122: Turning Big Thinking Into an Amazing Life and Business with Emelie Russell

Andrea Liebross: Welcome to the Time to Level Up Podcast. I'm your host, Andrea Liebross. Each week, I focus on the systems, strategy, and big thinking you need to CEO your business and life to the next level. Are you ready? Let's go.

Hello, my friends, and welcome back to the Time to Level Up Podcast. Today, I'm doing one of my favorite kind of episodes, which is a client interview, somewhat of a case study on a client's journey and how they've gotten from A to B. Today, I have the pleasure of speaking with Emelie Russell.

Now Emelie Russell and I met because I hired Emelie to do some photography and video recording of my live event that I had in April of 2022. Following that event and after having several conversations with her, I said, “Hey, have you ever thought about coaching?”

She had thought about coaching, she'd actually invested in some very topic-specific coaching that had to do with her profession of photography but she had never really invested in life and business coaching together, which is really I think what she needed and she realized that. Here we are, almost a year later and I think you can all relate to Emelie in a lot of ways.

She is someone who, as you listen, noticed that her hobby of photography turned into a joby which now has turned into a real thriving multiple six-figure business. But along that journey over the last five or so years, she's also acquired three children and a husband who now owns his own business. She has been challenged with the struggle of her job as a mom with her job or business, it's not really a job, it's a passion and a business that she has in creating wedding film.

I'll let her tell you how she actually does that film and what she creates for her clients. But what she and I have created together is we've really redefined what balance looks like for her, what asking for help looks like, and how and why committing to her ideas on where she wants to be in life and business has made such an impact and a difference over the last nine months or so. Sit back, buckle up, and listen in to my conversation with Emelie.

Hey, Time to Level Up listeners. Welcome back to the podcast. Today I have with me my friend and client and someone who has done lots of film for me and beautiful photos/video, although let's talk about that too, video versus film, it's a very interesting dynamic there of words, Emelie Russell.

Emelie and I have been working together since last spring and I wanted to bring her on today to share with you her journey as a mom, as a professional, and as someone who has engaged in coaching over the past nine months or so, so that you can get a perspective of someone who probably thought they weren't really ready for coaching and it really wasn't on their radar at all, but things happened for a reason and things fall into place for a reason and we'll just share with you how that all transpired because you may see some of yourself in Emelie. Emelie, welcome. Thanks for being here.

Emelie Russell: Thank you. Yeah, I'm very excited.

Andrea Liebross: Yeah. Tell the listeners who you are and what you do, and tell us about that word video, film, and all those words too.

Emelie Russell: Yeah, of course. I'm a wedding videographer based in Indianapolis. I create wedding videos or films for couples so that they can preserve their wedding day, their story, and create a legacy for themselves that celebrates their marriage.

I was born and raised in Sweden. I came to the US as an exchange student in high school so it's been about 15 years now. I live here with my husband, Ryan, and our three kids. That's pretty much who I am.

Andrea Liebross: She makes it sound so simple. It's pretty much who she is. I somehow Googled and found Emelie last winter when I was looking for someone to do video at my live event so that's how we met. She did amazing work that day and soon afterwards, I said to her something like, “Have you ever thought about coaching?” because she was telling me about where she was in her business and where she was in her journey as a mom too because at that point, how old was Nora? Was she even a year at that point?

Emelie Russell: No, she wasn't even a year. She was like 10 months or something.

Andrea Liebross: Yeah. Emelie still had a baby in a rambunctious voice, which she still has all of those people. They are growing. How did your business start way back in the day?

Emelie Russell: Yeah. Way back in the day, I think I did my first wedding in 2014. I fell into it. I have always done photo and art. That's what I went to school for. But then I found video and I really loved how different it was from still images and how I was able to tell a story and edit together audio, music, and moving images to get that emotional fact to incorporate all of that.

Then I had a friend from college who was getting married and she posted on Facebook looking for a videographer. I'd never done a wedding and I don't recommend doing this for your first wedding, but I was like, “Hmm, I could do that maybe,” because I was down at University of Florida for a little while and I did some video for the art department there.

I started getting into it so I was like, “Wedding wouldn't be that much different.” I reached out to her explaining that, showed her some of my work from before, and saying, “You wouldn't get like a professional studio would do but I think I can still create something beautiful for you and for your wedding day.” She was like, “Yeah, let's do it.” So I did her wedding and then I did a couple of her bridesmaids' weddings a few years after that.

I was in a period of transition after college trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to do something creative but I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I was doing some teaching, teaching photography at the time, and then I got pregnant with my first, he was born in 2016. So this is around 2015-2016. I realized that I couldn't see myself going to a corporate job or not being able to stay at home with my baby but I still wanted to work.

I'd always been very ambitious and I couldn't see myself not working or not doing something so I was like, “Well, maybe I should really do something with this wedding business. This is something I can do.” The couples really loved what I did for them and I decided that I was going to try it, to advertise, market a little bit, post it on Facebook that I was doing it, and booking some weddings. I did. Then my first official year in business was in 2018 but before that, I was slow-moving.

Andrea Liebross: It was like a hobby in a sense.

Emelie Russell: Yeah. It was like a side thing that I was trying here and there for fun.

Andrea Liebross: Yeah, to see how it went. I think that's how a lot of businesses start, especially in the creative realm because you were doing something that you enjoyed and now transitioning into, “Well, I guess this could be a business,” but that was never really your intention on day one. When you did that friend wedding, you're like, “Well, I could probably help her.”

Emelie Russell: People will pay me to do something like this for fun. It allowed me to create my own schedule, be at home with my kids. That all was very appealing to me. But it was definitely something that at the time, I know I didn't view it as something that was that serious or that was important for contributing in any way really to our income or family. I felt like, at a time, my main job in a sense was being home with the kids. That's definitely shifted over the years I'll say.

Andrea Liebross: Yeah. Instead of just being a creative outlet for you, the side gig as being a mom, it's formed into a true business and the way you think about it has shifted as well. How do you think about your business now? If you had to say, what's your relationship with your business right now?

Emelie Russell: Well, I love it. It's very fulfilling to me. I think that even when I met you, where I was then, which is not that long ago, I was still in that mindset that it was an inconvenience to others that I was doing this to my family. I think through coaching, I realized that it's important for me to have my own things, this is fulfilling for me, and it helps me be a better mom.

But at the time, I didn't know how I was going to do all that at the same time. As my business was growing, it was taking more time and I felt really overwhelmed and stressed out with combining all of that because at the time, like you said, I had the baby at home, my kids were only in preschool or daycare two days a week, a lot of that situation has changed through your support and encouragement.

Andrea Liebross: What would you say, not that you don't have these feelings now, you said overwhelming, but what else did you feel about working or running your business and being a mom, if you thought about those two things together, what feelings popped into your [mind]?

Emelie Russell: It felt impossible. I was trying to do it both at once. I was trying like, “Oh, this allows me to be home with my kids,” which is wonderful, that's what I wanted. That's why I started this to begin with, but at the same time, I wanted to work more. I wanted to set time aside, more time to put into my business because it was doing well.

As far as my business goes, it was great. I’ve grew my business a lot in the last couple of years and it was getting more difficult to balance that, and that work-life balance, I just didn't even know where to begin. I think that I'd done some education and mastermind before for wedding videos specifically and that was really helpful and putting me on track in 2022, make six figures in my business, which I could have never imagined that when I started.

I know that when I started, I was like, “There's no way I could charge that much for a wedding video,” but I could, I did. But at the same time, with that education, that life part, the personal part, that's not in that. It's very helpful in the sales, marketing, and the tech stuff and helping me become a better wedding videographer but it didn't help me figure out how to balance it with being a good wife and a mom.

Andrea Liebross: Yeah. This is interesting because you said something to the effect of in the beginning, it was like, “Oh, it was convenient in the sense that you could have this business and still be a mom. We could mold it so it would work for both,” that's in the beginning. But as it actually grew and you had success, then it becomes almost inconvenient.

Your thinking was, “This is impossible to do both well.” What happens then, and I see this with a lot of clients, is they invest in education or training on their craft. It's like Emelie, which is smart, Emelie invested in a wedding industry videography-specific mastermind. She learned a lot about her craft, which is a knowledge piece, but in order to be successful in all aspects of life, she also needed to change her thinking and some of her actions in the sense of how she was integrating it all together.

There's something called the Success Triangle that I use with a lot of clients and there are three components: there's your knowledge but there's also your thinking and your actions. Your thinking and actions are connected in a sense by how you feel. Picture a triangle and it's got knowledge, thinking, and actions on the three angles.

The knowledge part was definitely up there but the thinking, the actions, and how to integrate all of these things together, that was the hard part, that was really the hard part. What do you think's changed? When we started working together, I guess let's go there, what was getting in the way of you having that success in all aspects of life, or I like to say making the wheel of life roll not so bumpy, not making a bumpy ride but making it roll, what do you think was getting in the way of that?

Emelie Russell: A lot. I think looking back now, I think it was a lot about mindset and limiting beliefs, and I'm going to say lack of commitment to myself because I was feeling like I wasn't worthy of that or this little hobby of mine wasn't worthy of that, a lot of limiting thoughts and feelings about myself and my business. That's where I was. I was generally overwhelmed with that and it was almost like there was something blocking me from even considering creating goals and having a plan.

Andrea Liebross: Yes. I remember you're like, “I can't do goals. What are you talking about?”

Emelie Russell: Yeah, it's so scary. I didn't even know where to begin because everything felt like I'm busy just trying to keep up with everyday life. Like I said, the personal part of the coaching like the business and personal, that's what I needed but at the time, I didn't think I needed that. Like I said before, it wasn't even on my radar to consider coaching, anything like that. I do believe that you came into my life at the right time.

Andrea Liebross: I think a lot of us, it's just this season of life like, “Why would I create goals or work on myself when I have a five, three, and ten-month-old? This is just where I am right now.”

Emelie Russell: Like, “Next week, you'll calm down a little bit.” It just keeps going.

Andrea Liebross: Right. You and I had some discussions like it'll be better when they go to school. Well, it is better/different but then there are new challenges. Tell me what has shifted. If you, nine months ago, thought, “Okay, it's impossible for me to continue to grow the business and be the mom I want to be,” what would your statement be today? Is it impossible?

Emelie Russell: No. I can definitely do it.

Andrea Liebross: Okay. What thoughts changed? I’m going to say one of the big things was child care for you.

Emelie Russell: Yes. It seems so simple now but just taking those action steps towards the goal sounds easy, yeah, just get child care but there are just a lot of thoughts and mindset going along with it, like, “Yeah, I wanted to stay home with my kids and now I'm going to send them to daycare. What's going to happen?”

But realizing that if I just shifted it to, “Yes, and they will thrive and have a great time,” and then because there's daycare part-time and then there are days that they are home with me, I can be more present for them and not trying to work at the same time because I have the time set aside for work.

Andrea Liebross: I think our brains, to me, it's like either this or that and you had to change it into, “Okay, it's an and situation, it's not an either-or situation. I can be a mom and a business owner. They can have fun at home and they could have fun at school or daycare,” versus one or the other.

But for some reason, we have these blocks against the “and” word sometimes and we just think it's an either-or. Child care was one thing, what about running your household in general? What things have changed there after school or on weekends? Tell me about that, what's changed?

Emelie Russell: Yeah. I think just having a workday routine, then that flows into having a routine at home, you helped me with having a more specific tangible plan, goal, and planning out my week so I'm less stressed thinking about all the work that I have to do and also actually schedule in time for all the other stuff that I want to do like travel and fun stuff.

Andrea Liebross: Yes. She went to Sweden twice in one year, crazy stuff. I remember you were having some, we'll call it mind drama around that one too.

Emelie Russell: Yeah. It was like a lot of the mom guilt. That was my biggest struggle, just a lot of thoughts and feelings of guilt surrounding a lot of things.

Andrea Liebross: Should she leave? It was like the first day of school too.

Emelie Russell: It was like the first day but it was the first like full week so it's like the first week of kindergarten. Again, coming back to feeling like I'm an inconvenience to my family for wanting to have my own life, my own dreams, and goals. I'm from Sweden but this was an extra trip for fun to see a concert that had been postponed for several years and I really wanted to go but we'd already been to Sweden in the winter a few months earlier. It's just like, “Should I just go for a week or?”

Andrea Liebross: She was having lots of drama around this. It seemed like you were indulging in a sense and then that created some guilt. I think something that's interesting is a lot of times, I talk about this from a business sense, what you're worth is really a combo of three beliefs: belief in yourself, belief in what you're offering people need, and then the third belief in your business is really in the emotional and financial maturity of your client.

But in our personal lives, if you think about “Am I worthy of going to Sweden for a second time?” Okay, belief in myself, I think when she put her rational hat on, Emelie was like, “Yes, I can do this,” and then, “Will my dad be super happy to see me? He believes in me coming, he wants me to come? Yes.” But the third component from a personal sense is believing in the, I'll call it emotional maturity of the other people in your family. “Will they see me going as indulgent or will they support me in going?”

There's a lot of drama that comes up in our brains about that like, “What are other people going to think about me taking these what might seem like indulgent opportunities or experiences?” We have to do a lot of thought work around that because we can't control what those other people think.

If we ask them to help us, we can't control what they're going to think about our ask and I think you had to do some work around that too, like asking, saying, “I need help from I want to go to Sweden and I need help from all of you people in order for me to go.” True?

Emelie Russell: Yeah, and of course, asking my in-laws to help with the kids, in my mind, I'm like, “Oh, this is such an inconvenience,” but just changing the thought that this is an opportunity for them to spend more time with the kids and they love it, yes, there might be a little bit inconvenience but at the same time, it could also be a wonderful opportunity for them to be with the kids more.

Andrea Liebross: You get to really shift your thinking on that when you're asking for help, are you inconveniencing someone? What are they going to think of you? Or flipping it around and being like, “Oh, look, they get to spend more time with their grandchildren without me around,” because that's a whole other scenario.

Or “Hey, their dad gets to spend an entire Saturday with them while I'm filming a wedding. Wow,” versus, “Oh, I don’t want to leave them again because he needs his time off too.” I think that's a lot of our shifting our thinking around believing that other people, if we ask for their help, will be okay with us asking and getting rid of the stereotypical, “What are they going to think of me?” type of worry.

Emelie Russell: Yeah. A lot of the time, it's like in your own head too. In reality, my husband's very supportive of my business, me going on trips, and doing all that stuff but in my head, I'm putting those negative thoughts in there and I was like, “Oh, I'm such an inconvenience,” but that's not really true.

Andrea Liebross: No, because you're like, “Well, he does support me so why am I thinking about that?” It's a mind game, we create those things ourselves. How does this relate to you, your business, and new clients and asking them to invest in your work? Have your mind shifted at all in that category?

Emelie Russell: Yeah. It's a work in progress but I think if I believe in the value that I'm providing, then the clients will as well or the right kind of clients will as well. I'm not the wedding videographer for everyone and that's okay but I try to do something different, so that has value in itself.

I think just also being able to invest this time to my schedule, working through all that, having a plan for myself allows me to also put more time into the client experience, not just editing, trying to get that out. I'm also trying to provide a better experience for my clients as well because they're investing in me.

Andrea Liebross: This goes into your mind had to be organized in order to get your house and your family organized but then also to get your business organized so that you can even offer more, not necessarily more, a better experience, actually, you are offering more things too.

You have to internally organize in order to be externally organized. I think that's something that really has shifted for you too, seeing how that plays out in both personal and business.

What would you say, Emelie, to someone who is considering not just investing in education about their craft but in coaching which is more about them, themselves, personally and professionally, what would you say to them? What do you think is the biggest thing you've gained from it and why should they do that?

Emelie Russell: Yeah. You're worth it. I know it seems like a big investment but if you're asking other people to invest in you, it's worth it for you to invest in yourself too and it's okay to ask for help. You don't have to have it all figured out. I think when I started with coaching, I thought that I needed to have it figured out.

I thought I needed to have my goals, a plan, or at least know where I was going. But it's a process and you figure it out as you go. It's okay to ask for help. You don't have to walk this path alone. You're worthy of it too. It’s not just your business.

Andrea Liebross: Yeah. Because if you're not on top of your own self and game, then you are not offering the best service to your client or your kids.

Emelie Russell: Yeah, exactly, and it's not either-or, what I love about coaching with you is the combination of business and life. It's all intertwined. That's how our lives are most of the time as women or moms and trying to figure it all out, it's not black or white, it's not completely separate, it's all working together.

Andrea Liebross: All intertwined, it's all intertwined. I think with coaching, we really have tackled both. So true. When I get on coaching calls, a lot of times, I don't really know what was going to happen. Are we going to talk about business? Are we going to talk about life? It doesn't matter because it's all fair game. I always like to say it's all fair game.

Alright, final question, is there a favorite saying or something that you've learned in coaching that you repeat over and over to yourself? Because I have my own and I repeat over and over to myself for my coach. What have you found?

Emelie Russell: “Is this thought serving me?” is usually what comes up. I hear it in this Andrea voice, “Is this thought serving me? Is it useful?”

Andrea Liebross: Is it useful to think that I am not preparing a nutritious meal? Is that really useful to think about that? No, it is not. It's not. Is it useful to think that no one will invest in my highest-price package? No, it is not. Is it serving, I love that thought. I love that one. I love that question, the question you can ask yourself about your thoughts really is what that is, is this thought serving me?

Alright, well, thank you for being here. Emelie is usually behind the camera and she's telling the story with film versus words. This is a growth opportunity right here. What is the difference between video and film? What’s the difference?

Emelie Russell: I would say now, it’s kind of the same thing like a moving image but I think when people talk about a videographer versus the filmmaker, I think it's really all in the perception of the value you put into the word. It might sound better that I'm a filmmaker but videographer, video, more people will relate to or know that.

Andrea Liebross: I think you're a filmmaker because the video creates a story so I would say filmmaker, that's my take. Okay, my friends, well, thank you for joining us today. If you want to learn more about coaching or what Emelie has experienced through coaching, please head over to andreaslinks.com and schedule a call. Let's chat.

If you want to find Emelie and all her beautiful work, you need to follow her on Instagram, you really do because I watch her videos, their film on Instagram like, “Whoa! I want to get married again but I don't know if I really do but I like watching them.” I will put the link to her Instagram and all of her things in the show notes. Where do they find you on Instagram?

Emelie Russell: Instagram is @filmsbyemelie. A little bit different.

Andrea Liebross: It's different. It's nice.

Emelie Russell: It’s Swedish.

Andrea Liebross: It's Swedish, not Swedish Fish, just Swedish Emelie. Alright, I will see you all next week and remember, this is your time, my friends, it's not just because you're in this season of life, it's not impossible, it's right now. You can do it. You can level up. Talk to you soon.

Can you relate to anything Emelie has said or her circumstances of three kids, a husband who owns a business, a family that's far away, and having her own business which she is passionate about? I think if you reflect on our conversation, notice that when she started to ask herself useful questions, not just questions that had no answer, solutions appeared.

She is someone that dreams big and has a huge desire but she wasn't necessarily allowing herself to live out that big dream. But by changing her thinking and putting a few new systems and processes in place, I think you can see that that big thinking is now turning into amazingness both in her business and at home.

If you're someone who's invested in industry or profession-specific coaching but never explored what having a coach who can talk both life and business can bring to the table and can do for you and the impact it can have, I encourage you to schedule a strategy consult call, schedule a call, let's talk. There is no cost to doing that. There's no cost. If anything, you're going to walk away with a lot of amazing coaching just from the consult call in and of itself.

But I think many of us get stuck in investing in, which isn't bad, industry-specific or problem-specific coaching like just marketing, just social media, or just hiring and firing type of coaching and you don't explore the option of life and business coaching together, which is something I would love to bring to the table for you.

Head over to andreaslinks.com, find the option to schedule a call, and let's chat. If you know someone who can benefit from this episode, just one person who reminds you of Emelie, please share this episode with them. Click that little square with the arrow box if you're listening on your iPhone and send it their way. I am sure they will appreciate it. Okay, my friends, until next time. Remember now is the time for you to level up. See you soon.

Hey, listening to podcasts is great. But you also have to do something to kick your business up a notch. You need to take some action, right? So go to andreaslinks.com and take the quiz. I guarantee you'll walk away knowing exactly what your next best step is to level up.