Episode 125 Transcript

Heather Porter (00:04.632)

Welcome back, you guys, we're on episode 125. I was about 24 years old. I was on a beach in a private little cove near La Jolla in San Diego. If you've been down to San Diego, you might know about La Jolla. It's beautiful. So was in this private cove and there was this group of models, men and women, standing in really great

 

looking little bathing suits and bikinis and sort of leaning against a nice sandstone wall as the backdrop. And there was a photographer standing next to me and I was really, really, really hungry to leave a huge impact on this world.

 

I somehow managed you guys to get a role, a part -time role as a fashion editor for a magazine in San Diego called Revolt in Style back when I was young, right? So my twenties. And at that time I had no idea what that even actually meant. A fashion editor. Like what, what did that mean? Especially for a small magazine. And what did I actually have to do? Like essentially what did I get myself into? And.

 

During that time too, I was actually finishing up university and I had this other business on the side too that I was running. So back then though, I was really, really, really resourceful and really brave. And I know all of you guys have had those moments in your life, right? Where you just, you're like, I can do this. You have no idea what you're gonna do, but you just do it anyway. So it's really resourceful and brave.

 

And I did not have a history of people saying no to me yet, because I was only 24, or minimal, right? I didn't have the years of the judgment, know, as you climb the ladder of success and you try and find yourself. I didn't have any of that sort of preconceived notions in my brain. I had a really raw spirit. I was actually even quite shy a little bit in that time of my life, but somehow I just got things done.

 

Heather Porter (02:18.432)

I actually think it's probably honestly the lack of my knowledge that helped me do it. Cause do you know, you know, like when you know stuff more and you talk yourself out of it, like who am I to do this, et cetera, et cetera. I just saw this cool role with a magazine fashion editor in San Diego. I'm like, yeah, great. Let's do this. Why not? You know, I didn't have those thoughts in my head. So there I was, I was in this new role and this is how I organized my first

 

photo shoot, the one that I just told you about, the one that I was standing in a cove in La Jolla with models and myself and a photographer. How did I do this? Okay, so I'm in this role and they're like, yeah, you have to put together the whole shoot, you have to talk to the graphic artist, you have to get it into the magazine, you have to organize everything. I'm like, great, okay, so what do we need for a shoot? Well, number one is I need models. So I asked around my network to see if anyone knew models.

 

who would work for free to build their portfolio. Because needless to say, this is a teeny tiny magazine in San Diego and we didn't have a budget. We only survived off of sponsorships, as most magazine do. And so with that, we didn't really have any budget to pay anyone to put this together. here we are.

 

And I'm like, okay, great, I need models, how am gonna get them? So I'm looking around for models that would be happy to build their portfolio with some great photos. And yeah, I somehow managed to find them. One of the guys that did art in my network, he was actually a model, so he came on board. He had a couple of mates who were aspiring models, they came on board. And then I threw my network as well.

 

reached out to a fashion, not a fashion, like a model agency. And I said, hey, do you have any new models on the books that might want to get some experience? We can't pay them, but maybe we could like do it with really great photography for you to help build their books or whatever. I didn't even know I was talking about, you guys. I still don't even know if that's like what you would say. Yeah, I somehow got a few models from this agency as well. So I had, think it was three guys and a couple of girls. So here we go. I have my models.

 

Heather Porter (04:34.74)

then I need something to put them in. So clothing, right? So I was thinking, okay, well, first shoot, we're going into spring bathing suits. Yay, let's do that. So I literally went out and I went to a local place in Pacific beach in San Diego. It's like a beach town. And I, from memory, just walked into this small, like local boutique, local owned boutique. And I'm like, Hey, I'm doing a shoot. We'll give you, we'll promote your business. Like obviously for free.

 

and then you can showcase some of your best new bikinis and bathing suits and stuff that comes in. And they're like, yeah, that sounds amazing. Let's do it. They somehow said yes to me. Obviously I had to like keep the bathing suits clean and work out that whole side of things, but we got the suits. So I had the models, I had the suits. Now what's next? Okay, great. So I have that. hair and makeup. yeah, I need to make the models look great. what do we do there?

 

Okay, luckily through my other company, so, and I mentioned this to you guys before, it's called 911 Art. I used to do art, fashion, and music events kind of at the same time. So I had a decent network with that. So I went out to my network there and this woman that I knew at the time, Tanya, she was a teacher at a fashion college in San Diego. And so she knew a lot of up and coming fashion designers and hair and makeup artists. So she knew a couple of people and she said, yeah, they'll probably be willing to

 

you know, do it for free in exchange for obviously the beautiful photos to show their work. And I'm like, excellent. Okay, great. So she introduced me to a few and I got hair and makeup ready to go. And what else do I need guys from here? But a photographer, of course, got the models, got the bathing suits and got the hair and makeup. I need a photographer. So photographer, again, in my network, I sort of reached out and this really amazing woman puts her hand up. She goes, you know what? I would love to do fashion photography.

 

I'll do it for free for my portfolio. I'm like, great. She said, and guess what? I know this amazing place to do a shoot. It's in La Jolla. It's on the beach. It's a private little cove. So we're not going to have like people walking in the shoot, in the shots or whatever. it's, you know, it's no one really knows about it. She goes, only know about it because I was doing some artistic shots in the sandstone backgrounds. And she's like, it would be perfect. We can use the sandstone as the backdrop.

 

Heather Porter (06:57.26)

look at the models in front of that, in front of that. And it'll just look really like lux and beautiful. And I'm like, okay, this sounds so good. So I got the crew. went out, I did a site recce or inspection in the shoot area. I'm like, this looks amazing. Okay, great. Let's do this. And I organized everyone together to do the shoot. And that's how it all came together. Me not knowing a thing. Having this sort of energy at the time is like,

 

I got this, I could do this, less knowledge more, probably in my case was better. So I didn't over obsess about things and the shoot came out beautifully. And by the way, being with, with the years I was with that magazine, I sort of saved all of the, the covers that I was responsible for putting together with the models and the different shoots. And so I actually have the photos from it, you guys, and I'm going to put them and make them available on

 

HustleRebellion .com in the show notes. So you can actually see the cover of this initial magazine and then the pages inside from this photo shoot. So if you actually want to see it, you can do it. HustleRebellion .com. Go over to this episode and have a look. Episode one, two, five. So I digress. So anyway, so I organized all this and I think here's the thing.

 

I was just, don't even know why I was thinking about this the other day, but I was as you do, right? When you sort of think about your past and where you've come from and just who you were back then and how you become who you are now. And I was reflecting on that a little bit and I sort of a little bit sad about how I don't have that sort of grit and that innocent self belief that I did back then.

 

And don't get me wrong, you guys, I here I am chatting to you. I'm so grateful you're listening to this. I have a podcast. I teach at the University of Sydney's Center for Continuing Education. So I teach sort of upskilling to businesses and digital marketing. I'm a trainer for Metta. I mean, there's only a few of us, a handful of us. God, I do really cool, amazing things, but it's just kind of in my wheelhouse now. If you know, you know, when you just get good at something, it's just part of what you do. I don't have that sort of raw.

 

Heather Porter (09:12.01)

energy that I used to have. And that's kind of what I was mourning a little bit of that. And I guess that's what I wanted to just bring to the table in this conversation is that I think it's important as we grow our businesses that we don't lose track of being resourceful, that energy, that, that real true gut energy. That's like, you got this, be brave, try new things.

 

And just because we have a bigger budget to work with as well, or the team or the tools that can help you, does not mean that you should lose sight of creativity. You know, in doing more with what you already have. Because with growth, obviously it's amazing, but you can lose track of resourcefulness and you can lose track of really creative, wacky, wonderful ideas that you you maybe would have done in the past.

 

And one last thing, a little sort of mantra for me is if you don't ask, you don't get. I really did live by that for quite a while in my life. I still do. What's the worst that somebody can say, right? No, I had to ask for models and hair and makeup and bathing suits and where the shoot was going to be and then everything around that to make it happen. And the little 24 year old had

 

24 year old Heather certainly lived by that back in the day. And it's something I think that we also could live by now. And that is if you don't ask, you don't get. And remember the little 20 something year old in you is there with lots of energy and innocence and excitement. How do you tap back into them to bring them to the surface in your next stage of growing your business?

 

Thank you, you guys, for listening to my little story about being a fashion editor for a small little magazine in San Diego. Talk to you soon. Bye.