Mycah Bain: Why and How You Can Take Two Months Off Every Year | ep262

- I love that, I love unplugging. - Yeah, I mean it fixes most, that's like my top tech solving advice is like turn it off and turn it back on. I'm like, weirdly enough seems to work for us too. Just shut down. (laughing) - Yep, take a break, unplug. - Yeah, unplug. - Come back. - Hello and welcome to episode 262 of the Wisdom in the Tangents podcast. I am your host, John Mansfield. Today we're talking about breaks, we're talking about rest, we're talking about how you can step away from your business and that your business keeps working. 'Cause right now I don't know about you, but there have been times in my business that I am like, if I step away and like don't get into my inbox, don't post on social media, if I don't like physically have my hands in this business for 24 hours or for like a week would be crazy. If I took a vacation for a week, everything would just fall apart and not work. And then I would come back and have so much work to catch up on. And if that's you, if you're like, yeah, that's 100%, I can't take off time. Or if maybe you do, you go to the beach, but you got your laptop with you, getting sand in the keyboard, but you're keeping up with everything. This is a great episode for you because my guest today, Micah Bain, she has been a photographer for like over a decade, 12 plus years, and she's also a business coach and helps people to create a business for your ideal lifestyle. Not create a business that is a thriving business or whatever, but a business that works for you and that also thrives, we do want that too. But foremost is like centered on what do you want in your personal life? What kind of lifestyle do you want? And then let's build the business around it. So I really enjoyed talking with Micah and we get into how she takes two to three months off every year, which I know. It sounds like a lot for me 'cause I like take a few weeks off here and there. And it is a really great conversation and she brings us some great tips to set yourself up to be able to take off time and then also how to like refocus your time whenever you're not in your business all the time. So let's get into my conversation with Micah. It's one of those things that you, like there's that saying of like, I left my nine to five to work 24/7 as an entrepreneur and it's like, I don't want that. - No, yeah. - I've lived that for sure. And we do not want that for people. And yeah, whenever you offered up this topic, I was like, oh, yes, I definitely want to talk about like how to set aside time where your business isn't just like complete shut down, you know, windows barred up and everything, but that your business is still going while you get to take a little break. So I'm very excited to talk about that. Very excited to chat with you before we get into like that topic. There's a question that I like to ask my guests. And to be honest, I haven't done this in a while and I don't know why it's just like, it's still one of my questions, but for whatever reason, I haven't been asking it. And I really love this because there's always like such great insight, not to like put the bar really high for you or anything. (laughing) But like through your career and just life in general, has there been like a lesson that you've learned or a tip or some advice or something that you were just like, oh, like epiphany moment, this changes things. And it just changed the way that you look at business or life in general. - Yeah, that's a great question. And I think there's been a lot of moments all the time and like kind of every day where I'm like, wow, how am I learning the same basic thing again? But I think from a business standpoint, a couple of years ago, and now I can't remember like where I heard this, read it, listened to whatever, but it was like the concept of like, hey, you are not the best at every single thing in your business. And I think at that time, it was in regard to, like I'm a photographer, so it was in regard to editing, where I'm like, do I literally think that I am like the best editor in the world? Like, okay, when you asked the question, no, it was kind of a clear answer, but I felt like I was running the business as if I was. So just like re-asking that question over time has been really like eye-opening and game-changing for me because I think the more people that I can bring in to my circles who are smarter, but like smarter than me, better at X, Y, Z thing, it's just like, it feels like the world just explodes with possibility then. So yeah, that's been really fun. - Yeah, that is, that's like a big mindset to get over, especially as like, I'm a first-born, my parents were entrepreneurs kind of like, I did an interview with my dad a couple years ago, so anyone can go back and listen to that for more in-depth, but like, they've been entrepreneurs for like 30 years. So it was kind of like, I grew up in that, I was homeschooled, it was what I knew and that kind of, like I had the idea of like, oh, I can do everything, I should do. - Yeah, totally. - And yeah, once I learned that of like, oh, yeah, I'm probably not the best at editing. There are other people that like really enjoy it and they're like, that's what they want to do. And I can give it to them and they will be like, so fulfilled being able to edit photos the way that I want them to edit it. And then I can do the things that I'm even better at. - Yes. - Editing. Like taking the photos in the first place. - It's a mind-blowing and you get to provide a job for someone who loves to do that thing, you know? - Yeah, yeah, like I'm a numbers person and I love going through numbers and I used to do all these spreadsheets and stuff and have graphs for all of my taxes and like how many cups of coffee I bought over the year, which has just become sad now, where I'm just like, that is way too much money on coffee, I'm not gonna do these graphs anymore. But like, I used to do all of that. And then I was like, I don't have to do all of my tax book keeping stuff. Even though I'm good at it, there are bookkeepers, there are CPAs, that this is their job and they've got it like down to a science, where I can focus on the things that I have down to a science, instead of doing those things. - Yeah. - But no, I think that's so good. - I think it's just like the mental space that has cleared up for me, has really been the most like continuously mind-blowing thing. - Yeah, oh yeah. Yeah, the mental space of just like, I don't have to worry about this. Another professional is taking care of this, I can take care of what I really wanna do right now. - Right. - Yeah, no, I love that. Okay, can you give us, Micah, give us a little like background of where you are, what you do. You mentioned you're a photographer and this is mostly a photography podcast, so that makes sense. But like for the listeners, give us a little background about you. - Yes. Yeah, so I started my photography journey back in college. This was like pre-iPhone, pre-Instagram days and I was gonna live in the middle, well, I lived in the Middle East one summer and then the following fall in Uganda in East Africa. So I was like, I better get a camera, you know, me as well. So I took one photography class, bought a little Canon Rebel, you know, spent the time traveling and living in the Middle East in Uganda and had so much fun creating and telling stories and capturing people and like these beautiful places. And I was like, oh my gosh, National Geographic, who's your next person? Like call me up. I mean, a completely unfounded amount of confidence, but my parents like always told me that I could do anything. And I think I just really believed them. So I credit a lot of like my, I don't know, like opportunities and support and success to them because I've just felt like, yeah, I can try it. So I did, I loved it. Came back to the US. I was living in Santa Barbara, California at the time and started assisting at weddings, just like carrying bags, you know, like then second shooting and started a business, you know, fast forward, did a bunch of weddings, moved back to Minneapolis. And over the last couple of years, I have like relaunched my business, kind of like restarted my life in a lot of ways. And now I have a team of 10 women and we do a lot for, you know, we do a lot of like weddings and families and seniors, but I've also transitioned over the last couple of years and I now get to focus a lot on like businesses and brands, corporate events, that kind of thing, which has just been like really fun evolution for me. And then along with that, I do business coaching for other entrepreneurs and I have a couple of properties. It's like another business, some AirBnBs and stuff like that. And I'm starting another little side business next month. So a TBD, TBD on the details for that, but I know the details. - Right, yeah, yeah, that's a lot of businesses. That is a lot going on. - It is. - So yeah, you definitely needed that delegation mindset of like, okay, like once you got that time back doing the things that you want to do, it's like, you can start all these other businesses. - Right, well, I mean, even, I was thinking about my day today, like I met up in person with this client who like, I mean, this was our third, maybe fourth in person meeting over like four months and we still have that book something. So it's like way, way like slower process than my kind of preferred approach, but I'm like, I really see where it's going and I want to do that. And like even the time to like chat with you, like I currently have my, I have a new five hour week personal assistant, like she's here somewhere else in my home working on some other projects that I completely can do. I'm very capable. I've done them myself for forever. And you know what? She's doing it so we can chat. And that is like so exciting for me. So that's been another like kind of next level of this like mindset shift where I'm like, okay, just because I can do it and have done it, doesn't mean I need to always do it myself. - Yeah, yeah. Oh man, that's like everyone needs to hear that because we feel that like as entrepreneurs so much, like we feel that so much of just, I need to be doing all of this. This is my business, my baby, I'm going to do everything. And it's like, you can hire someone to come in and do the day-to-day tasks to do some things to free up your schedule. So you can focus on other things. - Yeah. And even like I was sharing like that kind of the mental clarity that it provides, like I'll just share a small example. Like I am not, I'm not passionate about cooking. Like can I do it? Yes. Do I like to do it? I don't. Maybe I will in the future, but I don't. And so my new personal assistant has done like just a very minor amount of like some meal prep, made some, made like one thing or two things last week, like super fun. And then over the weekend, you know, I was very intentional. I'm going to take a true weekend, take the time off. This was not even like I spent a lot of time outside, which I love, you know, I was feeling really rejuvenated. And I ended up making dinner one night and not only did I like it, not only did it taste good, but I was like, wait, this was, this was like a fun experience that my partner and I got to like enjoy together. And that has honestly like not been the case for months because usually when it gets to dinner, I'm just like so exhausted. I'm like, I don't care. I'm so hungry. Like I will eat cottage cheese out of the tub, not interested, you know? And it was like so fun to have like the little bit of time, space, energy to be like, wait a minute, we can have a good time cooking and eating. And I think that was possible because I had like over the previous couple of weeks, been like just clearing up more of that mental, mental space. - Yeah. Yeah. Cause whenever your mental space is cluttered and you're always thinking about so many things, like I talked to a lot of photographers about like having those boundaries of like 5 p.m. That's the end of my work day. I'm not thinking about the photos that I need to edit. I'm not thinking about emails I need to reply to. Like I'm trying to step out of photographer, John, and into family, John, to where like you, you're able to like free yourself to where you're not constantly lugging around your laptop and like you're cooking and you're also replying to something over here. - Totally. - You know, you know, working till two in the morning because you're pushing everything off and all that's like, you can bring in other people to help you. And usually by the time that you get to the point where you're like, I really need to bring someone in, you are completely overwhelmed and you have no headspace to like go through the hiring process. - Totally. Yeah. - So like do it early, if you can. - Totally, totally. - Yeah, but now I love, I absolutely love cooking it, but. - I aspire to be you. - Yeah. - I need the energy to like it. - It is the energy. I love like trying new things. - Yes. - And like we've got like a whole Pinterest board of just like we try and do a Pinterest dinner once a week. - That is so cool. - This is gonna be something new. We haven't tried this before. We're gonna make something, whatever. This last week was fried pickles and they were delicious. It was just a quick little thing and it went with our food, but it was delicious. And now it is going to be a staple in our house. - I love that so much. - So good. But yeah, like the every day, it gets to five o'clock and then you're just like, what are we doing for dinner? Did you put out anything to thaw or do we need to prep this? Or oh, we forgot about, you know, the broccoli and now it's like turning yellow in the back of the fridge. We don't have that. And it's like, you know, it just gets into, well, let's order a pizza again. Or I'm gonna make something that I don't want. And I'm already hungry while I'm making it. So like having that time on the weekends to just explore and do fun things is great. - Totally, yeah. - So talking about time, you take off a couple months every year, which is for a lot of photographers, for a lot of entrepreneurs, probably sounds crazy. Where it's just like, how do you take off time without just everything crumbling in on top of your business and like, you know, the leads shriveling up and just it all going away. How do you set yourself up? Maybe like, let's talk about like, how can we prep to do that? Even if it's not going to be like a two month spread, even if you're just like having a week off to go on vacation or something. - Yeah, and that stress that everything's gonna fall apart. Yeah, I think for me, a couple of things really have helped. Systems, a team and automations, I think would probably be like the biggest summary. And then also, I think I would say like the self-control or self-trust to know that like, I'm not saving lives and like I can put an auto responder and like, yeah, I might not book something that I could have. And you know what, that's okay. So I think probably I would say a mixture of those types of things. I think if maybe if someone is like, thinking about this for the first time ever and they're like, I can't want to go on vacation with my family for a week and I don't want to work. I think it's very doable in small steps, you know, like catching up, like prepping, you know, catching up. So you're not coming back to like, be in a day away from a deadline, like get your edits out, get stuff delivered. So you can go away feeling good and confident. And then as far as inquiries, like having like, right now I have it for each type of project that people inquire with me, they get an auto response right away with like a brief amount of info, a link to either book or schedule a call depending on the type of shoot. And then of course they can reply. So even when I'm away, if someone's inquiring on say, Tuesday of my week long vacation, they, if they're checking the response that they get immediately after inquiring, they can glance it, okay, yep, sounds good. Oh, I can schedule a call. They can schedule a call. Oh, I'm not available that week. They can schedule for the following Monday. They don't know why I'm not available. They might think I'm just totally booked up, which great. Then it looks like I'm in high demand. And, you know, if they really needed to have a call during that time and I wasn't able to do it, like, yes, there is a chance that you can miss out on a project. But like, I feel like just because you're not doing one thing doesn't mean you're not going to do anything else again. You know what I mean? - Right, yeah. And there's always a chance that you're going to miss out on any project. - Exactly. How many times have we done a call in a book and you thought they were going to, and I just saw on my weddings Instagram account, like three inquiries had gone to the others folder over the last few months. And like, I swear, I checked that, but like, okay. So did I miss out on those? Maybe, but also maybe they were never going to book. I don't know. - I mean, a bummer for sure. But like, what's the point of like losing sleep over that? - Yeah. - To me, that's the point. - No, yeah, there's no point. It's just like, oh, well, that is a bummer. Like I had, I recently, like last month, I got an email from like a wedding, it's not wedding wire anymore, but it's like whatever wedding wire and the knot have merged into become. And they were just like, hey, you know, you have like one day left to respond to this inquiry before we archive it. And I was like, what inquiry is this? Like, I don't even check wedding wire anymore. That like, that's just there for reviews, I guess. And I went over there and there were like six leads that had just been sitting there. One of them had come in like January, like six months earlier. And I was like, okay, well, awesome. And at first I felt really bad about it. And I was like, well, this is terrible. Like it makes me look bad because I ghosted them and then they're gonna have that idea of like, that's how I work. And yeah, I just ended up sending everyone a message back and be like, so sorry, I didn't get notified of this. You know, I'm assuming you've probably already booked someone else, but if not, love to chat. And there was one of the six that was like, they had been there for like maybe two months. And they were like, yeah, we actually took a break from planning. So we're starting to ramp back up. We would love to chat. I'm like, cool. And I could have just written it all off of just like feeling bad and moving on. But instead I was like, I'm just going to be honest and like saying, hey, sorry, this happened. It wasn't me. - Yeah. - But yeah, like there's that whole feeling of missing out and that you're going to lose whatever and like that scarcity mindset of I need to book every single thing. And that is something that is really hard to get over especially in the early years because you are trying to book every little thing to grow and to bring an income. - Yeah, totally. (upbeat music) - Kids, I'm gonna tell you an incredible story. A story about how I met your mother and I'll tell it in less than nine years. Years ago, I used to spend all of my time editing photos and straightening and cropping and color grading. All of my friends thought I was anti-social but really I was just overworked. Then I met Imagine AI. Imagine AI looks at the steps that you take from your raw images to your final products and then they replicate that. So everything looks like your edits. And the best part is that they learn more and more and get better after every single photo shoot. Since I've been using Imagine AI, it has saved me over 200 hours of editing time. Time that I could spend on other things like going to Super Bowl parties and meeting your mom. So if you want some extra time in your life, go to allheartphoto.com/ai and get your first 1,500 images edited for free. That's allheartphoto.com/ai and get back your time. See how I didn't fixate on your Aunt Robin? This is how you tell a story by back in the show. So I mean, kind of talking about income as well 'cause I can feel the listeners being like, okay, that sounds great. Like I have systems in place. I have an auto responder with some resources and stuff. How do you plan for like maintaining income during those months when you're not like physically working in there? Do you pay yourself just like a flat fee throughout the year? Or is it kind of like a lot of entrepreneurs where it's like that roller coaster of busy months you get paid a lot and then slow months you get nothing? - Yeah, yeah. I am in the process of shifting my systems this year 'cause like I said, I started a new properties business last year and I'll be honest, my finances just kind of got very unorganized. And so I hired a new accountant, a new tax person, like finally have stuff mostly organized over like months of working on it. So over the next year, I'll be doing more of like paying myself like a monthly salary. So it's consistent. But I would say in the past years, I haven't really done that. I think I've more just like planned and know, and I also typically plan my time off during, like I'm in Minneapolis and work is typically slower January, February into March. So that is intentional. 'Cause even if I was working, like I probably would not be making like that much money. You know what I mean? Especially compared to like right now, like July, August, September, October is like, so go, go, go, go. - Right, yeah, it was a busy season. - Yeah, so I would say planning for that and just like, I don't know. I think it probably also plays into more of like spending habits, being very aware of like what you are spending both business-wise and personally, like over the last year or maybe eight months, I've started using like the Rocket Money app, like no affiliation and just it seems good for my personal spending and tracking. So that's been, I just feel like knowledge is power, you know, like I might, like I want to know what I'm spending on each category, both personally and professionally. And also this year, I was like, you know what? I'm investing a ton in my business. I'm gonna really pull back my personal spending. So I cut like some, I cut out a ton. And I was like, you know, at first it was like a little shift to get used to it, but then after like a month or two, I was like, wait, this is like, I'm not that hard. Like when you just kind of adjust to a new shift. So I think that was like good. Yeah, yeah, I'm like, I'm really not missing out. - Right, yeah. And I think, I think that is like, that's the key is when you have those really, really busy months, when you're going through the busy season where you're working every single week and you've got all this money coming in is like, don't just go blow all of that money. Just be like, ooh, I can go upgrade my whole camera system. And I can buy this new fancy 2.0 lens that everyone's talking about. And like all of these things, like sure you can budget for those kinds of things, but don't just like spend all of that money to where during the slow season it's like, well now I don't, I can't take time off. I have to go out there and work because I don't have that savings from before. - Yes, totally. So I think it's like, I don't know. I think you have to be, take some time to think to yourself. Like what do you care more about? Like if you want to buy all the cool gear ever, like great, you should do it if you want. And then you're probably going to take less time off, which if that's what you care more about, then that's what you should do. Like I don't think there's necessarily a right or wrong way, but I think it's more about like figuring out what are your priorities and values? And then what steps can you make to like make it happen? - Yeah, no, that is, I mean, just like you said earlier, like that knowledge is power. Like when you know your numbers, it's really powerful because you can take that knowledge and then use it to move in the direction that you want. And the same with like knowledge is power when it comes to what do you want? And I think we get like stuck in the hustle mode of just like, I'm just pushing forward. I want to work, I want to grow this business. I want to hit six figures or multiple six figures or whatever that next goal is. And it's just like, we're always looking at that next goal and moving that line in the sand of just like, I want to get to there and I want to get to there and not having that rest or really any time to just sit and think what is it that I really prioritize? What do I, what should I be prioritizing right now? Should I be prioritizing some rest? Do I need that? Should I prioritize gear? Should I prioritize education and go into conferences and workshops and all of that? And like, yeah, once you actually ask yourself those questions, it can help you figure out like, oh, I probably should, like that would be great if I could take off a month next year to just like hang out with the family and maybe take a couple week trip and like road trip down the West coast or something. And like those kinds of things that maybe you wouldn't have thought of otherwise or you would think of and just be like, well, now I can't do it because I have booked myself too fully. - Yeah, totally. And I think like anytime people are thinking that that, 'cause I think, you know, when people hear that I travel so much and take off time, they're kind of like, I think can have that thought of like, oh, must be nice. And it's like, well, thank you, it is. - It is, yes. - And also like, what is your dream and what can you do to like take one step towards that? 'Cause like our dreams don't need to be the same, but like if you're like, if you, yeah, if you have a dream to take your family on a week long road trip, like, I think you can do it. I think it will take some planning and organization. And, you know, but I feel that that's like a very achievable dream for people to do. I think it's just like people, I feel a lot of times don't prioritize what's the most important and just let other things take over their lives, you know? And then all of a sudden you look back at your year and you're like, what happened, you know? And that's not how I want to live. So that's why I've made like a lot of choices to just be super-intentionable how I'm spending my time and energy and money. - Yeah, in doing it where you want to instead of where you assume that you should be as an entrepreneur or even like bringing in the corporate mindset into your business of just like, well, whatever values I had at my nine to five, that's what I need to be focusing on here. But yeah, I mean, really just taking 10 minutes to like even put it in your calendar, I have to do that sometimes of just like, I just need 10 minutes to like brainstorm this and think about it and just talk to myself about, what do I need? Or even like set up a day to go, you know, grab a drink with a friend who also needs to think about this. And then y'all can both talk about like, what are your priorities with your business? Plus, you get to hang out with a friend, which is always fun. - Hello. - Yeah. Okay, this is so good. Have you seen any benefits from taking this like an extended period of time off other than like, you know, rest and recuperation? - Yeah, for me, I think it works really well for me for a few reasons. Like I have a bit of a harder time like jumping between like work and breaks, if that makes sense. Like even throughout my day, like, this is probably, this is not meant to be advice, but like, I don't really like taking breaks. Like, because once I'm in the zone, I just want to like go crank, get it done. And then when I reach evening time, then I want to be rest mode or whatever. So similarly to weekends, I think it just, it's harder for me to get in and out of tasks. Like when I'm in something, I am like so focused. Like I can just go all day for better or for worse. So because of that, I, when I look to take time off, like sometimes even a weekend is hard for me to like get in the zone and the mindset of rest. So I think when I'm looking at, you know, like one, two, three months off, then I have time to really enter that rest mode. But I also like, I'm not just like sleeping or like watching TV. Like I have, each year I have different kind of like goals or focuses. Like one year I got like yoga certified. Like I've done a ton of traveling. I like pursued new hobbies and interests. Or maybe like make a list of goals or things that I want to do. And like, yeah, there is definitely going to be more slowness and rest in there as well. But I just feel like there's so much to life outside of work. And I think I've always really had that mindset. But then I think a lot of people just think that they're going to have as much time as they view as their ideal years of their life, you know? And like, I don't know. Like that's just not the case, you know what I mean? And not in like a, not like a fatalistic or like a morbid way, but it's just like, we all assume we're going to live to 80, 90, 100, 110, whatever we think is our ideal age. And like nobody guaranteed that. So I don't want to like, again, I hope I live to be a super old lady, like traveling the world and being a cool grandma. But like, if I only have six more months or one more year, like I want to live my life to the fullest, both work and like interests, passions, hobbies, people. Like I just want to like go all out. So I think that's another thing that I just kind of like keep in mind, you know? - Yeah. - So it might be a little intense, but I also think it's real. - No, I think it's really a really good mindset to have because a lot of people and just kind of like, how society has structured things is like, will you work until you're like 65 and then you retire, and then you get to have all the freedom and like go on cruises or whatever it's 65 year olds do. And it's like, you can do all this stuff then, but right now it's hustle, grind, you're going to work for 40 years and then have a break. And I was like, you can schedule breaks in, you can schedule that travel. You wanted to go see the Grand Canyon and you've been wanting to do that for 10 years, like set it up. - Yeah, get in your car. - Figure out how to do it. Yeah, yeah. - Yeah. - Like I think that is good, like just giving yourself the freedom and the permission to take breaks and to like set up your life for how you want to live it and not try and do what everyone else is doing. Like I love that you mentioned how like, you are just like, you're focused and you're just going to work, work, work until the evening and then have that free time. And that is great that that works for you. That's also the best for me 'cause I have tried the like, take little rests in between and like sit down and like watch a 30 minute show. And then I'm like, now I'm on episode six and I have wasted my entire work. - Yeah, yeah. - And like I am, that is me and other people is like, you know, they can take little 15 minute power naps and then just jump right back into the work. Like if I lay down, I'm not getting up till tomorrow morning. - Yeah, and I think that's just about like knowing yourself. Like again, I think that this approach that we're talking about might be like someone's worst nightmare, you know? But like other, other things that people, like a lot of my friends like to co-work and I used to like that a few years ago, but like, I don't like it anymore. Like I just get super distracted. I'm like, let me just be done and then let's go. - I'm too chatty. - Yeah. - I will just want to talk the whole time. - Yeah, then I'm just fake working. - Yes, yeah. This is like opening and closing tabs. - Yeah, yeah. - And just like typing on there. I'm like, okay, well, this was not productive but it was good to see you. - Yeah, yeah. - Yeah, okay, I love this, this is so good. What are a couple of things like kind of last, last words for the listeners of just like, if they're wanting to move into scheduling some time off, what is like a baby step, something like a good first step for them to do to, to start setting up this to where their, their business can work without them there. - Yeah. - And they can actually plan some time off. - Yeah. - I mean, I think super baby step would be like just a block, like depending what your current work looks like, make sure you like take off like an evening, take off a Friday and just like schedule it off, plan your week around it. Like just something, or if you want something even smaller, like think about something that you've been meaning to do but haven't prioritized. For example, this summer, I had this idea of like watercolor painting outside and that just sounds so fun and whimsical. It was reaching the end of the summer, hadn't done it. Is this a big commitment or a big deal? Not at all. But I was like, clearly it's not going to just happen. So I like texted two friends and we were like, hey, should we watercolor paint on this day? They came over, we sat in that patio for an hour and painted. And I was like, okay, I did something that I wanted to do. And like that was actually during the work day, but it was like, okay, nothing fell apart, nothing. So like these tiny little things, I think can be good to start. And then it's like, okay, if you're a wedding photographer, like take off your weekend that's off, like take it off, you know, or like it's a upcoming holiday, like you don't have to work on the holiday. You know what I mean? Like just starting with these tiny, tiny little things and then envision like, what would it look like for you to not check your email from like five o'clock today till eight a.m. tomorrow? Nobody, nobody died. Like we're in a really fun industry. Like there's not such thing as like an emergency really in for the most part in what we do. Like I got a client who recently emailed me a subject line urgent. Was it urgent? No. - No. - You know? - But I took care of her. - I just wanted to open this up. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Yeah, no, I think that's good. I think a lot of times like we think that everything is urgent, especially when it comes to like new leads coming in, it's just like, well, I need to get back to them within 20 minutes or someone else is gonna get them. It's like, possibly. - Right. - Yes. - They could go with someone else because you waited until eight a.m. the next day to get back to them. But the odds are they're probably not moving that fast to book someone. And if they reached out to you, they wanna hear back from you. And if it's waiting 12, 15 hours from five o'clock to eight a.m. the next day, I think they'll be okay. And they probably haven't put a deposit on yet. - Yes, and what's the price that it's gonna take on like your family, your friends, like yourself? You know, like, I don't know. I don't think any of us wanna be known as the person who's like always on their phone. At least I don't wanna speak for myself. - Yeah, yeah, plus having that automated email that as soon as they fill out that form, hits their inbox of like, can't wait to get to you. This is like even telling them like mine says, this is an automated email. I wanted to get this to you as soon as possible. Here's some resources. I'll be in your inbox within the next 48 hours. So it's like, they have those expectations set. They're like, oh, okay. Well, John's gonna get back to me within two days. So I don't, that's cool. I'll just look out for it. - And I think people, people respect the boundaries, you know, like it's, and if they don't, they're probably not a great fit. - Probably not, yeah, to be honest. - Yeah, especially I find that with like Gen Z couples, they are all about boundaries. And they're just like, yeah, take your time. Do what you need. Like we're here, we'll hang out. And like all the millennial couples are just like, now I want it to show up for me. - All of us millennials will hopefully be like, we'll be phasing out on the wedding phase or wedding scene. - Yeah, yeah. Or just like getting married later and just also chill. Where you're like, it's cool. I'm, you know, late 30s, let's have a low key thing. It's a different energy for sure. But yeah. Okay, well, Micah, this has been so great. Before we wrap up and like tell people where they can find you online and connect and all of that, there's part of the show that I love to do where we talk about what we're loving this week. And it can be literally anything, a new book, TV show, movie, new food, whatever. What are you loving this week? - I think this week I'm loving the color orange. It's just like bright, it's fun. It's poppy, it makes me smile. - Nice. Are you a Taylor Swift fan? - Well, also that, yeah. - Okay. (laughs) - Yes. So very, very excited about the new album, of course coming up. And then also I've been loving sitting in the grass. Like I recently didn't have my phone or anyone with me for like 20 minutes. I was waiting for someone to pick me up from them. I went kayaking and it was like a one-way kayak. And I sat and I watched the airplanes and I played with some grass and I was like, wow, how have I never done this? - Right? Yeah. It's so great to just like sit and just look around. - It's not my go-to in any way. But I was like, right, this is good for me. - Yeah, I'm always like, there's always something for me to do. I'm always like, oh, well I could be working on this or I could be thinking about this. Or let me brainstorm this idea that I was having the other day. But yeah, just sitting there, especially just like feed in the grass, just bringing in nature. We've had a lot of storms lately and it has been, it is my favorite. I love it. I just will walk outside and just stand in the rain and just watch the trees just like waving back and forth. And there's like a couple of willow trees in our backyard. So they're just like very, like anytime a breeze comes by, it's just, they move so much. And it's just so great. I love just watching the rain and we also, weird side tangent. We have a mystery plant that has just popped up in the like dead middle of our backyard. - Amazing. - And I went to TikTok 'cause I was like, I think this is a squash maybe or a pumpkin or something. I was like, can anyone help me? Like it's starting to bloom. And like we might have a pumpkin plant in our backyard. - That would be amazing. - That seems to be the consensus from most of the quote unquote experts on TikTok. There's just a bunch of pumpkin emojis in the comments. But yeah, it's just like, it's just spending time in nature is so good. Just unplugged. - Yes. - I love it. - Yeah. I even did that this morning. I had like my annual like doctor's appointment and I was sitting in the lobby waiting to be called. And I was, I went to go pull out my phone and I was like, no, I'm just gonna sit here and just like look around. And I looked around and I was like, every single other person is just hunched over looking at their phone. And I was just like looking at the really intricate design on the carpet. I was like, I wouldn't have noticed this. This is so different. I even took a picture of it 'cause I was like, hey, this is different. But now I love that. I love unplugging. - Yeah. I mean, it fixes most. That's like my top tech-solving advice is like turn it off and turn it back on. I'm like, weirdly enough seems to work for us too. Just shut down. (laughing) Yeah. - Come back to life. - Take a break. Unplug. - Yeah. - Come back. (laughing) - Yeah. - Yeah. Okay. Let's see. What am I loving this week? I'm loving, oh, I watched a new show. It's a show out of the UK. I love anything airplanes. Like a show that's like set on the airplane or around it. Like I loved "Lost" when that was out and then I think there was that Idris Elba show a while back. I don't remember. But this one's called "Red Eye" and it's like a six-part mini series and it's just like things happen on a plane and there's a mystery and people are trying to figure it out and it's like a really long flight from like New York to Hong Kong or something. And it's just like a lot of different like twists and you're like, oh, I think it's probably this person who is doing this and you're like, oh, no, it's not that person. And I don't know. I love a good mystery. I love a good airplane something story. But yeah, "Red Eye", I think it's on Hulu. - Okay. - That's where I watched it. - Cool. - But yeah, it was pretty good. But yeah, well, Micah, where can people find you online? Where can they follow along and connect and all that? - Yeah, I'm over on Instagram, MicahBainPhoto, M-Y-C-A-H. That's probably the best place to find me and would love to chat, send me a DM, tell me what you're up to and here to support you. - Awesome, cool. Well, I will have that linked in the show notes for everyone so they can go connect. And but yeah, Micah, thanks so much for being on the show. - Yeah, thank you, John. This is great and enjoy your day. - Thank you, you too. Thank you for listening to another episode of the "Wisdom in the Tangents" podcast. As always, you can check out all the things in the show notes at podcast.allherphoto.com. Kind of going along with the topic, the theme of today with taking rest and being able to like set up systems to take rest. I'm going to drop a couple different affiliate links in the show notes today for you because these are programs, systems that I use that allow me to take more rest, to take more breaks and then they're still working in the backend. And that's the ad that you heard earlier for Imagine AI. That editing is just super quick. I absolutely love it. If you have any questions about it and you're like, you know, I have some questions before I wanna try this out, zoomieadm, I am happy to talk about Imagine. And then also pick time. Pick time is my photo delivery service and it has just made it so simple to send photos, create slideshows, create blogs to like piece out a wedding day into different vendor categories and allow them to download their photos without having to create whole new galleries and all the automations that come with it to sell prints and albums and wall art is great 'cause I will just get notifications every now and then like, hey, you just had a sale and everything is already being printed and sent off to your customers, here's your money. It is fantastic. But definitely go give Micah a follow on Instagram, send us some DMs, let us know what you thought about the show, share it with a friend and if you have not already, go ahead and subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast or if you're watching on YouTube, subscribe there, that way we will show up again next episode and until then, keep creating and keep making the world a better place. [BLANK_AUDIO]