051 - Building a Life Bigger Than Your Business w/ Perry Vaile

<p>This week Brad and Jen sit down with Perry Vaile, a destination and editorial wedding photographer, historian, educator, and creative whose life stretches far beyond the wedding industry.</p><p></p><p>What begins as a conversation about Perry’s mountain home in North Carolina quickly turns into something much bigger: ambition, success, identity, community, social media, and what it means to build a life that doesn’t depend on your work to fulfill you.</p><p></p><p>Perry shares the story of building a 15-year photography career, the moments she felt like she had finally “made it,” and how her relationship to success has evolved over time. From photographing a Victoria’s Secret supermodel’s wedding to intentionally removing social media from her phone, she offers a refreshing perspective on staying connected to what matters while working in an industry built on visibility and comparison.</p><p></p><p>Together, we explore boundaries, hobbies, community, family, creativity, and the challenge of building a successful career without sacrificing the life around it.</p><p></p><p><b>We also explore:</b></p><p>• Living a “split life” between the mountains and the city, and why each pace feeds the other</p><p>• Buying land on instinct and building a home designed to last generations</p><p>• The two moments Perry felt like she had “made it”</p><p>• Finding the confidence to stand up for her work on a make-or-break deadline</p><p>• Entering a world of wealth without attaching her worth to it</p><p>• Why real memories matter more than staged perfection</p><p>• Removing social media from her phone and creating healthier boundaries</p><p>• Archery, needlepoint, gardening, reading, and building a life outside the industry</p><p>• Creating local community on purpose</p><p>• Holding success open-handedly and defining it on your own terms</p><p>• Working smarter, protecting rest, and avoiding burnout</p><p>• Why “going quiet” may be the biggest risk for photographers today</p><p></p><p><b>Connect with Perry</b></p><p>Website: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://perryvaile.com/" target="_blank">https://perryvaile.com/</a><br />Instagram: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.instagram.com/perryvaile" target="_blank">@perryvaile</a></p><p></p><p><b>Connect with Us</b></p><p><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://learn.bradandjen.com/purpose-and-profit-course" target="_blank">Join Purpose &amp; Profit </a>– A Roadmap to 10k Weddings</p><p><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://learn.bradandjen.com/mastermind-application" target="_blank">Apply for the Mastermind Program</a> - High level 1:1 creative coaching &amp; community.</p><p></p><p><b>Chapters</b></p><p>(00:00) Welcome and the seven-weekend stretch ahead</p><p>(01:00) A split life between the mountains and Raleigh</p><p>(03:30) Buying the land and building a forever home</p><p>(08:45) The long view: who do you want to be at 70?</p><p>(14:00) Fifteen years in and the moments she “made it”</p><p>(22:00) Chutzpah, film deadlines, and confidence</p><p>(24:00) Wealth, worth, and belonging in luxury spaces</p><p>(27:00) The historian’s approach to photography</p><p>(32:00) Redefining success and holding it loosely</p><p>(40:00) Protecting the craft from the industry</p><p>(42:00) Social media boundaries and bricking the phone</p><p>(48:00) Hobbies, books, and building community</p><p>(56:00) Perspective, gratitude, and figure-out-able problems</p><p>(59:00) Working smarter and protecting rest</p><p>(01:13:00) What matters now and why going quiet is risky</p><p>(01:20:00) Books, recommendations, and what’s next<br /><br />Keywords: wedding photography, destination wedding photographer, boundaries, work-life balance, redefining success, building community, photographer mindset, burnout, rest and margin, intentional living, historic preservation, film photography, photographer education</p>