Is it time to edit your life and business? In today’s episode, I’m jumping into five action steps that you can take today to take charge. 

On Quianna Marie Weekly, we’re chatting about business growing pains, finding genuine connections, and celebrating wins of all sizes through the lens of a photographer at heart. Sprinkled throughout stories and interviews with past clients, photographers and other business owners this podcast is designed to help you step into your purpose and to truly create a life you’re proud of, a life worth photographing and sharing.

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Review The Show Notes: 

Morning Routine (5:54)

Refine Your Signature Offer (7:22)

Audit Your Friendships + Relationships (9:37)

Abundance + Growth (15:14)

Vision Board Edits (18:42)

Editing Your Thoughts (21:07)

Mentioned In This Episode:

Episode 177

Lucky 13: quiannamarie.com/13

The Green House: quiannamarie.com/shop

Easy B-Roll Ideas For Business Owners: quiannamarie.com/broll

Review the Transcript:

I always wore the same dress on first dates during my dumpster fire season of online dating. Before I met Mike, I was a serial first dater. After swiping right on a match, we would chat for a couple days and I actually moved the conversation from the app to getting some face time over a coffee, grabbing a beer and doing anything to meet up with these guys to determine if they’re worth my time pursuing.

For about five to six years of my single life between relationships, I was running a six figure photography business. I was traveling the world for weddings and I didn’t have time to be anybody’s pen pal. It’s not that I moved the relationship quickly, I just wanted to know if they were worth my time.

I’m a sucker for cowboys and the masculine type of men and to be honest, the best ones like that weren’t even ever on the dating apps, but it really was a great way for me to meet new people. I vividly remember asking these guys about their jobs or their life and they were all blah. They didn’t have any goals they were working towards, they hated their jobs, and most of them were just living this hamster wheel of a life living for the weekends.

Now I wouldn’t just cut them off because they hated their jobs, I mean I love my job and the career I’m creating for myself, but of course on some days I’d rather be in a cabin in the woods, sipping coffee and reading a book, or Enjoying a Corona on the beach with Cabo nachos. If you’ve ever been to Cabo, you have to try their nachos.

Literally all the resorts have them. They’re so good. I probably could eat two to three of those nacho plates a day, but I couldn’t get past the thought of I’m not really happy with my job, but that’s just life. Huh? Like these guys would just shrug it off like it was no big deal that they just hated their life.

Now, that was an immediate turn off, check please, I’m out, like, I’m out, I’m bounced goodbye and I literally never talked to them again, like I maybe would text them and say thanks but no thanks, I don’t see a future in this, wishing you the best of luck, I tried not to ghost them, but you know how it was.

Trust me, especially these days, I understand the struggle bus of inflation and doing the work even if it isn’t always fun. But as soon as I realized these guys, no matter how hot they were, weren’t putting in the reps, working towards a bigger goal, or had any interest in real estate, investing in their future, or even starting a small business, I was out.

I was attracted to ambition. I wanted substance. The ones that shared a sliver of dreaming with me soon were flooded by my big ideas, my wild goals, and passionate ambitions. And once I started sharing all that about my life and my business, they ghosted me too. It really was a dumpster fire. Luckily, flash forward to 2022, I’m so lucky I swiped right when I saw Sky.

Who is Mike’s beautiful baby girl pup on the back of his square body truck. In fact, did you know that Mike was late to our first date? Yeah, apparently he was also burnt out on the dating apps and recently was stood up with a couple of no shows and people that would just, just not show up. And so he literally waited for me to text him.

I’m here at the bar before he rode up on his motorcycle. I told you I have a type. What I loved about Mike right away was that he made me feel safe, not just physically safe, but safe to share my dreams. We dream together. He’s in construction and pours concrete out here in Arizona. And although his hours are crazy, his work is tough, but he didn’t hate his job.

Like he even to this day, he doesn’t hate it. We quickly started dreaming about future businesses and goals together. I’m honestly so grateful that about a year into our relationship, we made a goal to buy our first home together so Mike could stop paying rent and we could start building our real estate portfolio.

Now, two and a half years in and we officially have our first tiny fixed repper. I’m bringing up this quick dating flashback to bring us to today’s conversation about the ability to edit your life. Many of us are photographers and business owners that depend on our personal brands to stand out, to look professional, and to shine the best light on us.

We’re all very familiar with editing our photos. As a brand photographer, I hear these thoughts all the time. You can edit out this pimple, right? I just bought this new outfit. I’ll probably never wear this in real life, but it makes me feel like a million bucks. Let’s book an Airbnb for our shoot because my house is a disaster cluttered with laundry, toys and a sink full of dishes.

You see, we can easily make some edits and adjust our lives for a photo shoot. It may come at a small cost, but it’s absolutely doable and worth it for the shot. But what about editing your life and business? Removing all negative people like we would simply crop a photo. Leveling up your energy when we try on a new outfit that makes us feel incredible.

Removing limiting beliefs like we could spot remove a blemish on your forehead. Or maybe even adding new cheerleaders and business besties like adjusting the contrast or adding vibrancy to your photos. Okay. Do you see what I’m trying to say here? Let’s crack into this episode to chat more about five ways we can edit our life in business.

Just like we would audit our Instagram or website. It’s time to take charge of our life and business too. We have more power than we think. Ready? Let’s get this party started. Welcome to Kiana Marie weekly. A podcast for creatives who love to celebrate wins big or small by dancing in the kitchen.

Photographers who are excited to serve their clients and friends who are ready to chase really, really big dreams. You can find all of the resources mentioned in this episode at QuiannaMarie.com/podcast

Join me as I share weekly motivation, chat about growing pains, finding genuine connections. And celebrating your wins through the lens of a photographer at heart.

Come join me for a dance party. Ready? Let’s go.

Let’s start with some editing that we can do today and work our way up to make some more changes that may take some more time, effort, and practice.

1 – Edit Your Morning Routine

Number one, morning routine. Do you find yourself stuck in a seven step morning routine that sucks up time and energy so when you’re finally done with your new morning habits, you’re ready for a nap?

I challenge you to do an audit of your energy throughout the day. For me, for example, between the hours of 4. 30 a. m. and 8. 30 a. m., that’s when I’m most creative. In fact, right now as I’m jotting down these checkpoints to record this episode, it’s 6. 15 a. m. in the morning. For me, this is when all spark plugs are firing and my best ideas come through.

I have my morning coffee this early, but then I actually start my morning routine with walking the girls, making breakfast, journaling, writing my to dos after I crank out a couple of strong hours of productivity. When are you fully awake during the day? How does your energy peter off during the week?

Thanks to a recent episode from Jasmine Star and another conversation with my friend Tara, I now only take connection calls or discovery calls after lunch. Those calls light me up and I get so excited every time I get to talk to my clients or plan a photo shoot. But those conversations don’t need to happen in the morning when I’m most alert and creative.

They’re going to get those juices flowing. There’s going to get those ideas flying, but I don’t need to suck up that precious time for me to be most productive with those calls. Now is a great time to take note of your energy levels and develop a routine that works for you. If you need to make some changes, do it.

Try it now and adjust as you go.

2 – Refine Your Signature Offer

Number two, refine your signature offer. Have you made a recent pivot? Are you now planning in person events? Do you have a specific coaching program or service based experience that you’re marketing to sell? I’m saying this because deep down, I need help with finding clarity in my offers all the time.

As a recovering people pleaser, I have always had a hard time sticking to just one thing. Over the past couple of years, I’ve been juggling weddings, boudoir shoots, family mini sessions, this podcast, content education and coaching, speaking events, future merch and digital products and mini horses. I’ve literally done it all in the photography world.

I’m now laser focusing on two things. Booking the brand experience. So booking brand photo shoots and pouring energy, light, and love into this podcast, which by the way, the podcast drives new increase to booking brand shoots, drives more eyes to my online shop, the greenhouse, which is the resource garden for photographers and entrepreneurs.

I’m still offering quarterly mini brand sessions called Lucky 13. Make sure to join the wait list, by the way, if you’re local to Arizona, the next one will be in April and they always fall on the 13th. So the April 13th is the next one. When I first started this, it felt stifling at first to laser focus my efforts.

But having a solid system has brought more freedom to my life. What are some past offers, experiences, or products do you need to edit right now? We can absolutely offer upsells and downsells on the back end of our client experience. But what are you laser focusing on now? Too many offers equals confusion.

Let’s grow together this year by focusing on one or two big projects instead of spreading ourselves too thin. Now, I want to practice what I, what I preach. So even though I am laser focused on booking more brand shoots currently and working on all the backend stuff for my business with the education and the podcast, that is what lights me up.

It doesn’t mean that I’m still not going to book mini sessions for family portraits when I go back to California and visit my hometown, right? I’m still going to be doing these things, but I’m not focusing my marketing and focusing my efforts on booking more of those, right? Like. Those are things that are kind of in the back of my business that people are asking for, but it’s not something I’m promoting.

I hope that makes sense.

3 – Audit Your Friendships + Relationships

So number three, audit your friendships and relationships. The next time you’re out with a friend or spend time with someone, please pay attention to how you feel afterwards. Do you feel filled up, excited, and rejuvenated? Or do you feel like you just got hit with a ton of bricks?

Do you think less of yourself or like you’re not where you’re supposed to be? I’m feeling so thankful that we’re steamrolling into 2025 and there’s no one in my life that brings me down, makes me feel inadequate, stupid, or even that I’m too big of a dreamer. My people get me. My network of friends, family, and followers may be pretty big with ongoing conversations with hundreds of people on all the apps and the platforms.

But my circle, my real circle is small. My kitchen table with family and friends is even smaller. This is your sign to take some time to tap into the energy you feel with the people around you. Now, this conversation can open up a whole can of worms when family members and forever friends test those energies.

But this, my friend, is your permission slip to edit how often you’re spending time with them. If you have someone in your life that drains you, I challenge you to be fully present in the moment with them, but stand firm in your boundaries. Under this checkpoint, I want to add that I have category friends.

Now, I’m sure that sounds ridiculous, but I’m not, like, I’m not ranking my friends like MySpace top eight back in the day. Hey, if that dates me, you totally get it. I’m sharing with you that I have friends from all backgrounds, personalities. And friendship connections, right? So I think that’s important to remember that not one human, not one friend is going to fill up all of those buckets of your life.

And it’s okay to have multiple groups of friends, even just family members that fill your bucket in different ways. But we’re not putting the pressure on just one human to do that. Even our partners, right? I love Mike. I can talk to him for hours and hours about my goals and dreams. But his eyes glass over when I start talking about funnels or start talking about the things that Felicia and Annette and I talk about for cash injections and things.

He just looks at me and says, babe, go get it. And he supports me. He’s not the business mentor in my life, right? We have really big goals and dreams that we’re working towards in our real estate portfolio and, you know, big projects in the future. But the current stuff that I’m dealing with, with my photography stuff, he’s there to support me, but that’s just not it, right?

I’m not going to cut him off because he doesn’t feel that one piece of my life. All right, so I love a good example of this, and this is, this is something that I just discovered and I was so happy to share at a recent speaking event. So at the end of January in 2025, I had the honor of speaking at the Conquer Live Retreat in Missouri.

And one of the questions asked from the panel was how to connect with family members and friends That feel like they hold you back. For instance, when we tell them about our biggest paying client or our next best opportunity, they shut it down. They changed the subject or really just can’t relate with us due to their own limiting beliefs.

What do we do? A couple of speakers had some great points and I raised my hand to share a thought that I’ve personally battled with for over the years as I continue to grow and expand my business. I shared that there’s two types of people in your life. There’s the airplane friends and the destination friends.

The airplane friends and family members are your ride or die people. They’re the ones that will show up in the middle of the night with you to help you on the side of the road. They’re the friends you celebrate holidays with and share special milestones together. You share a deep bond of shared experiences and will literally do anything for each other.

Then there’s your destination friends. Those are the friends you fly to see. When you invest in education, attend conferences and retreats, you’re going to meet your destination friends. Those are the new friends that were once Instagram friends that are now forever cheerleaders for your life and business.

When you tell them that you just made 30, 000 in one month, they cheer you on and ask you what you’re doing to maintain that cash flow. When you tell them that you’re launching a new online course, they ask to be an affiliate or offer a podcast swap to help spread the word. If you’re feeling like your circle isn’t having the conversations that light you up, It’s normal to grow older and naturally change, but they’re still your people.

You’ll know in your gut when it’s time to spend less time with those that bring you down and seek out high achieving friends that push you to be stronger. Also, I’m not sure what the magic number 7 is about, but in my experience, I’ve found that every 7 years or so, my circle shifts. I have my core besties that come with me no matter what, but some people naturally fall off, and I’m introduced to new characters about every 7 years.

I’m so curious to know if you feel that way too, or if you’ve noticed any patterns like this. If that feels scary or impossible to avoid certain people, then I challenge you to edit how much of their negativity that you soak in. The next time you find yourself in a conversation or spending time with someone that drains your energy or makes you feel like crap, imagine beams of white light pouring out of you.

I know it sounds silly and this is where my woohoo comes in, but literally I want you to pretend that. Like you are just this sphere of light that is pushing white light out. No matter what they say or how they make you feel, those ugly or negative energies can never touch you. When we spend less time with people that pull us into low vibrations, the more our vibrations and energy levels will grow.

As the sun is starting to peep out more this season, it’s time to shine light on the energies around you and edit out the low vibes to make room for more high vibes. Okay, we’re going to keep rolling into these points. Here we have two more.

4 – Abundance + Growth

Number four, abundance and growth. Where do you see yourself within the next three months or three years?

What do you really want, really? What goal are you working towards? In the last episode, I shared five ways to reintroduce yourself. If you missed that, make sure to jump back to episode number 177, Reintroduce Yourself to 2025, for even more ways to level up your life and business this year. Okay, back to abundance and growth.

I love a good case study and I want to introduce you to my friend Darian. When we first worked together, she had a dream of opening up her own wellness space and yoga studio while planning her expansive brand shoot. I encouraged her to ask 5 10 of her best friends to join the shoot to capture the community she’s building and even go through a yoga flow to make it look like she was leading a yoga class.

I really wanted Darian to not only visualize the goal she was working towards, but then we photographed it to bring it to life. Those ideas weren’t just ideas or scribbled notes in a journal, they were real experiences shared with friends and real tangible photos. Like this was an experience that we experienced together.

We grabbed a coffee, we sat down and chatted, so she felt that like community space building and going through that yoga flow of her being at the front of the class, even though we were out in the grass on this beautiful day, that was something that she wanted to do. She wanted to host more events, and so we needed to make it happen.

She needed to physically have that experience, not just see the photos of it, but go through the motions and feel it as a possibility. And yes, even for the photos, she wasn’t actually teaching a yoga class. But she was going through stretches. She was going through a flow and it felt kind of like that.

Follow the leader game for her friends to follow along with her and it photographed so beautifully. I’m going to have to link that in the show notes to show you just a couple of samples of that because it was just so beautiful. Flash forward to today and Darien’s Zen Den in Gilbert, Arizona is thriving At our last shoot together during a Lucky 13 mini brand shoot, I asked Darian, what are we calling in now?

She told me that she’s working towards booking more coaching clients. She has a passion for helping creatives and wellness experts thrive not only with their modalities, but also in the back end of their business. I told her, great, let’s not just claim it, but visualize that too. So I set her up to sit on the edge of the couch with her elbow on the armrest and brought up an empty chair to make space for her first paying client.

BOOM! Within less than three weeks, Darien messaged me to share that she just booked her first coaching client. This right here, my love, is the power of editing your life. We’re not doing rocket science over here. We’re simply looking into the future and articulating what we want next and not only visualizing it, but creating it.

We’re creating the space and making it happen. Call it praying, scripting, manifesting, whatever feels aligned with you. What do you really want? Working together with me to help document that next level will help tremendously, whether it’s with me or your local favorite photographer. Make it happen.

Schedule your next brand shoot as soon as you can, the sooner you’re in the energy of that space. The faster those visions will become your reality. When you’re ready to step into the next best version of your personal brand and business, let’s chat. I’m stoked to help you articulate and visualize this next step through branding photos and all of that content.

Oh, I’m just so excited!

5 – Vision Board Edits

Number five, Vision board edits. Speaking of dreaming and creating the future version of yourself, I challenge you to take a peek at your 2025 vision board. If you already have one, awesome. I have a couple ideas for you to add. And if you haven’t made one yet, great, no problem.

Use these ideas when you create one for this year. I promise it’s not too late. So I hope this Just gives you that little spark to start creating one now. A lot of my friends will create paper and glue vision boards with magazine cutouts. Some will create a Pinterest board for the year to pin how they want to feel this year.

And others will even create a Canva board to use as their laptop background or wallpaper on their phone. I challenge you to look at your board and add two new concepts to your board. Okay. The first one, do you have a POV, which when you see POV, it took me forever to figure this out. It just means point of view.

Do you have any POV pictures on your board? So for example, if you’re dreaming up a new car, don’t just have a picture of the car like an ad instead, make sure to add a POV. So it’s a point of view of someone that looks like they’re actually driving it. Like you’re in the driver’s seat. You know, those photos where the girls is showing off their engagement ring or maybe their new nails with their hands on the steering wheel, that’s the photo.

Make sure to add pictures like that. Maybe you’re envisioning a big paycheck. Don’t just paste up a big check. Make sure to include your name or business name in the pay to the order of line. You see, we need to visually see what our point of view would be in those scenarios. Otherwise, they do really feel out of touch for us and more like crazy dreams than an actual goal that’s attainable.

Okay, and the second part that I want you to kind of do some edits to your vision board, I also encourage you to add accomplishments that have already happened. Maybe you have an old graduation picture, add that. Maybe you had an opportunity to speak on stage recently, add that. Do you have a client that you adore and wish you could add 5 more clients just like her to your calendar?

Add her gorgeous face to your vision board. Sometimes our goals and ideas can feel paralyzing for our brain, but when we pair these wild dreams with things that have already happened, we’re literally telling our body and our mind that it’s possible. We’re proving and finding evidence that those goals are achievable.

As we round out this list of ideas to edit your life and business, there’s one thread through each of these checkpoints. It’s time to start editing your thoughts. When we’re rooted in our missions and take action to make an impact, it really all boils down to our thoughts. Just as Chinese philosopher named Lao Tzu, and I’m so sorry if I’m pronouncing his name wrong, but he says.

Watch your thoughts, they become your words. Watch your words, they become your actions. Watch your actions, they become your habit. Watch your habits, they become your character. Watch your character, it becomes your destiny. Whew! I love that so much because it’s true. I find, circling back to those deadbeat guys that I used to go on those dates with, they could only see what was right in front of them, right?

They just, they let life happen to them instead of being proactive and going after those really big goals. This is your one, single, most beautiful, enriched life, my love. I want you to truly step into that power. I don’t know about you, but I feel a deep pull as the chosen one in my family to make a change.

I’m grateful for our beautiful traditions, the love we share, and all of the opportunities my ancestors have provided me. But I also feel an enormous amount of guilt to take on this history and to create generational wealth. It can feel paralyzing and abundant at the same time. Literally, it’s like super, like, ends of the spectrum.

Like, one is like, heck yes, I got this. I’m going to do this like together where we’ll rise. Then another part of me is like, Oh my God, that’s a little pressure, right?

It’s a lot in order to reach some of these big, big goals. I have a lot of editing to do myself. So I challenge you, my love, what are some ways you can edit the business you’re building now to help fuel the life you’re working towards?

What are you adding? What are you erasing? Cropping out? I’d love to hear more of your thoughts on this. Please open up your DMs and send a message to me. What are you editing this season? I’d love to know and to continue the conversations in the DMs. If you found this episode inspiring and know a friend that needs to hear it, please share it with them.

I know a lot of us are sharing a lot of these common struggles and lots of achievements on this business journey. So yes, the good, the bad, the ugly, the hairy, we got it. It’s important to know we’re never alone. Thanks so much for joining this conversation today. I am so happy you’re here. In case no one has told you yet today, you’re overqualified and overthinking it.

Just start Our world needs you and your magic. You have such a beautiful soul and it’s truly a gift to know you. Keep showing up and sharing the behind the scenes of your life and business to help find more people like us. P. S. If you need help with that, open up your browser and type in:

QuiannaMarie.com/broll

Grab the free guide, easy behind the scene ideas for business owners today. I’m so happy you’re here. My love cannot wait to connect next week. Keep on dancing, baby. I am cheering for you the loudest. That’s a wrap on another episode of Quianna Marie Weekly.

Thank you so much for your listenership and support. You can find the resources and show notes for this episode and more at QuiannaMarie.com/podcast

I’d be honored if you’d show your support by leaving a review and rating on your favorite podcast app. Until next time, keep on dancing!

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