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Setting up your brand and starting a business - Kimberly Taylor
224 Plays3 years ago
Happy Woo Wednesdays!
I have my past student Kimberly Taylor in the house, mom and owner of KTay Photography in San Francisco Bay. She went through my "The Woo Factor Method" 3 month program.
Before working with me, her IG feed was of her cat. Now she is shooting high end weddings. I helped her launch her new website, make-over her ig, execute a whole rebrand, and re-did her copy. We named her the chasing colorful sunsets photographer and I will always remember her as that. Her warmth is contagious.
Her mind shifts are inspiring and inspire me to never get down and myself and only focus on my goals. Kimberly inspires us to try new things, it's ok if it is hard and takes lots of work and to prioritize education and learning about your craft.
I am such a proud coach.
Hot Topic
Setting up your brand and starting a business
*Play off your style, personality, and ideal client
*Don't be afraid to try something new until you are happy
*Pace yourself, take breaks, it's a marathon, not a mile
*List your goals for the week, write them down. Also, make a list of priorities in your life and stick to that
Connect with Kimberly
Connect with Carissa
Recommended
Transcript
Kimberly's Journey and Achievements
00:00:00
Speaker
Wow, wow, wow. This was such an exciting episode for me. My student, Kimberly, just finished her three-month program with me. And in three months, oh my gosh, she did so much. She transformed her IG. She created a new website. She did a full rebrand. She got on the rules train. She got a multiple vendor list, executed three amazing style shoots with the most amazing vendors.
00:00:28
Speaker
and she is getting experience from top wedding photographers. I love when she said her business completely blew up when she changed her mindset from negative to just focusing on her goals and speaking to vendors about her goals and vision.
The Heck Yes Method for Wedding Photographers
00:00:43
Speaker
So if you guys are interested in coaching with me for my three month program,
00:00:47
Speaker
It's called the heck yes method for wedding photographers. Hot leads to heck yes in five easy steps. And a little bit about it, pillar one, we go through your six figure brand and powerhouse portfolio checklist. So your IG and portfolio just stops the scroll and you're speaking to your ideal client. Pillar two, we find your tribe, meaning getting on the preferred vendor list. And pillar three,
00:01:16
Speaker
It's all about the Woo Factor selling system. We'll get you that content that's just all automated and nurturing, nurturing, nurturing.
00:01:26
Speaker
and pillar four it's all about mastering the sales call you know I like to talk about that a lot how to get that heck yes in less than 24 hours and pillar five the five star review recipe powerhouse posing and the whole client journey I'm talking templates templates templates questionnaires so you could work
00:01:47
Speaker
smarter, not harder. So my link will be in the show notes and you can watch a little 10 minute video about my program and schedule a call with me. Enjoy this episode.
Introduction to Carissa Wu's Podcast
00:02:05
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,
00:02:31
Speaker
mindset shifts, up-leveling 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!
Guest Introduction: Kimberly Taylor
00:02:56
Speaker
Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Get a Heck Yes with me, your host, Carissa Wu. I have a very special guest and her name is Kimberly Taylor. She's actually one of my students that I'm coaching and she's just literally a breath of fresh air. And if you're watching on YouTube, you can see her smiling face and she's just so warm and approach approachable. But she is a wedding photographer and
00:03:26
Speaker
She specializes in chasing colorful sunsets in the great outdoors. Welcome, Kimberly Taylor, also known as Kate. Hi, guys. Yay. So Kimberly is a podcast virgin. So this is her first interview. So I'm so excited for you. Are you are you nervous or excited?
00:03:50
Speaker
I am nervous and excited. It's just a roller coaster in my tummy right now. Don't worry, it's just a conversation and you're good at talking. So yeah, it's just easy speak from the heart and you're going to do fine.
Kimberly's Inspiration for Wedding Photography
00:04:10
Speaker
So first question Kimberly, just tell the audience a little bit more about you and like
00:04:17
Speaker
a little bit about your journey and how long you became, you became a, or why you became a wedding photographer and anything you want to add. Ooh. Okay. So I do a wedding photographer for a couple of reasons, but like my first real interest in becoming a wedding photographer was actually after my wedding. Um, I was not super involved in the wedding process. I got married really young and quickly.
00:04:48
Speaker
We were engaged for three months before we got married. It was very fast. And when we got married, the ceremony and everything that we had planned all had to be changed because there was a loss in the family the week before our wedding. And so all of our guests had to cancel to go to the funeral. It was a huge mess. So back to the point at hand,
00:05:17
Speaker
I was not very involved in picking a wedding photographer because we had such a small budget. And so the wedding photographer that we had, my mother-in-law hired her family photographer to do our wedding photos. And it was bad. It was really bad.
00:05:44
Speaker
Oh God. Your face. No, he didn't edit the photos at all when he sent them to us and he misspelled my name in our wedding album. Ah, your name misspelled it. It was like the same normal story. He misspelled it and there was like a bunch. It was just a mess. And I looked at this and I was like, I could do better than that with my iPhone.
00:06:12
Speaker
I love it. I love your confidence. And so that's kind of what I did. I went to my brother who was recently engaged after we got married and I did his engagement photos with my iPhone and they turned out really, really well.
00:06:30
Speaker
And after my husband saw those photos, he was like, you really have a talent for this. And he went out and he bought me my first camera, which was the Rebel T7i. And that was four years ago.
00:06:45
Speaker
Wow. I honestly I've gotten a lot of clients from my iPhone pictures when I am attending a guest and it's not really my friends, but it's my husband's friends. I'll take my couples or random couples aside and I'll take some photos of them with my iPhone and get some really good reactions from them. And they said, Oh, wow, this iPhone photo is really good, like and they'll hire me for their wedding.
00:07:09
Speaker
Yeah, you can get great photos, like having a great camera helps. But understanding lighting is really what makes photos great. And posing, you know, and you're so good at lighting and making those skies super colorful. Take me back to after he got you this, this rebel, how did you and you shot the brother and his fiance, how did you start booking clients?
Early Photography Practice and Opportunities
00:07:38
Speaker
And like, where did you begin?
00:07:40
Speaker
So I for about three years I just did it super part time. I just worked with like family and actually what I did was I went to a local park.
00:07:53
Speaker
And I'm just really friendly, but I also have anxiety. So this was really hard for me. But I wanted to get practice with people outside of family. And so I would go to the park and I would see like a mom and her kids feeding ducks. And I would look at them and I would say, Hey, can I take pictures of you guys eating ducks? And then I would get their email and I would email them the photos. And I got a few clients from that. One time I just brought my camera with me everywhere because I wanted
00:08:23
Speaker
to be available for every opportunity. One time my car broke down in the snow, I was living in Idaho at the time, and this other car was coming up behind us and they also got stuck in the snow. And so while the men dug the cars out of the snow, I took pictures of her and her four kids playing in the snow. So crazy! And then they called me back later and had me do an actual family session with them because she loved the pictures so much.
00:08:53
Speaker
Oh, you're truly like those genuine people that actually care about people, which is hard to find. Yeah, no, I really like growing up, I didn't have enough money to get nice pictures done as a kid, like with my family, I think we got it done once or twice. And so I really wanted to give that opportunity to other people who maybe don't think about having family photos done. Oh, yeah.
00:09:20
Speaker
I think me and my family, we went to like Sears and got those ones where you were like the white shirts and the jeans. We have one of those. Where I was going to say, what were you like as a kid growing up? And I mean, you're so bubbly, but what were you like in like high school and then college? And like, how did you meet your husband? How long did you guys date? Because I know you
00:09:49
Speaker
you got married so fast after you got engaged. But tell me about like, you as a kid and like your love story a little bit.
00:09:57
Speaker
So as a kid, I grew up with three brothers. And all I wanted was to be like the boys. So I was a super tomboy. I played basketball for six years. I wore basketball shorts for two years straight. Me and this guy that I had a crush on in middle school. We were in a shorts competition to see who could wear them the longest. And it lasted for two years. Shut the heck up.
00:10:28
Speaker
We washed them, you know, we had like the same pair of shorts. And it was only on school days, so weekends we did whatever. But I was also playing basketball every day, so it wasn't like a huge deal to me.
00:10:46
Speaker
But I definitely had that level of competitiveness growing up. And then in high school, I started being a little more feminine. I did swim, which was awesome. I loved my swim team. And that was like a kind of a changing point for me because before I had only ever done basketball, which is like this really rough sport when you do it competitively in the nature of it.
00:11:18
Speaker
And so in high school, I started to explore like different parts of my personality, I guess. And then when I left for college, my so my husband and I met my senior year of high school. Wow, we did long distance for about six months, because I moved away to college right after we started dating.
00:11:42
Speaker
And then he moved out, he was accepted at the same university and he moved out and we lived by each other for a year out there, so all told we were together a year and a half. And one of the reasons why we had such a short engagement was because at the school we were at, it's broken up into three or four month trimesters. And so we
00:12:10
Speaker
I had to move in out of student housing and I had to decide if I was going to move into student housing again or move into couple housing. And so that's when we decided to just have a short engagement and move into couple housing instead of finding student housing. Oh, that's so interesting. And my husband's father was having health problems at the time. So we were kind of rushing it to hope that he would be able to be there for the wedding.
00:12:39
Speaker
Um, so that was, that was part of the rush. I love that. And now you have two kiddos. Um, I was going to ask you, okay. So you had this bad experience with your wedding photographer. Did you have overall a good wedding? Yeah, it was definitely a good wedding. It was nothing like what we planned. There were a lot with a lot of weddings, you know, things go wrong. Um,
00:13:08
Speaker
we had like a venue that we were going to be at and the owner of the venue was a family friend of ours and she got poisoned the week of our wedding and was hospitalized. Oh my god. And so like we weren't able to meet at the venue but it was great because I got married and I loved my husband and we were able to just like hang out with our close close close family you know the ones that lived in the area
00:13:39
Speaker
And I look forward to having like, I'm glad it worked out the way it did, because now I have an excuse to plan another reception, like an anniversary party. I'm planning on doing that for our 10 year. And now that I've worked in the industry, I have so much more understanding
00:14:01
Speaker
Yeah, it's gonna be you know what you want. Yeah, you know, not to have your mother in law. Just bring her friend. Yeah, no, I know that I want to vet my own vendors. And yeah, I feel like maybe in the industry and then planning my own wedding, you do have a big upper hand and planning and you just feel like that much more confident in your vendors. I wanted to ask, okay, so
00:14:28
Speaker
You got this camera, you know, you're shooting ducks or, you know, people playing the snow, making relationships. At one point, like, did you start getting weddings? And then when did you decide that you wanted to hire a coach, aka me?
Hiring a Coach for Business Growth
00:14:44
Speaker
So I started with my family's wedding. So I was the first one to get married in my family. And then my two brothers got married and I did their weddings. And through my church, I did a couple of other weddings after I showed them my brother's weddings. And then I guess you would say I kind of like hit a crossroads in October of last year, this 2021.
00:15:15
Speaker
because my husband is in the military and so we move around a lot and I was having a really hard time getting a job because military wives kind of have this stigma of being unreliable because our husband's career always comes first.
00:15:34
Speaker
And so if my husband gets deployed and stuff, then I have to be available for the kids. And people know that and so they don't like hiring us. And also when we get transferred and have to move every few years, they don't like dealing with that either. So I was really frustrated and I was like, you know what, I love this photography thing.
00:16:00
Speaker
I think that I could really make a career out of it, but I'm the first entrepreneur in my family. I don't have anyone in my circle that started a business, you know? And I don't know anybody in the wedding industry and I don't know any photographers.
00:16:22
Speaker
Interesting. You're like at the lower level, like maybe very hard. You got to climb. No experience whatsoever. Like nobody to really guide me. And so I just started doing a ton of research, you know, do your homework type of attitude. I learned manual in October. That's when I finalized my knowledge of manual. So less than a year ago now.
00:16:53
Speaker
And I took a bunch of technical courses from KJ. And after I learned the technical side of it, I realized I didn't understand the business side of it at all. I kind of like needed to gain some business knowledge and marry those two together because I wasn't reaching my ideal client. You know, I was doing a bunch of cheap sessions, but now my quality had gone up.
00:17:22
Speaker
I was like, how do I find clients that will understand all the effort that I've put into this, you know, or at least be willing to pay me what I deserve.
00:17:34
Speaker
um and so that's when I got to a coach and I was like yeah to find a coach and I chose to work with you because a lot of the coaches just they sold classes and then they would do like one or two visits with you um and what I wanted was somebody that I could talk to at least you know weekly
00:17:59
Speaker
and go over the problems as they were coming up, as I was shaping my business, and not just have somebody say, oh yeah, read chapter 12, you know, or listen to this voiceover. I wanted to talk to a real person and have interaction. Yes, I love that. We got really personal. Just to give the audience or the viewers, I mean viewers and listeners some context. Before you work with me, you didn't
00:18:29
Speaker
Well, after working with me, you got a new website, which I helped you pick out the show at template. We became we help you come up with your brand because I always said, I want you to be known for something. So after looking at all your past galleries, I just saw one common theme and you had these amazing, colorful sunsets, which I feel like a lot of photographers just
00:18:52
Speaker
blow out the background and it's white. So that was very unique about you. And so now like, you know, 10, 20, 30 years later, I'm always going to know you as, you know, Kate and the chasing colorful sunset photographer and your website. If you guys want to go check it out, it's, um, it's Kate photo, right?
00:19:14
Speaker
Yeah, kt photo.com. It looks absolutely stunning. And after we worked together, you did like styled shoots, you reached out to vendors, you got a vendor list, and your Instagram totally
Brand Transformation with Carissa's Guidance
00:19:28
Speaker
changed. You started doing real, you started showing your face. So you really stepped into your power.
00:19:35
Speaker
Good job. It was a lot of work, but it was mostly just working like focusing my energy, right? Because before getting into like the setting up my brand, one of the reasons why I wasn't attracting my ideal client was because I was still kind of figuring out what my brand was, my photos,
00:20:01
Speaker
didn't have cohesiveness to them, you know, my galleries, because I was still trying out different editing styles and things like that. And by talking and being able to talk to other professionals in the industry like Carissa, I was able to kind of hone in what I loved the most out of the sessions that I had done. And that is what created my brand.
00:20:32
Speaker
Yes, this brings us to our hot topic setting up your brand and starting a business So I guess would you say that is tip number one to just kind of like look through all your past galleries and see what you like most what kind of Kind of like makes you gives you that tingling feeling in your body or it just gives you that spark of joy when you see those photos or think of your past clients and
00:20:55
Speaker
Yes, yeah, I would say make sure to try a bunch of different things. Because a lot of times photographers will only shoot in like one location, you know, and that's where they feel safest.
00:21:12
Speaker
And to have a really versatile brand, which was important to me, maybe it's not important to whoever listening, but if you want a brand that, you know, you can take anywhere and people can say, oh, you shot this photo, you need it to be versatile. And so branch out, try new things. And every uncomfortable situation you're put in, you're going to learn something that you like and something you don't like.
00:21:41
Speaker
and take what you like and use that towards your brand and then leave the rest. Yeah, I love how you're trying so many new things and we really diversified your portfolio to many different cultures and skin tones and different locations because I know you are okay with driving and traveling and your Instagram feed is just looking so gorgeous and website. Thank you.
00:22:10
Speaker
I was shooting weddings basically for free or for like a grand. And I was having to haggle for every single session to try and like show them my value. And now I have clients coming to me saying that they want to work with me. And I have more importantly other people in the industry recognizing my worth and asking me to work with them.
00:22:36
Speaker
which to me means even more than the clients because they're people who've been in the industry for 10 plus years. They've seen you know hundreds of other photographers and they're able to recognize me and the value that I can offer them.
00:22:53
Speaker
Hey guys, you all know me. I'm Carissa Wu and I'm a coach for wedding photographers. I've also been a wedding photographer for over a decade so I've been through it all. I was a shy, awkward girl and I've come so far. I'm now beyond passionate about helping wedding photographers not struggle how I did for so many years.
00:23:13
Speaker
It was six years into my business and I was so tired of being ghosted, nickel-undimed, and hearing the dreaded words, we went a different direction. I also knew I needed to find a way to not rely on referrals or paying $350 a month for the knot to get my leads. I didn't want to have anxiety about when my next payday was going to come and I wanted to scale my business. Fast forward to now, I created my very own stack system to help wedding photographers get constant leads
00:23:40
Speaker
and master the dreaded sales call and get a heck yes in 24 hours or less and charge more than $4K or $5K or $5K. No more waiting around guys, this is our livelihood, our artistry and our passion and we deserve to be respected, valued and paid for what we are worth. I've helped so many wedding photographers.
00:24:00
Speaker
Watch my 20 minute masterclass all about lead generation and closing the sale. The link is in the bio. You don't want to miss out on the wedding boom and you don't want to miss out on booking your calendar for 2022. It's engagement season guys so you don't want to miss this. See you guys soon! I wanted a brand that really encompassed like minorities and just
00:24:24
Speaker
Not the everyday, you know, I wanted a brand that represented lots of different cultures because that's what I love. I love learning about different cultures. I love history. That's a side passion of mine. And this is a way to kind of bring it in to my brand and showcase that to my clients that I have a lot of love and respect for different cultures.
00:24:48
Speaker
And so I make sure to include those cultures and stuff in my website and to try and attract more of those clients. Yeah, and that is one of your main values, bringing like multicultural couples into your portfolio and all your work. So I really feel like you're doing a good job with that. Thank you.
00:25:12
Speaker
What would tip number two be? So I guess diversifying was kind of my second one. Okay, so trying to think was number one and then diversification was number two.
00:25:26
Speaker
Yeah, so once you pull, you have those things that you enjoy that you're like, Oh, I love this color palette, or I love emotional pictures over posed pictures, you know, key things like that.
00:25:42
Speaker
then you can take those key elements and diversify them so that they attract the kind of clients you want. If you only want one kind of client, then make sure you focus on that client. But for me, I wanted to attract all sorts of people. And so I needed to take those key elements
00:26:04
Speaker
and display them in lots of different cultures and settings. If you look at my galleries, I have mountains, I have fields, I have beach, I have river sessions, you know, I just get out there and try to do as much as possible so that people have a good reference to go from and can see themselves in my photos.
00:26:29
Speaker
And the cool thing about that is you do have a very diverse portfolio. But one thing in common is that the photos are extremely emotional. And you love chasing that sunset with these gorgeous, gorgeous skies. And you still have to teach me how to do that. Because a lot of photographers don't know how to do that, which is pretty much like you're one of your secret
00:26:56
Speaker
weapons for sure. What will be your third tip of how to start a business and set up your brand? I would say, so this wedding season, I'm learning a lot from other photographers. I'm doing like 90% second shooting this wedding season, which I up until this wedding season, I haven't done any second shootings.
Developing a Personal Photography Style
00:27:20
Speaker
And I think that actually helped me a lot with setting up my brand. So my third tip is, while it's very important to learn from experienced people in the industry, it's most important, I think, to take the time to develop your own style.
00:27:43
Speaker
So because I didn't have any past knowledge of how a high-end photographer should shoot, right? I was able to take the time to create those epic portraits with the beautiful skies and things like that. Because I was just thinking about how I wanted to shoot. And I had no idea how everybody else in the industry shot. Yeah, your research. I wanted to ask you,
00:28:13
Speaker
Say people are listening now and they're like, how do I even get my foot in the door? I know you're second shooting for some top-notch wedding photographers right now, but how did you do it? How did you land these second shooting jobs? I just reached out to a bunch of vendors.
00:28:31
Speaker
Um, nobody is going to find you if they don't know you exist, you know, and the wedding industry is kind of clicky where people want to work with who they like. Totally. So you're like, how about me? How about me? Yes. So you want to reach out to people and let them know that you exist and that you're friendly and fun. And you would be someone that they'd enjoy working with. Right.
00:29:02
Speaker
Another thing that really helps get your foot in the door is the styled shoots. Because once you introduce yourself to a vendor, you need to have something to show them.
00:29:17
Speaker
It's great if they meet you and they like your personality. But if you can't show them that you can perform competently in a high end setting, then they're not going to take that risk hiring you. So if you do like two
00:29:37
Speaker
styled shoots, and you don't have to do the paid ones, those are more convenient. I did, I set up my own styled shoots. So I reached out to vendors and asked who wanted to participate in a styled shoot. And I found my own model. And I did three of those in three settings. That was so ambitious. And you did it. Yes, it was a lot of work. But because of that,
00:30:06
Speaker
I had galleries that I could send to these other photographers and people when they had the time for me, you know, reach out to some of these people. And especially during wedding season, it's hard because everyone's really busy. But during the winter, people are a lot more flexible and have a lot more time to meet new people. And so do as much as you can now.
00:30:36
Speaker
Yeah, I loved our conversations about your style shoots because we would just
00:30:41
Speaker
geek out over them, DM each other like different inspiration. Oh, I like this. I like this. I would wake up in the morning and be like, oh, can we leave it like this? And I just really can't believe you executed three back to back to back because most wedding photographers would be scared to even reach out to vendors to do a styled shoot. So I feel like you are a true inspiration to these new wedding photographers trying to get their feet wet.
00:31:09
Speaker
Thank you. Yeah, don't be scared. Honestly, the vendors are just people and they like working with other people who are nice and friendly, you know. So just let them know that you just want to have a great time.
00:31:25
Speaker
That is a really good tip. I feel like a lot of people reach out to me. I've been in the game for 13 years and the people I want to work with most are just people that are nice, friendly. They could be likable to the bride and groom and their parents. No pressure on them. Their job is to just make the mood really light and really happy and compliment everyone a lot because I have no time to do that because I'm focused on the shot.
00:31:51
Speaker
Yeah, complimenting people, it goes a long way. That's like a key part of my I guess personality traits is I try to compliment every person I interact with at an event, especially working these higher end events now.
00:32:10
Speaker
People remember the compliments. I don't know about you guys, but I remember compliments that I got even 15 years ago as a kid. If it was like a really complicated compliment. Tell the story. I love the story.
00:32:27
Speaker
So I was talking at church and I was really nervous and I came down from the pulpit and this guy comes up to me and he's just this really old really sweet guy and he's like I just wanted to let you know you have the most adorable freckle pattern. We should like get out of the wedding industry and just like make a pattern on your freckle pattern and
00:32:55
Speaker
And as a kid, that really struck me a lot because I hated my freckles as a kid. And so that really stood out to me that like he thought I had a great freckle pattern. Like that's just, that's something I'll remember forever, you know? Yeah, it brings you joy, right?
00:33:19
Speaker
Yeah, and like this last weekend, a guest came up to me and he said, I love your smile, your smile like brings me warmth. It makes me feel happy when you smile. And compliments like that are things that I'm going to remember. And I want people to, when they think of me, to have those happy feelings and associate me with that.
00:33:43
Speaker
And so anytime I can, I try and compliment somebody either by a trait that they have or something that they're wearing. If I'm at like an event and people look like they've put a lot of thought into their outfit, I find something unique to compliment them with.
00:34:04
Speaker
Oh, that's so interesting. And I told you the story of my videographer, he, he says like the most specific compliments like, Oh, wow, you have like a nice clavicle bone or something. I was like, what? Maybe that's a little weird. Like next to shoulder ratio or something. I don't remember that one. Very specific. But I like how you said, when you think of your brand, Kate Tay photos,
00:34:30
Speaker
an emotion comes up. And when I thought of you like coming on this podcast and interviewing you, I just kind of like made me happy because I feel like your brand and you as a person is associated with happiness. And that's a good tip for everyone. Maybe you don't want it to be happiness. Maybe you want it to be like dramatic or moody or ethereal. But just tying those emotions to your brand is going to help people so much.
00:34:58
Speaker
And that kind of started in the beginning before I was really learned the technical side of photography. Cause that was how I kept getting clients was they would back to me. I remember on Facebook, I was in the groups and people would say that a client will remember how they feel when they're looking at the photos in the session.
00:35:22
Speaker
Oh, wow. They'll remember how they felt at that session. So if you make your clients comfortable and happy, then they'll look at the photos and they'll think of how comfortable and happy they were. But if the clients are at the session and they feel really uncomfortable and like awkward, then they're going to look at the photos and feel awkward. Totally. They're going to see themselves as awkward, even if they look amazing.
Overcoming Business Discouragement
00:35:48
Speaker
That goes down to the Maya Angelou quote, like
00:35:51
Speaker
people will remember not what you say, but how you made them feel. I love that. Oh my God, this is a good conversation. Where do you see yourself in three months, Kimberly? If you had a magic wand. In three months, my goal is to have like 10 high-end wedding galleries. Wow, that's a good goal. Keep going, keep going.
00:36:21
Speaker
Yeah, so my goal is to have like 10 high-end wedding galleries and to be preparing for next year to be booked up solid the next summer, to have a really solid advertising
00:36:38
Speaker
campaign because right now my advertising has been really poor. So that's my goal in the next three months is to have really solid high end galleries. Because next year, my goal is to break into that high end wedding client. Wow, girl, you are crazy. And this is a really awesome goal, like from
00:37:00
Speaker
your Instagram before with like your cats. Now you're reaching that top notch 3% of the market high end clientele. I love that.
00:37:13
Speaker
We'll go five percent. I won't be a 10K wedding photographer. I'm going to need a couple of years to gather a team to be a 10K wedding photographer. But my five-year goal is to have the team and the resources that I can provide a 10K wedding photographer service.
00:37:31
Speaker
So so good. Okay, so say like a wedding photographer is listening right now and they're struggling to book clients How would you say what's your best heck? Yes technique sales technique and what would you tell them? Like where do you even start? I would tell them
00:37:55
Speaker
It's okay. It's okay that you're struggling. It's totally normal to be struggling. Um, one of the best pieces of advice that I got or that I, I guess kept from an experienced photographer was that every time your business is growing into a new clientele, you're going to struggle to reach that clientele. Cause there's going to be a shift and how you project yourself.
00:38:25
Speaker
and how you project your brand. And it's going to take time for them to notice you. So the best way, and that's been my experience over the last year too, is to just keep at it.
00:38:43
Speaker
Like, don't give up. It's okay if you get discouraged, but come back at it, you know? And just keep going, keep grappling. Don't stop reaching out. Be on all the Facebook groups. Use the hashtags. But most importantly, reach out to other vendors in the industry who already have a presence. They've already done that work.
00:39:13
Speaker
And I've gotten a lot of referrals from even other photographers that are booked on the same day. But they know that I'm also a competent photographer. And so they'll say, hey, she might be available, you know, reach out to this person. And that happens a lot within our industry, especially. Totally. And I think I helped you kind of step into your power with
00:39:39
Speaker
creating your network and tribe. And now you're reaching for the top, top, top. I'm so, so proud of you. Yes. And know your goals. I guess that would be my next other goal. If you're getting discouraged, don't focus on where you're at. Focus on your goal.
00:39:56
Speaker
So there was a point where I was, I mean, you, you remember, I was really discouraged. Like I hadn't gotten an inquiry for three months and I just felt like the lowest of lows. Um, and then suddenly I just started getting inquiries again. Um, so the way,
00:40:26
Speaker
I got the inquiries after my energy shifted. So when you hit that low,
00:40:33
Speaker
your energy is contagious. So if you're feeling defeated, if you're feeling like you're unsuccessful, that's what you're going to attract. And the people who talk to you are going to feel that if you focus on your goal and who you want to be and you repeat that to yourself every morning, then you will attract that.
00:40:57
Speaker
And that's kind of what happened was every morning I got up and I was like, I am a high-end wedding photographer. And I stopped caring about where I am and where I was, and I started caring about where I want to be. And when I would talk to other people in the industry, I wouldn't talk about the struggles that I was having right now. I would talk to them about, I'm,
00:41:27
Speaker
I'm a high end wedding photographer, like I would just say it to them. The more you say it, the more real it becomes. I like to call it willing into existence. You got to claim that term. I never heard of that.
00:41:44
Speaker
Dude, this is, you did a great job. I think that was totally mic drop instead of saying, oh, like I'm broke or like, where's my next gig or I suck. It's just really focusing on, you know, like that energy of like, oh, I'm so inspired. Like, hey, let's, let's grab coffee or let's do the style shoot together or I'm going to get this clientele or I'm excited to get my next high-end gallery. It's just putting that,
00:42:11
Speaker
into existence, what you just said. And those words that you speak to yourself and that mindset shift of being like Debbie Downer to, you know, these powerful words are just what shifted your whole entire business. So that is so exciting. But tell everyone where to find you. And yeah, you did such a great job.
00:42:33
Speaker
Thank you. Yeah, you guys can find me at Instagram captured by K-TAY K-T-A-Y or www.k-tay k-t-a-y photos.com. And I also have a Facebook, if you guys use Facebook. Yeah. Which is K-TAY photos.
00:42:58
Speaker
Yeah, she has a group and she gives a lot of cool tips. So you guys could check out her Instagram, her Facebook and her website and it's so good. And I'm so proud of you. Thank you, Kimberly. You did a great job on your first podcast. Thank you.
00:43:19
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.