Generator Ep. 007 – Carrie Roseman – Manifesting Your Dream Business

Matt Stagliano 0:00
Welcome back. My friends. This is episode seven of generator and this week Joining me is Carrie Roseman of Carrie Roseman Studios. Now, Carrie and I have known each other for a handful of years now she runs this incredibly high end portrait service out of southeastern Connecticut in the New London area. She has been in business 19 years, so she is not new to the game. One of the things that I love about Carrie is her unending confidence in her ability to achieve whatever she sets her mind to. So we start by talking about her new studio that she manifested. It’s a perfect space for a photographer, we talk about your authentic self and creating that voice and staying in a state of childlike wonder and play to create the work of your dreams. We talk about outsourcing, staying in your zone of genius, and really just creating content that ties into a brand that gives your client an exceptional experience. So Carrie has been doing it a long time. She’s got a ton of wisdom. And this is a really, really fun conversation to have. I love seeing her grow over the years and there is nothing stopping this woman going forward. So I want you to sit back and relax. This is a high energy episode and let’s get started with the show with Carrie Roseman.

I love this skull behind you. I’m a scholar fishy. annatto. And this size, it’s like backwards. Here. Yes. I’m immediately drawn to that. But hey, how are you?

Carrie Roseman 2:00
I’m good. I’m good. Yeah, we have all different kinds of weird aesthetic things in our house. So that sculpting is my husband’s but I think it’s pretty cool. So, you know, you can see some fairies up there. There’s a couple of pictures of us. There’s plants and it’s a hodgepodge.

Matt Stagliano 2:18
I’m digging it, you know, people come into the studio. I’ve got a collection of skulls of like, you know, from everything from like fool’s gold pyrite, all the way down to Day of the Dead type ceramic skulls. And they’re everywhere and people walk in. And they’re like, this is a little bit odd. I’m like, Yeah, that’s cool. It’s my thing, like just hanging out. Where are you today? Are you at home? Are you in your studio?

Carrie Roseman 2:41
I’m at home. Hence the hodgepodge. Yeah, I’m my student, I just moved studios in the end of December. So it’s the turn of the year, I got a brand new space, I was at the previous location for about seven years. And my new location is only about five minutes from my house. So I love that. So I’m, I’m at my house, I have a home office here. So whenever there’s like the admin stuff for client calls, I do that here. I do all the client meetings, and obviously the photographing and all that fun stuff at the studio. I’ll probably have some definitely like production things going on in there, of course, but for today, I figured like this was this is good.

Matt Stagliano 3:26
No, it looks great. And I was watching the stories that you’re putting online about the new studio. And it looks insane. Like you’ve got a psych wall, right, you’ve got a cyclo wall, like I thought, this space, the raw space. And then what you turned it into, and the the staff of friends that you had unloading all your stuff. And all the things tell me about it’s, it’s like a dream space for a photographer.

Carrie Roseman 3:54
It is. And I actually talked a little bit about this on social, the fact that I actually manifested this particular space in a matter of four days, or 19 years and four days. So it’s like, I was so specific about what I knew was non negotiable in a new dream space. And that’s how you have to be for manifesting if you’re gonna place your order with the universe, like, you’re gonna get mixed mixed results if you’re not specific. So I had a running checklist of all the things that I knew I wanted. And one day later, he kind of started driving around just places I was looking at online, I’m like, Oh, let me drive by this place. And they were kind of scattered in different towns. And then I was like, You know what, no, this is not what I want. I actually want to be in my town. And I’m just gonna start driving around and seeing if there’s phone numbers or for rent signs anywhere besides what I’m finding online. So I made like four appointments that Wednesday for Friday to see four different spots and then another four spots to see on Sunday, so I made a two point minutes on that Wednesday in the place that I ended up getting, I saw on Sunday. So within four days of me actually like being decisive making the decision, saying it is time for the new space. I saw it four days later after I made the decision. And it had that when I’m talking about the checkboxes, I knew I wanted at least 3000 square feet which does sound a ginormous for a photography studio. And for those of you out there who may not even have a studio and like you only need like a quarter and a window, you don’t actually need that much space. But I’m 19 years into my career and I teach other photographers so it’s like a workshop spaces well, and I wanted to be able to have that room I really didn’t have as much room to host something like that at the at the previous place. So that was going to be the upgrade the square footage. I knew I wanted it to have an industrial feel. 12 foot ceilings is like a must, you know for lighting and all the things. Big windows for natural light. I wanted my own bathroom, I wanted to kitchenette, I wanted a private parking. In the downtown area where I live. There’s like a main municipal law. But other than that it’s street parking. But my building has a dedicated parking lot. So it’s like kind of a gym to find in the downtown area where I live. So it had all of these things. And then the company who bought the building was getting a big grant to do a renovation. So it was a build to suit. So I said perfect. Maybe I can ask for a cyclorama here, and they build it for me. So I was like all right. So it’s like a cyclorama wasn’t like a non negotiable but I was like if I have the space and they’re already doing construction in there. It’s a photographer’s studio. I should definitely have cyclorama so there was a room in the studio, where I was like, Okay, take this wall down. And because originally I was going to have them take the two main walls down. So it was like the cyclorama was going to be a corner open to the studio. But then I was like, but then I’m moved removing a wall that I could hang backdrops on on the other side. So it’s actually a three walled cyclorama. And it’s like 17 feet wide. So it’s, it’s really legit. Like I think when they we had to go back and forth a little bit because they thought they were just going to build like a little cyclorama in this room, and I was like, No, the entire room is, like, I want to walk into the space and be like, That’s the cyclorama you know. And the point of having a cyclorama is so that you just have continuous backdrop without shooting off of it doesn’t mean that I don’t ever want dirty frame. I like that too. But I just love having just that continuous whitespace I shoot on white so much that it’s like, it just made sense for me. I mean, I have like rolls, like, I was buying so much like white backdrop paper, like, so this is the upgrade now it’d be like we have to maintain it and paint it sometimes. But that’s okay. I’m totally down with that.

Matt Stagliano 8:00
Yeah, for real. I think that’s, you know, I know it’s my dream, right. So in the studio that I have, I’ve got these weird walls. And it’s just, it’s, it’s a very strange layout. It’s an old mechanic’s garage, right? So I have to work within kind of what was in the building before. And I’ve got a couple of corners that I’ve always been like, Man, I just want to build a sidewall in here. And I really don’t have a need for it. Like it’s definitely a nice to have. But I’m not bringing in like Ford F 150s. And doing these big commercial shoots or anything, right. So it was really don’t need it. But it’s always been one of these, like odd left, I’d love to have that. And I cannot figure out how to do it in my studio without like sacrificing half the space to do it. Right. So you’re super lucky. Now, where is the studio? Right? You’re you’re in the Connecticut, New York City area. Where is it? Where are you located now?

Carrie Roseman 8:56
Yeah, so I’m southeast Connecticut. So it’s New London, New London is the name. And so um, if you’ve ever heard of mystic Connecticut, like 10 minutes from there. So we’re about 20 minutes from the border of Rhode Island. But like, geographic wise, we’re in a great area for like, we’re an hour from Providence, Hartford in New Haven and then two hours from Boston about two and a half hours from New York. So it’s, it’s like really easy to get to. And shoreline Connecticut is really beautiful. So it’s Yeah, I mean, you’re in New England too. So you know,

Matt Stagliano 9:34
it’s the same right? So it’s really interesting like you’re going to be hitting tourist season soon, right? Where you’ve got a lot of people visiting the coast and I’m kind of the same I’m just coming out of that. I had everybody come up for ski season. Do you have a tourist season as part of your business like do you get I know it’s not a walk like you and I neither of us have walk in businesses, right? A whole lot. Yeah, do you find that you get any level of bump during The summer where there’s just more people in town visiting the coast or visiting mystic

Carrie Roseman 10:04
I don’t but it’s also because they don’t advertise for stuff like that and I, I specialize in headshots personal branding and boudoir and then some like finer editorial style kind of photos. So I’m typically photographing one person at a time. Does that mean I don’t do couples or generations? portraits? Absolutely I do. Do I do family? Sometimes, of course, but do I advertise it? No. Because it’s just not the like, if I started advertising that, then that’s mostly going to be what I’m photographing. And it’s fine to sprinkle it in. But it’s not the bulk of what I desire to do. Because then you’re managing several personalities at a time. And then you are having to coordinate several outfits at a time and it’s just, it requires more energy from the

Matt Stagliano 10:51
get go. I was like no weddings, no engagements, no couples, no families of babies. Like I said that because I didn’t want to get caught up in all the generalities. Right. There’s plenty of people that do it and do it way better than I could quite frankly, they’ve got the personality for it. I don’t. But it brings up a question for me, right? So you’ve talked about manifesting, you’ve kind of created exactly what you want in your business. You got personal headshots, personal branding, and headshots and boudoir, but you’ve kind of crafted your whole business around the client that you want, right? Not necessarily like, oh, yeah, I can shoot anything. I mean, you’ve been doing this for 20 years, right? But you’ve been able to build a business around this really high end client that is not only attracted to what you do, but you’re like, No, these are the people that I’m going to serve. And that’s it. I don’t need to serve everybody. Do I have that? Right? I mean, it seems like you’ve really created exactly the client that you want, and exactly the type of shoots that you want to do. And you’re fearless with that, at least from where I sit, it looks fearless, right?

Carrie Roseman 11:59
Oh, my God, that’s so like, incredible to hear. Actually, Matt, thank you for that lovely thing to say. It is honing in on the qualities of who you desire to be working with, and then showing up authentically in your own space, wherever you show up. That’s going to draw in your ideal clients health faster than anything you did faster than anything else you can do. And great clients are kind of created. They’re not just like, and they are out there in general. But you as you know, people pay for what they value. But sometimes we have to demonstrate that value. So what sometimes like and I mentor other photographers who sometimes people will be like, Well, where do you really find clients to spend 1000s of dollars, and I’m like, they’re walking around everywhere. They’re at the grocery store, they’re at the gym, they’re like, when you’re walking down the street in your neighborhood, like, they might be your mailman. They are everywhere. It’s not just like person one will spend this in person two, and there’s like a unifying quality it’s, do they value photos? Do they want to see themselves in a new way? Like, are they ready to celebrate their legacy or something they’ve been through or just a life moment, or they just want to capture this time right now. And so they can look back on it and 20 years, like when I got specific about that. And this actually happened over the pandemic. So obviously 2020, we went into shutdown, I know it was different state to state, but we were shut down for four months and couldn’t do client facing activities. So I got really in the back end of my business and got really organized in certain respects. And one of those things was really honing in on the ideal client that I wanted to serve. Because I thought I had it honed in, but I was still attracting in people whose every once in a while who had very loud negative self talk that they were buying into and believing and then I don’t care if you’re Annie Leibowitz, or whoever you there’s no amount of beautiful photos you can make of a person like that who’s determined to not see it. So at that point, I made the decision. I don’t want to work with that type of person anymore. I want to work with a person who’s on a personal growth journey. So that is like the key descriptor that they have permission to invest in themselves. They value photography, they’re on a personal growth journey, they want to celebrate this moment, for whatever reason, they’re ready to see themselves in a new way and step into their next level. So that’s like, kind of like the crux of who I’m attracting. And then as you know, like you mentioned my website, like, my website is like 100% me and I show up as 100% me online. So what you see and what you hear and what you read is actually what you get so the more authentic you are, the more it draws in the people who are meant for you because I know I’m a lot for some people and they’re going to be like Carrie is not for me cool then like you self select out. And the ones who do like the messaging who do like my energy and my voice are Gonna be attracted to that, and they’re going to want to be in in my circle and want to work with me. So, it’s supposed to be like that you’re not supposed to just be in the middle and try to please everybody, because then you’re gonna get such a mixed bag of results anyway,

Matt Stagliano 15:13
I know that coming out of the pandemic, there is this big movement, it wasn’t even a movement, I think we just all kind of woke up. And we’re like, I don’t have to be this thing that I’m not right. Everybody’s now used to drinking wine at one in the afternoon in their pajamas like we spent a year doing that. There’s really nothing that we can throw out there now that people are going to either believe or not believe, I think, the authenticity, the authentic people that are showing up and being like, Yeah, this is me Take it or leave it. I think they’re the ones that are really succeeding the ones that are trying to be or fit a certain mold, folks can now kind of see through that they see through the span, they know the marketing, people are way savvy are now as clients than I think they used to be, I think they wanted to buy into an idea. Now it’s just kind of like, do I vibe with you or not? One thing that I’ve really noticed about you own you for years now has been this, like this is me Take it or leave it. And I love that because it shows up in absolutely everything you do, whether it’s your posing videos, or whether it’s your education, or just you educating your clients about what it is that they’re going to go through. It’s unapologetically you. And the thing that I love about that is clients do self select out. And they’re like, not the personality for me, or Oh, my God, where has this chick bend my entire life? Because that’s the photographer for me, right? I think the more that you can lean into that, as a business owner or as a photographer, or creative of any sort, the more you lean into that the tribe comes and finds you. Yeah. Was there ever a moment where you’re like, This isn’t work? And this is freaking me out? Should I do? Should I not? Should I like be a little bit more reserved? Were you ever at a point where you were like, self censoring or having some of that self doubt you’re like, maybe this isn’t the right thing to do, I should do something more traditional, or always like middle finger to the world doing I don’t care what I do. Like,

Carrie Roseman 17:15
this is such a great question. Because this has everything to do with confidence, right? And people ask me this type of thing a lot, because I do come off authoritative and direct and confident. And but it wasn’t always like that. I did have a lot of like, self doubt and you know, perfection ism things trying to get in the way. And should I look a certain way? Should I be like showing certain kinds of images? Should I be saying certain things. And I did find that like, before I went full time portrait, I did shoot weddings for a number of years. And that work is beautiful. And it was like, hard for me to make the decision to walk away. But I just wasn’t happy doing it anymore. But I found before I really showed the work that lit me up, I was showing really mediocre stuff online. And I was getting like a mediocre response. And then when I started to really show like stuff with blur, or this or this quiet moment are that like, you know, stuff that nobody else was shooting? That’s when my people were like coming out of the woodwork like Where have you been? So it’s kind of the same thing on the portrait side. But when I went full time portrait, I hadn’t been shooting portraits, but I was shoot and burn and charging next to nothing. I needed to do a lot of self value work in general, not just on my money story, but who I was as a person. And to know that life is too short to be a people pleaser. Like who am I here to please I’m here to please myself, that’s one of the main messages that I have out there is put yourself first because you actually fill your cup more. And then you have more to give the people you love. And it’s such a backwards concept for people who are so used to putting themselves last, whether they’re an entrepreneur or one of our clients, or a friend of ours or whoever, like life is so short man. Like, are you going to sit here waiting to do the thing that you want to do or waiting to be the person you want to be? And then be at the end of days and have be full of regret? Or are you just going to decide to be who you want to be and to not apologize for it. Like I don’t need to apologize to anybody. But it was a process like the way I describe this to the photographers I mentor is it’s like the big unlearn the unlearn of all of this conditioning that we were in the homes we were brought up in, in the schools we were around in so popular culture and media everywhere. It’s just all this messaging that was given to us and it’s like we have to peel back the layers and find what’s true for us. That’s a personal growth journey right? Hey there. I know a lot of people are afraid to really be themselves because then it’s like, oh, are people gonna like me?

Matt Stagliano 20:09
That’s been a huge it’s been a huge struggle for me, right? I spent so long in corporate, that I was trained to do everything like super high professional use all the buzzwords, right, everything’s a 30,000 foot view and babba babba Pappa. And so after, you know, 20 years in the corporate world, and then working for myself, I thought that you had to present a certain image in order to be taken seriously, right? Because I had no background in photography, I had no idea what I was doing at the same time, like trying to find my own self value, my own self confidence, trying to figure out who I was in this next phase of life, right, all that going on, I realized that I was trying to be what I thought other people wanted me to be in the role that I was playing as a photographer, like I never identified solidly with being a photographer, I was just like, I can play that role for a little bit, right. But at the same time was all the imposter syndrome, all the comparison. And I’d be lying if I said, don’t fall into that now. Right? If I’m doing scrolling on social media too much, like, inevitably, I’m gonna be like, my work sucks. I can’t do it. Gary does Oh, my God. But when

Carrie Roseman 21:23
we all do that, no matter what level you get to, there’s always going to be a little bit of that.

Matt Stagliano 21:27
I’m just gonna hang it up, because I’m never gonna be that good. When I finally stepped back, and I said, like you, this is the only life we get like, I’m going to be 50 years old, do I really want to still be trying to please, these people that, honestly are just my teenage bullies? Like, why am I trying to please that avatar of a person. And once I started to strip that back, I realized, oh, this, this feels way better. This feels way better to just kind of be me, never put on a tie again. And it’s just, I’m gonna get seven denim jackets, because that’s all I’m going to wear for the rest of my life. You know what I mean? Like, just being me. And then I realized, it’s been a slower process than I want. But those folks come for the stuff that I create, when I try to create the retail mass market. Everyone’s just like, me, everyone does that. Right? But when you do your thing, and you’re just stand behind the thing that you do, everybody that you want to attract, you do attract, when you start to feel that and let it happen, your world changes. And it sounds like that was a huge shift for you. Like, once you once you turn that on, and you’re like, this is just gonna be me, that things really kind of took off for you.

Carrie Roseman 22:47
There’s been dips and doubts and all this for sure. there as well, for sure, especially if you’re learning, like a new skill, or you’re trying to do something different creatively, like, I have certainly been in my fair share of creative roads. gone through my fair share of burnouts, gone from my fair share of like, what the heck do I even want to be photographing? Like, you know, and that is something that happens throughout your career. Like, I know, people who used to photograph babies, and now they photograph animals, like exclusively. So it’s like, you’re allowed to pivot and check in with yourself and see, how am I feeling about this still, do I still want to do this? Or do I want to pivot and that’s like, that’s what I did when I I shut off the weddings. I mean, it’s been years now but that was like, that was a big pivot for me. And then when I started photographing, I was like, I’m gonna photograph everything because I didn’t know what I wanted to photograph. And now it’s just like, okay, so I know the main things I’m doing personal branding and boudoir, but I really do love pinup and people have been asking me about that quite a bit. So I’m like maybe I’ll push that because it’s so fun for me I love vintage and I love like that type of kind of styling.

Matt Stagliano 24:04
For someone that has been shooting for 19 years right I’m sure that you’ve kind of floated in and out of genres and kept refining that voice and I liked doing this but let me bring this technique over here and try it with headshots or let me try this boudoir thing over here and personal branding and so I’m sure it’s been iteration after iteration and fine tuning what it is that you want to shoot. Are you feeling right now that the personal branding the headshots the boudoir, right, the fine art that this is where you want to be? Or when I just saw on your eye you were talking about pinup does the possibility of a new little niche or it’s the side niche side quest? Does the head like fill you with all sorts of new creative possibilities? And at what point do you go from this is personal work that I love to You, yeah, I want to market this and keep doing this at the risk of becoming bored with it.

Carrie Roseman 25:05
This is a good question. I think it’s all about highs based and finding your voice, right and what lights you up. Because what we’re photographing who we’re working with should make us feel more energized, and drain us. And that’s a good check in. So if you are feeling drained by something, it means that maybe that’s not the right path for you. Because you’re gonna continue to feel drained by that thing. Like a lot of families shoot so draining for me, because you’re just like I said, you’re dealing with so many different personalities and things, especially if you’re dealing with littles, and you’re chasing them around, and dealing with meltdowns and all the things and I’m very good at that. But when I’m done with that, I feel like depleted almost, can I do it? Yes. Can I do it? Well, do I want to do it all the time now? Do I feel really empowered when I have a woman or a man in my studio, who I changed the way they see themselves and now they have next level portraits for their business, or they have the most beautiful portraits of seeing themselves sexy in a way that they never thought they were like, that is life changing. For me that energizes me after a shoot. There are a lot of things that I want to be shooting just for me. And we do as creatives especially need to take time to create just for ourselves. Leave money off the table, just do something for yourself. Like, I love still life and food and things like that. Like I just want to add flowers, like I want to do some of that stuff just for me, or have a creative idea with portraits because portraits is always like my first love but I love movement and fabric and nudes and things like that. But most people coming into my studio, even if they are boudoir, most people aren’t being like, hey, let’s be naked completely. You know, so that would be like a particular thing that I would probably want to shoot for a project for me or maybe to get featured in like a local art gallery or something you’re asking like about niches. So I think checking in with your energy is super important. Different kinds of clients light me up in different ways to like the people who are really excited. And they do, they just they it’s always about making a decision and choosing it right. When they decide they’re going to have a good time. And they’re going to they’re going to go on set and let it be all about them. They’re really fun to work with. And it’s if it requires a little bit more work. On our end, when we’re working with somebody who’s scared to let the wall down to let themselves be seen, we have to do a little bit more work to get them warmed up. But then they end up having the moment. And then I feel energized by it. You know what I mean? As far as a marketing perspective, if there’s something you’re offering, and you no longer want to offer it, you don’t have to continue to offer it.

Matt Stagliano 27:51
And this is what I think a lot of people don’t understand is that, you know, those of us that are in business for ourselves. It’s our business, we can change things anytime we want. If I had, you know all black and white images of families last week, this week, I’m doing nothing but high definition pet portraits, we can do whatever we want. Yeah, but I think I’m like you where I draw energy. When I know I’ve connected with someone in the right way that it becomes less about me being a photographer and them a client. And we’re in this collaboration together. Because we’ve built the trust, we’ve had the conversation, they’re excited, they trust what I’m going to do, even though maybe inside me it’s screaming, I have no clue what I’m about to do. But just trust in the craft trust that you know, I know what I’m doing. And you just fall into flow with the with the client, you know, your personality is such like you can connect with anyone. But yeah, I think there’s certainly something different when we get clients that are excited about what we can create. And you get past all the nervousness not saying that they’re not nervous, but you get past that, that debilitating nerve that is going to keep you from getting any level of expression or any type of interaction. Yeah, I love this, this connection. Now, do you find that it does become that you’re open to their ideas? Or are you looking for ideas from them? Or do you just say, I got this, you just keep your energy up? And I’m gonna guide you through what you want?

Carrie Roseman 29:24
And this is a great question because it also has to do with process. You actually work with your clients in every entrepreneur, every photographer is going to do this differently. Like I know some who just like to be super planned and they it’s this type of session, they’re going to shoot it like these setups every single time. That’s not how I work. We custom create the session based on how you want to feel what you want to see about yourself or if you have a specific idea. If I have personal branding clients and they have like their marketing team give me like a writer or XYZ shots I have to get like all of these things are good. I I always ask somebody, how do you want to be photographed? Because sometimes they come to me with a specific idea. And sometimes they don’t. And either of these things are fine. So if they don’t have an idea about clothes, or a feel or a thing, then I’ll say, we’re going to base this off on on how you want to see yourself and like how would your partner describe you? How would your child describe you in three words? Like, how do you want to feel when you see these images, so we go off that, and then once we plan the wardrobe, we kind of let the styling inform the sets and what that looks like, as well as the lighting. So then I can create the flow of, we’re going to do outfit number one, then this is outfit number two, on the white set, the black set, we’re going to lay it like this over here, natural light over here, strobe over here, that’s just feels like the organic way for me to work as where other and then I know other photographers who have zero plan going in, because that’s just the way they like to work. And it’s magic every time. So I think I’m a combo of planned and organic. But that’s just what kind of feels good for me as where other people are like, No, I need to plan every single pose. And I’m like, Dude, I need to let it unfold organically because I don’t know how they’re actually going to look until I see it on set.

Matt Stagliano 31:15
It’s a really good balance that you found between kind of the the process system workflow thing that you have to have as a business owner, if you’re going to have any level of repeat success, but you give yourself enough room to balance that creative side of your brain that can just enter flow and just be you right and just kind of let the muscle memory take over your mind is free to imagine, right? You know, you’re gonna get the shot, you know, the lighting is going to be good. But now as you’re engaging the client, you can push them a little bit more, push yourself a little bit more, maybe try some different things that might be a little bit edgy for them, but you know, is going to get them closer to what they want to see about themselves. I love that method. I think I fit in there. Sometimes I have less of a plan. And there’s a lot of fear that kicks up like, here we go, I guess I should have done one more mood board, because you didn’t bring any of the clothes that I thought you were gonna bring. So

Carrie Roseman 32:18
always throws me for a loop, because I’m like, we had a plan. Sometimes I get aggravated if that happens. But it rarely happens. Because I’m like, generally people are like, cool. Thank you so much for helping me I know what I’m gonna wear. And they bring those things. And sometimes they bring completely other stuff. And I’m like, Okay, I have to rework the plan. But it’s fine, because I have enough experience. But when I very first started photographing, I was I fit in New York City, and the Fashion Institute of Technology. They had an I don’t know what their program is like now, but it was based in film. And we had a studio there, they didn’t have any natural light, it was all it was like hot light scoop lights, or strobes, or we were shooting on location. I was shooting on film. It was right, like digital had been introduced. But like, I was like, No, I love film. I love being in the darkroom. And you never knew what you’re going to get right? Because it’s like you have X amount of exposures. And you just gotta nail the shot and everything was manual focus. And I believe having that experience helped to really hone my eye. But I didn’t know what I was doing a lot of the time and I was just, it’s like you don’t know what you don’t know. And so you’re so creatively free, then we learn all the things. And then we have to kind of in order to get back to that that childlike play. We kind of have to like unlearn some of the the tight technical grip we’ve put on everything right? So I think that’s what I’m at this point in my career trying to get back to more of that play. Because sometimes it does feel like we don’t get to play enough. If that makes sense. It totally

Matt Stagliano 34:05
makes sense. It’s the one big thing that I learned from the workshops with Parker was,

Carrie Roseman 34:11
he’s huge on that.

Matt Stagliano 34:13
I never gave myself a chance to play. When I’ve freed myself of that. It’s given me the best work that I’ve ever created. Right? And the stuff that I’m most connected to that I feel most proud of, because it had nothing to do with money. It had everything to do with just pure expression. I don’t think any of us give ourselves enough time to play. Do you carve out specific time for you to do that to just do personal work and just play or?

Carrie Roseman 34:41
Okay, here’s the answer to that. Not as much as I would like to currently but I’m actively working on that in all of our businesses. We were all of the hats to do all of the things right. So I’ve just actually hired some virtual help to offload some of the things that are no longer bringing me joy in my business. Like administrative work and checking my emails and like and creating Facebook banners and like graphics and trying to put sales pages together like these things need to get done too they need to get done by me know is are those things my genius zone No, is connecting with people and creating my genius zone. Absolutely. So it’s, the more you operate in your zone of genius, the more you actually bring in abundance into your life, there’s there’s actually an exercise that one of a coach that I had a couple of coaches that I’ve had have used with me. And I’ve used this with the photographer’s that I mentor to where it’s like you put these tasks in a quadrant. And it’s like all of the tasks you do in your business. And it’s like tasks you love to do and want to do down to tasks you hate and don’t know how to do or don’t want to do. And then you can kind of see like, where do we outsource first. And then hopefully, when you have help, and they’re trained and everything like that, hopefully you’re doing most of the genius own things, because that’s really where you’re gonna get to be the star in your business. And this all depends on your energy levels, your personality, your workflows, your processes of procedures, and your systems. And everybody works differently in those regards, as well. So can I do all the things yes, but it is the fastest way to lead me to burnout. And when I’m on that track, I lose creativity as well. I’m actively working on opening up more time in my schedule,

Matt Stagliano 36:23
I love the way that you kind of talked about that quadrant, the whole Gay Hendricks big leap. So it’s a great book. And I’ve read it several times. Unbelievable. And I know I think you and I talked about a years ago, but we all spend our time doing the things that we don’t like to do or don’t know how to do. But we’re the only ones that have the time or energy in our business to do them. So you kind of fumble through it, you hate it and it takes you away from working on the business rather than working in the business. A lot of the creatives that I talked to now, regardless of what discipline They’re in photographers, sculptors, whatever writers, is that the only time that they’re able to feel most creative and relax is when they take a step back from everything or they offload it. We know what the formula is we do follow the recipe. We know what it is we know how to make our lives better. And we don’t do it.

Carrie Roseman 37:16
Coach that I had a couple years ago said, the more I play, the more I get paid. I love that. And it is true. And to kind of take it back to the big leap and Gay Hendricks. So he identifies very clearly that there are so many people who are operating in their zone of excellence. But if they just could get to their zone of genius, it would like like 10x everything and beyond. So this has been part of my big unlearn. And my process of asking for help, and allowing the people that I’m hiring to actually help me because I’ve had different size teams before and I’ve people have cycled through have moved away or it wasn’t a right fit anymore. And that’s fine. But I’ve learned so much in that process of like, how to vet and how to hire better. And I’m really glad that I’m in this kind of season where I’m bringing on a team that can support me in the way that I that I need to be supported. Because there have been times recently met where I have not been having a lot of fun. Because I’m like, I feel like I’m chained to this computer. And I don’t want to be at this computer for this many hours. And if we’re not having fun in our business, then what are we even doing? So it’s like that you gotta have these check ins with yourself. But I wasn’t even giving myself enough of a break when I was on vacation to enjoy myself. Like because I was always thinking about the business always thinking about the business. Like my honeymoon, for example, two years ago, I was just like, having so much trouble relaxing, even though I had people checking my emails and like all of the client work was caught up on there was nothing emergent at all. Like it was all fine. But I had to learn that it’s okay. And then I can relax. And that was another big lesson recently has been just because the time looks like it’s available in your calendar doesn’t mean you need to fill it

Matt Stagliano 39:18
preach sister preach

Carrie Roseman 39:21
so hard sometimes because you’re like, oh, I can take another client phone call this day. Oh, I can schedule another meeting that day. Oh, I can do this extra thing or go over here. And it’s like, you don’t actually have to do all those just because it looks because rest is productive. And I think that’s where our society just the hustle culture. I can’t, we’re not supposed to function like that we are supposed to rest and recuperate the universe

Matt Stagliano 39:45
saying hey, here’s a little bit of extra time, just chill out just a little bit. Because

Carrie Roseman 39:51
that because rest is productive and then like if your batteries are depleted, like you’re not going to be as effective like I found that when I try to write that last email when I’m tired, it takes me 10 times longer to actually to have it make sense. Whether it’s like, you know what if I just came back with fresh eyes in the morning, it’ll be fine.

Matt Stagliano 40:10
I saw something recently, I’m sure it was Tiktok, or reals or something rom Doom scrolling at whatever time in the morning, I caught an online coach, a business coach. And he said, most entrepreneurs aren’t actually entrepreneurs, they don’t run a business. They are self employed. And I felt personally attacked like that. Because his next statement was unless you can step back from your business for 90 days, and have it run itself, you are not running a business, you are self employed. It’s like Rupert Murdoch doesn’t step in front of a computer every day and do his trades and run his systems doesn’t do that. He’s got people that do that. For him, it really got me thinking, Am I self employed? Or do I run a business, and it’s really stuck in the back of my head for the past couple of days, going, I don’t want to be self employed, I want to run a business. And it is a huge mind shift to be in. Because like you, it’s very difficult for me to take a weekend off or a week off, God forbid, I take two weeks off, then, like, every nerve in my body is on fire. Why am I not doing this. And it’s such an indicator that there needs to be better systems, better workflows, better things in place, so that the business can run without you at the helm all the time, I think it’s an important thing that a lot of self employed folks need to get over, it’s okay to be self employed, that’s perfectly fine. But if you want the business to run without you, you’ve got to take some steps to make that happen. Again, it sounds like you’ve been able to finally get to that place where we’re working much faster towards that, and whatever version of that, that it looks like to you.

Carrie Roseman 41:52
So the the VA company that I’m working with her saying is delegate to elevate. And it’s, it’s so true, because again, it has to it goes back to that zone of genius stuff before I hired them, I basically had just been working with one other kind of VA in my business. And she was great. She was like helping me with my emails and my email lists and all that previous to that I had like five, or maybe six different people who are working with me regularly looking back on it. Now, some of them weren’t the right fit. And they were just filling some roles. But there were, you know, some things that weren’t happening, like deadlines being missed, or miscommunications and blah, blah, blah. So I decided when I was done with them, that I was just going to run the ship by myself for a little while to get everything on the track that I wanted to. And I knew it was going to come time, like, Okay, let me bring some people back on little by little, but it has to be the right fit. So that’s where we’re at now. It does feel really good. It is a process slow, you know, training. And I have like, all these training videos and loom libraries and all the things and like, you know, SOPs and policies and procedures, and let’s get an NDA signed over here. And like, there’s all that kind of stuff that goes with it. But once you’re in a flow, once people are on your team, and they know what you do, who you serve, like how you talk to people, what, where you need to show up what the marketing funnels are, what needs to go out when and you have that support. It’s such a beautiful thing. And I’m very excited about all of that, because I know people who are very organized and genius at all of that stuff. But I’m not one of those people. I can do a lot. But I’m also not willing to do it to the detriment of my health and energy and well being either. So

Matt Stagliano 43:40
we mentioned this at the beginning of the podcast about how much people realize what was important to them, and what’s not in what they see as job satisfaction and what’s not what they’re willing to put up with and what they’re not. And it gives people a sense of perspective. And that was the biggest thing that came out of it, for me anyway is understanding who I am, what it is that I want to do, what I don’t want to do, more importantly, and what’s the life that I want to live authentic, I want it to be a satisfying, that’s not necessarily a financial goal for me, I just want to feel that joy every day. And it feels like a lot of people are heading in that direction. I’m hearing the same stories from a lot of folks of getting rid of the things that don’t serve them that it becomes a much more content lifestyle, regardless of where you are in the financial spectrum. It’s just more fulfilling. And people are focusing on authentic fulfillment rather than having to present an image of themselves of something they’re not You had mentioned in there as well talking about all the content that you’re creating and the processes and the systems and the workflows and not only educating the staff that you’re bringing on but I see you do a lot of that too in your education for photographers, right the the posing videos in some of your mentor stuff. Do you find that con content creation piece something fun for you? Or is it something you have to do? Do you love doing that work outside of like, Hey, I’ve got this digital product that I can sell the act of creating all of that, do you find that fun engaging, or just part of the business that is necessary for you,

Carrie Roseman 45:19
I like it. And I find that it flows, it just flows out of me like, which is a gift, right? So where I’m really great and shining in that is like, I’m confident on camera stills, or video, I feel like I’m pretty well spoken. I feel like I have great energy, and I so I like to create the content, I just don’t like to be the one who has to do the finishing and putting it together and then captioning and searching out the hashtags and then putting it over on Pinterest. And then, you know, let’s make a blog about it. And let’s email the list like that part of it, I want to create it and then hand it off. So it goes all the places it needs to. And again, I know so many people who are so organized on social media and marketing end of things. It’s not to say that I’m disorganized. I’m just not in all of the places that I want to be on my own. That’s all. But yeah, that’s a great question. I mean, when I made the first posing course, the posing essentials course, I didn’t script it at all, I had kind of an outline that I went on, and I just shot it in like two days. Like that was it and that it was so great. I was like, Oh, that was awesome. Let’s do more of that. So and then I created the boudoir course we’re in editing for that now. But there’s a list of stuff that I want to create that is so helpful for people, if you can monetize what’s easy for you. That’s the magic. And a lot of people don’t even realize what their gifts are until all of a sudden they realize like, Oh, this is like the 10th person who’s asked me about this thing that’s so easy for me. And then they realize, sometimes they’re like, oh, I can make money with this. And sometimes they realize, or they don’t realize it and they just help people for free forever any and all of that is fine. Things that come easy to us to examine that, like what’s easy for you. That’s hard for other people.

Matt Stagliano 47:15
So I’ll ask you another question on that, as you’re, as you’re doing all this, as you’re creating it, do you find that there’s a good balance for you between just like turning your phone on and recording something versus hiring a team? Do you try to get things out quickly? Rather than have everything perfect? What’s your kind of like philosophy around pumping out this content that you know, is easy for you? But you know, is that a certain quality that fits your brand fits your style? Like where do you fit with all of that,

Carrie Roseman 47:45
I think there is a place for all of these type of things. So like for our photos, right? Sometimes people will say, Well, I don’t want them to look so professional, but that’s not what they mean. They just mean like to stiffer post or something. And they want some more candid kind of stuff that they can use in their marketing. But then those people have have the photos that we create for them in their business. But then it’s like, absolutely take a selfie, people want to see that too. Like just turn your phone on yourself and use the built in video and, and like I’m doing right now on my computer. I’ve worked I’m just using the mic on on here. And that’s what I’m doing. So there is a place for both of these things. And people do feel like they get an inside look, when you’re just with your phone. They feel like it’s real. It’s kind of like, you know, in the moment marketing also, that is going to have the biggest draw of anything else, whether it’s planned and scheduled or not. Because if you’re in the moment with it, and you’re like, I’m just feeling really called to share XYZ things right now and I’m going to turn my video on I’m going to post it, you will get more traction on something that has that energy on it than something that’s just planned and scheduled doesn’t mean that scheduling posts doesn’t have a place of course it does. So for me, it’s a mix, I really do like having a team I had a videographer work with me for almost a year and then she moved out of state, but it was really great because she would just come in, we would just plant some content, we would record it and then she would edit it and then put it together for me to post in different places. And I found that really relieving because I you know, for me to create a real tripod, my phone like it just takes me a long time. So I’m like, I’m excited to get back to the point where it’s like, hey, let’s just have a content plan creating the content pillars. What do you want to talk about in your business? What are you selling? What are the content pillars? Let’s talk about those things. And then creating that and then I can just like offload it to the team to put together and put all the places but yeah, I’ve been more like kind of in the moment. Sometimes I scheduled stuff out but it’s been without a direct Social media team currently is more when I’m feeling it.

Matt Stagliano 50:04
I know for me, I’ve had better traction when it’s just turning the camera on and going, just talking. Rather than being like, Alright, I’ve been doing this for 20 years, let me get the lighting, right. And let me make sure the light is perfect on the video so that the color grading is all great. And when I spent all that dive in, I uploaded, and there’s like four likes, I’m like, I don’t even know why I’m doing this anymore. It seems to be even the over, over produced, the highly produced stuff doesn’t have the same injection of energy or joy, that just turning the camera on and talking to that person on the other side, that it feels different. When I’m doing that I feel more connected to the audience, when I’m just turning it on rather than being like, alright, is the teleprompter running? Do I have everything? Correct, right is everything synced up? It takes you out of just being you. So I’m really leaning into just using this. And you know, getting what I get, again, being unapologetic about what it is that I what I am and what I’m producing, right. So time will tell if it works.

Carrie Roseman 51:11
Yeah, well, people want to feel like it’s real. Right? Like that’s, that’s the thing, I think that’s probably why people like tick tock so much. Because people just like flip their phones on, they’ll be sitting in their car, they don’t care. They just they have a message. They want to say it right, whatever it is. Of course, there’s some more highly produced this as well. But I feel like a lot of it feels very in the moment. And just like with the phone, because I mean, we all have a video camera and a camera on us at all times that has a mic. So we can just use that, you know, it does bode well if it’s lit better. Like just be in front of a window or something, then you’re good. Like there’s been this kind of like more conversational style of writing that happened probably about 2013 2015. That’s when I first discovered that first badass book by Jensen cero was like, I picked it up and I started reading it. And I was like, this is conversational writing, I had never experienced that before. Everything was always like proper English, blah, blah, blah, it felt like you were more reading like a textbook rather than Oh, I feel like the author is actually speaking to me. And maybe it’s not grammatically correct. But I am picking up this message loud and clear. Like, and I feel the same has translated on social media, and in our websites and how we show up wherever in person online, in the fact that yes, do we have some of the stuff with high production value and polish? Absolutely, of course, we are in the industry? Like, does just doing stuff with their phone? Yeah, absolutely. 100%

Matt Stagliano 52:46
I think you you hit on 2013 2015, we started seeing all this authentic writing come out. And I was just thinking about, um, you had all these personalities that were coming out there were just like blowing up the traditional marketing model, blowing up the traditional client interaction and being like, it’s okay, you have permission to do it whatever way you want. Which kind of wraps us back up into everything as I try to land this plane here of the authenticity being everything that maybe it’s taken us seven or eight years to get there. But that’s where we learned a lot about being us and what matters, what matters to our clients, what matters to us. What can we do for us? What can we do for them? It gave people a lot of introspection, why am I wasting my time doing this? If it doesn’t feel good? If it’s not my zone of genius, if I’m doing the the tasks that I don’t like to do, and I don’t know how to do, why am I living there? And I think a lot of people felt that in the jobs that they were in, why am I going to this job that I don’t like every day? Why am I doing these things that I don’t like to do? Let me start a side business. Let me start a side hustle, see where that goes. And there’s been this re emergence of crafters and creators and people that are just like, yeah, let me take a stab at affiliate marketing. Or let me take a stab at writing children’s books on Amazon. But it got people creating and thinking authentically again and I love where this is going. Now the interesting thing is gonna see how long that lasts. If this stays on trend, or if it goes back to something a little bit more manufactured. I don’t know, I hope it stays here because I love this space. But what are

Carrie Roseman 54:27
your thoughts? A I feel super mixed about Yeah, because I feel like there are tools there that will be very helpful for running businesses but for replacing photography now never I don’t think that’s gonna be just like just like people say oh, like print is dead like books are never gonna stop being published. The paper is still gonna be there like people still like something tangible. But I do think something like chat GVT is very helpful to make workflow faster for things like social media. toasts and things like that. Yeah. And

Matt Stagliano 55:01
you know, I’m a big believer in, in technology, right? And I’m a big believer in embrace it now learn how to use it in your business or not, but just understand what’s out there. Because what’s going on now for me is very similar to Oh, my God, digital cameras are going to stop photography, right? It’s the same thing we go through about every 20 or 30 years, right. So I don’t see this as necessarily the photography killer, or the Creativity killer. I think it’s just going to allow us to think in different directions and start to alter our businesses in ways that becomes more efficient. I have zero problem with that, get me out of social media, let a robot takeover. I’m cool with that. That way I can get back to just talking to my clients and networking and doing the stuff that I love to do and do well. You are constantly creating, you’re constantly manifesting, I see you growing year over year over year, where do you want to be in the next phase of your career?

Carrie Roseman 56:01
That’s a really great question. I think if I’m honest, I probably want more education and less behind the camera. And maybe some like cool gallery work kind of stuff going on, like stuff that’s very different from what I shoot now. Courses, masterminds, creative retreats, I love that, like I hosted a retreat, it wasn’t necessarily a creative retreat, but it was like a, like a mastermind kind of goal setting type of retreat, which was super great still, but yeah, travel and creation. That’s exciting to me. I love that idea. But that’s gonna happen not in three to five years. That’s happening like now.

Matt Stagliano 56:47
But that all ties into where it is that you want to be right. And I have no doubt that whether it’s a gallery show, whether it’s just travel, whether it’s personal work, that you are going to get exactly what you want. There’s no doubt in my mind, I’ve seen you just put your foot down and going, I am going to be this I am going to have this. These are going to be my clients and you’ve created the life of your dreams. Have you not?

Carrie Roseman 57:12
Yes, yeah, I Well, it’s Yeah, I mean, I still feel like fabulous to hear it’s a there’s always like, you get a goal. And then there’s the next goal, right? So you’re like, ascending, I have big goals, and I am a go getter. And I am fiercely determined and ambitious. Like, there’s no me not getting what I want. But on the other side of that, in being who I am and being so confident and goal driven. I tend to be the person that people don’t check up on. Yeah. Because everyone’s like, okay, that’s curious. She’s fine. Like, but I’m like, sometimes, I need a little check. And, you know, because there there can be rough patches and things like that. But I do have some really good ideas about where I want this thing to go. And I am. I’m very excited about it. Thank you for your support saying like you can you know that it’s gonna happen, I know, it’s gonna happen to Well,

Matt Stagliano 58:14
I have ridiculous faith. And I mean, if track record is is any indication, I have all the faith in the world that you’re going to get exactly what you want. So when you do decide to publicize whatever that is, or if you just want to come back and be like, I told you that I was going to do all this and you did it. I would love to have you back and we can talk about it again.

Carrie Roseman 58:35
Oh, fabulous, Matt, this has been so refreshing. And I’m glad that we had this lovely banter about just some behind the scenes type of stuff. And, you know, a mindset is always a piece of it, right, like, so we’re always gonna touch on that a bit. But yeah, this has been very joyous for me, and I really appreciate you having me on. One of the things I do want to get going is my own podcast. So I would love to have you on whenever that happens. And I don’t have a date for that yet. But it’s something that does bring me joy. I listen to podcasts. I love being on podcasts like, and I have a lot to say. So I would like to host the podcast,

Matt Stagliano 59:13
why I did it right. Maybe I can start recording content of how to start it and all the pitfalls to avoid? Well,

Carrie Roseman 59:19
that’s funny. I think that’s one of the reasons why. Or I don’t think I know that’s one of the reasons why I haven’t done it yet. Because I’m like, oh, okay, the podcast is gonna be all of these steps to do I just want to record the thing and hand it off and have somebody else do the things. So we’re getting there. Like, there’s so many things in like, the marketing sphere that I want to get done. But podcasting I know is something that’s going to bring me joy. But of course I got to I mean, it brings me joy when I guest so I can imagine that I would enjoy just hosting as well but you got to do it in order to to really know Right? That’s it.

Matt Stagliano 59:57
It’s the only reason you gotta step forward and just kind of step up to the plate and do it so I can’t wait to see what you create but thank you so much for being here and yeah like I said once once you get the next thing going please come back and tell me about it

okay we’ll do thank you so much thanks for being here okay bye bye