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How I helped generate a total of $1.6MM in revenue for my students~
180 Plays2 years ago
Wedding Photographers: You can reach six figures+ in 2023
~A mini course podcast on how I helped generate a total of $1.6MM in revenue for my students~
I'm a proud mama bear!
After coaching dozens of students, I started to noticing themes and mindet shifts that helped them get unstuck and finally start booking weddings (with the clients they wanted to work with).
Do you see yourself in any of these entanglements? Get yourself unstuck and Tune in.
Download my new ebook on my 6 steps to HECK YES : How I conduct a 30-minute zoom sales call. https://heckyesmedia.co/
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They didn't know how to built their tribe
️ They didn't know how to articulate their value and close the deal in less than 24 hours.
️ They didn't know how to automate their marketing
️ They didn't know how to be active listeners
️ They didn't know the real purpose on social media
Now they are thriving!!
Connect with me on the gram https://www.instagram.com/carissawoo
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Transcript
Introduction: Carissa's Success Story
00:00:00
Speaker
Happy Woo Wednesdays! I have a personal podcast today on how I helped my wedding photography students make a combined revenue of 1.6 million dollars! Woo-hoo! I've always been a believer that there is enough business to go around and I'm a believer that bride and grooms are willing to spend the money if you know how to work the system. Do you guys want some of that? I'm such a proud mama bear. I finally have a new freebie.
00:00:28
Speaker
It's my eBook on 6 Steps to Getting a Heck Yes. It's my full-on process on how to conduct a 30-minute Zoom sales call. It's so genuine, heartfelt, and it's pretty much my secret sauce, all for you. Go to my website, www.hecyesmedia.co, to download it, and it comes with so much more. Enjoy today's episode.
Helping Photographers Thrive: Carissa's Methods
00:00:57
Speaker
Welcome to Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. I'm your host, Carissa, and I've been a Los Angeles wedding photographer for over a decade. I've traveled the world, built my team, and seen it all. I now coach wedding photographers hit 10K a month and build a thriving business. In this podcast, we are going to deep dive into how top wedding creatives get that heck yes from their dream clients. We are not holding back on the struggles of the business and how to push through the noise. Some healthy hustle, mindset shifts, up-leveling your money story,
00:01:26
Speaker
time hacks because I'm a mom of two, a little bit of woo-woo, and most importantly, self-love and confidence are just a few of the many things we will talk about. I want to give you a genuine thank you for following along my journey. I hope to inspire you every Woo Wednesday so that you say heck yes to listening to this podcast. See you guys soon!
00:01:48
Speaker
What is up, guys? Happy Woo Wednesdays. I'm so excited to be with you. This is my second personal episode. I always do interview styles, so super exciting. But today, I'm going to do a humble brag for my students.
00:02:05
Speaker
It's how I helped generate over $1.6 million in revenue for my students. And also you can see yourself in these stories because there's lots of mindset shifts.
Overcoming Challenges in the Photography Business
00:02:16
Speaker
So you guys could be fully booked and reach six figures plus in 2023. Oh my God, I can't believe we're already in mid
00:02:25
Speaker
February. So that's crazy. But you guys all know me, I've been doing this coaching thing for about three years intensely. But really, I've been a coach at heart for about 13 years. Anytime someone wanted help with anything, I was just super eager to share my knowledge. And a lot of second tutors told me that I helped them
00:02:48
Speaker
quit the nine to five and live the life of their dreams in wedding photography because I truly think it's the best career in the world. What better way to spend your Saturday and Sunday at someone else's biggest day of their life. So after coaching wedding photographers across the country for three years, I started noticing some common themes. So that's what I'm going to be talking about today. And hopefully you can see yourselves in my students and it can help you.
00:03:18
Speaker
So these themes were mainly around lack of clarity and fear. Those are the two main ones. So they didn't have clarity. These are my students on their processes, how to explain their value, how to scale, and how to screen clients because you don't want to waste your time.
00:03:42
Speaker
They were also scared and intimidated by technology. I was once there asking for what they wanted. I was once there. Social media, of course, and becoming a leader. So isn't that interesting? The lack of clarity combined with fear kept even the most talented photographers from making 10K a month.
00:04:06
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Yeah, they were talented. They had the portfolio and everything. But once they broke free of these entanglements, their businesses skyrocketed.
Defining Unique Value and Scaling Up
00:04:15
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So today I'm going to share with you the fear and confusion that held my students back and where they are now, making a combined amount of 1.6 million since working with me. Holy moly-woleys. So are you ready? Say heck yes.
00:04:33
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All right, let's begin. So before my students, they were intimidated by automation and tech. Raise your hand if you are there.
00:04:43
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So I get it, it feels big, it feels daunting, but when someone is holding your hand through the process that feels impossible, they were able to take action and it's actually not that intimidating. So after my students have these awesome automations in place, they have automated welcome email sequences to capture leads.
00:05:07
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They have downloadable and shareable, beautiful design lead magnets that goes to all their subscribers automatically. And they have downloadable and shareable, beautifully designed pricing guides and vendor brochures in their brand, which is a major hit with vendors and couples alike.
00:05:29
Speaker
Lead magnets, I have them all for you templated. I have like five of them. One of them is nine powerful questions every wedding photographer should be able to answer. I have 12 horror stories why 40% of couples are unhappy with their photos and why you don't want to be a statistic. I have your favorite engagement locations and the copy is so, so adorable.
00:05:58
Speaker
And you send these lead managers out in exchange for their emails, and you want to butter them up. So before my students, they didn't know how to scale. Scaling usually means hiring a team. And that's great, but it's not always in the cards for everyone. You don't want to have that fat bill at the end of the month and think, oh, no, where did all my money go? So for my students, scaling without investing in a full-blown team is possible.
00:06:27
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So my students have a way to scale without hiring like crazy. So scaling to me means crafting super sexy, irresistible offers and contracting out where it makes sense. I'll talk more about that later.
00:06:43
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And also before they had blended in with the crowd, they didn't know how to differentiate themselves. They thought being unique meant going all crazy. Like you had to be the one and the only person in the world that had that type of photography. No. So after my students found their unique value position, they found their niche,
00:07:07
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one of my girls, my students, she coined herself as chasing sunsets photographer, colorful skies, um, indie pop, my girl now she's kind of like the raver photographer and she gets featured on green wedding shoes.
00:07:21
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My girl Bella, one of her brand values is kindness. So all her branding has kindness. I mean, who wouldn't want to hire a kind photographer? So they coined these terms for themselves and they're truly standing out from the crown because you don't want to blend in.
00:07:40
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I was shooting weddings basically for free or for like a grand and I was having to haggle for every single session to try and like show them my value and now I have clients coming to me saying that they want to work with me and I have more importantly other people in the industry recognizing my worth and asking me to work with them.
00:08:06
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which to me means even more than the clients because they're people who've been in the industry for 10 plus years. They've seen you know hundreds of other photographers and they're able to recognize me and the value that I can offer them.
00:08:23
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Yep, that's my student Kimberly. She's just one of my dozens of students crushing it. Go on my website, www.heckyesmedia.co and book a 15-minute strategy session with me. Only if you want to be booked out on multiple preferred vendor lists and have a proven marketing plan.
00:08:44
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And before my students, they didn't know how to articulate their value. Pricing for wedding photography is very subjective, and most clients don't know how to budget for their weddings. So it's up to each of us to clearly and competently explain our value.
00:09:02
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So the question, what is your budget? Does that mean anything? In reality, all the clients want to know is how they're getting their money's worth. I could take someone's budget of $2,500 and bring it up to 8K with my irresistible offers, packaging, and pricing.
00:09:22
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So after my students know exactly what to say, and they can answer those quite challenging questions. That was one of the biggest challenge I have when I started wedding photography, I would go to a meeting and just at the end just feel so like
00:09:37
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I don't know, embarrassed and, you know, I feel like crying because the groom was rolling their eyes and they just wanted to know the price and I didn't know how to lead the meeting. So now my students can show how their clients are getting the biggest bang for their buck and don't have to reach out to any other photographers or go on their 10th meeting, which was super annoying.
Building Confidence and a CEO Mindset
00:10:00
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Another thing, before they didn't know how to ask for what they wanted, I'm raising my hand, you can't see me, it's audio, but I was so there, I could not ask for what I wanted. They thought that they were being bothersome, they didn't feel good enough, they thought vendors were getting bombarding with inquiries, so they assumed their outreach would get ignored. And my students thought people already had clicks, or that other vendors will laugh at them, or worse of all, that their peers would think,
00:10:26
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they're being slimy yeah seriously i i would hate that but most importantly my students simply did not know what to say because they didn't understand that reaching out to others could be mutually beneficial remember that term mutually beneficial relationship and after my students have the confidence to
00:10:47
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reach out for coffee with industry peers, photographers as well as vendors, ask to go on IG live with wedding planners or venues, share their lead magnet, and others share it too. They could act like their own PR agency and ask publications like brides.com to write about them.
00:11:09
Speaker
Before my students, they didn't know how they needed to find their tribe. They worked alone and didn't mingle much. They didn't know that finding people who support you, send you leads, and becoming a family could be life changing for their business. Leads are going to come in from different locations, so it's better if you could refer each other.
00:11:33
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And also, after my students are making a name for themselves, they're having fun networking with other photographers, they're getting their name in front of other industry professionals, they're getting referrals from their new tribe, and they're becoming the go-to photographer for their niche.
00:11:56
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Before my students, they didn't understand what it meant to be the CEO of their business. As a CEO, you know how much you want to make, and why would you give a heavy discount if you know how much money you want to make, how many weddings a year you needed, and you knew your numbers? So after my students are becoming leaders, they stepped into their power as a leader.
00:12:21
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They're more professional in their own way. And professional doesn't mean you're, you know, stuffy or you wear black all the time. They're more brandable. They're more confident. They're confident enough in their business and no longer get offended or upset when people say no. They close within 24 hours on the sales call. They raise their prices without raising their prices.
00:12:47
Speaker
and also before they didn't understand the real purpose behind social media. They focused on the view count and metrics that really don't matter because it's not about the views and it's not just about looking good. It's really about who you want to connect with. It's a networking tool.
Strategic Social Media and Overcoming Fears
00:13:06
Speaker
And after, my students use social media more strategically and effectively. Change their entire mindset behind social. They're creating content that feels so natural and demonstrates their value. And they have said goodbye to traditional content calendars. They work for a couple weeks and then, I don't know, somehow they're disappeared in thin air.
00:13:30
Speaker
So in a nutshell, before working with me, my students were stuck. And after working with me, they each had their own unique breakthrough and major mindset shift. They got started on the things they were scared of and realized it's not so scary when you have someone on your side. They build massive confidence, which had a snowball effect leading to more leads, more creativity, and greater results.
00:13:59
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So for the wedding photographer who is ready to ditch the fear and confusion so you can skyrocket your business and your potential, my program is made for you.
00:14:11
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No more wondering how many inquiries you're going to get this month, no more being intimidated by things and people who can help you, and no more hoping and praying.
Connecting with Carissa and Resources
00:14:22
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So I will personally help you and guide you to the other side, just as I did with my other students.
00:14:30
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I'm sure you have questions. So apply in the show notes. And yeah, I would love to work with you guys. Thank you guys for listening and have a great rest of your week.
00:14:46
Speaker
Thanks for joining me this week on Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. Make sure to follow, subscribe, leave a review, or tell a friend about the show. Take a screenshot and post to IG. Tag me. Also, don't forget to download my free guide on how to become a lead generating machine. See you next time, wedding pros.