Episode 294: Capturing Authentic Moments In Editorial Frames with Lei Lei of Lei Lei Clavey Photography
Have you ever wondered how a wedding photographer can capture such beautiful moments amidst the chaos and excitement of the big day? In today's episode, Fiona talks to Lei Lei Clavey, the talented photographer behind Lei Lei Clavey Photography. They talk about how Lei Lei started her business during the pandemic, landed in Vogue Australia, and still manages to balance work with being a parent and partner. Tune in!
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
Connecting with People at Conferences and Networking
Starting a Business: Lei Lei Clavey Photography
The importance of celebrating wins, big or small
Choosing where to put your energy and advertising budget
Importance of being in front of the right audience in the wedding industry
The pressure of capturing important moments in someone's life as a wedding photographer.
Tips for photographers to bring out the best in their clients during a shoot
Resources that helped the business owner with her photography business, including podcasts, books, and courses
The concept of the perfect average day and how it applies to daily life
Conclusion
Get in touch with My Daily Business Coach
Resources and Recommendations mentioned in this episode:
I've definitely had to build it. I've always been shy. I love connecting with people and talking with people, but I think I am shy by nature. I've pushed myself out of my boundaries when I've admired other people who can go up and just chat or put up their hand at an event, and I'm like, "How did they do that?" I don't know what question I'm going to ask and those things, but getting older, I'm like, "What have I got to lose? Maybe embarrassment. I'll go red. Who cares?"
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Welcome to episode 294 of the My Daily Business Coach podcast. Today it is an interview with a small business owner, and I have to say, this is just such a lovely interview. I came off the interview with this particular person just feeling excited about the business and about the privilege that I have of working alongside people on their journey into business. I'm not working with this particular person, and I'm not her coach or anything, but it just reminded me of how lovely it is when you are in the first couple of years of business and just, just how lovely it is to reflect on how far you've come. I hope you'll stick around for that. I wanted to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of this beautiful land on which I record this podcast, and that is the Wurrunng and Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. And I pay my respects to their elders past, present, and emerging, and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded. Let's get into today's interview episode.
Today it is my absolute pleasure to bring you a recent interview that I did with Lei Lei Clavey of Lei Lei Clavey Photography. Lei Lei and I connected at an event that I was speaking at, which was at the Alta Electric, which is a super cool Vegas-style chapel here in Abbotsford in Melbourne. If you are getting married soon, definitely check it out. It is so awesome. But we connected there and I have to say, the first thing that I noticed about Lei Lei was she had this incredible shirt on, like this beautiful silk shirt, and I thought, this woman knows style. I also was like, I want to ask her where it's from. And then at the end, she came up and introduced herself and talked about her business, and she was passionate about it. Lei Lei is a wedding photographer and not just any stock standard wedding photographer but comes at it from a beautiful fashion editorial perspective, which has landed her in British Vogue, and a whole bunch of other really beautiful high-end publications.
In today's episode, we talk about how she started because it was not the career that she originally was in, and she started a wedding photography business right at the start of the pandemic in an area that was going into a lot of lockdowns. Today we talk all about that. How did she find her groove so quickly? How did she get into these incredible publications that people work for years and decades in their photography career and never get into how did she get into it so quickly? And also, what is it like to fly all over the world? She goes to the most incredible places to shoot people's weddings. How did you work that out when you are also a parent and a partner and everything else that goes with that? We also talk about what it's been like to get people to relax and calm down on one of the most stressful and overwhelming and exciting days of their life, and how Lei Lei has taught herself to relax, especially when she was coming into this as a new fresh photographer in the wedding space, and had to be the one to help everyone else build at ease.
But she was also still trying to grow her business herself. There are so many insights and tips and Lei Lei is just such a warm, beautiful soul to talk to. Towards the end of our chat, she shares something so personal and meaningful it reminded me of why I started my business and it also inspired me to go back and look at how far I've come. I hope that it does the same for you. Here’s my interview today with Lei Lei Clavey of Lei Lei Clavey Photography.
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Hello Lei Lei, welcome to the podcast.
Thanks, Fiona. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.
You're so welcome. How are you feeling about your life right now?
Life is pretty great. It's pretty great. I am in the middle of the wedding season. It is hectic. Then with the two kids. Life is hectic, but can't complain. It's awesome.
I love that answer. And I also love that your voice is so calm considering you are in the middle of wedding season and you have two young children. You're just like, no, it's good. People will go up and down different life situations, making your positivity up and down or less calm. Do you feel like your baseline is pretty calm anyway?
Yes. I think I've always been optimistic. I have always been positive. Not always calm, but I guess on the outside maybe I'm calm and the inside is like turmoil but always optimistic, which I think helps just settle things.
I love that. And it leads to my next point, which I was going to say thank you for coming up and chatting with me. We connected recently at an event that I was at, and the reason I wanted to bring that up is, I think it's great that you came up and said hi and everything else, but also a lot of people will say, I wanted to talk to somebody at an event, or, I saw this person talk and I thought they're amazing, but I just didn't have it in me to like go and talk to them. I'm not some big person that you need to be worried about. But sometimes people go to a conference and there's some big name and they're like, I'd love to chat with them, but I didn't want to pull myself out there, or I don’t know how to connect or a network. Do you find that just part of your personality again, that you can come up to somebody after a talk and be like, “Hey, how are you?” And I'd love to connect, or have you had to build that skillset in yourself over time being in business?
I've had to build it. I've always been shy. I love connecting with people and talking with people, but I think I've I am shy by nature. I've pushed myself out of my boundaries when I've, I've admired other people who can go up and just chat or put up their hand at an event and I'm like, “How do they do that?” I don't know what question I'm going to ask and those things, but getting older, I'm like, “What have I got to lose? Maybe embarrassment. I'll go red. Who cares?” At least then if I was nervous coming up to you and asking questions at the event, when did I read your book Two years ago? I've had it on my bookshelf and it's just always something I referenced. Meeting you, I'm like, I have to meet Fiona because I may meet you at some point, but this is my chance to come and chat. It was something that I feel proud of when I do that. And even if I don't have a question, I will feel my heart beating and I'll be like, I have to ask a question. I don't know what it is. I'm going to put up my hand and then it comes.
Yes.
I guess just pretending that I'm confident and then leaning into it.
I love that answer. And I feel like everyone, like even if I've spoken at so many events and big ones and small ones, but I feel like even when I'm on the panel about to talk to somebody, I will feel my heart beating. Or when they have that they always have everyone. If you just want to introduce yourself and I will hear the people next to me and then it's getting closer and you're like, I think it happens to everyone. I don’t know if we ever necessarily get calm, but I think it's a good thing that you've just said about, especially as you get older, I think that too, you're just like, what do I have to lose? What's the worst that can happen? Most people aren't jerks. Excuse my language, but, tell us about your beautiful business, Lei Lei Clavey Photography because you didn't start a photography career, how did this come about and when did it all come about?
Yes, I've had many lives before my photography business. And I worked in marketing, social media, digital marketing, fashion production, and photography in Melbourne, New York, Perth. When I launched my business in 2020 and at the time I was working in marketing, went on mat leave, and had my first baby. I realized during maternity leave, I don't want to go back to nine to five mm I want to be in charge of my lifestyle. I want to do something I love and I will create my own business around the lifestyle that I love. And people had been saying for a few years, you should shoot. Because I'd been doing photography with, in fashion and lifestyle, people were suggesting like, go do weddings, you'd be great at weddings. There’s so much stress. That is way too much pressure.
I'm not going to do that. But then someone reached out to me, I had a five-month-old baby at the time. Someone reached out on Instagram for a registry wedding and charged $350 for a few hours of shooting their ceremony and portraits. It was not very much money, not heaps of pressure. They didn't care to have that. I wasn't a wedding photographer, but I walked away and I'm like, I loved that. It was so much fun. I was like, I'm just going to do it. That was in February 2020. In March 2020, we went into lockdown.
That's when I decided to launch my business. I said to my husband, is this the worst time to have launched a business, a wedding photography business? Nothing stops weddings ever except for Covid. I'm like, just the worst time to have started a wedding photography business? Because other people, I'm looking in Instagram and they're, they're shutting down their business or stepping away or just really jaded by everything that's happening. And he was like, “No, it's the best time because people are stepping out, which means there's room for you to step in.” I was like, that is so true. And I had no work, no weddings were going on. I went full in on education about wedding photography, and how to set up a business, and it's been amazing since then.
I love that you are also supported by your partner. That mindset of, there's space for me. Because even whether there's a covid lockdown or not, I feel like I hear all the time from people going, but there's another homeware shop in my industry in my area. Or there's this or there's that. I always think there are so many Irish pubs. It doesn't mean that somebody doesn't open another Irish pub or a cafe in Melbourne. How many cafes are out there? And there will always be people that find you because you're the right fit for
them.
Exactly.
You mentioned 2020, was a pretty hard time to start a business, but I love that you also just went, you know what, what can I do right now so that when I get out of this, which we will, I'm going to be in a better position, rather than just freezing and be like, “Okay. It's all coming crumbling down.” You have managed to make a pretty good name for yourself in a very short amount of time. It’s three year birthday of your business. Congratulations. How have you done that? Especially because you are in Melbourne and we were the most lockdown city in the world, there weren't weddings happening. How have you done that?
A few things. Education was number one. I first tried to seek some education on how to shoot a wedding creatively. And I couldn't find much on that. You can find some YouTube things, but in terms of how to shoot a wedding, you just need to learn it on the job and you can watch things. But learning on the job is probably the easiest. But what I found was how to set up education on how to set up a business. The way I worked towards that was I want to be a successful business. Not just start a small business, but start a successful one. How am I going to do that? While I haven't shot any weddings. And it was like that hard work, perseverance. I niche down early. I think that made a big difference in what you put out there is what you attract.
As for social media, if I showed any photo of a wedding, then I'll get any inquiries. I would just show what I loved. And even at the time, I didn't have any wedding content because I hadn't shown any weddings. But I had fashion photography content, I showed that and then it drew in the clients that loved fashion photography and wanted that in their weddings. That worked to niche quickly. And if I didn't get bookings because I was too niched, that's okay because I was able to spend the time working on the business or with my family. That's a win.
Totally. And when we talked, we were chatting about media and you come from a fashion and marketing, and social media background as well. And media has been a big part of your work as well. You've been featured already, which I know people will be like, what, she has been three years in business, but you've already been featured in Vogue and British Vogue. How did those opportunities come about and what advice would you give to other people whether they are wedding photography or interior design or whatever else about pitching to the media, whether it's Vogue or whether it is another media outlet?
I think it's knowing your brand and who you want to be associated with. Because it's not worth spending any time pitching or being featured in publications that don't align with your brand and don't align with the ideal client that you want to attract. Early on I knew British Vogue and Vogue, that sort of calibre is where I wanted to position myself. I was aiming for those. A specific example, I was guessed by British Vogue, it's a paid advertisement. They reach out to a bunch of photographers. And when I received the email, I was so excited. I was like, I know I'm paying, I would pay for this, but this is so amazing that I'm being recognized and I can be featured there. I put it on Instagram the next morning and said, I have been reached out by British Vogue, and I'm going to be featured on their pages. How amazing is that? My current clients at the time who had just booked me were like, “That's amazing, Lei.” And then people who had just started inquiring with me, they were like, you're going to be featured in British Vogue. I realized just talking about it. I didn't even need to pay for the feature. We're hearing British Vogue Lei Lei already and like touching those trusts.
My reasoning for paying or for being featured in these publications is for the trust of clients to go, “Okay, yes, I'm going to pay those prices.” “Okay, yes. You are luxury and you are the photographer that I want for my wedding.” That answers the question.
I get it and I think that's a great credibility builder. Were you like it, I don’t know which photos to submit. Or can you submit any photos or are they like, “No, we have to go through all of them and we have creative license over which of your photos you submit for publication.”
For the paid advertising, you can put which one you want. And it did take a while. It's like, how am I going to stand out on this page and all those things with Australia Vogue, that was an organic submission or organic, it was a real wedding story. And the way that came about was the bride, she works in PR with Vogue in the beauty area. She knew the team at Vogue. I collaborated with her and we niche down her images to what we thought were the best ones.
And then Vogue from there took their creative license and chose which ones they wanted to feature. In terms of being featured in Australia Vogue, I get this question from wedding photographers a lot, how do I get featured in Vogue Australia? That there are a few different arms for that. My bride had connections at Vogue, it was still a bit tricky to get in, but we got made it so she had connections or they need to be an influencer or someone like an actress or something. Or have an extravagant wedding that is a point of difference that has to be in line with Vogue's brand.
Wow. Sorry, I'm asking more questions. When it came out, were you just over the mood? Did you just run to the newsagents and get five coffees? Were you just so excited to be like, I am here in Vogue?
Yes. At the same time, it was one of my goals forever since I started three years ago. I was like, I think this was the year and a half into the business. I'm like, okay. It was almost like, “Okay, done tick next.” And that's a reminder to, for me to be like, I need to celebrate every single win because a year and a half ago that was on the top of my list. And now I'm like, “Whatever, done, move on.” I always try to celebrate each win and dwell on that success and then help it fuel the next goals that I want to reach.
I am constantly asking clients how will you celebrate this. How are you going to celebrate it? Even if it's small, like even. I have one client who likes to go and buy doughnuts from a donuts fancy shop. I have another client who's like, “I'm going to take more time off because I got here and I want to take more time off and spend it with my children.” I think it's so important that you got there. In terms of the impact that had, you already talked about, I mentioned it the next day on social media and instantly you're like, “ah.” Do you feel like that has continued to have the credibility factor of it has had a positive impact on the business overall? Do you feel like it has brought in more sales and more people saying, I want to work with you particularly?
I find it at weddings, bridesmaids will be like, this feels like a vogue shoot. And the bride will say, “Yes, this is why I hired Lei because she was featured in Vogue.” It's that trust and that they're like, “Yes, I chose right.” And I'm okay paying these prices because there are all these awards, and this leverage underneath to go, “Yes, she is worth it.”
Yes. I love that we're talking about this. After all, I feel like people don't necessarily put themselves forward for this because I think sometimes they're just focused on just the publication itself rather than the impact and the long-tail effect that comes from being featured in that publication.
Exactly,
Even years later, I used to write for Monocle, who knows, I might write for the moon in the future again. But even the fact that you've done it as you've written, you can say I've written Chronicle even if it was 10 years ago, it's still those things that come up in people. Like you said trust is so important and people don't put themselves forward enough. I think to get the long tail effect, it's all like, “Okay that magazine might not like me.” It's not necessarily the magazine, it's what it will bring you in long term.
Exactly. I think that's why it makes a difference to choose where you put your energy and let’s say for example, British Vogue, is advertising, if a client looked and they see, this is the advertising feature, Lei paid for it, it's okay because I was still contacted by them. Even though they contact a lot of photographers, I was still contacted by them. I only need to say featured in British Vogue. I only need to pay once to say I've been featured in British Vogue. That could have been 10 years ago. Like Monocle. But I've still been featured.
And you're getting in front of the right people. Like you said, your audience. You are front and centre at, well not front and centre. You're front and behind the scenes at somebody's wedding. And particularly if you're attracting the type of people who want a vogue wedding. And that comes with luxury and money being spent and everything else. And you are there for one of the most important moments in someone's life. And also the pressure is on to get that shot. they're not going to do this, hopefully, they're not going to get married five times. It's once and you've got the one shot when they kiss and the one shot when this happens. And the one shot of when he turns around or she turns around or they turn around to see the person coming down the aisle or wherever it is.
When you were starting, how did you work through the nerves of the pressure that I would imagine is on any photographer to get the shot, but particularly in a wedding environment and particularly for the type of people that are coming to you that want this incredible shot? It's not just, “Here I am, I'm with my mom and dad.” It's a beautiful shot. How did you get through those nerves at the start? And also what do you do now if maybe you are not in the right mindset when you wake up, maybe your kids have been annoying you or they've been up all night how do you get yourself into that mindset to be there and do your best work?
Well, I'll say now, even though I've shot, how many weddings have I shot over 40 weddings or 50, but I still get nervous. The nerves don't diminish after I've got this. If the nerves do start to settle, I know I need to shake things up because I'm becoming too complacent. But preparation is a big thing. I write a run sheet photography run sheet for my couples and I know exactly where I have to be. They know where I'm going to be and there are no surprises on the day. It's not like, why didn't they allow time for sunset photos? They're the best photos of the day. Well, how would they know if I didn't tell them that we need to do sunset photos? It's also meeting the clients, meeting the couples beforehand, and talking on the phone.
This is before booking, but also talking through the timeline, going through a location scout with them or by myself getting to know the area, and looking at the light. I come in prepared going, I know exactly where we're going to go. Let's go over there. This is a beautiful spot. When in the beginning, I think as a beginning wedding photographer, I winged it and I was like, it'll be fine. I'll get there on the dot, we'll walk around and I'll just find a spot. A spot will call to me with beautiful light and we'll go over there. But I felt stressed and then I was like, I need to take the time and go location scout and tell the couple exactly what I need, what I'm going to do with them. And then that makes them feel comfortable, makes me feel comfortable.
And we all go into it more prepared. I pack my bag the night before and that means that if there's anything that I'm missing like I need more memory cards or my batteries aren't charged, at least I can go out the morning of, or even that night, like if all bags are packed and I'm ready to go, that includes snacks and everything, I print out all my run sheets, upload them onto my phone, have set it as my screensaver as well. Then I can check my phone if we're on the go and I don't access the sheets. And having a second shooter also helps, if it's a big wedding, is having someone there just to bounce off. And if I'm feeling like just lost my train of thought, I don’t know what I'm doing. You like, can you take over for a second? I can go and collect myself and yeah. And it just helps to have someone else to bounce off for those bigger ones. And then in terms of getting in the zone, because I fly into the morning with my kids, and then if I have to go to a wedding, it's not like I get a peaceful wake-up and have a coffee and ease into the day.
No, fly into the day and get them ready. My husband's super supportive and we'll be helping. But I'll be there and getting them for the day. And my bags are all packed from the night before and then I'll try to have everything ready to go in the car and have a lie-down, and I’m like, let's breathe for one minute. I lie down. And I breathe.
I think that's so important. That minute for yourself is that before you leave the house.
Yes, that's before I leave the house. If that doesn't happen, I'll get in the car and then breathe. . because sometimes you're lying on the bed, and it's like, you're lying on the bed so let's jump all over you. I'll get into the car, breathe, and then set up my mac. I always leave an hour. In the beginning, I would get to the couple's place an hour before I needed to be there and just sit there. Now I cut it a bit finer. I'll try to get there in half an hour with half an hour allowance so that I'm still sitting there for half an hour. But in case there's traffic or the car breaks down, I'm sorted. because that's the worst thing to just feel super stressed about travelling and getting late, being late. And then I enter the day just feeling not great. To get into the zone after breathing, I'll listen to motivational podcasts and audiobooks to get me into like a zone of like, you are successful, you can do this. But there's always imposter syndrome. No matter how many weddings I've shot is still like, “Oh my gosh, I'm so nervous.”
I love this. I love the screenshot on your screensaver. That is genius. I have never done that. And the number of times that I'm on my phone looking if it's Dropbox looking for a run sheet or if I'm talking at an event and say I'm the MC or something like trying to find this piece of paper or trying to bring up that document. And quite often I put it on the screen. But even finding that sometimes when you've got all these screen grabs and everything else, it's so smart and as well because then you could just tap your phone and see it as opposed to having to unlock your phone, I love this, I'm going to steal that so much. And second, to that, you get yourself ready, which I love that you talked us through that because it's, it's so real and relatable and I feel like a lot of people can take elements from that, whether they're in photography or a completely different business.
A lot of people hate getting their photos taken. They hate it. I know that when I got my wedding photo taken photos I did not like them because we didn't hire a wedding photographer. We hired a friend who wasn't a friend, it was an acquaintance. She was more, more of a photojournalist rather than, and I was working for the newspaper and she was like, “I can do your wedding.” And I was like, “really?” She did this discount and she did a fine job, but she wasn't a wedding photographer. And when you said the run sheet, there were lots of photos that got missed. My mom was like, “Where's the photo with all the family behind us on the church steps,” didn't get done. Like a lot of those things.
But how do you get people into a zone feeling comfortable in front of the camera? I know lots of people listening to this hate getting their photo taken, even though they're like, “I need a brand photo shoot or I need something done.” How do you get people comfortable, especially when they're freaking out? because it's their wedding day.
I guess for the weddings I suggest ha having a photo shoot before like an engagement shoot. And that way they can see, they can test out their makeup, their trail makeup. They can also see how I shoot, we can get to know each other. And even with a photo shoot you might have an hour and a half or an hour with a photographer, but the first half an hour while I might be shooting, we are getting to know each other. And then after the half, the first half an hour goes by, it's even like the last five minutes first shooting, I get my shots. Because it's like we're comfortable now. We're both comfortable easing into it takes a little while and then five minutes, I got it. That helps with wedding couples. But if you're hiring, like doing a brand shoot, you're not going to do a test one and then a real one.
I would recommend hiring a photographer you feel comfortable with meet them or do you resonate with them on Instagram? Have you got a recommendation from someone else that they're lovely? I guess my superpower is my calm nature and some people want the crazy like, I want hype for a wedding for weddings or any shoot day, but I'll bring in the calm. That's what I do. And hopefully de-stress people and make them feel comfortable. I think for like a brand shoot and things like that, get your makeup done, get your hair done, feel beautiful, wear something amazing and pretend that you are that person that loves getting their photo taken and that step into someone else, like the confident version of you that is great in front of the camera. I'm not sure.
No, I think that's an important thing and especially when you said to wear something comfortable. I think sometimes people go too much in, I need a whole new outfit, I need something that's not me. Or I'm going to get this expensive designer thing and I'm going to send it back after the photo shoot. And yes, I get why that happens, and maybe you can have a mix of that. But I often say to clients, “what do you love wearing in your own in your wardrobe?” Because if you've worn that a thousand times, you already feel good in it because you're comfortable, you know how it fits, you know how it's going to sit when you sit down or go in a particular pose. I think it's so important to be comfortable and think about that. And also, to just get in the zone and be like, I've paid for this. This is an important thing, let's not stuff it up and just enjoy it because otherwise there's really no other option. You can enjoy it or just be terrified and then the photos won't look great either.
Exactly. And I think with a photographer that brings out the best in someone, it's the prompts that they give. It's not just like, just smile at the camera. I think in my early days it was like just smiling at the camera. But now I have my camera down for most of a first part of a shoot and then I'll get talking and it's easier with two people like a couple because they can bounce off each other and if the groom or the bride is nervous, I'll just get them to look at each other or the bride to look at him if she's nervous. And then I'll bring my camera up so instead of like “smile at me,” people don't like that. I don't like that. If it's a good photographer they'll make you feel calm with the prompts and the direction they give.
It’s true. It sounds like you took quite a bit of time in that you took the opportunity in the time that we had in lockdown to educate yourself about business. Who has helped you with your business or what has helped you with your business? Have you had any particular podcasts? You mentioned you listened to motivational podcasts. Have you had a particular book that cemented it? Do you have family members or friends that are business owners that helped you? Who or what do you think has helped you the most in building this business app?
When I started the business, I joined an online course called The Business Map by Jai Long. He's probably been one of the main mentors of his Make Your Break Podcast. I can just turn it on and he'll immediately have different podcasts and different mentors resonate with different people, but for me, he inspires me. Listen to him a lot to get into the zone.
He has been a wedding photographer. He's a photographer, is that right?
Yes, he is a wedding photographer, but gone into full-time in the educational space. That helped when I was looking for how to shoot weddings and then found his course, on how to set up a successful business in wedding photography. But I think anyone could use them, it's just a blueprint of things to do. His podcast helped me. And then some books, Bad Asset Making Money, you're Bad Love, and Purple Cow.
Yes. Seth Godin.
The last one is your book. I was on my way to an epic wedding in Sydney and I was nervous but I was meaning to buy your book found at the airport and read it and you should see it scribbled all over like highlighted. I recommend your book to so many people if you're starting a business, here are the basics of what you need to know and it makes it approachable. I am obsessed with business as I am with the creative part, and business is so creative. I just love any of these books about how to create a successful business for you. I recently read the Everyday Creative Melbourne guy. Yeah. And he has this concept about your perfect average day.
This is one of the things that I try to live every day or every week, am I living my perfect average day and what is included in that? My perfect average day is waking up at five, and making a coffee. The coffee machine does not wake up the kids. I can set up my intentions for the day. Then once the kids wake up at seven, like how we ease into dropping them off at childcare and then I can go into my like go and work in cafes and I have a shoot later. It's not like what do I want to do on my dream life flight? Like Italy and shoot, it's what's a normal day and what does that involve? And then how do I live that every day? Another one I'm leaning into, which is less about being creative, and less about business is called the Artist's Way.
What's the name? Julia Cameron.
Yeah.
Such a great book. And also there's a whole like, I think the Artist’s Way Workbook and I think a lot of people sell courses or not even courses, almost like a challenge, as let's work through the Artist's Way book to together. I love that book that you mentioned. I mean I love that concept from the book, the Everyday Creative. But I love that concept of the perfect average day. I love perfect and average next to each.
.
I think that's so important. And I have to say thank you so much for mentioning my book, but in particular, your story of, I went to the airport and I found it. Is that correct? Did you find it at the airport? Because I have to say, Lei Lei, I'm getting on a flight soon. I have not been on a plane in three years. I used to be on a plane seven times a year every year. Like at least overseas once, if not twice, at least up to Sydney or Queensland, multiple times in a year. And I've just not been because of all lockdowns and some other stuff that's gone on. But it was my dream when I put out that book that someone would find it at an airport and that I would see them at the airport seeing that was my ultimate dream.
When you just said that, because I thought on Friday when I go to the airport I was like, I wonder if my book is even at the airport. And then you just said it and I'm like, “Oh my God. It's like my dream has been realized.” Thank you. Because that was when I put the book out because we couldn't launch it, we couldn't go anywhere. I was like, “I'm never going to see somebody at an airport with it.” Thank you for telling me that story. And I just love also that you're so engaged and open to learning. I think that is something that even no matter what acclaim or awards or anything you get to, there's constant interest and hunger for learning. It's such a good trait. On that, because you've you haven't been in business that long, but you've been in business long enough. What are you most proud of from your journey in business so far?
I am proud of creating a thriving business and a beautiful lifestyle. Pretty much my perfect average date. It's the fact that I can go to work. I think it's that dream I want to work without feeling like it's work. And everything I would do, I would do for free. I'm like, this is so much fun. Like I go to a wedding and it's like, this is so much fun. I can't believe I do this. Even like writing a blog post or something. I'm like, “This is awesome.” I guess it's a bit corny, but I love what I do and love learning and improving and putting down goals and reaching them and being like, “Okay, what's next?” When I emailed you about being on this podcast, I had just found a journal entry that I had written in my diary in 2017. Can I read it?
Yes, I would love that.
It says, “Dream at least once a day. Allow yourself the freedom to think and dream. It gets me teary. It says my dream list. I want to work for myself. I want to be excited, inspired, and motivated to work every day. I want to work with creative, passionate people. I want to make $500 a week. I laugh at that now because I would not be able to survive on $500 a week and I want to travel for my job.” And it's like all of these things were a few years ago,
But they've all come true. Isn't that amazing?
Yes, and add a few zeros to the, “I want to make $500 away.”
That's just beautiful and thank you for sharing that because I think that is something, one, I don't think that we look back enough in a positive light. Sometimes I think we look back and like, “I didn't do this, I didn't do that.” But I think that's so nice that you've kept that and also that you can look at it. Because I think that about lots of different things in the business. But also my son, my second son, I was just looking at him last night when he was going to sleep and I was thinking for years I wanted this for years I craved a second child and we had a lot of trouble getting there. But then you get there and then you forget, not forget, I mean I think I'm thankful all the time, but you don't reflect on it sometimes.
Especially when kids are being annoying and everything else and you're like, “Oh my God, my younger self would've died to be in this position and here I am and I'm in it and I'm living it.” And I love that you had put that down and you can tick every single thing. And that you've also cultivated that for yourself. It hasn't just magically come out of nowhere. Like you've done the work, you've worked towards it, and you've had a vision in mind. It's just beautiful. Thank you for sharing that. I love that. It's just beautiful. What is next for you and where can people connect with you if they're reading thinking, “This person needs to shoot my wedding.” Or do you do any milestone birthdays or anything else that people come to you for or you’re solely focused on weddings? If someone's listening and thinking, well I'm not getting married anytime soon, but I think she'd be fabulous for something else.
I do in the off-season winter, if I'm not in Europe shooting weddings, I will shoot family photography. And I also work with commercial clients doing a lot of fashion photography. But mainly weddings, during wedding season.
Wow. And I have to say, when you've talked about just now and you had it on your checklist of travel and you just mentioned, I'm not in Europe necessarily, so are you in Europe shooting mainly Australian people's weddings who are doing destination weddings? Or are you shooting people from Europe's weddings in Europe?
Their destination weddings are from Australia, and the US may be from Europe, but not from, say it's in Italy. They're not Italians getting married, they're British Americans and Australian. It’'s so cool. And the places that it can take me are places that I wouldn't necessarily go to.
How does your partner feel about that? Is he always like, “Can I jump in your suitcase? Can I come too?” Do you try and make it a family?
I do. And I'm like, this would be great. We can get the kids on. My one and a half-year-old and three and a half-year-old, I'm like, “I dream that it'll be amazing and we can rent a little villa in it in the south of France and have an idyllic trip.” And he's like, “No, it will not be fun, why don't you just go, and then we'll see you when you get back.” I have to thank him for being an amazing support person and I wouldn't be able to have the amazing business that I do without his support and that village around because it is not easy with children.
No. And especially wanting to do something like this. I'm sure you are equally as supportive of him as well. Where can people connect with you? What's next for you? Do you have anything coming up that you want to chat about now?
Yes, I'm excited because I'm launching into education for photographers or education for creatives. Creating online courses, products, and different educational pieces that pretty much use what I was trying to find a couple of years ago when I was starting. Now creating those for others. And people started asking if I offered to mentor about a year ago and imposter syndrome. I was like, “No, I've only been in the business for two years, what would you gather from me?” But now I finally, if people are asking, “Okay, let's just brave it and risk it and offer it.” So now I'm offering mentoring, which is so amazing and I just want to help more people. If I can put that into it, I'm asking the same questions as well over and over. If I can put that into online courses and guides and products that people can buy and learn from, then I can help more people as well as still offer my mentoring. I'm excited about that.
That's so exciting. And so is that available now? Can people go to your website?
They can sign up for my newsletter or subscribe to the newsletter and then once I launch things because it's in the very early stages, but this winter is when some things few months away, which is exciting, but working on branding and everything about that now.
That's so exciting.
People can connect with me on Instagram. It's @leileiclaveyphotography and my website's leileiclavey.com.
Amazing. Thank you so much for coming on and what a beautiful chat. I feel like you’re just a lovely soul and it's been enjoyable to chat with you. Thank you so much and sharing so many insights and tips. Well done on all of you've created in such a short amount of time.
Thank you Fiona for having me. It's been great. Bye bye.
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How beautiful is Lei Lei? I just love how vulnerable and real and human she was during the interview and in our chat and being willing to share herself because I know there'll be people listening to this that perhaps think, I would like to try a new career, but I don't have the experience or could I do this when I've got a young family? Is it possible to do this, this, and this and everything that I want to do plus also be a parent? I just think there are so many lessons and insights from that beautiful chat. And I just want to thank Layla again because as I said at the start, when I did that interview with her, I got off the phone just feeling well off the phone, off the computer phone feeling inspired. And I think the longer you get into business, sometimes you don't have those moments of inspiration as much.
I just want to say thank you to Lei Lei for that. I would love to know what you most took away from this and you can always email us at hello@mydailybusinesscoach.com, or you can find us on TikTok My Daily Business, or Instagram, @mydailybusinesscoach. And I'd love to hear from you and I'm sure Lei Lei would as well. If you're interested in connecting with Lei Lei, you can find her great beautiful photos and information about her packages over at leileiclavey.com. And if you want to connect with Lelay on Instagram, all one word, @leileiclaveyphotography, and will link to all of those in the show notes. Two things stood out for me from that conversation.
The first is that I love that Layla talked about taking a minute taking the time to get herself into the right head space and to relax before going into a situation where she needs to lead. I think this is just such a magical thing that we don't do enough of. I know with my coaching clients and in group programs that I run, and even in workshops, I'll often say to people, let's all take 60 seconds and just do a one-minute breath in, breathe out, and be present and let go of whatever we've dealt with before we got to this point in the day. Because everyone does. We're dealing with things all day long. Maybe something's gone wrong this morning and you're rushing around and it's just taking that one minute. It can be as little as one minute to yourself to just breathe, take a minute, remind yourself that the world is not crashing down around you, and be fully present for whatever situation that you're about to go in.
I love that Lei Lei talked about that and you know that she gets to places early so that she can give herself that gift of not feeling rushed and not feeling frantic so that she can show up and be her best self. Because there's there's so much scientific evidence to say that when we're stressed, our brain does not work the same way that it does when we are not stressed. If we can do that to ourselves, just take a few deep breaths, and reset. I think it's the parasympathetic nervous system, maybe I've got that wrong. I'm sure lots of naturopaths and other people will get in touch and say, that's not the system. But you know, reset the nervous system by just having a few deep breaths. It's funny because I do this with my kids. Whenever they're stressed or worried, we'll be like, okay, come on some three deep breaths, we're going to take three deep breaths in and let it out. And yet I think as adults we don't do that enough. I love that Lei Lei talked about that.
The other thing that stood out to me was Lei Lei talking about that perfect average day. I love that concept and I know that she's credited that, but I just think that is such an important reminder that the perfect average day, it's not this perfect day where Parkwood entertainment gets in touch and is like Beyonce wants to work with you. It is a day where some other stuff happens, that's some normal stuff, but that it happens beautifully and it happens in a way that is your perfect average day. I think it's an important thing to think about. What does a perfectly average day mean to you? What does it look like to you? It reminded me later when I was thinking about it, when I started this business, a catalyst for starting this business was I'd had all these conversations and all these different things, but a friend took me to a workshop with her if I'm being honest, I just went because it was free champagne and it was a good chance to catch up with my friend.
But this woman asked us to think about a similar concept, think about a great amazing day, and write it. And I wrote mine and then I thought, I want that life. And I remember the woman saying to me, “That's your decision to have that life or not have that life?” And the things that I wanted in my day were not big. They were having enough time to have a cup of tea, have a hot cup of tea, anyone that's a parent knows that, but more so just have a cup of tea without, like at the place that I was working at that time, I was rushing from meeting to meeting. I didn't have time to eat, I didn't have time to have a cup of tea. I wanted a cup of tea. I wanted time to be able to sit out the front of my house and just look at the birds and take in nature.
I wasn't doing that. I was in a car a lot of the time. I was in a car in the dark going to work in the city, sitting in a big corporate office all day, and getting back in the car when it was dark. And that was my life. I wanted to have more nature. I grew up with nature and I wanted to have that. It was really interesting to think about those things because a huge part of why I enjoy working from home, why I enjoy running my business is literally as I'm recording this, I'm looking out at beautiful bushland. I know I'm incredibly privileged and lucky to live where I live, but you can get that by going for a walk. You can get that by having the freedom to be able to go for a walk in the middle of the day or to get out early in the morning and to get some fresh air and to get that nature, which I wasn't doing at that time.
I think that's something to reflect on and think about yourself. What does a perfectly average day look like for you? That is it for today's episode. I hope you enjoyed it. I enjoyed that Chat with Lei Lei. If you'd like to connect with Lei Lei, you'll find all the links and all the other information over at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast/294. And if you found this enjoyable, why not share it with a friend or leave us a review? It helps other small business owners be able to find this podcast. Thank you so much for reading.
