Amanda is owner of a product-based AND service-based business! She owns Amanda Clark Photography in Southern Utah and Cold Strike, an outdoor apparel business. When we first started coaching sessions, she was burnt out and even felt like it was time to quit photography.
I LOVE coaching because it is more like guiding — not directing.
I was able to watch Amanda dive into what was causing her burn-out and help her completely pivot her business. Amanda discovered that she didn’t love photography as much as she loves the people. Now that we know what she is passionate about, we can shift her business to be more about the people.
At the beginning of coaching, Amanda had a six-year old photography business. Now she has a six-year old photography business, a podcast, an associate photographer, a virtual assistant, an outdoor apparel business and three more instagrams. She has completely stepped into that CEO role (flawlessly, might I add) and does what she really loves every day, the managing and the executing and the negotiating. The people-side of things.
Amanda wouldn’t have gotten to the bottom of her burn-out and found what she really loves to do without pushing past her limiting beliefs. She HAD to let go of these big fears. That’s why I love coaching. We were able to discover and work through limiting beliefs that she didn’t even know were there!
How Amanda Got Started in Photography
A lot of us women go all in on motherhood and realize that there’s other things we want to do. But when we do them, the mom-guilt shows up. We worry that we aren’t super fulfilled by just being a mother, that it’s not right for us to want to do other things. There’s a battle we go through to overcome those mom-guilt hurdles. Mom-guilt is real but it doesn’t have to stop you.
Amanda has always had a knack for photography but she never treated it as a serious thing until she was a mom. She says,“I devoted my life to being a mom and kind of forgot myself, I was giving everything to my kids. When my kids were older, I got a camera and started shooting friends and family. Then in 2015 after I had my third kid, I got into newborn photography. And I was surprised at how hard it was to get over the mindset blocks of ‘I can’t do this, I should be with my kids.’ I was very attached to my kids at that time and it was hard to leave my kids. It took time for me to be okay with that and really focus on growing a business.”
The Next Right Step
Lately, Amanda has been transitioning into something completely different. Her husband is a die-hard hunter and her kids have gotten into the sport too. She used to HATE hunting because her husband was always out and away, but one day she decided to join in with her husband rather than sitting in resentment because she never saw him. Because her kids are hunters as well, she started realizing that it is just so hard to find good hunting gear for kids, and that started her down the path of “let’s just create our own gear.”
“We just dove right in. We have a very specific niche and it’s really fun to learn something new.”
I love love love this because instead of sticking in the negative place of resentment, Amanda made the most of it and joined right in. It wasn’t an immediate thing where she went hunting and immediately decided to create her own hunting apparel business. She took the next right step and kept taking the next open doors. That is key in blossoming your business! Taking the next step and each step after that.
When you’re ready, the coach will appear.
After launching Cold Strike, the next step for Amanda was coaching.
“I have done coaching and mentorships in the past but it just didn’t work out because I wasn’t ready to dive in and put in the work. I had been searching for a while and listened to the #KMM podcast about Kylee’s coaching and pushing past limiting beliefs and I had that “aha” moment. I knew I needed to get into coaching immediately.
“You really have to be in that mental headspace and I was there when I came across Kylee. That’s why coaching didn’t work for me before, I just wasn’t ready. Once your mindset is in the right place, it’s crazy how things fall into place. You have to know you’re ready, to put in the work and do what it takes! Your ‘why’ has to be so strong to keep you going. If you’re not ready to take the information, it’s not going to benefit you because it’s hard work.”
Coaching works!
The main thing coaching did for Amanda was give her an “accountability buddy” (her words not mine)! Because when you find someone that’s supporting you and in your corner, it’s super invigorating. You find other like-minded people who believe in you, who encourage you. Not only encourage you, but push you and keep you accountable!
Coaching is about teaching you how to trust yourself and get those limiting beliefs out of the way. It’s not about directing you and telling you how to run your business at every step.
But it’s crazy how many people won’t let go of their limiting beliefs! Some people are just more comfortable self-sabotaging than rooting for themselves. There’s big things out there and if you never go for them, you stay where you’re at, burnt out and stuck in life. There’s so much potential in every single woman, you already have everything you need to reach your potential within you and coaching helps you to discover what you already have.
Last words of advice…
“Product based business is full of risk. It’s terrifying. But our minds were already made up and we knew that it felt right. To get past that fear, you have to know what your “why” is. That has to be so strong.”
If you are being called to do something, it’s because somebody needs that. Don’t be afraid to go for it because no one will buy your product or listen to you. Someone out there needs what you have to offer. It doesn’t matter if its one person, a hundred people or a thousand people. Lean into that and go for it.
And lastly, don’t completely lose yourself in motherhood, you can find that happy balance. Your kids need to see their mom chase their dreams. You can still be a good mama and be a successful woman in business.
FIND AMANDA HERE:
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