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Ep. 125 - Wedding Content Creators: Myths & Truths - Vivian Hana Socials
121 Plays1 year ago
Happy Woo Wednesdays!
Do you know what a wedding content creator is? Honestly I didn't even know what they did until a couple months ago. In the next couple of years, I think most couples will want to hire one. I met Vivian from a mutual photographer friend and we have become besties. She came to one of my weddings and directed better than me. I was truly impressed. She make amazing video content at weddings with her phone, and edits multiple videos by the end of the night. She also helps small business win in the IG game.
Hot Topic
Wedding Content Creators: Myths & Truths
• Wedding content creators are not professional photographers or videographers: provide candid/bts footage/short form in nature/"missed" moments
• Longevity in the industry: here to stay
• Not just for influencers: for the memories (allows family and friends to enjoy event); for business owners (can use content as marketing materials)
Vivian is a wedding & event content creator based in Los Angeles, CA. She started her business after her group of best friends and herself all got married within the same year and she became the resident "content taker". She realized she uncovered an opportunity to blend her passion for social media and celebrating love stories together through her content creation business. She's so excited to speak with Carissa Woo on her podcast and speak all things weddings and small businesses!
Favorite sales technique : How do you get a HECK YES from your dream clients?
Lead with generosity and let your personality shine through!
Freebie to HECK YES listeners
I'd love to offer a New Year deal to any Woo Factor listeners and subscribers if they are interested in booking my services! The deal and link to inquire is provided below:
Vivian Hana Socials "New Year Deal": $100 OFF all packages (1 consultation call, raw footage given to you day of, edited content sent max 48 hours after event) + 10 free Polaroids
Inquiry Form: forms.gle/jNzGqPxATyCxbRs69
Connect with Vivian
vivianhanasocials.my.canva.site/landingpage
Connect with Carissa
Get a business audit for $50 - Use code : heckyes
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction of 'Heck Yes Sales Breakthrough'
00:00:00
Speaker
Happy Woo Wednesdays! I'm doing something a little bit new for a limited time. I'm doing business diagnostics on your business. This is only for wedding professionals. It's called Heck Yes Sales Breakthrough and it's like taking your business to the doctor and this is your chance to get eyeballs on your business and I tell you exactly what I would do in order to help you figure out what's broken or not functioning the best way so you can make more sales and book
00:00:26
Speaker
more clients. So this is a low ticket offer. It's $100, but today I'm giving you it for 50% off if you use code HECKYES. I will link it up in the show notes and on my stories. So yeah, crazy, crazy good deal. It's not going to be long before I take this down. So anyways, I'm excited.
Meet Vivian Hana: Content Creator and Collaborator
00:00:49
Speaker
I have my friend Vivian Hana Social on today.
00:00:53
Speaker
She is a content creator for weddings and small businesses. We met through mutual friends and we literally are like soul sisters. I think of her as my little sis. We hang out all the time. We work together. We create content and she is truly, truly amazing. What she does for her couples on wedding days
00:01:15
Speaker
giving them content like, I don't know, three rules by the end of the night and what she does for small businesses to help them grow on their Instagram and get them more clients. It's just truly amazing and I literally adore her.
Exploring Wedding Content Creator Myths vs. Truths
00:01:30
Speaker
So today our hot topic is wedding content creators, myths and truths. So I didn't really even know what content creators were. They are the next big thing and we are going to deep dive into it. You are going to love this episode.
Podcast Mission: Success Through Mindset and Self-Love
00:01:47
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,
00:02:16
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!
The Friendship and Collaboration Journey
00:02:39
Speaker
Hey everyone, welcome back to get a heck yes with me your girl Carissa Wu. I'm so excited. I have Vivian Hana social today Vivian, we've been working together. She's a content creator. And literally, I feel like we're like best friends now.
00:02:55
Speaker
And I don't say besties, I say best friends because that's higher than besties. So we're higher than business besties, but we've been working together. She helped me on a shoot yesterday and last week in my book launch. And we're just like, I don't know, people say they feel like we've known each other forever. I'm sure a lot of people say that about you. And I'm just so proud of you, what you're doing. It's so cool what you're doing. If you don't know guys, content creators are like the new big thing.
00:03:22
Speaker
coming out there new vendors of the wedding photography industry so we're gonna talk all about that today but welcome Vivian what's up girl you so much I was telling you yesterday like it's gonna be weird because we kind of talk all the time now so it's like everyone's just kind of listening into our conversation so hi everyone I guess you're literally my favorite person to talk to but tell everyone a little bit about you even growing up
00:03:50
Speaker
and a little bit about your journey.
Vivian's Background and Inspiration
00:03:54
Speaker
Sure. Okay. So growing up, I guess we're going back there. Back in the day. Yeah. Well, I grew up around Southern California my whole life, born and raised. I think my mom even said I was born at the Los Angeles Memorial Hospital. So if that's still around, I was born there. So I'm a girl through and through, but like I've told you before, I'm the worst
00:04:15
Speaker
LA native or the worst SoCal native because I've grown up here my whole life but I don't know like like my one of my clients is in Montrose and I'm like where's that and they're like near Burbank and I know where Burbank is but it's like little like other cities and stuff I feel like I'm like where is that I just kind of like stay in my bubble but you probably relate to that too being from like the South Bay specifically like Torrance, Redondo Beach I grew up in like Palos Verdes and um hung out in Torrance a lot so I feel like from here you
00:04:44
Speaker
you only know of this area. When I meet people out in the world that like know of this area. But yeah, I grew up here, my parents, both immigrated here from Korea. So Korean American. And yeah, just grew up with them and my younger sister. She's like,
00:05:03
Speaker
a year and a half younger than I am. So just the four of us are not just the four of us, there's like other extended family, but like our immediate family is just the four of us. And yeah, I don't know, just like typical, like, little Asian family, little Asian story. But I feel like I thought a lot about like what my origin story was in relation to
00:05:23
Speaker
like this content creation stuff and I do remember my grandpa maybe for a lot of us like millennials a lot of our grandparents like it's that whole camcorder era I feel like all of my videos are um like those little cassette tapes I just always remember my grandpa having the little camcorder around and I used to love
00:05:41
Speaker
watching all of our old home videos and even I remember there's this old wooden shelf and he would have a bunch of cassette tapes and kind of like messily labeled and everything so I try to like trace it back to like what influenced me I feel like that probably influenced me just because I remember like loving watching like some of like I don't know who's it was it probably was my aunt and uncles but they're like wedding video and things like that and it's funny because yesterday I was telling you about how
00:06:06
Speaker
Super 8 film is really popular right now and it's because all of us Millennials getting married We're used to that aesthetic and that kind of grainy fill me equality So it's funny how everything's like coming back in style But I guess that's like my origin of like why I like memories like why this sounds a little morbid maybe but I feel like when you die on your deathbed like all you're gonna have is a memory and and Something to help with that are these photos and videos and things like that. So that's
00:06:34
Speaker
I guess my childhood tie to this and also kind of like in general in life, I just I love looking back at memories. Maybe it's like my short term memory thing. So it's fun for me to look back and be like, Oh my gosh, like I forgot like all of these things happened. And I know like Instagram could be kind of like toxic for people. But I feel like sometimes it is fun to use it as like a I know it's not just a highlight reel or it is a highlight reel. But I feel like
00:07:04
Speaker
it's also a great way to like remember what you did too if you're someone like me and like forget. So writing that for people and especially after talking with you, I've kind of pivoted and I still am doing weddings, but I've pivoted a little bit to help businesses with
Transition from Weddings to Business Content Creation
00:07:18
Speaker
their social media. So that's been really fun lately, just like helping them strategizing with them and coming up with ideas for them, which I'm sure like we'll talk about in a little bit, but it's kind of morphed from like,
00:07:28
Speaker
Um, just liking, taking content, all that into helping other businesses. So random, not random, but did you know we talked for like four hours yesterday?
00:07:39
Speaker
I mean, I really like right there. In fact, was like, you know, I've been like, like, after what? No, we looked like legit. If anything, our shoot for that one hour was one hour that we didn't talk to. Yeah, exactly. Okay, so your grandpa, he had all these videos. Were you able to watch them or like watch videos from like your parents? And like, what was the feeling when you watched them?
00:08:08
Speaker
Yeah, I can't remember if it was my parents, honestly. It might have been my parents, but...
00:08:15
Speaker
They lived with my aunt and uncle, so that's why in my head maybe I'm thinking it was like their wedding photos. I can't remember exactly like whose it was, but I remember the, I don't know, it was just cool. I think when you know your parents and like you kind of are used to them when they're like, by the time you're cognizant, they're probably like 35, 40, right? And you have like a certain vision of them, but it's cute to like see them young and see them in love and just see your grandparents young. And it's just, whoa, like my grandparents weren't always grandparents. They were just like,
00:08:43
Speaker
younger adults at one point, you know, and then seeing all of it. It's just like, so fun. It's like a time portal, like going back in time, and especially the way that especially wedding videos are, there's music and like there's a whole vibe to it. So it really feels like you're watching a movie, but then you're like, wait, this is me. So I feel like
00:09:01
Speaker
ways it's like it creates like obviously magic isn't real like sorry Harry Potter obviously magic isn't real but sometimes it's like when you watch these things back I feel like I don't know like that's magic like that feels magical like that makes the sound so corny but it makes life worth living having these like little moments to look back on I feel like that's what life is all about so I love
00:09:26
Speaker
Have you seen the movie Family Man, The Nicholas Cage, like Leone? I've only seen like National Treasure. Oh yeah, I love that movie. He has like a glimpse of his life, like if he like stayed with his family or if he like left and he didn't have a family and it's just like he picks like the corporate route but he has a glimpse of like what it would be like and he like watches all these movies.
00:09:49
Speaker
Yeah, I know he's like singing to his wife on his anniversary and the wedding and ultimately picks like those memories over his corporate life. So it was very nostalgic. But tell me a little bit about you don't have to go through like every corporate job, but just like going to corporate and then like finding out it wasn't for you and even like planning your own wedding and what everything meant to you to like bring you to this day of being a content creator.
00:10:18
Speaker
Totally.
Career Reflections and Choices
00:10:19
Speaker
Yeah. So I guess like kind of fast forwarding from the childhood part in college, my major was hospitality, like hospitality management at Cal Poly Pomona. So go Broncos. But during that time I was working for a wedding planning company. So I have a little bit of like wedding coordination experience, but I think especially at the time of graduation,
00:10:44
Speaker
At least for me, I think I felt like pressured to like, you know, go the corporate route and like everyone like has like, they're so sure of themselves. And for me, like, I think I'm a lot more confident now. But I think, you know, especially in that age growing up, even now, I still feel very young and still figuring it out. But especially then, and comparing myself to others a lot.
00:11:04
Speaker
worse than, I felt like it was really difficult for me to like, just stick to my own way. And also I think I was at a point in my career where I was like, do I like what I'm doing? Or am I just doing this because I'm used to it and people say that they like me doing it and they could see me doing it. So I almost felt like it was like a external validation thing. And I explained it like, um,
00:11:24
Speaker
Like everyone goes through adolescence and I went through like a rebellious phase in my career where I was like, no, like everyone says I should do this. So I don't want to do this anymore. So I just like totally like left the wedding rolled after like five years of like coordination and doing a little bit of public PR stuff because that was my minor. So I was trying to like use my degree during college.
00:11:45
Speaker
So I was still doing actually now that I think about it's funny, because I would take footage for stories. And that's essentially content creation before content creation was a thing. And I would always like be with the bride at all party and the bride and groom and like, hype them up and like kind of help the photographer capture that moment. And I'm like, capturing stuff for our company's Instagram. So it's like, it's funny, because essentially, like, that's what I'm doing now. If I could have told myself back then, like, hey, in 10 years, it's gonna be like, another job called content creation, like that would have been crazy. But yeah, I left that job to like,
00:12:13
Speaker
be a big girl, corporate, whatever. And oh my goodness, if like any of my friends were like on this podcast, they would tell you like after that, like the next few years, I feel like it was just kind of like a rolodex of like different administrative jobs. And like, as much as I am like pressured kind of by like what I see from others and like
00:12:33
Speaker
by LinkedIn just being super honest. I think we all feel like that sometimes. I always just knew if I kept pursuing it, if I really climbed the corporate ladder, for me I went in the HR recruiting route.
00:12:45
Speaker
I just know it's harder to leave once you stay. So I think I've always stayed in the administrative route, and that kind of allowed me to still do my blogging and still kind of do these things. So after graduating in 2017, since 2018, I've had my personal style blog, which is kind of linked on my Instagram profile, if you guys are interested in seeing some of that content. But I've tried to keep up with just posting content and having a creative outlet, and then
00:13:12
Speaker
In 2020, my husband and I got legally married.
Vivian's Personal Wedding Journey
00:13:16
Speaker
Actually, it's funny, we got married like right here at our dining room table because he was drinking. And if y'all are familiar with the marriage, I guess, process, you do like license first, and then you get your certificate and you do the whole ceremony in front of a judge at the courthouse, but because of COVID, everything was shut down. So we just like sat at our dining room table and got married legally here, like none of our parents like nothing, basically eloped here.
00:13:38
Speaker
And 2021 went by, 2022 went by. And in March of 2023, I realized that my passport was expiring. And I always said, I'll change my name when my passport expires. So then once I'm changing my social, I'm changing my emails at work, and changing all these things, I was just like, you know what? If I'm making it official, I kind of want to do all the fun stuff now. Because I started to have my ring. I didn't do any of that either. So I was like, OK, let's do all this stuff now.
00:14:07
Speaker
he like proposed even though we were like legally married. He like took me to this really cute spot like the Tomesco Canyon Trail. He like took me there and like took me to a little clearing and like got down on one knee. I totally blacked out. I don't remember what he said. A little proposal moment and then we decided to have like a reception dinner because like we kind of eloped and I didn't
00:14:31
Speaker
Our vibe is not, I just feel awkward saying our vows and all that in front of people. Even though I worked wedding coordination for five years, I knew from working that I was like, I don't want a wedding of my own. I always knew that, so everyone's always really surprised about why I didn't want a wedding. But we had a reception dinner, so we kind of picked and chose. Yeah.
00:14:52
Speaker
So I picked and chose what parts of the wedding that I wanted. So I got my proposal. We did an elopement shoot at the Villa del Sol del Oro. And we did a first look and then first dance and sang our vows to each other. So we had a private ceremony. And then our reception dinner was in October, because that's close to our marriage date. And we also met in summer camp when we were kids. Just to give you a back story, we met when we were kids at a
00:15:19
Speaker
summer camp and that's over in Temecula. So that's why we decided to do it at a winery in Temecula. So if y'all need a winery recommendation.
00:15:31
Speaker
And the Callaway Winery is great. Restaurant Maritish is amazing. All of our guests that they love the food. But we just had a 25-person intimate dinner. And obviously, I don't know if we want to get into that of having that small guest list. There's kind of different stresses with that. So if you all want to ask me questions later, feel free to ask me. But yeah, that was kind of nice, having literally just the closest people to you. And that was a cool experience. And I hired a content creator for it.
00:16:01
Speaker
dinner.
Benefits of Hiring a Content Creator for Events
00:16:02
Speaker
So like I truly believe in the service that I hired. By the way, her name is BTS weddings by ash. She's amazing. I hired her for my allotment and my reception dinner. So I totally believe in the service and it definitely
00:16:16
Speaker
like everyone says it's so fun to look back at your memories and with content creation it's cool because usually everything is through like a shared album on iphone you get everything the night of your event so i always say like by the time your head hits that pillow like the night of you get to be like scrolling through and it's so fun because you do a lot so it's fun to see your friends having fun and like your mom having a cute moment with someone or like oh i know i just i just i guess that people don't know what content creator is um
00:16:45
Speaker
So you're at my book signing and you're there the whole time getting like different angles. And at the end of the book signing, you gave me the shared folder and the next day I went through all the videos and it literally feels like you're there. So I'm not knocking videography because I have videography for cursive photography. It's beautiful. But
00:17:05
Speaker
You don't get your video back for a while, you know, like a month and a half. And then it's really hard to like, or like, you just don't go to your hard drive and like, look at all the raws, you know, like click on it. It takes a long time to load. It just, I'm sure some people do it, but you know, people want it like instant gratification, like on their phone.
00:17:26
Speaker
when they want it not eating a lot of space in your phone because it's in the cloud. So this is where like content creation is so special. And then also part of your job is you are helping small businesses like make reels for them or like day in the life of with them.
00:17:44
Speaker
Um, and you really like hit the ground running and tell me what it was like, like after a wedding, you know, working with this content creator, kind of having all this, um, knowledge and experience and putting it all together. And then just like, tell me briefly, like, how did you start your business and like, how did you just go for it?
Program for Wedding Professionals
00:18:02
Speaker
Pardon this short interruption, but guess what? I have a new program. It's for all wedding professionals. It's called The Triple Threat. We redo your brand messaging, the homepage of your website. Part two is we do all your marketing.
00:18:18
Speaker
create a beautiful brochure so you could start getting on Prefer venue vendor list and we do all your sales so we actually make you a sales presentation leading your client to the heck yes so you get paid. I have a free 20 minute demo training. It's only 20 minutes. Go to my Instagram at Carissa Woo.
00:18:42
Speaker
and DM me the word DEMO. I will send it right over. It's how to get 10 to 15 quality leads in your inbox per month. Enjoy guys. Krista Wu is a LA based wedding photographer who's actually turning business coach. She helped me grow and change and I'm so proud to call you coach.
00:19:04
Speaker
tell us how you're feeling. Like, I want to just know a little bit more about your thoughts. Yeah, it's beautiful. And you're, you're awesome. It's beautiful. I'm speechless. I just like the fact that it feels like myself. I can I feel myself when I see this. Oh, man. Well, you got me pumped and excited for this. Carissa, thank you. Sure. Yeah. So I guess like the
00:19:30
Speaker
I mean, I guess instead of me starting it, I almost feel like I was asked.
Vivian's Natural Talent for Capturing Moments
00:19:34
Speaker
So like what I mean by that is in the midst of me like planning my wedding and like having it in like this past October, three of my best friends from college is like four of us in a little group.
00:19:46
Speaker
All of us had our weddings this past year within one like annual year of each other So the first one was last October then it was like throughout the year and then mine was the last one this past October so Like before our weddings I was always kind of like the not social media person, but I guess kind of the content person I would like for bachelorettes or for fun parties or birthdays or whatever I would take all the photos all the videos and then put it all together in a shared album for everybody So I was doing it before I knew that that was a job
00:20:16
Speaker
So that's kind of a funny thing. But one of my, so I'm already kind of doing that for my friends. But then at one point, one of my friends shout out to Sammy, she actually like asked me one time. She also knows that I have like a DSLR camera. So like, I'm not like a professional photographer at all, like go to Christopher.
00:20:36
Speaker
You have like for my vlogging camera and like some of my UGC content that I work with like other brands for for my personal page. I have like a lens and I use it to like make, you know, nice cover photos and things like that. So she was like, hey, like my photographer is not booked out to a little bit later. Do you mind like taking photos of us, getting ready and then, you know, kind of like just content and like whatever, just like you did for my bachelorette. Cause I did it for her bachelor and a bunch of my other friends' bachelor parties and made reels and like send it to them and all of that. So she's like, can we do that?
00:21:04
Speaker
I was like, of course, she's like one of my best friends. And I it's fun for me. And I was kind of already like, thinking about it. At this point, I had my elopement shoots, I had my experience with my content creators. I was like, I you have these thoughts of like, oh, I want to do that. But like, you don't really like, at least for me, I don't I don't tend to go for it, like definitely meet my energy speaking with you now. It's just a lot more evolved than it was before. I think since then, it's been like how many months and my confidence is definitely
00:21:32
Speaker
built since then but back then i was it wasn't like oh yeah as soon as she just asked me i was like oh let me go for it it was a very slow burn for me i'm a very like indecisive person and i need a long time to make decisions so it wasn't like it was just an aha moment then it was like okay so like did it for her and she was really happy with it and so i was doing it i started it last year like there was a couple of events that i did but i was still working full time technically with another job so
00:21:58
Speaker
When I say I'm fully starting this year, I mean, like, I'm not looking for another job. Like, I'm completely just, like, out there. So, yeah, that's kind of... Thank you. Okay, so first time you worked together. I feel like I've known you forever, but we haven't.
00:22:14
Speaker
but we spent a lot of time together. Like we literally two weeks on October 5th. That was our first shoot. Okay, so I was blown. Yeah, I was blown away by you. You're directing. I mean, it took me 13 years to be able to direct like the way I direct and I'm pretty freaking good at it. But I feel like you are better. And I was coughing my brains out. But I was like, wow, this girl is amazing. So I just let you like,
00:22:42
Speaker
do your thing and you made the clients feel so comfortable. You know how to direct like boss style so better than you know many many wedding photographers I worked with and just made them feel like at ease. I think I think that's like
00:22:57
Speaker
your it factor just making the client feel very comfortable. But what what's like the tell us now like we could get into hot topic like some of the myths and the truths and all the tea about content creators and like what maybe where this industry is going like content creation is going in the next couple of years.
Content Creators vs. Traditional Photographers/Videographers
00:23:18
Speaker
Yeah, I guess I like came up with like three little myths and truths to debunk. So the first one is that wedding content creators, we're not professional photographers or videographers at all. So I guess this is kind of like a, because you kind of mentioned like the whole videographer part, right? We are a little bit overlapping with videographers, I will say, because obviously it's all video. But we're so different from
00:23:45
Speaker
professional photography and videography because obviously the I don't want to say the quality is different from iPhone because it's still elevated content especially like who you're Hiring they have a certain eye and a style so you're really paying for that but I think it's the I think the idea behind iPhone Quality is like it almost feels like you're a fly on the wall like you weren't supposed to be there and you want to be there whereas with
00:24:13
Speaker
photography and videography. It's way more long form. It's way more like cinematic in nature. Like I try to make my videos like I still have a storytelling element to it, but it's always going to be more casual and.
00:24:25
Speaker
I guess I'm still trying to learn how to elevate my content to make it as professional as I can be. But no matter what, I think that's the beauty of it is that it feels more candid than professional photography and videography. So it's I think a completely different vendor. Obviously, like I said, we're like adjacent to videography. But a lot of times too, unless you are specifically asking for like a funny type of video or like a behind the scenes type of video, typically they're showing you like the highlights and the best moments.
00:24:55
Speaker
And I still do that too. I still like to do a day montage for your book launch. I did an event promo. That's still all the event highlights, I guess. But even with my promo that I made you, I still included that funny clip of you and your mom dancing. I think it allows you, or at least content creators, we take it upon ourselves to
00:25:15
Speaker
capture all those missed moments that maybe the videographer or the photographer might be like, oh, no, no, no, I don't want that. Or like, that's not what we want. But for us, we're like, no, like, that's like the gold, like that, that's so funny. Or like, especially with TikTok sounds and Instagram, like trending sounds. There's a lot of like funny audio, like right now the Kardashian hulu, like the Kim one where she's like, I do iconic shit or whatever, like that one. So it's just, I think there's a lot more like trendy things that you can do with
00:25:43
Speaker
iPhone content. So we're adjacent and we work closely with photographers and videographers. And when you have all three, like I have a real word says like, the reason why you need to hire a media team, like all three, because if you have all three, you really like won't miss a detail.
00:26:00
Speaker
spend so much time planning all of your events, and if you have like a wedding weekend or if you know you personalize a lot of things, you want to capture all of that. So, I feel like... Yeah, I'm just not knocking photographers, videographers at all, but...
00:26:15
Speaker
I'm not like this, but a lot of them take a lot of breaks, because they just have like certain shot lists that they want to get. And like before after romantics, they'll take pictures of the reception and the details of the ceremony. But then there's like so much going on like with a couple, they're like seeing some of their friends and like their family and doing those cute stuff with their their girls. And then like, none of that is recorded. If you don't have a content creator,
00:26:44
Speaker
Um, because it just like, they're working off a shot list. Um, so, and so, and what you said, it's more candid. It's kind of like, you feel like you're there, you know, like you're not just getting like a close up, like zoomed in shot of them making out. It's like, you're getting like the people like around the surroundings, like what's going on, like the BTS. Um, so it's a totally different like vibe.
00:27:10
Speaker
Totally and I guess to even go further you kind of touched on like my style or like me making couples feel comfortable I will say like I think for any couples out there who are like like worried that like oh I don't look like that though like trust me behind the camera That's part of like what my job is It's like if you hear the actual audio of like the reels that I post without the music you'll hear like even right now or the one yesterday Chris and I are like
00:27:35
Speaker
look at her sometimes great like no like point at something it's like we direct you a lot and we help like we'll cut out the parts where you like look awkward maybe it's like i feel like we're always like looking out for you too and we're not we're not trying to like put together like parts where you're like looking crazy you know like we try to direct you and help you know because we understand that like you're not in front of the camera all the time and if we're going to be like really real it's like
00:27:59
Speaker
It's really stressful planning a wedding. Okay, let's think from experience, like, and hearing from friends, it's really stressful. And to, I don't know, like, who knows what happened the day of of your engagement shooting, if you're in the best mood, on your own, or even with your partner, and it's like, then you're expected to like, be on and like, look old man tech. And like, I don't know about you, but I'm not super PDA with my husband in public. If anything, we are never like that. So it's like, how do you bring that out? Like, it's it's if you just leave couples to their own devices, they're gonna
00:28:29
Speaker
I don't know how to say this, but they're going to look awkward. And I'm not saying that because of their fault. It's your responsibility as the person capturing it. They don't know what they look like. So you have to do that for them. But you kind of touched on it earlier, too. I think sometimes maybe photographers don't want to make them feel bad and direct them too much because then they get all too posey. But I think maybe I've had so much practice with it where I feel like there's a way to get them to do things. And it might feel a little awkward at first because they're not used to posing and holding things. But they kind of get the groove
00:28:59
Speaker
after like towards the second half of our session we didn't need to tell them so much look at each other and I didn't need to remind them like hey every time like we're walking anywhere just hold hands because I can all those little things like they didn't need that reminding they kind of got in and kind of prep for their wedding so that by their wedding they kind of like most people even like a little this if you're not used to doing that it's gonna like
00:29:20
Speaker
And you're going to like over exaggerate. We're going to be unhappy with that. Like at the end of the day, I'm looking out for my couples and like, I want them to be happy with how they look. But I also get like, you're out in front of the camera all the time. Yeah, I mean, our couple yesterday, they did not know how to dip. And you know, by the end of it, they're like dippy masters. Yeah, he was gonna like drop her.
00:29:43
Speaker
Yeah, I like took a couple different tries in different areas. But literally, that's why I included it like those clips that I included in the reel. They look so good. And it was so natural. They had a little moment of like, smiling, she even like totally like, put her back and like laughing or something. So it's like, yeah, it's like those little moments of you guys aren't seeing what happened before and after that, like, keep like the cute part. So looking out for
00:30:09
Speaker
I have a question. Okay, so when I first met you, I love the way you directed. But you're pretty dominant director. How do you go about working with like other photographer video teams? Like do you have a conversation before and see like, if it's okay to direct or like, you know, the percentage of how you how much you direct not because I feel like your directing skills are so good, but maybe you could step on
00:30:35
Speaker
someone else's toes if they're feeling like they want to be like the alpha male or alpha female. So what are your thoughts on that?
00:30:44
Speaker
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00:31:10
Speaker
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00:31:30
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:32:10
Speaker
I think I like I you I think you were sick that day. So I felt that I was like, because I think you were like in the middle of coughing. So in my head, I was just like, okay, let me just like take this over right now. Because you literally couldn't talk. And I think I of course, my whole vibe, especially when I first started last year, I would like email photographers and planners ahead of time just like introducing myself like explaining what content creation is. I also like
00:32:32
Speaker
I personally don't like it when, and this is just a personal thing for me, I don't like it when the content creators take up time in the day when like, I mean maybe they're just like figuring it out but like unless like
00:32:47
Speaker
You've talked about it with like the photography team and whoever's going to be there and the bride ahead of time. Like the bride's probably going to forget or doesn't realize that it's all eating up at that time. And you're paying the videographer, photographer, a conjugator for the same time. And so everything needs to fit in there.
00:33:02
Speaker
So for me, I let them lead. My style is always like, let them lead. And if anything, that's easier for me too. I still have a lot to learn. I have a good eye, but it's not the best compared to other people who have been doing this for way longer. So I trust them. But for your day, you were coughing. And I was just like, OK, I'll just direct them because it's my fault.
00:33:27
Speaker
Yeah, so then I just that that one I just was like, okay, let me just like take it on. And then we just were vibing and you were like encouraging me. So like, okay, so if it seems like someone like likes it, and there was like another wedding that I did in October, where like, one of the second shoot or the photographer, she like liked it. So and then I only do it if they're like, Oh, yeah, keep going. Like, huh? Yeah, you feel the room, right? Exactly. But then, for the most part, I feel like, really, I don't know how this is gonna sound, but I feel like the priority is photography and videography.
00:33:57
Speaker
that is low key like I'm not saying that you're not going to show this to your grandkids because that's my goal hope but like the whole photo album and maybe I'm more of a traditionalist I feel like that is the the goal and purpose of photography and videography right and for me that's why I feel like it's your responsibility to like like you said we don't really take a break because technically I guess the content that's important or like the the nice content will be captured your job is to fill in all of those like little spots
00:34:30
Speaker
Another cool thing about content creation is you actually make the reels right away. So that's something it's hard for me to do. I'm pretty fast, but sometimes it's just like I can't get it together. But I think the way that your mind works or content creators minds works, it's like,
00:34:49
Speaker
get the footage and then make the edit or make a really cute montage or a little reel like really fast like the next day or like day of make multiple. I think that's a really cool niche that you guys have because you know, photographers or clients can wait months to see their photos on you know, photographer social or maybe not at all. So that's definitely a cool thing that clients go crazy for. So I heard like maybe in another podcast or like
00:35:18
Speaker
maybe like Koko Moko, if any of you guys are familiar on TikTok, Koko Moko, she like talks about a lot of social media trends and like different like things happening, current events, but she also talks about like specifically social media trends and what she kind of like her predictions come true. So she's kind of on TikTok scene as this like authority, but she talked recently about Sophia Richie's wedding, if y'all were familiar with that last year, was she married?
00:35:42
Speaker
Grange and that just like blew up on social media and there's this conversation that happened about like
00:35:49
Speaker
Sofia Richie basically changed social media from her wedding because she created this idea of like, in the moment content, especially for celebrities and that like trickle down to like the regular person and how I'm relating that back to the fast turnaround is like, if y'all remember how Sofia Richie's wedding was at that time, she literally planned her whole like dress thing with Vogue to be released, I think the day of her wedding. And her whole teaser were like, what's his name? Stephen Sanchez, like literally singing that
00:36:20
Speaker
Yes, that was made like the day of or she was like getting ready as it was like in real time. Okay, that gave me to the Kardashian era where like their show comes out a year later. And like you said, like videos things come out like way later. But first she was banging it out like the day of in real time. And this is great. She's like so famous. So
00:36:41
Speaker
I think it like changed the game for everyone and it's like oh no the standard is not now like to make them wait like she just released everything as it came that is the new standard now so I think so
00:36:54
Speaker
like played a trickle down to like us regular folk,
Sofia Richie's Wedding and Social Media Trends
00:36:57
Speaker
right? Of like, just this idea of like, we're already living in a fast paced world, but especially in the wedding industry and with content like wedding content. I think she I mean, not I think Koko moko said she really changed the game. And I totally agree. Because I mean, like, why did content creation come up so much like, oh, and I think like, she really affected a lot of that weather. And people like, you know, they want to post right away. Like, some people on the meeting, they're like, can you
00:37:23
Speaker
send me like five sneaks like that night because we're posting and I don't want to post like our iPhone picture but we want like you know like professional photos so I'm like hell yeah like post away so people want that stuff now yesterday it's all about in real time I think Crystal Lim like you know she was OG and she posted her whole entire wedding like day of like the whole entire thing and I thought that was pretty bally to like
00:37:47
Speaker
display it, you know, to the whole world. So really, she did that. I guess that's like an OG thing. Like, I thought that was like a new thing. But yeah, no, Crystal's been around for forever. So yeah. Okay, tell me more about like the struggles of
00:38:05
Speaker
content creation and how you like overcome it and We talked about a little bit about it at lunch, but you know weddings are very long.
Balancing Wedding and Business Content Creation
00:38:13
Speaker
So you kind of like supplement in your income with Getting clients to help them with their own business. So just kind of walk me through your business today So I'm still very much like in the thick of it. So I guess the struggles right now are just that like I
00:38:29
Speaker
I mean, to be honest, right now, I'm presenting pretty confidently to you. Obviously, I'm trying to look presentable and professional to your audience and to you, to myself, all these things. But I think every business owner feels or just anyone doing their own thing feels.
00:38:45
Speaker
I kind of feels like I've been like shot into the stratosphere and I'm like floating in space and like I feel like I'm I still feel like I have a little bit of like I'm not totally floating into nowhere like I'm kind of like I feel my legs moving underneath me and I'm kind of I'm still controlling not controlling where I'm going but
00:39:02
Speaker
I could feel my efforts going somewhere, so that's where I'm feeling, but it very much feels for me emotionally, mentally. I'm in the stratosphere, and I'm kind of trying to figure it out. And I think it's an emotional aspect as well. I've been really motivated this past month, and I've been really encouraged by my community and people, new followers and new prospective clients. That has been very encouraging, and especially when you're first starting out. It's just that constant back and forth of
00:39:33
Speaker
all the insecurities and all the worries of like, there is truth in what people say when they say like, Oh, look, what like all you do is like,
00:39:41
Speaker
your phone at stuff and then you they're not that there's all truth in that right that is kind of all it is that's what i love about it is like i feel sometimes like it's so easy but that's not all it is it's like there's so much more to it than that like there's so much nicality that i have to learn like even though iphone like footage is candid in nature there's a lot there's like a direction that i want like my videos and quality to go
00:40:06
Speaker
Like the girl that you showed me, I want to show, I forgot her name, a girl and a phone. I love her. I followed her and like I bought the lens she's talking about. Like I've been really like trying to up my education. Oh, there it is. I've been really up my education. And so like, I think it's just when you're so new, you're just like all that uncertainty and having to deal with that. And I don't really have like, I mean, besides you, like I don't really have someone like
00:40:34
Speaker
like my parents aren't business owners and I have people in my family that are business owners for sure but it's even my husband's like their family like has a business but like it's different right like it's they can offer some insight but a lot of these things it's like on your own and I guess to be like a little personal like I am not the most like I'm really indecisive I think like I
00:40:57
Speaker
It comes from a good place of like, I think maybe being young and being like, Oh, like I just want to make sure that are making the right choice. But then that taken too far could lead to indecision. And when you have a business and when you need to make moves, like sometimes you just need to like throw that out the window and just go like,
00:41:13
Speaker
if anything I feel like I'm so grateful for this experience because like of course like it's making me money of course it's like doing all these like great things but I really feel like it's helping with my self-confidence it's really helping with like my life like it's really helping me as a person like I really want to be honest about the fact that like I seem confident like to y'all right now but like I don't know like I'm sure I like everyone does they like present well in the meeting and then when you go back you're like oh my god did I say something stupid or like it was everything okay
00:41:40
Speaker
I go through all of that constantly, like an effort, but it is getting better every day because like when people believe in you, like when you asked me to be on your podcast and I'm just like a newbie, it's like all these little things that add up. It's just like when other people believe in you, it makes you believe in yourself.
00:41:56
Speaker
really like I'm so thankful for like my clients that I have right now who have like trusted me to help with their branding. I'm so thankful to you and also like shout out to Nishaan who's our mutual friend who connected me to Carissa like I am just so grateful for the good people around me because they are the ones who like set me up for success and I always just like to live along this line of like
00:42:19
Speaker
I feel like if you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room. Not that you should feel like, oh, everyone's so much better than me. I do try to operate like that, where I genuinely feel like in the room, everyone here, I have so much to learn from everyone here. And I feel so lucky. I feel like that is the best position to be in. So I just feel really lucky. I feel like as much as I don't know the answers right now, I have a really good community of people. I believe in you, girl. I believe in you.
00:42:48
Speaker
everyone like it just has been like, so encouraging. And like, I can't even imagine I can't even explain to you really, like, even now, like, I can't express like, because I guess for someone who's like, this is like, like, like, what every are what I hope for, like, what what I've wanted my whole life is like, to have this feeling. And to feel this feeling so early. It's like, it's this is like the stuff that like, you know, like makes life worth it. And what makes you want to keep going and like, if you're on the right path.
00:43:17
Speaker
Yeah, totally. And it feels good after being lost for so long. It was really good to finally be somewhere that like, even if it's unknown, like, it's weird that it's unknown, but it still feels good. I guess one more question just for you. Um, I guess we're both each other's mentors, but we're not, you're so much, you know, yourself and like, or what are yours, like your magic mongol, like in the next like 30 days, like
00:43:44
Speaker
How many weddings do you want to book? How much do you want to charge? How many more clients do you want to work for their business from recurring revenue? Just put it all out there to the Heck Yes community.
00:43:57
Speaker
Oh my god, okay. So I have a funny story about goal setting and manifesting.
Manifestation, Goals, and Business Growth
00:44:03
Speaker
When I was in college, I literally set a goal in freshman year of college to do all these things, like become an RA, orientation leader, be a part of the sorority, be president of the sorority. And by senior year, I looked back and did all the things.
00:44:18
Speaker
Like that was the one time in my life where like it really happens, like manifestation. So like this note thing, I'm just like, girl, like this note thing is magic. Like you might make it happen. But I think I'm scared. That's why I'm stalling. But I mean, okay, in the next 30 days, I would love to book 10 clients, recurring clients. Right now I have three on my Rolodex, but I have room for
00:44:42
Speaker
eight more. So I want to have it'll be 11 clients technically. But yes, I want to have 11 clients on a monthly recurring basis. And in terms of like monetary or weddings, I would love to take like two weddings a month. I just think with I would like to take more but I think with bandwidth I have to see like I haven't had 10 clients yet. So maybe I could take on more weddings but just like I need time to obviously like go do content days with them and like go drive out there and like see them so like it's
00:45:12
Speaker
I think I could only do two weddings per month. And financials, like, this sounds crazy, but I think I should put it out there. Like, I want to make 100k. I don't know if that's possible. But like, let's try to make six figures. Like, let's just try to do it. I try to map it out. And if I have like, a certain amount of like, I have tiers, like you suggested for me for my vendor rates. So depending on the tiers and stuff, and if I do book two weddings a month, like,
00:45:36
Speaker
It could happen. So it's just like weird that like I actually like because looking right now I have like calls actually for later today of prospective clients and if all those people work out I only have like two more spots or three more small just kind of like by the time this podcast goes out like I hope I'm still in that position of having two or three more spots where I could be really selective because right now like everyone on my list like I love them they're all love so it's like I
00:46:02
Speaker
I'm hoping that it stays that way. And I'm hope that by the time this podcast comes out, like, it'll still, you know, still have some spots. But yeah, that's it. I mean, you can totally do it. And it's so possible. This is amazing. I really believe in you. And you truly have a gift. And I'm glad like you're on my team now. And I feel
00:46:25
Speaker
I don't know, it's kind of still very new. So you're still in the forefront of everything. But tell everyone like where to find you and also how to work with you and I have you have like a little promo code for our listeners today.
00:46:39
Speaker
Yes, I do.
Special Discount for Podcast Listeners
00:46:40
Speaker
Okay, so you guys can find me. My Instagram is at viv.hannah, underscore socials. So at viv, v-i-v dot h-a-n-a underscore socials. You could also email me at viv.hannah.socials at gmail.com.
00:47:01
Speaker
I'm available through email, DM, I have my inquiry form on my link in my bio on my Instagram. So if you guys already have some details of your event, like a day and you want to lock me down, then please fill that inquiry form out.
00:47:17
Speaker
That's for brides and vendors and then for vendors. I would love to help you with your branding I could help just make reels for you and just give you some content. I can go all the way up to Creating ideas for you a content planning schedule a posting schedule I could even go as far as like posting on your behalf so and commenting and engaging with your community so really if you want this is like social media checklist and that task list to get a
00:47:45
Speaker
taken off of your list, I guess, so that you can do the things that you want to do or that you'd rather do than I'm your girl. Bring a special, I guess, deal or promotion. So whenever you reach out to me, if you just say that you found me from Chris's podcast, just make sure to say that you're from Chris's podcast so that I can honor the promotion for you. But I'm calling it like a Valentine's Day
00:48:11
Speaker
Deal cuz I think this episode by the time y'all will watch this will be out in February But it's a Valentine's Day deal and it's basically $100 off of any of my packages So once you decide what your service is and add-ons are I'll take off $100 off of that. I'll also take off the travel fee and
00:48:29
Speaker
And then you'll still get like everything that a regular package gets. So you'll still get the consultation call. You'll still get all the raw footage for you to use as you'd like. I'll get your edited content to you 48 hours after the event. And then just for fun, I'm also throwing in like 10 free Polaroids if you guys are familiar with like those.
00:48:49
Speaker
Polaroids you can get 10 of those you can pick like any images that you want and I have a little printer so you can like pick 10 so you could have like physical cute little like Polaroids so yeah The travel fee will be taken off and then you get 10 free Polaroids in addition to the regular package So yeah, I want to get married again! If you guys want to talk about the details with me we can talk about like details and what exactly you need But I'd love to work with anyone. Thank you Vivian. You're amazing today
00:49:20
Speaker
Yay, thank you so much! 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!