Hey Babe!

So you’ve got a passion for shooting photos, you have a camera.. you pick up free sessions to build your portfolio or maybe you’ve got a decent side-gig that’s pretty successful in your town but you can’t seem to break free of your 9-5 job to solely focus on what you truly care about. Sound familiar? Been there. Done that. Ready to elevate? K. Let’s do it.

It’s been 5 years now that I decided to drop what I was doing and LIVE for my work and my art. It was hard AF but the payoff is totally worth it. I remember a conversation I had with this random woman at a bar in Mexico.. she was from New York, working in some high-end marketing agency or something fancy like that.. she asked me what I was doing and at the time I was chasing Fiverr ads and trying to manage the social media accounts of local businesses just to get by. I told her that and that I loved photography — that I had been shooting on the side for many years. I’ve been published as early as 13 years old, but I didn’t want to do it full time. “Why?” she asked. “Well because I never want to look at my camera and it be work. I love my camera. I never want to resent it.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” she said as she sipped her mojito, “but that’s the dumbest fucking thing I’ve ever heard in my life. You’re the kind of person who SHOULD be in the industry. Someone who actually gives a shit.”

And from that moment on, I cut all the bullshit side gigs I was doing and I made it my mission to live solely from my camera.

Now, I’ve built a six-figure business in another country, I manage my own life.. my own schedule.. and I don’t work a day in my life.

I broke the barriers that FEAR put in my head. I just.. quit being afraid and started focusing on where I wanted to BE rather that what everyone told me.

I remember my Aunt Pat saying to me in the beginning as I took the decision “When are you going to get a ‘real, stick in the mud job?’”

When I was later featured in Good Morning America and then in the hometown newspaper.. she framed it.

People aren’t going to believe in you until you show momentum. They’re not going to notice you. If anything they’re going to give you advice on what they THINK you need to do to be successful rather than happy. It’s not easy being different, but those people rule the world.

True success IS happiness and you can reach both but it takes the drive and the force to get there.

So let me help you. I’ve developed an 8-week course on how to break down these barriers, scale your business to be where you want and even more, as well as teaching you how to take the LEAP to follow YOUR dream.

More of my backstory..

I worked in Corporate America for a number of years but I felt my hands were itching to do more. But I didn’t know where I went wrong to not be fulfilled. I had it all... great job, office, company car, "Director" title, and all of the stops. I had a company AMEX, could travel all over the country to sell and do whatever project I needed to do. I went to Vegas multiple times to participate in conferences and literally was living what some would call "The American Dream."

At one point in my life I also had another version of that "Dream" -- the house in the subdivision, 2 cars, 2 dogs, fenced-in yard, marriage.. all the things that people were telling me that I NEEDED to be happy.

I did all of the "things." I went to college. I got married. I got a corporate job.. and NOTHING was satisfying my itch. I was doing all the A + B = Happiness things in life that I had been taught by society but it left me empty and suicidal. 

In 2016 when I lost my brother Jarrod, things got even worse (for obvious reasons). I felt that I was faced with a wake-up call from God. I asked God over and over "why him and not me, he’s such a good person.. Look at me, I’m divorced, no kids, lifeless.." and He said to me "You can be good too. You're meant for more."

So after laying in bed mourning for an extended period of time.. finishing Netflix, then finishing HBO, Amazon Prime.. all of the things.. I realized I needed to invite something more into my life than just existing. Tomorrow isn't promised and we can be taken from this earth in a second.

So I did what I could do at the frequency in which I was vibrating to "feel alive" and started going to spin class.. learning meditation.. and spending time CREATING SPACE for greatness to enter. That meant my relationships too. I had to cut friends out who weren’t encouraging.. Even certain members of my family. 

I had to separate from the negative to elevate to a higher frequency so I COULD invite what I was meant for into my circle. 

And then…  it came. 

A friend asked me to take on a project in Tulum, Mexico. I initially thought she was nuts for asking me, I didn't speak Spanish, I'd never been to Mexico and I thought it sounded rather insane but I was open to it. Saying to myself “Remember, Madeline. You’re inviting opportunity.”

My final conference in Vegas, I took a day ahead of time and decided to go to Joshua Tree, California. I knew I needed to take just the day to breathe and dedicate true time to myself to decide whether to quit my job and take the opportunity to move to Mexico or not. So I went.. I stopped on the side of the road whenever it felt right and just sat in the desert and meditated (I didn’t even know HOW to meditate.. But I sat wherever I could and just.. breathe and think.)

I got back to Maryland and had to give a presentation on the conference I went to.. It was such a bore and I felt like I was bullshitting my boss, my colleagues, and myself. I hated the position I was in and I know everyone around me could see it. 

Then I felt the desire to go out in nature after work that day. I went downtown to a friend’s house with the plan to go to the park together. The rain started..and it didn’t stop.. All of downtown Frederick flooded and I lost my car along with the mess of things I had in it. Luckily not my camera or my laptop. 
The next day I tried my best to make sense of it all. Googling “what to do when your car floods..” Don’t try to start it – which I did and ruined it, haha. I was in such disarray. I’d lost my car, most of my clothing (I drove around with a closet in my backseat for the longest time), and I just felt low. I was vibrating at such a low frequency I didn’t know how I’d ever get out. 

That same Friday at 4:45, my boss calls me into his office and fires me. I didn’t blame him. I sucked at my job and I had been quite an investment for him to make. I totally would have fired me too. 

I called my friend with the Tulum opportunity to tell her what happened. “I guess you’re moving to Mexico, huh?” And I said “Yes.. let’s do it.” 

Fast forward.. 

It’s been 5 years now and I feel like the woman freaking out about her car being filled with water in Downtown Frederick, Maryland is a ghost of a life lived.. Or rather “not-lived.”

I can’t speak to a “DO THIS PROGRAM AND YOU WILL FIND GREATNESS” but I can sure as hell guide you on how to Follow that Dream, live your life with purpose, and do it as an artist. 

I can help you to believe in yourself and skip a few steps that I had to “learn the hard way” because I had to start from the bottom and make my way to creating a six-figure photography business in a country where when I arrived I couldn’t even speak the language.

I’m not going to mentor you on how to be the best photographer in the world. I’m going to teach you how to utilize what you already have inside of you to unlock your potential as an artist, break barriers of paralysis that keeps you stagnant, and learn how to actually SCALE your business so you’re not chasing clients or arguing over someone else “stealing your idea or location.” 

Cut the crap, join me over the next 8 weeks and let’s get your shit together to live what you actually want to live. Support your family and yourself with your passion and never work another damn day in your life. You’re a photographer. You’re an artist. It’s time to start acting like it and stop listening to Barbara and Joe down the street telling you to get a “real job.” I promise you, I have made more of an impact in the world and financially over the past few years when I decided to buckle down and believe in myself than I ever did working for corporate America. 

For more information on the course, join my FREE call on 1/21/21 at 11:11AM EST and let’s talk about how we’re going to elevate so you can Follow Your Dream.