Lydia Baikalova tells her story of growing up poor in Ukraine, learning to speak English at age 13 and developing her entrepreneurial drive out of necessity to make money. She then shares her acting trajectory which eventually led her to Los Angeles. After years of modeling and acting, she explains how she decided to start a wedding photography business that she eventually scaled to over 25 staff. She explains how she build the systems and processes and infrastructure that now allows her to run it remotely while traveling the world. She shares specific tips on hiring, systems building, and scaling a service-based business as well as artistic and creative businesses. She then offers tips on how everyone can take better photos, for Instagram or anywhere else, and look fabulous. Lydia then goes on to talk about her passion for travel and the nomadic lifestyle. She shares her insights on personal growth, relationship building, and dating while traveling the world as a nomad. She also recounts some of her top travel experiences, adventures, mishaps, and favorite places. She talks about her love for tango, free-diving, and her passion or learning new skills as she travels. She also recounts her experiences in South Africa, explains how “Burning Man” events have impacted her life, and shares her views about having “nice things”. She also discusses the expansion of her business, the opening of boudoir division, and that why that is so significant to her. She also shares her specific morning routine, day structure, and productivity tips. Full Show Notes Available at www.TheMaverickShow.com
Episode #34: Taking Fabulous Photos, Dating as a Nomad and Running a Wedding Photography Business Remotely with Lydia Baikalova
Episode Summary
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About the Guest
Lydia Baikalova
Lydia Baikalova is a location independent entrepreneur, photographer, world-traveler and the co-founder and owner of “The I Do Photography”, one of the top-rated wedding photography and videography companies in Los Angeles. Her company has done over 800 Weddings taken over 2 Million photos and received over 300 5-star reviews and numerous prestigious awards. Originally from Kyiv, Ukraine, Lydia moved to Los Angeles in 2010 to pursue an acting career. She started her photography business with her brother in 2012 with just a used camera and one lens. Over the past 7 years Lydia has scaled her business to 20 shooters, 5 editors, 3 managers and automated it so she is no longer required to shoot or manage on regular basis and can spend her time traveling the world, writing, speaking, snowboarding, free diving, tango dancing, and starting new businesses. She has been to 37 countries and is fluent Russian, Ukranian and English.
What You'll Learn
- How to scale a service based business and manage it remotely
- How to take fabulous photos and look great in your everyday pics
- How to date and build meaningful connections as a nomad
Links From the Episode
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LYDIA’s RECOMMENDED BOOK
EVENTS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED
- Afrika Burn
- Burning Man
- Basic Principle Of Burning Man
- 36 Questions To Fall in Love
- Wedding Photography 101
RECOMMENDED APP AND SOFTWARE
RECOMMENDED CHANNEL
LOCATION WHERE THE INTERVIEW TOOK PLACE
CITY WHERE LYDIA IS FROM
LYDIA’S TOP 3 FAVORITE TRAVEL DESTINATION
LYDIA’S TOP 3 BUCKET LIST DESTINATION
Check Flight Prices to Any of These Destinations
CONTACT LYDIA
Time Stamped Show Notes
[2:45] LYDIA’S EXPERIENCE IN CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA
- Co-Living in Cape Town
- Attending Afrika Burn
- What the Burning Man Principles Mean to Her
[9:50] HOW LYDIA DESIGNS HER LIFESTYLE AND STRUCTURES HER TRAVEL
- Slow-Traveling the World as a Part-Time Nomad
[11:20] LYDIA’S BACKGROUND GROWING UP IN UKRAINE AND MOVING TO LA
- Learning English in Ukraine as a Kid
- Growing Up with Humble Beginnings and Being Inspired by Her Mother
- Learning to Hustle and Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
- Lydia’s first business in Kiev
- Learning to Overcome Rejection and Developing Grit
- Lydia’s Acting Career in Ukraine
- Moving to Los Angeles to Pursue an Acting Career
- Why Lydia gave up her Acting Career to Pursue Entrepreneurship and World Travel
[21:41] LYDIA’S PATH TO DEVELOPING AND SCALING HER PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS
- Trying to Make Money Selling Headshots to Actors
- Buying her First Camera
- Learning her Craft
- Shooting her First Wedding
- Starting to Scale Her Business
- Creating Systems and Processes
- Lydia’s Scaling Formula for a Service-Based Business
- Eliminating, Automating and Delegating
- Mistakes and Lessons Learned in Hiring and Scaling
- Differentiation and Creating a Niche Style
- Training Photographers on How to “Direct” Shoots
- Training Staff on Communicating with Clients
- Managing a Remote Team While Traveling The World
- Realizing Everything is Your Responsibility
- The Importance of Integrity
- Empowering and Respecting Your Staff
- Managing Her Team Remotely While Traveling
- Realizing Everything is the Responsibility of the Business Owner
- Doubling Her Business Through Scaling
[41:55] LYDIA’S TIPS FOR TAKING FABULOUS PHOTOS IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE
- Avoiding the #1 Mistakes People Make When Taking Photos of Themselves
- Lydia’s Top Tip for Taking Amazing Pics
[45:09] SCALING AN ARTISTIC CREATIVE BUSINESS
- Training Your Staff By Showing Them “Your Why”
- Allowing Staff to Integrate Some of Their Own Creative Expression
[48:49] LESSONS LYDIA LEARNED FROM CHALLENGES AND SETBACKS
- Finding the Right People and Trusting Them
- Dealing with Dips in Quality While Scaling
[50:46] HOW LYDIA MANAGES HER TEAM WHILE TRAVELING THE WORLD
- Hiring Managers
- Outsourcing Post-Production to Ukraine
- Communicating with a Distributed Team All Over the World
- Relying on Well-Documented Systems and Processes
[53:52] HOW AND WHY LYDIA TRAVELS
- Why Lydia Travels
- How and Why She Prioritizes “Skill-Development” As She Travels
- Swimming with Dolphins
- Getting Arrested in Brazil
- Her Love of Free Diving
[1:03:07] LYDIA’S REFLECTIONS ON NOMAD RELATIONSHIPS
- Why Traveling Will Not Solve Your Problems
- How to Be Happy with Yourself Wherever You Are
- Nomadic Friendships
- Dating, Love and Relationships as a Digital Nomad
- The Value of Location Independence in Making Relationships Work
- How Travel Helps You Realize the Urgency of Connecting with People Faster
[1:18:21] LYDIA’S REFLECTIONS ON THE EMOTIONAL IMPACT OF HAVING NICE STUFF
- Matching How You Look with Who You Want to Be
- How Certain Material Items Can ‘Tools’ for Creating Particular Emotional States
[1:25:21] LYDIA’S NEW BOUDOUIR DIVISION
- Why Lydia Values Boudoir Photography So Much
- Explaining the Gift She Wants to Give to Women
[1:28:18] LYDIA’S MORNING ROUTINE AND DAY STRUCTURE
[1:32:20] THE LIGHTNING ROUND
- Lydia’s #1 Book She Recommends
- The One Piece of Advice She Would Give to Her 18-Year Old Self
- Lydia’s Top Travel Hack
- Top 3 Favorite Travel Destinations of All Time
- Top 3 Bucket List Destinations
