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The biggest shifts in a business often come from decisions no one else sees.
Future Proof is a show for business owners facing the pressure to grow and the weight of legacy, often at the same time.
Hosted by Scott Eckart, each episode features honest conversations with leaders who’ve made bold moves, stepped into succession, or redefined success altogether. You’ll hear what they were up against, what they chose, and what they’d do differently now.
If you're thinking about what's next and want to build a business that lasts, this is the show for you.
Scott Eckart: (00:00:00) I'm Scott Eckhart and this is Future Proof, a show for building something that lasts. Let's get into it.
Scott Eckart (00:00:09): Hello, everyone joining us today on Future Proof is Lesle Lane, the owner of Studio 13, located here in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Scott Eckart (00:00:19): a lot of people were pulling their photography in-house during that recession to save money.
And they also now had a camera that was good enough. And so I lost everything. I lo my (00:00:30) marriage ended due to the stress of it. I lost the building that I built. I had to close the entire company down and my mother, God lover, bought my equipment out of auction for me so that I could continue on.
And without her generosity and her gift, I would not be sitting here
today.
Scott Eckart (00:00:48): As a third generation owner of her photography studio, our theme for today is how she triumphed over adversity in a very special way to bring new levels of success to (00:01:00) her business.
Scott Eckart (00:01:00): Everything that's happened to me in my life has set me up for here, So how many people am I meeting that are in their dark place? Yeah. And if I can be the light to them and I can make them smile and I can, oh, you're out of work.
What are you looking for? Oh, let me introduce you to this person. Maybe that introduction doesn't lead to a job, but it does lead to a friendship. If I can be the light.
Lesle Lane (00:01:24): Yeah.
Scott Eckart (00:01:24): I'm gonna be the light
Scott Eckart (00:01:28): Welcome (00:01:30) everybody to Future Proof. I am so excited to have Lesle Lane, the owner of Studio 13 on the show today. Lesle, can you say hello?
Lesle Lane (00:01:38): Hello Scott, and thank you so much for having me.
Scott Eckart (00:01:40): Yeah, it's great. So we have known each other for several years now. Uh, we first met through our association with accelerant here in Indianapolis, uh, which has been a, a great thing for both of us, I think,
Lesle Lane (00:01:52): Absolutely. About six years.
Scott Eckart (00:01:54): Yeah. Okay, great.
So Studio 13, I'm gonna do my best here to,give it a whirl, (00:02:00) corporate photography, but I love on your
Social
media and website
is really focused on excellence, of course, but very specifically architecture, industrial headshots, products. And there's this beautiful picture. On there of, of the bottles. I love the bottles, but,
you are not a wedding.
photographer, I mean, right.
It's about people.
but it's about really beautiful places and that kind of thing. So, tell me a little bit more about Studio 13 and your specific focus
Sure. (00:02:30) We, we are an organization that deals directly with corporations and businesses, big and small. They can be global. They can be local, but we're helping them say what they need to say through visual media, whether that's video, drone footage, still photography. On a branding and marketing basis. So we only work B2B, we do not work with the general consumers and we are always mission focused for that organization.
They have something they need to say to their customers or their prospects, and we need to help them say that. So that kind of gives you a little bit of a (00:03:00) more concise view of what we do.
And,I am one of your clients and even though I'm a small account, you always make our people feel, 'cause you've done our team, but you make us feel like we're not small. You make us feel like we're incredibly special. And that's what makes you guys different, I think, too. I'm
Also, I also love to
say, you make me look better than
I actually do, right? I mean,
and that's the magic of photography.
And one of the things
that you did that's,
really kind of special is you saved our background and, you know, (00:03:30) we're not in that office anymore.
oh, I did not know that.
moved. And so, and I've had, I have two new team members and one of them came over the other day and you took care of that and you can just put it in there and you have, we have continuity.
And so, you've just done. Amazing workforce, even though we're, you know, big or small. like you said, you can do it all and you treat us, so well. So, Lesle, on future proof, one of the things that I've been talking to my guests about are pivots. And so I'd like to (00:04:00) get into time machine,and go back.
your story is fascinating to me. it is so interesting. if someone were to look at you now, they would be like, this woman is so successful. Everything she touches turns to gold.
And, you know, and I think people listening to the show, who want to be entrepreneurs and they think, I will never get to be where Lesle is. Right. And, and I think you're here to let them know kind of what you went through. So, let's (00:04:30) talk about your third generation. And you come from, some amazing folks who have helped you along the way, but, can we go back in time and talk about these great people that have given you the vision and, this idea of, you know, let's carry on and what you're doing.
Absolutely. So I'm very fortunate. I come from a long line of pioneers. my grandfather started the business as a portrait wedding photographer, actually getting started with Olin Mills in the original days, back in the forties and
Wow.
there's a name.
(00:05:00) Yes, there is a name. so he opened up his first studio in Columbus, Georgia with my grandmother, who was also a pioneer because when she started having children, she did not stop working.
She ran all of the business side of the portrait and wedding business that they owned, where my grandfather was the photographer. So all through my mother's life, my grandmother was working full-time.
So that was something. and I stand here today on the shoulders of many women, before me. And so when my mother (00:05:30) came of age, she got married and she and her husband at the time actually started the first color laboratory when they were transitioning from black and white film to color film.
It was the only place to get your film developed outside of Eastman Kodak at the time. And so that was a huge endeavor. my father actually processed the film with his own hands in the garage to get started, and then built that into a multimillion dollar business. And when my parents got divorced, my mother met my stepfather at a convention in Denver (00:06:00) and then moved to Indiana.
Was it a photography?
was a photography convention, and then she came into his commercial photography business as a salesperson, business development person. She did that throughout her entire career. And so that laid the groundwork for me to get where I am today. So when I graduated from college, my stepfather really didn't think a girl could do what I do.
well, it was a different time, different place. Let's just be real. And he wanted me to be a portrait wedding photographer, and I just put my feet. I'm just like, I can't, I don't have the personality for that. (00:06:30) I'm not touchy feely, I'm not ethereal. I wanna do corporate work. And unfortunately he got taken outta the business before he could either stop me or help me either way.
And my mom basically looked at me and she said, if you wanna do this, I'll support you, but you need to go out and you need to work in an industrial situation because they're not gonna take you seriously as a woman
unless you can do the hard stuff.
And so that's really how I got my feet wet, was I was married to a gentleman at the time that his dad ran a foundry up in (00:07:00) Northern Indiana.
So I was able to go practice. Because you have to practice if you don't know what you're doing. and then proceeded to take over the business and to have many, you know, hiccups among the way between then and now. But that's kind of the preliminary background of how I got into it.
So did you get to go into the garage and watch the developing? Did you get to go to jobs? I mean, were you fascinated with cameras? I mean, tell me a little bit more about you as a, I don't know, 10-year-old, 11. I mean,
little, Little
Little Lesle.
Yeah, little (00:07:30) Lesle. was a little bit annoying, because I was a DHD. and so my parents I know
shocking, shocking. And so my parents put a camera in my hand when I was six
because my
I don't,
I have my first roll of film I ever shot.
and so what they did is my mom was a fine art photographer and so she would be traveling all weekend with my stepfather.
I would have to go. All over the state of Indiana taking pictures and they got really sick of me being annoying. And so they gave me my first camera when I was six. And I loved it and it was something that (00:08:00) was always ingrained in me. And since we, my parents worked out of our home, yes, I was there. I was learning how to, you know, at least watch people process, film, and do the printing.
The studio was in our home. Everything was right there on the property. And so many people say, I got a lot of what I know through osmosis, but I think a lot of it was just observation. So, yeah, running your business out of your home as a child, it was an amazing thing. Don't go downstairs in your pajamas.
No way. just could not happen until you're dressed and ready to meet the (00:08:30) world. But,it was an amazing childhood to grow up in your business.
So I often ask nature, nurture, you know, on the whole thing.
I did not grow up.
around entrepreneurs. I didn't know how to spell the word right. I didn't even know that was an option until much, much later. But you grew up in this, and so did you ever think that you wouldn't. Be a business owner,
No, I, it was always going to happen. Now, there were some bumps where mom and I and my stepfather bumped heads a (00:09:00) little bit, and I thought about running away from the business life,
but once I became an adult. I knew I wanted to run the business when we had some bumps. Economically, I was concerned I wasn't gonna make it.
You know, could I continue on? But that mindset of I ran the business, my parents ran the business, my aunts and uncles ran the business, and my grandparents ran the business. It was just always in me. It was always where I thought I'd go.
(00:09:30) So when I do, my workshops, as you know, and in, in the small group, I talk about by force or by choice. Right? and moving on, you had a by force issue with your stepdad. and were there plans in place to be able to overcome that or, I mean, it was kind of shocking, right?
It was awful. just being very blunt. not a good succession plan for people that are looking forward to it. If you. My stepfather really wanted to die with a camera in his hand. his (00:10:00) passion for this craft is unmeasured. He did have a camera in his hand everywhere he went, whether it was vacation, whether he was just driving down the road.
And so, there was no succession plan. And so when I was early twenties and he got taken out with a stroke, luckily he had a lot of money in reserves because he, had retained earnings planning for this. But I drained it I was just too young. I had never shot a job for a client before. The only photography I had ever (00:10:30) done was either in school, through the journalism classes, or for myself personally.
And meeting a client's expectations for money is completely different than taking photographs for fun. And so, it was not the way to transition a business. We came out on the other side, but not without depleting a good bit of the family, wealth that we had. Mm-hmm.
So you're in this situation and that's a pivot. So what happened?
Well, I'm a very stubborn person. (00:11:00) some people we call assertive, I like to say pleasantly persistent. And after years of being an ice skater, that's how I grew up. My, my sport of choice was figure skating. I knew how to stand back up. And so every night when I had a job, the next day I would go to the studio and I would practice.
So if I had to photograph stationary, I would go to Target, I would buy stationary, and then I would go to the studio and I would shoot stationary, run the film, and then my mom would look at all the film on the light box. And when my mom said I did a good enough job, I could go to sleep.(00:11:30)
And so I think that all those years of getting up at five o'clock in the morning to practice figure skating really transitioned into, well, I know that you can't succeed without practice.
So I would practice the night before a shoot, and then I'd be ready the next morning to greet the client and proceed at, you know, their stationary that they brought to the shoot, making it look as good as the stuff I got from Target.
so what is your
advice to the young entrepreneur or the business owner about failure? Because I know I personally have learned more from my failures than my successes. and I (00:12:00) yet I think the human condition is, we run away from. So what is your advice about, you know, I, I
love the analogy of the skating and falling because you learn how to fall, right? So not to hurt yourself, but you do learn something from the fall.
Mm-hmm. And in ice skating, you also have to pass certain tests in order to succeed. So the people that just got done watching the Olympics, those people had to go through test after test after test, where a judge is physically judging them, whether they're competent enough to move to the (00:12:30) next level. And I would fail those tests.
So when going into business and I would fall, I would fail. I would do something not great. I would know to stand back up because I learned it through skating. And so I, I didn't do every job perfectly to begin with. I mean, I was learning, sometimes I would have to reshoot the job, and so I would give it to the client for free.
I'm not gonna charge you to reshoot this job. I'm gonna reshoot it on my own. Make the apologies. (00:13:00) But make it right. I feel like that's part of the give and take of business is that if you do fail, stand back up, make it right. Hopefully you keep the client, and you can just keep going forward.
So I can just picture you, you know, at the light box with your mom and you know, there's a difference between someone coaching you, someone giving you constructive criticism and you being able to hear it. So did she say, honey, this is gonna hurt a little bit, but I need, I love you. And I mean, how did that go?
I was (00:13:30) just talking to my mother this morning about something similar
she is not a. Lovingly verbally affectionate woman,
And so, no, there were no words of affirmation before she cut me down.
No. That this was business. And she was savvy. She is savvy. And, she just said it like it was. And so from some standpoints, yes, as the child, I would've loved to have had a little bit more of that. Oh, honey. But as an adult that I am now, I never had to wonder what she thought.
she just (00:14:00) straight out and gave me the criticism, sent me back to the studio to shoot it again.
And I don't know, having somebody in your life that can communicate with you at that very base level of black and white and right and wrong, it was an asset. It is an asset to me now.
Yeah. And I wanted so badly to learn how to play piano and my mom taught every kid on the block piano. Right. But she would correct me and I couldn't hear it. Lesle and I would get up and leave and that's, I think, one of my life's greatest regrets. (00:14:30) Right. and so I sad to say, but I'm learning that late in life to actually ask for feedback. and I would say to people who are listening to this, if you can get yourself in a position where you do ask for that, and what I have found happens, so when I created the new, the newest version of my workshop, I ask for, I don't know, there were 10 or 12 people in the room, and Marcus was one of those. But I in, I brought them in and I said, (00:15:00) look. I need you to be as critical as you possibly can, and I'm gonna break the fourth wall. Like, I'll talk to you, I'll, I'm gonna do the workshop, but I'm gonna break the fourth wall. Right? But I need you to be really honest with me. And I think when you set that up, I think people are then going to understand, they're gonna be respectful in that.
They're gonna say, oh, he's giving me permission to speak into him. I'm not just gonna be mean. I'm gonna actually take that. (00:15:30) First is a compliment, and second, I'm gonna really think through and rise to the occasion and think about some things that are gonna really help.
Right,
Absolutely. and that your ability to ask for that, it opens the doors to the reality of it. And I just think that a lot of people, they don't wanna hear that, and we can't grow. It doesn't matter how old you are,
you cannot grow until you are given information to improve on. You're right, it's, there's no need to be critical (00:16:00) for the sake of criticism because it, like at your conference that you're talking about your workshop, there are things you probably did really well and you'd like to know what those are too.
But then you need to know, you know, what could be improved upon? 'cause we all can improve.
and I walked outta that room. I had never been more excited, Lesle, about what I learned and went back to the drawing board, and I scrapped probably a third of it. You know, you think in your mind, wow, this is really great in your mind,
and it's an echo
chamber Well and in business, and one (00:16:30) of the biggest mistakes I made in my young business. Was that I did not have a group of peers. And that's not just people. In fact, I have very few people in photography that speak into my life. It's the people that are in our network of people that you and I mutually know that opened those doors for us.
And I lived in a vacuum for many, many years. I was young, I was getting married, I was having children, I was paying mortgages, it was only me and my mom. By that time mom had retired from the business and you get stuck in this infinite (00:17:00) time loop. So I would say for all of your listeners, if you don't have a group of people around you that can speak into your life, you're the one that's gonna miss
Right. Yeah. Sometimes it could be mutual, right? I mean you can do it for each other, right? and you then you know what it's like to be on the receiving and the giving
end of that. I think it goes better. So back to your story. So you are developing film and my dad did some of that, so I can sometimes hear, smell the stop bath and some of the other chemicals (00:17:30) that are awful, but you had to make a big jump.
So this is a pivot.
So let's talk about that.
So in 1996
was when I had to make the decision. I had a client come to me and they said, you either are going to switch to digital photography, or we are gonna buy the camera and we're gonna do it in house, and you're gonna lose the account.
Account was worth about 50% of my annual income.
boy.
And I had been very lucky that my parents, before my stepfather got taken outta the business, he had already (00:18:00) started researching it.
He, again, pioneering family. it's a different mentality when you've got people that are, you know, pioneers and that they're willing to take these leaps of faith. And so my dad had already started the research. The cameras weren't good enough back then. They were about two megapixels and they just weren't quality yet.
But we knew that was gonna happen because in commercial photography, we would shoot the film and then they would scan the film
so that they could put it digitally on a press. So we knew that middle ground of scanning (00:18:30) was probably going to come to an end. And so in 1996, I was pregnant with my first child, given an ultimatum by my largest account, and I decided that I would go out and I would buy a $200,000 piece of equipment.
stop. 200,000.
$200,000.
What?
What? Can you buy a digital camera for today? A
I just replaced, two bodies. And, about six months ago, they were $3,500 a piece. So, but at the time you couldn't use the lights that you had, you couldn't use the (00:19:00) cameras that you had, couldn't even use the tripods that you had. 'cause the cameras were so large that you needed a different tripod to put them on.
And they wouldn't even photograph people. So you could only shoot things that didn't move. And so, I took out a loan that was worth more than my house, and I made that leap of faith because I knew it was just a matter of time. And so I was the second person in the state of Indiana to make that transition.
And luckily, the first person was very kind to me, and he was willing to, you know, give me some (00:19:30) advice. I had great, instructors that they actually flew in for a long weekend. Because of me being silly, you buy this camera and I'm like, I gotta start making money right away. And so I booked a job with it, like within 10 days of getting this camera.
so we made that leap and it was, a wonderful move for the business. because again, I was state of the art, I was, you know, I was setting the
Did that customer stay
They stayed for many, actually, they stayed until they went out of business.
So I, I had them for another 15 years after (00:20:00) that. but I wasn't afraid because I was so young, I didn't know to be afraid.
I don't know that I'd do it right now. I really don't.
Right.
Okay,
So,
that happened, but then another event came
that we had no control over
yes,
it was very terrible.
yes. So we had, nine 11 was my first big, economic hiccup. I didn't know what to think, didn't know what to do, and because I didn't have people around me that I could really (00:20:30) be sounding board with,
I was left on my own. We were very lucky.
It was a V-shaped recession down and up very quickly. I rebounded within 12 to 18 months, we were back up and running at the same capacity that we were in before. And you say to yourself as an entrepreneur, when nothing like that's ever going to happen again, you don't expect that. Literally life changing world events, right.
And I feel like that I've kind of had a lot of those in my career between that one and a and a couple others that, yeah, the nine (00:21:00) 11 V-shaped recession was a real shock for me, but I was still so young that I didn't know to prepare for it to happen again.
right.
it was the event of our lifetime. even some of the other stuff that we've had happen since then, I still think that it was, there was a part of an innocence that was shattered.
Correct. And my oldest daughter, was in sixth grade then, and I remember picking her up from school because I didn't want her to hear it from somebody else. Right. Yeah. Really quite something. So then where were you in now in your story?
we (00:21:30) were recovered from nine 11 and moving right along and everything seemed to be. Going well, my mother had fully retired to Florida, but because of the impact nine 11 had on her, she wanted to sell the business
where her home and the studio were. And so that gets us up into 8 0 8, 0 9.
so we sold her home and I built a state-of-the-art studio, right before the bottom dropped out.
Yes.
and (00:22:00) now, I could work another 30 years and never see anything as terrible as that. That was just the actual systematic failure of the financial market. I mean, that was, I mean, COVID was terrible. People died. I'm not diminishing that, but for us in our industry, that was just devastating and it took a lot longer to recover.
That was not a VV shaped
recession. So what was that like for you?
Well, you know, I couldn't have made worse (00:22:30) decisions at a worse time, but you don't know what you don't know. And I'd like to say that to your listeners, right? Be kind to yourself. You don't know what you don't know. And so, you know, I didn't know it was coming, the recession. My mother had, you know, relocated permanently to Florida.
I needed a studio because I was still shooting a lot of studio work. And, we set it up to be a rental facility so that other people could help offset the cost of it. And then all of a sudden, you know, people stop spending. (00:23:00) We go into this recession and I think to myself, oh, it's gonna be another Visa.
We should be fine. 12 to 18 months, we should be fine. And my business, dropped by 75%.
and on top of it, you had both the financial changes due to the economy and then in the industry of photography you had a technological change where the cameras went from being large and $200,000 a piece to being handheld. And a lot of people were pulling their photography in-house during (00:23:30) that recession to save money.
And they also now had a camera that was good enough. And so I lost everything. I lo my marriage ended due to the stress of it. I lost the building that I built. I had to close the entire company down and my mother, God lover, bought my equipment out of auction for me so that I could continue on.
And without her generosity and her gift, I would not be sitting here
today. Thanks mom for so many things and so, you know, that (00:24:00) was a Ws shaped recession in my opinion. I don't know from a financial you would have to answer. what was that like for
yeah.
it.
was the gift that kept giving right in, in so many ways. I mean, it was, then, it had the ripple effect into real estate, right? People started borrowing out of their 4 0 1 ks, right? And now their real estate's underwater. Everything's underwater, and they're act absolutely paralyzed with fear. Now, here's what did happen. That was very interesting. I (00:24:30) never wish for bad times, Lesle, but when bad times come, people tend to lean in a little bit more into advice and they then realized why they had us there for them. And so I had a coach at the time who said, Scott, whatever you do, don't hide under your desk. Answer your phone, number one, but start making calls. You don't have answers, but they need to hear your voice and you (00:25:00) can't solve the issues, but you can tell them you are there for them. And he said, whatever you do in this next 12 to 18 months will impact the trajectory of your business for the next 10 years because answered your phone and because you reached out. And you didn't disappear.
Lesle Lane (00:25:21): that's an incredible advice.
Scott Eckart (00:25:23): Right? So I just started making phone calls and I said, and I actually had one client call in and (00:25:30) said, Hey Scott, we're praying for you. Which was unbelievable, right? And I actually then started to get really emotional because I'm like, they actually understand 'cause they were nights, I just didn't sleep.
Of course not.
Because, and then I didn't want to turn on the news in the car on the way into the office because I didn't know what bank had failed that day. And I just would be sick to my stomach on the way in because I didn't know. Right? But all I could do was to tell people we're here for you. (00:26:00) We may not know what's gonna happen tomorrow, but we are.
We are here for you .
You know, you just think about those times where you don't know.
Those are some of the. Most lonely times when you don't really know, and especially with you being in the financial sector, you know, for me, I, I didn't know if the business was ever gonna come back. Would people ever really value photography again for you?
You know, you had to sit there and know that everyone's ability to pay their (00:26:30) bills, to support their children. I mean, I can't even imagine that kind of pressure
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Okay, so we're talking about a lot of uncertainty and you're at another pivot. So what are your choices? what? You know, you've got a decision tree, you've got fork in the road. Which one did you choose?
Well, I've just never been one that you just sit back and have self pity. I, that's never really been my mo I think probably 'cause I had the mom that I
did, Right. And so the business, it just didn't, it didn't recover fast enough. And so I (00:27:00) began to think that maybe I was going to have to get a job. And I knew that after running this business myself for all these years, that it didn't really put me in a position to get a high paying job.
And so, my now husband at the time and I sat down and I said, I think I'd like to go get my MBA, I think I'd like to go back to school that's gonna give me a leg up. That gives me two years to get my degree, two years to try to get this business back where it needs to be. And then if after two years everything doesn't go well, I've got my degree, I can go get a job that hopefully makes more than minimum wage.
And so I did and it was, one of the best (00:27:30) experiences I could have done. You know, running a creative industry, a lot of people don't put a lot of merit in it. They say you're just a photographer.
Lesle Lane (00:27:36): And,
Scott Eckart (00:27:37): when, especially with the failure of the large recession, I wasn't feeling really great about my entrepreneurial skills.
And so going back to school and learning law and economics and finance and taking all those classes, I was too afraid to take when I was in college, it was such an ego boost for me to graduate with a 4.0 with my MBA. And to then start to put those things into practice. And so the business started rebounding finally, (00:28:00) putting some of those things back into place,that needed to be done.
And seeing that people do need what I do, that advertising and branding is still very much vital in the world of business. And I was able to really take those, lessons that I learned and integrate them into the business. And we are visual people. I mean, we just are, I mean, that's the way, you know, that's the way we work.
And when you were talking about your MBAI was not a great student. Right. But the best grades I ever got were (00:28:30) in grad school when I did my MBA. But I waited, I don't know what, 10 years before I went back. It was because I had a purpose and a vision to do that because my mentor at the time.
I was just gonna go to law school. 'cause my best friend at the time and I thought, you know, I needed to retool. We had kids and I'm like, I gotta make more money. Right? And I really didn't know Lesle, what direction me go. But my mentor at the time saw something in me I didn't see in myself, which is to (00:29:00) me the definition of mentoring.
He said, Hey Scott, what about this? I had never considered it. And when I got in there and I can, when your. Interesting when you're fascinated. And I got the best grades I ever I'd ever gotten, you know? And when's your own money? Oh, hello? Yes. Right. Yes. And boy, was it expensive? Yes. Right. Yeah. So, so very interesting.
So you get this thing, you know, you're back on your feet and you have new (00:29:30) energy. Now we're reimagining, we're rebranding. Is that where Studio 13 comes into play? studio 13 was, Coming out of the Ashes Of the great recession, you know, that I had, 'cause I had to start over.
I lost my family business name, I had to start over. And so Studio 13, I did not really like anything being attributed just to me.
And my marketing person later on chastised me because of course the business is me.
but Studio 13 came because I, am the 13th member of my family. I have 13 letters in my name and I was born on the (00:30:00) 13th of the month. I ended up doing that and it ended up working out great because now that I'm not just a solopreneur anymore. Yeah. Now it isn't about me now, you know? So even though in the beginning people are like, that was stupid. You should have named it after yourself. it worked out well in the end, and I think we all see things that 10 years down the line you thought, well, that wasn't the greatest decision and it ended up, being such great asset to your life. So yeah, it is, it is memorable and I do like it and it looks Great. Under logo. so now we've got digital. Let's bring in ai. Let's do that.
Lesle Lane (00:30:28): Let's talk
Scott Eckart (00:30:29): about that.
Who had (00:30:30) that on the radio card?
Lesle Lane (00:30:30): Oh my
Scott Eckart (00:30:31): gosh. Yeah. Right. So after COVID, let's go ahead. You know, 'cause the bingo card's full at this point. Sure. Let's add ai. So a lot of people don't understand that AI's actually been a part of the. Digital world for decades. So Photoshop has had an AI component in it for at least 10 to 15 years.
That's true. So it's just think of that. Yeah, it's so we've been able to use, That is an incredible tool to our business for years. It's just getting a lot better, it's getting a lot faster. it's able to do things that I used to have to pay somebody to (00:31:00) do who had more skills than myself, and now it's just a lasso and a typing of a prompt that can do that.
It is become very valuable in my business. Both from what I do as well as we my, if you go to my website, you'll see that there's a lot of educational tools in there and we are using AI to help us create some of the prompts. What are the people looking for out there so that I can speak onto those points.
we are using it for editing quicker, faster, (00:31:30) differently. So right now. It's not replacing the creative aspect that people in the industry have, it's just simply building it up into something different from what it was before. Great. So you're not afraid of it? I can't be afraid of it. if anything that I've learned from my family is the people that didn't switch from black and white film to color, film went out of business.
The people that didn't switch from film to digital went out of business. And the people that don't learn how to (00:32:00) integrate I AI and embrace AI into their business, they will fail permanently.
And if you don't embrace the changes within your industry, you will become a dinosaur. Okay. I prefer to be a unit. Alright, there you go. So, plank number three or four, I have 10 principles of business transformation is insight or hindsight insight, foresight. And I think one of the keys that I'm identifying in your success is you are a specialized specialist in (00:32:30) foresight and you are.
Mentors being mom and grand grandfather also specialize in foresight because an example of hindsight would be tax return. Okay? This is how we did right inside our p analysis is where we are right now, but leading economic indicators and foresight. What is coming, and to your point that you made beautifully, if you don't look down the road, if you don't embrace that, you will fail.
Yes, my mother, um, (00:33:00) she had a mentor, Frank Ricchio, I can remember his name today, who always said, if you don't know where your business is gonna be five years from now, you won't be in business five years from now. Now that's becoming increasingly more difficult. I'm not gonna sit here and say that it's not see exactly what AI is going to do as we move forward in the visual media arts.
So think about videos and drones and photography. That's a hard place to go and our country is going to have to kind of figure out some of that because the truth in advertising laws state that (00:33:30) you cannot mislead the consumer And that you have to provide them reasonable expectations for the product that you serve them.
So AI wants you to put. A non-product photograph on a package that's not a photograph of the actual product. And that's not a conflict of risk, right? Or as the person selling it is, doesn't even exist. Correct. So I am seeing right now, some of the, retailers. Are insisting that the photography be original, they will not put the packaging on the shelves if it is not (00:34:00) original photography.
I think that's great. I think that's a good thing for me. I'm also noticing that some of the companies I work for, financial advisors, banks, lawyers, accountants, engineers, where authenticity is a huge part of what you do, that they are insisting on using photography that is. Accustom to them because they feel like that is going to pass that onto their prospects and clients.
Very interesting. So that they can have that authentic relationship with their customers. I can see where this is (00:34:30) gonna be for the next year or two. What I can't see is when it gets so good that you can't tell the difference. Right now, we can tell the difference. What are we gonna do as a consumer?
When we don't know if that is an actual representation of the good that we're purchasing. there's gonna be some bumps. Okay. and I only go three years with my clients and I, and one question I ask them, I actually call it the horizon question, right? Because, you know, when you're looking out at (00:35:00) the horizon, especially if it's a flat, you know, we kind of see, and I say, Lesle, if we're sitting in this studio three years from today, looking back on today.
What needs to happen at Studio 13 in order for you to feel satisfied with your progress, right? And so if life is a journey, not a destination, which I always tell my kids and they're like, oh, okay dad. You know, it's they phrase, I only go out for years and I want people to (00:35:30) focus on satisfaction and progress because arrival I think is not a thing.
Because one thing we can always count on is change. That's the one thing we can count on. You happen to have more than your average number of black swan events in your life, which is kind of a badge of honor. I remember, early on in my career, I was talking to,an older person. I call them mature (00:36:00) and hoping to get to work with them.
And he looked at me and he said, Scott. If you haven't worked, done business in a recession, you have nothing to say. What did you think when he said that? Well, I got my little feelings. Sorry. I'm sure you did. Right. And I, and once that passed and I said, you know, he's not rum, and I had no badges of honor.
I had no scuffs. I had no bruises. And now that doesn't mean I can't bring value to somebody. I mean, I can, you know, I can do the thing. That made me want to (00:36:30) keep going and maybe skin might ease a little bit. And I was reading, I can't remember where, let's say when we were talking about, you know, COVID and they were saying that there was a generation that had never actually experienced hardship and they're the ones during COVID that needed all the counseling and all the medicine and everything, and I'm not, being hard on them.
You and I, we had seen things and we could say, you know what? This is gonna be opening. I agree with that. And I guess I would (00:37:00) ask you, based on your career, which one was harder for you? Which one? I mean, they each had their own component. You know, COVID being more emotional because of the isolation and people were dying and as a financial advisor, as a wealth manager, as a.
Financial coach, which one of those were harder for you and how does that help you coach other people? we were considered essential word first, which was very interesting.
So we, they didn't force us to close our office, so I actually went in (00:37:30) every day. We weren't allowed to have clients, but. I just went in every day, just like everything was normal. My business actually increased, probably threefold. And here's why, because the amount of education that I did probably increased tenfold.
And there were companies that, that you and I worked with in accelerant who said, Scott, please, please, please would you meet with our people and do your courses that you do? 'cause (00:38:00) I teach a lot of courses. Just let them know it's gonna be okay. And we were kind of back to the oh eight and oh nine three, but the markets were fine, Lesle, and in fact, some of them companies were going gangbusters because they were providing services for things that were needed, even though of the isolation.
But it was technology that allowed us to stay together that we didn't have in oh eight to oh nine. (00:38:30) And so I was doing courses probably three to five a week. Thousands of people were in my virtual classroom. People you wouldn't have reached otherwise. Correct. Amazing. So, Never let a good crisis go to waste, I guess.
I don't know. so yeah, so 8 0 8 0 9 was terrible, right? I mean, that was by far, you know, the worst. So, you know, for us, when bad times happen, people tend to lean a little bit more and they tend not to be the do it yourselfers. Now for (00:39:00) the business owner, this is where things get really interesting.
I surveyed them after oh eight and oh nine. And I said, now what are you gonna do? And they said, well, I guess I'll have to work another five to seven years. That is not a good answer. no, but it's a real answer. it is. But if you're tired, if you're disabled, if you have, you know, what are you gonna do?
Right. So what I would say to you is I would want, if I could have anything for you, Lesle, would be to future proof your business would be that you could do what you wanna do when you wanna (00:39:30) do it. Regardless of political, social, or economic types, that is the goal, and it's possible to do that, but you have to be really intentional and you do have to have foresight.
You have to be willing to not just work in your business, but work on it as well. So my greatest challenge is getting time with you. It's getting you to say, Lesle, please put your camera down so we can talk about the future. And you say, but I can't put my camera down because I have to make money today.(00:40:00)
So we need to fix that problem so that you can put your camera down so we can do some strategy, so we can do some goal setting, and then we can talk about what do you wanna do for rest of your life? Because the concept of retirement is really passe. It's really the third act because you could live another 30 years and you could do all sorts of other really cool stuff.
in addition to being a photographer, you are a visual image consultant. (00:40:30) And you have seen so many things that you could come, that you go in and you look at what people have and you can tell them with within minutes how to make it better.
That I believe is one of your superpowers. Well, and I think as a small business owner, Scott, it is so difficult to get to the point where you're not doing everything for your business. another pivot point of my life was when I expanded beyond myself And getting to that point where I could take (00:41:00) your advice to say, Hey, you know, this is a great time for you to add this.
As a cons consultation business to the already existing business. But I couldn't have done that five years ago because I was still the primary producer, and now I have other people on my team that are producing for me. I also have administrators so that I can strategize. So as your listeners are thinking about where they're at in their career, you do have to set aside those times where you're not doing your business.
Where you're thinking about (00:41:30) your business, where you're meeting with a mentor, a coach, to strategize about the future, right. You're exactly right. And I knew you were right when you said it to me six months ago, and so you, you did something really, very interesting. You created a new process for what you're doing.
You had been pretty dependent on an individual, right, who kind of just ran things, but then that person. Had to go. Well, unfortunately, that person passed away. Okay. And again, didn't know. Got our black swan moments, going on. I lost my, assistant of 30 (00:42:00) years. And, my daughter came alongside and she said, okay, mom, you can't keep going like this.
And I heard her.
And she said, I'll give you two years of my life and I will come in and I'll help you set up a process for the company. Wow. Well, and she, she quit two years to the day, let's be clear, two years. She didn't want anything to do with this business. But the first thing she did was set up a job for an administrator.
And then the next thing was getting somebody in there that could do social media presence. 'cause I was doing all of it. Wow. And the blogging, I was doing (00:42:30) that too. And then the quoting, I was doing that too. So every single thing except for the editing, which was what my, longtime assistant, she took care of all the file management, which is a huge thing where.
When you're running a business like this and that small two year period that my daughter gave me to set up the process of the business has now grown to where I've got 15 people on my team. They're all independent contractors, and each one has a standard operating procedure. Everything down to what they're supposed to wear, how they're (00:43:00) supposed to dress, and what they're supposed to do in their job.
She started that whole thing for me so that I could spend more time strategizing and when someone like Scott give you good advice that you can listen to it. and I did listen to you and I did put some other things in motion based on your, but I couldn't have done that without my daughter stepping in and, and setting my company up for better success.
Well done. That is fantastic. Well, and,as we wrap up, one of the things that, That I love most about you when you come into a room, I think one of your superpowers is (00:43:30) your charisma, and it's probably part of mom, probably part of part of your grandfather. But where does that motivation come from?
when you come into a room, it just, I mean, and I hope people get to meet you. but you had that and it's a light. where does that come from? I don't think you can appreciate the light till you've been in the dark. Okay. And so. I'm getting a little emotional, so I apologize.
I know this is a business podcast, but No, it's good. Go ahead. Everything that's happened to me in my life has set me up for here, and I don't know how many people I meet that are (00:44:00) there. So how many people am I meeting that are in their dark place? Yeah. And if I can be the light to them and I can make them smile and I can, oh, you're out of work.
What are you looking for? Oh, let me introduce you to this person. Maybe that introduction doesn't lead to a job, but it does lead to a friendship. If I can be the light.
Lesle Lane (00:44:20): Yeah.
Scott Eckart (00:44:20): I'm gonna be the light because the dark is hard. And when I was in my darkest points, there were so many times where I felt alone in that darkness.
And I feel like, especially in the (00:44:30) world we're in right now, yeah, it's, it can be such a dark place and so many negative things going on. I wanna be the light. Yeah. And you are. Yeah. So on behalf of future proof and what we're doing, thank you for being the light and for bringing that, especially with your images and what you are capturing every day, you and your team.
it's a beautiful thing and so keep on, and Studio 13 is doing great work and I hope everybody gets to have a chance to then dial (00:45:00) in and see. On the web and what you're doing. Uh, it's been a pleasure, Lesle, to get to know you even better today and your story. Thank you for sharing and just being you and, love having you here.
Thank you, Scott. This has been a wonderful conversation and, uh, just grateful to have you in my life.
Lesle Lane (00:45:15): Yeah, appreciate you. Thanks.
Scott Eckart (00:45:17): During my conversation with Lesle, there were three key points that I wanna look back on. Number one, learn how to fall down because it teaches you things and it makes it easier to get back up. (00:45:30) Number two, focus on foresight. If you don't know where you're gonna be in five years in your business, you may not be open in five years.
And number three, be a light in the darkness. You never know when a small kindness is going to be the light that someone needs in a very dark time.
Head to the show notes of this episode to find out how you can connect with Lesle in Studio 13. And remember, the future is bright. I'll see you next time.
Thank you for listening today. If you like what you've heard, please join us in the Velocity Network and sign up@www.velocoaches.com, which is a gathering of entrepreneurs, business owners, and people who desire to learn more about running and owning a business. Also, you can subscribe to future proof on Spotify, apple, YouTube, or wherever you listen to podcasts.