Brooke Tucker Photography Blog

Happy Friday everyone!  Can you believe it’s FRIDAY?!  WHEW ya’ll… I’m so excited it’s finally here!  CHEERS FOR THE WEEKEND!  Raise your coffee mug, your tea cup or your starbucks tumbler because WE MADE IT!

Actually this week wasn’t that bad ya’ll, was it?!  Our week was actually super fun over here and Linc and I got out of the house and actually embraced some good old Taylor Swift life advice!

Today though is about more than just T-Swift and Shaking things off… it’s about shaking things up and embracing Big Dreams and Big Goals!  Two things that these wonderful people are known not only for achieving but for inspiring in other people and motivating and igniting fires!  If you haven’t heard of Justin and Mary before now… you will want to go ahead and spend the next few hours after reading this post, getting to know them!  I promise you, they will rock your world and also change your world!

A few months ago I made the trip up to Northern Virginia and nervously (excitedly but nervous to the point of oh my gosh I’m going to sit down in front of these two pretty amazing individuals and discuss all these ins and outs of my business what if I throw up on them kind of nervous) met them for a coffee and mentoring session!

I’ve done mentoring sessions before and they are always a little nerve wracking!  I’m a people pleaser so I always want to make sure I’m doing what they want me to do and that I’m holding up the right expectations.  Meeting with Justin and Mary is WAY different though.  There is homework involved!!!  You always want to be prepared for mentoring sessions:  have a folder of your best images, make sure your website is on point and you have questions prepared and ready, but with Justin and Mary they push you a little deeper.  You need to have your numbers prepared for the entire year (that’s something I struggle with an ultimately one of the biggest reasons I wanted to sit down with them).  You need to come prepared with what worked for you in the past and what didn’t work so well.  You need to come prepared with you Bhags… your Big Hairy Audacious Goals!  These for me were the absolute hardest to come up with and honestly… Amanda Manupella had to call me out.  She had to give me some tough love the morning of my mentoring session because my big goals were serious duds.  Mary wants BIG goals… the ones that deep down you are afraid to even whisper out loud!

This mentoring session for me before I even got in my car was pushing my boundaries.  I don’t like numbers!  Putting my numbers on the paper was scary enough and having to talk number out loud to anyone other than Tuck was going to make me feel silly and dumb and cause me to break out in hives.  I’m not even joking about the hives.  I get numbers mixed up and I’m really awful at math!  When we got to that part, thank goodness for their grace and for Justin’s little nudge because I think I looked like a deer in the head lights.

They taught me that where I was dreaming big with  my numbers wasn’t even skimming the bottom of the barrel, not with a family!  I needed to learn to be comfortable with numbers if I wanted to be successful in a business not just a hobby!

They also taught me that dreaming big isn’t to be feared, it’s to be proud of!  All it takes is to rearrange your thinking!  It’s like looking at a staircase… start at the bottom and make your way all the way to the top!  You don’t focus on the top of that big staircase at first… you take it one step at a time!

Let me bring you back though to the start of how this all began!  How I chose Justin and Mary for this year’s round of coaching!

It all began in March during this amazing little weekend called CREATIVE AT HEART!  If you EVER have the chance to go… book yourself!  If you do ONE PIECE OF EDUCATION NEXT YEAR… do that one!  WOAH friends… just woah!  I can’t even… .I just can’t!

ANYWAY… I knew about J and M… I mean, if you are in this industry… you KNOW!  I just never really followed/followed.  I guess we could be honest… I didn’t STALK, like I stalk Katelyn James!  My gal pal Elizabeth had just attended their lighting intensive and poured about how amazing they are and so on our way in to the conference my interest was totally piqued.

So I went to introduce myself to Mary after watching her a bit… I sound totally creepy now and guess what… I am, oh well embrace it right?!  So this is where it gets weird… I ended up kind of falling in love with her personality as I was waiting to talk to her!  She’s just so graceful and she hones in on who she is talking to.  She is FULLY PRESENT with that person and that is super rare these days.  So when I went to introduce myself.. I started petting her… WHAT?!  How weird is that?!  I PETTED MARY MARANTZ!  As soon as I realized what I was doing… OH THE HORROR… I acknowledged it, because what else are you going to do, and then quickly said ok I’m going to go now.  Unfortunately when I did, I wasn’t paying attention to the crazy awkwardly designed tables of food and was attacked by one of the sides and literally FLIPPED over one.  I was knocked flat on my back and so I laid there in my shame!

I laughed because it’s just funny and it’s actually totally me!  What other way to introduce myself to my future mentor!!!  I’m surprised she agreed to meet with me!  I’m seriously certifiable!

Our meeting was filled with amazing ideas and coffee that kept pouring!

Mary and I are big talkers… and Justin he sits quietly taking it all in!

I was overwhelmed that my small little business had Mary so excited!  I thought I would meet with them, they would help me with pricing and number and guides and things and then we would hug… take a few instagram pictures and that would be it.

But that’s just not how they are!

They listen to who you are and take in your business at it’s core and it’s heart and then they really find ways to inspire you that you might never have thought of before!  They lift you up and send you home with a list of to do’s that will keep you busy and inspired for the whole year!

So what are some of my to do’s:

• Video Blog~!  This is something that is soo weird for me but Mary was insistent! She felt like when I speak it was really powerful!  I feel awkward and nerdy!  I talk really fast and I use A LOT of hand gestures!  That’s why I have never ever considered talking on camera before!  But when someone like Mary says video blog and do it two to three times a week… you go ahead and turn that little green light on and push that record button!
• Focus on my mommas!  Mothers and Motherhood in general really inspires me.  Maybe it’s because this is my life right now and I totally understand and relate to it.  Maybe it’s because I just have always wanted to be a mom!  Whatever the reason…  mommas and motherhood hold a huge place in my heart and so that is where my focus will be!
• Instagram challenges:  Real is Better than perfect is my tagline and my motto!  It’s the heart of my business and so Mary and I came up with some great ideas for some instagram challenges that I will be starting once school gets back in session!
• Writing:  This is something I do at night before I go to bed and Mary encouraged me to keep it up along with the Motherhood sessions!  I will talk more about this later!!!
• Resources:  Working in the children’s hospital for 6 years left me with some pretty amazing little tricks!  I’m planning on sharing some of those through the blog and PDF’s and online resources!

Lots of fun things to look for in the upcoming months….

Not to mention a new fresh look that I am going to be talking about as well with Bonnie from B is for Bonnie Designs!

If you are thinking about doing a mentoring session, I highly recommend it!  Take the time and research who would be the best fit for you right at this moment!  What are you looking for and what do you want to gain.

Mentoring sessions are one of the BEST things you can do for yourself and for your business.  One on one time with someone who will talk with you about what you want and what questions you have… that’s something that is completely priceless!!!

To hear more about my mentoring session and ALL the details… check out Justin and Mary’s blog! http://justinandmaryblog.com/june-mentoring-brooke-tucker-real-perfect/