Episode 243: Mastering Your Photo Confidence | Christine Buzan | Founder, Look Good in Photos
Looking great in photos isn’t just for influencers and models. Whether you're a business owner, public speaker, or simply trying to feel better in front of the camera, Christine Buzan is here to help. She's the founder of Look Good in Photos and the creator of the Pose Perfect formula, a step-by-step posing method that helps anyone feel more confident and look their best. In this episode, Kara and Christine dive into the psychology of self-image, how your confidence shifts over time, and why knowing how to pose isn’t vain, it’s empowering. They talk about navigating body changes, building confidence through competence, and how learning to show up in photos can change how you show up in life.
Christine also shares her journey from fashion assistant to viral posing coach with over 2 million followers on TikTok and Instagram, and how she’s helping people of all ages and body types feel powerful on camera.
“Power is a sense of responsibility to other people. You can impact outcomes and impact the lives of others. ”
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Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Christine’s Mission to Help Women Look Great in Photos
(00:03:10) Why First Impressions Online Start With Photos
(00:05:45) Her Career Path: From Magazines to Blog to TikTok
(00:09:30) Gaining Confidence Through Major Body Changes
(00:13:30) The Pose Perfect Formula and the LAAFFS Method
(00:16:10) How to Mentally Prepare for Brand Photoshoots
(00:20:00) Defining Power and the Meaning of “Ladies”
(00:22:15) Female Mentors Who Opened Doors
(00:24:45) Kara on Being Seen vs. Being Heard
(00:27:10) Christine’s Plans for Her Course and Live Speaking
(00:30:15) Making Business Shifts with Big Impact
(00:33:00) The Real Secret to Building Confidence
(00:36:45) How Visibility Changed Christine’s Self-Image
(00:39:00) Getting Ideas Out of Your Head and Into the World
(00:41:00) Where to Follow Christine and Get Her Posing Guide
I always tell people that you are going to change the way you pose like multiple times throughout your life because not only do bodies change, but trends change too. Yeah. So much has changed within posing, or else literally we'd all still be posing like we're an exec from like the 1980s, like this.
That would be your work headshot.
That's Christine Booza. I'm Kara Duffy, and this is The Powerful Ladies Podcast.
I'm so excited to talk to you today. Let's jump right, tell everyone your name, where you are in the world, and what you're up to.
So my name is Christine Busan. I currently live in Fullerton, California, which is like the north part of Orange County, if you're familiar with Southern California, by Disneyland basically.
So you can just say, I live in Disneyland if you want. And I teach people how to look good in photos. So I currently have about 2.2 million followers. On the internet between TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. And it's my mission in life to help everyday women look and feel their best in front of the camera.
And that is exactly why I was like, guys, we need to talk to her. Because I never imagined that my life would lead to a place where I was the face of a brand.
Yeah.
I spent so much of my time being behind the scenes. I still am most of the time from my clients. And if how the modern day is that you are your brand and so you need to be creating content.
And there I have never been taught how to model or look good or do hair or do makeup. So usually we're just trying to fight the natural tendency where I will look. Horrible in a photo, not because I look horrible, but because I dunno how to take the photo the right way. So when I saw what you were doing, I'm like we have to talk because not only do I need what you are offering, but so many people do because content has changed so dramatically in even just the past five years, let alone 10 years.
Definitely. It really has. And it's so interesting because, I'm sure we'll discuss more about my journey later and how I got to this point. But we live in such a digital society where so many of our first impressions are made through photos. So if you're looking for a job or if you are entrepreneur who's trying to attract new clients or customers, you need to have an image.
There needs to be a face to the person. It's not just enough to be a brand. And if you're trying to find a job, you have LinkedIn photos, 70% of people find their jobs through LinkedIn in this day and age. So you have to have a photo to be able to put a photo to the person, and you have to be able to accurately convey who you are in a way that feels authentic and on brandand to who you are and what your values are.
And then it was back in 2016, I believe there's the statistic that 30% of married couples met on dating sites, which I'm sure is even higher, especially post pandemic when everybody was on dating sites and things like that. And also, even if you're just making. Friends I know. I personally, if I meet somebody at a party or somebody who's a friend of a friend and they're like, you'd love this person, the first thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go over to their Instagram, see what they're interested in, see what their overall vibe is and taking photos is truly such a skill.
And if you're able to master that and you're able to show up in photos in a way that feels authentic and represents who you are, you'll be able to get so much farther in life. So really that's like why I do what I do, because we aren't taught. How to post for photos. That was something that was just reserved for models and movie stars and on camera personalities and things like that.
But it is such a necessary need back in the same way that like when Beauty YouTubers started really in 2008, they were taking all these tips and tricks that we just didn't hear about unless we learned about them from a magazine. But there were things that makeup artists knew, and it allowed us to be able to express ourselves in a different way.
So it's basically just doing the same thing.
If we go back to 8-year-old, you would she have imagined that this is her life in some ways, yes.
I always had a dream of kinda living a big visible life ever since I was little. I remember when I was young, thinking like I'd sing Madonna on TV and being like, I want that.
I want to do something. I want to. Make an impact in some way and in a way that entertains people and makes other people happy. So I have such a sweet spot in what I do. I call it like edutainment, which I know is like a proper term, but I educate people. I hopefully empower other people, but I also entertain people and, teach them something that I hope is valuable, but at the same time, makes them smile or makes them feel like it's relatable to them.
How did you
start doing this? Basically I moved to New York when I was 21 years old. I knew ever since I was 13 years old okay, I wanna work at a magazine. That was my dream, well before the Devil was Prada or the Hills or any of those TV shows. That kind of glorified it. I had been an.
Avid magazine consumer since I was probably about seven years old and would get my hands on 17 magazine, and things like that. And I knew basically I wanted to work within the world of magazines because, I've always loved fashion and loved style. I've always really loved writing.
It's. For me, it's about analyzing somebody once called Voca Cultural Barometer. I can't remember who said that, but the way that we present ourselves and the things that we think are popular within pop culture and stuff like that, it's just always been so fascinating to me, how cultureship.
Culture shapes how, how culture shapes our society and vice versa and how everything like that. So I always knew I wanted to intern at a magazine, so I planned out my entire like college, schedule at University of Washington knowing, okay, senior year I'm gonna go to New York, I'm gonna do my internship.
Which like back then, still, even to this day, it's very hard to get an internship for a magazine, especially if you're somebody with no inside connections. And it's very much still I have a lot of friends who work in magazines. I love them, but it's very much still like a whole like nepotism society, but I just, I knew I was gonna do it, so I was gonna do it. I applied to different magazines, consistently kept on banging on doors. Finally, Marie Claire basically, interviewed me. I flew to New York from Seattle for my interview, started interning there, and, one of the cool things that we got to do was assist on photo shoots.
So we'd get there completely unpaid five or six in the morning, unpack everything, steam it, get it all ready for when the stylist came in, help dress the models, make sure that nothing, walked away on set or anything like that. Then, at midnight or 1:00 AM pack it all up and take it back to the office.
And I loved it. So I would observe though, like the way that the models would pose for photos and how. That would completely change the way that they appeared or bring clothes to life or really bring a story to life. And around the same time, this was 2011, at this point, when I was assisting on shoots a lot, I started a blog because back then it was like very clear, okay, the fashion industry is going digital.
So I wanted to have a proof of work or a reference point of work for both, like styling and writing, because that's what I really liked. And what better way to do that than a personal blog? Even after Marie Claire, like I took on different jobs where I was a fashion assistant where I would assist on shoots.
So I really would talk with the models. I'd figure out every single thing there was to know about the art of posing because I thought it was so fascinating. And then I'd take those tips and then I'd use them for my personal blog. So in front of the camera. And everything was going like fine and dandy.
I was blogging, I was doing, my little like low paid fashion assistant jobs and stuff like that. And just living my life in New York. And then in 2014 I changed my medication. So I've been on, like mental health medication for a very good portion of my life and it just stopped working.
So we had to experiment with new medications and within a matter of a year I gained 70 pounds. That's crazy. Yeah, so I was faced with a decision of, okay. I really love blogging. None of my clothes fit me. I don't look right in front of the camera what am I gonna do? Am I gonna learn how to dress myself?
Am I gonna learn how to repose myself or am I just gonna give up on something I love? And like I didn't wanna do that. I didn't give up. I found an amazing community of other plus-sized bloggers, learn from them where they shopped. And then I really practiced and honed in and took everything that I had learned.
Assisting on these photo shoots, watching models and seeing how photographers worked and breaking it down in a way that worked for me and my new body. And social media had changed so much between 2014. Fast forward to 2017, people started asking me, about. Okay, how do you do this?
How do you do that? Because it became more common for more people to have to be in front of the camera, whether you're an entrepreneur or anything like that, or even just posting pictures on your Instagram. So I discovered that there was really a need for it. And I had been doing, fashion blogging, plus-size fashion blogging, talking a lot about body confidence and things like that.
But. I really felt that it was my calling to break down the way that we post for photos in a way that is. Accessible and there's a di sorry, in a way that's accessible and there's like a definitive system to it. So that's really what I focused on, starting in 2018. Then in 2020 I launched my first course, 2021, I got on TikTok and then everything just blew up from there.
Long story, long, that's my story.
No, I love it. And I think about how. There has, as much as we have been shifting into a body positive cultural conversation, there's still all the same pressures that there always was. It's okay, you're supposed to look like a supermodel, but if you're not, it's o It's okay.
But really you should look like a supermodel. I feel like that's the conversation we're still having and it's so frustrating. But it's even, it's worse
if you try. People get mad at you. If you try. It's like you have these societal pressures that are formed upon you. Yeah, and then people, this is something that I face a lot, especially with some, every once in a while a random stray man will end up on my content, which makes no sense because literally only 2% of my followers are.
Men according to, my statistics and a lot of them tend to be gay men, which is great. Definitely I love them. I'm glad that they're there. But a lot of times, a random man will kinda just kinda end up on my content and be like, it's obvious you're insecure. Why are you trying so hard?
And it's bro, like, why do you think everybody's insecure? Yeah.
Yeah. And I don't think there's enough of a conversation about it's not that people. Aren't trying to be whatever their best version of their self is. There's just so much variety of what we're going through physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, how your body's changed from 20 to 60, yeah. Going, if you're trying just recently pregnant or going through IVF or even freezing your eggs is like, it completely fucks with you. And there's. You know the skills that you're giving people about posing no matter what you look like and that this is going to work and make you feel more confident, it's a relief knowing that no matter how I feel in that moment, I can take some actions where at least the picture will make me feel better than I felt taking it.
Yeah, and the thing is, bodies are meant to change. Yes. That's another thing too. I always tell people that you are going to change the way you pose like multiple times throughout your life because not only do bodies change, but trends change too. Yeah. So much has changed within posing, or else literally we'd all still be posing like we're an exec from like the 1980s, like this, like that would be your work headshot, like for your podcast.
Bodies are meant to change, bodies are meant to move and look different and spend and role and things like that. So it's just, I think it's a bodily understanding and awareness. And I think like also we as a society are so uncomfortable with being in our bodies talking about, or I guess our, American Western society, yeah.
Just embodying that and posing is such a physical thing. It's such a mental thing and it's also an art form. So it's a very interesting kind of medium that I think is really fascinating.
What is the foundation of how you're teaching people to pose? Is it using different angles? Is it is what's trending?
Like where are you starting people at? Like just. I guess just awareness.
Yeah. So I developed, I have the, like the post Perfect formula, which is the kind of the root of everything. And then there's also something that I eventually called the laughs method. So that's L-A-A-F-F-S that stands for legs, abs, arms, fingers, face, shoulders.
So it's essentially the order in which you post. Basically that's, so instead of thinking about a pose as one stagnant thing that you step into, it's really about analyzing those different parts of your body almost in a way, like you would a paper doll where it's this is my doll's, pants, and then this is her shirt and this is her mittens.
Or like picking and choosing. So it's really about taking tools within like your arsenal, knowing, okay, these are my arm poses, these are my leg poses, and kind of paper dolling them together. I think that's. Really the most effective way to pose for photos. And it's something that, it's taken me years to develop it, but it works.
And it's so cool seeing, results from different people who are like, I felt so awkward, I didn't know what to do. And it's just breaking it down in a way that makes it accessible. So I hope that kind of answered your question.
Yeah. I know the other thing that I've been realizing with myself is how.
I try to like, make myself not the problem in situations. And especially like a group photo. I'm like, don't be the one trying. And I'm like, no, everyone else is gonna look more amazing. I can take one second to put on lipstick or make sure my hair isn't, doing something insane. Or not just jump in and hunch over and be in the corner and be like, why do I look insane?
And it's yeah, because I was trying not to be a burden on the picture when the whole point was for all of us to look amazing in a picture. Yeah. So I've been like, Nope, we're gonna take two seconds. We're gonna be that person because why not? Like I wanna be able to look back at these photos, especially with friends and like in great experiences of life.
And be proud to show the photo because I took a minute if that to less than a
minute. Yeah,
less than a minute to make sure I was acting. I've been calling it now acting like an adult puts on lipstick and put and goes into a photo. An adult makes sure that they are put together to some extent versus being in a rush, being a kid where you're just like running through screaming.
So like it's okay to take. 30 seconds a minute to be an adult and look my best as I can in that moment in the photo versus again, just like sticking my head in from the side, which never looks good. Yeah. When we go down to the fundamentals of being the face of our brands and posing a lot, like how do you mentally prepare when you're going to be doing like a shoot versus casual photography that you're a part of?
Yeah. So I think. Preparedness is such a key thing when it comes to posing for photos. So it's really understanding what the goal of your photo shoot is. So if the goal of your photo shoot is like wedding photos, that's gonna be the goal should be to interact with whoever your spouse is and really create points of connection.
If the goal is for your business, it's establishing kind of competency and having. Conveying how what working with you is going to be like essentially. So I think that mindset is definitely a really big part of it. That's normally, when I run my course, which I'm gonna be relaunching again soon, hopefully, I just have been so busy lately.
But mindset is the number one thing we talk about because it's really coming in with a vision. The the target you're trying to achieve and getting yourself mentally prepared to go into it. So I think that's a big thing. And even if it's a simple kind of photo shoot okay, I'm posing with my best friend.
What are you trying to convey? What is it about your relationship? Are you guys goofy? Are you serious? Do you have each other's backs? Do you really love each other? Like figure out what the vibe is of the photo that you're taking ahead of time and everything will fall into place after that.
Yeah.
I wanna go back to you and your journey. Yeah. How much is your mindset and taking care of yourself, a part of you being able to run this business and stay healthy?
Oh, God, that's a good question. I'm not sure I'm really the best at it. I'm a bit of an insane person, and I think that really helps.
I'm. Off, obviously, which is okay because it's, that kind of level of obsession has been very helpful in doing what I'm doing and holding onto that mission. I don't really sleep a lot. I don't take vacations. I have, with my various. Like mental health issues that I have.
I have big burnouts and I'll also sometimes be like in bed for two days. So I'm definitely not like the best authority on self-care or, anything like that. But doing what I do makes me happy. Yeah. And it's super important to me. So I just try to produce, as much free content as I can for everyone because people really appreciate it.
So that means a lot to me.
Yeah. And I don't think you're alone. I don't, every time I ask any female. Founder that question, they're all like, I would say 90% are like, oh, I am not good at it. And part of it is because of whatever we're measuring ourselves against. Yeah. And thinking that we're never doing enough,
there's I just get so excited too.
I think that's a big thing. I have a hard time sleeping at night 'cause I'm excited and then the second I relaxed, I think of another really good idea. I'm like, dang it, I wanna do that. There's just so many things that I want to do and. That I wanna create, and there's so many things that people are asking for, and I wanna be able to provide that in a way that's meaningful and accessible, like to them. So it's really important to me.
Are you running your empire solo? Do you have a team? Like how are you doing? I do everything by
myself.
My goodness. From
graphic design, editing, coding, my website. I do everything myself.
Yeah. Yeah. You're all in. I'm all in. Yeah. When you think of the words powerful and ladies, what do those definitions mean when those words are independent and do they change when they're put next to each other?
Yeah. I definitely, it's really interesting, so I think when you think about powerful, it's like the word awesome and like awe inspiring. That version of awesome rather than like radical, dude, that kind of thing. It's, power has a lot of weight to when you're powerful, you're, you have a sense of responsibility to other people.
It's not just about yourself. I think that's the key thing. Such like a deep existential question, yeah. I think, yeah. I think that the thing about power is that it's really a sense of responsibility to other people. In some way when you're power, when you have power or you're a powerful person, you have the ability to impact the outcome of either different situations or other people's lives, or both that's powerful. And then. Ladies, I guess it has a specific sense of refinement rather than just woman or females or anything like that, a lady is truly in a different caliber. I'd say it's somebody who. Almost has a blueprint in a way for a way that they wanna live their life and a way that they handle both themselves and their interactions with other people.
So I think when you really combine like Powerful and Ladies together, it's about a way of the way that you handle yourself when you're with other people. Knowing that your actions impact other people, that you'll treat other people a very specific way, and that you have a standard, for yourself.
And you know that impacts both how others see you and impacts how others see themselves,
who are powerful women that have helped and guided you along your path.
I would definitely say. Sally Singer who is the editor in chief of the New York Times Style magazine, she's been at Vogue. She took the time to meet with me back 'cause we have a mutual family friend.
Back when I was a lowly intern at Marie Claire navigating, she was the one who told me. You should get on the internet, you should make a blog. So I am deeply, even though we had one interaction indebted to her and her kindness and her graciousness that she did that for me. I'd say when I was working at Lante and Provence, I had two women mentors tally and Serena, who were both, very helpful, I think especially.
When you have a job that's within the business world, it can be so easy to be cutthroat. But the truth is, if you teach other people how to do a good job, that just makes you an even, better boss. So I think that those are some of the, I mean there's been so many, I've been very fortunate to have so many friends and not coworkers, contemporaries, I guess is the word, are wonderful.
So I'm very grateful for that.
We ask everyone who's on the podcast where they put themselves on the powerful Lady scale. If zero is average everyday human, and 10 is most powerful lady you can imagine, where would you put yourself today and on an average day?
I'd say on a scale of everyday regular person to Oprah, like I'm probably about.
On a zero to 10 scale, like I'd say I'm a one, I'm just a normal person. I work, I have friends, I have, different things that I do, and I'm lucky that I get to reach a wide. Group of people, but at the same time, like posing isn't brain surgery it's just posing for photos.
And I'm very lucky to be able to make other people, feel a specific way about themselves or see themselves in a new light. And if that's powerful, that's cool, but I don't really make that many decisions. I feel like most people, they see what, they learn things from me and then they make their own decisions about themselves and they have the power.
Yeah.
I do think that. I talked to many of my clients about this, that the thing that we have access for our million dollar idea or, being amazed that we're making money, doing fill in the blank is the stuff that comes so obvious to us. Yeah. And because we don't realize the skills, or even the vision that we have about something, like how we see something can be so different from other people, but to us it's so normal and yeah.
I need people like you and I need people who know hair and makeup, and I need people who know how to take there's so many things I need to make my business work at any level that I just don't know how to do. Until I see someone else talking about it, I'm like, I didn't even know I had to worry about that.
Dammit. So there's so many things that keep being added on to when you want to step into your power or you want to make sure that. You're creating a brand where people aren't being distracted by something about you or the visual where they can actually hear what you're trying to teach them or know that it's the right fit.
There's so much planning that goes into almost making, like there's this weird balance of making myself disappear so you can hear what I'm saying, but also appear enough where you wanna listen in the first place. Yeah, it's this really funny, strange balance
and it's holding attention 'cause it's we live in such a content econ economy now where you have to hook people within two seconds.
Yeah. That's how long it takes 'em to decide. Okay, do I wanna watch this? Do I not? So there's definitely when I make my little posing videos on the internet, it's definitely a almost like a character. It's like a personality. And then when you work with me, closer one-on-one, it's like this in this capacity, but it. It is true. It's very, it's a very interesting fine line and it's a target that's constantly changing as the way that we consume content continues to change.
Yeah. And it was funny, I had my kind of film team come and shoot a recent workshop I did in person. And they came back and they were like, I didn't know you had a speaker's voice.
And I'm like. I didn't know I had one either until you told me.
What do they mean? Like you have a professional like news, news advice. Yes.
Yeah. Like when I'm, there's like a different, like you said, character that I step into. Yeah. When I'm giving a presentation versus having a casual conversation.
And I don't think I'm someone that changes very much between my different worlds, but it was funny to see how that does, because I know that I'm sure you've had these moments too when you're giving a course or something else. You finish it and you're like, I think I blacked out through that entire thing.
So hopefully that was good. Always.
Always.
Yeah. And it has nothing to do about nerves. It's like really being so present that you're not able to think beyond it. But yeah, so I'm glad it worked, at least. When you're looking at what's next for you and what you're, how you're wrapping up the year and jumping into 2024, what are you excited about and what's next for you?
So I need to relaunch this darn course. So that's the thing I'm like a tinkerer, I like to tinker with things. I am always trying to find the best way to do something that's just like my personality. I've launched my course about three times, gotten feedback from it, and I just want it to be as effective as possible.
Because the thing is you can watch as much posing content video if you want. It's kinda like the same as if you were to watch. Go to the ballet and watch ballet and then watch ballet on YouTube. And it's if you're not actually practicing it okay, cool. Wow, what a beautiful tour that was.
Like you can become like a spectator, but you're not actually gonna learn it. So I finally figured out. And I've been working on this since 2018, the best way to integrate everything in a way that actually gets results. So it's just gonna be a matter of kind of relaunching that like in its beta mode before really Yeah.
Trying to scale it next year, that's my big focus. And then. I we're going in October on like a east coast like leaf peeping trip, which I'm really excited about. My dad turned 70 he turned 75 a few weeks ago, and like he's getting older. I moved back from New York to California in 2019 to help take care of my parents.
So that's why I'm like, back home in California and still living in New York. So his mobility has gone down significantly and we're like, we've never done it. Let's just go. It's gonna be fun. So my sister's gonna join us from Seattle, so we're gonna go do that. And then I have so many fun things planned for fall and holiday just in terms of posing videos, I wanna do more like applicable things like, family posing and like posing with a Thanksgiving, Turkey, like posing around a table.
So I'm really excited for the next three months. What about you?
Oh my goodness. It, my I think we are definitely reaching a maximum capacity for how much stuff we can do and launch in a month. We just relaunched my community, extraordinary entrepreneurs. I'll be in New York in two weeks for a Oh, cool.
A new business that I launched with a partner. And actually we'll be this, it'll be, this will we'll have just come back from when this launches the business show in la. Where we have a booth and I'm speaking, so there's so much going on and we are wrapping up all this new stuff in September so we can really focus on planning for 2024 and just like expanding the community and helping more.
Yeah, more entrepreneurs. There's so many people like yourself who love what they do. And deserve to have empires without having to do more work. And that's just what I'm so committed to helping people put together. So often the things, just I think you and I actually have very aligned businesses in the sense that, a simple shift can radically change a photo.
And I know a simple shift can radically change a business. Yeah. And the thing, it seems so simple, what you have to change. But when it happens, it's not like a one degree shift. It's like either a whole mindset shift or it's holy cow, like this just means I can throw away 80% of stuff I was doing for no reason.
So yeah, it's what you do is profound and giving people access to these small moments that produce profound results is a really fun business to be in.
Yeah, I really enjoy it. I love getting messages from people. I love like meeting people in real life too, and then be like, oh, can I pause you? Which is really fun also.
It's cool being able to connect with people and definitely see. How people see themselves change. So yeah, be a part of their journey. And I love the fact that it's like, they'll be like, oh yeah, my mom and I used your tips or whatever, and so somebody's 80-year-old mother. That's cool.
Like I love that. Yeah.
Yeah. You're impacting everyone. Yeah. Thank you. That's really nice. We've been asking everyone on the podcast as well what do you need? What's on your wishlist? What's on your to manifest list for you personally for your business? This is a smart, helpful, collaborative community and I really do believe that we never know who has that key that we've been looking for.
So what is something that you would like to ask for?
I wanna do more public speaking gigs. I really like it. I think even, I love doing tv. I'm very fortunate that I get to be on tv, like a lot. That's amazing. And I don't even have a publicist or anything it's just like I'm fortunate that, like a lot of people from the news have started following me and then like journalists follow other journalists.
So it's yeah. I get these really cool like features like New York Post or Access Hollywood or like GMA, but I'd love to do more in-person events and things like that, I think. Which is probably the last thing on earth I should be doing right now. It's like I should be automating my e-course and getting like an evergreen funnel set up, but yeah. But I love connecting with people in real life and a lot of my job, I talk to people online and I do zoom calls with people for private coaching and stuff, but. It's a lot of, being in my pajamas and like being on a computer. Yeah. So I'd love to do more like real life things.
Yeah. Whether that's speaking about confidence or kind of self-image or just kinda how posing ties into all that, or just teaching people like practical tips that they can use.
And in that space, like what do you want people to know about confide?
The thing I want people to know is that confidence isn't a blanket term.
So I talk about this a lot, in my course that's constantly being revamped, is that you can actually be confident about multiple different sectors. It's not oh wow, Kara is such like a confident person. It's no, she's confident at podcasting, but maybe she's not confident opposing her photos.
So the thing is, it's really just. Confidence comes from competence. So it's really just learning the skills that you need to learn about one specific thing, getting better at it, and that's how you grow your confidence. So if it's public speaking or you feel, anxious about speaking in front of people, it would just be practicing it, growing your competence, and then eventually you'll become confident in it.
So there's no like magic sauce to confidence. It's literally just knowing the right techniques. Practicing it than putting your own stylistic spin on it until you feel really good doing it.
And I think even to go a step further, like just being brave enough to say, I don't know how to do this. Yeah.
There's so many people who know, they don't know, but they're afraid to ask because it will, whatever it will mean if they admit they don't know how to do something. But whether it's, I don't know how to pose or I dunno how to like really manage my money, or I dunno how to use QuickBooks, or I don't know what.
This contract means like being brave to ask for help. Like suddenly you get to skip through things and it's oh, you look, you got your shit together, and it's Nope. I just ask a lot of questions. Thank you.
No, that's so right.
How has your confidence evolved as you have taken on this business and seen the impact that you make?
So it's, I've always been really. Confident kind of at what I do. I've definitely become more confident when it comes to recording video. That's something, that has become more like second nature. It's funny watching, my videos from like 2020 when I first started doing short form video and just seeing like how much it's changed.
And, I'm wearing makeup today because like I have to go to an event in LA after, but like normally I just don't even wear makeup anymore. It's just okay, this is me, you can take it or leave it. And this is, it's I'm segueing, which I apologize for if that's okay.
No, go ahead. It's funny 'cause my sister asked me, what is it like with your relationship with your body? Because a lot of people who grow really quickly on the internet. There can be a lot of like self-loathing or becoming hypercritical of your appearance. But for me, it's actually become the opposite because there's literally a new version of me every day and the content keeps on changing.
So it's almost as if things that I felt so self-conscious about, they really don't matter as much anymore. Because I'm constantly moving and I think that. A lot of times in life I get like analysis paralysis or I'd get really like procrastination because something is so important to me, and I think that's somewhere I've really grown a lot also, because you realize like how little things.
Truly matter. Yeah. What's the worst? It's oh, you're gonna have a video with 11 million people seeing me make a fool outta myself. That's happened. We can do it again. Like it's happened, yeah. And people say things and people like, I'm still here, so it's like yeah, it, I've grown.
In my ability to take risks, I've definitely become more confident in that sector because this kind of like level of visibility has been very interesting. So it's gotten me out of like my own ego, I think, in a lot of ways for the better.
Yeah. Yeah. When you realize how fast the content is consumed and tossed aside, and then you realize how much content you're going to actually make in the.
Whole world of what you're doing, it gets to the point where you're like, it doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter.
It's little. It's one blip. And yeah, maybe like we'll have a mega viral experience and maybe it'll end up on the news for it, but chances are like it'll just be another piece of content,
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then once you do that, you just get back on and keep going again, but there's Keep going. Yeah. That element of like head down grit, like just keep making what you know you want and need to make. And because there's like this. I don't know if this happens to you. There's a guiding force of I, it's, I can't ignore where I know I'm supposed to go.
Yeah, definitely. It's I have a choice, but I almost don't have a choice about what's coming next because I'm not able to even, like you said earlier, sleep, if I know that I'm supposed to be like going towards the right and I'm like, no, but the plan was to go left and it's we gotta change it now.
Like I, there's nothing I can do about it. Yeah. So what? What is that driving force for you like? Or how does it show up for you? I think is the real question. Do you just know it? Do you feel it? Does it poke you for a while if you're ignoring it?
It comes in my quiet times, like the shower before sleep.
It's just I'll have I don't wanna be like an ingenious idea. It's not, it's like sometimes they're your arm a specific way and getting, it's like not, but yeah, it just, it comes to me and then I almost like. Unravel it further and further. And then I'm very lucky in that I'm able to remember these things kinda later.
It's not oh, this is a good idea. It's mill it over like it, there was that kind of fable about the, I guess the cobbler who would cut the leather and then lay it out. And then the elves would do it at night when he was asleep. And it was like a metaphor for letting ideas rest, and then they will come together.
So it's almost like that.
Yeah. Yeah. No I think so too. There's, people get on, they'll be mean to themselves about procrastinating, about putting together the course final touches or putting together their strategy or whatever it is that we have to build. And I am like, yeah.
But have you been thinking about it for six months or a year? Six years have been, yeah. Has it been like ruminating this whole time?
I ruminated for three years before I put out my first e product. Yeah. Like literally ruminated on it, yeah. Yeah. So
I bet when it came down to you finally typing it, it didn't take three years.
No, it didn't. It probably took three hours. Didn't,
My ebook took a year to make just because I shot everything, edited it, yes. Put it together myself, but yeah, this, I normally, that's something I found really helpful workflow wise is I script. Yeah. My poor Notes app is so scary.
Like it's just, I'll dictate into my phone and then it will say everything wrong and it'll be like, but it's just, it's a helpful thing. I highly recommend that if somebody is dealing with procrastination, open up your notes app on your phone, just start talking into your phone, all of your ideas.
Just dump it out,
Yeah. Yeah. I totally agree. Yeah. I. I am thankful for voice memos and the audio app and everything else because it's, we just have to get it out. And that's why I think when we do have a moment to like, get the idea on paper, it's actually really easy to write out what we need to do.
And then as okay, like we spent all the time ruminating on it. We actually wrote it out and created it pretty quickly, and now we have to execute on it. But we get so nervous that we don't know how to start. And it's like you do, it's just all in your head to get it on paper or get it in a voice note.
Get it out of your body. So that either you can have your brain start percolating on the next thing you need, or so people can help you because no one can help you if it's stuck in your head. Yeah.
No, it's so right.
So for everybody who is I need to take your course, I need to hire her.
I need her help yesterday. Where can they find you, follow you, work with you, and support you?
Yeah, so I am on TikTok at Look Good in Photos. I am on Instagram at the Christine Busan. If you're on Facebook, I'm look good in photos with Christine Busan. That's B-U-Z-A-N. I'm sure there'll be like a little thing that's thrown up there.
So you can find me there. I have my ebook 101 Ways to Pose, which is how to pose for photos.com and yeah. Definitely the ebook is a great way, great place to start. I think that's really helpful for a lot of people just because it shows you, different ways of thinking about posing.
So it has 101 different poses, and then as well as the photo, it's a. Written explanation, put your weight on your back leg shift. Like very, yeah, because most people, I know, some people learn best through audio or video or reading, and I'm a reading learner, which I think that we get forgotten about a lot.
So I try to include that too in everything that I do.
I love that. Yeah. Thank you so much for taking time today and sharing your wisdom and everything you know about posing and confidence and beyond with us today. I know that a lot of people are gonna be very excited about this episode, so thank you for being a Yes to me and to the powerful ladies.
Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm happy to meet everybody and that kind of thing. So yeah, say hi to me on social media.
All the links that connect with Christine and her looking good in photos, tools are in our show notes@thepowerfulladies.com. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening, and leave us a rating and review. Visit us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies, and if you're looking to connect directly with me, visit kara duffy.com or Kara Duffy on Instagram.
I'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Until then, I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.
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Instagram: @thechristinebuzan
Website: www.howtoposeforphotos.com
TikTok: @lookgoodinphotos
Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
