Ever stuck thinking that you've already climbed the top of the mountain?
There's always ways to grow! In this episode, I'll discuss with you some ideas and paths you can take to constantly challenge yourself and grow as a person, and as a business.
Learning shouldn't stop at a certain point, you could always find ways to reach new heights!
Ever stuck thinking that you've already climbed the top of the mountain?
There's always ways to grow! In this episode, I'll discuss with you some ideas and paths you can take to constantly challenge yourself and grow as a person, and as a business.
Learning shouldn't stop at a certain point, you could always find ways to reach new heights!
Welcome to the Wedding CEO podcast, where we discuss all things marketing, sales and scaling so you can become the CEO of your life and business. I'm Elora Rochelle and I've been a wedding photographer for over a decade and now I'm sharing all of my secrets so you can stop sacrificing your time and make more money like a CEO. Okay, so you're wildly profitable. Now what? I had a student of mine that was like all right, here's the thing I've already hit six figures and I want to know what's next for me. Wow, congratulations, and realize that there is still so much available to you. This is a good sign. It means that you are now probably the expert in your field, and if not, then maybe it's time to start becoming the expert in your field. This is my absolute favorite thing to talk about, because it means that you are probably the expert in your field, whether it's doubling your prices, maybe becoming a luxury photographer specializing in a specific service, or even starting your journey as an educator. Yes, I know I spilled the beans. No one's talking about this, just kidding. I know you probably heard about this, but there are other ways of making income than becoming an educator. I've heard somebody say you don't have to just become an educator, like, oh you know, I have the business, it's successful and I just like that as is, it's fine, you don't have to branch out and do other things. But if you do, just know that you have that option. But then also you have the option not to the perks of having your own businesses. You can kind of dip your toe in things that you want to and then if you don't want to do something, you don't have to. Most coaches won't really talk about this because they are in this specific season right now, because technically they're your educators. But my expertise is CEO status. So in order to get there, it's very wise not to keep all your eggs in one basket anymore. If you haven't realized, that's what all of us have come to the realization of after the pandemic.
Speaker 1:
So now it's time to decide what do you envision for your business long term? Is this something that you see yourself doing for the next three to five years? 10 years Is 10 years too long. Do you see yourself retired by then? Do you see yourself pursuing other things? Now is the perfect time to ask those questions, because what happens is you get to a place where you feel like you've hit all of the successful marks that a business owner can have, especially as a photographer. Now that means there's more room for you to grow and up level. The journey is not over. There's always more education you can invest in. If there's something you want to learn, there's always a coach you can invest in. That's like a master of a specific topic that you want to learn.
Speaker 1:
So now is the time to ask yourself do you want to hire an associate team, stay in the industry, manage people, learn to establish yourself as an organized company, brand leader, xyz, or do you love to teach? Do you just like the idea of passive income? Would you rather make a course? What possible hints can you add into your business that best echo your personality and brand voice? If you love to teach, do you like one-on-one setting or more of a group setting? Would you prefer to do something online, live or in person, like a mastermind or a retreat?
Speaker 1:
I feel like there's so much inner work that has to be done here, because you're probably thinking this is a lot of stuff that I probably can't do, and I've had those same thoughts too. So I can speak to it and just say it's just a mindset block. Your mind will always try to keep you safe from things that you could possibly fail, because that's, honestly, the only biggest thing that could happen is oh, it could be a big flop. So what? Get up and find something else that you love to do, or try it again. You know, sometimes you can do something and it fails because you may not have done other things to make it succeed. So I like to always have a habit of just reframing things so that they always don't feel like the world is falling apart because we had so much experience with that in a literal sense. But these are just a couple ideas to get you started, and just know that if you're feeling like you want to do something but you're scared to do it, just remember it's just your mindset, a little bit of imposter syndrome, all the things you have, exactly what you need to get this done, and if you don't, then I'm going to say it it's time to invest.
Speaker 1:
There's no right or wrong way to do something, though, but you know you actually can take a course, and feel so empty like this is not going to work with me for my personality. This is not something I want to do. I've had that in so many instances and let me tell you something that nobody else will. It's not your fault, it's just their way of doing things doesn't align with the way that you would do them, which is pretty much everybody just teaches their path. Which is why I say, when you invest in yourself or you take this journey, you invest in somebody that you actually not with what they're selling, but feel aligned with the way that they're running their business. What about them? Do you want to learn from them that comes effortlessly to them?
Speaker 1:
I was in this exact place five years ago. I had no idea, I made my first investment and I felt like I was going to throw up. When you haven't made an investment before, it's terrifying, but I have left masterminds feeling like that was so worth the money times five and they were somewhere. I was like I actually know all this stuff and I probably would do things differently. It's okay, it's a learning experience and it's okay to understand the concept. But if you want to do something completely differently, at least you have the knowledge that there's another way of doing things. And yeah, I did it differently. I left that and I was like you know what I'm going to do, something that I feel like is intuitive to me. I've already made investments and I was making investments because I wanted people to tell me what I wanted to hear, versus just diving deep and just taking action.
Speaker 1:
It's like you don't want to do the work, the messy action and the possible failure, and just keep making investments, like buying serial courses, so many of them to where you don't even take them because you don't remember which ones you bought and you learn so much that you don't implement, which is like where a lot of us are because of the explosion of the educational industry. But I am definitely here to tell you that that is why it's important to be a part of a group program. I feel like that's the difference between just buying a course, having a Facebook group and just being lost in the mix. Being inside of a group program, like I have at the wedding CEO, we tailor everything that we teach to your unique brand, so it's not like this is how I do it, this is what you need to have and good luck beyond your way. It's like okay, you need to brainstorm these things and then we're going to do that, work together on the calls and then see what is intuitive to you in your business.
Speaker 1:
Because the thing is is that, let's say, you invest in something and you have education. If you have this core education and it doesn't align with you, but you quote unquote feel like you have to do it and you're obligated, and since they're your teacher, you're just doing the work. You're probably not going to implement what you just learned, because when you're not aligned to something that feels a part of you, or if you're not excited about doing something, you're probably not going to do it, or you're going to do it and not do it. Well, it's kind of like when you start your business, you know you're so excited to just start something fresh and you're doing whatever it takes. You're going to work for free or work for a little to no money. That's the same ammunition you need to have about the next step of your business when you're investing into this area of your business that you have no idea, but you're like I'm going to do the work, I know this is what it takes. That's the kind of minds that you need to have for things like that.
Speaker 1:
So what I'm saying is, if you're wildly profitable and you're like what are my next steps? The next step is probably something that you need to invest in that's going to propel your business forward. So what do you want to do? Where do you see yourself? Do you see yourself teaching? Do you see yourself making a course? Do you see yourself not doing any of these things and just doubling your prices or raising them and you're like well, how do I raise my prices? Well, invest in an opportunity that teaches you how to provide a luxury client experience.
Speaker 1:
So, making sure you just have your foundation set, like your mission, your core values, your brand everything is tailored to the way that you want to do it, intuitively, and that's the beauty of it. You are the magic behind all of this. It's just pieces of you intertwined with business, because, whether we like it or not, we are actually a big part of our brands. That's why there is such thing as a personal brand. The heart of our brand story comes and resonated with us personally, and so we took that and then turned it into a business that makes us money, which is why a lot of us can work so hard and even work for so little, because you feel like this is so much a part of you that you're willing to do that. Not to mention, your name is probably on the line. But we believe the market isn't saturated because there isn't a carbon copy of you out there in the world unless you have a twin. But I feel like even twins are different. Like they say, oh, we're completely different. I don't know, I don't have a twin, but anyway.
Speaker 1:
So if you're wildly profitable and you're wondering about the next steps, feel free to apply for the wedding CEO coaching. We are working on a phase two specifically for this set of people, because I know that once you do all the things that you feel like you just kind of hit a glass ceiling. You're like what do I do now? Do I just become an educator because everyone else is? Or maybe I don't want to be an educator, maybe I want to be a luxury brand photographer. Maybe I just want to be a luxury photographer. Maybe I don't be luxury and I just want to have a team and we bring in 60 weddings a year. There's so many possibilities out there and I'm sorry if I gave you a headache, but I feel like this is definitely a topic that nobody talks about is, once you reach all those goals that everybody's talking about, you feel out of place. It's almost like a lonely hill that you're on. So feel free to reach out to me, dm me if you have any questions about it.
Speaker 1:
Like I said, the link is going to be in the show notes for you to check it out. I would love to talk with you and see what we can do to propel your business forward and make some passive income, because we are not meant to hustle for 20 years, guys. Uh-uh, that gets old really fast. All right, so I will talk to you guys next week. Don't forget to share this in your story screenshot that you're listening. Send me your review on Apple Podcast and Spotify and I will see you guys next week. Wait, don't go yet. If you loved today's episode, I would love if you took five seconds to leave a rating and a five star review. If you do, send me a DM so I can give you a virtual hug and, of course, a shout out.
Speaker 1:
Now, if you're ready to grow your photography business, I invite you to join the waitlist for the wedding CEO. The wedding CEO is my signature program for wedding photographers who are ready to scale their way to 100K. You're finally ready to work less, make more and live your dream life? If you've seen my Instagram, then you'll know, we have students making five bigger months, launching their dream brands, doubling their prices, taking vacations and more, which are lifetime skills that you can take with you even if you decide to leave the industry. Join the waitlist for when we open the doors on November 14th to the waitlist only, and you're going to get an exclusive advanced private training on how to scale to 100K, booking less than 20 weddings a year. And, trust me, you don't want to miss this Link in the show notes. I'll see you inside.
