After spending the first week getting to know Treacy and where she’s at with her business and her life, we spent the second week figuring out her natural resources and generating ideas of what we could accomplish with them. (Read about taking inventory of your natural resources and download the worksheet.)
For years, Treacy has made her living as a lifestyle family and baby photographer. She’s good at it. It was the most obvious direction for her work. But she’s willing to change the position photography takes in her new nation if it will allow her to reach more people and accomplish her Great Good. But first, we have to discover what that Great Good is.
We’ve explored turning Treacy’s natural ability with her clients into a systematic approach that she could teach business professionals in other fields. We’ve talked about offering her services as a mentor to other photographers. We’ve jotted down all kinds of variations of serving her fellow business owners and becoming a B2B (business to business) rather than a B2C (business to consumer) operation – simply because it’s an easier model to scale for a small business. These were all good, profitable ideas.
But there’s this one thing. Treacy doesn’t think about business all day long (and her business has grown despite that). Her heart is not invested in strategy and product development and marketing. She didn’t tell us that in so many words (I don’t think she ever really thought about it), but in the many hours we’ve spent talking with her these past two weeks, I don’t think she’s uttered more than two business or strategy-related sentences.
Julianne was the first person to realize this. After a brief period of denial (I am, after all, VERY business and strategy-minded), I admitted it too. When we mentioned it to Treacy, she immediately saw what we had seen. Her Great Good is going to have to go in a different direction.
The great thing is, the business-strategy side of my brain has already gotten to work on how we can accomplish the financial aspect of the work without compromising the other goals. And that’s important, because what sustainable good can a starving nation do?
We’re still fleshing out the direction (and I can’t wait to share it when it’s more solid), but until then, watch what has been inspiring us. (You might want to get out your hanky.)
If you were moved by that, you might want to watch Parts Two, Three, Four, Five, and Six as well.
I finally watched this in it’s entirety on the big screen this weekend. I felt so many things as I watched this. Inspiration. So much beauty in the eyes of the children I could pop. So much despair in the eyes of the women that I wept. So much so deeply entrenched in that life that it almost seemed impossible to make a difference. And yet it was so obvious that Auntie Zana made a huge difference. Even if it were only for a few. It was worth her sacrifice. It’s amazing what choices will do in a person’s life. Freedom vs. Bondage. Incredible, incredible documentary. Powerful beyond what I could have imagined. I love how the community came out to see the children’s artwork and how that impacted the kids. To feel important like that must have been amazing. And I love how putting faces to names through this give me increased compassion for their lives…and as I pray for them, I feel like it’s not just a “situation” I’m pressing in for, but a life. In awe and stupified and shocked and melted by their little, beautiful big cow-brown eyes.
Agreed, Treacy. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I am so, so moved.
I wanted to take all of those children home to keep forever and ever.