Michelle Hammons, Certified High Performance Coach TM

Welcome to A New Life podcast with Pamela Jean, where it's all about empowering women to empower more women. Get ready, friends, to create a new life. And here is your host, Pamela Jean.

Hello, my friends, and welcome to this week's episode of A New Life podcast. I am your host, Pamela Jean. Thank you so much for being here. I know you're talking time is so, so very valuable, and I appreciate you spending some of your valuable time listening to this podcast today. This podcast is not going to disappoint. I'm so excited for this interview. As I was doing some interview prep for my guest today. I'm just so excited. We're going to work really hard to keep it to 45 minutes, and it is going to be a challenge because there's so much goodness in this conversation that we're going to have before we get started. If you would please like and subscribe to this podcast, Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. And also invite your friends. Your friends need this as well. Invite your friends, invite your family. Please share this podcast so others can be inspired as well. Now, my guest today, her name is Michelle Hammons. I had the honor of meeting Michelle for the first time 15, 16, something like that, years ago. I never would have guessed 15, 16 years ago that she would be in my life again today in such a very, very cool, powerful way. I'll let Michelle tell us that story. So, Michelle Hammons, welcome to the podcast. I'm so glad you're here.

Pamela, thank you so much. I'm so looking forward to our conversation today. And I just appreciate that as you were reflecting on our journey there, it's been a while since we've known each other. And you never know when someone enters your life, the power of who they are and the relationship and what it holds for a lifetime. And so thank you for that reminder of how, how our, how we got started together.

Well, I know, it's just so funny because I think that, you know, I know that you're a spiritual person as well, and I think God puts people in your life on purpose, obviously, and you just never know the role that they're going to play. So the first time I met you, Michelle, was probably 16 years ago. And we were both, you and I, both were in the portrait industry full time. That was our career. That was our primary business. And you had reached out asking for me to photograph your grandmother. And photographing elderly is one of my favorite favorite subject matters. It always has been, still kind of is. I really enjoy. I just think there's so much wisdom and detail. There's so much intricacy with them. But you, you called and asked me that, but we weren't going to capture the traditional old picture of an elderly person like the church directory. We were going for something different. So tell us about that.

Yeah, so I remember thinking, you know, as you mentioned, we were both in the photography industry at that time, and I knew this wasn't an assignment I wanted to take on myself. I wanted to be in the experience with her while we were working through it. And. And the reason why that was important to me is because 20 years earlier, or maybe 15 from that. That point in time, my mom became sick. And we didn't really ever get to have that family portrait or that portrait of us together where she was really feeling good and at her best. So this, this to me was a very important purpose, purposeful portrait that I wanted to have made so I would have this beautiful image to reflect back on her. And my grandmother, you know, she was one of a kind. She was a high performer. She was. She lived to be an amazing age of. And I wanted to capture the essence of who she was. And she loved to sow seeds in her life, seeds with her friends, seeds in the garden, seeds of hope. And so this garden metaphor was really what I wanted to bring to life. And I remember calling you and knowing what a distinguished photographer you were and saying, is it okay if I bring some dirt and some live plants and can we just play in the dirt and photograph my grandmother and just see what develops? Right. To be in the moment with her. And you were like, let's do it. And so I. It was in. Those pictures are still such a joy today, which is how we got reconnected. I had some gardeners, and I was talking about my grandmother being a gardener, and they said their friend Pamela was a gardener, and we got reconnected that way. So again, these seeds, you never know where they're going to travel with you in life.

That. Oh, my gosh, that is so true. And you know what was funny is I don't think you knew that about me when you came to me with the idea of photographing your grandmother in her element, but brought to the studio. And I'll never forget she had this beautiful lime green outfit on, a big brim hat. I mean, she was just a pic out of a magazine. She was just such a beautiful lady. But I am a major dirt nerd. I love throwing dirt. I love gardening, I love planning, I love flowers. So it was right up my Alley to create that for you in such a beautiful way. And, you know, the funny thing is, it's been so many years ago since we captured that image. I can close my eyes and still remember every detail of that photo shoot. I remember your grandmother worried about, don't waste that dirt. That's good dirt. That's really good dirt. I mean, she was concerned about every single little tiny speck of dirt that was on the platform that we were working on. She was just so beautiful about that. And it was an honor, truly, Michelle, to be able to create that heirloom for you and create that legacy.

Yeah. And it is truly an heirloom and legacy. And I thank you for that because, you know, we never know. These portraits that we take of people, they're priceless. Right. And stealing with the outer beauty. You and I both have done thousands of clicking of the shutter where we're capturing the beauty, the outer beauty of who somebody is, the essence, their soul, and bringing them to life in a beautiful way. And you know, today, what, what we are working in, which is ironic that we're both doing the same thing again. This is where like minded people get together, is in, you know, being an entrepreneur as a coach.

Yes. Oh, my gosh. I just gotta jump in, if you don't mind. My gosh. Fast forward. So you have some gardeners come and help you at your home to replace some plants and do some landscaping for you. One of those gardeners happens to be a mutual friend of mine as well. You guys get to talking, she tells you that, yeah, she's a coach now. And you're like, oh, my gosh, I'm a coach now. And that's how you and I reconnect. That blows my mind that 16 years ago we were both in the grind of photography and now we both have made a beautiful transition into coaching, which is still nurturing and caring for people, but just in a different way.

Absolutely. Yes. And it's just as exciting in different ways.

Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. So, Michelle, I want to talk a little bit. I want to dig a little bit more into you. That was just kind of a long story of how we've been connected. But I guess I wanted to share that with the audience because I want you to think about everybody you meet. Whether it's today or 10 years ago or 15 years ago, everyone you meet has a role in your life. And that meeting is not an accident. You never know where you're going, to cross paths in your future that are really purposeful. Because I'M grateful for my connection with you, Michelle. We are both now in the coaching industry, life coaching, business coaching. For me, you are coaching in a little bit of a different direction still the same type of industry, but a little different focus than mine. But the knowledge and information that we can share with each other is so. It's just phenomenal. And I'm so grateful for you. But I want to dig into your coaching. Like what drives you to coach upper level executives and high performers and what motivates you to do what you're doing today.

Sure. So thank you for that question. And what motivates me is really just helping people succeed. Right. When we strip everything away, we do in our lives. I've had the luxury of spending a lot of time talking about legacy and my own family and with other people. And it's never about all of our accolades. It's about the relationships and the connection. And really coaching is about, it's a process. Right. An outcome driven process where we help people become more than who they think they can come. Sometimes it's beliefs we deal with. I happen to be in high performance coaching and that really drives me because I've always been a high performer in whatever I've put my hand to in my life. From the time I was a really young child all the way through today. I always like to, to find the highest level of whatever that thing is. Whether it's where I'm traveling, where I'm going to be serving and helping people from a volunteer perspective, whether it's the, the things and activities that drive me, I always want to be looking at it from that I can be the best and I want to become the best angle. So that's one of the reasons that's that drives me to work with high performing leaders, leaders of leaders, high performing artists, the multidisciplinary people that like to do different things. Sometimes what I, what I know about leaders in that capacity is they get bored, they get restless, they want to be working on more than and they have big goals and dreams. So at that level it's not about the struggles are different because the struggles are how are we going to go even further and expand more. There's already usually a lot of success built, but there's still we all have things we can improve on in that process. So that's part of what drives me and motivates me to work with such amazing leaders.

That's awesome. Now I have a question for you. You started out this conversation with a I can do anything mindset. I can do anything attitude. Where does that come from? Is that. Has that been learned over the years or is there someone in your life that has inspired you or driven that into you, that Michelle, there's nothing you can't do.

Yeah. So I think when I see where I see people struggle in this, and there's a lot of struggle in this area of what you're talking about. For me personally, how this lays down is one. I never really was given the option in my life to think about failure as an option. It wasn't always a high drive for success, but it was always like, it's possible. Like there was never a limit on possibility is how I would best describe it. And I think today, and I actually just wrote about this this week, I said, when your necessity is high enough, you won't get stuck in doubt or delay because you won't have that luxury.

That's so good. That's so wise, you know, And I think I can attribute my. I started my first business 34 years ago. I attribute the success to my photography studio to. I didn't have an option. Failure was not an option. I had bills and responsibilities. I didn't have a safety net financially. No one else was helping me. It was up to me. And I think that just really stemmed from, you know what, this has to work, work, and there is no option for it not to work. And I. And for me personally, you know, my. There. My father was a person who. Very hard worker, but there wasn't anything that I don't think he didn't think I could do. You know, he taught me to change the oil in the car, how to change a tire, you know, pop the hood, all of those things because. Just because I was a girl didn't mean I couldn't do things. And, and I think just growing up with that mindset of my father and my mother was a very hard worker as well, that I there. I just have never felt like there's something that I could not do.

Yeah. So I would say that it just comes from this, like, limitless belief. Right. And I've always believed from a faith perspective that things are possible. I mean, that's where it's rooted. Right. Everything's possible when we're. When we can believe. Right. But then it's just like without those limiters, then it's like the highway is pretty open, you know, there's no, there's no, there's no one. You might pass by a few things that might try to trip you up, but you can keep going. Right.

So if there's a listener right now who is just really, really stuck in that limited belief, stuck in that there's no way I could start this business, there's no way I could quit this job, there's no way I could do. Fill in the blank. What advice would you have for them? Where do they start?

Yeah. So this is another life lesson I was reflecting on this week and it's that belief is a decision. And every. When I go back and look at all the success points in my life which have been pretty amazing in my journey, all of those little demarcation or mile markers reflect a belief. And I just simply decided I was going to believe that whatever I was trying to attempt was what I was going to do. Whether it was a salary increase, whether it was a change in career, whether it was developing travel somewhere, whatever the goal was, the biggest element to create the success is to decide it. But more importantly to believe that it's possible. And once you make up your mind to believe it, then it can make anything possible.

That's such, such great advice. So tell us, tell the audience, Michelle, about your, your career journey. Because when I first met you, you were one of the most sought after wedding photo in the state of Oklahoma, for sure. And then you left the portrait industry. Where did you go from there?

So it was a transition that was related to another life change. So I knew. So I got remarried and I wanted to have a laptop lifestyle and so I was searching. So I've had two tracks in my life. There's always been the creative track and then there's been the tech. Tech track. Right. The science part. I always say I'm a blend of art and science and that is, and.

Anyone listening that is a thousand percent true.

Like I can't do just one, I have to do both. That's the multidisciplinary part. And so alongside opening my photography business and when I decided to close it 15 years later, I knew I wanted to transition into something else. But I also knew that the emotional part about that work was really important and someone introduced me to coaching and so I started exploring coaching because I hadn't really, I mean, I knew what a coach was from like a, you know, I had a cheerleading coach, I had a gymnastics coach, and we have all those coaches when we're kids, but like we should have this term coaches for adults. Right. Because we all need one. And when I really got introduced to someone who's a major influencer, that really showed me some very simplistic ways of managing high performance I was like, that's it. I can attribute all my success to those particular concepts. And so I was like, I mean, this is what I'm going to do. And so I primarily work in high performance coaching today. But that was the transition, it was really getting remarried where I closed one chapter in my photography business and I opened a new chapter into coaching.

Well, that's awesome. And, and I what I think was a bigger shock when that happened just in the industry because our industry is pretty a tight knit group, the photography world. And Michelle, your business was thriving. You didn't leave your business because it wasn't thriving. That's what's so remarkable is that you had this viable, amazing, very successful wedding business and then you like shut the door and walked away. It was like, what is going on? You know, normally people would stop the photography studio when they weren't successful, but you left on a high and I think that's really admirable.

Yeah. And I reflect on that as like a pivot point. Right. Sometimes we have to be comfortable pivoting and because there was something greater that I wanted, which was more freedom, more flexibility, more time. That's what most high performers want, is more of something.

Right.

I wanted all those things and I was like, if I keep doing what I'm doing, even though I love it and even today it's still a passion of mine, I knew I wanted the freedom because photography in particular, not only do you create your own product, but you also have to have a. Well, not through zoom, but in a traditional way. You have to be connected face to face. And I knew I wanted the freedom to travel to different places, different countries, different cultures. And I didn't want to be tied to a business that required that face to face interaction and coaching allowed me to do that.

That's awesome. So what would you say is your biggest business struggle?

Yeah, so this one is a one that I think is common. We all struggle with this and it's when we decide to be in business for ourselves, it has the greatest freedom and flexibility that you could ever decide. You have to be really courageous to decide to be a business owner. But the thing that can trip us up, and it trips me up too, is we have so many things that we want to focus on and what we have to really get very tight on is that focus. And it's very good photography metaphor. Right. The focal point, what we're going to frame up and focus and we have to really know what to let fall to the wayside. And sometimes that can be a Struggle, because when you are creative, and I have a lot of creative ideas and I love to play, you know, all the different things I love to do, I have to limit my exposure to some of those things. And sometimes that's a struggle because it sounds like this, I love this, I love that, but I love this even more. And it's just this micro difference between those levels that it makes it hard to decide. The forks in the road are always good. There's like, not a. This is a bad way, and this is a good way. It's like, oh, it could be this, it could be better, and it could be the best way, or it could be even here, even better. And we have this kind of. These choices that can be hard to choose because they're all interesting and exciting and they all could lead us down different paths. So I think that's the struggle is really knowing sometimes where to focus and having to really get finite about that.

Right. And I totally understand that, because as a creative person and an entrepreneur, there's just something different about that person where we're visionaries and we're constantly visualizing the next thing that we could do and the next thing that seems really fun. And I think where we sometimes can get off track is really crossing the finish line and finishing what we start because, oh, I could go do this. I could do this. Oh, and I love that when you say that. I completely see that because that's what happens in my brain as well. I'm really good at coming up with new concepts and new ideas, new business plans, new business ideas, marketing strategies. Really good at that. And sometimes it's kind of like the squirrel metaphor. Metaphor, squirrel. And then you're onto the next thing because you've gotten distracted by another shiny object.

Yeah. And in the high performance life, those shiny objects can still be very viable, great things. They're not just distractions. They can be good distractions. So it's, It's. It really does have that finite measurement of what to focus on.

That's so good. Can you think of a time, Michelle, that you held yourself back, that you got in your way? I know that you are one of those people that are so driven and. And rarely misstep that, but that has. That happens to all of us. Even high performers get stuck sometimes. So can you think of a time that you really got in your own way and you held yourself back?

Yeah. When I think about the moments, like where you have sweaty palms and you're like, what am I supposed to do here? And there's Been, there's been. I've experienced them too. Like, even though I've had a lot of great success, I still, there's been moments like big decisions came that I had to know what to do. So I think in those moments, what hold, what can hold you back is when you don't trust yourself, when you don't get still and listen to what's coming up and out of you. And we all have that, that inner voice, that spirit that tells us that say, go here. No, go here instead. But sometimes we get busy in our head and in our space and we forget to listen to what's where we are directionally being pulled. And I think sometimes not. That's that comes down to trusting ourselves, trusting our gut, maybe trusting our instincts, trusting my spirit. Sometimes those are the words that we use. But I think that now I always stand in that first it says I'm going to listen and trust. And sometimes when we do that, it does not make sense to the world around us. Pivots, you'll get criticized for, people will question you. I don't know how many times I've heard, but you're going to lose your health insurance benefits. You have a great job. You are a leader in a company that's a great company to work for. And all of those things are true. But what's truer is what's coming up in yourself. Right? And so we all have hopes and dreams that I believe God puts on the inside of us. And if we ignore them and don't trust ourselves, we. They'll keep coming back up, they keep bubbling up. You can't hardly ignore them. So I think it's just recognizing, go for it. Right? What is when you can trust yourself enough to take the next steps. All it takes is the next step, one step at a time.

That's so true. And I think something to keep in mind too is if you're making that shift and the people outside of you, like your friends, your family members are saying, but, Michelle, you're going to lose your health insurance. You're going to lose your great salary. What about your 401k? Sometimes those comments are their fears, not yours. Because they're not afraid of you losing your health care insurance. They're afraid if they ever lost their health insurance, because the fear is more about what they're afraid of. And they're putting that onto you.

Yeah. And this is where I go back to possibility because those things, and I would never advocate for someone doing anything irresponsible or not having a plan you need a plan when you're making these kind of decisions. But you don't have to have a perfect plan. You just need a, you need a guide to get you there. And there's ways to solve these things that are maybe non traditional or maybe not what you've ever been exposed to, or maybe there's other people have done it and you haven't ever done it before. And so you're exactly right. And this is where we collect like our. That this comparison, right. Comparison of others, comparison of what someone tells us. And I kind of think of this like the old game, pin the tail on the donkey. People pin things on us right as we go through and they'll be like, but this is, you know, this is not right for you. No, what they're really saying is that's I'm uncomfortable with what you're doing, but it's okay because they don't have to be comfortable. It's been my experience, really, no two people in this planet are traveling the exact same journey. And footprints, we have similar stories, but they are all very uniquely different.

And you know, I think what's so fun is thinking back to when we first met, if you would have told me all those years ago that you and I both would end up being high level coaches, I would have been. What are you even talking about? Would not have made any sense to me. I would not have believed it.

Yeah, what you're reflecting on there reminds me of like staying in the journey because there's been times in my life I've had huge time freedom and didn't have the vision then there's been times I've had no time freedom and I've had big vision might be going through.

Right now because I know your plans and they are phenomenal.

And when you, when you mentioned that it's, it's so relative to like staying in the journey because you're right, I didn't have a vision for that. I, I didn't even have a vision for opening a photography studio until I went through death of my mom and knew that I wanted to do something different besides be in a corporate setting. So each of these things, it's like we go back to the garden metaphor. These seeds get planted and they start growing and they take on their own life and you have to kind of follow them and play around with them. And so yeah, I totally agree with you that we want to make sure that we're staying in the journey that we're supposed to be in. And sometimes that means there's uncertainty. There's not clarity that you don't know what's going to happen after you do the next thing because the next thing is going to get revealed in the next step.

Oh, that's so true. And sometimes you have to walk away from something that's really good, that is really good to be able to find the thing that's not just good, but it's great and then the next thing is exceptional. And that's such a great lesson. So Michelle, if, if you were to describe your ideal client like the client, the high performer that you work for, what does that look like? Who is that person?

So most of the clients I work with are, they're, they're aspirational in all things that they're trying to accomplish. They really know they want to grow. And this can be leaders at all levels. But I'll just give you the high level. It's leaders of leaders or people who are multidisciplinary leaders. So they may run multiple teams, they may run multiple companies, they may have a non profit, they may have a business, they may be in a big volunteer organization and also have a be an entrepreneur or in a corporate leader. So they might get bored easy and have multiple things they're working on or they just have big goals and dreams that they want to tackle. That's generally who I work with. That also includes people like artists that are might be a singer, songwriter and artists like performing artists right on stage or in the theater. So I work with a lot of multidisciplinary creatives and creative leadership comes from a lot of different places. I know we kind of go to the paintbrushes and the canvas when we think about creativity. But this can be creative process, creative organization, design, creativity that lives within someone in their art or skill. So it's that caliber of leader that.

I work with that's fantastic. So if someone listening would like to reach out to you and have a conversation, conversation with you, Michelle, what's how, what's the best way for someone to reach you? To schedule a time to visit, to get to know, to get to know one another. How can they work with you?

Sure. So you can find me on my website, creativityplaybook.com you can also email me Michelle, creativityplaybook.com and I'll just throw my number out here. You can send me a text or call me direct 918-850-5629 and really it's an invitation for if you're listening and this is resonating with you, you know, you might be thinking about your creative strengths and what you want, your challenges are and what you want to do about them. And my question would be, let's have a powerful conversation to discover what you're, what you're doing about those things and what you want to do about them. Because every one of us can go faster, further with the support of someone like a coach helping you.

That's awesome. Thank you for sharing that. And if you don't mind, Michelle, I will include all of that information in the show notes as well. So people can reach out to you if they have questions and just want to have that powerful conversation with you. Because friends, if, if you are on the fence about doing something different or growing your company or selling your company or just going to a new level, don't do this alone. Don't do this alone. Especially if you're creative. My goodness. Michelle is, is someone that you really, really need to have a conversation with because she will make you think things that you didn't even know were there to think about. And that's where a coach outside of your friends and family and current circle can help tear walls down that you don't even know you have placed. Would that be true, Michelle?

Absolutely. Yes.

Okay. Really good. So I have a few more questions for you. What do you think? And maybe you've already answered this. How do you, what do you think is the hardest thing about being an entrepreneur? Like, what do you, I know you, you mentioned staying focused and crossing the finish line on certain projects, but what's hard about being an entrepreneur for you?

Well, I've always been in family owned businesses and generations in my family, and what I think has made them successful is this idea of collaboration over competition. Even in the photography spectrum that I was in, I remember collaborating with other fellow photographers and you know, we need support when we're doing life and business. And part of that includes not thinking of everyone as your competition. But how can you work together? How can you create joint ventures, how can you expand both of your networks? Right. Or multiple people working together? Collaboratives. That collaborative space is where the real magic happens. If you're trying to go it alone, it's going to be harder, it's going to be more exhausting and it's going to take longer.

Amen to that. And which is, you know, reason number 559, that I'm grateful that you and I have reconnected because the things that we have brainstormed over the last six months or so are really, really good things.

Yes. I always enjoy our Brainstorming sessions. They're super fiery.

Yes, they are. And we're like, okay, wow. Did not see that coming. This one's pretty exciting. So where do you want to make the biggest impact in the world? I know you have a philanthropic heart. I know you are someone who desires to give back and help the world become a better place. Where do you want to make the biggest impact?

Yeah. So I have two kind of threads of passion. The first one is alternative education in America. There are so many students that have so many creative strengths that this cookie cutter model that we are working with is very broken. And it does not allow the creative freedom to allow ideas to flourish and help people become who they need to become in the world. There are standards and we need those, but it's a broken system. And that's evidenced by how many alternative schools have had to pop up to get people through the process. So especially here in Oklahoma. Oklahoma is one of the poorest performing states when it comes to education. And I want to give students in Oklahoma a high performance experience so they understand and can appreciate who they are becoming and who they may already know they are from a creative perspective and who they are meant to be in the world. The second piece is Food scarcity.

So, Michelle, tell me. I know I don't know your full story on everything, but I know there has to be a reason why you chose those two. Those two topics.

Yeah, I think for alternative education. I see. And I probably experienced this myself. People criticize, they condemn, they complain. And I was. I was an average student. I mean, I could have applied my. And when I did apply myself, I was a four point student. But if I wasn't interested in the topic, I wasn't. I was a D student. And so I think we have to recognize not every discipline of learning or education applies to everyone. It's good to have a mix of those things. But not everybody's destined for a college path. Not everybody's destined to be a business owner. And so we have to find and pull out those creative gifts to make sure that we're helping people become who they're meant to be. That's. It's the judgment, I think, that. That, that I see so many people get shut down. You shouldn't do that. You should do this. You should go there and you. That's limiting, right?

Oh, my gosh. That's so powerful. That's so powerful. And. And in this day and age too, there's so many families that just don't have enough food in their pantry, not enough to go around to everybody. I think those are two such powerful philanthropies. And, and I know Michelle, you're going to do great things in those arenas. So I'm going to start winding things down just a little bit. A couple rapid fire questions for you. What advice would you give the eight year old? You. If you could look at the eight year old Michelle, what advice would you give her?

I would look her in the eye and I would say someone is willing to help you make that dream come true.

That's so good. That's so good. What's one thing that no one in the whole wide world knows about you?

What's one thing? Oh, this is a good one. Okay.

It's not a good question. It's my favorite.

That even though I'm highly creative, I, I don't know that I've said this out loud in this kind of forum, is that sometimes you creatives have creative insecurity and that can trip us out up.

Interesting. Do you have an example of that for you? Well, I'm gonna keep digging.

So for me, I have a lot of ideas and sometimes I will start into those ideas and play just like creation. Right. And many of those ideas are valuable and I don't take them to full fruition and so but I don't know that I've ever thought about it as like, I don't feel secure about like putting it out in the world. It's not so much that, it's just maybe there's something that holds you back or maybe it doesn't. You don't have the cohesive picture. Right. Because when we're creatives we have to have like, I have to see things as clearly as a photograph for me to write. If it's foggy or fuzzy, if I don't have that clarity like a snapshot, then I know I won't get there. So I think sometimes when you have ideas, you know, a portion of the idea comes and maybe it's not completely vetted out and so I can get stuck there a little bit. That's probably something I don't talk about a lot.

Oh, interesting. Okay. I never would have guessed that about you because I. And we see ourselves differently than other people see us. So I would never have picked up on that with you because everything I see you do is just insanely, ridiculously fabulous.

Well, thank you for that.

I believe in you more than you will ever, ever understand. So what's your favorite thing to do in your downtime?

So I'm still a photography Bug, there's two things I love. Live music and concerts. You invite me to a concert, I'm going like, that is a yes. I will clear my calendar. That's one of my favorite things. The second is these days I just love to take my iPhone and open the camera up and wherever I'm at, just roam around and see the unseen. Right. To play, to take pictures of interesting things. Like I was walking around this past week and I took a picture of a backstage door that said artist interest only, entrance only. And it was in another language, there was some like a lime and a lemon or maybe it was a lemon tree that the lime, it hadn't completely ripened up. And so I just look for things that captivate my attention. And I just play with my iPhone camera. I always say when I die and someone has to go through my hard drive, they are going to wonder what life I lived.

What was wrong with her?

Yeah. So playing, playing in that creative space or being in that creative presence.

Yeah, I think that's true. When you've been in the photography world like you and I have been, that doesn't. You don't lose that desire. It doesn't go away. Because I still shoot some clients, I have some legacy clients that I still take care of and I love them so much and take on a few new clients here and there, more by private referrals. But once you're in that industry, I don't think you ever get. It just is it's part of who you are.

Yeah, there's something captivating about. My favorite thing to say about a photograph is it's the only thing, the only thing on earth that makes time stand still and you can never return to that moment other than through a photograph.

That's profound. So profound. Okay, Michelle, what advice would you give entrepreneurs or dreamers that are standing in their way and really, really seeing what their dreams are or the person that, that forgot how to dream. What are your dreams? They don't know how to dream anymore. What advice would you give them?

So I would say get around positive people and, and you may not have a network like some people don't, but if it's not positive people, then it's positive material. Sometimes that can be faith based material. Sometimes that can be what we call personal development material. I always bring you back if you're somebody out there listening to this and you are constrained in your resources. Libraries are still an amazing place to get so much great stuff for no money at all. So if you are that person, you can tap into those resources. We also have the Internet where you can get so much free content that's from amazing leaders from around the planet. And start somewhere. But start and to make sure that you are connecting with other people. When we are isolated, that can be the biggest tripwire and it's really even spiritual. Right. We are not intended to go this journey alone. And so if you are not connecting with people, get in a room, get somewhere, get some resources that can help you level up. And, and if you need and can get a coach, I would say do it. It's going to be a life changing experience for you.

That's such good advice. And I think, you know, we are the gatekeeper of what information we allow in and what stimulization comes into our world, into our being. And we have to be really careful about what we let in. Whether it's watching too much violence, playing too many video games or doing mindless things. We are the gatekeeper of what comes in because what we focus on is what becomes true in our lives.

And you know, this is a, when you say that there's a thought that comes up. This is one of the challenges I give people all the time, and I'm going to give it here too, is if you think you don't have time to work on something more proactive in your life, go take a look at your screen time in your phone and see what it tells you. And that's not to criticize use of cell phones or apps or anything you're doing because some of it is business intended. But I bet you're going to find some time there that you can reclaim to start working on these bigger goals and purpose and dreams that you have on the inside that are burning to get out into the world.

Well, and I think it's your purpose because I believe God plants the dreams in our, our souls of our hearts. He plants those and, and they're going to keep coming back up. If you don't understand what it is, you know, today, a year from now, it's going to come back and knock on your door and say, hello, are you ready yet? It's, it's going to be there. It will never go away. Because I think those gifts are real and believable and they have to be acted on. They're part of the plan and they have to come out into the world.

Yeah, I always say they recycle. Right. Because I remember when I was young thinking I'm going to be. I always love quotes. I always love personal development. And I kept doing other things And I kept doing other things, but now today I'm rooted right in my purpose. And, like, there is no. There is nothing else. This is the only option.

Oh, that's so awesome. And you're so good at it. Michelle. You truly, truly are a professional in the coaching world and you do an outstanding job. And friends, if you are stuck in that place of. Of life has been hard, you don't know what your dreams are. You had dreams, but now they're gone. And your dreams aren't the same and you just don't know where to begin. If you don't know what to do for yourself, then find someone that is doing something that you love, that you enjoy, that you admire. Connect with that person. And helping them reach their dreams and their goals is going to show you what your goals and dreams are all about.

Yes. Okay.

That's a good place to end right there. Michelle. Oh, my gosh. Thank you, my friend. Michelle, I just treasure you so much. You have been such a blessing to me. I never would have guessed all those years ago that we would reconnect and become such good friends as well as colleagues and passionate about the coaching industry and how we can help people live their very, very best lives. So thank you so much for being here today.

Well, thank you for having me. It's been my pleasure. And again, I'm grateful for the fact that we got reconnected, but I'm also grateful for the memories you've given me and the work and the vision you had when we were doing that portrait setting as we close out. It's always been a very meaningful treasure in my life and it really is priceless at this point.

Oh, thank you so much for that. That. That means the world to me. Oh, gosh, friends, thank you so much for joining me today on this podcast. I know that learning about Michelle and hearing her very wise words is going to help you. Please reach out to Michelle. If you would like any coaching advice or coaching direction or a discovery, reach out to me. I'm happy to help as well. Just thanks for being here. Thank you for your time and I will catch you next time.

Thank you for joining us today on a New Life podcast. We will see you next time.