Jenna Harrison of www.theuncommonway.com appears to be living her dream — and has been, ever since she threw in her great career to pursue her dreams of travel and freedom.

I first became aware of her when we connected via email, and she told me that she had built her business by implementing strategic constraints and sticking to a 3-day workweek.

Since then, she’s grown the business to a point that allowed her to retire her husband early, move their family to their dream location, buy their dream home, and live what she calls a “blue zone” lifestyle overseas.

As someone who’s all about living the life I want — and with that being the number one reason I started a photography business so that I could stop trading hours for money — I was keen to schedule this interview.

I did have some reservations, though.

Although she doesn’t label herself as a mindset coach, there’s definitely a hint of those “woo-woo” concepts that I’m a little wary of.

But then I read and watched some of the success stories from the business owners she’s helped… and it’s clear there’s a ton we can learn and apply to our own businesses.

In this interview, Jenna shares how you can build a 3-day workweek photography business by focusing on mindset, smart systems, and designing your business to serve the life you actually want.

Here's some more of what we covered in the interview:

• From wedding bookings to world travel – how Jenna built freedom into her photography business
• Why mindset, not marketing, became the secret weapon behind her rapid growth
• The sales shift that turned awkward chats into confident, high-converting conversations
• Breaking free from the business fishbowl and spotting opportunities others miss
• How working with a Princeton-trained coach unlocked Jenna’s next level of success
• The three pillars of a thriving photography business – unique offer, strong systems, CEO mindset
• Pricing with confidence and why money mindset determines your income more than your skill
• The discomfort hack – leaning into fear as the fuel for faster growth
• From 30 days of going live to unstoppable visibility and resilience through practice
• Why scheduling downtime is the real key to creativity and fresh photography ideas
• CEO time vs editing time – how to structure your week for balance and growth
• Building a sustainable business that thrives on your unique strengths and actually feels effortless
• Overcoming scarcity thinking and shifting from “not enough” to “I’m worth it”
• The small mindset tweaks that open the door to premium clients and bigger bookings
• Smart systems that save hours and stop business overwhelm before it even starts
• Living like the world’s healthiest communities – how Jenna’s Blue Zone lifestyle boosts her business success

What is your big takeaway?

Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything from what Jenna shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, let me know by leaving your thoughts in the member's FB Group. What are your takeaways? What do you plan to implement in your business based on what you heard in today's episode?

So whether someone's looking more for the strategy or looking more for the mindset, the truth is that it's always wrapped up together. If you don't believe in yourself, if you don't have the confidence to sell, if you don't have the mindset, then all the strategy in the world won't. – Jenna Harrison

If you have any questions I missed or a specific question you’d like to ask Jenna or if you want to say thanks for coming on the show, feel free to comment inside the Members FB Group, too.

iTunes Reviews and Shout-outs

I check for new iTunes or Google reviews each week, and it's always a buzz to receive them… for several reasons.

Firstly, it confirms that I'm on the right track with the interviews and that they are helping you improve your photography business. That's awesome!

When airlines are selling a business class ticket, they're not like, “And if you buy business class, we're going to give you this, and we'll give you this and we'll give you this.” No, you get the business class. That's what you get, right? And plenty of people are happy to pay for that and wouldn't even want to go coach to save money. They want the business class experience. – Jenna Harrison

Secondly, iTunes and Google are the biggest search engines for podcasts, and your reviews and ratings help other photographers find PhotoBizX. More listeners mean more interviews and, ultimately, a better show.

If you have left a review in the past, thank you! If you haven't and you'd like to, head to https://photobizx.com/itunes or https://photobizx.com/google. You can leave some honest feedback and a rating, which will help both me and the show. I'll be sure to thank you on the show and add a link to your website or blog if you let me know the URL of your website and your name.

I often say we think we're swimming in an ocean of possibilities, but the truth is, we're in a fishbowl inside the ocean, and that fishbowl is our mind, and it just filters opportunities. It filters possible decisions for us different ways of thinking. We don't realize it's happening, but unfortunately, we're limiting our moves, basically, if you think of it like chess, based on what we believe to be true, and often it's an unwritten script. We never get to see it, but it's still there in our brain. So once I opened up to unlocking some of those mindset pieces, all of a sudden, there were new opportunities I'd never considered. – Jenna Harrison

Alternatively, if you've left a review for PhotoBizX and are looking for more backlinks to help your SEO, leave a review for the new Photography Xperiment Podcast. Email me your keywords or phrases and where you'd like me to link them.

Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode:

The Uncommon Way Website

The Uncommon Way on Instagram

The Uncommon Way on Facebook

Jenna Harrison on LinkedIn

The 3-Day Workweek Podcast

Your life changes every time you take even one baby step in the direction of allowing tolerating discomfort, you open up possibilities for yourself that the old you wouldn't even have considered. – Jenna Harrison

Thank you!

Big thanks to Jenna for sharing her story in this episode. From building her business around a 3-day workweek to retiring her husband early, moving overseas, and embracing a Blue Zone lifestyle, she demonstrates what’s possible when mindset and freedom take precedence. If you’ve ever wondered how to design a photography business that genuinely supports the life you want, this conversation will spark plenty of ideas.

I believe that when you are really allowing that unique part of you to come forth, then business starts to fall into place. Right then you're really much more likely to connect with your ideal people. You're much more likely to stand out in the market and be able to charge premium prices. You're much more likely to be excited about what you're selling and to feel an integrity and feel conviction with it, and to look forward to it. – Jenna Harrison

That’s it for me this week; I hope everything is going well for you in life and business!

Thanks, and speak soon
Andrew

Hi, thank you so much for having me on the show! I realised afterwards that I wish I had pointed out that “mindset” is really no different than what pro athletes and the military have been focusing on for decades! (I have a certificate in leader development from the U.S. Army War College, their graduate-level institution.) In hindsight, I would’ve said, “And after hiring that mindset coach and unlocking those great benefits, I realised this is very similar to what goes on with pro athletes and the military.” (It’s just that sometimes you can’t see the forest through the trees when you’re in it yourself). – Jenna Harrison

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