at that event.

And I just think that's a nice little convenient thing that we were able to kind of work out for folks that wanted come to our event, get some education, practice shooting, get some great images that are really unique to that location, into that part of the country and then they can go to Art of the Cowgirl and enjoy the event.

And it's Gambler's choice on the education.

Like you guys get to pick.

We're.

That's a new thing we're trying.

Which we're excited about.

Yeah.

Yes.

Super excited about the fact that we're going to give you guys, anybody who comes to the event.

We're going to give you a list of things that we're willing to teach and you get to pick what we actually teach at the event.

That's right.

So I think that is really cool.

And another thing that we're trying out for this particular event that I do want to mention is a pre mentorship for folks that are brand new to photography.

Like if you've never been to a workshop and you're really nervous about coming to one because you're like, oh my gosh, can I keep up with people?

Yeah, you want to get the most out of it that you possibly can.

We have a pre mentorship package that includes my.

And Karen Phyllis added it to this as well, the beginning photography course on our community and then also includes a mentorship with one of the Three of us ahead of the event, and it's.

It's just a simple 350 add on, and you will be all set and ready to go.

We'll help you pick out gear if you need to rent it and get you all set on being able to use your equipment so that when you get to the event, we can actually help you make the images that you want to make.

That's right.

And that's super exciting.

And I think that's a real fun thing for folks who are newer to coming to workshops.

So I kind of.

Kind of like, monopolize the update.

Well, that's okay.

I don't have much to update.

It's been pretty boring around here.

I'm still kind of moving into season at the early stages of that, and it's been so warm that a couple of my shoots have just kind of been pushed to cooler temperatures.

And so just been kind of gearing up for season and the holidays.

And we're going to New Zealand next month.

So we've been kind of figuring all of that out.

And we.

We do, like, minimal research when we plan our trips.

And I just realized there was, like, a visa required.

So, like, not a visa visa, like a different type of visa required.

So luckily we got that done pretty quick.

And, you know, like, little things like that.

And I just.

You guys know, I kind of rely on you to just tell me where I'm supposed to be typically.

So this is.

I was gonna say, you're usually the really organized, prepared.

Have you checked this box person?

I'm really amazed that you didn't have that visa ordered like, 18 months ago.

When it comes to, like, travel and stuff, like, for the most part, I'm pretty much just like, where do, when, time, what do I need to buy my plane tickets for?

When do we need to be there?

Who's getting the rental car?

Who's getting.

I'm a passenger princess.

Your airline doesn't tell you some of that, though.

I know, I know.

Delta tells me what all I need to do for.

If it's an overseas flight, I didn't.

Buy the plane tickets, so that would be Ed.

So I don't know, maybe they did and he just didn't.

So we'll blame it on Ed.

Yeah, I mean, I caught the mistake, so I'm kind of the hero of the story in the family.

But, you know, we're all good there.

I did have kind of a fun thing.

I licensed an image this last week to go.

It's a cell phone tower that is Designed to look like a water tower.

I'm not going to say what city it's in in case something goes south, but I did get paid for it today.

But it's a cell phone tower that is designed to look like an old western water tower.

And so I licensed a big image to go on it, actually a powderhorn image, Kim, to go on it.

And I'm really kind of excited about that because that's a totally new.

I've never licensed an image for a cell tower water tower situation, so that's pretty cool.

And I've never gotten a text message that says, I have a curious question to ask the two of you.

What would you charge to license an image to be on a water tower?

That is totally not anything I expected to see in a text message today.

I know I had.

I had a little different water tower envisioned and the one you sent was like way cooler than the one.

Oh, it's like a cool western looking one.

Yeah.

So yeah, it's pretty cool.

So anyway, that was kind of a cool thing.

And I feel very confident that they're going to be happy.

So I. Oh, you didn't have it in.

You didn't have it in Adobe stock?

How did they find it?

It was in.

It actually was not on Adobe stock.

It was from.

I think they did a Google search and found it a while back.

I kind of.

I had my own stock site for a while, which I've since removed and.

Just stuck with Adobe.

And they had like a screenshot of it that had my.

This is why you always make sure that your logo has like your whole URL on it.

They found me online and contacted me anyway.

Yeah, so I was like, that looks like a powder horn image, but I don't know from which year.

I mean it was a.

It took me a full day to find it.

So yeah, you know, this could have been in the mistakes episode we just recorded, honestly.

But Luckily.

I think I found it funny that you're saying that because.

Because I had the same thing happen with.

Somebody contacted me about two images for a book, for two different book covers.

And it was like, I had this anxiety attack because one of them was like, you said, super old.

And I'm like, oh, my gosh, what if I can make this money?

And I can't make this money because I can't find the images?

Yeah, I mean, I'm like, oh, my gosh.

Yeah, it was a good.

There were a couple of good things that came from it because I was going through images and I'm like, there are so many images I've never touched that I need to put to work that are just like beautiful images that just need an edit, you know?

And this was back when I barely did anything to edit.

So the image was pretty much straight out of camera and it was like, good to go.

And I just was very much like, I gotta go back through.

Like, I'm motivated once I get these other projects done to, like, go back through.

And really.

So you guys might see.

That's so funny because that's exactly the way that's.

I have the same or similar story because making that.

That company, that publisher asking me about book covers, which is not Archangel.

It's.

It's just.

It was.

The actual publisher contacted me, not the agent, and made me really think about, you're right, I need to go back through and make some of these images work.

And I'm not going to do stock, but I will do book cover work.

So.

Yeah, but.

It's like, what I didn't have the knowledge to do with those images then, I could probably do something pretty cool with.

Now.

Some of that I don't really have to do for the book cover agency because they take stuff and.

And have their graphic artists rework them anyway.

Right.

So it's not as important for what I'm talking about, but you just got.

To put them to work.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What about you, Phyllis?

Other than that, I had the same kind of anxiety attack about.

About.

Because that was a significant amount of money that would have been left on the table had I not found both those images.

One of them was.

I knew where it was exactly.

But the other one was like, I think I know where I took that, but I'm not sure.

And because I had no keyword.

I mean.

I mean, of course it was a screenshot they took, so.

Right.

Same here.

Yeah.

And then I've.

I've actually.

I'm so proud of myself.

I've got my calendars done.

It's only October.

Oh, you're headed again.

Good job.

I know.

So I'm going to be putting those up for sale and I've been stuck to the computer a lot, but I really don't know what I'm.

It takes me a long time to do anything I do, so.

Getting the Cottonwood.

So we had the Cottonwood viewing party last week.

Getting those done.

Oh, that was fun.

Now it's time to start working on Trappers.

Yeah, that was cool to see all the work that everybody did and the stuff that I.

That I go, gosh, I don't remember that.

Where'd they shoot that?

Yeah.

Where was I?

Where was I?

Right there.

Oh, I think I was standing right there.

Actually.

I love our viewing parties, but, yeah, that's all I've been doing is a lot of office work and just.

Just catching up and.

And I'm ready.

I'm so ready for the holidays.

So.

But.

Yep, that's it.

You're ready for sweater weather.

I wish you would get here.

We had our first 40 degree morning, so.

Oh, well, it was.

I think it was like 48 this morning.

That's the coolest we've been so far, but now it's almost 80, so, you.

Know, I think it was in the low 40s here this morning.

It was chilly when I walked out to feed.

I do know that it was chilly.

Are you guys ready to head on to our topic?

I'm sure our listeners would appreciate us getting to the point.

Okay, so this month has been devoted.

Absolutely.

So this month we've been working around mindset, which is a big part of what we do, both in business and in photography as artists.

So it.

No matter where you are, mindset hits the nail on the head.

And last week or last episode, we shared some mistakes that we have made and what we learned from those mistakes.

And this episode, we're talking about doing hard and new things.

So in this episode, Kara's gonna talk about how to choose the right hard thing to do, so how to make decisions on if you even want to pursue that thing.

And it.

And sometimes that resistance is there for a reason, and it's maybe not the best and highest use of your time.

Sometimes it is, however.

And then Phyllis is going to break down some things about how to actually take on the process of doing hard and new things.

And then I'm going to bring up the tail end on this episode and talk to you about an interesting concept around starting your own hard things group, which I have been part of a hard things group and it is an amazing help.

So I want to share that and even invite you to a special invitation.

So, Kira, go ahead and kick us off.

Okay, so I get to talk about identifying the hard thing and deciding if you actually want to do the hard thing.

Okay, so I'm going to start by just saying, like, before you do anything, before you jump into doing the hard thing, I would recommend just pausing for a minute and asking yourself the very, the very, very unglamorous question, is this something I actually want or something I just feel like I should want?

Because I think a lot of us carry around these I really should do that goals.

And it could be something like, I'm going to start a podcast or I'm going to, I really want to book that giant commercial client, or I want to launch a course, or it could be something in your personal life like I'm going to run a marathon or I'm going to go on a 10 mile hike, whatever that is.

I'm going to start a cult, whatever that is.

And, and start a cult.

Or start a cult.

Both.

Either of those things would apply here.

As those are two incredibly different hard things.

So sometimes we don't even see, stop long enough to ask if that hard thing belongs to us, right?

Or if it belongs to like, someone else's expectations out there in the world.

So if you're like online and you're looking around and all your friends are in the business are starting their very own cult.

Cult.

Cult.

Cult.

Cult.

Let's, let's do cult.

I like that one better.

So they're starting their very own cult.

Then you have to decide, does that belong to you or does that belong to someone else?

Like, you know, like if you're, if you have a photography business and you are getting pressure all around you, like all my friends are shooting weddings to like make really good money, you know, is that something that you really want to do and you have to, to make that decision for yourself.

So here is where I have been trying to push my brain, my mind, when these big things come up, right?

So first of all, I will like name that thing that I want to do.

Not the whole project, not all the little stepping stones that it takes to get there, just the thing.

Then I'm going to ask myself three questions.

The first question is, does this line up with that future version of me that I'm working towards?

Or is it that shiny distraction?

And we all know we can get sucked into those, like, shiny distractions.

Kim chases the butterflies.

The shiny distractions are there.

The second question that I ask myself is, when I imagine myself actually doing this hard thing, do I feel dread?

Do I feel scared?

But, like, kind of excited energy, because it means growth, maybe in my life or my business.

And then the third thing is, in six months, am I going to care about this?

Right?

Or will I have moved on to something else?

Those are my three questions that I've been trying to make myself ask when these big, hard things come up or when the shiny objects goes by.

So if it doesn't pass the test of those three questions, then what I like to do is give myself permission to, like, let it go without guilt, which is easier said than done, because sometimes you just really feel like you need to do it, even though you really don't want to do it.

And you know it's not the right thing for you, but you see everybody else doing it, so you think you have to do it.

So let's just acknowledge that that's a thing because.

And a lot of us experience it.

So if the answer is yes, if I fill that pull and the why is solid, then I'm going to decide that I'm in, that I'm going to give it a go.

I'm not in is, like, it's going to be, you know, an easy thing or I'm not in.

As long as I feel motivated, I'm in.

Because it actually matters, like, to my why and to, like, the big picture of my business in my life.

So getting that clarity, I think, on the front end is really important.

And once you decide that you really want it, some of that resistance that it has, like, that hard thing, maybe feels less hard because you've been able to kind of, like, prioritize and put it into perspective.

Then it just comes down to logistics, and you gotta start building those stepping stones.

You know, I talk about all the time if it looks really hard.

Sometimes I can't figure out how to get there unless I put the stepping stones into place.

So for me, that's when I would start putting those stepping stones into place.

If you skip those three, like, little test questions, those test points, and jump straight into just doing the shiny thing or doing the hard thing, that is where you can see Burnout in your business, it's where you're going to start seeing procrastination that, you know, you just don't want to get it done.

You might start avoiding it.

And it just.

That's when avoidance comes into your life.

So.

So I think that all of us, our job is to start simple.

Identify the hard thing, check your why, and then make a purposeful decision about is it a go?

Is it a no?

And if it's a no, just release it and make room for the thing that you really do need.

The next big hard thing that is the right thing for you.

That's my thought on that.

So, Kara, I have a full confession to make.

Okay.

I have the I.

So generally when I come up with a new idea, I buy the URL.

Okay.

That's why I go.

I personally keep GoDaddy in business.

Honestly, I was gonna say, how many URLs do you own?

I feel like this is like a.

We do not need to discuss the amount of URLs that I own, but I will tell you in the URLs that I own.

I own the URL.

Cult.

Of the horse.

Cult.

C U L T. Okay.

Of the horse.

All right.

So I don't know.

I am prepared to start my own cult if I would like.

I guess you are.

I mean, there you go.

I had a whole nother idea for the.

The actual thing that I was going to do with that.

I also, one of the things that you brought up reminded me, in all seriousness, I giggle over start the hard thing, starting a cult.

But in all seriousness, one of the things that I would recommend for people who are like God, should I do this or should I not do it?

If you haven't done so, read Elizabeth Gilbert book Big Magic.

Have either of you read Big Magic?

I did it on audio.

It is a really.

I.

It's one of the few books I've actually read more than once.

Usually if I read a book, I don't go back, but this is one that I actually have read more than one time.

And I think it just has so many good philosophical things to think of on when you want to chase the shiny object and when it's not the right time to chase the.

The shiny object and when it is time to say that I'm in this to win it and get really committed to the contract you make with that idea.

So highly recommend Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert.

All right.

All righty then.

Oh, is it my turn?

It is your turn.

Oh, this is a hard thing.

You could do it.

I can do it.

Well, I always.

I mean, remember when we.

Before we ever started doing this, I was like, no, that's a hard thing.

I'm not doing.

I'm not podcasting.

At one point, podcasting was for us.

Was the hard thing.

Was a hard thing.

Yeah.

Well, not for YouTube, because you already.

Know it was we.

You know what, Phyllis?

We walked so you could run.

There you go.

Thank you for that sac.

Thank you for that sacrifice.

Actually, we fell down so that you.

Could run so I could walk pothole.

And then had to.

We got all kinds of bruises.

Okay, well, I'm supposed to talk about how to do hard and new things.

How to do hard things that are new or how to do new things that are hard.

This is all about your mindset.

This isn't about.

I'm not going to tell you exactly how to go learn something or whatever.

And actually, as I was researching this, I was like, you know what?

This is so true.

This is so things that I even needed to do because there are some things in my life that I've been putting off because I think they're hard and I just don't want to.

I don't want to go there.

But, you know, I think when you do start something new, it's supposed to feel awkward and uncomfortable, so you should expect a certain level of discomfort.

And the discomfort isn't a sign that you're doing it wrong.

It's.

It's a sign that you're growing.

So instead of saying, this feels hard, I must not be good at it, maybe try something like this only feels hard because I'm learning something new.

And once I learn it better, then it won't be feel so hard anymore.

I like that, you know, a lot of it's self talk and which I do a lot of I just don't make any sense half the time when I do talk to myself.

So.

But yeah, that's a good one.

The next one for me, and this is a really big one because I'm not very good at detaching myself from perfection because it's super hard.

Because I think things.

I want to make everything perfect.

And that's, let's face it, that's really difficult for anyone to do because hard things always come with like what we call a messy middle.

So if you expect perfection too early, you'll probably quit before you even begin.

So focus on the progress you're making, not making it perfect.

And I do that.

I think, I don't know, was it you, Kim, or somebody Or I can't forget who came up with that quote that, like, what is it done is better than perfect?

Or something like that.

Yeah, done is definitely better than perfect.

Because I was really tied up on, like, a lot of stuff I would do.

I would.

I would focus.

So I would spend so much time agonizing over things to make it perfect.

And then I realized that never getting anything done, really.

Exactly.

So next break, whatever you're trying to learn into, like, doable, like, tiny, doable steps.

In other words, if you're like, let's just say you want to learn astrophotography or night photography, maybe watch one tutorial.

And this is something I do.

I think I have to watch the whole series before I practice even one shot.

Don't do that.

Watch one tutorial, go out, practice one shot, then go back and figure out what worked and what didn't work.

Don't try to do the whole.

Don't do the whole course.

I mean, take it in little tiny, doable steps.

That's another really good one for myself.

Because, yeah, don't learn all of Photoshop at one time.

You don't need to know how to do 3D rendering to be a good photographer at Photoshop.

Seriously, you're just letting me off the hook?

You're just now telling me that I'm.

Letting you off the hook?

Phyllis, you don't have to learn 3D rendering to be a photographer.

Thank goodness.

Okay.

I think sometimes we think that, you know, oh, if I can't do this easily, maybe I'm not really cut out for it.

Well, that's just.

That's just crap.

I'm sorry.

You know, it's not.

Everything's going to come easy.

If you want to do it bad enough, you'll.

You'll figure out that it's.

It's not going to be easy, but.

But you can figure it out and make it work.

Just doing something that hard doesn't really threaten your identity.

It's.

Identity.

Sorry.

It expands it.

It really does.

Because I really, seriously, when we talked about podcasting, I was like, I was not on board with that.

We really had to drag you to it.

I'm not going to lie.

We did.

They really did.

And now, even though I still have a little bit of anxiety before each episode.

She loves it.

I don't know about that, but I do feel like it has broadened my education a little bit.

And some of it's just stuff maybe that I already knew, but it, like, brings it to me in a different way.

So I Think that's really good.

Just don't tell yourself I can't do this.

Just say I can't do this yet.

You know, this is another one that I was bad about.

I thought I would look stupid or foolish or, you know, and try new things.

Means maybe sometimes might mean risking a little bit embarrassment.

But everybody's been there, everybody you admire has looked awkward at some point at the start of something.

So you're not behind.

You're just at your beginning.

So look at it that way.

So don't worry about looking foolish or silly or.

I always think I look stupid sometimes.

But that's just stinking thinking, Phyllis.

Yeah, stinking thinking.

I like that stinking thinking.

Okay.

When it gets hard and it will remember why you're doing it.

That goes to your purpose, for your purpose fuels perseverance.

What will this new skill teach you or allow you to create or express or experience?

That's what I look at is what am I going to learn?

What am I going to be able to do once I do?

Learn this and ask yourself why it matters to you personally when your why will become stronger than your can't eventually kind of reflect and don't just push through.

Kind of learn through what you're doing.

Keep your mindset.

And I think that keeps your mindset in growth mode.

It keeps you like maybe after every attempt or every.

And I'm not going to say failure, just every attempt say what worked, what didn't.

What's one thing I can tweak next time and celebrate, Actually celebrate the courage that you just began.

You don't have to master it all in one day.

You just have to start.

I think that's the biggest thing, is just start.

Courage isn't necessarily confidence.

It's about taking the action without having that courage yet.

And I really like this quote.

You know me, I love quotes.

Confidence doesn't come before you do the hard thing.

It comes because you did it.

And with that, I am finished.

I love it.

Yeah, I think that was a good list of things to be looking at when you are wanting to do the hard thing.

I have one more thing to add to it, and that is hard things are easier to do when you do them with friends.

Boy, isn't that the truth.

Just like you got drug into podcasting as a hard thing.

Oh, I wouldn't have done it by myself, that's for sure.

Now you have.

You're an accomplished podcaster.

You go on and guest on shows quite frequently.

It helps if you do have friends to do the Hard thing with.

Yes, it does.

So I'm going to tell you guys about an experience that I had.

So I belong to something called the Wellness Consortium here in Kansas City.

And we started a mastermind do Hard Things group.

And I encourage anybody to swipe this format.

As a matter of fact, I'm gonna, gonna start a little space in the community that if you want to do hard things and people are interested in that, if you are a paid founding member of our community, I am happy to help you once a month host our own little hard things group at no additional cost to you and happy to help you utilize this format.

So the way that this got started is all of us had a hard thing.

I was wanting to launch a community.

There was a person in the group that was questioning whether they wanted to still be a business owner.

There was another person that was completely rebranding their entire business and there was an individual that was writing a book and then another lady who was launching an affiliate program type business.

So all of those are really hard things.

And we got together every.

Well, we actually got together every other week.

We met twice a month.

I don't think that that frequency is necessary.

One would probably be enough.

And we had a very strict format because we had a lot of highly organized people in the group, not me being one of them, but we, we gave everybody, we met for an hour and a half and everybody had 15 to 20 minutes.

We started by celebrating a win.

So everybody went around the group and we shared one of the wins that we'd had for the week or this time since we'd met.

And I encourage that to be the way that you start your group, is to say, I'm going to celebrate this thing.

Because one of the things about doing hard things, and particularly in businesses where we're solopreneurs, and I think Kara has mentioned this many times, photography can be very lonely.

It can be very hard.

And you accomplish the hard thing and you're like, yay, I did it.

And there's no one around to say, you go girl.

That was awesome.

You did a good job.

And as humans, we need to hear that.

We need to hear that you're not being selfish, you're not being egotistical.

You are simply.

It helps to have that reinforcement of your community behind you.

And so hearing somebody rah rah your celebrations and then celebrating other people's accomplishments is all good vibe.

It just raises the energy up altogether.

So celebrating is round one and then round two.

Everybody goes around and gets their 15 to 20 minutes.

And you state your hard problem and then you designate, do you just want to, do you want to solve the problem or do you just want 15 minutes to complain about it?

Because I'm going to tell you, sometimes doing the hard thing, you don't need anybody's help.

You don't need any problem solving.

You really just need to complain about the point that you're at right now.

It's just, I need to let everyone know how miserable I am in this moment.

And this is another thing that solopreneurs don't get an opportunity to do.

So true, because you, you can't in typical.

If you go to complain to your significant other, if you have a significant other who's like, dedicated to helping you solve the problem, that's a Capricorn.

I'm married to one of those.

Yeah, it becomes, it becomes a whole nother.

Now.

You not only have a hard thing to do in your business, you got a hard thing to do in your marriage.

So we want to avoid that.

And many times your friends don't other understand, but if it's other people who are similar in what you're doing, they get it right.

And it cuts it down to the 15 minutes to go ahead and complain about whatever that happens to be that you're experiencing.

And sometimes that's all you need to do.

So you state that first, I don't necessarily want feedback.

I don't need anybody to solve the problem.

I just need you to listen to me for 15 minutes.

And then if you do want feedback, to ask for feedback.

If you're going to ask for feedback, keep your request to five minutes.

Explain the situation, tell us what you've already tried that has not worked.

That solves everybody saying the obvious things, right?

Because most of us tend to, when we do hard things, we tend to go with the obvious, problem solving first.

And so we need to back that up with the not so obvious.

So then other people can chime in when your time is up, your time is up, and we move on to the next person.

This works great virtually.

It works great when you are in a live group.

We did this at a coffee house and I will tell you, the book got written, the community got launched.

The woman decided to keep her business.

The woman who started the affiliate business went back to her day job and the person who rebranded got all of her rebranding done and relaunched her business.

And that all happened within the period of about six months.

That is a lot of hard stuff getting checked off of the boxes, right?

And we all did it in a way that we all understood each other.

So I'm personally willing to offer that experience.

But I know not all of you are in the community.

So start your own hard things group.

Find four or five other people.

It doesn't have to be 20 that want to get together and have coffee or have virtual coffee a couple of times a month or once a month, and just say, let's solve these hard problems together.

Let's support each other.

It's the thing I love about Cowgirls with Cameras as part of our nine focus points is to create that community.

And what's fun is when it organically happens.

Like, we have groups that come from some of our workshops that still communicate with each other and meet, and they are pushing each other out of their own comfort zones so some of them will fall down and get the bruises and bring the other ones right along so that they don't have to get the bruises, and other ones will lift up and be the cheerleaders.

So I encourage you, this is the best way if you want to accomplish hard things, is to get some.

Get some people involved.

I love that you offered that for the community, too.

So that's exciting.

Like, I think we got some folks in there that have got some hard things they want to do that this would be really beneficial for them.

Well, yeah, I do.

Well, there you go.

For me, Premiere Pro is my nemesis.

That's your.

That's your nemesis?

Yeah.

Well, you can do the hard thing.

And for those of you who want to hop in our community Cowgirls with Cameras community, go check it out.

Yes, absolutely.

And you can do hard things.

Then you, too, can learn how to learn how to do hard things and new things with Kim.

Yeah.

And video editing is.

Is hard.

It's a whole new skill set.

It really, truly is.

And I know a lot of photographers out here who are wanting to do things that have a new skill set.

So we'll keep it super organized, and if there's.

We'll break out into smaller groups if we need to.

So I'm happy to.

To get that organized and get it off onto.

Onto the tarmac so that we can send it down the Runway.

I love it.

Is there anything else that you guys want to add, or do you want me to wrap us up?

Wrap us up.

All right, well, I've already mentioned the community is one way that you can join us in the world.

We also have our social media, which is cowgirlswithcameras on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

And we are online@cowgirlswithcameras.com and that is the best place for you to find out what events we have available and how you can come shoot with us at one of our many locations, photograph, you know, beautiful horses and all the things we get to photograph.

We did just list our new Arizona event.

I don't know if there'll be spaces by the time this, this episode comes out, but you can certainly find that on our website.

And we've got Cottonwood.

Cottonwood is up and live.

Cottonwood is up and live.

We do still have space in Cottonwood.

And there's just, you just never know what we're going to be up to.

So definitely head over to the website and check that out as well.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Cowgirls with Cameras.

Don't let the light laughter and learning stop here.

Join our community on social media and be sure to visit our website for more opportunities to fulfill your photography goals.

Head to cowgirlswithcameras.com that's cowgirlswithcameras dot com See you next time.