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Finding your happiness again - Laura Weintraub
101 Plays4 years ago
Happy Woo Wednesdays! Today's episode is with Laura Weintraub (creative artist, writer, published author and entrepreneur.) She owned a wedding photography company called Weintraub with her late husband for 20 years. Their team shot 80-100 weddings a years. Wow!
Laura recently did a rebrand and is focussing on couples over 50. They were the top top top photographers in the south bay and she is still thriving but on a smaller more niche scale.
She is also a happiness coach so if you are going through a transition in your life or going through loss, she can help.
In this episode Laura brings value and wisdom to you by discussing what happens when the bubble bursts and the lights go out? How to get back on your feet again after a setback, loss, health issues or simply aging out of the business. There’s been a lot of loss since the pandemic hit and many are struggling to find their path again.
Freebie
A free download of my upcoming book “What Happened to my Happy” 3 essential keys to jumpstart your path to happiness. DM her.
Follow Laura here
New website coming soon.
https://www.instagram.com/our.time.events.lw/
Follow me here
http://instagram.com/carissawoo
download my free guide
https://carissa-woo.mykajabi.com/lead-generating-machine
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Transcript
Introduction to Laura Weintraub
00:00:00
Speaker
Today in this episode, I chat with Laura Weintraub. The Weintraubs were a big deal in the wedding industry, especially in the South Bay for two decades. They were shooting 80 weddings a year, along with having a brick and mortar. I've known Laura for over a decade, and she is such a genuine person, and I'm excited that she found her new niche in photography for couples over 50. This conversation is so fitting for anyone struggling with loss and finding their happy again. I hope this episode helps many of you. Enjoy!
00:00:32
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,
00:00:58
Speaker
mindset shifts, upleveling your money story, 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. Hey guys, this is Carissa Woo. Thanks for listening to my podcast.
00:01:28
Speaker
I'm with my friend, Laura Weintraub.
Rebranding Focus for Clients Over 50
00:01:30
Speaker
We've known each other for over a decade. She's a creative artist. She's a writer. She's a published author and entrepreneur. And she's been in the service and event industry as a photographer and makeup artist for over 20 years. She's a veteran. And she's currently in the process of reinventing her brand to serve clients who are celebrating life.
00:01:53
Speaker
and love after age of 50. So welcome, Laura. We did it. I'm drinking my coffee and you're drinking your TV. No, I'm actually drinking this, this product called Calm. Have you heard of it? Is it a kava? It's magnesium. It's based, no, it's magnesium, but it comes in a powdered form. It's called Calm and they actually are the ones who developed that app called Calm.
00:02:17
Speaker
Oh, okay. Yeah. I think I heard of it on a podcast commercial.
Journey into Photography
00:02:21
Speaker
Yeah. I just, I haven't, I spoke to you like a couple months ago about your son doing drones, but I just wanted to kind of ease into the conversation. And I'm not going to say you're big bio, but just tell the listeners like who you are, like
00:02:35
Speaker
kind of your journey. I know it's a long journey, but just like a good recap of the past 20 years of what you're doing now where you're where you are today. I know we're going to get into some deep stuff later, but well, I got into this business over. I hate to say because I'm really getting my age away, but
00:02:55
Speaker
You look great. I started at age 12. I know when I tell people, you know, I've got two sons that are in their, you know, late 20s, early 30s. So like, when did you start having kids when you were 12? I would say the secret of youth is to really honor yourself and always make sure that you're doing a, you know, you check in with yourself, make sure that your stress level is
00:03:23
Speaker
kept at bay. But even more so that you're doing what you love and doing things that make you happy. Because that's the key. That's the key to youth. And sometimes that can be really difficult. And it's like
00:03:38
Speaker
Being in the event industry, I learned how to take pictures. My very first camera was a Hasselblad. I don't know if anybody knows. Those who are equipment connoisseurs know what a Hasselblad camera is and I learned the whole, that was my first camera, which is very unusual to say, yeah, my first camera was a Hasselblad, but that's what we learned. You know, that's what I learned on.
00:04:01
Speaker
Cause I started this business with my, my late husband back in the late eighties. And so it's been a
Transition from Film to Digital
00:04:08
Speaker
journey. It's been a great business. Um, it's, it's given us, you know, a wonderful lifestyle and all of that. Uh, we had a brick and mortar building for over 20 years on Pacific Coast Highway down the beach. So, you know, I've been through this business to all the changes and the incredible growth.
00:04:26
Speaker
pains that we both had to go through when we had to transition from film to digital. So long story short, in that journey, you know, there's a lot of ups and downs, trials and errors. And finally, one day, you were extremely successful. But finally, one day, I was miserable. I'm like, why am I miserable? You know, enjoying the South Bay is beautiful. I live down the beach.
00:04:56
Speaker
I got my two kids. The reason I started the business was because I wanted to be able to raise my kids. I wanted to be able to be there for my kids. Yes. And so that was kind of the, you know, the why, like, why should I start a business? Yeah. And then secondary, I wanted us to be happy. So my husband loves photography. So I was like, okay, let's start a business photography. And the rest is history. I had a marketing background. He had a photography background. I didn't
00:05:24
Speaker
really get behind the camera until eight years into the business, believe it or not. And again, it was like, we had a couple of photographers working for us like you, you've got a team, we had a team. But then you always have to wear many hats, as you know. And one day we had the misfortune of one of our photographers passing and I had to step up to the plate. So my husband put the camera in my hand and he said, you go do this.
00:05:52
Speaker
Oh, yeah, there's lots of stories you don't know. That's crazy. I can write a book, you know, so yeah, I shot my first reception and it all worked out well. And I had a great time. I loved it. And I wanted to learn more, you know, it's like that, the hunger struck and I wanted to learn more. And so he actually trained me by we'd be driving around town and come to a stop sign and he would look at a tree and somebody said, Okay, what's the exposure?
00:06:21
Speaker
What's the shutter speed? What's the, you know, what lens are you going to use? Where are you going to put the bride? Blah, blah, blah. And so that's how I learned. And then when the digital age hit, that was a huge growth spurt and he loved film and I was ready to try something else. So I got involved with professional photography of Orange County. Okay. And by 2005, I was president of that association and it gave me the opportunity to
00:06:49
Speaker
bring in speakers so that I got educated for free. Well, not for free because I paid with my time because I was a
Digital Photography Milestones
00:06:59
Speaker
president at the time, but you know, a year, well, let's say I was DP and then president. So in those two years, I was able to learn a lot in terms of digital. And then we were able to make that transition. And the very first one and I shot with a digital camera. I remember investing in a attendee.
00:07:17
Speaker
And that was a cannon because I get a call from my bride and we're going over the details of her wedding about two months. And she's, oh, by the way, you know, this is being televised. And I said, what? Yeah. She goes, I'm on, um, I got selected and I went and got selected for this show called weddings gone wild. It was ABC with Diane Sawyer. Oh my God. And I'm like, Oh my God, what am I going to do? I wasn't concerned about being on television. I was concerned about how I had no idea what to expect in terms of
00:07:46
Speaker
you know, cameramen, their lighting, you know, their equipment, and how am I going to get the shot that I need to get and so forth. So I invested in an attendee cannon. And I called my girlfriend down in Orange County. Her name is Katie, who's actually now my principal photographer for my new business. Oh, and she gave me a crash course on it. And we shot that wedding. And it was incredible.
00:08:10
Speaker
experience. There were four, you know, cameramen on site. So I had to navigate around all that. And, you know, it's an amazing camera and beautiful photographs, but it's not very flexible. Yeah. You can get in and around and other things like we can with our digital cameras. And so I ended up, one of my shots ended up in the Washington Post because that's my, what do you call it? My
00:08:37
Speaker
Three seconds of thing. Yeah. That's huge. Yeah. And then it's
Client Satisfaction and Business Success
00:08:43
Speaker
time went on. Like I said, so yeah, I found myself eventually, you were so busy and I was miserable. I'm like, why am I unhappy? Yeah. Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me. And I realized, um, I created the monster. Wow. So, so fix it, fix it.
00:09:03
Speaker
And I had to just take a step back, peel my business apart, look at all the things that I enjoyed doing and all the things that I didn't enjoy doing. And I either had to stop doing it, no longer offering certain aspects of my business or farming it out to somebody who can and do it efficiently, according to my expectations.
00:09:27
Speaker
Yeah. At this point in time, how many weddings have you shot and how many weddings were you shooting? I stopped counting back in the late
00:09:37
Speaker
I would say early 2000s. We were well over 2000 weddings in our career. And I stopped counting after that. Oh, that's crazy. I probably have about 3000 and somewhere in the 3000. Oh, that gives me like anxiety range. I thought I was shooting a lot of wedding. Oh my God. Yeah, we were shooting sometimes 80 to 100 weddings a year. And what? And don't get me wrong. I mean,
00:10:01
Speaker
I love every single customer. And one of my, what I'm really proud about is, you know, with every business, you want to make your clients happy. You want to have a happy business, but Hey, you know, if you can hit 98%, you're doing pretty well. Yeah. If I could end, if I could end each year and count on one hand, Less than five people who were unhappy. And those are the ones that I would evaluate and look at. Okay. What needs to be improved. Yes. Uh-huh.
00:10:31
Speaker
you know, what, where do we go wrong? And sometimes it was just, you know, make sure if you hire a sales manager or somebody that's looking for you that does the bookings, make sure that you resonate with them so that life attracts life. Because when I would count those five, it was not my bookings. Oh, I can see the sales manager. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:10:59
Speaker
So that's really important. And then that's what I've learned about creating an avatar, knowing who your avatar is. Your avatar is going to match the kind of client that you want to attract.
00:11:11
Speaker
Yeah, I guess, I mean, I guess this conversation could go so many ways, but tell us like who you're serving right now, because I know it's not our hot topic today, but it's really important in your business of who you're serving because you really had to hone in to that niche avatar that you're talking about. So who is this perfect client of ours?
Finding the Right Client Niche
00:11:31
Speaker
Well, as time went by, I realized that I didn't, um, I didn't want to compete with the number of photographers that had hit the market. Uh, gosh, I mean, I remember the first time we went to a W PPI event, maybe two, 3000 photographers. Now it's 20 or 30,000 photographers. And it's just like, I don't, I don't want to feel like I want to compete for that business. And, um, nor could I.
00:11:59
Speaker
with the expenses I had at the time and stuff. So anyway, I, again, had to dial things back and decide, well, who is my client? You know, who do I want to serve? I think that's an important question. Ask yourself, who do I want to serve? And who can I serve well? And who can I resonate with? And this is the kind of business that you can age out in, as you know. Yes, I made you now. You're too young.
00:12:29
Speaker
But, you know, I had to ask myself, who do I enjoy working with? Okay, now, and again, this is, I'm pushing 50, I am starting to consider because, you know, bookings went way down and there's a lot of different things that affect the business, but long story short, I kind of stepped away from the business for a few years and then just started to really look at who I wanted to,
00:12:57
Speaker
to provide services for, and who could I make a difference in people's lives? And in doing so, I took this amazing course. I'm going to just take a look here. It's with Tony Robbins. I accidentally fell into a free ticket to his master class on the date with Destiny. The date with Destiny course. It was a whole week down in Palm Springs. It was really intense.
00:13:21
Speaker
But one of the biggest takeaways was really learning how to discover what your top five values are in life. And it's a worksheet that you do. And you basically narrow it down to what your top five values are in life after you do this whole questionnaire. And at the time, I remember when he
00:13:51
Speaker
Told us about his at one time it was contribution was number one. Okay. And then he went through some major health challenges major big ones.
00:14:02
Speaker
And he realized that he was contributing and he was happy with that part of his life, but his health was being compromised. So he switched it around. He made health first and contribution last. But when I did that course and I discovered my top five values, health was his number one for me. It always has been passion, money, love, contribution.
00:14:29
Speaker
And when you want to use the word money, don't be afraid to use the word money. It doesn't have to be abundance or prosperity, let's be real. You need to
Passion for Makeup Artistry
00:14:44
Speaker
make money to have, you have to have enough money to live a lifestyle that you will enjoy. I like money. I'm raising my hand. Great, great, great.
00:14:57
Speaker
because that's interesting. A lot of times people are afraid of using the word money. Yeah. Money thought about the money, but you know, it is about the money. Sometimes it is about the money, but money is an energy. And if you're doing what you love, money will follow. It's just natural. It's just like this energetic vibe that you put out there and the money falls because you're passionate about it. You're passionate about what you do. And then you start to really get in touch with the value. This is amazing. Wait, so,
00:15:27
Speaker
What year was it, the Tony Robbins event? I did that, I think it was in 2010. Okay, so just for the listener to know, you are a makeup artist and photographer, wine shop photography. So was your makeup company like simultaneously happening throughout the photography? I started doing makeup artists too back in my 30s. It was a passion that I had while I was in high school.
00:15:54
Speaker
And I really wanted to go to makeup school and my parents, you know, wouldn't help me. They said, you're not, you can't make it in life as a makeup artist. My family are all educators. So if you go to school, you become a teacher and then maybe you become a principal and then maybe an administrator like my father. So yeah, I was lucky for the family. That was just not my calling. Okay. You know, I became an entrepreneur. I think probably when I was about seven years old and I used to,
00:16:23
Speaker
put, you know, do my own little plays and my grandmother's backyard and I'd set up a theater and I'd sell tickets to all the neighborhood kids and, you know, and then they, you know, we started our business and I would say about eight years into it, maybe 10 years into it. I had a window of opportunity in my thirties to go to school. Okay.
00:16:44
Speaker
And so I went and I went, I got to go to my favorite school, an artist I always wanted to learn from. He's no longer around but at that time he was like, you know, the guy you go to. Like right now the main school is called
00:17:00
Speaker
mud, but back then I was Joe Blasco Hollywood makeup school, so I was able to fulfill that dream, go to school, learn that technique, and brought it into the business. And it was a good time because we need to start to diversify. I was able to recognize back then you need to diversify. You can't have all your money, so it's come from one
00:17:21
Speaker
source of income and a lot of, yeah. And I, you know, since my husband and I were both in the business together, we didn't have like, you know, another. Person who one of us, you know, had another job to bring in extra income. So it was, uh, for many years. Yeah. I mean, just to tell the listeners, like you did my makeup and all my bridesmaids makeup for my wedding in 2015. And I like pretty high, I gotta say.
00:17:52
Speaker
You are hot. Oh, thank you. Thank you. You're too. Okay. I just have a hot, you're a hot mommy now. Oh yeah. Um, I'm just kidding. Um, okay. So Laura, I asked you two questions before we get into our hot topic just to keep the time going. So these are kind of a little bit shorter and it's going to allude to our hot topic. But after the Tony Robbins workshop, did it change you being miserable to not miserable? Like right away, did you just have to like
00:18:20
Speaker
totally scaled back. Was there a big, huge, different Laura after that Tony Robbins event?
Health Crisis and Personal Growth
00:18:28
Speaker
Well, I went through a life crisis in 2007, a major health crisis in 2007. I'm lucky to be alive. In that time in my life, I remember we had about 60 or 80 weddings on the books and I needed major surgery. My mother had just passed away.
00:18:49
Speaker
And then I found myself fighting for my own life. And I got hit hard. And it's like, how am I gonna keep this business going? I have to, and that's when you start to, what are you doing? What do you mean? It's not about the business. You gotta take care of yourself. You may not make it through this. And I'll never forget I came home that day after getting diagnosis.
00:19:13
Speaker
that I had to have a major surgery. And I had just lost my mother. There was no time to grieve. There was no time to mourn or to even process what had just happened. And I wrote in my journal, I'm not afraid to die, but I'm not done living.
00:19:30
Speaker
And I got goosebumps. And so I had to really take it all in. And I'm a very spiritual woman. I have a lot of faith in something that's greater than myself. And I just called that in, that source and supply that's been providing for me all these years. And I said, if this is your world from my life, well, fine. You're in charge anyway. I can't go through this alone.
00:19:59
Speaker
I can't do this alone. And so that journey began and ultimately ended up writing a book.
00:20:06
Speaker
which ended up being the tool that I was looking for at the time when I needed inspiration. It's a very short read. It's called, I'm not afraid to die, but I'm not done living. Five essential keys to jumpstart your path to health. And jumpstarting your path to health has to do with mindset. Everything that we do is mindset.
00:20:29
Speaker
Knowing what your top five values are in life will always have to make the right decisions. So if health is your number one value in life, you will make your decisions based around what's going to support your health.
00:20:42
Speaker
And you'll keep those boundaries. Well, hopefully you will, because if you don't, then you realize like I screwed up. My health, my health is being compromised. I need to change something here. You know? Oh my gosh. I could talk about this for like an hour, but I just had like one more question before we go into our hot topic. It could be a whole workshop. No, it could be. Yeah. It could be three days. You could be the Tony Robbins. So
00:21:10
Speaker
I think that we'll say that for a different podcast, but I wanted to ask you for the past 20 years, what is your biggest accomplishment in your business? Oh, wow. That's a, that's a good question. I would say when you start to see your images, you know, show up in people's homes, but even more so, uh, when somebody passes, your image is the one that they're using at that Memorial.
Biggest Business Accomplishments
00:21:40
Speaker
And you realize that all those memories that you created for those clients are significant and have value. And you made their lives that much better that one day that you took that responsibility to photograph your event. Every time you photograph an event, never take it for granted.
00:22:02
Speaker
Um, I think I can already cover what my biggest highlight of my career was, was being on, you know, channel seven ADC gone wild hosted by Diane for, did it, but did it book me more weddings? No, but I got to put on my resume.
00:22:19
Speaker
Yeah, I was just on like KTLA and I didn't get any weddings but I got like a new second shooter. There you go. Yeah. It's like, yeah, you wait for that moment and then all of a sudden it's like it's here and you're in it and then it's like your five minutes of fame are gone. Yeah, I mean, someone just messaged me on Facebook from like church. And then she says they use my photo that I took at her wedding for your uncle's memorial. So they blew it up and he had like this
00:22:49
Speaker
really animated like face with like his hands in the air. And yeah, I took that photo. It was just a guest at a wedding, but he passed at a very young age. And then he got photos. So I totally understand what you're saying. That's awesome. Okay, Laura. So I would say that was, you know, there's so many things that's happened over the years, but the terms of accomplishment. Yeah. You can dial it down to that. It's like making a difference in people's lives and knowing that what you did to them that day made a difference and still makes a difference.
00:23:19
Speaker
Oh, okay. So just to tell the listeners what we were going to talk about something different, like finding your niche because you're, you have such a cool niche of people age over 50, but instead like we, we're going to talk about something different because it's so fitting right now because of COVID there's so much loss.
Coping with Setbacks
00:23:38
Speaker
So pretty much our topic today is when the bubble burst and the light to go out. And then how do you get back from your feet after a step back?
00:23:46
Speaker
loss, health issues, like you said, and simply aging out of the business. And this is going to hit home for a lot of people. I just got a text this morning from my second shooter saying like her uncle passed so she couldn't second shoot a wedding for me. So it's happening all the time. So you have like four different tips. So we kind of have to keep it a little bit faster pace, but can you tell us the tip number one?
00:24:13
Speaker
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00:24:41
Speaker
Increase revenue $600 to $800 per event by adding a photo booth to your services so you can make more and work less. If you don't provide a photo booth, someone else will. So stop leaving money on the table and get yourself a salsa booth today. I would say the first thing that you need to do is take a step back. Okay. Digest what life is sewing at you. Okay. It's not
00:25:09
Speaker
it's not what happens to you, it's how you react. And what am I supposed to learn from this? So I had to ask myself, what's my life purpose? And I, you know, it might sound kind of cliche, but knowing what your life purpose is, is really important. There are certain life purpose questions that you can ask yourself. Number one, like what is the one thing you feel supremely qualified to teach other people? And, um,
00:25:37
Speaker
It's like, you know, who are you? What do you do? Who do you do it for? What do they need or want? And how do they change or transform as a result? That's just part of life purpose questions. Okay. And then there's a wonderful test that you can do online. It's called the Passion Test. Okay. The Passion Test will help you to discover what your top passions are. Okay.
00:26:00
Speaker
Um, you know, what, what, what, what's going to, what's going to be that driving force? Well, if you don't know what that is, and especially when you were suffering from a loss, especially with that, somebody losses this past year or someone really close to us. And it's kind of hard to like, you know, you get kind of shook up and like, where do I start all over again? Or if you lost your business, you know, that's a loss. It's just a loss comes in many different forms. So.
00:26:25
Speaker
Again, you got to dial it back and ask yourself these questions. So there's a test online. It's called the passion test. You can look it up, take it. It's, it's worth it. Oh, I'm going to take it now. I'm kind of in those like points in my life. Like I want to retire and go full time coaching, but it's scary because I don't have that like cash injection like from the weddings. Um, but I know it's kind of my time to just kind of focus on the coaching and
00:26:52
Speaker
kind of helping other people transform their photography businesses. So I'm definitely gonna take this and I'll link this up in the show notes. So yeah. So life purpose, passion, and then the third thing is pain. Yeah.
00:27:07
Speaker
Yeah, that's, that's, that's part of my next book. My next book is called what happened to my happy essential keys to jumpstart your path to happiness. And that is, yeah, you've got to know what your passions are. You've got to know what your purpose is using these tools, these work, you know, worksheets to dial it down. Cause it's pretty simple. And then understanding that painful experiences pain is the teacher. Is there something that
00:27:36
Speaker
you really went through that caused the pain. Well, yeah. I lost my husband in 2018. I lost my dad last year. I lost my mother in 2007 when I was faced with a life-setting diagnosis. So yeah, I've had my share of pain. And here's the thing, I always tell people this, you go through pain and your pain is so personal, right? You're gonna go through more pain.
00:28:05
Speaker
So you better make sure you're happy. And the only way you can be happy is to really know what your top five values are in life. Because those will help to guide you in making every decision you make in regards to your business, your family, your relationships, everything. Is there something that I could read or pick up to understand more about the values and understand what they mean? I'm sure there's podcasts about it or YouTubes.
00:28:34
Speaker
Because it's been hard for me because I had a therapist and she kept talking about these Renee Brown values, values, values, but I kind of just wanted to go more like in depth of what really are my values.
00:28:46
Speaker
Well, I mean that course day with Destiny. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What's like, what would be like, cause your top value, one of them is contribution. So does that mean like you really care about helping the community or you've care about mentoring people or transforming people's lives? Like, is that just, you know, that's your passion. Yes. It's definitely a passion. Contribution is, is very important in the long run. You want to, you know, it's like,
00:29:15
Speaker
what am I gonna leave behind? Because our visit here is really kind of short. And so in discovering who I wanted to serve, and I guess I'm in the process of a new brand right now, and in that new brand and in that business, as I redefine it, I'm not only helping myself, but I'm also helping my colleagues who are over age 50.
00:29:45
Speaker
and to help bring in additional income to them so that they can continue to do what they enjoy doing and also have some supplemental income and helping those who are in the age group over 50 who don't really have, well, it's relatable. In other words, I'm relatable to them. Does that make sense? Yeah, I love it. And just to give the listeners a little backstory,
00:30:13
Speaker
We're both, you know, preferred vendors at the Wafers Chapel in Palos Verdes. You had come to the luncheon like right after your husband passed and you just were so driven and you're writing notes. And, you know, I think I texted you after like, wow, you're just such an inspiration. Like even through your pain and your struggle, like you're still out there like making things happen. So I just, that really inspired me. Well,
00:30:39
Speaker
You never know how strong you are until some being strong is your only option. Yeah, that's what you texted me back. I remember that. Yeah, I was like, Oh, wow. Yeah, it was rough. But I think what keeps me going is that I know my self value. Yeah. Okay. No, I know what I what I'm here to share. And
00:31:07
Speaker
Yeah, there is a lot of inspirational speakers out there. One of the things though that I've come to discover is that they might take on a topic like happiness, for example, there's a couple of very well-known inspirational speakers that talk about happiness, but they really don't seem to have been through a tremendous amount of pain and contrast
00:31:34
Speaker
Contrast helps us to discover the difference. Yeah, there's no happiness with no pain. Adversity. Yes. And so pain becomes a teacher. Yes, I love that. Because it's part of life. It's part of this life existence. There's no way out of it that you're going to go through pain no matter what happens. But how can you share with others and help them get through? Because we're all in this together.
00:32:03
Speaker
And that's what I love so much about your generation and what you guys are doing, you know, the photography industry. Now back when I started, it was pretty much a man's club. You know, it wasn't, there wasn't a whole lot of sharing and collaboration and all of that, but we've got lots of women in the industry and we have a lot of, a lot of people now that, um, like I said, your generation that they share, you collaborate, um, you learn from each other. Okay. I love that.
00:32:32
Speaker
Okay, I'm not gonna interrupt too much anymore, but let's try to get through tip number two, three, and four, even though this is also good. So take it away. When you discover what your purpose is, then you can define your business around
Building a Values-Based Business
00:32:50
Speaker
that. Okay, get it. Because again, remember I told you I said I created the monster now change it. Yeah. Yeah.
00:32:58
Speaker
So what areas of your business do you love and what areas of your business do you not want to continue offering or is there a way you can find that out? And that will keep you doing more of what you love and less of what you don't enjoy doing. Yeah. I had like a small panic attack like this week, just for like a little bit, but I literally was on the phone with like a client and we're talking about her wedding, my associate shooting. And I just saw like, I got like,
00:33:28
Speaker
five, four inquiries. And I wanted to like shoot all of them and I wanted to give them to my associates. And I was like literally like feeling like so much anxiety. And I just had to breathe and then just give it all away. Like not even to my associates. Like I didn't even have it in me to like quote the price or make the contract or make the invoice or answer questions. I just, I don't have anything more. There's just been too many weddings this year.
00:33:56
Speaker
had to just give it away to other people like couldn't. So I really have to understand that like, I'm running my business, my business is not running me and I am in control of my business. Yeah, it's just that big B word boundaries. Yes. Yeah. Okay, cool. Okay, so boundaries. Tip was revolve your business around your values and what you want as an entrepreneur. And then what's tip number three? Tip number three in rebranding your business.
00:34:26
Speaker
is the good old 80-20 rule. 80% of your businesses come from 20% of your relationships. So you don't have to have a bazillion likes. You don't have to know on your social media. You have your brand ambassadors, which are your clients that you love the most. And typically, those clients match your avatar.
00:34:54
Speaker
And some of these terms I'm using are because, you know, I've been doing coaching too. And really just understanding that, you know, a handful of clients and connections will keep you busy your entire year. Yeah, that's so true. And then the other thing too is like, yeah, like you were saying, you have now a team of photographers and associates that you have working with you. I discovered way back, I wanna say this was back in my early 2000s,
00:35:24
Speaker
when I did have five photographers working for me, I was making a lot, I was bringing a lot of money, but a lot of it was going back out again. And at the end of the day, I wasn't making that much more than when I made, when I was doing less weddings and charging more. So- Oh, I'm seeing that right now too. It's like, how much do you really make after you pay the associates and the editing team and a second shooter? It's like, you're making like 1500 bucks.
00:35:52
Speaker
Kind of not worth it. I know. And the most valuable thing that you can't put a price on is time. So I think as you get older, you'll realize that. You can't buy time and you can't put a price on it.
00:36:08
Speaker
Yeah, I think it was interesting because I think I was kind of like a know-it-all my whole life. I was always like, oh, I got it. I'll do it my way. And my parents are like, oh, I have like this mentor I want you to talk to. They've been in the photography business for so long. And I'm like, no, no, no, like I'll do it my way.
00:36:24
Speaker
But I think I changed a lot as I got older. So I talked to you, you know, a month ago and I asked you like, can you give me any advice as like someone that's been doing this longer than me? And you told me like you, you kind of in a way like regretted not being there on the weekends for your kids, like baseball games and having that camaraderie with like your those families. And it really made me like think about like what I want for my kids because they're only little for so long.
00:36:52
Speaker
Oh yeah. That's the thing. They just, they keep growing and you can't buy that time back. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So as much as you wanted to create a business so that you could, you know, have a family, be there for your kids, you know, raise your kids. And then it's really figuring out what, again, what's going to make me happy. And the only way that you're going to understand what's going to make you happy is by figuring out
00:37:16
Speaker
but you're taught by values on life. That'll be your driving force. I'm going to do this today. I actually have that. I think I can scan the worksheet and send it to you if you'd like. And because it's pretty simple, but it's really intense. And once you dial it down, you're like, OK, I got to make some changes. Yeah. OK, I'm going to fill that out for sure.
00:37:45
Speaker
Another understanding your passion, the passion test you can find online. Okay. Yeah. And the life purpose questions. I'll send them to you. Okay. And just to another point, like the 80% of your clients or 20% of your clients give you 80% of the revenue. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. So just, just kind of
00:38:07
Speaker
like another point, like all the energy that you spend on social media and like trying to look good to other new clients, like you could actually put that into your existing clients and it'll probably make you more funny. It does. And you build these wonderful relationships of collaboration. And yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's amazing how it works. It's, you know, it's a,
00:38:31
Speaker
You might feel a little bit of setback in terms financially upfront, but it starts to take off pretty quickly. And then you be, you know, I mean the best business and they've always said that, you know, in the business world, the best business is relationship marketing. You have all your businesses coming from referrals. Okay. Yeah. Okay.
Finding Happiness and Values
00:38:51
Speaker
Take us away with the last tip and then we'll go into rapid fire questions.
00:38:56
Speaker
Okay, finding your happy here. Or when she finding your happiness. Yeah. Happiness. Finding your happiness is really understanding what pain has taught you. Okay. Understanding what drives you what you know, driving force in your
00:39:20
Speaker
life. And that's typically undercurrent. There's always an undercurrent for you. And for me, I would say it's helping and inspiring others. Yeah, taking what you've learned and helping others, which is a wonderful way to contribute. Make sure that you are taking care of yourself first. And that is not a selfish statement. Okay, take care of you. You can't help others until you help yourself. Okay, I love that. Yeah, I think
00:39:49
Speaker
if you don't put yourself first like everyone's going to kind of struggle with you like your kids and your clients and you're not going to give your all or do your best work so even if you can't get back to those emails or like send those invoices or you have to wait a little bit for sneak peek galleries then I think
00:40:09
Speaker
important to just do that. Those are the boundaries. Those are the boundaries. Let clients know what they can expect from you and they'll accept it. Okay. If you say, I can't have your sneak peek out, you know, within a week, just let them know. Yeah. And, you know, make it, make it very clear, even though you work from home or wherever you work from,
00:40:29
Speaker
that you still have working hours and family hours, you know, things like that. All those little things make such a difference. So, boundaries are very important. And another thing right now that just came through is discerning, be discerning. A good word to keep in your bag is be discerning about what you pick and choose within your business in terms of your, you know, software programs you're using,
00:40:57
Speaker
you relate with you know all these things just be discerning yeah okay so we're gonna go to the rapid fire question just real fast um to kind of end this podcast but these are all like amazing tips um
00:41:12
Speaker
So the first one is, I know you're starting like this new niche of women over 50, but what would you say for your new business? Like what is your woo factor? What is like your, your Laura factor? What makes you stand out? I would say what makes you stand out is that it really understand this niche market of couples in love over age 50 who are, you know, they're baby boomers where, you know, my generation were called baby boomers.
00:41:42
Speaker
we, I'm relatable. I would say that that's, that's, that's what makes the difference is like my sons who are in their 20s, they would not be relatable. That's the niche in itself, you know, is that that's, that's the factor. I mean,
00:42:01
Speaker
Yeah. They love it. The more I start to get increased, and I haven't even released the website yet, but I've put the word out to my colleagues and my 20%. And they love the idea because, yeah, finally I can send something to you that's relatable. Yeah. Oh, you understand. I'll get the word out. You understand the family dynamic.
00:42:24
Speaker
Yes. Yes. I, I totally, I love, I love your niche. Okay. One more question. And before we're going to tell people about the giveaway that you're genuinely offering, but what are you most excited about in the next year?
Future Plans and Semi-Retirement
00:42:40
Speaker
Just tell me if anything.
00:42:44
Speaker
What am I most excited about in the coming year? Releasing my next book. Nice. Sharing it with others. Getting on more podcasts to talk about that. Yeah. I could help you with that. You could help me too. Great. I will. Yeah. It's crazy that network. Yeah. I'm in a different place in my life now.
00:43:09
Speaker
I'm at a point now where I'm able to semi-retire, but I'm not ready to stop working because again, you know, I'm not done yet.
00:43:19
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, from going to any wedding week, I don't think you can just stop. No, a dozen a year is fine. Totally. Totally. Yeah, yeah. So I'm excited about the changes I make in my life and really just putting, you know, myself in a place where I have the time to do things that I want to do more of. Yeah. And just, you know, it's been crazy coming out of this post pandemic, feeling grounded again.
00:43:50
Speaker
It's, I don't know if you've experienced that, but I did my first wedding. I think it was like, it was in September, you know, my first official wedding after the pandemic. And I remember stepping onto the site and I got this really weird feeling like, did I just wake up from a bad dream? Because that's what it felt like. It felt like,
00:44:20
Speaker
You know, I don't know if anybody else has felt that way, but it did. It felt like, did I just make it from a nightmare? Is this real? Is this whole past 18 months been just the surreal dream? You know, am I really here? So I think it's just, I think we're all going through that right now, just sort of digesting what's happening and the changes. And you know, as much as we want things to be the way they were before, they never will be. Yeah. We have to, we have to adjust to this new way of living.
00:44:49
Speaker
in a way of life. And I think it's definitely helped us to be more discerning, have boundaries and really, you know, grasp what's important in life. Yeah. And because we're entrepreneurs, the beauty about being an entrepreneur is that you can create whatever you want.
00:45:06
Speaker
Again, you created the monster. Make a new one. Make it a happy monster. Yes, I love it. Not a monster that makes you crazy, that makes you feel resentful, that makes you feel like, oh my god, I just can't handle all of it. You know what I mean? You don't want that in life because it can be all too consuming.
00:45:27
Speaker
So take a step back. Don't worry. The money will come in when you find your passion again or what really drives you and makes you happy. It's very energetic. And I know that when I started this business back, I'm not going to say when I became my age away, but
00:45:46
Speaker
We booked 80 when it's our first year in business. Wow. Because the passion, the drive was so exciting. That's a lot. And it's sustaining that and being able to reinvent yourself. Yeah. Just your late husband. He, he was so kind to me. I think he found some photos of albums of mine at a venue that was shutting down. So he actually like drove the albums and canvases to me. That's so nice.
00:46:11
Speaker
Yeah, he's a nice man. Yeah, very nice. Very kind. And I was like, I didn't really even know him, but he did that for me. Like, I was like, Oh, that's so sweet. I know. But tell people where they could find you and then the generous giveaway that you're giving today. My website will be released probably by the end of this month. It's called Our Kind Events.
00:46:31
Speaker
Yeah. Um, I'll link you when you, when you launch our time events.com. Okay. And there will be a link in there for my coaching services. It's called keys to life coaching. As for anybody who is going through a transformative time in their life and struck by tragedy or crisis of some sort, whether it be a financial relationship or health crisis or loss, you know, where I will be able to, um, help them. Love it. Okay. Bye. Bye. Thank you again.
00:47:01
Speaker
And my giveaway, I think it's a link to my book, right? Yeah, with my ebook. Yeah. Yeah. Once I get a link for my ebook, I will share it with you and you can share it with all your listeners. Thank you, Laura. I love this conversation. So good. I'm going to cry. Yes, I tell you it's your girlfriend on the phone. What are my plans? What's going on in my life? Well, there you go. I'll stop recording and then we can talk a little bit more. Okay. Sounds good. Bye.
00:47:35
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.