January 24, 2023 • 34 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Matt (00:00):
Marnie Clagett is a hot mess.
(00:01):
She's more than a little scatterbrain is a complete geek, and
her greatest nemesis is herGoogle Calendar.
In 2009, she started what wasmeant to be a part-time
photography business.
One year later, she was worn outin struggling, running a
full-time studio with hundredsof.
A ridiculous schedule and only$10,000 in the bank to show for
it.
(00:22):
So she made a few big scarychanges, took control of her
business, and today runs astudio which not only supports
her family of four, but alsoallows her to give back to her
hometown and her photographycommunity in ways she never
dreamed possible.
She believes with every bit ofher dorky little heart, if this
hot mess can find success of allkinds in her studio, anyone can
(00:42):
and loves to prove that byhelping other photographers
achieve their own goals forimproving their business and
their lives.
Marnie, welcome.
Marnie (00:51):
Thanks, Matt.
I'm excited to be here.
Matt (00:53):
Excited to have you.
So we know you're aphotographer.
What type of photography do youdo and who are your main
clients?
Marnie (01:01):
Ah, I am in a very small town in the middle of Kentucky.
So for me, I'm not one of thosepeople who can, can niche.
I do a little bit of everything,so primarily families and high
school seniors.
But then we throw in some headshots in there, We are finally
phasing out weddings.
Like that's one that I have, Iam letting go of.
I did my official last weddingin the fall of this past year.
(01:25):
And then of course, I've alreadybooked one for this year because
they're clients that I've hadforever and I love them.
Matt (01:30):
So what will be your favorite part about not
photographing weddings anymore?
Marnie (01:35):
Ooh.
Not feeling like I am completelyhungover the next day without
ever having a single drink thenight before.
That's really the, the thing I'mlooking most forward to.
Matt (01:45):
Fun stuff as you get older and the recovery time I
photographed, yeah, I secondshot a couple of weddings and it
wiped me out and I wasn't even,I didn't even think I was
working that hard, but I thinkit might be a little bit of
mental stress as well as thephysical just running around.
making sure you don't missanything cuz there's not a lot
of chance to redo those type ofthings.
(02:06):
So how many high school seniorsare you photographing a year?
And do you have any type of likea model program or anything?
If so, what do you call it?
Marnie (02:15):
Yeah, so we we're very, very, very low volume here.
So I photograph about 20 seniorsa.
And we do have what we call wecall it our how do we put it?
It's our model, seniorexperience as opposed to a
senior model experience.
Because we are looking for kidsthat wanna make a difference in
their community.
That's a really big deal to me.
(02:37):
Several years ago we had whatfor your photo.
Folks that are listening wouldrecognize as kind of a
traditional model where we,brought kids in.
We, we just looked for whoeverwanted to be a a model.
That was our thing.
Do you wanna be a model?
Come be a part of our modelprogram.
And I noticed one year inparticular that the kids I was
getting were Not kids that Iconnected with.
(02:59):
And they were really excitedabout the idea of kind of being,
you know, social media famous.
But that was really it.
And I just was, I, I left thatyear kind of, to make a long
story short, feeling like I'm,I'm never gonna do a bottle
program again.
Like, I'm done with that.
It's not, it's not.
And so that same year after thatI started making some big
(03:21):
changes to our business becauseI realized it's my business and
I should get to run it the way Iwanna run it.
Matt (03:27):
Funny how that works.
Huh?
Marnie (03:28):
It's crazy, isn't it?
Why did it take me so long tofigure that out?
So I decided that I was going toincorporate Charitable marketing
basically into my entirebusiness that everything was
gonna be based on that on givingback to our community.
And so I came up to, you know,senior model season and kind of
come and gone.
It was, you know, March, whichis like the wrong time to try to
(03:51):
start a model program.
But I was like, what if I didthis new?
So this new kind of model thatI, but base that I have for my,
my studio, what if Iincorporated that into a senior
model program?
And so as like this weird lastditch effort.
I decided, I was gonna say toour community, we're looking for
kids who wanna make adifference.
(04:12):
We're looking for kids who wannavolunteer their time you know,
serving at Feeding America andserving foods at our local
homeless shelter type thing.
That's what we were looking for.
we said you have to do yoursenior pictures with us That's
gonna be a, a priority.
But we're just gonna basicallyspend the year together serving.
And I got more responses, moreapplications filled out within
(04:35):
48 hours than I'd ever gottenfor an a, a model program
before.
So we realized this is, we'reonto something.
They're actually kids who wantto make a difference and are
looking for ways to do that.
So that's the type of program wehave now.
And it's amazing.
I spend so much time talkingabout my kids, so you're gonna
have to cut me off here in aminute cuz I'll start telling
(04:56):
you stories.
Because they are the mostamazing humans.
And they, they, they're doinghuge, huge things.
And small things that make a bigdifference.
Matt (05:06):
Okay, so rather than cut you off, can you share some of
the stories that your team haveshared with you about their
experiences and any specialstories that have impacted you
along this journey?
Marnie (05:18):
okay, so my favorite my favorite person to pull out is
one of the kids whose mom signedthem up.
And I'm okay with that.
Most of our kids sign upthemselves, but sometimes mom
signs a kid up.
And I just, you know, we we'regood.
We're good with that.
But mom signed him up and hecame in and his name is Preston.
And Preston is beautiful.
It's a podcast not a, not avideo, so I can't show you
(05:40):
pictures of Preston, but Prestonis gorgeous.
He belongs on the cover of amagazine.
We have a, a album of his.
Here in the studio, and I oncehad this woman who is 85 in
here, And she, she saw his albumand she picked him up and she's
like, oh, he's yummy, isn't he?
And I was like, oh, I don'tthink we're supposed to be able
to say that the high school boyis yummy.
But yeah, he's, he's gorgeous,long, beautiful hair.
(06:02):
He's got, the kid has got hairthat most women are, are dying
for.
Just cannot stress how prettythis boy is.
So we have this big event thatwe do every year for our model
team.
We call it the big model eventcuz I'm not creative in the
naming process.
And we basically, it's like abig huge scavenger hunt that the
kids go on downtown where theymake goofy videos and they take
(06:24):
pictures of themselves doingstupid things that make me
laugh.
And they do acts of kindness forother people.
So they go and sweep stores andbuy people coffee and stuff like
that.
It is a huge hit.
The kids love it every year.
Well, Preston's second they getkids to do it twice.
So their junior year and theirsenior year, his senior year, he
comes in, he's like, Marni, I'mso sorry, but I'm gonna be late
(06:46):
to the big model event cuz I'mgonna be at St.
Baldrick's.
And I was like, oh, cool, you'revolunteering at St.
Baldrick's.
Which is where they shave theirheads for kids with cancer.
I said, are you like checkingpeople in?
Are you shaving people?
He's like, no, I'm getting myhead.
This boy with his, you know,past his shoulder length hair.
(07:06):
He's shaving his head to raisemoney for kids with cancer.
And so I was completely floored.
I was like, okay, so I'm sendingthe kids off.
I sent our model team off.
I ran down to where they wereshaving his head and got in line
behind him and took pictures ofhim getting his head shaved
because that was, it was such ahuge deal.
(07:27):
For him.
And the whole time he wasstanding in line, he had no idea
he was doing it.
He kept running his handsthrough his hair over and over
on the way to, to getting itshaped off.
But he did it and he was youknow, still gorgeous.
Good heavens.
But it was those kind of kidsthat are gonna give up something
of themselves for other peoplethat just does my heart good.
(07:47):
It was a little thing, but ahuge thing.
And yeah, they make me happy.
Matt (07:53):
The younger kids today, they get such a bad rap and our
generation's the ones that'sraising them.
So I don't know what we'recomplaining.
About, but there are so manykids, so many younger people.
I call pretty much everybodyunder 40 a kid now.
Marnie (08:07):
Yeah, me too.
Matt (08:08):
but there, there's so many younger people today that give
me so much hope that.
We're gonna be okay in thefuture regardless of all the
stuff that may be going on inthe world that I like or don't
like just hearing these storiesabout, kids like Preston and
especially as much focus thatsociety places on physical
appearance these days that, anychange like that could be.
(08:34):
Whatever type of detrimental tohim or to, to his image or to
his brand, but the fact that hehad something, it, it's kind of
something like I do with, withso many angels.
I found I think what I am, whatGod put me here on earth for,
and I might not even know if I'mthe right person to do that, but
(08:55):
I feel chosen, so I'm gonna dowhat I can best.
and just to keep meeting peoplelike yourself and Preston and, I
feel so lucky and blessed to beable to do what I do.
Leading into more things you dowith photography, tell me a
little bit about your Christmasin July event.
Marnie (09:15):
Hmm.
Okay.
So Matt, I am a huge fan of elfthe movie And I, even before
that, that movie came out.
I have always been, I wasactually An elf on a children's
theater tour when I was pregnantwith my first kid it was the
most fun I've ever had on stagein my life.
So it, the elf thing has alwayskind of been there in the back
(09:36):
of my head, and in late 2019, Igot this big idea that it would
be so much.
To do a fundraiser where weshowed the movie Elf, but we did
it Rocky Horror Picture ShowStyle.
So everybody could come, theycould, you know, dress up in
their winter stuff, theirChristmas PJs and all that kind
of thing.
And then, We would just do themovie.
(09:59):
So we'd show the movie, wewould, you know, throw
marshmallows.
We'd have, you know, thesnowball fight.
We would sing along, we wouldsay our favorite lines.
It made me so happy.
So I called the movie theater.
We got it booked, and then 2020hit and I got foot off.
And the next year the thetheater that I had scheduled
(10:19):
everything with completelychanged all their policies.
And so we couldn't actually dothe fundraiser the way that we
wanted to do the fundraiser.
So we had to try to find a newplace.
We did we found an amazingtheater here in town that's
just, they have the biggestheart and no one knows.
All the good things that ifyou're in eTown, Kentucky, crown
Point Theater, these guys areridiculous.
(10:41):
They give more back to ourcommunity than anybody knows.
So he was like, yeah, let's doit.
That sounds great.
So we decided to do it in Julybecause I didn't wanna wait
until Christmas time, So wedecorated the theater, we sold
tickets.
And folks came.
It wasn't as many people as wewere hoping, cuz I managed to
book it on the same weekend asevery vacation bible school in
(11:04):
town and everyone else was outof town.
So it was a little bit lowerthan we expected, but we learned
a lot.
it was the best thing in theworld was to sit in the back of
that theater during the secondshow.
And I watched it with my sonwho's, I mean, he's 20, but he's
my boy and you know, the two ofus sitting in the.
Singing at the top of our lungs,saying our little lines,
(11:25):
throwing snowballs at each otherand just having a good time.
And it was amazing to see thesepeople who showed up in July in
Kentucky with all of our heatand humidity in their Christmas
sweaters, and everybody thatwalked in, just huge smiles on
their faces as they were soexcited that they were doing
something fun and that they weregonna make a.
So all the money that wecollected for, that we gave to
(11:48):
an organization in town who welove because their whole
existence is just to providemoney.
To fund other nonprofits.
And that's right there in myheart.
Like that just makes me happythat they're supporting others.
So give Two Seven now is thename of, of the organization.
And we waited cuz we weren'treally sure.
They were like, you know, wewant you to be in, on, you know,
(12:09):
what we end up donating this toand.
We got to the end of the year,and it turned out there was an,
there's an organization in townour, our Helping Hand that does
a, they call it AffordableChristmas.
So they have things for familiesto come in to shop for, for toys
and clothes and things for thekids for Christmas.
We knew exactly that's where itneeded to go, so we made sure
(12:30):
we, we cut them a check and sothat they could have, you know,
a little bit more to give tofolks at a time.
Just, you know, where peoplejust need a little extra joy.
Matt (12:39):
That's beautiful.
So have you seen any otherbusinesses around town doing
things that inspired you tomaybe do something different or
try something new or as far asgiving or serving others?
Marnie (12:53):
There are, yeah, there's actually I have a couple friends
who own a little boutiqueclothing store downtown and they
are really big every year ontrying to put together back to
school supplies for kids.
And it's just, they're just twoladies.
They're sisters, they're awesomehumans.
And it's just the two of them.
(13:14):
And they put together so manybackpacks full of supplies for
kids every year.
It is ridiculous.
And I think seeing that kind ofthing around me makes it seem
like, well, you know, it's justme.
I'm just one person.
I'm a tiny little low volumestudio here in the middle of, of
Kentucky.
(13:35):
And that kind of thing justsays, oh no, I can make a
difference too.
So it has definitely helped meseeing things like, like them as
helped me to say, yeah, itsounds pretty crazy to say that
one.
Is gonna put together a hugefundraiser to try to raise, you
(13:55):
know, thousands and thousands ofdollars and, is that gonna be
possible?
I don't know, it seems a littlecrazy, but when you see other
people doing it successfully, itmakes you understand that it's
possible.
It just takes a little bit ofthinking and a little bit of
planning and a little bit ofpraying And.
that tends to work.
Matt (14:14):
Yeah.
And just like you, you'rewatching them.
You don't know who's watchingyou and you might never know who
you're impacting with things.
We're both about to head theimaging and people will come up
to you there and they'll come upto me there and say, you know,
I've been watching you do thisor that.
It's like, wow, thanks forsaying that.
And they might have never, youmight not be friends on
(14:36):
Facebook, you might have nevercome across them before, they
want to let you know that you'redoing good stuff.
And it gives you, I like to talkabout the dose that D o s e
dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin,and endorphins, and it just hits
and it becomes addicting and youjust, okay, where can I get my,
for lack of a better term, wherecan I get my next high from
(14:59):
giving?
And gets to where you just wantto keep doing it that's why it's
sometimes easier.
For me to give than receivebecause it's just, I, I love
doing that stuff.
You know those two ladies withthe backpacks, there's more than
you just watching them.
The whole community's watchingthem.
And what I picture withsomething like that is in 10
(15:21):
years when one of those kidsthat got that backpack, they
start something like that,wherever they're living at that
time, and those ladies may neversee the ripples that they've
helped create.
Marnie (15:33):
Yeah.
Matt (15:34):
So when you're teaching you teach photography and
business when you're teachingand you see that light bulb go
off in somebody's head orsomebody's eyes and they get
what you're teaching, how good afeeling is that?
And do you have any storiesabout that?
Marnie (15:49):
Oh yeah, it's the best thing in the world.
I think it's, it's easy when weteach to focus on the people
that don't get it sometimes, andwhen you realize, ah, you know,
they hear it and they're notgonna do anything about it.
And they're just gonna keepstruggling and suffering in
their businesses and that'shorrible to think about.
So yeah, those wins are, are bigand, and, and keep you kind of
(16:13):
going on cuz nobody gets intophotography education cause they
think they're gonna make moneyat it.
Like that's not that is not whywe do this.
So yeah, I have I have a womanthat I mentor who is just the
sweetest thing.
And when we started.
It was kind of painful as wewere going through all of the
things that we needed to gothrough.
She's like, she was working onstarting a senior program and
(16:34):
she was working on trying todevelop her families a little
bit bigger, but she also hadthis whole travel photography
thing that she did.
and she had a, a little blogthat she had started several
years back and that kind ofthing, but she was trying to
build the seniors and familiesand the more that we talked and
the more that we workedtogether, the more that we were
going through this.
I finally looked at her and Isaid, you know, Sandra, I don't
(16:58):
know that this is really whatyou need to be doing.
The only thing that you seem tobe really excited about is the
travel photography, and it seemsto get in the way of all these
other things that you say youthink you wanna do.
And so we worked through thattogether and now, She is killing
it.
Doing this travel photography,her blog it's getting really
(17:22):
good results and she's seeing,you know, finally seeing some
income coming in off thosethings.
And to see her excitement andher joy when we talk is a
completely new.
it's no longer frustration.
It's no longer feeling likeshe's banging her head against
the wall.
She's actually, finding ways todo what she loves and have a, a
(17:44):
profit off of it.
You know, she's not juststruggling and not, spinning her
wheels and not seeing anythinghappen.
And that's been justridiculously rewarding.
And now she is actually startingto teach about what she knows
and loves.
And that's been fun to see too.
So she's giving.
Now.
And yeah, that's, and that'shugely, hugely rewarding.
I mean, how could it not be,
Matt (18:05):
Yeah.
It, it really is.
It's, I see people,photographers talking about how,
how busy they are, they're up at3:00 AM and.
They're editing and this andthat and they're not as
profitable as they could be.
And I see, usually it's, it's inperson, but I'll comment online
as well.
When they say they burned out,they, they're, they're just
(18:27):
tired of what they're doing.
And I will ask, and I'll like toask this in person cuz I can see
the reaction.
I will ask them, when's the lasttime you photographed something
for you?
And I see the blank staresometimes and the lack of a
quick response, you're notanswering right away.
You know, maybe try somethingthat's for you.
And is there a way to make whatyour favorite thing to
(18:50):
photograph?
Is there a way to make that abusiness or make money off of
that?
And there's gotta be, I mean,there's people making, making
videos of eating food.
You know, there's, there's a wayto monetize pretty much
everything these days, whichkind of gets me sidetracked
sometimes.
And I'll go off on a little,side hustle adventure and come
(19:10):
back a week later and say, well,that was a waste of a week, but
sometimes I will learn things.
Yeah.
sometimes I'm trying to get workwiser and not, not harder, work
smarter and it's a challengesometimes because life happens,
but at the same time it's funlearning new things and learning
what works and.
What you can refine to the wayyour processes work a little
(19:33):
bit.
So I've got a question lookingthrough your Facebook feed, and
now I will say, not stalking,but researching, which is cooler
meeting Santa Claus or meeting adog.
Marnie (19:45):
Oh gosh, that's not a fair question at all.
Okay, so I'll have to say I'vemet my fair share of Santas.
And I, I might rather read adog.
I, there's, okay.
My daughter is a big animallover and I have always loved
him, but not the way she lovesthem.
Mm-hmm.
And so the more I am around herand her just absolute.
(20:09):
Obsession over every creaturethat crosses her path, the more
I love them too.
So we have, we have cats.
We have too many cats because mydaughter's obsessed with
animals.
So we have three, but we have afamily of five cats that's been
visiting our backyard.
And you would think that, youknow, I don't even, can't even
(20:29):
say who it is, like, you know,the, I don't even know.
Somebody huge and big and famouswas in our backyard.
Every time these cats comevisit, because she has to go and
sit by the back window and talkto every one of them like
they're her baby.
So yeah, I would have to saythat the dogs would win out.
They're, they're getting nearerand dear to my heart every
(20:49):
single day.
Matt (20:50):
Now hear ya.
If you could go back and giveyour 18 year old self one.
Of advice, what would it be?
Marnie (20:58):
Oh, wow.
Gosh, Matt, that's hard.
I guess I would probably tell 18year old me not to hold onto
things too tightly that it's,there's something really freeing
about knowing that everything isgonna be okay, like if
(21:19):
everything, it doesn't matterwhat.
I have what I lose.
Everything is still gonna befine.
I could let this photographystudio go tomorrow.
Mm-hmm.
and everything will be fine.
And you know, there are peoplethat come and go from our lives
and that's, it is okay to nothave those same people in our
lives every single day.
And I, I just wish that, thatI've been, yeah, that I knew
(21:42):
that then that it'd be okay tonot, to not worry about that.
Yeah.
And then, and to trust myselfmore.
Yeah.
I think that's a big piece too.
I'm still telling myself that
Matt (21:53):
every
Marnie (21:54):
we're telling 49 year old Marni that too.
Matt (21:56):
every single day.
So does 49 year old Marni have amorning routine, and if so, what
does it look like?
Marnie (22:04):
Oh yeah, I do on, on days that work the way they're
supposed to.
I get up and I stumble my waydown the stairs to my treadmill
and I watch TV for half an hourwhile I work out on my treadmill
And then let's see, and then Ishower.
I grab something to eat on myway to work and then I'm in the
(22:25):
office hitting the groundrunning.
Matt (22:28):
Who are some people in the photography industry that have
influenced your work or yourbusiness?
Marnie (22:34):
Oh.
So I don't know how many folksknow her, but she is been one of
the biggest influences is awoman named Angela Kirky, and
she used to be the.
Education director for PPA andAngela.
Was huge in helping me, not justto get some business things
fixed on the business side of mybusiness, but also in helping me
(22:57):
get started doing moreeducation.
She was really, reallysupportive.
And I might have, I might havecried a little when she told me
she was retiring from P ppa.
So Angela, definitely, Mary FiskTaylor was huge in helping me
to.
Take the leap to finally raisemy prices to what they really,
really, really needed to be, notjust what I thought I could get
(23:17):
away with.
And then Ronan Ryle 3XM Ronanhas been a huge influence over
the past couple of years justbecause that man has the biggest
heart for photographers that Ithink I've ever seen.
And he I know that he's, youknow, he's a marketing genius
and, you know, you could easilybe cynical and chart, you know,
kind of chalk all of him up tojust being really good at
(23:40):
marketing.
But Ronan genuinely believesthat photographers make a big
impact on our world.
and he does everything he can tohelp photographers have thriving
businesses so they can continueto do that.
And that has been just a hugeinspiration for me to kind of
(24:02):
keep going.
When, you know, education startsto take over and I'm not getting
as much business stuff as Ishould get done because I'm
spending too much time on theeducation side.
Matt (24:10):
With Angela, Mary and Ronan, I.
Each of those people, becausethe people that they have helped
and the people that they havehelped have gone on to help
other people just in businessand photography, serving
families and, and individualswith their photos amazing
experiences and, people in thephotography community that don't
(24:31):
get a lot of credit.
Are out there as well, it's justnice to be able to put faces to
names and we get to do that inimaging.
So that's kind of exciting tosee a bunch of people I haven't
seen for three years What is onequestion that you wish I'd asked
you and how would you haveanswered it?
Marnie (24:50):
Holy moly, Matt.
you're like laughing evilly overthere.
I can see it.
Let's see.
See, you did a good job.
I'm trying to think if there'sanything else.
Oh, you know what?
Yeah, I could, I could say, Iwould always, I'll always use an
excuse to brag on my kids.
So maybe, yeah.
To, for me to tell you a littlebit about my, my people.
My boy is Jonas and he is 20.
(25:13):
He is studying to be a comicartist right now.
And that child has.
Very severe.
A D H D, anxiety disorder, O cD.
And he, he struggled a lot as akid and he might be one of my
biggest inspirations on in,yeah, in this world.
(25:34):
He has always been the kindestsoul of anyone I've ever known.
I've learned more from that kidthan I swear I've learned from
anyone else in my life.
And to see the way that he hasovercome all the things that
were so stacked against him.
And to be the really cool humanbeing that he is.
(25:54):
Just astounds me every day.
And then my daughter is Lily andshe's just again, she's right
there with Jonas.
They're, they're very coolpeople.
They have been very kind to meas teenagers.
she's 18 or turns 18, the end ofthe month.
And I hear daily with, you know,being a senior photographer, I
hear all the time about how, youknow, I'm about to kill him.
I can't wait for him to get outof the house.
(26:15):
And I'm like, I love.
My kids, my kids are reallyridiculously cool people, and so
I just sort of nod my head andgo, yeah, they're really rough,
aren't they?
Yeah, they're, they're hard.
I'm like, oh, might have beenreally, really sweet to me.
Matt (26:27):
Yeah.
I have no idea what you'retalking about.
Yeah,
Marnie (26:29):
really don't, I'm like, maybe they're gonna go through a
phase when they're in their, youknow, mid twenties where they
hate me, but for now we're justgonna go with it.
Matt (26:37):
So usually I would ask, what are you grateful for?
But I will say, what else areyou grateful for?
Marnie (26:42):
Hmm.
I'm grateful for everybody who'sever trusted me to help them
with their businesses.
That's a big thing.
I'm grateful for this studio andfor just the freedom that it's
bought brought to my family formy husband to be able to leave a
job that was killing him.
And for this to be able tosupport us is, is a huge, huge
(27:03):
thing.
So I'm grateful for that.
I'm grateful for the people whohave.
Poured into me and helped me tolearn how to do this.
And I'm, and I'm grateful forbeing aware that I don't know it
all and that I need helpconstantly.
And so yeah, I'm grateful thatGod gave me the good sense to
listen to people who are smarterthan me.
Matt (27:24):
So when you do listen to those people who are smarter
than you how.
Times Do they have to tell yousomething for you to take action
on it?
How many times do they have toput into you to make you think,
you know what, maybe they arenot wrong.
Maybe I need to start listeningto these other people.
Does that ever happen?
Marnie (27:46):
Oh, it's totally first time.
I am, I am really good at beingaware of where my shortfalls
are, So yeah, so if I've gotsomething that's not working and
someone else, who has beensuccessful and is proven and
that I trust says maybe you needto think about this.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna think aboutit and I'm gonna make some
changes.
Matt (28:05):
So what if it's not a shortfall?
What if they're pushingpositivity on you?
Is it more of a situation wherethere's a thousand good comments
and likes on that photo, but oneperson says, you know, her ear
is not lit properly.
Are you focusing on the one orare you focusing on a thousand?
And if it's a thousand, can youhelp me help others focus on
(28:26):
that thousand?
Marnie (28:28):
Yeah, no, I am right there with you.
I will focus on that one person.
That was, yeah, I, we got our,I, I spoke at imaging.
During our, our stay at homeimaging so I, a virtual one and
the feed, the one there were, Idon't know, I ignored them.
I ignored all of the beautiful,like very sweet things that
(28:50):
people said.
And the one that I focused onwas this was person who pointed
out something that I had, like,spoke like off the top of my
head during a Q and a and I waslike, oh, yes, I shouldn't have
said that.
That was the worst.
That was.
and that's what I remember So,you know, I've, I have learned
that about myself.
I know that I'll do that becauseit's, it is hard for me to take
(29:14):
praise.
That's just, that is a, I'mworking on it.
You know, we're, I'm almost 50.
I'm not quite done yet.
Right.
But I will try to take thosethings, those pieces, the
negative things that I hear andthink about them.
Think about them rationally,see, what can I do to fix that
next time?
And bring that in.
And just, you know, not, let,not, you know, I do my best to
(29:36):
not beat myself up over them,but instead kind of turn it
around and say, okay, I'm gonnafix that.
So yeah, being aware is hard,but I think it's, yeah, that
self-awareness is, is important.
Matt (29:48):
If you were not a photographer, which occupation
would you like to?
Marnie (29:53):
How Well my previous life before I was a photographer
I was in the the theaterindustry.
That was my, my first job.
But I don't know that I would goback to that.
So I would tell you, okay, Ihave two, and this is gonna
sound silly and I don't mean itto be a slight or to make it
sound like I'm just beingfluffy, but for real.
Volunteered at a McDonald's towork a cash register for a
(30:17):
fundraiser.
It may have been the most funnight of my life.
I had a ball doing that.
I'm sure if I did it every dayand I had people complaining
about me about, you know, myfries weren't salted enough or
something, I would be over itreally fast.
But, That one night, man.
I was like, I could, I'm gonnaretire and I'm gonna work at
McDonald's and it's gonna begreat.
And the other thing is I got tophotograph.
We were doing a, there was ahouse that was being restored
(30:39):
here in an 18 hundreds home, andpart of it, they had to demolish
this.
Greenhouse that was attached tothe house and I swore after that
what I'm gonna do when I get outof photography.
I am going to run a demolitionservice because that was the
most fun.
I think.
I'm like, now I know why littleboys get excited about playing
(31:01):
with, you know, trucks anddestroying.
It looked, it was so much funwatching them take that thing
apart.
So I think that might be it.
Maybe I'm gonna go intodemolition.
Matt (31:11):
I remember this is how much of an impact this made on
me, and I'm not sure what thatsays.
Back in junior high I think itwas during a fund.
Or play day or something.
There was an old car there, likea when I was in junior high.
It wasn't that old.
I guess it was a late, latesixties, early seventies car,
and you got to take a whack atit for.
(31:33):
Like a buck or two with thesledgehammer, or you could get
three wax for 10 bucks orsomething.
And it was, they had a line, Idon't know how long the line
was, but you had to wait and itwas just, you know, the
destruction part of thing.
I don't even know if that wouldbe allowable today, but if there
are any McDonald's franchiseowners, I have an idea from,
from what you said, make one ofthe register.
(31:56):
And it would have to be avolunteer thing, have a
different charity come in everyday, and make it very clear that
if you go to that register forthat day or for that time
period, that a portion of thoseproceeds or all of the proceeds
or, or whatever for that day orthat time period would go to
that charity.
pretty sure there's a little redtape in there with corporate,
(32:17):
but maybe corporate.
Or maybe it, it's any day thatit's not Ronald McDonald
Charity.
You have one a month, one amonth, or one a week for another
local charity.
So I like that idea, but I'm notgoing to do anything with it cuz
there are too many other ideasin my noggin.
So the last question is, wherecan we find you online?
Marnie (32:38):
I'm on, I'm, I'm a little old school, right?
So I'm on Facebook at ClagettPhotography and Marnie Claggett.
I'm on Instagram at, I thinkit's, let's see, Marnie321 or
Clagett Photography and I don'tknow.
Where else am I?
Out of on I guess that'sprobably it.
Yeah.
Or my website, you know, thosekind of things.
Matt (32:56):
We will look for you.
Thank you so much again for yourtime today, and I will see you.
Marnie (33:02):
Thanks Matt.
See you soon.
Marnie Clagett is a hot mess.
(00:01):
She's more than a little scatterbrain is a complete geek, and
her greatest nemesis is herGoogle Calendar.
In 2009, she started what wasmeant to be a part-time
photography business.
One year later, she was worn outin struggling, running a
full-time studio with hundredsof.
A ridiculous schedule and only$10,000 in the bank to show for
it.
(00:22):
So she made a few big scarychanges, took control of her
business, and today runs astudio which not only supports
her family of four, but alsoallows her to give back to her
hometown and her photographycommunity in ways she never
dreamed possible.
She believes with every bit ofher dorky little heart, if this
hot mess can find success of allkinds in her studio, anyone can
(00:42):
and loves to prove that byhelping other photographers
achieve their own goals forimproving their business and
their lives.
Marnie, welcome.
Marnie (00:51):
Thanks, Matt.
I'm excited to be here.
Matt (00:53):
Excited to have you.
So we know you're aphotographer.
What type of photography do youdo and who are your main
clients?
Marnie (01:01):
Ah, I am in a very small town in the middle of Kentucky.
So for me, I'm not one of thosepeople who can, can niche.
I do a little bit of everything,so primarily families and high
school seniors.
But then we throw in some headshots in there, We are finally
phasing out weddings.
Like that's one that I have, Iam letting go of.
I did my official last weddingin the fall of this past year.
(01:25):
And then of course, I've alreadybooked one for this year because
they're clients that I've hadforever and I love them.
Matt (01:30):
So what will be your favorite part about not
photographing weddings anymore?
Marnie (01:35):
Ooh.
Not feeling like I am completelyhungover the next day without
ever having a single drink thenight before.
That's really the, the thing I'mlooking most forward to.
Matt (01:45):
Fun stuff as you get older and the recovery time I
photographed, yeah, I secondshot a couple of weddings and it
wiped me out and I wasn't even,I didn't even think I was
working that hard, but I thinkit might be a little bit of
mental stress as well as thephysical just running around.
making sure you don't missanything cuz there's not a lot
of chance to redo those type ofthings.
(02:06):
So how many high school seniorsare you photographing a year?
And do you have any type of likea model program or anything?
If so, what do you call it?
Marnie (02:15):
Yeah, so we we're very, very, very low volume here.
So I photograph about 20 seniorsa.
And we do have what we call wecall it our how do we put it?
It's our model, seniorexperience as opposed to a
senior model experience.
Because we are looking for kidsthat wanna make a difference in
their community.
That's a really big deal to me.
(02:37):
Several years ago we had whatfor your photo.
Folks that are listening wouldrecognize as kind of a
traditional model where we,brought kids in.
We, we just looked for whoeverwanted to be a a model.
That was our thing.
Do you wanna be a model?
Come be a part of our modelprogram.
And I noticed one year inparticular that the kids I was
getting were Not kids that Iconnected with.
(02:59):
And they were really excitedabout the idea of kind of being,
you know, social media famous.
But that was really it.
And I just was, I, I left thatyear kind of, to make a long
story short, feeling like I'm,I'm never gonna do a bottle
program again.
Like, I'm done with that.
It's not, it's not.
And so that same year after thatI started making some big
(03:21):
changes to our business becauseI realized it's my business and
I should get to run it the way Iwanna run it.
Matt (03:27):
Funny how that works.
Huh?
Marnie (03:28):
It's crazy, isn't it?
Why did it take me so long tofigure that out?
So I decided that I was going toincorporate Charitable marketing
basically into my entirebusiness that everything was
gonna be based on that on givingback to our community.
And so I came up to, you know,senior model season and kind of
come and gone.
It was, you know, March, whichis like the wrong time to try to
(03:51):
start a model program.
But I was like, what if I didthis new?
So this new kind of model thatI, but base that I have for my,
my studio, what if Iincorporated that into a senior
model program?
And so as like this weird lastditch effort.
I decided, I was gonna say toour community, we're looking for
kids who wanna make adifference.
(04:12):
We're looking for kids who wannavolunteer their time you know,
serving at Feeding America andserving foods at our local
homeless shelter type thing.
That's what we were looking for.
we said you have to do yoursenior pictures with us That's
gonna be a, a priority.
But we're just gonna basicallyspend the year together serving.
And I got more responses, moreapplications filled out within
(04:35):
48 hours than I'd ever gottenfor an a, a model program
before.
So we realized this is, we'reonto something.
They're actually kids who wantto make a difference and are
looking for ways to do that.
So that's the type of program wehave now.
And it's amazing.
I spend so much time talkingabout my kids, so you're gonna
have to cut me off here in aminute cuz I'll start telling
(04:56):
you stories.
Because they are the mostamazing humans.
And they, they, they're doinghuge, huge things.
And small things that make a bigdifference.
Matt (05:06):
Okay, so rather than cut you off, can you share some of
the stories that your team haveshared with you about their
experiences and any specialstories that have impacted you
along this journey?
Marnie (05:18):
okay, so my favorite my favorite person to pull out is
one of the kids whose mom signedthem up.
And I'm okay with that.
Most of our kids sign upthemselves, but sometimes mom
signs a kid up.
And I just, you know, we we'regood.
We're good with that.
But mom signed him up and hecame in and his name is Preston.
And Preston is beautiful.
It's a podcast not a, not avideo, so I can't show you
(05:40):
pictures of Preston, but Prestonis gorgeous.
He belongs on the cover of amagazine.
We have a, a album of his.
Here in the studio, and I oncehad this woman who is 85 in
here, And she, she saw his albumand she picked him up and she's
like, oh, he's yummy, isn't he?
And I was like, oh, I don'tthink we're supposed to be able
to say that the high school boyis yummy.
But yeah, he's, he's gorgeous,long, beautiful hair.
(06:02):
He's got, the kid has got hairthat most women are, are dying
for.
Just cannot stress how prettythis boy is.
So we have this big event thatwe do every year for our model
team.
We call it the big model eventcuz I'm not creative in the
naming process.
And we basically, it's like abig huge scavenger hunt that the
kids go on downtown where theymake goofy videos and they take
(06:24):
pictures of themselves doingstupid things that make me
laugh.
And they do acts of kindness forother people.
So they go and sweep stores andbuy people coffee and stuff like
that.
It is a huge hit.
The kids love it every year.
Well, Preston's second they getkids to do it twice.
So their junior year and theirsenior year, his senior year, he
comes in, he's like, Marni, I'mso sorry, but I'm gonna be late
(06:46):
to the big model event cuz I'mgonna be at St.
Baldrick's.
And I was like, oh, cool, you'revolunteering at St.
Baldrick's.
Which is where they shave theirheads for kids with cancer.
I said, are you like checkingpeople in?
Are you shaving people?
He's like, no, I'm getting myhead.
This boy with his, you know,past his shoulder length hair.
(07:06):
He's shaving his head to raisemoney for kids with cancer.
And so I was completely floored.
I was like, okay, so I'm sendingthe kids off.
I sent our model team off.
I ran down to where they wereshaving his head and got in line
behind him and took pictures ofhim getting his head shaved
because that was, it was such ahuge deal.
(07:27):
For him.
And the whole time he wasstanding in line, he had no idea
he was doing it.
He kept running his handsthrough his hair over and over
on the way to, to getting itshaped off.
But he did it and he was youknow, still gorgeous.
Good heavens.
But it was those kind of kidsthat are gonna give up something
of themselves for other peoplethat just does my heart good.
(07:47):
It was a little thing, but ahuge thing.
And yeah, they make me happy.
Matt (07:53):
The younger kids today, they get such a bad rap and our
generation's the ones that'sraising them.
So I don't know what we'recomplaining.
About, but there are so manykids, so many younger people.
I call pretty much everybodyunder 40 a kid now.
Marnie (08:07):
Yeah, me too.
Matt (08:08):
but there, there's so many younger people today that give
me so much hope that.
We're gonna be okay in thefuture regardless of all the
stuff that may be going on inthe world that I like or don't
like just hearing these storiesabout, kids like Preston and
especially as much focus thatsociety places on physical
appearance these days that, anychange like that could be.
(08:34):
Whatever type of detrimental tohim or to, to his image or to
his brand, but the fact that hehad something, it, it's kind of
something like I do with, withso many angels.
I found I think what I am, whatGod put me here on earth for,
and I might not even know if I'mthe right person to do that, but
(08:55):
I feel chosen, so I'm gonna dowhat I can best.
and just to keep meeting peoplelike yourself and Preston and, I
feel so lucky and blessed to beable to do what I do.
Leading into more things you dowith photography, tell me a
little bit about your Christmasin July event.
Marnie (09:15):
Hmm.
Okay.
So Matt, I am a huge fan of elfthe movie And I, even before
that, that movie came out.
I have always been, I wasactually An elf on a children's
theater tour when I was pregnantwith my first kid it was the
most fun I've ever had on stagein my life.
So it, the elf thing has alwayskind of been there in the back
(09:36):
of my head, and in late 2019, Igot this big idea that it would
be so much.
To do a fundraiser where weshowed the movie Elf, but we did
it Rocky Horror Picture ShowStyle.
So everybody could come, theycould, you know, dress up in
their winter stuff, theirChristmas PJs and all that kind
of thing.
And then, We would just do themovie.
(09:59):
So we'd show the movie, wewould, you know, throw
marshmallows.
We'd have, you know, thesnowball fight.
We would sing along, we wouldsay our favorite lines.
It made me so happy.
So I called the movie theater.
We got it booked, and then 2020hit and I got foot off.
And the next year the thetheater that I had scheduled
(10:19):
everything with completelychanged all their policies.
And so we couldn't actually dothe fundraiser the way that we
wanted to do the fundraiser.
So we had to try to find a newplace.
We did we found an amazingtheater here in town that's
just, they have the biggestheart and no one knows.
All the good things that ifyou're in eTown, Kentucky, crown
Point Theater, these guys areridiculous.
(10:41):
They give more back to ourcommunity than anybody knows.
So he was like, yeah, let's doit.
That sounds great.
So we decided to do it in Julybecause I didn't wanna wait
until Christmas time, So wedecorated the theater, we sold
tickets.
And folks came.
It wasn't as many people as wewere hoping, cuz I managed to
book it on the same weekend asevery vacation bible school in
(11:04):
town and everyone else was outof town.
So it was a little bit lowerthan we expected, but we learned
a lot.
it was the best thing in theworld was to sit in the back of
that theater during the secondshow.
And I watched it with my sonwho's, I mean, he's 20, but he's
my boy and you know, the two ofus sitting in the.
Singing at the top of our lungs,saying our little lines,
(11:25):
throwing snowballs at each otherand just having a good time.
And it was amazing to see thesepeople who showed up in July in
Kentucky with all of our heatand humidity in their Christmas
sweaters, and everybody thatwalked in, just huge smiles on
their faces as they were soexcited that they were doing
something fun and that they weregonna make a.
So all the money that wecollected for, that we gave to
(11:48):
an organization in town who welove because their whole
existence is just to providemoney.
To fund other nonprofits.
And that's right there in myheart.
Like that just makes me happythat they're supporting others.
So give Two Seven now is thename of, of the organization.
And we waited cuz we weren'treally sure.
They were like, you know, wewant you to be in, on, you know,
(12:09):
what we end up donating this toand.
We got to the end of the year,and it turned out there was an,
there's an organization in townour, our Helping Hand that does
a, they call it AffordableChristmas.
So they have things for familiesto come in to shop for, for toys
and clothes and things for thekids for Christmas.
We knew exactly that's where itneeded to go, so we made sure
(12:30):
we, we cut them a check and sothat they could have, you know,
a little bit more to give tofolks at a time.
Just, you know, where peoplejust need a little extra joy.
Matt (12:39):
That's beautiful.
So have you seen any otherbusinesses around town doing
things that inspired you tomaybe do something different or
try something new or as far asgiving or serving others?
Marnie (12:53):
There are, yeah, there's actually I have a couple friends
who own a little boutiqueclothing store downtown and they
are really big every year ontrying to put together back to
school supplies for kids.
And it's just, they're just twoladies.
They're sisters, they're awesomehumans.
And it's just the two of them.
(13:14):
And they put together so manybackpacks full of supplies for
kids every year.
It is ridiculous.
And I think seeing that kind ofthing around me makes it seem
like, well, you know, it's justme.
I'm just one person.
I'm a tiny little low volumestudio here in the middle of, of
Kentucky.
(13:35):
And that kind of thing justsays, oh no, I can make a
difference too.
So it has definitely helped meseeing things like, like them as
helped me to say, yeah, itsounds pretty crazy to say that
one.
Is gonna put together a hugefundraiser to try to raise, you
(13:55):
know, thousands and thousands ofdollars and, is that gonna be
possible?
I don't know, it seems a littlecrazy, but when you see other
people doing it successfully, itmakes you understand that it's
possible.
It just takes a little bit ofthinking and a little bit of
planning and a little bit ofpraying And.
that tends to work.
Matt (14:14):
Yeah.
And just like you, you'rewatching them.
You don't know who's watchingyou and you might never know who
you're impacting with things.
We're both about to head theimaging and people will come up
to you there and they'll come upto me there and say, you know,
I've been watching you do thisor that.
It's like, wow, thanks forsaying that.
And they might have never, youmight not be friends on
(14:36):
Facebook, you might have nevercome across them before, they
want to let you know that you'redoing good stuff.
And it gives you, I like to talkabout the dose that D o s e
dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin,and endorphins, and it just hits
and it becomes addicting and youjust, okay, where can I get my,
for lack of a better term, wherecan I get my next high from
(14:59):
giving?
And gets to where you just wantto keep doing it that's why it's
sometimes easier.
For me to give than receivebecause it's just, I, I love
doing that stuff.
You know those two ladies withthe backpacks, there's more than
you just watching them.
The whole community's watchingthem.
And what I picture withsomething like that is in 10
(15:21):
years when one of those kidsthat got that backpack, they
start something like that,wherever they're living at that
time, and those ladies may neversee the ripples that they've
helped create.
Marnie (15:33):
Yeah.
Matt (15:34):
So when you're teaching you teach photography and
business when you're teachingand you see that light bulb go
off in somebody's head orsomebody's eyes and they get
what you're teaching, how good afeeling is that?
And do you have any storiesabout that?
Marnie (15:49):
Oh yeah, it's the best thing in the world.
I think it's, it's easy when weteach to focus on the people
that don't get it sometimes, andwhen you realize, ah, you know,
they hear it and they're notgonna do anything about it.
And they're just gonna keepstruggling and suffering in
their businesses and that'shorrible to think about.
So yeah, those wins are, are bigand, and, and keep you kind of
(16:13):
going on cuz nobody gets intophotography education cause they
think they're gonna make moneyat it.
Like that's not that is not whywe do this.
So yeah, I have I have a womanthat I mentor who is just the
sweetest thing.
And when we started.
It was kind of painful as wewere going through all of the
things that we needed to gothrough.
She's like, she was working onstarting a senior program and
(16:34):
she was working on trying todevelop her families a little
bit bigger, but she also hadthis whole travel photography
thing that she did.
and she had a, a little blogthat she had started several
years back and that kind ofthing, but she was trying to
build the seniors and familiesand the more that we talked and
the more that we workedtogether, the more that we were
going through this.
I finally looked at her and Isaid, you know, Sandra, I don't
(16:58):
know that this is really whatyou need to be doing.
The only thing that you seem tobe really excited about is the
travel photography, and it seemsto get in the way of all these
other things that you say youthink you wanna do.
And so we worked through thattogether and now, She is killing
it.
Doing this travel photography,her blog it's getting really
(17:22):
good results and she's seeing,you know, finally seeing some
income coming in off thosethings.
And to see her excitement andher joy when we talk is a
completely new.
it's no longer frustration.
It's no longer feeling likeshe's banging her head against
the wall.
She's actually, finding ways todo what she loves and have a, a
(17:44):
profit off of it.
You know, she's not juststruggling and not, spinning her
wheels and not seeing anythinghappen.
And that's been justridiculously rewarding.
And now she is actually startingto teach about what she knows
and loves.
And that's been fun to see too.
So she's giving.
Now.
And yeah, that's, and that'shugely, hugely rewarding.
I mean, how could it not be,
Matt (18:05):
Yeah.
It, it really is.
It's, I see people,photographers talking about how,
how busy they are, they're up at3:00 AM and.
They're editing and this andthat and they're not as
profitable as they could be.
And I see, usually it's, it's inperson, but I'll comment online
as well.
When they say they burned out,they, they're, they're just
(18:27):
tired of what they're doing.
And I will ask, and I'll like toask this in person cuz I can see
the reaction.
I will ask them, when's the lasttime you photographed something
for you?
And I see the blank staresometimes and the lack of a
quick response, you're notanswering right away.
You know, maybe try somethingthat's for you.
And is there a way to make whatyour favorite thing to
(18:50):
photograph?
Is there a way to make that abusiness or make money off of
that?
And there's gotta be, I mean,there's people making, making
videos of eating food.
You know, there's, there's a wayto monetize pretty much
everything these days, whichkind of gets me sidetracked
sometimes.
And I'll go off on a little,side hustle adventure and come
(19:10):
back a week later and say, well,that was a waste of a week, but
sometimes I will learn things.
Yeah.
sometimes I'm trying to get workwiser and not, not harder, work
smarter and it's a challengesometimes because life happens,
but at the same time it's funlearning new things and learning
what works and.
What you can refine to the wayyour processes work a little
(19:33):
bit.
So I've got a question lookingthrough your Facebook feed, and
now I will say, not stalking,but researching, which is cooler
meeting Santa Claus or meeting adog.
Marnie (19:45):
Oh gosh, that's not a fair question at all.
Okay, so I'll have to say I'vemet my fair share of Santas.
And I, I might rather read adog.
I, there's, okay.
My daughter is a big animallover and I have always loved
him, but not the way she lovesthem.
Mm-hmm.
And so the more I am around herand her just absolute.
(20:09):
Obsession over every creaturethat crosses her path, the more
I love them too.
So we have, we have cats.
We have too many cats because mydaughter's obsessed with
animals.
So we have three, but we have afamily of five cats that's been
visiting our backyard.
And you would think that, youknow, I don't even, can't even
(20:29):
say who it is, like, you know,the, I don't even know.
Somebody huge and big and famouswas in our backyard.
Every time these cats comevisit, because she has to go and
sit by the back window and talkto every one of them like
they're her baby.
So yeah, I would have to saythat the dogs would win out.
They're, they're getting nearerand dear to my heart every
(20:49):
single day.
Matt (20:50):
Now hear ya.
If you could go back and giveyour 18 year old self one.
Of advice, what would it be?
Marnie (20:58):
Oh, wow.
Gosh, Matt, that's hard.
I guess I would probably tell 18year old me not to hold onto
things too tightly that it's,there's something really freeing
about knowing that everything isgonna be okay, like if
(21:19):
everything, it doesn't matterwhat.
I have what I lose.
Everything is still gonna befine.
I could let this photographystudio go tomorrow.
Mm-hmm.
and everything will be fine.
And you know, there are peoplethat come and go from our lives
and that's, it is okay to nothave those same people in our
lives every single day.
And I, I just wish that, thatI've been, yeah, that I knew
(21:42):
that then that it'd be okay tonot, to not worry about that.
Yeah.
And then, and to trust myselfmore.
Yeah.
I think that's a big piece too.
I'm still telling myself that
Matt (21:53):
every
Marnie (21:54):
we're telling 49 year old Marni that too.
Matt (21:56):
every single day.
So does 49 year old Marni have amorning routine, and if so, what
does it look like?
Marnie (22:04):
Oh yeah, I do on, on days that work the way they're
supposed to.
I get up and I stumble my waydown the stairs to my treadmill
and I watch TV for half an hourwhile I work out on my treadmill
And then let's see, and then Ishower.
I grab something to eat on myway to work and then I'm in the
(22:25):
office hitting the groundrunning.
Matt (22:28):
Who are some people in the photography industry that have
influenced your work or yourbusiness?
Marnie (22:34):
Oh.
So I don't know how many folksknow her, but she is been one of
the biggest influences is awoman named Angela Kirky, and
she used to be the.
Education director for PPA andAngela.
Was huge in helping me, not justto get some business things
fixed on the business side of mybusiness, but also in helping me
(22:57):
get started doing moreeducation.
She was really, reallysupportive.
And I might have, I might havecried a little when she told me
she was retiring from P ppa.
So Angela, definitely, Mary FiskTaylor was huge in helping me
to.
Take the leap to finally raisemy prices to what they really,
really, really needed to be, notjust what I thought I could get
(23:17):
away with.
And then Ronan Ryle 3XM Ronanhas been a huge influence over
the past couple of years justbecause that man has the biggest
heart for photographers that Ithink I've ever seen.
And he I know that he's, youknow, he's a marketing genius
and, you know, you could easilybe cynical and chart, you know,
kind of chalk all of him up tojust being really good at
(23:40):
marketing.
But Ronan genuinely believesthat photographers make a big
impact on our world.
and he does everything he can tohelp photographers have thriving
businesses so they can continueto do that.
And that has been just a hugeinspiration for me to kind of
(24:02):
keep going.
When, you know, education startsto take over and I'm not getting
as much business stuff as Ishould get done because I'm
spending too much time on theeducation side.
Matt (24:10):
With Angela, Mary and Ronan, I.
Each of those people, becausethe people that they have helped
and the people that they havehelped have gone on to help
other people just in businessand photography, serving
families and, and individualswith their photos amazing
experiences and, people in thephotography community that don't
(24:31):
get a lot of credit.
Are out there as well, it's justnice to be able to put faces to
names and we get to do that inimaging.
So that's kind of exciting tosee a bunch of people I haven't
seen for three years What is onequestion that you wish I'd asked
you and how would you haveanswered it?
Marnie (24:50):
Holy moly, Matt.
you're like laughing evilly overthere.
I can see it.
Let's see.
See, you did a good job.
I'm trying to think if there'sanything else.
Oh, you know what?
Yeah, I could, I could say, Iwould always, I'll always use an
excuse to brag on my kids.
So maybe, yeah.
To, for me to tell you a littlebit about my, my people.
My boy is Jonas and he is 20.
(25:13):
He is studying to be a comicartist right now.
And that child has.
Very severe.
A D H D, anxiety disorder, O cD.
And he, he struggled a lot as akid and he might be one of my
biggest inspirations on in,yeah, in this world.
(25:34):
He has always been the kindestsoul of anyone I've ever known.
I've learned more from that kidthan I swear I've learned from
anyone else in my life.
And to see the way that he hasovercome all the things that
were so stacked against him.
And to be the really cool humanbeing that he is.
(25:54):
Just astounds me every day.
And then my daughter is Lily andshe's just again, she's right
there with Jonas.
They're, they're very coolpeople.
They have been very kind to meas teenagers.
she's 18 or turns 18, the end ofthe month.
And I hear daily with, you know,being a senior photographer, I
hear all the time about how, youknow, I'm about to kill him.
I can't wait for him to get outof the house.
(26:15):
And I'm like, I love.
My kids, my kids are reallyridiculously cool people, and so
I just sort of nod my head andgo, yeah, they're really rough,
aren't they?
Yeah, they're, they're hard.
I'm like, oh, might have beenreally, really sweet to me.
Matt (26:27):
Yeah.
I have no idea what you'retalking about.
Yeah,
Marnie (26:29):
really don't, I'm like, maybe they're gonna go through a
phase when they're in their, youknow, mid twenties where they
hate me, but for now we're justgonna go with it.
Matt (26:37):
So usually I would ask, what are you grateful for?
But I will say, what else areyou grateful for?
Marnie (26:42):
Hmm.
I'm grateful for everybody who'sever trusted me to help them
with their businesses.
That's a big thing.
I'm grateful for this studio andfor just the freedom that it's
bought brought to my family formy husband to be able to leave a
job that was killing him.
And for this to be able tosupport us is, is a huge, huge
(27:03):
thing.
So I'm grateful for that.
I'm grateful for the people whohave.
Poured into me and helped me tolearn how to do this.
And I'm, and I'm grateful forbeing aware that I don't know it
all and that I need helpconstantly.
And so yeah, I'm grateful thatGod gave me the good sense to
listen to people who are smarterthan me.
Matt (27:24):
So when you do listen to those people who are smarter
than you how.
Times Do they have to tell yousomething for you to take action
on it?
How many times do they have toput into you to make you think,
you know what, maybe they arenot wrong.
Maybe I need to start listeningto these other people.
Does that ever happen?
Marnie (27:46):
Oh, it's totally first time.
I am, I am really good at beingaware of where my shortfalls
are, So yeah, so if I've gotsomething that's not working and
someone else, who has beensuccessful and is proven and
that I trust says maybe you needto think about this.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna think aboutit and I'm gonna make some
changes.
Matt (28:05):
So what if it's not a shortfall?
What if they're pushingpositivity on you?
Is it more of a situation wherethere's a thousand good comments
and likes on that photo, but oneperson says, you know, her ear
is not lit properly.
Are you focusing on the one orare you focusing on a thousand?
And if it's a thousand, can youhelp me help others focus on
(28:26):
that thousand?
Marnie (28:28):
Yeah, no, I am right there with you.
I will focus on that one person.
That was, yeah, I, we got our,I, I spoke at imaging.
During our, our stay at homeimaging so I, a virtual one and
the feed, the one there were, Idon't know, I ignored them.
I ignored all of the beautiful,like very sweet things that
(28:50):
people said.
And the one that I focused onwas this was person who pointed
out something that I had, like,spoke like off the top of my
head during a Q and a and I waslike, oh, yes, I shouldn't have
said that.
That was the worst.
That was.
and that's what I remember So,you know, I've, I have learned
that about myself.
I know that I'll do that becauseit's, it is hard for me to take
(29:14):
praise.
That's just, that is a, I'mworking on it.
You know, we're, I'm almost 50.
I'm not quite done yet.
Right.
But I will try to take thosethings, those pieces, the
negative things that I hear andthink about them.
Think about them rationally,see, what can I do to fix that
next time?
And bring that in.
And just, you know, not, let,not, you know, I do my best to
(29:36):
not beat myself up over them,but instead kind of turn it
around and say, okay, I'm gonnafix that.
So yeah, being aware is hard,but I think it's, yeah, that
self-awareness is, is important.
Matt (29:48):
If you were not a photographer, which occupation
would you like to?
Marnie (29:53):
How Well my previous life before I was a photographer
I was in the the theaterindustry.
That was my, my first job.
But I don't know that I would goback to that.
So I would tell you, okay, Ihave two, and this is gonna
sound silly and I don't mean itto be a slight or to make it
sound like I'm just beingfluffy, but for real.
Volunteered at a McDonald's towork a cash register for a
(30:17):
fundraiser.
It may have been the most funnight of my life.
I had a ball doing that.
I'm sure if I did it every dayand I had people complaining
about me about, you know, myfries weren't salted enough or
something, I would be over itreally fast.
But, That one night, man.
I was like, I could, I'm gonnaretire and I'm gonna work at
McDonald's and it's gonna begreat.
And the other thing is I got tophotograph.
We were doing a, there was ahouse that was being restored
(30:39):
here in an 18 hundreds home, andpart of it, they had to demolish
this.
Greenhouse that was attached tothe house and I swore after that
what I'm gonna do when I get outof photography.
I am going to run a demolitionservice because that was the
most fun.
I think.
I'm like, now I know why littleboys get excited about playing
(31:01):
with, you know, trucks anddestroying.
It looked, it was so much funwatching them take that thing
apart.
So I think that might be it.
Maybe I'm gonna go intodemolition.
Matt (31:11):
I remember this is how much of an impact this made on
me, and I'm not sure what thatsays.
Back in junior high I think itwas during a fund.
Or play day or something.
There was an old car there, likea when I was in junior high.
It wasn't that old.
I guess it was a late, latesixties, early seventies car,
and you got to take a whack atit for.
(31:33):
Like a buck or two with thesledgehammer, or you could get
three wax for 10 bucks orsomething.
And it was, they had a line, Idon't know how long the line
was, but you had to wait and itwas just, you know, the
destruction part of thing.
I don't even know if that wouldbe allowable today, but if there
are any McDonald's franchiseowners, I have an idea from,
from what you said, make one ofthe register.
(31:56):
And it would have to be avolunteer thing, have a
different charity come in everyday, and make it very clear that
if you go to that register forthat day or for that time
period, that a portion of thoseproceeds or all of the proceeds
or, or whatever for that day orthat time period would go to
that charity.
pretty sure there's a little redtape in there with corporate,
(32:17):
but maybe corporate.
Or maybe it, it's any day thatit's not Ronald McDonald
Charity.
You have one a month, one amonth, or one a week for another
local charity.
So I like that idea, but I'm notgoing to do anything with it cuz
there are too many other ideasin my noggin.
So the last question is, wherecan we find you online?
Marnie (32:38):
I'm on, I'm, I'm a little old school, right?
So I'm on Facebook at ClagettPhotography and Marnie Claggett.
I'm on Instagram at, I thinkit's, let's see, Marnie321 or
Clagett Photography and I don'tknow.
Where else am I?
Out of on I guess that'sprobably it.
Yeah.
Or my website, you know, thosekind of things.
Matt (32:56):
We will look for you.
Thank you so much again for yourtime today, and I will see you.
Marnie (33:02):
Thanks Matt.
See you soon.
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