EP 20: Stablize Your Income: Part Time Job Ideas

00:00:07 [Melissa]
Hey, I’m Allison, military spouse and family photographer.
00:00:10 [Melissa]
And I’m Melissa, also a military spouse, lifestyle newborn photographer, SEO expert for photographers.
00:00:16 [Melissa]
Between the two of us, we have a combined twenty seven years in photography and have lived through nine businesses.

00:00:21 [Alison]
We’ve coached each other through all these challenges privately on Marco Polo, and now we’re bringing our polos public.
00:00:27 [Alison]
On this podcast, we’ll give you actionable steps to help you keep it moving.

00:00:34 [Melissa]
Hey, guys.
00:00:34 [Melissa]
Welcome back to the Keep It Moving podcast.
00:00:37 [Melissa]
Hey, guys.
00:00:38 [Melissa]
You guys can do us a big favor.
00:00:40 [Melissa]
If you could leave us a review, five stars, please.

00:00:43 [Melissa]
Really, we just wanna make sure people are actually listening to us and that we’re helping people because we hope we’re helping people.
00:00:49 [Melissa]
We’re trying to help people.
00:00:50 [Melissa]
We get

00:00:50 [Alison]
to see what we’re feedback from all.
00:00:52 [Alison]
We have no idea who listens to the whole thing.
00:00:54 [Alison]
We see we can see downloads and that is it.

00:00:57 [Melissa]
And we’re not podcast experts on how all this works and everything and have all the charts and graphs or anything like that.
00:01:02 [Melissa]
So we really just need feedback from you guys that, yes, you’re listening.
00:01:06 [Melissa]
Yes, this is helping.
00:01:07 [Melissa]
And if you have any questions that we haven’t Ideas?
00:01:10 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:01:10 [Melissa]
Or topics, please send us a DM.
00:01:13 [Melissa]
You can find Allison on Instagram at

00:01:15 [Alison]
What is it?
00:01:16 [Alison]
It’s y’all check the show notes.
00:01:17 [Alison]
It changes.

00:01:18 [Melissa]
I don’t know.
00:01:20 [Melissa]
So check the show notes.
00:01:20 [Melissa]
Click on that and you can follow us on Instagram.
00:01:22 [Melissa]
But send us a message if we have something that you want us to cover.
00:01:25 [Melissa]
We may have it on our our topic list for coming up or it may be something new that we’re like, oh, yeah.

00:01:30 [Melissa]
Let’s Oh,

00:01:30 [Alison]
we hadn’t thought about that.
00:01:31 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:01:32 [Alison]
Absolutely.

00:01:33 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:01:33 [Melissa]
And we also are taking applications for mini mentoring.
00:01:36 [Melissa]
So Allison will include a link to that in the show notes also.
00:01:40 [Melissa]
So if you are moving, thinking about moving, have already moved, and you just wanna get fifteen minutes with me and Allison to pick our brains and let us give you some tips and advice, we would love to do that.
00:01:51 [Melissa]
Just click on the link in the show notes, fill out the form, and, we’ll get you scheduled.

00:01:55 [Melissa]
Alright.
00:01:55 [Melissa]
Great.
00:01:56 [Melissa]
We’re going to dive into today’s topic, which is another one in our series on stabilizing your income when you move.
00:02:01 [Melissa]
So obviously, as Alison has said before, moving sucks and losing that income sucks.
00:02:06 [Melissa]
And we all, we got to make money.

00:02:08 [Melissa]
You got bills to pay.
00:02:09 [Melissa]
Those don’t go away.
00:02:10 [Melissa]
So in this episode, we’re going to actually talk about getting a part time job.
00:02:14 [Melissa]
So, yeah, honestly, I have done this y’all.
00:02:16 [Melissa]
So I can give you like real world experience.

00:02:19 [Melissa]
I worked IT for like ten years, then was in my photography business, I think at that point for nine years.
00:02:24 [Melissa]
And I was making that switch from weddings to newborn.
00:02:27 [Melissa]
And in the time frame with getting my SEO to take off for newborns and me not wanting to work weekends with weddings and stuff anymore, it was one of those, like, alright, I gotta have an income coming in somewhere Cause the mortgage company does not seem to understand that I am a struggling artist right now.

00:02:43 [Alison]
They don’t understand the pause and the pivot.

00:02:45 [Melissa]
I know.
00:02:45 [Melissa]
They’re not realizing this is going to be better for my life.
00:02:48 [Melissa]
They just want it paid.
00:02:49 [Melissa]
So I had to get a job and it’s scary guys.
00:02:52 [Melissa]
I’m sure for many of you, you’re like, what the heck?

00:02:54 [Melissa]
I’ve been doing photography for the last however many years.
00:02:57 [Melissa]
What job am I going to get?
00:02:59 [Melissa]
Or maybe you’re like, I went to college for this, but I haven’t done it in forever.
00:03:01 [Melissa]
I don’t know.
00:03:02 [Melissa]
I definitely face that.

00:03:03 [Melissa]
Like I said, I did IT for ten years.
00:03:05 [Melissa]
And if you step away from IT for another ten years, you don’t know any like, what is going on?
00:03:10 [Melissa]
Nope.
00:03:11 [Melissa]
Finally, now my family stopped asking me to help them fix their computer because I’m like, I don’t even know.
00:03:15 [Melissa]
What are you talking about?

00:03:15 [Melissa]
Like, what I don’t know.
00:03:16 [Melissa]
Turn it off.
00:03:17 [Melissa]
Restart it.
00:03:18 [Melissa]
It’s like standard Always answer.
00:03:19 [Melissa]
Reboot.

00:03:20 [Melissa]
Exactly.
00:03:21 [Melissa]
So I want you to instead of panicking and freaking out, and thinking, what am I going to do and applying to jobs within your old field?
00:03:32 [Melissa]
I want you to stop and take a look at what you do in your business.
00:03:35 [Melissa]
So in your and this is what I did.
00:03:37 [Melissa]
This is what I had to do.

00:03:38 [Melissa]
So in my business, I for ten years, I had learned how to do email marketing, how to do Facebook marketing, including like Facebook ads, running my own page, that kind of thing.
00:03:48 [Melissa]
I had learned how to do blogging.
00:03:50 [Melissa]
I had learned to do a little bit with websites and WordPress and things like that.
00:03:54 [Melissa]
Obviously, I had learned some SEO tips and tricks.
00:03:57 [Melissa]
I knew how to do Instagram and different things like that, YouTube videos.

00:04:01 [Melissa]
There was this whole set of skills that I had.
00:04:04 [Melissa]
And when I started looking, it fell under digital marketing, social media management.
00:04:09 [Melissa]
So there’s a lot that you can talk about.
00:04:11 [Melissa]
You can talk about successes your businesses had and stuff.
00:04:14 [Melissa]
I was able to talk about how I built my business up and revenue and stuff like that, especially when it comes to like smaller businesses when you’re trying to get a job with them, like they need somebody to do those things, and you have the skill set to do them.

00:04:25 [Alison]
This episode is brought to you by Keep It Moving Coaching with me, Alisa Bell.
00:04:30 [Alison]
If there’s one thing I’ve learned over my seven moves, it’s that every move is different.
00:04:34 [Alison]
Every business is different and every location is different.
00:04:37 [Alison]
What has worked for me may not be as fruitful for you or vice versa.
00:04:41 [Alison]
And it’s always overwhelming.

00:04:43 [Alison]
Starting all sucks.
00:04:44 [Alison]
There are phases of exhaustion, thinking I can’t do this, decision fatigue, or just plain overwhelmed about the next right step.
00:04:51 [Alison]
That’s where I come in.
00:04:52 [Alison]
With one on one coaching, we’ll get together virtually face to face.
00:04:56 [Alison]
I’ll get to know your business, your unique struggles and challenges.

00:04:59 [Alison]
We’ll work together to decide the next right step for you to keep it moving.
00:05:04 [Alison]
The goal, Relocate and restart your business from the ground up faster.
00:05:09 [Alison]
Minimize income loss.
00:05:10 [Alison]
You’ll have full access to me for all of your questions.
00:05:13 [Alison]
It’s never too late to get it, but you could be losing valuable time if you wait too long.

00:05:18 [Alison]
Even if you’re not sure where you’re moving to, head over to alisonbell.co to apply today.
00:05:23 [Alison]
That’s alison with 1lalisonbell.co right now.
00:05:31 [Alison]
So for me,

00:05:32 [Melissa]
I actually was telling Allison, I I put together my resume.
00:05:36 [Melissa]
I was nervous as hell.
00:05:37 [Melissa]
I was like, no one’s gonna wanna hire me.
00:05:39 [Melissa]
I applied for three jobs right off the bat.
00:05:42 [Melissa]
One of them was with a local jewelry store that actually I used to go to as a year when family would come into town.

00:05:48 [Melissa]
So that was funny, which I did tell that story in my cover letter.
00:05:51 [Melissa]
So keep that in mind too, of like, for letters and letters.
00:05:55 [Melissa]
Connect.
00:05:55 [Melissa]
Connect.
00:05:56 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:05:56 [Melissa]
I applied for a virtual assistant job with actually a big virtual assistant.
00:06:01 [Melissa]
Like this lady teaches other people how to be virtual assistants, and she was looking for a new one or whatever.
00:06:05 [Melissa]
So I applied with them.
00:06:06 [Melissa]
And then my church was looking for somebody to help with the website.
00:06:09 [Melissa]
And I was very specific.

00:06:10 [Melissa]
I needed something with part time hours while my kids were in school.
00:06:13 [Melissa]
I needed to make a certain amount of money.
00:06:15 [Melissa]
So I was looking for like a unicorn type job.
00:06:18 [Melissa]
There were three right there that my resume actually fit what they were looking for.
00:06:22 [Melissa]
Like I was able to look at those listings and go, Oh, I can do that.

00:06:25 [Melissa]
Yeah, I’ve done that.
00:06:25 [Melissa]
I know how that works.
00:06:27 [Melissa]
And so I got three interviews, which I was shocked.
00:06:29 [Melissa]
And I ended up it was funny.
00:06:30 [Melissa]
I remember the I got the job with the jewelry store, and I’d already had one interview with the the church.

00:06:36 [Melissa]
And so then they wanted a second interview, and I was like, yeah.
00:06:39 [Melissa]
No.
00:06:39 [Melissa]
So I was able to contact them back and be like, yeah.
00:06:42 [Melissa]
No.
00:06:42 [Melissa]
I’ve already accepted another position.

00:06:43 [Melissa]
Thank you very much.
00:06:45 [Melissa]
And I was with that jewelry store for I think about eighteen months and I was able to keep refining the same skills I would use in my business.
00:06:52 [Melissa]
So that was another great thing is I was now working for a guy who made millions of dollars a year in his jewelry store and watching how he ran things and watching how his marketing was.
00:07:01 [Melissa]
And we were really good personality fit.
00:07:03 [Melissa]
Yeah, we were good personality fit too, because I was able to bring him down some on some of his ideas because his were very big and grandiose at times.

00:07:11 [Melissa]
And I was like, yeah, we can’t actually like make it happen exactly like that, but we can do this.

00:07:16 [Melissa]
able to keep working on my email marketing skills, my social media skills.
00:07:19 [Melissa]
I learned a little bit more about, like, Google Ads, Facebook Ads and things like that.
00:07:22 [Melissa]
And so I boosted the skills that I already had to then go back to my business.
00:07:27 [Melissa]
So keep in mind, getting a part time job, it doesn’t have to be a long term thing.
00:07:31 [Melissa]
It can be temporary.

00:07:32 [Melissa]
It can be something just to get you a stop gap until your stuff takes off.
00:07:36 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:07:37 [Melissa]
Honestly, I could have left the jewelry store after a year easily and been fine.
00:07:41 [Melissa]
But I was like, it’s nice having both incomes for the moment until it got to a point where I was like, I can’t do another Christmas at a jewelry store.

00:07:48 [Alison]
And there’s a clear, there’s a clear detail that you just mentioned.
00:07:52 [Alison]
You didn’t startography.
00:07:53 [Alison]
You were still doing your photography.
00:07:55 [Alison]
You were building up a business Yep.
00:07:57 [Alison]
During that whole eighteen months, and you could have stopped six months sooner than you did.

00:08:01 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:08:02 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:08:02 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:08:02 [Melissa]
You definitely you still are building stuff up.
00:08:04 [Melissa]
Like, I was still blogging.

00:08:06 [Melissa]
I had set all my SEO up ahead of time on my pages, so it really just needed time to bake in and everything.
00:08:11 [Melissa]
And honestly, if you have moved and you’re stressed out and you’re not booking clients and every time an inquiry comes in or every time or so every time you get an email and you’re like, oh my gosh, is that an inquiry?
00:08:21 [Melissa]
And then you’re like, oh no, it’s not.
00:08:23 [Melissa]
You really start beating because you’re like, I’m doing all this work and there nothing’s coming in yet.
00:08:27 [Melissa]
When I, my mindset completely shifted when I got the part time job and I was able to just be like, okay, I’m going to put in the effort I still need to put in on photography of putting out some blog posts.

00:08:37 [Melissa]
But the stress level of did I get an inquiry yet?
00:08:39 [Melissa]
Did I get an inquiry yet?
00:08:41 [Melissa]
Came off my shoulders and I just felt like a whole new person.
00:08:43 [Melissa]
And then when I would get inquiries, I’m like, hot darn, I’m not even doing anything.
00:08:47 [Melissa]
It feels like right now.

00:08:48 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:08:49 [Melissa]
And I got a fucking point.

00:08:50 [Alison]
That’s such a good, like, mental mindset reminder that, like, almost like a distraction.
00:08:53 [Alison]
Like, okay, you’ve done what you can over here in your photography business.
00:08:57 [Alison]
Let’s go over here, do something else that is parallel but different, and just let this sit and just be distracted for a little bit while it needs to take that.
00:09:06 [Alison]
That’s in and one of the things I just thought of is, like, small businesses that need these part time people, like the personality fit of an entrepreneur is perfect.
00:09:16 [Alison]
So even if you don’t feel like you’re up to par on social media or digital marketing, you’re probably the type of person, if you’re listening to this podcast and you’re running your own business, no matter how small or big, that you are a go getter, that you can figure something out, that you can learn while you go, you’re probably organized.

00:09:32 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:09:33 [Alison]
Your personality is probably the perfect fit for a lot of jobs that you might feel less skilled for.
00:09:37 [Alison]
But you have one extra talent.
00:09:40 [Alison]
You can also take pictures for them.
00:09:42 [Alison]
There you go.

00:09:43 [Alison]
There you go.
00:09:43 [Alison]
So you could do so much more than we give ourselves credit for because those personality traits that we have as entrepreneurs are not teachable traits.
00:09:51 [Alison]
That’s not something anybody can just go teach to anybody they pick up off the street.
00:09:55 [Alison]
That’s stuff that has to be inherited and you can learn the skills of whatever the job requires.

00:10:00 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:10:00 [Melissa]
I heard some recent quotes about entrepreneurs, that I was like, oh, wow.
00:10:03 [Melissa]
And they were just talking about like how entrepreneurs are different than other people.
00:10:08 [Melissa]
Like just the way they handle, they think through things and just how they are is very different from other people.
00:10:13 [Melissa]
And I was like, oh, wow, Interesting.

00:10:15 [Melissa]
I totally see that.

00:10:16 [Alison]
And, no, my oldest is gonna be 14 this summer.
00:10:18 [Alison]
And so he’s too young to get a job, but he’s too old for summer camps.
00:10:22 [Alison]
And he’s in this weird place where I don’t think he needs to be whittling away and twiddling his thumbs all summer.
00:10:28 [Alison]
So I was like, you can create a job.
00:10:30 [Alison]
And he keeps saying I was like, you need to work.

00:10:32 [Alison]
You need to work.
00:10:32 [Alison]
And he said, I’m too young.
00:10:33 [Alison]
I can’t get a job.
00:10:34 [Alison]
Can’t get a job.
00:10:34 [Alison]
I was like, make a job.

00:10:36 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:10:36 [Alison]
Make a job for yourself.
00:10:37 [Alison]
And so he’s getting something I never got, which was I’m, like, showing him step by step.
00:10:42 [Alison]
Like, okay.
00:10:42 [Alison]
We’ve made a Google site.

00:10:44 [Alison]
We’re gonna make postcards.
00:10:45 [Alison]
I’m going to walk with you, and I’m going to do the uncomfortable thing as new people move into the neighborhood.

00:11:03 [Alison]
Wonder why the dealership isn’t that easy.

00:11:09 [Alison]
Oh, great.
00:11:10 [Alison]
That was easy.

00:11:48 [Alison]
For this summer, and I’m gonna share how you mow lawns and how you take care of dogs and you do dog sitting.
00:11:53 [Alison]
And all three of my boys are going to share the load and they’re gonna make their own job.
00:11:57 [Alison]
It’s totally a personality bank.
00:12:00 [Alison]
That’s awesome.

00:12:00 [Melissa]
My kids are already we live in a neighborhood full of retirees and they already they’re 10 and 11 going, someday we’re gonna be mowing lawns here at Macon Bank.
00:12:07 [Melissa]
And I’m like, yeah, you will because these people aren’t gonna wanna mow their lawn anymore.
00:12:11 [Melissa]
Why wait?
00:12:12 [Melissa]
Why wait?
00:12:13 [Melissa]
Hey, they

00:12:13 [Alison]
could start with weed pulling right now.
00:12:14 [Alison]
I need no there you go.
00:12:16 [Alison]
Get them on the job training.

00:12:18 [Melissa]
That feels super overwhelming to you.
00:12:20 [Melissa]
I get it.
00:12:21 [Melissa]
But guess what?
00:12:22 [Melissa]
SEO doesn’t have to be complicated.
00:12:24 [Melissa]
I’ve spent fifteen years in photography and ten years in IT before that, cracking the SEO code so that you don’t have to.

00:12:30 [Melissa]
Whether you’re eager to learn or you just want somebody to take care of it for you, I’ve got your back.
00:12:35 [Melissa]
With my SEO coaching and done for you services, you’ll get noticed online, attract more of your ideal clients, and keep doing what you love most, photography.
00:12:45 [Melissa]
Ready to boost your website’s visibility?
00:12:47 [Melissa]
Visit pictureperfectrankings.com, and let’s make SEO simple and effective for you.
00:12:52 [Melissa]
Let’s get your calendar booked.

00:12:54 [Alison]
Some other jobs to consider.
00:12:55 [Alison]
This is this next is not something I’ve ever done, but I’ve wanted to.
00:12:58 [Alison]
Like, every duty station, I’ve considered it.
00:13:00 [Alison]
And that’s teaching at a community college.
00:13:02 [Alison]
And these days, since everybody’s virtual, like, could teach a virtual class for a school.

00:13:07 [Alison]
Typically, I don’t I’ve looked at listings for jobs, and I think it’s probably one of those listings where, like, it’s filled before it ever actually goes public.
00:13:15 [Alison]
Oh, right.

00:13:16 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:13:16 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:13:16 [Alison]
Like, you could teach photography at a community college.
00:13:18 [Alison]
Your background in?
00:13:19 [Alison]
Could you teach design, graphic design?
00:13:22 [Alison]
Could you teach digital marketing?
00:13:23 [Alison]
Could you teach email marketing, social media management?

00:13:27 [Alison]
What in that whole skill set that Melissa just described could you put in a formal class

00:13:31 [Melissa]
for associates, associate degrees or community colleges?
00:13:36 [Melissa]
Another option is virtual assistant.
00:13:38 [Melissa]
You, like, again, we’ve talked about you have all the skills, go do it for other people.
00:13:41 [Melissa]
And here’s the deal, if you’re a photographer and you’re running your own business and you understand photography and photography businesses, there are other photographers who are doing right and haven’t moved, they’ve been around forever and they need someone to come in and someone who understands everything.
00:13:55 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:13:56 [Alison]
How to work Lightroom, how to work Planoly, how to work Showit sites, WordPress, blogs, all that mess.

00:14:02 [Melissa]
Yeah, I look for that.
00:14:04 [Melissa]
Yeah, I look for that.
00:14:05 [Melissa]
One of my employees right now, Stephanie, she used to be a photographer and she closed her business and she’s got four little kiddos now.
00:14:11 [Melissa]
So she’s busy with that, but she was looking for just a couple hours a week kind of thing.
00:14:15 [Melissa]
And so it worked out great.

00:14:16 [Melissa]
So she’s been working with me for a year now and I just am onboarding someone else who she also had a photography business.
00:14:22 [Melissa]
She’s second shot for me before.
00:14:24 [Melissa]
And she’s coming in.
00:14:25 [Melissa]
I know she’s done homeschooling for the last ten years or so with her girls.
00:14:28 [Melissa]
And I was like, I feel like that just right there tells me you’re organized.

00:14:32 [Melissa]
If you could talk to somebody and you get organization skills, personality conflict, like there are so many, just take off the filter of, oh, I’m just a mom who homeschools or something.
00:14:42 [Melissa]
And put on this like other filter of like what you actually are doing on a day to day basis.
00:14:46 [Melissa]
Like just pretend they’re not kids, pretend they’re adults and you were managing them.
00:14:49 [Melissa]
What would you call it then?
00:14:50 [Melissa]
Chaos coordinator.

00:14:51 [Melissa]
Yeah, exactly.
00:14:52 [Melissa]
But that’s the thing.
00:14:53 [Melissa]
People are looking for people that they know have these skills.
00:14:56 [Melissa]
You just happen to be in a time of your life where, hey, my business isn’t as busy as I want it to be.
00:15:00 [Melissa]
I’m looking for more work.

00:15:02 [Melissa]
Fiverr and Upwork are some other Graphic design and virtual work.
00:15:05 [Melissa]
Yeah, I’ve hired off of Fiverr before and that kind of thing.
00:15:08 [Melissa]
Even selling templates and stuff on Etsy or selling designs on Etsy, something like that can be a thing.
00:15:13 [Melissa]
What else you got, Alison?
00:15:14 [Melissa]
I know you guys Oh, yeah.

00:15:15 [Alison]
So this one I tried.
00:15:16 [Alison]
This one I tried when we moved from Okinawa to Quantico.
00:15:21 [Alison]
It was the first move where I was like, I’m gonna do this, right?
00:15:23 [Alison]
Like, I’m gonna transition.
00:15:24 [Alison]
And I had a friend in Okinawa, another photographer who was a private editor for a private editor.

00:15:30 [Alison]
So she had she worked for basically an entrepreneur like us who had a team of editor.
00:15:35 [Alison]
And she told me about this course.
00:15:37 [Alison]
I could take this course on how to be a private editor, which got you entry into a Facebook group to get you hired, and it was all very reasonable.
00:15:45 [Alison]
And so I did it, and it did not work out.
00:15:48 [Alison]
But it didn’t work out because of miscommunication.

00:15:51 [Alison]
Like, somebody in Facebook group was like, oh, yes.
00:15:53 [Alison]
Let’s do an interview x time.
00:15:55 [Alison]
It was like the day after or right before we got our household goods from Japan, but it wasn’t an interview.

00:16:00 [Melissa]
Anything around the time frame that your furniture gets delivered.
00:16:03 [Melissa]
Right.
00:16:03 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:16:03 [Melissa]
Like, for the next week, do not plan it.

00:16:05 [Alison]
Just like I meet and greet interview.
00:16:07 [Alison]
Hi.
00:16:07 [Alison]
My name is.
00:16:08 [Alison]
This is what I do.
00:16:09 [Alison]
Do do do do do do you think this will work out?

00:16:11 [Alison]
Let’s take step two.
00:16:12 [Alison]
No.
00:16:12 [Alison]
That’s not what it was at all.
00:16:13 [Alison]
It was an onboarding call.
00:16:14 [Alison]
It was Yeah.

00:16:15 [Alison]
Here’s how I run my business.
00:16:17 [Alison]
Here’s all my workflow.
00:16:18 [Alison]
Here’s a gallery.
00:16:19 [Alison]
When can you get it back to me?

00:16:20 [Melissa]
And I was like, you thought you were going on a date?
00:16:22 [Melissa]
And she was like, let’s get married.

00:16:23 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:16:24 [Alison]
Exactly.
00:16:25 [Alison]
And it didn’t it was amicable, but I there was so much miscommunication from day one that it didn’t go past a week.
00:16:34 [Alison]
So looking back though, like, I outsource my editing.
00:16:38 [Alison]
Why to edit other people’s photos?

00:16:39 [Alison]
I hate that part.
00:16:41 [Alison]
I hate that part.

00:16:42 [Melissa]
There is a lesson too.
00:16:43 [Melissa]
I hate culling.
00:16:44 [Melissa]
I’m not gonna go find a job culling for another photographer.
00:16:47 [Melissa]
But back

00:16:48 [Alison]
to our other point, like, if it’s temporary, I could have done it for three or four months just to make some money.
00:16:53 [Alison]
But I will also say, this was before AI.
00:16:56 [Alison]
This was and all the really successful editors seem to have an investment in these pads, like, WIGO PAT.
00:17:04 [Alison]
If I’m thinking of well, I’m thinking Wagyu.
00:17:06 [Alison]
That’s Japanese beef.

00:17:07 [Alison]
That’s really expensive.

00:17:08 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:17:09 [Melissa]
Some sort of The tablet thingies.

00:17:10 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:17:11 [Alison]
A tablet.
00:17:11 [Alison]
They had these knobs.
00:17:12 [Alison]
They had custom set up to be, like, different functions in Lightroom, and it was like a race.
00:17:18 [Alison]
Right?

00:17:18 [Alison]
Like, they were editing like a race, and I was just like, I’m not investing that to do more to make more.
00:17:24 [Alison]
I don’t like this that much.
00:17:25 [Alison]
But it is an option.
00:17:27 [Alison]
If you enjoy editing, do it.
00:17:28 [Alison]
There are people even with AI.

00:17:30 [Alison]
Like, I use AI myself, and I still have real people.
00:17:32 [Alison]
I don’t know what they’re doing honestly, but I coordinate with real people to finish my galleries.
00:17:36 [Alison]
So it’s it still exists.
00:17:38 [Alison]
It’s still a thing.
00:17:38 [Alison]
You can still do it.

00:17:39 [Alison]
And for my military crowd out there, everybody always needs a babysitter.

00:17:44 [Melissa]
I don’t think it’s just military.

00:17:45 [Alison]
It’s not military at all, but it feels it feels very military because we’re always willing, oh, you’re a warm body.
00:17:50 [Alison]
Here’s my kid.
00:17:51 [Alison]
Because there’s so much there’s so much transition.
00:17:54 [Alison]
And also when you’re living

00:17:55 [Melissa]
I definitely have that opinion too.

00:17:56 [Alison]
There’s a lot more willingness to throw your kid at somebody because to live on base, like, you’re not on the sex offender list.
00:18:02 [Alison]
Right.
00:18:03 [Alison]
Not a background.
00:18:04 [Alison]
You’re a military there’s a lot of built in securities and backups that we take for granted in the military world when you live on base.
00:18:10 [Alison]
And then just everybody’s in pays well.

00:18:12 [Alison]
$25 more.
00:18:14 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:18:14 [Alison]
Why not?
00:18:14 [Alison]
Like, for especially if it’s a baby.

00:18:16 [Melissa]
No.
00:18:16 [Melissa]
We’ve got three kids.
00:18:18 [Melissa]
We just had a date night Tuesday night and we weren’t even gone three hours and it was like $80 for the babysitter.
00:18:23 [Melissa]
And my husband was like, man, that really goes to show you can’t even walk out the door for a date night for less than a $100 practically.
00:18:29 [Melissa]
No.

00:18:29 [Melissa]
But I will say I came she cleaned my daughter’s room and straightened up the bathrooms.
00:18:33 [Melissa]
And I was like, oh my god, you’re totally coming back.

00:18:35 [Alison]
For that rate, I would want that too.

00:18:38 [Melissa]
like, we need another date night so she can clean up some more.
00:18:40 [Melissa]
This is amazing.

00:18:41 [Alison]
Word.
00:18:42 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:18:42 [Alison]
For the house to be a better can you left it?
00:18:44 [Alison]
Yes, please.
00:18:45 [Alison]
Which personally, by the way, I always did that even as a high schooler.

00:18:48 [Alison]
Like, there were never dishes in the sink.
00:18:50 [Alison]
I always left the kitchen cleaner than they left it.
00:18:52 [Alison]
Like, tell your teens that, please, because I’m struggling with that.

00:18:55 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:18:56 [Melissa]
I think for the big thing on this, one of the things we’re talking about is, like, look at your strengths too.
00:19:00 [Melissa]
Like, what do you enjoy doing?
00:19:01 [Melissa]
If you have to, for your job, we’re going to take shooting out because obviously right now, unless you do, like we talked about in one of our last episodes, associate or contract shooting, second shooting, that kind of thing.
00:19:11 [Melissa]
If you love email marketing, if you love building sales funnels, like start reaching out to some people.

00:19:15 [Melissa]
Like I know there are times I’m looking for that kind of stuff and everything I find because I Google it is, Oh, you want a sales funnel?
00:19:21 [Melissa]
That’ll be $3,500 please.
00:19:22 [Melissa]
And I’m like, nah, maybe I don’t need a sales funnel that badly.
00:19:25 [Melissa]
So I’m not saying you’re going to undercut people because obviously they have a different audience.
00:19:29 [Melissa]
There are people who are looking for this stuff.

00:19:31 [Melissa]
And so if you can make some money doing that for them on smaller basis, whether it’s editing, emails, social media, blogging.

00:19:38 [Alison]
How many time are you looking for people to blog for you?

00:19:40 [Melissa]
Oh my God.
00:19:41 [Melissa]
Every photographer I know is I hate blogging.
00:19:43 [Melissa]
Somebody else do it.
00:19:43 [Melissa]
So if you’re good at writing, blogging would be a great one.
00:19:46 [Melissa]
And here’s a pitch to my shop and pick up my blogging blueprint course, and that’ll teach you how to blog properly for SEO and then tell people like, Hey, I’ve taken Melissa’s course.

00:19:56 [Melissa]
I know blogging.
00:19:56 [Melissa]
I know how to blog for SEO.
00:19:58 [Melissa]
Let’s get to it and stuff.
00:19:59 [Melissa]
And you can start your own business blogging for people.

00:20:02 [Alison]
We’ll have to put a link in the show notes for that.

00:20:04 [Melissa]
Yeah, we’ll put a link in the show notes.

00:20:05 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:20:06 [Alison]
Cool.
00:20:06 [Alison]
All right.
00:20:07 [Alison]
Cool.
00:20:07 [Alison]
Guys, that is the short end of it.

00:20:09 [Alison]
Think outside the box, Really assess.
00:20:11 [Alison]
And if you can’t if you can’t think what your strengths are, ask somebody close to you.

00:20:16 [Melissa]
K?
00:20:16 [Melissa]
Because I know

00:20:17 [Alison]
we can’t see for our own we’re too close to our own genius to see a lot of this.
00:20:20 [Alison]
Don’t forget to leave us a review.
00:20:21 [Alison]
Make sure you hit up the link in the show notes about the blogging blueprint.
00:20:24 [Alison]
We’ve also got a freebie on where to share those blog posts.
00:20:27 [Alison]
Like getting published is not convenient.

00:20:29 [Alison]
And then of course, the how to move your business checklist.
00:20:32 [Alison]
So that’s a three page checklist.
00:20:33 [Alison]
If y’all haven’t already downloaded that and used it, then you’re missing out.
00:20:36 [Alison]
And again, like Melissa said at the top of the show, we have zero feedback unless you reach out to us and tell us what’s working, what’s not, what you like, what you need, what you want more of.
00:20:45 [Alison]
If these freebies are useful to you, let us know.

00:20:48 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:20:48 [Alison]
Tell us what’s up,

00:20:49 [Melissa]
and we’ll catch you next time.
00:20:50 [Melissa]
Alright.
00:20:50 [Melissa]
Bye bye.
00:20:53 [Melissa]
Thank Thank you so much for listening.
00:20:54 [Melissa]
If you’re enjoying the show, would you do two things for us?

00:20:57 [Melissa]
First, leave a review.
00:20:58 [Melissa]
Just stars would be awesome.
00:21:00 [Melissa]
And two, forward this episode to a biz bestie, mil spouse, or anyone facing moving their business.
00:21:05 [Melissa]
We’d love it if you shared this episode with even just one person.
00:21:08 [Melissa]
If you have questions, you can reach out to Allison on Instagram at alison belle photog, or you can find me, Melissa, in my Facebook group, Picture Perfect Rankings.

00:21:17 [Melissa]
Check the show notes for links, and we’re so excited to have you guys here.